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Front Range PC Users Group Newsletter k-Byte |
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| v. 23, n. 9/10 September/October 2004 | Users Helping Users |
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Contents 1 Digital Photography and Printing - Charlotte Semple 2 About k-Byte 4 Is Somebody Watching You Through Your Web Cam? 6 Just For Grins - Humor 7 Keeping Busy In Retirement 10 Getting To Know Google - Billy Mabray 13 The Best Actual Newspaper Headlines of 2003 14 Calendar of Events 15 Reasons to give your boss for not coming into work... - Humor 16 October/November Calendars 18 Membership Application 19 Help! I've Been Hijacked - Sherry Zorzi 21 Customizing Windows XP Startup - Rick Mattingly 22 Gadgets For Geeks - Sherry Zorzi 24 Which Office Suite Should You Be Using? 25 Unwired 26 Keep Your Cool - Ira Wilsker 28 What Is Your Resolution? - George McGinnis 30 Trading Post 31 FRPCUG Contacts by Charlotte Semple, President & Editor, Los Angeles Computer Society, California Charles Mahan, Wi-Fi SIG Leader, Los Angeles Computer Society, California Lee Otsubo is best known as The Digital Photo Guy. He has become a familiar figure to many user groups as he shares his knowledge and experiences in digital photography. He emphasizes two basic topics in his presentation: 1) How to get the most out of a digital camera (or how to buy one) and, 2) How to share and display great digital Photos. Megapixels Mega comes from Greek, meaning, great. In technological terms, it's a prefix for millions. A 3.5-inch floppy holds 1.44 mega bytes, which is 1.4 million bytes of data. A megapixel is 1 million pixels. So, “What the heck is a pixel?” A pixel is a made up tech term for “picture element.“ Pixels are square. If you look closely at a newspaper photo, using a magnifying glass, you will see hundreds of tiny dots, some dark, some light and some in between. As you move the photo away from yourself, setting aside the glass, you will not be able to discern the dots any more, instead you will see the whole photo. Digital cameras work the same way. They use millions of pixels, (mega pixels, or MP), to make a photo. i.e. a 2 MP camera uses 2 million pixels. A mega pixel is a measure of the camera's capability to capture detail, which is resolution. You need to be aware of what kind of photography you are interesting in doing and what you are going to do with the photos in order to make the best use of the finite number of pixels you have. CCD The CCD (Charge Coupled Device) is the central processing unit of the digital camera. It is somewhat like the CPU in a computer, but unlike the CPU, the CCD has only one function. It takes images and munches and crunches them. The CCD of a 2 mega pixel camera contains 2 million light sensors. Each light sensor produces 1 pixel. Each pixel represents 1 of 16.7 million different colors. Each pixel has a red, green and blue component of color. Each component is a byte (of data). Each pixel has three bytes of data. A 2 MP camera produces 6 million bytes of data. Enough data to fill five 3.5-inch floppies! Cycle Time The time needed for the CCD to munch and crunch data and get it out of the way in time for the camera to be ready to take another photo. Lag Time The time a digital camera needs to look at a subject and fire enough electrical charge to be ready so that when the shutter button is pressed, the camera will capture the image of the subject. Munching and Crunching After the CCD captures the image it has to compress it. A 2 MP camera uses (munches) 6 million bytes of data for each picture at high resolution. This has to be compressed (crunched) down to 1 mega byte of data. Many cameras have different settings for resolution. Lee recommended that you keep your camera on the highest setting and leave it there. If you change it for a lower resolution shot and forget to re-set it to the higher level, and you use the camera again, thinking you are taking high-resolution shots, you will be disappointed in the results. You can always throw away extraneous detail, but you cannot put it in if you didn't capture it in the first place. Input -The Lens This is the first and last place where there is any real resemblance between the digital and film camera. The usual focal length of a 35mm point and shoot camera is anywhere from 35mm to 105mm zoom. Most digital cameras have 3 X zoom, which goes down to the equivalent of 35mm, for a moderate wide-angle shot, out to the equivalent of 105mm for a telephoto shot. There are two types of Zoom: Optical, which is “real” zoom, and Digital, which is electronic trickery. When you activate the zoom function on a 35 mm point and shoot film camera, you can hear the lens moving in and out, increasing or decreasing the size of the image to be captured. This is “real” zoom. When the electronic zoom on a digital camera is activated, the zoom plays a trick on the image. The lens captures the center section of the image and stretches the pixels out to fill the frame. But one loses some resolution and the photo will not be as clear. Using a photo imaging tool on your PC, and enlarging a photo large enough so that straight edges are no longer straight, you can see the points of individual pixels. In tech terms, this is called “Jaggies.” Under the same conditions when looking at a photo of a person, you can see individual square pixels. In tech terms, this is called “Pixulation”. When buying a camera be aware of what component of the camera is optical zoom and what is digital zoom. Some “smart” marketers might advertise their camera as having 6X zoom capability, where they have multiplied the 3X Optical by the 2Xdigital. A 3X Optical camera is a 3X Optical camera. Another way marketers might advertise a 6X Optical camera is where they have taken a cheap 2X optical zoom and bumped up the digital zoom to 3X, calling their product 6X Zoom. You must be really careful to read the fine print. Don't always go by the advertising printed on the box. About Zoom If you are taking photos at a back yard BBQ, and you are able to fill the camera frame with subjects, you probably will not need a zoom. If you are going to be taking outdoor photos with subjects 20 to 30 feet away, a 3X Optical zoom camera is probably all you would need. If you are in the “nose bleed” section of a sports arena, and your subjects seem to be 6-inches tall, you will probably need anywhere from a 6, 8, 10 to 12Xm zoom. You should be aware of the kind of photography you want to do so that the right type of zoom lens can be obtained. Output-USB Most modern digital cameras will have a USB (universal serial bus) port connection. If a camera does not have this don't even consider it. A slow serial connection will drive you crazy. Simply plug the USB cord that comes with the camera into the computer and leave the camera end in a convenient place for ready use. A card reader makes an easy job of uploading the data from your camera into the computer. A universal Card Reader accommodates up to 6 different memory cards. Simply insert the memory card into the reader and it will look to a Windows machine, almost like a disk drive, and you can drag and drop photo files from the memory card. Memory Cards These are compact flash memory cards. The particular type of memory card that came with your camera is the type you should use. Not all memory cards are universal. The real advantage of memory cards is that they are removable and are fairly robust. Not like ordinary film. Lee recommends that you should carry at least two memory cards of a moderate range. These are all electronic devices and sooner or later you will corrupt data on a memory card. If you were gullible enough to buy only one very large range