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249 East Vermont Ave
Escondido, CA 92025
-
UNDER THE HOOD
AT THIS MONTHS' MEETING
8EFTEM:mEIl..
7:f)f) V.M.
The ()ct()ber- meetlnQ
was Sf) Q{)()dIt has run
()ver- Int€) Sept. We will
finish disC"ssi()ns ()n V()rtablQ
Music Vlayen and f'lash Mem()r-y
[)ev~ces.Vlus meet the ~()minees
ful" the next electi()n ..
r-------I In our 26th year of publication
September 2005
Volume XXVI No.9
"""'"...,.",~~
Dri~~liPt
UCHUG me, NEWSLETTER
ARTHUR W GRESHAM
249 EAST VERMONT AVE.
ESCONDIDO.
CA 92025
121112005 .
E:Man us at: U0-RJG@JUN()'COM and go to ...
http://www.uchug.org for more info.
~
=-
Meeting Place: San Diego County Education Center, 6401 Linda Vista Road, September 7,2005 starting at 7:00 PM. InRoom 401
PAGE
2
SEPTEMBER
2005
DRIVE
LIGHT
(Continuedfrom page 14) Reports
interest forms by the remaining 011'1cers will be postponed until Al can
next attend. Greg agreed to chair the
nominating committee for officers for
the next board term, with Virginia and
Al also serving on the committee. All
officers agreed to stand for reelection,
with Art desiring to step down as editor when a replacement can be found.
UCHUG NEWSLETTER
The P~ez' Co~~e~
by c;•.e9 Skalka
[email protected]
Keeping Your Cool
August is typically one of the hottest
months in San Diego. I'm used to sitting
in an air conditioned office or lab Monday through Friday during the day, so the
weekend mid-day heat at home is a bit
unexpected for me. I don't have air conditioning at home, as there are probably
only a few weeks a year when we really
find it objectionable without it. This may
be one of those weeks.
When the temperature is so high that humans are uncomfortable, it is also probably uncomfortable for computers. And
faster processors, with more drives and
peripherals means more heat generated in
the computer case. All that heat has to
(and had better) go somewhere! I'm in an
upstairs room, with all the computer gear
packed in one small comer. My computer
power supply fan is throwing out a fair
amount of heat, but the case, overall, is
not too hot. The fan noise in the case
seems loader than normal, however. I
opened up the case by removing one side,
and the fan noise started to drop soon
afterwards. One of the temperaturecontrolled fans, probably on the processor heat sink, was able to slow down due
to the cooler air coming in from the open
side. Over a few minutes, I could tell that
the fan speed was continuing to drop.
Running with an open case in these hot
days might be good idea for cooling,
though it increases the risk of foreign
objects getting into the case and damaging something. Spilling that cool drink on
the outside of the case is nothing compared to dumping some of your beverage
on the inside.
I have a total of five fans in my computer
case, most of which I've added myself.
The power supply fan pulls air from the
inside of the case, over the power supply
electronics and blows it out the back (1)1'
the case. The processor heat sink has a
fan on top of it, which pulls air in from
the middle of the case and blows it down
over the heat sink and processor. I added
a fan to the back of the case to blow cool
air in from the outside. I also added two
the PREZ' Comer
(Continued
011
page 4)
New Business Greg reported that
Smart Computing could present to our
group again in this fall or next spring,
if the group is interested, He detailed
their offer of additional free subscriptions available. He also told of a couple of additional Microsoft Mindshare
software packages remaining, which
could be used as door prizes or in our
December auction. Some ways to
make the editor's job easier were also
discussed, including the possibility of
an online newsletter.
The meeting adjourned at 9:47 PM.
2004 = UCHUG = 2005
EXECUTIVE BOARD
President ..
YP
.
Secretary .
Treasurer. .
WebMaster
Editor .....
Membership.
O-a-L.
.
O-a-L.
.
O-a-L.
.
O-a-L.
.
Greg Skalka
Al Brengle
Ray Ferbrache
Mike Trempe
Bob and Jackie Woods
Art Gresham
Virginia Faber
Abbott Brownell
David Marston
Greg Wauson
Sandy Shapiro
858.484-7024
619.588.0674
619.275-2718
619.283-3543
858.486-4485
858.354-6939
619.795-0365
619.698-1506
858.454-2341
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
1editor [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
PAGE 14
SEPTEMBER
DRIVE LIGHT
PAGE
3
...
IJ:2
V
oard Meeting, ' "
August 17,20Q5
The meeting was called to order at the
home of Virginia Faber at 7:32 Plvlby
President Greg Skalka. Also in attendance were Bob Woods,DavidMarston, Mike Trempe, Virginia Faber and
Sandy Shapiro. Both Al Brengle and
Abbott Brownell called in to the meeting at separate times to participate.
Reports:
President: Greg discussed themeeting
agenda he included with the board
meeting announcement, which was an
idea he got from a workshop at the APCUGSWUGc.
Secretary: Ray was not present. Greg
would take minutes tor the newsletter.
Treasurer: Mike reported our treasury
is in good shape with the addition of
the funds returned to us by SDCS. He
reported that we need to keep our records tor at least seven years per IRS
'Ray J'erbracfie
Membership: Virginia reported approximately 57 members,
Greg Skalka, acting for Secretary Ray
Ferbrache
'
Vice-President: AI called in and reported that he received three fairly new
computers that were donated to the
group, After cleansing thehard drives,
they can be used for a couple of presentations (perhaps installing hard
drives and networking?) and perhaps
finally used as a door prize or raffle/
auction item.
Secretary's
Reports
regulations. He attended the treasurers
workshop session at the APCUG
SWUCG.
(Continued from page 3) Se~rcJl
Editor: Art was on vacation and not
present. His deadline should be the
weekend of August 27.
Webmaster: Bob reported the web
hosting change is complete, and gave
Mike the receipts tor web hosting and
domain name renewal.
Future Programs: In September,
Greg would continue the presentation
on MP3 and Flash drives. The slate of
candidates for the next board term is
also due to be presented to the membership.
October, a possible presentation on
installing hard drives and a discussion
on backups was suggested. The board
elections will also be held at that meetmg.
The November meeting could involve
networking. David Marston also offered to provide a 1/2 meeting presentation in October or November on a
'computer on a stick' (refer to fingergear.com).
The December meeting will be our
traditional holiday party 1 auction 1
drawing. All will be held in room 401.
Old Business Greg agreed to draft a
letter to SDCS for receipt of our funds
fr01~1them. The signing of cont1ict of
.._--_._---------
[email protected]
G
eneral Meeting
August 3, 2005
Greg Skalka, acting tor Secretary Ray
Ferbrache The meeting was held in
Room 401 of the San.Diego County
Office of Education. President Greg
Skalka opened the meeting at 7 PM
with some announcements concerning
the APCUG Southwest User Group
Conference to be held the following
weekend, and the group's receiving
nonprofit status from the state Franchise Tax Board. Following that, Webmaster Bob Woods talked about some
of the new items on the UCHUG web
site.
