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Front Range PC Users Group Newsletter k-Byte |
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| v. 22, n. 5/6 May/June 2005 | Users Helping Users |
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Contents 1 Computer Tuneups - Mike Morris 2 About k-Byte 4 Do You Need A Firewall? 5 What Is Shareware? - Dan Housley 6 VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) - Brian K. Lewis 10 How I Made A Movie - Chuck Gulon 11 Glass Cleaning Tips - Rick Mattingly 12 Hardware Tips - Rick Mattingly 13 Bluetooth - Joe Schmitt 14 Calendar of Events 16 June/July Calendars 18 Membership Application 19 1Disk File Management System - Now Free 20 Bluetooth Explained - Salman 22 My Essential Tools - Ray Trygstad 30 Trading Post 31 FRPCUG Contacts Computer Tuneups by Mike Morris, Front Range PC Users Group Tuneups for computers? Yes-it is astonishing to note how many analogies to vehicle tuneups there are in the literature on personal computer maintenance. Consider this: maintenance is key to the products in both industries in order to keep them reliable and to keep the performance up to specifications. So what is there to "maintain" on a personal computer? There is software maintenance; one example is keeping the anti-virus software up to date. There is hardware maintenance performed by software; one example is removing unused files from the hard drive. There is hardware maintenance; one example is removing dust from the inside of the computer. Fortunately, most computer maintenance is appropriate for (and easily done by) the general computer user at home, or by the small business owner. And all the software is already installed on the computer (or should be). It is worth emphasizing that this discussion is directed at helping the user prevent problems and failures. A list of the most common PC problems was located in the Consumer News section of the KABC Channel 7 (Los Angeles) website, five of which are listed here: 1. PC is slow 2. PC crashes 3. Windows freezes 4. Slow boot up 5. Slow shut down The fact that this list came from a TV station should convince you that these problems are so widespread that maintenance is necessary to prevent them. Not everyone agrees on the exact priority or the frequency of the following maintenance items. But there is nearly unanimous agreement that the following items should have very high priority: * Backup * Operating system updates * Virus protection software updates * Spyware protection software updates * Virus scanning for protection and, if necessary, removal * Spyware scanning and removal It may seem strange to include Backup as a maintenance function. It will not prevent any of the problems listed above. However, when (not if) a problem occurs, maintaining a backup schedule will prevent or minimize data loss and frustration. For more details on this subject, refer to the January/February 2005 issue of the Front Range PC Users Group newsletter (available on the website). Unless your computer usage is very low, a complete backup is recommended at least once a week. Under any circumstances, that interval should not exceed one month. Most software applications available for performing the backup function allow this task to be automated, if you remember to leave your computer on during the time period you have selected. Operating system upgrades (especially upgrades for the various versions of the Windows operating systems) are generally issued to correct security problems that could allow viruses or spyware (among other things) to attack your computer. Viruses, worms and other nasty critters can cause all of the problems listed above (and others). These problems are insidious; the only noticeable symptom may be that the "computer is slow." Some operating system security issues involve protection of personal information. If the appropriate upgrades are not installed, you could be the next "identity theft" victim. Microsoft does not issue upgrades every day, or even every week. But checking for upgrades every week is recommended. This maintenance task can be automated with the more recent versions of Windows (e.g., Windows XP), provided you leave your computer on, and you are willing to let Microsoft select the items to be downloaded. To keep your computer healthy, good medicine means using and updating your anti-virus and anti-spyware software at least once a week. The frequent updates are necessary because new viruses and new methods of installing spyware on your computer are discovered every week (or more often). Most anti-virus and anti-spyware software applications allow these tasks to be automated. Both viruses and spyware can cause one or more of the five problems listed above. Spyware has at least three other obnoxious characteristics: a) it can steal your personal information; b) it can be very difficult to remove; and c) you can find it difficult or impossible to use your computer if the spyware includes pop-up ads that interfere with the program you are using. You do not have to be online in order for these pop-up ads to appear. These six highest priority items form a weekly tuneup. They are easy and quick (especially if you automate them) to perform. Follow this schedule and your computer truly will cause you less stress, aggravation, and frustration-and cost you less money for repairs. The weekly tuneup needs to be considered crucial to the proper functioning of your computer. There are a number of other tuneup tasks that are useful, and the software tools are already installed on your computer. One such task is to keep the hard drive "clean." That means removing the "junk"-unwanted or unnecessary data files (not program files-that is a subject for a different article) from the hard disk. Although it is an issue of less importance today with the introduction of high capacity hard drives (20 GB, 40 GB or more), it wasn't so long ago that a hard disk could easily fill up to the point that the operating system would often crash. It is worth taking a look at all those files on your hard drive (even if it is a "high capacity" unit). Do all those music files or image files really need to be on your hard drive? They take a lot of space and an economical alternative is to transfer those files that you rarely use to a CD. The frequency of performing this task is a matter of individual judgment and how much (or how little) free space is available on your hard drive. Start with a schedule of once a month. Your experience may suggest adjusting that schedule up or down. There are other files that can be eliminated that are less obvious to the casual computer user. The Windows operating system is delivered with a software tool-called Disk Cleanup, of course-that allows you to identify and delete those files. Using Windows XP as an example, you can access this software tool in either of two ways: * Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Cleanup * Start>Control Panel>Performance and Maintenance>Pick a task>Free up space on your hard drive Either method displays a dialogue box that says the computer is calculating how much free space can be made available. This can take several minutes. Once the calculation is complete, another dialogue box presents a number of options, and how much space can be obtained if you delete those files. If you click once on each of the options, a description of the option is displayed below the list, as is an estimate of the safety of deleting those files. You select those file types you want to delete by clicking in the check box. The