memory card, and go on vacation, and the card becomes corrupted, you are up the proverbial tree. You have two choices. Erase all the accumulated data from the card and reformat the card, loosing all your photos, or not take any more photos. Neither choice is desirable. If you had two memory cards, the corrupted card can be removed and stored away safely and the second card can be inserted into the camera and you can continue taking photos. When you get home, the corrupted card can be inserted into the card reader, and a rescue software (Photo Rescue, http://www.photorescue.com) can be fired up and most of the photos can be saved. LCD Instant gratification! You can see in an instant the photo just shot (but wait for the Cycle Time). It is not recommended that you waste time trying to decide which shots to keep and which shots to discard while taking the shots. Wait until the photos are transferred to your PC, and then make these decisions. Each time you turn on the LCD the power consumption increases by 2 -3 fold, and precious battery life is wasted. Also, when you buy a digital camera, make sure it has an optical viewfinder, and use it for much better shots. Power Most digital cameras use standard rechargeable batteries. If you use regular alkaline batteries a digital camera will just eat them up in no time. The most popular batteries are Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH). Some people might use Proprietary Lithium Ion batteries, proprietary meaning expensive. The lithium ion batteries are very powerful and long lasting, lasting 3-4 times longer than the nickel metal hydride batteries. A warning about these batteries-be very careful how and where you store them. Don't carry them loose in a pocket with anything containing metal. You could start a fire. These batteries should be stored safely in some sort of plastic containers. Now, what do you do with all these great photos? Print them! In order to get the best quality prints, there are 4 components that impact the quality of the prints: 1. The printer Use a good quality photo ink-jet printer. Epson, Hewlett Packard, and Canon are the most well known and written up in most photo magazines. They also do have a range of good quality inexpensive printers. 2. Paper Use good quality paper. This might be somewhat of a surprise, but Epson produces the best quality prints on expensive Epson paper (about $1.00 per an 8.5 X 11 sheet). The same goes for Hewlett Packard and Cannon. Keep in mind that there are certain combinations of paper and printer that will never work. It is not advisable to use Epson paper with a Hewlett Packard printer, or HP paper with a Canon printer. etc. . If you only print about 20 to 30 photos per month, live a little and buy the expensive paper. If you print hundreds of photos per month, look around for deals, but try a few sheets of the paper first before buying a ream or you might be stuck with a ream of unusable cheap paper. 3. Image As Lee mentioned before, keep your cameras set at the highest resolution and you will get high quality prints. There are two exceptions: a) the use of “raw” or “tiff” mode is mostly for when one needs the highest quality possible, e. g., taking wedding photos where everything is set up, people are standing quietly, the lighting is just right, and the camera is on a tripod. Raw, or Tiff, captures every single pixel and does not compress, creating huge files. b) taking photos for the Internet, such as for eBay. Use a low resolution that does not require compression and reduces the time between taking the shots and uploading them to eBay. If you keep your cameras at the highest resolution you will have the least compression. 4. Software The software is the most critically important component in producing good prints. Remember when Lee talked about those square pixels where just 1 pixel represented 1 of 16.7 million different colors in a RGB color scheme? Well, printers print round dots, each with a color spectrum of between 5 to 10 thousand different colors in a CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) color scheme. For a printer to make the transition from square pixels to round dots, it needs the support of good high quality software that is specifically written to do that job. (Someone actually figured out how to insert a square peg into a round hole!) CDs The most important reason for copying digital photos onto CDs is, digital photos have no negatives. If you transfer your photo to your computer, and if your computer fails (and it will by Murphy's law) and you have not copied them to CDs, you are out there up the proverbial creek. Your photos are history. The CD is your “negative”. The format used by digital cameras for compression is JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), a powerful technology and an excellent compression logarithm. There is, however, an insidious idiosyncrasy you must be aware of with JPEG images. After you have downloaded your photos into your PC. and you pick out a photo to examine and admire, do something with it and save it, it is re-compressed. If you open it again and save it, it is re-compressed again. Each time you open a photo and save it after viewing it, it is re-compressed. Each time it loses a little more detail, eventually becoming one ugly photo. When this happens, and you have a pristine copy of the photo on a CD, re-copy it to the PC and you will have a fresh photo to work on. The best advice is not to save it each time you look at it. You can work with a photo, changing its composition and print it without saving the changes. CDs, when used regularly, also degrade. So make 2 CDs of your photos, keeping one in a safe place. from Kawartha Computer Club Bits & Bytes newsletter, June, 2004 Published bi-monthly, k-Byte is the official newsletter of the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group (FRPCUG): our mailing address is PMB 152, 305 W. Magnolia, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521. Opinions expressed in k-Byte are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the group or its members. Publication of information in k-Byte constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Use of any information found in this publication is at the sole risk of the user. Neither k-Byte, nor its officers, nor k-Byte, nor its editors or contributors assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in this publication. Submissions Articles, letters and short items of interest on computer-related topics are welcome and encouraged. All items submitted for publication are subject to editing. Send your contribution to the editor via e-mail attachment or submit on disk. If you have questions about a submission, please contact the editor for information. Copyright k-Byte is copyrighted ©2004 by the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group. Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit users groups may reprint or quote from any articles appearing in k-Byte without prior permission, provided that proper author and publication credits are given and that a copy of the publication in which the article appears is sent at no cost to k-Byte at the above mailing address. User groups wishing to exchange newsletters with FRPCUG are invited to send a copy of their newsletter together with an exchange request. IBM PC, OS/2, Compaq, MS-DOS, UNIX, Windows and other trademarks occasionally mentioned in k-Byte are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc., Compaq Corporation, Microsoft, Digital Research, AT&T or their owners respectively. Neither FRPCUG nor its newsletter k-Byte are connected in any way with any manufacturer or seller. We, however, gratefully acknowledge sponsorship of our group by Data Service Center, Jim Becker, owner. Advertising Classified advertising is free to members for non-business ads. See "Trading Post" for pricing for camera-ready display ads. Charges for ad makeup from sketches, etc., are available on request. Deadline for camera-ready and classified ads is listed in the Calendar of Upcoming Events. Deadline for ad-makeup is the same as for articles. About FRPCUG FRPCUG is an independent nonprofit computer society, so incorporated with the State of Colorado and open to anyone interested in MS-DOS, Windows, or UNIX/LINUX microcomputers. Its purpose is to provide an educational and scientific forum of mutual benefit for members of the micro-computer community. FRPCUG holds a monthly meeting and conducts various special interest groups (SIGS) and seminars. Members have voting privileges, subscription to k-Byte newsletter, SIGs and selected seminars. Annual dues are $25 for individual/family membership and $50 for corporate/group membership. Sophos, a British anti-virus company, reported this week that intruders could use your Web cam to keep an eye on you. The worm, RBot-GR, travels through networks, installing a Trojan horse. The Trojan horse can open a backdoor into infected computers, allowing the theft of information off the hard drive. That's in addition to turning on the Web cam. This sounds pretty weird to me. I've heard no reports of such attacks in the real world. Keep Windows and your anti-virus software updated, and install a firewall. That should protect you. Kim Komando newsletter http://www.komando.com The following exchange shows why some people go bald before others. Hello Fred, Long time subscriber, first time emailer. I don't know if you've covered this topic or not, but I ran into this the other day and found it very humorous. I do IT support for a remote company, and, of course, viruses have been a thorn in all of our sides for quite some time now. This person called me and said when he is in Outlook writing an email, his laptop will start typing for him in, most times, non-legible, random words. I immediately thought this was a virus and told him to take the laptop off the network immediately. After scanning, probing, and examining for viruses, pests, etc... I found that his workstation was completely clean and yet he still had this problem. So I went Google-ing and found from a forum website, where a guy had found that the Speech Recognition feature in Windows XP was enabled and the laptop, with a built-in microphone was trying to type words that were being spoken in the same room! I had to grin. Of course, the quality of speech recognition was so poor that it didn't recognize the words spoken and was printing gibberish.. I went into Control Panel - Regional and Language Options - Under the Languages tab - clicked on the Details button, and lo and behold, SPEECH RECOGNITION. I removed it and haven't had any "ghost" typing since. I thought your readers might like to hear about this and get a chuckle at my expense. Thank you for your newsletter. It has saved me more times than I can count. Respectfully, Kenneth Eggleston Thanks, Kenneth! I actually saw something similar once, after taking a phone call while experimenting with voice-recognition software. I'd placed the headset and microphone on the desk during the call; too far away for the software to process my words accurately. And when the call was over, I was momentarily taken aback when I saw my screen filled with what looked like the work of a Klingon translator! 8-) The LangaList Newsletter 2004-08-16 http://langa.com/ Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting. Thought you might like to see what happened to me last week. I went to the store the other day. I was only in there for about 5 minutes. When I came out there was a policeman writing out a parking ticket. I went up to him and said, "Come on, buddy, how about giving a senior a break?" He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. So, I called him a Nazi. He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires. So I called him a piece of horse crap. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket. This went on for about 20 minutes ... the more I abused him, the more tickets he wrote. I didn't give a crap. My car was parked around the corner. I try to have a little fun each day. It's important at my age. Wi-Fi Hotspot Did you know that McDonalds has been testing Wi-Fi "hotspots" at some U.S. restaurants? The company hopes to have 6,000 restaurants equipped by the end of the year, according to The Associated Press. Access will be priced at $2.95 for two hours or $29.95 a month. Some of the restaurants may offer various promotion deals. by Billy Mabray, Oklahoma City PC Users Group These days, whether you consciously choose it or not, your Web search engine is probably Google ( http://www.google.com ). That's because most search sites, whether they admit it or not, are powered by Google. And, why not? Google rose to the top of the search engines because its formula provided more relevant search results than any other. Also, its deceptively simple page makes it fast and easy to use. I say deceptively simple because, underneath that friendly, colorful logo is a powerful search system that can accept queries as complex as you want to make them. Many people don't realize that if they do not find what they want on the first try, there are techniques they can use to improve their results. There are also ways to search Google that are more appropriate for certain specialty queries. And, Google is hiding a few extras that take it beyond a search engine into an amazing reference tool. Let's start with an example. We're cooking dinner tonight, and we need a recipe for spaghetti sauce that does not use sugar. We might go to Google and type in this: no sugar spaghetti sauce recipe Google tells us we have about 56,000 results to wade through. A daunting task, considering the first page doesn't seem to contain anything relevant. The first thing we will try is grouping our search terms into phrases, using double-quotes. This tells Google that certain words should be searched for together. So, we try this: "no sugar" "spaghetti sauce" recipe That certainly narrowed things down, didn't it? This is a good technique to use when your search contains a lot of common words that could appear together in different contexts than what you are looking for. Unfortunately in this case, our first page of results is still not as relevant as we would like. The next thing we will try is searching for pages that do not contain a certain term: -sugar "spaghetti sauce" recipe This tells Google that we want pages that are about "spaghetti sauce" recipe, but specifically do not contain the term sugar. That seems to have done it-our first page of results is chock full of spaghetti sauce recipes that don't use sugar. "Subtracting" a term can also be useful when what you are searching for has multiple meanings. For example, if you are researching the "Holy Grail," you might want to add "-Python" to your search to eliminate all the references to the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Now, maybe spaghetti sauce is too specific-we might want to also consider marinara sauce. In that case, we use Google's or syntax: -sugar "(spaghetti | marinara) sauce" recipe When there are multiple words that will satisfy our search, we can group them with parentheses and separate them with the "pipe" character-a vertical line that is most likely on the right-hand side of your keyboard. Google will then search for references to "spaghetti sauce" or "marinara sauce." At this point, we've become so intrigued by what we can find with Google, we've completely forgotten about dinner. Now we are interested in just