Program
The first presentation of the evening
was by Greg Skalka on refilling ink jet
printer cartridges. Greg told of his
problems years ago in refilling HP
printer cartridges. He then talked about
his recent success in refilling his
'
printer cartridges, using a kitpurchased from Costco. He felt it was key
that the kit specified that it would till
the specific HP cartridges he used. He
used photos he took to go through the
process of refilling both black and
color cartridges, and told of his error
in using photo ink in a regular color
cartridge (it still seemed to work tine).
.TackieWoods spoke brieflyabout purchasing refilled ink cartridges, a low
cost alternative to.refilling for non-HP
printers.
The second presentation was by Greg
Skalka and Bob & .TackieWoods on
MP3 music files and players. Greg
went into a general explanation of
compressed audio tiles, briet1y discussing formats and different levels of
compression, as well as digital rights
management. Greg, Bob and .Tackie
then discussed portable music players.
Since the meeting time was running
short, Greg asked the group if it was
interested in a continuation of this
presentation at the next general meeting, which the grpuP. was' in favor of.
The discussion on Flash memory devices was also postponed until the
September general meeting, The meeting ended at 9 PM.
Reports (Cantin lied
all
page 14)
PAGE
4
SEPTEMBER
2005
The computer itself is only part of the
heat generating problem. My little computer comer has many other things heating the room. The CRT monitor, router,
switch, cable modem, network hard drive,
USB hard drive, printer, scanner and two
uninterruptable power supplies all contribute to local heating in the room. I've
To test the cooling effect of an open case,
occasionally suspected my router may be
I closed it' up again and rebooted my comgetting too hot at times, causing hiccups
puter. I went to the BIOS screen: that
on my home network. It is a Linksys
showed motherboard voltages, CPU temrouter, and has a grid of holes in top and
perature and fan speed. After running
bottom of the plastic case. It has little feet
closed up for 10 minutes, _----------•••••on each comer, so that
the CPU temperature was
removing the case side
the underside is ele58 degrees C or 136 dedropped the CPU temvated above the shelf it
grees F, and the CPU fan
perature five degrees ..
sits on by about half an
speed was 4800 rpm. I
inch. This should alremoved the case side
low hot air to exit the
panel and almost immediately the fan
top holes and draw cool air in the bottom
speed started to drop. After a minute, the
ones, cooling by convection. This cooling
CPU temperature was down to 55 C or
method was defeated a bit when I set a
131 F, and the fan speed was now 3300
five-port switch on top ofthe router, parrpm. Just removing the case side dropped
tially covering the vent holes.
the CPU temperature five degrees F and
reduced the fan speed by one third!
I've had a few periods where my home
network has repeatedly lost access to the
I've noticed that Fry's now carries a numInternet. Resetting the router by power
ber of cases with fans mounted in the side
cycle always fixed it, but it often would
panels above the CPU fan, presumably to
reoccur several times in a day. I could
blow cool outside air on the top ofthe
feel heat on the switch, so pushed it back
heat sink. A friend of mine modified his
off the router, and that seemed to decrease
case to help cool the processor in a simithe frequency of occurrence. It seemed to
lar way, using parts from Home Depot.
happen most often in the afternoon,
He cut a circular hole about four inches in probably when the weather was hot. I
diameter in the left side panel of his case,
bought a fan to place on top of the router
with the hole located right above the
to draw air through it, but by that time the
processor and heat sink. He mounted a
Internet connection was behaving. My
circular shower t100r drain from Home
son was complaining about Internet acDepot in the case panel opening, then
cess and how he have to reset the router
glued a 4" to 3" diameter plastic pipe remultiple times yesterday, so I ought to try
ducer to the drain. With a little cutting,
the fan approach now, but I never got a
the reducer sat right above the processor
'wall wart' set up to power it. By the time
heat sink fan, so it could draw cool air
I get parts for that, it will probably have
from the outside through the drain and
cooled off here in San Diego.
reducer, rather than warm inside air.
Maybe I'll have to give that mod a try.
APCUG Southwest User Group Conference
the PREZ' Comer
(Continuedfrom page 2)
fans in the front to blow back over the
two hard drives. They pull a slight
amount of cool air in through the front,
but mostly circulate air in the case. There
are a fair number of small vent holes in
the lower back and sides of my case.
------------------------------
DRIVE LIGHT
PAGE
13
network without the consent of the
owner, despite the fact that studies
have indicated that about 80% of all
private wireless networks, both workplace and home based, are not adequately protected, and can easily be
picked up and accessed by anyone who
wants access. A popular hacker method
of gaining "free" broadband internet
access is driving around town with a
notebook computer with 802.11 hardware, and logging the wireless networks found, with those same networks often broadcasting the SSID
necessary for access. This practice is
called "wardriving". In major cities,
marks are drawn on sidewalks and the
outside walls of buildings in a similar
In addition to the free sites, there are
escapade, "warchalking" where SSID's
many thousands of publicly accessible and other relevant information is writbut commercial (fee based) hotspots,
ten for all to see, and access. Locally,
often in coffee shops, restaurants, hoin a security demonstration, a security
tels, bookstores, some airport terminal consultant drove around the business
areas, and other locations. These hotdistrict of town, and logged hundreds
spots either require a subscription to a of wireless networks, 80% of which
service, such as a cellular phone comwere easily accessible, as they were
pany or other third party, or a daily or
not properly secured. These included
hourly fee for access. Generally, since such sensitive locations as banks, law
these pay services require some type of offices, retail stores, medical facilities,
access code, they are slightly more se- and other choice locations for hackers
cure than the free public sites, but are
to penetrate.
still usually accessible to a hacker with
commonly available but illicit softUse the .Twiresites to find wireless acware. Again, it is a good practice not to cess, as I do, but be totally aware of the
type any sensitive personal information risk and security implications of broadwhile on a publicly accessible wireless casting critical information. There are a
network. Some ofthe commercial hot- variety of hardware and software utilispots offer "WEP", or wireless encryp- ties that can be utilized to harden wiretion protocol, which makes it more dif- less access, and some of those will be
ficult for unwelcome third parties to
discussed in a future column.
listen in on internet communications,
There is no restriction against any non-profit
but the methods for cracking WEP
group using this article as long as it is kept
have been widely published, and are
in context with proper credit given the aunow only considered to provide marthor. The Editorial Committee of the Assoginal security.
ciation of Personal Computer User Groups
lic sites is the SSID of the wireless
host and appropriate hardware; the
Jwire sites list the SSID's ofthe public
sites. When the wireless access on the
notebook computer is activated, the
wireless networks within range can be
identified, and if accessible, the SSID
can be entered, and connections established. It is important that from a personal security standpoint, these public
connections are not often encrypted,
and can be "sniffed" or picked up by
anyone with suitable equipment; sensitive information, passwords, banking,
and other critical information should
never be sent on an insecure public
network.
One warning about wireless internet
access; it is illegal to access a wireless
----
---------------
(APCUG), an international organization of
which this group is a member, brings this
article to you.