computer does the rest of the work. This is a task whose frequency of performance is also subject to your individual judgment, but it is a task worth doing. The "Temporary" files category can very quickly build up to over 1 GB. Schedule this task simultaneously with the manual file deletion task described above. There is another location where files accumulate that many-if not most-people forget about. When was the last time you looked at all the messages you have sent or received via email? How many of those messages have attached files? If you are using Outlook Express, you will find outgoing messages in the "Sent Items" folder. Other email applications will have different folder names, but the result is the same: an accumulation of a large quantity of files, some with large file attachments. Deleting those files can free up a remarkably large chunk of hard drive space. If it is absolutely necessary to save a message, use the "Save As" option in the File menu (referring to Outlook Express) to store it in a folder with a name that you can remember (or at least find) next week (or next month, or next year). The required frequency of this task will depend on how busy you keep that email application, but clearing out those files at least once a month is recommended. Now that all the "junk" (a new technical term-it does not imply a judgment on your choice of music or images), is removed, your hard drive is left with lots of small electronic gaps. Windows will fill those gaps as new files are saved, and will keep track of the bits and bytes of each file that are scattered over the surface of the hard disk. For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with this phenomenon, the jargon applied to this process is called fragmentation, and Windows has a software tool to correct it, called-naturally-Disk Defragmenter. There is a current debate in the technical community over the effectiveness of defragmentation when used with today's high capacity, high speed hard drives. However, in the not-so-distant past, fragmentation was considered a potential problem. The extra time required locating all the fragments of data files on a highly fragmented drive would slow down the computer. The decrease in speed would become more noticeable as the hard drive got close to maximum capacity. Since the goal of this discussion is to provide users with tools to prevent problems, and since the debate over defragmentation has yet to conclude, it is recommended that you use the defragmentation tool at least once a month. Use it immediately after you delete all the "junk" files. You can access this software tool using a similar selection sequence as described above for Disk Cleanup. The final selections are "Disk Defragmenter" from System Tools, and "Rearrange items on your hard disk to make programs run faster" from Pick a task on the Control Panel. Click on "Analyze," and after a few moments, a message will be displayed advising you whether the fragmentation level has reached a point where it is necessary to defragment the drive. You can choose to defragment the disk even if the message says it is not needed. A summary is worthwhile at this point: * There is the weekly tuneup: six critical tasks that need to be performed on a weekly basis, or perhaps more often, depending on your usage. * There is the monthly tuneup: four useful tasks that should be performed on a monthly basis, but can be done less often, depending on your usage. Both tuneup sequences are easy to perform. Neither sequence will take much time, provided you stick to a periodic schedule. The maintenance actions listed so far are not-and are not meant to be-exhaustive. They will, however, help keep your computer from major breakdowns, just as changing the oil in your car frequently can help prevent major breakdowns (you do change the oil in your car frequently, don't you?). A few words need to be added here regarding the physical cleanliness of the hardware. Heat and static electricity are mortal enemies of your computer. Keep your computer in a location that allows the fan inside the computer access to cool air. Over time, dust will build up inside the computer (no matter how good a housekeeper you are). Those dust deposits inhibit cooling. Unless you consider yourself an experienced technician, take your computer to a reliable shop (see our partners on the Front Range PC Users Group website) to have the inside of the computer cleaned. Schedule this task on an annual basis. For the experts who like working on the insides of their computer: don't forget the static suppression wrist straps. If you use a vacuum to clean out the inside of your computer, you had better be absolutely certain that the nozzle and hose you stick inside that case aren't loaded with static electricity. If your CRT monitor needs cleaning, a lint free cloth dampened with warm water is usually sufficient. If, for some reason it is particularly dirty (small children with sticky fingers, perhaps?), spray a small amount of window cleaner on a lint free cloth and rub gently on the screen. If you have a laptop or other flat panel display, follow the manufacturer's instructions. Those sticky fingers may be touching plastic, not glass. Don't forget the keyboard and mouse. After you turn off the computer, turn the keyboard upside down, or approximately so. Use a can of compressed air to clean out the dust and dirt from between the keys. To clean the mouse, turn it upside down and obtain access to the ball and rollers by twisting the holding disk on the bottom of the mouse counterclockwise. Let the ball drop into the palm of your hand. Usually, a lint free cloth dampened with warm water will be sufficient to clean both the ball and the rollers. If that doesn't work, a little rubbing alcohol on a lint free cloth should work. The recommended schedule for cleaning the keyboard and mouse: the user knows best. However, if you don't clean them at least once every couple of months, you shouldn't be surprised when weird things happen when you try to use them. To reinforce the answer at the beginning of this article: Yes! A tune up for your computer on regularly scheduled basis makes good sense technically, financially, and even psychologically. 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 ©2005 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. A firewall is a program or hardware device that watches your network and Internet connection and helps block unauthorized access to your computer. The firewall controls what data can come across the thousands of ports that your computer can use to communicate with the outside world. Think of ports as the equivalent of phone numbers for various departments within your PC, such as Web access, file sharing, video chat, and gaming. The firewall ensures that only essential ports are accessible to the outside world, closing off the others so that they can't be exploited by malware. You can choose to open ports needed by specific programs, such as games or file-sharing applications. Keep in mind that opening too many ports can reduce your security, however. Software firewalls are programs that run on your computer and watch all network traffic coming into your computer. Windows Firewall, included as part of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), is one example. Several third-party software manufacturers make add-on software firewalls as well. Hardware firewalls are built into networking devices such as routers and wireless access points. Most consumer hardware firewalls only watch traffic