how many different chicken casserole recipes we can find. Here's one way: "chicken * casserole" recipe Notice the asterisk. This is called a wildcard. It tells Google that we don't care what word comes between chicken and casserole, but there should be something there. This can be particularly useful when you know most of a title of something, but are unsure of all the words. This particular search brings back all kinds of chicken casserole recipes. Something tells me we better just eat out tonight. Besides its standard Web search, Google has many specialty searches that are triggered either by a keyword or simply by what you are searching for. For example: site:microsoft.com "Internet Explorer" patches This searches for references to "Internet Explorer" patches on microsoft.com only. If your favorite Web site does not offer a search function, this is a pretty good substitute. Maybe we want to know which sites on the Web link to the OKC PC User's Group Web site: link:okcpcug.org We can also tell Google that what we are looking for is in an Adobe Acrobat PDF file: filetype:pdf refrigerator manual Google pays attention to what you are searching for, and offers helpful services based on what it thinks you want. For example, have you ever noticed Google shows your search words in the blue bar above your results? The search terms that are underlined link to a definition of that word at dictionary.com. If you spell a word wrong, Google will prompt you with the correct spelling and ask if you would like to search for that instead. Google has many tricks like this up its sleeves. Search for a phone number, and Google will do a reverse lookup on the number. Search for a name with a city and state and/or zip code, and Google will look up their phone number. Search for an address and you will get links to maps of that location. Include a zip code with your search terms, and Google will offer you local results-Web sites for locations near the zip code, ordered by distance. You can even type in a shipment tracking number, and Google will figure out who the shipping company is and give you a link to the tracking information. Google offers some services that have nothing to do with searching. Try this: 68.12 + (68.12 * .2) The Google calculator will return the result of this computation. Fun, although, admittedly, not particularly useful. The Google calculator can be useful though, for things like conversions: 68mm = ? inches You can do all kinds of conversions using Google-a handy tool whenever you get around to making that spaghetti sauce. Google is much more useful than most people realize-we've only scratched the surface of what Google can do. If you are interested in more, check out Hacking Google by Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest. It includes many more search tips, and information for programmers who want to include Google search results in their applications. As you explore what Google can do, you will probably discover that Google feels like more than just a Web site. In fact, Google is your friend. Crack Found on Governor's Daughter Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers Iraqi Head Seeks Arms Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus? Prostitutes Appeal to Pope Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over Teacher Strikes Idle Kids Miners Refuse to Work after Death Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant War Dims Hope for Peace If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft Kids Make Nutritious Snacks Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors And the winner is... Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead A few scanning tips by Wayne Fulton The most amazing collection of tips and help on the Internet on the subjects of optical scanning and the manipulation of graphic files. Check out Wayne's free information at: http://www.scantips.com/ - IMPORTANT NOTICE - FRPCUG meetings are held at the Fort Collins Senior Center. Check below for directions to the Senior Center. October General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, October 5 at 7:00 pm. Meeting Agenda 7:00 - 7:30 Announcements 7:30 - 8:45 LINUX-Chuck McJilton will provide a presentation on the LINUX operating system. 8:45 - 9:00 Break 9:00 - 9:30 Open Forum November General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, November 2 at 7:00 pm. Meeting Agenda 7:00 - 7:15 Announcements 7:15 - 7:30 Nomination of Officers 7:30 - 8:45 Computer Security-A presentation on protecting your computer from myriad security risks. 8:45 - 9:00 Break 9:30 - 9:30 Open Forum See you at the meetings! Directions The Fort Collins Senior Center is located at 1200 Raintree Drive. This site is situated at the northwest corner of the Shields and West Drake intersection, on the north side of the Raintree Shopping Center. Check the marquee at the main entrance for directions to the specific meeting room. Up-Coming SIG's, Seminars and Meetings Board Meeting FRPCUG's executive board meets on Wednesday of the week following the General Forum Meeting at 7:00 p.m. All members are welcome and are encouraged to attend. These meetings are held at the offices of JYM Information Systems: 1630 S College Avenue in Fort Collins. New Technology SIG The LINUX SIG and the Telecommunications SIG have been combined to form the new Advanced Systems Support SIG. This SIG provides advanced support for all PC-related operating system and telecommunication issues. The meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month at the offices of JYM Information Systems: 1630 S College Avenue in Fort Collins. For more information contact Chuck McJilton at 493-2987 or email telecomsig@jymis.com. Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group Meets on the second Tuesday of 'odd' months at NCAR in Boulder. Meetings start at 7:00 pm, but members are encouraged to arrive at 6:30 pm for informal networking and refreshments. NCAR is located in Boulder at 1850 Table Mesa Drive. For more information see the RMIUG Web site at: http://www.rmiug.org/. Upcoming FRPCUG Meetings Along with presentations of new hardware and software, we will certainly continue to present tips, hints, solutions, as well as what is new with Public Domain and Shareware offerings. If you have ideas for presentations which you would like to see at future General Forum meetings or seminars, please let us know. We would appreciate the input and opportunity to improve your meetings. Know of a another computer-related meeting in our area? Please let us know so we can post it here. 1. If it is all the same to you, I won't be coming in to work. The voices told me to clean all the guns today. 2. When I got up this morning, I took two Ex-Lax in addition to my Prozac. I can't get off the john, but I feel good about it. 3. I can't come in to work today because I'll be stalking my previous boss, who fired me for not showing up for work. OK? 4. I am stuck in the blood pressure machine down at Wal-Mart. 5. Yes, I seem to have contracted some attention-deficit disorder and, hey, how about them Hoyas, huh? So, I won't be able to, yes, could I help you? No, no, I'll be sticking with Sprint, but thank you for calling. 6. The psychiatrist said it was an excellent session. He even gave me this jaw restraint so I won't bite things when I am startled. 7. The dog ate my car keys. We're going to hitchhike to the vet. 8. My mother-in-law has come back as one of the Undead and we must track her to her coffin to drive a stake through her heart and give her eternal peace. One day should do it. 9. I am converting my calendar from Julian to Gregorian. 10. I am extremely sensitive to a rise in the interest rates. 