PAGE
12
SEPTEMBER
DRIVE
Wi- Fi Wireless Internet and Network Availability
I
By Ira Wilsker, APCUG Director; Columnist,
The Examiner, Beaumont TX: Radio Show
Host
access is available enroute, or at my destination.
Jwire.com is one of the leading interactive directories of publicly available wireless internet locations, typically using one
of the industry standard 802.11 protocols.
Standardization, as well as substantial
downward compatibility, has ensured that
Recently, one of my daughters called me
almost all computers equipped with
from a major city, and asked me where
802.11 type wireless internet hardware
she could find some free "hotspots" or
can
effectively communicate at broadwireless "Wi-Fi" locations where she
could get free broadband wireless internet band speeds. As I type this, .Twireis listing almost 70,000 public access wireless
access. She gave me her street address,
hotspots
around the world. The Intel comand within moments I found several
panion
site
lists almost 30,000 wireless
nearby locations where she could access
hotspots
in
the U.S., and about 40,000
the internet for free using the wireless
international wireless hotspots. According
"802.11 b" PCMCIA card she had with
to the Intel site, the top U.S. cities for
her notebook computer. She told me
public
wireless are New York City with
which hotspot she selected, and I gave her
over
550
public access locations, folthe "SSID", or "Service Set Identifier'va
lowed
by
Chicago (434 public wireless
simple code, usually a name, that identilocations), San Francisco (412), and Seatties a local hotspot.
tle (320). Texas is well represented in the
top
10 most "unwired" cities with 309
I recently purchased a new notebook
public
hotspots in Houston, 250 in Auscomputer for another daughter, and this
tin, and 192 in Dallas. California is listed
computer came with an Intel Centrino
by Intel as the state with the most public
chipset, which provided integral wireless
access with over 5000 locations, followed
internet access, where ever available,
by
Texas with almost 2000 hotspots,
whether at home or on the road. As she
Florida
with about 1800, and New York
travels around town, at school, or away
with over 1600 public hotspots. It should
from home, she can likely access the
be emphasized that these numbers are
internet at high speeds.
only the wireless sites that allow public
access, either for free (sometimes with
I travel extensively, and always take my
some strings attached) or for a fee, and
notebook computer with me, as I often
does not include the millions of sites that
find it necessary to check my email, find
restaurants, or locate other information on are private wireless networks. The listing
also does not include many of the hotel
the internet. Through experience, I have
chains that offer free wireless access to
found that many hotels, restaurants, airregistered guests.
ports, and other locations offer wireless
broadband internet access either for a fee,
Many of the free sites listed are local resor for free. Now before I leave home, I
taurants, some hotels, many airport termicheck a website www.jwire.com. or its
nals, RV parks, and other locations. All it
twin sister site supported by Intel, intel.
take's to access these totally free and pubiwire.com to determine what wireless
WEBSITES:
http://www.jiwire.com
http://intel.jiwire.com
http://wwJv.wi-fihotspotlist.com
!
r
I
I
LIGHT
PAGE
5
choose from. There were a couple of
sessions where I had to make some
tough choices on which I would attend.
For those members that didn't go to the
conference here in San Diego the first
weekend in August - why not? We had
thirteen attend as UCHUG members,
and I recognized a number of other
members or former members attending
through aftiliation with other local user
groups. This was my third consecutive
year attending, and I think it was probably the best yet. They had close to 350
attendees, up a bit from last year. This
year's new venue at the Town and
Country Hotel in Mission Valley
worked well. For the $40 early registration fee, you received six tasty meals
accompanied by interesting computer
presentations, almost a full day of user
group and computer-related workshops
and plenty of chances to win great
prizes. I believe almost every one of
our members attending won a prize in
addition to the great items stuffed into
our welcome bags.
The workshops were held by officers of
other user groups and outside vendors.
In addition to a number of topics related to running user groups, the workshops included sessions on creating
personal webpages, organizing photos,
printer refills, inkj et printing, backup
approaches and Internet security. Our
own Gini Pederson was one of the presenters in the Community Service
workshop. Sorry Gini; I couldn't make
your workshop as I attended the one on
'Growing Your User Group' at the
same time.
Free wireless Internet access was also
provided in the convention area of the
hotel during the conference. I brought
my laptop on Saturday, but with all the
activities, there was barely enough
down time to try it.
All ofthe meal presentations I attended
were excellent (I
Our treasurer, Mike
was not able to at- -----------••••.••Trempe, won a free regtend the Sunday
..• I was so impressed by
istration to the APCUG
breakfast presentathe Pinnical Studio 9 video Annual Conference
tion put on by
editing software that I
2006 in Las Vegas in
Corel). I was so
bought a copy ( when it
January. I'll be interimpressed by the
was on sale with rebate at ested in his report on
Pinnacle Studio 9
how it compares to our
video editing softFry's of course)
own San Diego conferware demonstrated ••••----------•••••.•ence. The Las Vegas
at the Saturday breakfast in conjunction
with Family History DVD that I bought
a copy last week (when it was on sale
with rebate at Fry's, of course). Other
meal presentations were put on by
Smart Computing Magazine, Intel,
CompUSA and Microsoft.
conference will be held on a Monday
through Thursday at the Stardust Hotel,
and is $75 (conference only, lodging
not included) if you register by October
17. Any UCHUG member may attend.
Since it is during the week, I doubt I
will be able to attend, but it would be
great if we could have a sizable
UCHUG presence there.
The workshops included four sessions
on Saturday and two on Sunday. Each
session but one had four topics to
---
fjreg
-
..
..
--------------
PAGE
6
SEPTEMBER
2005
SBC
(The SonnofaBitch Company?)
13'1Sanay Shapiro
[email protected]
DRIVE
LIGHT
tions with instant button pushes; Zipit
conversations are selected from a popup scrollable buddy list, slightly less
convenient. If you're switching among
conversations, be careful to send messages to the person you intend!
r
I came back from vacation and found
whisper OS/2, I just told her I had
that my DSL service was down. This
Windows XP running and ready to go.
is a catastrophe that ranks right up
I can't remember all the steps she had
there with earthquakes, fires and
me go through, but when I got to a
floods, My life went on hold while I
window that said "connect," she asked
tried to figure out what was wrong.
me about the user name and password.
I started the troubleshooting by turn-
Anna told me to add the domain
ing off the DSL modem and the
name, "@pacbell.net" to the user
router, and then turning them back on
name, and then connect -- which now
again. When that didn't work, I
worked.
IMfree supports only AOL Instant Messenger (AIM); Zipit supports AIM,
MSN, and Yahoo. IMfree supports chat
rooms and has t1exible/powerful parental controls; Zipit only supports instant
messaging and lacks such controls. IMfree conversations are private, not
shared with the base PC, unless the 1M
account is also logged on there. A
screen name can't be logged on to Zipit
and a PC at the same time so Zipit dialogues are private.
checked each computer in the house
to see if at least one was getting
"I usually just use the username and
through. Finally I removed the router
password without the domain name,"
and connected the DSL modem di-
I said, "Is this something new?"
rectly to a Windows computer. When
I still could not connect to the inter-
Anna explained that they had changed
net, I bit the bullet and called SBC
the login procedure for security rea-
Yahoo service.
sons.