between the network device and the Internet, they don't block traffic between computers inside your network. Do I Really Need a Firewall? Absolutely. A system without an active firewall is vulnerable to infection by a variety of malicious programs, sometimes within minutes of connecting to the Internet. Even if you're typically very careful in your computing practices, your system can still be infected by programs that scan random Internet addresses and attempt to "slip in the back door" through open ports on your computer. A firewall is necessary to keep these random intruders from hijacking or damaging your system. Remember, though, that the firewall is only one element in a safe computing environment. You also need to follow best preventative practices: don't open unknown attachments and avoid spyware and questionable browser plug-ins. A firewall won't disable viruses and worms that are already on your system when you activate the firewall and it doesn't stop malicious e-mail attachments. For the best security, you should also run a virus checker (and keep it updated), turn on Automatic Updates, run spyware detection tools, install Web browser add-ons only from sites you have a high level of trust in, and be extremely cautious when opening e-mail attachments. How Do I Turn on the Firewall in Windows XP? If you're using Windows XP SP2, the firewall is typically turned on by default. (Some computer manufacturers and network administrators might choose to turn it off.). You can confirm its status by opening Windows Security Center: 1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Security Center. 2. If the firewall is turned off, click Recommendations. 3. Click Enable Now in the window that recommends you turn on the firewall. A second window will open confirming that the firewall is now active. Nibbles & Bits newsletter, February, 2005 by Dan Housley Shareware is software that you can try before you buy. Software developers post trial versions of their software on websites. Consumers can then download the trial version to their computer and evaluate it. If the consumer likes the software they can purchase it. Shareware is also called try before you buy. Today almost every big software company including Microsoft, Winzip, and AOL use trial versions or a form of shareware to market their software. Why is shareware better than any other marketing method? Shareware is a good way to market software. It allows consumers to evaluate an application prior to making a purchase decision. They can easily determine if it meets their business or personal needs, which usually results to a satisfied customer. In addition because shareware companies are often small they can provide personalized service that is not found in larger companies. Shareware also allows for instant gratification, there is no need to wait for a shipment. Consumers can download and use the software immediately. Freeware vs. Shareware. As you know shareware is a marketing method for software. Freeware is also a way of marketing software. However, freeware is free so the developer does not ever request any money. Shareware is free to distribute but cannot be used for an unlimited amount of time, unless the developer is paid. Freeware can be used an unlimited amount of time and can be freely distributed; payment is not required. Many developers use freeware to draw attention to their shareware applications. What is software piracy? There are several kinds of software piracy. One kind of software piracy is hacking into software and disabling the copy protection. Software pirates then distribute or sell the hacked software. The developer does not receive any money for the software the hacker distributed. This is an infringement on the developer's copyright. Another technique used by hackers is to illegally obtain a registered copy of software. Pirates purchase the software once and use it on multiple computers. Purchasing software with a stolen credit card is another form of software piracy. Unfortunately there are many kinds of software piracy that has slowed the industry's growth. In order for developers to continue to develop software and provide support the software needs to be profitable. Registration Incentives. A registration incentive is something that makes the person using the shareware version of the software want to buy. There are a number of incentives developers use to encourage users to buy. One popular registration incentive is to limit the time of the trial version. This is clever because then the user can't use the shareware version forever. It encourages them to buy the software so they can continue to use it when the trial period is over. Often shareware versions will have "grayed out" features on the menu that the consumer can see, but not use. Typically there is a pop-up windows in the software encouraging users to register in order to take advantage of the additional features. This is a popular registration method because if the person wants to do more things with the program, then they are forced to buy the registered version of the software. Another innovative registration incentive shareware developers use allows customers to receive discounts on other software once they have purchased the registered version. Developers also provide support incentives. The shareware version of software will have everything the registered version has, however, if a person buys the registered version of the software he/she will receive tech support, newsletters, and upgrades. Developers can also limit the number of times you can use the shareware version of the product. The trial version may expire after 10 uses meaning the user has to register if they wish to continue using the software. Shareware now and how the term changed. Though the meaning of the term shareware has not changed the perception of shareware has evolved since it began. At first when you had a shareware program there was a note that asked for a donation. Now you are required to pay for the registered version of the shareware program. The shareware industry has also evolved and grown into a billion dollar industry. About the Author: Dan Housley is currently a student interning with NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net developers of SMS and wireless messaging software and Software Marketing Resource http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com . by Brian K. Lewis, Ph.D., Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. www.spcug.org Are you using the Internet for your local and/or long distance service? If not, then maybe you need to read this article to find out how some computer users are saving "mucho dinero" on their telephone calls. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. There are ways to use the Internet for free phone calls, low cost phone calls (2cents per minute) or a monthly fixed rate for both local and long-distance calls. So how is it possible to transmit your voice over your Internet connection? We'll look at some of the technical aspects first. Then I can discuss some of the services that are available for you to check out further. When you use your telephone your voice is converted into electrical impulses and transmitted over copper wires to another phone. There it is converted back to sound waves. These impulses are transmitted via several switches in the telephone network. This system is referred to as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). As long as you are talking on the phone you have a constant circuit connection between the two phones. In the original PSTN system, all calls required a dedicated wire for each call. For the period of time you were on the phone you "owned" a copper wire connection between your phone and the other party. In today's PSTN, all calls are digitized and can be combined with thousands of others running over fiber optic cable between central stations. However, the connection between the two phones must remain open for the length of the call. When computer data is transmitted over phone lines or cable, it is also in digital form. However, the data is sent in packets and does not require a dedicated pathway to reach its destination. In fact, when a computer sends a stream of data packets, they may all arrive at their destination after traveling different routes. There are thousands of possible paths between any origin and any destination. In addition, packets from other origins can use any time spaces between your packets. This is a more efficient system, as a circuit does not need to be kept open. This system is referred to as packet switching. So if your e-mail is being chopped up into small packets, how does the system know what to do with them? Each packet contains an address that tells the router what its final destination is. The sending computer sends the packet off to a router and then goes on to its next operation. The router selects a path to another router and sends the packet off. This process continues to the destination computer. At the destination, the receiving computer assembles the packets based on the information contained in each packet. So what does this have to do with Internet phones? Very simple. VoIP uses the packet switching technology to transmit your call. The digitization of your voice occurs either through your sound card or a device known as an analog telephone adapter (ATA). There are also Internet phones which connect directly to a network router and handle the conversion process. The voice packets that result from these various adapters are routed over the Internet in the same way as data packets. When you make a phone call, there is always dead space when no one is talking. With the packet system, other data packets from other sources are being transmitted over the Internet making maximum use of its capacity. In the early days of VoIP sound quality was poor and the method of operation more like using a walkie-talkie. Today's equipment is vastly improved. Sound quality on many VoIP systems is the equivalent of that found in the PSTN. Depending on the system you are using, you can dial any number and your call will be routed over the Internet. In such a system, you and the party you called won't see any difference in operation or sound from that of the PSTN. So why would you be interested in using an Internet phone instead of your current local/long distance PSTN service? One big factor for many people is cost. The cost of Internet service ranges from free to $25/month (more in some cases) for unlimited calls. In addition, many of the VoIP services offer features that cost you extra through your local phone company. It is not unusual for a VoIP provider to include Caller ID, Call waiting, Call transfer, call forwarding, voicemail and three way calling as part of the basic price. Now let's look at some of the providers and their services. Skype (www.skype.com) offers a free service that allows you to connect to other Skype users. The software for this can be downloaded from their website. It took just a few minutes to install it on my computer. Once you have installed it, you need to setup a call list of other users. So you have to contact people that you call frequently and have them install the Skype software. From that point on, it becomes much like instant messaging. If the person you are calling is on-line, you can connect and talk to them. Otherwise, they have no way to know that you are calling. The reverse is also true if they want to call you. The minimum hardware you need for this are speakers connected to your sound card and a microphone. You can also use a headset with a built-in microphone. It is also advisable that you have a broadband connection, either cable or DSL. In my testing of it, once I had a connection, the call was quite clear with no background static or other problems. So what do you do if you have Skype and want to call someone who doesn't have Skype? You can get SkypeOut that allows you to call any phone number anywhere in the world for about 2cents/minute. After you install the SkypeOut software you buy credit on their Internet site which you can then use for your calls. Some reviewers have had sound problems with SkypeOut. I have not tested it. There are other free services available as well. One is Free World Dialup (www.freeworldialup.com). This is a quote from their website: "FWD allows you to make free phone calls using any broadband connection using devices that follow Internet standards. This can be a 'regular' telephone connected to a packetizer, an IP Phone or any number of free soft-phones (software for your PC or PDA)." In order to use the system you need to download and install the software. Then you obtain a phone number from FWD. The hardware you need is a SIP compatible ATA adapter that you connect to a network router that connects to your modem. You can then connect any telephone to the jack in the ATA adapter. Now you're ready to dial any FWD user anywhere in the world. However, you can not dial a regular PSTN phone from this system without purchasing time from another VoIP provider. The advantage of FWD over Skype is that your computer doesn't have to be on to receive calls. Your phone will ring just as it did when connected to the PSTN phone system. There is another advantage to FWD. This system uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standard. This allows FWD users to call others who are not member of FWD but are connected by a different SIP compatible service. Other free services currently using the SIP standard are IPTEL.org and SIPPhone.com. Skype does not adhere to the SIP standard. Now we get to the services that charge a monthly fee. These providers furnish a SIP compatible ATA adapter and in some instances the router for your telephone connection. This list includes companies like AT&T (CallVantage), Verizon (VoiceWing), Packet8, VoicePulse and Vonage. Of these, AT&T and Verizon are the most expensive. Several of these providers are preparing wireless units that will allow you to connect through any WiFi hotspot. Vonage has announced that they expect to have a wireless unit available by mid-summer 2005. That means you could make and receive call while you are on the road. Also, by taking your ATA adapter with you when you travel, connections can be made through broadband data ports in many hotels and motels. Of these providers, Vonage has been in the game longer than the others and has a strong reputation as to its quality. They have two basic plans: (1) $24.99 for unlimited calling in the U.S. and Canada, (2) $14.99 for 500 long-distance minutes. They also offer virtual phone numbers with any area code you prefer. Dialing other numbers in your area code requires just seven digits. You can add a fax line for $10 per month or toll-free numbers for $5 per month. With Vonage and these other providers, you can call any PSTN number or numbers on the FWD network. For more details on the specific services provided by these companies I would suggest you check their web sites. So what are the drawbacks to VoIP services? First, if your Internet provider has a service