5 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00PM 13 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00PM 31 Daylight Saving Time Ends Halloween November 2004 2 Election Day FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00PM 10 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00PM 11 Veteran's Day 25 Thanksgiving by Sherry Zorzi, Cajun Clickers Computer Club, Louisiana First it was viruses, worms, and spam. Then came Trojans spyware, and pop-ups. The newest scourge plaguing Internet surfers is browser hijackers, and one very nasty one is making the rounds in the Baton Rouge area causing all manner of grief for local folks, including some Clickers members. Browser hijackers are malicious programs that change browser settings, usually altering designated default start and search pages. The newest versions are going beyond messing with your browser settings. One of the worst, called “Cool Web Search” is particularly hard to remove. Symptoms How can you tell you have a browser hijacker? If your start page is suddenly different, that's a clue. Often the hijacker won't let you change your start page back to your preferred page. You might also notice a new “helper” toolbar added to your browser. Another clue can be a changed search page. If you used to get MSN as your search page when you click the “Search” button but now some other page is coming up, you've likely been hijacked. Some of the hijackers will load a page that looks like Google but isn't really Google - a particularly dastardly trick. Many will give unexpected search results. You may search for some innocent topic and get lots of results that lead to porn sites. If you search on “spyware” or the name of a hijacker program, the browser may either freeze up, or give you only benign results making it look like the hijacker program is a good thing. Many folks who've been hijacked find that porn sites have been added to their favorites list. Some report pornographic files being downloaded. Some are being redirected to porn sites when mis-typing a URL (web address). Other symptoms include pop-up ads even though you're running a pop-up stopper program. These pop-ups can appear more rapidly than you can close them and can freeze your system quickly. You may notice drastically reduced resources or messages that your system is low on resources or virtual memory. Or you may receive dramatically increased spam. Frequent lock-ups are a common complaint as is painfully slow performance. Some of the hijackers can even disable your firewall, your anti-virus software or your spyware killers. Or they can prevent anti-virus software and spyware detectors from being updated. In the past, we were safe from most Internet threats so long as we kept our anti-virus software updated and ran a firewall. Running Ad-Aware or Spybot Search and Destroy once a week or so cleaned up any spyware that had crept in but we never had much trouble. If we were smart enough not to download junk and not to open attachments, we were pretty safe. But times have changed and we must change our thinking too. This recent rash of nasty stuff came in through a security hole in Microsoft Windows. Those who did not update Windows in a timely manner were sitting ducks for the Cool Web Search hijacker. From now on you must keep Windows up to date, especially with the so-called “critical updates.” Cure The newest browser hijackers are particularly difficult to remove. You can try the following but be sure to follow the steps in order. If you don't know what you're doing, you should take the infected machine in to one of our local computer shops and let them fix it for you. It's possible to mess your computer up really badly while trying to remove a hijacker! 1. If you're running Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows XP, you must first turn off the system restore feature. Otherwise any problem you fix will just return when you reboot the computer. Search your Windows Help screens for instructions on how to disable System Restore for your version of Windows. Warning: You will lose all restore points you've previously made! 2. Download the Cwshredder tool from http://www.downloads.com or any of the many sites that make it available. If you're infected with a hijacker, go to a non-infected machine to download your tools. Be sure you get the absolute latest version of Cwshredder since it is updated every few days. New variants of these hijackers appear at an amazing rate and you must have the latest Cwshredder to detect and clean them all. 3. Reboot your machine and run Cwshredder again. 4. Run Ad-aware. Be sure you update it first. If you don't already have Ad-aware, get it at http://www.lavasoftusa.com. 5. Reboot your machine and run Ad-aware again. 6. Run Spybot Search & Destroy. Be sure to update it first. If you don't have Spybot Search & Destroy, get it at http://www.safer-networking.org. 7. Reboot your machine and run Spybot again. 8. If everything seems to be clean now, be sure to turn Windows System Restore back on! Don't let a browser hijacker ruin your tech-life! Keep Windows updated. Install and run a firewall. Install, keep updated and run anti-virus software. Install, update and run spyware cleaners. And encourage Congress to nail these hijacking jerks! by Rick Mattingly It is quite common for the user to discover that they are repetitively using one software application or more virtually every time they access the computer. If this happens to you, automate the process of starting up those software applications. The magic tool involved here is the Startup folder, which is a special subfolder of Programs. Anything placed into this folder is run automatically each time Windows boots up. To access the Startup folder Right-Click the Start button and choose Open. In the resulting popup window choose Programs. From the next window choose Startup. Anything you see within this folder is being loaded automatically when Windows starts. Be aware that it is possible for the Startup folder to initially be empty. To add applications to the automatic startup process simply Right-Click, drag and drop any desired program icon into the Startup folder. From the resulting popup window choose Create Shortcut or Copy. This will place a simple link (not a copy of the program!) in the Startup folder. Now, each time Windows starts, the application indicated in Startup folder will be loaded automatically. Taking this tip a step further, we can also customize how the auto loaded application in the Startup folder appears on the desktop and even have the application auto load a data file for us. To do this we need to reopen the Startup folder. Now, Right-Click the subject shortcut and choose Properties. In the resulting popup choose the Shortcut Tab. Within the Shortcut Tab window the 'Target' field is already filled in with the path and program name which loads and runs the subject software application. To have a data file auto loaded with the application we could add the file name to the end of the string in the 'Target' field, preceded with a space. However, an even easier method would be to simply replace the information in the 'Target' field with just the path and name of the desired data file. Through the magic of Windows "file association" the operating system will automatically load the software application required for the type of data file involved. Very easy and this trick really cuts down on the typing of convoluted path strings! As a matter of fact, if you desire to load a data file in the auto process, save yourself a lot of time by simply copying a link to the desired data file to the Startup folder in the first place. The 'Start In' field may be used to describe a path location to another folder. This could be used, for instance, to open the application as described in