I waded, and waited, through the vari-
"How come no one told me?" I
ous menus and finally found myself
whined.
talking to Anna. After asking me
many questions, she put me on hold
"I apologize for that," Anna said.
and did some checking. Anna then
came back on the line:
I checked with some other DSL users
who said they had had similar experi-
"Are you using Windows or Macin-
ences. SBC changed their procedures,
tosh?" she asked.
never notified me, and I wasted a half
a day -- that company is a Sono-
I was ready for her. I didn't even
faBitch.
Both devices were impressively simple
to install. Each has a clear manual,
worth reading for learning features and
many customization options (alert
sounds, display settings, etc.). Neither
screen is backlit; they're both reasonably
easy to read in nonnallighting. Zipit's
lid-mounted screen is easy to angle for
best viewing.
Both powerful units share and can modify buddy lists (but Zipit can't create a
screen name; you must have or visit a
PC for that). On both, idle buddies are
t1agged and you're notified by tone and
visual indicator if a message arrives
from a conversation not currently displayed.
Zipit comes in many tasty colors and
promises automatic updates adding features such as streaming music.
PAGE 11
There's a great bottom line to this story:
I liked both these low-cost devices and
they're different enough to tit a variety
of needs. So have fun with your 1M,
wherever your keyboard and handheld
may take you.
Company: Motorola
Product: Motorola Personal Instant
Messenger Mx240 (IMfree)
Price: $50 or less online -- shop around!
URL: broadband.motorola.coml
consumers/products/imfreel
Company: Aeronix Consumer Media
Systems
Product: Zipit Wireless Messenger
Price: $100
URL: www.zipitwireless.com
This article originated on AARP's Computers
and Technology Web site, www.aarp.org/
computers, and is copyrighted by AARP. All
rights are reserved; it may be reproduced,
downloaded, disseminated, or transferred, for
single use, or by nonprofit organizations for
educational purposes, with attribution to
AARP. It should be unchanged and this paragraph included. Please e-mail Gabe Goldberg
at [email protected]
when you use it, or·
for permission to excerpt or condense.
There is no restriction against any non-profit
group using this article as long as it is kept in
context with proper credit given the author.
The Editorial Committee of the Association of
Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG),
an international organization of which this
group is a member, brings this article to you.
~------~.=~--~----------~-~--~~--------
PAGE.~1~O~
S__E_P_T_E_M_B_E_R
__
Wireless Instant Messaging
Makes Conversations Portable
By Gabe Goldberg, APCUG Advisor;
Columnist, AARP Computers and Technology Wep site
I love technology competition. Having
multiple ways to meet a need gives consumers choices; it also encourages vendors to innovate, rather than offering
take-it-or-leave-it products.
Being accustomed to PC-based instant
messaging (1M), and not enjoying qU,euing up for Internet access, I was intrigued
by wireless 1M letting people communicate and have 1M-fun without occupying
prime family "real estate" -- the PC. Zipit
and IMfree, taking different approaches
to do this, may eliminate your family
traffic jams. There's no monthly fee with
either device.
Both handheld devices have almostnormal keyboard layouts but are too
small for touch typing. They're good for
thumbing or index-fingering and will be
quickly comfortable for anyone used to
cell phone text messaging. Multi-line displays, scrollable one line-at-a-time, are
mostly very readable, except for the way
that IMfree displays screen names with
messages: hard-to-read white-on-black
text with senderlreceiver distinguished by
upper and lower case letters.
On both devices, slightly odd shift keys
allow entering capital letters and numbers/symbols (which don't appear on
usual keys); it's all easy to get used to.
IMfree sends twelve specific smileys
(emoticons like ;-) for winking) with
button combinations; Zipit allocates three
buttons to specific smileys and allows
setting three others to your choice of
symbols -- though they're hard to distinguish. Or you can just enter characters to
form smileys!
My wife called both devices "cute", liking Zipit because it has a lid protecting
screen/keyboard and IMfree because it
has a modem look.
More significant is how the units communicate. IMfree includes software and a
base station which plugs into a PC USB
port; handheld range is about 150 feet.
Zipit uses a WiFi network with a range of
about 300 feet. (If you don't know what
WiFi is, you probably don't have it. It
adds to Internet connectivity, typically
cable or DSL. It's also available in "hot
spots" like coffee shops.)
IMfree base stations can talk to seven
handhelds at once and handhelds can
move among base stations, and many
Zipits can access a WiFi network at once,
so they're both great for at-home IMfests
or using 1M when visiting or traveling.
Unfortunately, IMfree handhelds aren't
sold without base stations.
Both devices can canyon multiple conversations. You select IMfree conversa-
DRIVE
LIGHT
PAGE
7
PAGE
8
SEPTEM BER 2005
DRIVE LIGHT
WHAT'S NEW??
~/~4he>~
Sununer is coming to an end and
those of us with any money left from
our vacations can look forward to the
latest crop of gadgets and new software. The next few months are the
warm-up to the holiday season with
many of the manufacturer's starting to
release new products and lowering
prices on others already released.
Hopefully, I can guide you in the right
direction for some really good deals.
So here we go!
Micro hard drives are the latest 'little'
thing in portable devices. You've seen
them used in many of the new MP3
players out there, with some holding as
much as
30GB of
mUSiC, e-
books
and Podcasts and
not much
bigger
than a
small
PDA.
Who'd a
thunk a few years ago? Imation's Micro Hard Drive at $159 is the newest
small portable hard drive. The size
and look of a padlock and very secure,
the hard disk (2GB) enclosed is no bigger than a nickel. The unit will synchronize files on the drive with those
on your computer and then encrypts
the files for security. It has an attached
USB 2.0 cable which loops over and
locks into the case. This not only
The last time I was in Frys I spent over
half an hour playing with an Archos'
Pocket Media Assistant PMA400.
Archos makes several models of these
little gadgets and don't think I didn't
spend way too much time playing with
them. In fact, the sales associates were
starting to collect at the end of aisle
thinking they would have to pry me
loose! What you're looking at is a
9
movie machine that's not much bigger than your palm. This
miniature device
has a
[email protected]
keeps the cable from damage and loss,
but also makes a great way to clip the
unit to your belt. A 4GB is coming out
later this year with much larger storage
drives coming next year. This could
be a nice alternative to the little thumb/
flash drives currently out. My San
Disk Cruzer (which is upgradeable, so
far) currently has a 1GB SD chip in it,
but I had to wait for the SD cards to
come down to a reasonable price,
around $79.99 with a rebate of$25.
The Cruzer, which I've had for about 3
years now, is old USB technology, and
I'm not too sure how much bigger storage SDs I can put in it. Though I have
to admit for something that started as a
128MB, it's still cruising along. The
portable hard drive will be a handy addition to someone who needs to make
lots of data mobile and whose flash
drives just can't handle the load anymore. http://www.imation.com/
support
PAGE
'/
com
My son, the World of Warcraft fanatic, found that his laptop keyboard
was undergoing great stress along
with his wrist during his game play,
so he invested in a Belkin
/ Nostromo SpeedPad n52
(below). After looking at this
.. .. .:.'
one compared to the Saitek, he
30GB ".. "
....
found this one the better pad, bethard drive .: ...•..
ter value. His conunents included
and~ built-in
. ..•.