outage, then your phone service is also down. Second, if there is a power outage you lose your phone service unless your system has a battery backup to keep it running. Another disadvantage is that most of these services can't connect to 911. In some cases, you can call 911 after you have provided the service with location information for their files. They need this information so the system will know where to direct the call. However, the 911 operator can't see your name or address and you have to provide that information when you make the call. In spite of these disadvantages, VoIP usage is rapidly increasing. If you are interested in testing VoIP, I suggest you start with one of the free services. Try it, you may like it. by Chuck Guion, Editor Rockport Computer Users' Group, Inc. www.rcug.net Many of our club members saw Patty Beasley's movie that she made on Joe Files. She used Windows Movie Maker 2 (WMM2) to make it. I thought I would also create some movies. Patty gave me some hints on how she made her movie. One very helpful tip she gave me was to first create your movie in PowerPoint and save each slide as a JPG. You can add text, templates, etc. while you are in PowerPoint. Another way to make a movie is to use WMM 2.1. (You don't have to use PowerPoint; you can use Video Effects, Video Transitions, and add text within the program.) If you haven't downloaded XP's Service Pack 2, then you should download and install it since WMM Version 2.1 is included. Open up WMM 2.1 and make a Collection (import all of your slides from PowerPoint into the Collection). Start a New Project and drag the slides into Storybook View. Import a music file (MP3) from Windows Media Player (download Version 10 from www.microsoft.com/windows/windows media and install it) and drag it to the far left in Timeline View. You can also use a microphone to narrate your movie. But you cannot narrate and play music at the same time. You can play the Storybook and Timeline and shorten your music by moving the corner arrow to the left and cutting it off. You can add Transitions and Video Effects in the Timeline View (in WMM 2.1).You can also lengthen the time your slide stays on the screen. If you want to take a break, you can give your project a name and save it. When you are satisfied with your movie you can save it as a WMV file in My Videos or put it on a CD. The music files are large so you may want to save them on a CD. You can bring video clips into WMM 2.1 and add them to your movie. You can also take slides from Digital Video Recorders and bring them into WMM 2.1 but you may have to buy a special video card to get your Analog and Digital recorders to work with WMM 2.1. Windows Movie Maker has the usual help files but you might to go to for more help on using WMM 2.1. I have made several movies for the CAUG DigiCam SIG and have also made some on architecture, boats, and birds. WMM 2.1 is a good way to make a family movie. Gather old pictures, cards, poems, etc., scan them, and bring them into WMM 2.1. You can also record your children and grandchildren's voices and put them in the movie. The possibilities are endless. Why don't you try making a movie? It's a lot of fun! from Rick Mattingly Cleaning glass computer equipment surfaces, such as monitor screens and optical scanner glass, can be challenging. First thing to be aware of is to never use paper products, such as a paper towel, because paper products do contain tiny abrasive elements which will scratch the glass. The new commercially available micro fiber cleaning cloths are excellent for this task and represent a small investment for maintaining your equipment. Most commercial glass cleaners are also a definite no-no when it comes to glass components of computer equipment. Many, like Windex, are ammonia-based and leave streaks, as well as actually promoting static dust collection. Always try a micro fiber cloth damped with warm water first. If further cleaning is in order, try a mild glass cleaner which is not ammonia-based. Hewlett Packard suggests commercial spray cleaners such as Cinch, Spic and Span, Sparkle or Glass Plus. And never, never spray cleaner directly on the glass surface to be cleaned. Rather, lightly spray the micro fiber cloth and use the damp cloth to clean. from Rick Mattingly Often times the most valuable hardware products are the simplest. This tip (rant) addresses those humungous power conversion bricks which accompany just about every peripheral hardware device today. Plug just one of these monsters into your wall outlet or surge protector and the adjacent outlets are blocked off. Grrrrrrrr. Well, there is an inexpensive solution to this frustration. For want of a more descriptive name, this product is often called a Power Strip Liberator. The Liberator is nothing more than a super-short power extension cord which plugs into an outlet and dangles free to allow plugging in those monstrous power bricks .... leaving the adjacent outlets exposed for use! I purchased a pack of these little beauties and exposed numerous power outlets to supply my other power hungry devices. A very simple, inexpensive solution to the problem! Liberators may be purchased from numerous sources. However, one Internet and catalog source known as "Cyberguys" has a truly impressive selection of Liberator configurations to solve just about any power connection situation imaginable. Check out all the Liberator models at Cyberguys online: http://www.cyberguys.com The cost for many of the Liberator models available from Cyberguys is less than $2 each .... Down with power bricks! by Joe Schmitt, Bits & Bytes Online, Tampa Bay Computer Society www.tampa-bay.org What is this "Bluetooth" I keep hearing about, and do I need it? Whenever something like a mouse or keyboard is connected to your computer, there are protocols and standards in place so that the computer can talk to the keyboard and operate properly. The same scenario also applies to anything that connects to a computer or other electronics around your home. Your TV needs to know how the cable signal is formatted so that you get the sound and video. Bluetooth is a wireless protocol that allows electronics to communicate. Bluetooth goes beyond your computer to integrate electronics across a wide spectrum. It operates on two levels: First, that all Bluetooth devices operate on the same radio frequency and speak the same language, and secondly, that they all share the same procedures in exchanging data and verify that the data is received. That is sort of like being able to speak the language and know the customs so no one misunderstands. Bluetooth is a standard that has been developed and employed by close to 1,000 different companies. This protocol would allow you to take a cell phone, get into a car with a Bluetooth radio, and transfer the call to the stereo so your hands are left free. Later you could take that same phone and possibly transfer contact information from the phone to a computer. This is just one example. Bluetooth can be found in phones, keyboards, PDA's, and even stereo headphones. It could potentially show up anywhere when you have connected two devices with a wire, but would like to do it wirelessly. Is this something you need? Just like anything else with computers, the answer depends on whether or not it meets your needs. Do you need a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse? Not if the wires don't bother you. Could you use it to link your FDA or Pocket PC to the computer? Yes, and that might be the most likely scenario that Bluetooth would aid you in. If you are the type of person who likes portable gadgets as much as your computer, Bluetooth may be something to take a serious look into. For more information: www.bluetooth.com and www.bluetooth.org. - IMPORTANT NOTICE - FRPCUG meetings are held at the Fort Collins Senior Center. Check below for directions to the Senior Center. February General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, June 7 at 7:00 pm. Meeting Agenda 7:00 - 7:15 Announcements 7:15 - 8:00 Publishing Your Photos On The Internet - Kent Montgomery will explain how to put your photos up on the Internet for others to view. 8:00 - 8:15 Break 8:15 - 9:00 Open Forum March General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, July 5 at 7:00 pm. Meeting Agenda 7:00 - 7:15 Announcements 7:15 - 8:00 Software/Hardware Zoo - Members will present their favorite software applications and hardware items. 