the Target field but run it while pointing to another folder. This would be handy if you want to force data files to be loaded to and from a separate folder, a smart move for housekeeping purposes. The 'Shortcut Key' field will contain the word "None" at first. If you desire to create a keyboard shortcut to activate the subject application, place the cursor into this field and press the desired key combination. If the combination is not already used for another shortcut, the combination pressed will now appear in the 'Shortcut Key' field. From this point on you may also start the subject software application by pressing the chosen keyboard combination. Next, select the down arrow in the 'Run' field. Here you may choose to have the application auto open on the Desktop in a Maximized window, a Normal window or have it Minimized to the Task Bar - open for use but out of immediate view. The information in the 'Comment' field is what will be displayed in a popup whenever the cursor is placed over the shortcut icon. Choosing the 'Find Target' tab at the bottom of the window will run a Find operation to confirm that the path and application described in the 'Target' field is valid. If running the 'Find Target' operation results in an error the culprit is typically a simple typo in the 'Target' field. The 'Change Icon' tab will allow you to assign a new graphic icon to the subject shortcut. This would be of marginal use in this instance as it only affects the link being created in the 'Startup' folder, which would never be viewed in normal operation. The 'Advanced' tab is just as described and not normally of concern. By the way, the reverse is also true in that if you have an application which is automatically loading each time and you do not want it to, delete the appropriate shortcut within this Startup folder! OK, what are you waiting for? Get in there and customize your own Windows startup configuration! by Sherry Zorzi, Cajun Clickers Computer Club, Louisiana. They say the only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys, but the toys for gadget-geeks of any age or gender just keep getting better and, surprisingly, cheaper. USB Flash Drive: These tiny solid-state devices are quickly replacing diskettes as the cheap and easy method for transporting or backing up data. A 256 megabyte flash drive will hold the equivalent of about 175 diskettes. That's about 3 hours of music or 1000 photographs, or thousands of common business documents - all in a $40 device the size of a Bic lighter. Flash Watch: These watches include a built-in flash drive device. Just connect the watch to your USB drive via a built-in cable. Cost: under $100. Cool-factor: priceless. Camera Phone: The trend these days is to go totally cellular. My new Motorola flip-phone (about $80 after rebate) has a camera, calculator, appointment book, voice recorder, alarm clock, text messaging, wireless web, games, and email. The sleek profile fits in any pocket or bag easily. Cellular coverage is getting better every year and service is becoming increasingly affordable. Handheld Computer: Pocket PCs and Palms have been around for a long time, but the newest generation of both devices are slicker than ever. More than just a personal information manager, these tiny computers now include word processing and spreadsheet capabilities, play MP3 music files, handle multimedia and Internet connections, in some cases even play full-length movies. You'll pay about $200 at the low end and over $1,000 at the high end for a computer more powerful than the desktop of a few years ago that fits in your pocket. Digital Camera: The novelty has worn off digital photography now. These cameras have improved so dramatically in quality and have become so affordable that they barely qualify as gadgets. The average digital camera today has 3-4 mega pixel quality with 3X-5X optical zoom and will cost under $300. Mine goes everywhere with me. Within a minute of snapping a shot I can email it to a friend or upload it to my favorite photo-sharing website. Satellite Radio: There are two flavors - XM Radio and Sirius. I've only tried XM, but all I can say is, "Wow!" Commercial-free music of any genre you desire - any time you want it. A scrolling digital display tell the title and artist of each tune, so no more sleepless nights trying to remember who sang that song that's been rattling around in your head all day. You can install XM Radio in your car and have an optional cradle in the house, making one subscription portable from home to road. Hardware is around $100. MP3 Player: These music machines, of which the Apple iPod ($200-300) is the most recognizable brand, allow you to store many hours of music in a tiny portable device. GPS: Portable global positioning systems use satellites to pinpoint your location to within one meter. Handheld devices are available or you can buy GPS add-ons to handheld computers. These are popular with hikers and sailors, but are also fun when traveling by car or to use in hobbies such as geocaching. A decent recreational GPS device can be purchased for $100-200. Wireless Laptop: Intel's new Centrino technology combines integrated wireless LAN capability, improved battery life, and thinner, lighter design to make laptop computing what I always dreamed it would be. Imagine a laptop computer less than an inch thick and weighing less than 3 pounds. Add to that the ability to connect wirelessly to the Internet from thousands of "hotspots" around the country, including airports, coffee shops, even downtown Baton Rouge. That's a laptop to love, priced between $1,000 and $3,000. No matter your age, gender, interests, or budget, there's a gadget somewhere for you to drool over. It's never too early to start making your Christmas wish list. Sherry Zorzi is Secretary of Cajun Clickers Computer Club and host of "The Cajun Clickers Computer Show" heard every Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on WJBO Radio. by George McGinnis, Chautauqua Cyber Club, Inc. GPMcGinnis@mchsi.com Word processors, and office suites, as used in the modern computer, have an interesting background and history. In the beginning the word processor was the most sought after of all the programs. The heyday of the word processor was in the late 1970's-early 1980's when serious home computing was first getting started. Word processors were the first thing most people wanted to use on the home computer for the simple reason that they viewed the home computer as a replacement for the typewriter. If you wanted to write a letter, you needed a word processor. It wasn't very long before we were inundated with a plethora of the pesky things, each claiming to be the best. How many can you recall? I recall PC Write, Rite Writer, Volkswriter, Word Star, Peachtree Text, and Perfect Writer. There were numerous others. The first one I used was PC Write. It came with the computer a local computer guru built for me in 1982. The word processor was an extra and cost $20.00 as I recall. I had the first edition. At first it worked very well for me but I gradually discovered several bugs and problems. For example, it did not have an automatic "save" feature. I recall once I had typed several pages of a story which was somehow deleted. It was gone! I complained to the program's author that he needed to add the automatic "save" feature. He added it to the next version and gave me a free copy because I had made the suggestion. I suspect other word processors of the time had similar problems. Then along came Word Perfect. It was the most mature of them all, and also the most expensive. Word Perfect became the default word processor for business throughout the United States and its fame spread very rapidly. I can recall as recently as 15 