. ..·.v' that the Belkin seemed more com802.11b wireless. It runs Linux OS,
fortable and ergonomic to use. Built
which means later open-source softto conquer your enemy, the Nostromo
ware expansion is possible.
SpeedPad n52 captures all the advanHere's a short list of the features: Re- tages of its critically acclaimed predecord directly from your TV, make
cessor, the n50, and cranks up the
scheduled recordings thru your VCR juice with advanced options to domior DVR, play your videos back on
nate your game. It puts keyboard and
any screen, gives you up to 130 hours gamepad functionality into one small
of video when you travel, plays muand easy-to-use device, delivering
sic (MP3/MP4, WMA or WAV files), more tools for customizing your
use as a digital recorder, plays more
game than ever. Using feedback from
than 15,000 songs, manage your
hundreds of gamers, the Belkin engiagenda, contacts and tasks lists, plus
neers designed the n52's intuitive naway, way more ..... and all for
ture and stylish versatility to give you
$799.95. The reason I walked out of
Frys ... without it!
http://www.archos.com
~~~7Lcc~s
"
To finish off this month's WN I
have several game pads for the
manic gamer. One is the Saitek
Pro Gamer Command Pad. You
can assign each of the 11 keys up to
three functions to condense your control center. Toggle between them
quickly using the three side-row buttons while the adjustable wrist support keeps your hand in the optimum
position. You can pick it up for
around $40. http://www.saitekusa.
,,!Iif s~~~oo~ ardeadly maneuvers. So start
progranunmg up
to 104 functions now-and watch how
dangerous you become. You can get
the Belkin for around $40 at most
computer stores. http://www.belkin.
com
PAGE
8
SEPTEM BER 2005
DRIVE LIGHT
WHAT'S NEW??
~/~4he>~
Sununer is coming to an end and
those of us with any money left from
our vacations can look forward to the
latest crop of gadgets and new software. The next few months are the
warm-up to the holiday season with
many of the manufacturer's starting to
release new products and lowering
prices on others already released.
Hopefully, I can guide you in the right
direction for some really good deals.
So here we go!
Micro hard drives are the latest 'little'
thing in portable devices. You've seen
them used in many of the new MP3
players out there, with some holding as
much as
30GB of
mUSiC, e-
books
and Podcasts and
not much
bigger
than a
small
PDA.
Who'd a
thunk a few years ago? Imation's Micro Hard Drive at $159 is the newest
small portable hard drive. The size
and look of a padlock and very secure,
the hard disk (2GB) enclosed is no bigger than a nickel. The unit will synchronize files on the drive with those
on your computer and then encrypts
the files for security. It has an attached
USB 2.0 cable which loops over and
locks into the case. This not only
The last time I was in Frys I spent over
half an hour playing with an Archos'
Pocket Media Assistant PMA400.
Archos makes several models of these
little gadgets and don't think I didn't
spend way too much time playing with
them. In fact, the sales associates were
starting to collect at the end of aisle
thinking they would have to pry me
loose! What you're looking at is a
9
movie machine that's not much bigger than your palm. This
miniature device
has a
[email protected]
keeps the cable from damage and loss,
but also makes a great way to clip the
unit to your belt. A 4GB is coming out
later this year with much larger storage
drives coming next year. This could
be a nice alternative to the little thumb/
flash drives currently out. My San
Disk Cruzer (which is upgradeable, so
far) currently has a 1GB SD chip in it,
but I had to wait for the SD cards to
come down to a reasonable price,
around $79.99 with a rebate of$25.
The Cruzer, which I've had for about 3
years now, is old USB technology, and
I'm not too sure how much bigger storage SDs I can put in it. Though I have
to admit for something that started as a
128MB, it's still cruising along. The
portable hard drive will be a handy addition to someone who needs to make
lots of data mobile and whose flash
drives just can't handle the load anymore. http://www.imation.com/
support
PAGE
'/
com
My son, the World of Warcraft fanatic, found that his laptop keyboard
was undergoing great stress along
with his wrist during his game play,
so he invested in a Belkin
/ Nostromo SpeedPad n52
(below). After looking at this
.. .. .:.'
one compared to the Saitek, he
30GB ".. "
....
found this one the better pad, bethard drive .: ...•..
ter value. His conunents included
and~ built-in
. ..•.
. ..·.v' that the Belkin seemed more com802.11b wireless. It runs Linux OS,
fortable and ergonomic to use. Built
which means later open-source softto conquer your enemy, the Nostromo
ware expansion is possible.
SpeedPad n52 captures all the advanHere's a short list of the features: Re- tages of its critically acclaimed predecord directly from your TV, make
cessor, the n50, and cranks up the
scheduled recordings thru your VCR juice with advanced options to domior DVR, play your videos back on
nate your game. It puts keyboard and
any screen, gives you up to 130 hours gamepad functionality into one small
of video when you travel, plays muand easy-to-use device, delivering
sic (MP3/MP4, WMA or WAV files), more tools for customizing your
use as a digital recorder, plays more
game than ever. Using feedback from
than 15,000 songs, manage your
hundreds of gamers, the Belkin engiagenda, contacts and tasks lists, plus
neers designed the n52's intuitive naway, way more ..... and all for
ture and stylish versatility to give you
$799.95. The reason I walked out of
Frys ... without it!
http://www.archos.com
~~~7Lcc~s
"
To finish off this month's WN I
have several game pads for the
manic gamer. One is the Saitek
Pro Gamer Command Pad. You
can assign each of the 11 keys up to
three functions to condense your control center. Toggle between them
quickly using the three side-row buttons while the adjustable wrist support keeps your hand in the optimum
position. You can pick it up for
around $40. http://www.saitekusa.
,,!Iif s~~~oo~ ardeadly maneuvers. So start
progranunmg up
to 104 functions now-and watch how
dangerous you become. You can get
the Belkin for around $40 at most
computer stores. http://www.belkin.
com
PAGE.~1~O~
S__E_P_T_E_M_B_E_R
__
Wireless Instant Messaging
Makes Conversations Portable
By Gabe Goldberg, APCUG Advisor;
Columnist, AARP Computers and Technology Wep site
I love technology competition. Having
multiple ways to meet a need gives consumers choices; it also encourages vendors to innovate, rather than offering
take-it-or-leave-it products.
Being accustomed to PC-based instant
messaging (1M), and not enjoying qU,euing up for Internet access, I was intrigued
by wireless 1M letting people communicate and have 1M-fun without occupying
prime family "real estate" -- the PC. Zipit
and IMfree, taking different approaches
to do this, may eliminate your family
traffic jams. There's no monthly fee with
either device.