8:00 - 8:15 Break 8:15 - 9:00 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 in the Staff Board Room of the Fort Collins Senior Center. 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. 7 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00PM 15 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00PM 23 New Technology SIG 7:00PM July 2005 4 Independence Day 5 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00PM 13 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00PM 28 New Technology SIG 7:00PM Find Any File, Anywhere, Anytime! If you have important files stored on stacks of removable media - floppies, CDs, DVDs, removable disks - and you're constantly shuffling through them searching for a particular file, 1Disk is the solution for you. Find those important files-and versions of files-directly with 1Disk catalogs that cross-reference each file by media, file type, and path. No more inserting each piece of media and looking file-by-file for what you need. Search across all of your media in a single view, locate the file, double-click, and 1Disk prompts you for the correct media. Once inserted, 1Disk launches the file's associated application and brings up the file. You can also find your files directly from Explorer without ever opening 1Disk. All file information saved in the 1Disk database is made available from a virtual drive appearing in Explorer with drive-letter access. Use the Explorer Search command to find and open files just as you would a physical drive. You can also open files from the virtual drive directly from an application using the Open command. With 1Disk, you'll stop searching and start finding. 1Disk works with almost all standard removable media including tape, CD-R/RW, SuperDisk, Zip, Clik, Jaz disks. 1Disk gives you: Drive-letter access to any online or offline storage device Automatic cataloging of all files on all media Relief from endless shuffling of floppy disks, CDs, Jaz and Zip disks Effortless configuration of the storage devices you want to track and manage Disclaimer: With 1Disk application available now for FREE (as of Feb 7, 2005), there is no technical support provided for this product, nor is there any guarantee the application will work fully on the operating system which you are using. So you use the 1Disk application at your own risk. http://www.cosoa.com/products/1disk/ All Products: vSERV vSERV NAS Module vSERV Mgmt Console 1Disk.com 1Safe 1Safe NAS 1Disk http://www.cosoa.com/index.php by Salman This article will introduce the reader to Bluetooth technology, covering the benefits of Bluetooth and what problems it overcomes. In upcoming segments I will examine some core functionality of Bluetooth using your iPAQ. Introduction If you have a computer, you probably know the joy of organizing the miles of cable behind your computer desk. Your keyboard, mouse, monitor, printer, router, scanner, PDA cradle all contribute to cluttering up your office. Say no more! Bluetooth (which was originally created by Ericsson (http://www.ericsson.com/bluetooth/) ) is essentially a cable replacement technology. Motivations for Bluetooth Technology The notion of connecting devices (computers, peripheral, PDA's, TV, phones) has become a very challenging and complex thing. Whenever two or more devices need to communicate with each other, they have to be able to understand each other. Some questions that immediately come to mind when you have to connect multiple devices together are: Will these devices have a serial or parallel connection? What protocol have the device manufactures 'agreed' upon? Are these devices talking over a cable or are they wireless? Its fairly clear that the average home user can get confused and even overwhelmed when attempting to keep track of all these different standards and configurations. In this day in age, we need something a little more user-friendly. We can all agree that Plug-and-play made life easier when installing new hardware, why not solve the problems with device connectivity? Bluetooth technology is the answer to this very problem. Bluetooth - What is it? Bluetooth is a wireless technology that enables devices to connect point-to-point or multipoint (up to seven simultaneous connections by a single device) rather than the traditional cable link. This means that devices that have Bluetooth enabled can connect to each other in a wireless environment, no more cables! Bluetooth operates at the unlicensed 2.4 GHz range, and its usable within a range of about 30 feet (10 meters). Keep in mind that Bluetooth is not going to replace your network, its geared towards a 'personal area network'. See recommend links at the end of this article for a great comparison between Bluetooth and WiFi. Benefits of Bluetooth Bluetooth will eliminate the need for electronic products and accessories to be connected via a wired connection. Other Bluetooth compatible devices can communicate in a wireless environment and exchange files, transfer and synchronize between themselves. Yet another advantage of Bluetooth is that links can be established between groups of products at the same time, compared to the single connection limitation with cable. One of the neat features of Bluetooth devices is that they broadcast themselves to other Bluetooth enabled devices. This means that you can easily find and communicate with devices without having to manually create a connection. To eliminate the possible security risk broadcasting may pose, your iPAQ Bluetooth settings can be so that your device does not notify other devices of its existence. So you might be thinking to yourself, Bluetooth has to be expensive right? Wrong. The actual Bluetooth chip is very inexpensive and doesn't consume much power (although it is recommended to turn Bluetooth off when you are not using it). Common uses for Bluetooth So I've explained a very basic overview of what Bluetooth is, now when would I want to use it? When a Bluetooth connection is established, you can perform various tasks including sending/receiving information between devices. Some of the most common uses include: Exchanging contacts, business cards, calendar items and tasks File transferring With a Bluetooth enabled phone you can use it as a wireless modem for your iPAQ Send a document to a Bluetooth printer Create a PAN (personal area network) Connect to a Bluetooth WLANs (wireless local area network ) Bluetooth related Terminology Authentication - Must verify a numeric passkey before a connection or activity can be completed Authorization - must approve a connection or activity before it can be completed Bluetooth neighborhood (or device group) - collection of Bluetooth