years ago when our local University decided that Word Perfect was to be the only word processor to be used for administrative purposes by the University. At the time I warned them that Word Perfect was soon to be supplanted by Microsoft WORD but my warning was ignored. I wonder how much that blunder cost the University. In the late 1970's, the addition of a spreadsheet and database made their appearance. I recall that Lotus 1-2-3 and VisiCalc as spread sheets and Dbase 3 as a database were popular early on. Now to the question: Which suite should you be using today? The answer is to continue using the present one if you are pleased with it and if it handles all your situations. But is that really the answer? At present we have three champions in the field. Two are well known, Word Perfect Office and Microsoft Office. The third is hardly known at all, but it is out there and it should become known. I am referring to Open Office.org, V. 1.1.1. This latter suite is available as a free download, or can be purchased on a CD. It contains a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, a draw program and a presentation program. Recently the Ziff Davis publication e-WEEK participated in a test to try to determine if, for example, Microsoft Office could be replaced by OpenOffice.org for use at a large business. One of the reasons for the test was potentially to save money; for example Word Perfect Office costs about $199.00, and Microsoft Office 2003 Professional is about $359.00. A business must purchase a license for a certain number of copies, and 100 licenses are not unusual. The cost becomes critical when the business decides it must upgrade. The test they made is impressive. e-WEEK obtained as volunteers several large businesses, and also obtained volunteers from the same businesses who regularly used Microsoft Office. The information about the test and its results is contained in the e-WEEK April 26, 2004 edition. My interpretation of the results is that for ordinary work the free download is quite adequate. However, for more complicated functions, Microsoft Office is preferred. How about the ordinary home user, like you and me? I think it boils down to money. If you have lots of it, use Microsoft Office, and upgrade it as needed. Depending on the version, you can have a word processor, database, spreadsheet, presentation program, and various other features, all at a price. Next on the list would be Word Perfect Office which is less costly but still a full featured suite. It contains a word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation program, and Dragon Naturally Speaking, a voice recognition program. If you want a word processor with the look and feel of Microsoft Word, and a not too complicated spreadsheet and database, the free Open Office will fill the bill and the price is right. Try it. You might like it. Go to http://www.openoffice.org and get the free download or purchase the CD. Give it a try. Your results will make an interesting story for this publication. We would like to hear from you. According to Intel and researcher Bert Sperling, the top 10 cities and regions in America for wireless Internet access are: 1 San Franscisco, San Jose, Oakland, California 2 Orange County, California 3 Washington, D.C. 4 Austin, San Marcos, Texas 5 Portland, Oregon, Vancouver, Washington 6 Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, Tacoma, Washington 7 Bergen, Passiac, New Jersey 8 Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon, New Jersey 9 San Diego, California 10 Denver, Colorado by Ira Wilsker, APCUG BOD. Heat is one of the primary causes of premature computer and component failure. Today's microprocessors, video cards, hard drives, CD and DVD burners, memory, and other components produce much more heat than their earlier brethren. One simple indication of the amount of heat generated in today's newer computers is the power supply; older computers could run well with a 150 watt power supply, while many newer models utilize a 400 watt or larger power supply. While it is uncommon for computers to use all of the power capacity of the power supply, the immutable laws of physics state that much of the power used will be turned into heat, and heat can kill computer components. Many newer motherboards and computers now come with some form of thermal monitor to inform the user of potentially damaging or dangerous overheating, and a device may even shutdown a computer unexpectedly if temperatures inside the computer get too high. If there is too much heat buildup, and the internal temperatures get too high, parts degrade or fail at a rapid rate. Expensive CPU chips, hard drives, memory, and video cards that fail are often the result of overheating. Sudden lockups and computer errors may be due to an overheated CPU chip. Our critical data may be lost forever if our hard drives overheat and fail. If our computers can be protected from overheating, not just will they last longer, but they may perform better. Intel provides a free temperature monitoring utility for its motherboards and chipsets that support this feature. According to Intel, desktop Pentium IV chips work best when below 130 degrees F, may have problems at 150 degrees F, and may start to degrade or fail at that temperature or higher. AMD chips, such as the Athlon may suffer a similar fate from overheating. For this reason almost all modern CPU chips have an attached heat sink and fan. In order to improve thermal conductivity between the surface of the chip and the heat sink, a thermal grease substance is used between them. The purpose of a heat sink is to provide a greater surface area to enable the dissipation of heat into the surrounding air. Most CPU chip heat sinks are topped with a small fan to blow air through and around the heat sink to better cool the chip. While simple in concept, and inexpensive to produce, this is also a common cause of overheating that is easy to rectify. The same dust and debris that can clog our household furnace filters can accumulate and clog the passages in the heat sink, and obstruct the blades of the chip fan. It is good practice to periodically unplug the computer, practice safe electrical safety, and remove the “dust bunnies” from the fan and heat sink with a small vacuum, canned air, or a cotton swab. You may also want to read the label on the chip fan to see if it is a “sleeve” or “ball” bearing. Sleeve bearings tend to have a shorter life before they fail, and can lead to premature chip failure due to overheating. Ball bearing fans are slightly more expensive, but tend to last much longer, providing for more reliable chip cooling. The power supply also has a fan, which for many computers, is the primary cooling component that exhausts the hot air from inside the computer. If this fan fails, or becomes obstructed with dust and other debris, the computer will overheat. This fan must also be frequently inspected, and cleaned as necessary with a small vacuum, or canned air. If the fan starts to squeal, or otherwise appears to fail, it is imperative that either the fan or the entire power supply be promptly replaced. Many computer cases have a space and mounting for an additional fan; if available, the additional fan should be installed. They are readily available, and inexpensive. Supplemental cooling is also available, and can be easily self installed. One of the simplest to install is an exhaust fan that sits in a vacant PCI slot, which almost all desktop computers have. These fans which typically exhaust air from the computer can either be powered by the PCI slot, or by a power cord connected to a plug inside the case. These are especially effective at cooling video cards which generate a lot of heat; Intel recommends that