Both handheld devices have almostnormal keyboard layouts but are too
small for touch typing. They're good for
thumbing or index-fingering and will be
quickly comfortable for anyone used to
cell phone text messaging. Multi-line displays, scrollable one line-at-a-time, are
mostly very readable, except for the way
that IMfree displays screen names with
messages: hard-to-read white-on-black
text with senderlreceiver distinguished by
upper and lower case letters.
On both devices, slightly odd shift keys
allow entering capital letters and numbers/symbols (which don't appear on
usual keys); it's all easy to get used to.
IMfree sends twelve specific smileys
(emoticons like ;-) for winking) with
button combinations; Zipit allocates three
buttons to specific smileys and allows
setting three others to your choice of
symbols -- though they're hard to distinguish. Or you can just enter characters to
form smileys!
My wife called both devices "cute", liking Zipit because it has a lid protecting
screen/keyboard and IMfree because it
has a modem look.
More significant is how the units communicate. IMfree includes software and a
base station which plugs into a PC USB
port; handheld range is about 150 feet.
Zipit uses a WiFi network with a range of
about 300 feet. (If you don't know what
WiFi is, you probably don't have it. It
adds to Internet connectivity, typically
cable or DSL. It's also available in "hot
spots" like coffee shops.)
IMfree base stations can talk to seven
handhelds at once and handhelds can
move among base stations, and many
Zipits can access a WiFi network at once,
so they're both great for at-home IMfests
or using 1M when visiting or traveling.
Unfortunately, IMfree handhelds aren't
sold without base stations.
Both devices can canyon multiple conversations. You select IMfree conversa-
DRIVE
LIGHT
PAGE
7
PAGE
6
SEPTEMBER
2005
SBC
(The SonnofaBitch Company?)
13'1Sanay Shapiro
[email protected]
DRIVE
LIGHT
tions with instant button pushes; Zipit
conversations are selected from a popup scrollable buddy list, slightly less
convenient. If you're switching among
conversations, be careful to send messages to the person you intend!
r
I came back from vacation and found
whisper OS/2, I just told her I had
that my DSL service was down. This
Windows XP running and ready to go.
is a catastrophe that ranks right up
I can't remember all the steps she had
there with earthquakes, fires and
me go through, but when I got to a
floods, My life went on hold while I
window that said "connect," she asked
tried to figure out what was wrong.
me about the user name and password.
I started the troubleshooting by turn-
Anna told me to add the domain
ing off the DSL modem and the
name, "@pacbell.net" to the user
router, and then turning them back on
name, and then connect -- which now
again. When that didn't work, I
worked.
IMfree supports only AOL Instant Messenger (AIM); Zipit supports AIM,
MSN, and Yahoo. IMfree supports chat
rooms and has t1exible/powerful parental controls; Zipit only supports instant
messaging and lacks such controls. IMfree conversations are private, not
shared with the base PC, unless the 1M
account is also logged on there. A
screen name can't be logged on to Zipit
and a PC at the same time so Zipit dialogues are private.
checked each computer in the house
to see if at least one was getting
"I usually just use the username and
through. Finally I removed the router
password without the domain name,"
and connected the DSL modem di-
I said, "Is this something new?"
rectly to a Windows computer. When
I still could not connect to the inter-
Anna explained that they had changed
net, I bit the bullet and called SBC
the login procedure for security rea-
Yahoo service.
sons.
I waded, and waited, through the vari-
"How come no one told me?" I
ous menus and finally found myself
whined.
talking to Anna. After asking me
many questions, she put me on hold
"I apologize for that," Anna said.
and did some checking. Anna then
came back on the line:
I checked with some other DSL users
who said they had had similar experi-
"Are you using Windows or Macin-
ences. SBC changed their procedures,
tosh?" she asked.
never notified me, and I wasted a half
a day -- that company is a Sono-
I was ready for her. I didn't even
faBitch.
Both devices were impressively simple
to install. Each has a clear manual,
worth reading for learning features and
many customization options (alert
sounds, display settings, etc.). Neither
screen is backlit; they're both reasonably
easy to read in nonnallighting. Zipit's
lid-mounted screen is easy to angle for
best viewing.
Both powerful units share and can modify buddy lists (but Zipit can't create a
screen name; you must have or visit a
PC for that). On both, idle buddies are
t1agged and you're notified by tone and
visual indicator if a message arrives
from a conversation not currently displayed.
Zipit comes in many tasty colors and
promises automatic updates adding features such as streaming music.
PAGE 11
There's a great bottom line to this story:
I liked both these low-cost devices and
they're different enough to tit a variety
of needs. So have fun with your 1M,
wherever your keyboard and handheld
may take you.
Company: Motorola
Product: Motorola Personal Instant
Messenger Mx240 (IMfree)
Price: $50 or less online -- shop around!
URL: broadband.motorola.coml
consumers/products/imfreel
Company: Aeronix Consumer Media
Systems
Product: Zipit Wireless Messenger
Price: $100
URL: www.zipitwireless.com
This article originated on AARP's Computers
and Technology Web site, www.aarp.org/
computers, and is copyrighted by AARP. All
rights are reserved; it may be reproduced,
downloaded, disseminated, or transferred, for
single use, or by nonprofit organizations for
educational purposes, with attribution to
AARP. It should be unchanged and this paragraph included. Please e-mail Gabe Goldberg
at [email protected]
when you use it, or·
for permission to excerpt or condense.
There is no restriction against any non-profit
group using this article as long as it is kept in
context with proper credit given the author.
The Editorial Committee of the Association of
Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG),
an international organization of which this
group is a member, brings this article to you.
~------~.=~--~----------~-~--~~--------
PAGE
12
SEPTEMBER
DRIVE
Wi- Fi Wireless Internet and Network Availability
I
By Ira Wilsker, APCUG Director; Columnist,
The Examiner, Beaumont TX: Radio Show
Host
access is available enroute, or at my destination.
Jwire.com is one of the leading interactive directories of publicly available wireless internet locations, typically using one
of the industry standard 802.11 protocols.
Standardization, as well as substantial
downward compatibility, has ensured that
Recently, one of my daughters called me
almost all computers equipped with
from a major city, and asked me where
802.11 type wireless internet hardware
she could find some free "hotspots" or
can
effectively communicate at broadwireless "Wi-Fi" locations where she
could get free broadband wireless internet band speeds. As I type this, .Twireis listing almost 70,000 public access wireless
access. She gave me her street address,
hotspots
around the world. The Intel comand within moments I found several
panion
site
lists almost 30,000 wireless
nearby locations where she could access
hotspots
in
the U.S., and about 40,000
the internet for free using the wireless
international wireless hotspots. According
"802.11 b" PCMCIA card she had with
to the Intel site, the top U.S. cities for
her notebook computer. She told me
public
wireless are New York City with
which hotspot she selected, and I gave her
over
550
public access locations, folthe "SSID", or "Service Set Identifier'va
lowed
by
Chicago (434 public wireless
simple code, usually a name, that identilocations), San Francisco (412), and Seatties a local hotspot.