devices Bonding (paired devices) - create a trusted connection between your device and another. Once a bond is created, the two devices become paired. A trusted device does not require authentication or authorization Device address - unique electronic address of a Bluetooth device Device discovery - location and recognition of another Bluetooth device Device name - Name that a Bluetooth device provides when discovered by another device Encryption - method of protecting data Link key - Code used to securely pair devices Passkey - code you enter to authenticate connections or activities requested by other devices Personal Information Manager (PIM) - collection of applications used to manage daily business tasks (e.g., Contacts, Tasks and the Calendar) Profiles - Collection of Bluetooth settings Service Discovery - Determine which application you have in common with other devices I hope this quick overview of Bluetooth was helpful to you. We defined Bluetooth and then went on to discuss the motivations behind its creation. I also went over the limitations of cables and how Bluetooth overcomes these drawbacks. Look for upcoming segments on how you can incorporate this cool tehchology with your iPAQ. Recommend Links: The official Bluetooth Website (http://www.bluetooth.com/index.asp) PaloWireless http://www.palowireless.com/bluetooth/ Bluetooth versus WiFi (http://www.ebrainhosting.biz/english/news3.html) by Ray Trygstad 1st Page 2000 A full-powered, Homesite-like HTML editor that lets you choose your own work environment: http://www.evrsoft.com/ Ad-Aware SE Personal Pulls the plug on adware and spyware; scans your system--including removable drives--for the most common types of advertising spyware and safely removes offending software. http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ Adobe Acrobat Reader Free software for viewing and printing Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files on all major hardware and operating system platforms. http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html Aida32 Enterprise Edition A professional system information, diagnostics and benchmarking program running on Win32 platforms. Download at http://www.majorgeeks.com/download181.html AntiVir - Personal Edition An anti-virus solution offering effective protection against computer viruses; totally free for individual and private use on a single PC-workstation. http://www.free-av.com/ Apache HTTP Server 2.0.48 An open-source HTTP (Web) server for modern operating systems including UNIX, Linux, OS X and Windows, Apache provides a secure, efficient and extensible server in sync with the current HTTP standards. http://httpd.apache.org/ Audacity 1.2.0 A free audio editor. You can record sounds, play sounds, import and export WAV, AIFF, and MP3 files, and more. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ avast! Virus Cleaner A free virus & worm removal tool, avast! Virus Cleaner is available free for every user. http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_cleaner.html BartPE v3.0.32 Helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD. It provides you with a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Requires a Windows XP or 2003 installation/setup CD for CD creation. http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder Belarc Advisor A free personal PC Audit tool, it builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, including Microsoft Hotfixes, and displays the results in your Web browser. http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html BKReplaceEm 2.0 A freeware string-replacing utility for Windows; a multi-file, multi-line, multi-instance text search-and-replace program; very powerful. http://www.orbit.org/replace/ CD Burner XP 2.2.8 A freeware CD/DVD-Writer program that can write CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs. http://www.cdburnerxp.se/index.php CutePDF Writer Creating a PDF with this free software couldn't be easier. All you have to do is select Print from any application, choose CutePDF Printer, and the software saves your new PDF to your hard drive. Requires installation of a PostScript interpreter such as GhostScriptPSconverter. http://www.acrosoftware.com/ Daemon Tools Allows you to mount ISO images of CDs and DVDs as virtual CD-ROM drives. http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/portal/portal.php dbSuite Admin Tool for MySQL 1.2 An integrated environment to administer your MySQL database servers and automatically generate PHP code for input forms, edit forms, list, etc. from your table definitions. Requires MySQL and PHP. http://www.dbsuite.com/dbsuite/ Dia 0.94 A diagram creation program designed to be much like the commercial Windows program 'Visio'. http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/ DivX 5.1.1 Installs the latest DivX video codec for Windows Media Player as well as a very capable stand-alone DivX video player. DivX 5.1.1 is freeware; DivX Player 2.5.2 is adware. http://www.divx.com/ ExactAudioCopy 0.95pb5 EAC is a new audio grabber for CD-ROM drives (CD ripper). http://www.ExactAudioCopy.de/ Filelink Gives Windows users the common Unix-like ability to give a single file multiple names. http://www.gdps.dk/products/freeware.shtml FileZilla FileZilla is a fast graphical FTP client for Windows with a lot of features including support for secure FTP. http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/ FlasKMPEG A free, easy to use video conversion software utility which converts digital video in the MPEG format to other formats. http://www.flaskmpeg.net/ Flashplayer 7 Tool for viewing rich Internet content and applications in the popular Flash format. http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/ Gimp 2.0.4 The GNU Image Manipulation Program, a freely distributed graphics editing application. http://www2.arnes.si/~sopjsimo/gimp/ Google Toolbar Increases your ability to find information from anywhere on the web and takes only seconds to install. http://toolbar.google.com/ GuildFTPd / Download/Install GuildFTPd.exe An FTP server for the Windows operating system with many features and support of plug-ins for feature extensions. http://www.guildftpd.com/ hMailServer 3.2.4 A free, open source e-mail server for Microsoft Windows with support for virtual domains, distribution lists, ClamAV, aliases, distributed domains and much more. http://www.hmailserver.com/ IrfanView A very fast, small, compact and innovative freeware graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP. http://www.irfanview.com/ Java2 Run-Time Environment Run-time environment for Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE). http://java.sun.com/j2se/ Kerio Personal Firewall 4 A standard bi-directional stateful packet inspection firewall. http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html Mozilla FireFox 1.0 Pre Release A redesign of the Mozilla browser component designed to be cross-platform and written to be as small and fast as possible while retaining full functionality. http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ Mozilla Thunderbird 0.7 E-mail and newsgroup client with IMAP/POP support, support for HTML mail, labels, quick search, smart address book, return receipts, advanced message filtering, LDAP address completion, import tools, powerful search, and the ability to manage multiple e-mail and newsgroup accounts. http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/ MySQL 4.0 The world's most widely used open source database; extremely fast and easy to customize. http://www.mysql.com/ Nvu A complete WYSIWYG Web Authoring System based on Mozilla/Netscape Composer, this program adds site management tools and other new capabilities. http://www.nvu.com/ OpenOffice.Org 1.1 The leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through an XML-based file format; opens most major formats such as MS Office almost flawlessly and saves to PDF and Flash; has comprehensive help and spellchecking in 15 languages. http://www.openoffice.org/ OpenSSH for Windows 3.8.1p1 A Windows port of the popular OpenSSH server suite that includes ssh, scp, and sftp (clients and servers). http://sshwindows.sourceforge.net/ PdfEdit995 6.73 Create PDF files from any application by simply selecting the print command; preview documents, combine files, change page orientation, add Confidential stamps, create PDF stationery, adjust image resolution, summarize documents, convert PDFs to several image file formats, create batch print jobs from Microsoft Office applications, and choose from several file-naming methods. http://www.software995.com/ Photocopier / Download/Install Photocopier.exe Combine your scanner and a printer into a photocopy machine: put a document on your scanner's glass, start Photocopier, press the Copy button and after a few moments your printer produces a copy of the document. http://www.nicocuppen.com/cphome.html php 5.0.1 A widely-used Open Source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. http://www.php.net/ phpMyAdmin / Download/Install phpMyAdmin-2.6.0-alpha2.exe phpMyAdmin is a tool written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the Web. http://www.phpmyadmin.net/ Pixia 3.0be / Download/Install Pixia30be.exe Pixia is a painting tool created exclusively for full color graphics. Originally written in Japanese (this is the English version) so user interface is sometimes a little quirky. http://park18.wakwak.com/~pixia/ PTFonts (Karen's Font Explorer) Can print a complete specimen (sample of all characters in normal, bold, italic and bold + italic) for any single font, or for all fonts supported by a device. Requires Visual Basic 6 Runtime. http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptfonts.asp PuTTY 0.54 A free implementation of Telnet and SSH (SecureSHell) for Win32 platforms, along with an xterm terminal emulator. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ QuickTime An easy-to-use application for playing, interacting with, or viewing any video, audio, VR, or graphics file that is compatible with QuickTime, which includes MPEG-4, the new standard for digital media http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/ RagTime Solo Free professional business publishing software. You don't create text or tables; you create documents. http://www.ragtime-online.com/ RealOne Player V2 GOLD Free version of RealOne Player lets you play the latest media formats. http://home.real.com/ SamSpade 1.14 Sam Spade for Windows is a network query tool which does ping, traceroute, dig, NSlookup and much more. http://www.samspade.org/ SimpleOCR / Download/Install SimpleOCR.exe Use this free application to easily and accurately scan and convert paper documents into editable electronic text for use in any application including Word and WordPerfect, with optical character recognition up to 99% accurate. http://www.simpleocr.com/ SmartFTP Allows you to transfer files across the Internet; at features an Explorer-like interface that is fully customizable and supports drag-and-drop functions. http://www.smartftp.com/ Space Monger A tool for keeping track of the free space on your computer. Just open it and select what hard drive you want to examine, and it provides a to-scale representation of your hard drive's contents. http://www.werkema.com/software/spacemonger.html Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3 Tool to detect, remove and block spyware of different kinds from your computer. http://security.kolla.de/ Startup Control Panel A control panel applet that allows you to easily configure which programs run when your computer starts. http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml StuffIt Expander Easily expands and decodes all those compressed files you download from the Web or receive in your email; a must-have to expand Macintosh stuffit and binhex files. http://www.stuffit.com/expander/ SwShell A genuinely useful Windows shell extension; from the Windows context menu (seen when you right-click on a file), SwShell allows you to open any file with notepad, to search for particular string within files, to set the file date and time, and to set file attributes. http://www.sw4you.com/swshell.php3 Tarma Installer 2.77.1590 Creates fast, compact, and full-featured Windows-compliant software installers for Microsoft Windows platforms, with a small distribution size, a straightforward and clean user interface, and smart install and uninstall behavior--all with NO scripting. http://www.tarma.com/ TextPad 4.72 A powerful, general purpose editor for plain text files. Easy to use, with all the features a power user requires. Shareware; registration about $26.60. http://www.textpad.com/ TightVNC 1.2.9 A free remote control package which allows you to see the desktop of a remote machine and control it with your local mouse and keyboard, just like you would do it sitting in the front of that computer. http://www.tightvnc.com/ TreePad Lite TreePad is an award-winning Personal Information Manager (PIM) / Database and Word Processor. http://www.treepad.com/ Trillian Trillian is a skinnable, interoperable instant messaging client. Grab the best IM client available on the Internet today! http://www.trillian.cc/products/overview_basic.php TUGZip 3 A Windows freeware archiving utility; through an easy to use application interface and Windows Explorer integration it supports ZIP, 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, BZ2, CAB, CPIO, DEB, GCA, GZ, IMP, LHA (LZH), LIB, RAR, RPM, SQX, TAR, TGZ, TBZ, TAZ, YZ1 and ZOO archives as well as BIN, C2D, IMG, ISO and NRG disc-images, and will create 7-ZIP, BZ2, CAB, LHA (LZH), SQX, TAR, TGZ, YZ1 and ZIP archives. http://www.tugzip.com/ WinAmp 5.01 Full-featured MP3 and media player. http://www.winamp.com/ WinSCP 3.6.8 An open source SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) and SCP (Secure CoPy) client for Windows using SSH (Secure SHell). http://winscp.sourceforge.net/ XatShow Freeware Edition includes everything you need to compress your existing photos to make stunning slide shows and screen savers. http://www.xat.com/xatshow/ xplorer² lite / Download/Install xplorer2_lite_setup.exe All the shell goodies from Windows Explorer ®?? with none of the hassle, plus all the features you would expect from a powerful dual-pane file manager. http://www.netez.com/xplorer2/x2lite.htm X-Setup Pro 6.5 / Download/Install dcXSP-Setup-EN.exe X-Setup Pro is the most complete "hacker" ever available: nearly 1.500 hidden Windows, Internet Expolorer and Microsoft Office functions can be controlled with some simple button clicks. http://www.x-setup.net/ ZipGenius 5.51 The file compression utility you were searching for: free and easy to use, and it supports more than 20 formats of compressed archives, inlcuded RAR, ARJ, ACE, CAB, SQX and the excellent 7-zip; also includes an FTP Client application and the ability to create self-extracting (exe) zip files. It also accepts plug-ins. http://www.zipgenius.it/index_eng.htm Thanks to LangaList newsletter: http://langa.com/ewsletters/2004/2004-10-21.htm 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. |