the video cards be kept below 105 degrees F. Again, the slightly more expensive ball bearing fans are considered superior to the less expensive sleeve bearing fans. I installed one of these in my computer, and internal temperatures are consistently about 20 degrees F cooler than before. Other formats of supplemental cooling are available, such as fans that can be mounted in the front of the computer in a vacant drive bay, also common on most computers. These can be simple propeller fans, or powerful turbine fans, and can either push cool outside air into the box, or exhaust hot air from the box. Other fans can be mounted on a hard or CD/DVD drive to cool those hot running devices. Some powerful computers, such as the popular gaming machines may now utilize a water cooled device, similar to an automobile radiator, complete with antifreeze. Notebook computers, which are often especially subject to overheating may be cooled by mounting them such that air can circulate all around the case (some people sit their notebooks on a cake rack), or on a notebook cooling pad that contains its own fans. One pundit has been recommending those black painted aluminum sheets from a dollar store that are advertised to quick defrost frozen foods, as they are an excellent heat sink. Whatever you do, keep your cool - your computer cool, that is. by Geroge McGinnis, Computer Society of West Florida Pensacola This story is not about your New Year's Resolutions. Instead it is about the resolution of your monitor. The resolution of a monitor is important because it determines how correctly the monitor will portray the textual and graphical material that is sent to it by the graphics board in your computer. The following information relates to cathode ray tube monitors and it is not intended to apply to the so-called “flat” Liquid Crystal Display “LCD” monitors. Your monitor is based on a 4 x 3 aspect ratio. This means that it is four elements wide by three elements high. If you measure the screen of your monitor, taking into account the portion of the screen that is obscured by the plastic frame, you will find this to be true. Historically, these numbers relate to the aspect ratio generally used by the TV industry and in a loose way are also related to the aspect ratio of the movies as invented by Thomas Edison almost 100 years ago. Computer resolution refers to the number of pixels on the face of the monitor. For example, a resolution of 800 x 600 (note the 4 x 3 ratio) means that there are 800 pixels wide on the monitor face and 600 pixels high. The width is always expressed before the height. In this example, if you multiply 800 x 600 you will get the number 480,000 and this represents the total number of pixels on the face of the monitor. The general rule that applies is that the greater the number of pixels the better the quality of the reproduced image. This same reasoning applies to both graphical and textual material. Of the two, graphical material is of course more difficult to reproduce and the number of pixels is of greater importance. Whom, or what, determines the resolution? You do. You set the resolution when you set up the computer when you take it out of the box. Each Windows version has a slightly different way of setting the resolution however they are all similar. For Windows XP go to Control Panel, Display, Setting and move the screen resolution slider to the desired resolution position. At the same time you can select the color quality from the pull down menu. The highest setting is (Highest 32 bit). By going to Advanced, you can set the monitor refresh rate and change the size of the text. Now, you are probably wondering what your setting(s) should be. Here are most of the standard resolutions that are ordinarily available for your monitor, however they may vary slightly depending on the size and model of your monitor: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 1600 x 1200 However, each size monitor has a recommended resolution number. Here are the recommended numbers: 17” 1024 x 768 19” 1280 x 1024 The capability of your computer to obtain the desired resolution depends on several things. For example, the graphics board that is in your computer and the quality of the monitor are predominant. A high quality graphics board will probably permit you to go to the highest setting your monitor will permit. You will have to look at the manual you received with your monitor to find the settings that are recommended and to determine other parameters of the monitor's capabilities. For some monitors, you must not go above a certain resolution or refresh rate for fear of harming the monitor. Another factor to consider is the Screen Refresh Rate. This represents the number of times per second the monitor screen is refreshed. If your monitor will permit a refresh rate of as high as 85 Hz, at the recommended monitor resolution, then choose that number. However, a refresh rate of 75 Hz is more likely the maximum number your monitor will permit unless you have a high quality monitor. The higher the refresh rate, the finer detail the picture and the better the quality of reproduction. Very low refresh rates such as 65 Hz are likely to produce annoying flicker and possibly jumpy text. This is very hard on your eyes and is to be avoided. To repeat, look in your monitor manual and determine the maximum refresh rate it will permit and try for that number at the recommended resolution of your monitor. I took a poll of 50 computer users to determine the monitor resolution they used. I was surprised to learn that, regardless of monitor size, the predominant resolution was 800 x 600. I also learned that most of the individuals were not aware that a higher resolution produced higher quality graphics representation on the monitor. Several individuals indicated that the higher resolution produced very small text and small icons on the desktop and therefore they had difficulty reading the text. All this is true; however these problems can easily be remedied. With Windows XP, go to Control Panel, Display, Appearances, font size and choose the larger font. Then go to Advanced, desktop, icons, to increase the size of the icons; then to icon spacing to adjust the horizontal and vertical spacing of the desktop icons. All these adjustments are important and will overcome the objection to smaller icons and smaller text and at the same time give you better quality graphics and text. In case you are interested, I have a 19” monitor. It is set for 1280 x 1024 pixels, 32 bit color quality and 90 Hz screen refresh rate. As you would expect at these numbers, it produces outstanding textual and graphics reproduction. Connecticut Personal Computer User's Group, February, 2004 FOR SALE: Viewsonic 17GA 17" monitor with speakers in bezel. Must see/hear this monitor to appreciate how wonderful it is. $100 or best offer. Paul, 484-7680 FOR SALE: Gateway 800C Desktop w/Monitor, 20GB Hard Drive plus Epson Stylus Color 777 printer. Less than one year old. Only $600 complete. Contact Frances in Fort Collins at (970) 224-0776. About Trading Post k-Byte runs classified ads in Trading Post for three consecutive issues. Trading Post ads up to 10 lines (or 70 words) long are free to FRPCUG members: $5 for non-members. To place an ad in Trading Post contact Rick Mattingly at 970-613-8968 or email rmatt@jymis.com. Commercial Advertising Specifications (Monthly rate) Full Page (8 1/2" X 7") $30 Half Page (3 1/4" X 7") $20 One Third Page (3" X 4") $15 Business Card (2 3/4" X 1 1/2") $ 5 We offer a substantial discount for repeat ads and continuing contracts. For additional charge, we will design your ad for you. Contact Rick Mattingly for information on this service at 970-613-8968 or email rmatt@jymis.com. |