tle (320). Texas is well represented in the
top
10 most "unwired" cities with 309
I recently purchased a new notebook
public
hotspots in Houston, 250 in Auscomputer for another daughter, and this
tin, and 192 in Dallas. California is listed
computer came with an Intel Centrino
by Intel as the state with the most public
chipset, which provided integral wireless
access with over 5000 locations, followed
internet access, where ever available,
by
Texas with almost 2000 hotspots,
whether at home or on the road. As she
Florida
with about 1800, and New York
travels around town, at school, or away
with over 1600 public hotspots. It should
from home, she can likely access the
be emphasized that these numbers are
internet at high speeds.
only the wireless sites that allow public
access, either for free (sometimes with
I travel extensively, and always take my
some strings attached) or for a fee, and
notebook computer with me, as I often
does not include the millions of sites that
find it necessary to check my email, find
restaurants, or locate other information on are private wireless networks. The listing
also does not include many of the hotel
the internet. Through experience, I have
chains that offer free wireless access to
found that many hotels, restaurants, airregistered guests.
ports, and other locations offer wireless
broadband internet access either for a fee,
Many of the free sites listed are local resor for free. Now before I leave home, I
taurants, some hotels, many airport termicheck a website www.jwire.com. or its
nals, RV parks, and other locations. All it
twin sister site supported by Intel, intel.
take's to access these totally free and pubiwire.com to determine what wireless
WEBSITES:
http://www.jiwire.com
http://intel.jiwire.com
http://wwJv.wi-fihotspotlist.com
!
r
I
I
LIGHT
PAGE
5
choose from. There were a couple of
sessions where I had to make some
tough choices on which I would attend.
For those members that didn't go to the
conference here in San Diego the first
weekend in August - why not? We had
thirteen attend as UCHUG members,
and I recognized a number of other
members or former members attending
through aftiliation with other local user
groups. This was my third consecutive
year attending, and I think it was probably the best yet. They had close to 350
attendees, up a bit from last year. This
year's new venue at the Town and
Country Hotel in Mission Valley
worked well. For the $40 early registration fee, you received six tasty meals
accompanied by interesting computer
presentations, almost a full day of user
group and computer-related workshops
and plenty of chances to win great
prizes. I believe almost every one of
our members attending won a prize in
addition to the great items stuffed into
our welcome bags.
The workshops were held by officers of
other user groups and outside vendors.
In addition to a number of topics related to running user groups, the workshops included sessions on creating
personal webpages, organizing photos,
printer refills, inkj et printing, backup
approaches and Internet security. Our
own Gini Pederson was one of the presenters in the Community Service
workshop. Sorry Gini; I couldn't make
your workshop as I attended the one on
'Growing Your User Group' at the
same time.
Free wireless Internet access was also
provided in the convention area of the
hotel during the conference. I brought
my laptop on Saturday, but with all the
activities, there was barely enough
down time to try it.
All ofthe meal presentations I attended
were excellent (I
Our treasurer, Mike
was not able to at- -----------••••.••Trempe, won a free regtend the Sunday
..• I was so impressed by
istration to the APCUG
breakfast presentathe Pinnical Studio 9 video Annual Conference
tion put on by
editing software that I
2006 in Las Vegas in
Corel). I was so
bought a copy ( when it
January. I'll be interimpressed by the
was on sale with rebate at ested in his report on
Pinnacle Studio 9
how it compares to our
video editing softFry's of course)
own San Diego conferware demonstrated ••••----------•••••.•ence. The Las Vegas
at the Saturday breakfast in conjunction
with Family History DVD that I bought
a copy last week (when it was on sale
with rebate at Fry's, of course). Other
meal presentations were put on by
Smart Computing Magazine, Intel,
CompUSA and Microsoft.
conference will be held on a Monday
through Thursday at the Stardust Hotel,
and is $75 (conference only, lodging
not included) if you register by October
17. Any UCHUG member may attend.
Since it is during the week, I doubt I
will be able to attend, but it would be
great if we could have a sizable
UCHUG presence there.
The workshops included four sessions
on Saturday and two on Sunday. Each
session but one had four topics to
---
fjreg
-
..
..
--------------
PAGE
4
SEPTEMBER
2005
The computer itself is only part of the
heat generating problem. My little computer comer has many other things heating the room. The CRT monitor, router,
switch, cable modem, network hard drive,
USB hard drive, printer, scanner and two
uninterruptable power supplies all contribute to local heating in the room. I've
To test the cooling effect of an open case,
occasionally suspected my router may be
I closed it' up again and rebooted my comgetting too hot at times, causing hiccups
puter. I went to the BIOS screen: that
on my home network. It is a Linksys
showed motherboard voltages, CPU temrouter, and has a grid of holes in top and
perature and fan speed. After running
bottom of the plastic case. It has little feet
closed up for 10 minutes, _----------•••••on each comer, so that
the CPU temperature was
removing the case side
the underside is ele58 degrees C or 136 dedropped the CPU temvated above the shelf it
grees F, and the CPU fan
perature five degrees ..
sits on by about half an
speed was 4800 rpm. I
inch. This should alremoved the case side
low hot air to exit the
panel and almost immediately the fan
top holes and draw cool air in the bottom
speed started to drop. After a minute, the
ones, cooling by convection. This cooling
CPU temperature was down to 55 C or
method was defeated a bit when I set a
131 F, and the fan speed was now 3300
five-port switch on top ofthe router, parrpm. Just removing the case side dropped
tially covering the vent holes.
the CPU temperature five degrees F and
reduced the fan speed by one third!
I've had a few periods where my home
network has repeatedly lost access to the
I've noticed that Fry's now carries a numInternet. Resetting the router by power
ber of cases with fans mounted in the side
cycle always fixed it, but it often would
panels above the CPU fan, presumably to
reoccur several times in a day. I could
blow cool outside air on the top ofthe
feel heat on the switch, so pushed it back
heat sink. A friend of mine modified his
off the router, and that seemed to decrease
case to help cool the processor in a simithe frequency of occurrence. It seemed to
lar way, using parts from Home Depot.
happen most often in the afternoon,
He cut a circular hole about four inches in probably when the weather was hot. I
diameter in the left side panel of his case,
bought a fan to place on top of the router
with the hole located right above the
to draw air through it, but by that time the
processor and heat sink. He mounted a
Internet connection was behaving. My
circular shower t100r drain from Home
son was complaining about Internet acDepot in the case panel opening, then
cess and how he have to reset the router
glued a 4" to 3" diameter plastic pipe remultiple times yesterday, so I ought to try
ducer to the drain. With a little cutting,
the fan approach now, but I never got a
the reducer sat right above the processor
'wall wart' set up to power it. By the time
heat sink fan, so it could draw cool air
I get parts for that, it will probably have
from the outside through the drain and
cooled off here in San Diego.
reducer, rather than warm inside air.
Maybe I'll have to give that mod a try.
APCUG Southwest User Group Conference
the PREZ' Comer
(Continuedfrom page 2)
fans in the front to blow back over the
two hard drives. They pull a slight
amount of cool air in through the front,
but mostly circulate air in the case. There
are a fair number of small vent holes in
the lower back and sides of my case.
------------------------------
DRIVE LIGHT
PAGE
13
network without the consent of the
owner, despite the fact that studies
have indicated that about 80% of all
private wireless networks, both workplace and home based, are not adequately protected, and can easily be
picked up and accessed by anyone who
wants access. A popular hacker method
of gaining "free" broadband internet
access is driving around town with a
notebook computer with 802.11 hardware, and logging the wireless networks found, with those same networks often broadcasting the SSID
necessary for access. This practice is
called "wardriving". In major cities,
marks are drawn on sidewalks and the
outside walls of buildings in a similar
In addition to the free sites, there are
escapade, "warchalking" where SSID's
many thousands of publicly accessible and other relevant information is writbut commercial (fee based) hotspots,
ten for all to see, and access. Locally,
often in coffee shops, restaurants, hoin a security demonstration, a security
tels, bookstores, some airport terminal consultant drove around the business
areas, and other locations. These hotdistrict of town, and logged hundreds
spots either require a subscription to a of wireless networks, 80% of which
service, such as a cellular phone comwere easily accessible, as they were
pany or other third party, or a daily or
not properly secured. These included
hourly fee for access. Generally, since such sensitive locations as banks, law
these pay services require some type of offices, retail stores, medical facilities,
access code, they are slightly more se- and other choice locations for hackers
cure than the free public sites, but are
to penetrate.
still usually accessible to a hacker with
commonly available but illicit softUse the .Twiresites to find wireless acware. Again, it is a good practice not to cess, as I do, but be totally aware of the
type any sensitive personal information risk and security implications of broadwhile on a publicly accessible wireless casting critical information. There are a
network. Some ofthe commercial hot- variety of hardware and software utilispots offer "WEP", or wireless encryp- ties that can be utilized to harden wiretion protocol, which makes it more dif- less access, and some of those will be
ficult for unwelcome third parties to
discussed in a future column.
listen in on internet communications,
There is no restriction against any non-profit
but the methods for cracking WEP
group using this article as long as it is kept
have been widely published, and are
in context with proper credit given the aunow only considered to provide marthor. The Editorial Committee of the Assoginal security.
ciation of Personal Computer User Groups
lic sites is the SSID of the wireless
host and appropriate hardware; the
Jwire sites list the SSID's ofthe public
sites. When the wireless access on the
notebook computer is activated, the
wireless networks within range can be
identified, and if accessible, the SSID
can be entered, and connections established. It is important that from a personal security standpoint, these public
connections are not often encrypted,
and can be "sniffed" or picked up by
anyone with suitable equipment; sensitive information, passwords, banking,
and other critical information should
never be sent on an insecure public
network.
One warning about wireless internet
access; it is illegal to access a wireless
----
---------------
(APCUG), an international organization of
which this group is a member, brings this
article to you.
PAGE 14
SEPTEMBER
DRIVE LIGHT
PAGE
3
...
IJ:2
V
oard Meeting, ' "
August 17,20Q5
The meeting was called to order at the
home of Virginia Faber at 7:32 Plvlby
President Greg Skalka. Also in attendance were Bob Woods,DavidMarston, Mike Trempe, Virginia Faber and
Sandy Shapiro. Both Al Brengle and
Abbott Brownell called in to the meeting at separate times to participate.
Reports:
President: Greg discussed themeeting
agenda he included with the board
meeting announcement, which was an
idea he got from a workshop at the APCUGSWUGc.
Secretary: Ray was not present. Greg
would take minutes tor the newsletter.
Treasurer: Mike reported our treasury
is in good shape with the addition of
the funds returned to us by SDCS. He
reported that we need to keep our records tor at least seven years per IRS
'Ray J'erbracfie
Membership: Virginia reported approximately 57 members,
Greg Skalka, acting for Secretary Ray
Ferbrache
'
Vice-President: AI called in and reported that he received three fairly new
computers that were donated to the
group, After cleansing thehard drives,
they can be used for a couple of presentations (perhaps installing hard
drives and networking?) and perhaps
finally used as a door prize or raffle/
auction item.
Secretary's
Reports
regulations. He attended the treasurers
workshop session at the APCUG
SWUCG.
(Continued from page 3) Se~rcJl
Editor: Art was on vacation and not
present. His deadline should be the
weekend of August 27.
Webmaster: Bob reported the web
hosting change is complete, and gave
Mike the receipts tor web hosting and
domain name renewal.
Future Programs: In September,
Greg would continue the presentation
on MP3 and Flash drives. The slate of
candidates for the next board term is
also due to be presented to the membership.
October, a possible presentation on
installing hard drives and a discussion
on backups was suggested. The board
elections will also be held at that meetmg.
The November meeting could involve
networking. David Marston also offered to provide a 1/2 meeting presentation in October or November on a
'computer on a stick' (refer to fingergear.com).
The December meeting will be our
traditional holiday party 1 auction 1
drawing. All will be held in room 401.
Old Business Greg agreed to draft a
letter to SDCS for receipt of our funds
fr01~1them. The signing of cont1ict of
.._--_._---------
[email protected]
G
eneral Meeting
August 3, 2005
Greg Skalka, acting tor Secretary Ray
Ferbrache The meeting was held in
Room 401 of the San.Diego County
Office of Education. President Greg
Skalka opened the meeting at 7 PM
with some announcements concerning
the APCUG Southwest User Group
Conference to be held the following
weekend, and the group's receiving
nonprofit status from the state Franchise Tax Board. Following that, Webmaster Bob Woods talked about some
of the new items on the UCHUG web
site.
Program
The first presentation of the evening
was by Greg Skalka on refilling ink jet
printer cartridges. Greg told of his
problems years ago in refilling HP
printer cartridges. He then talked about
his recent success in refilling his
'
printer cartridges, using a kitpurchased from Costco. He felt it was key
that the kit specified that it would till
the specific HP cartridges he used. He
used photos he took to go through the
process of refilling both black and
color cartridges, and told of his error
in using photo ink in a regular color
cartridge (it still seemed to work tine).
.TackieWoods spoke brieflyabout purchasing refilled ink cartridges, a low
cost alternative to.refilling for non-HP
printers.
The second presentation was by Greg
Skalka and Bob & .TackieWoods on
MP3 music files and players. Greg
went into a general explanation of
compressed audio tiles, briet1y discussing formats and different levels of
compression, as well as digital rights
management. Greg, Bob and .Tackie
then discussed portable music players.
Since the meeting time was running
short, Greg asked the group if it was
interested in a continuation of this
presentation at the next general meeting, which the grpuP. was' in favor of.
The discussion on Flash memory devices was also postponed until the
September general meeting, The meeting ended at 9 PM.
Reports (Cantin lied
all
page 14)
PAGE
2
SEPTEMBER
2005
DRIVE
LIGHT
(Continuedfrom page 14) Reports
interest forms by the remaining 011'1cers will be postponed until Al can
next attend. Greg agreed to chair the
nominating committee for officers for
the next board term, with Virginia and
Al also serving on the committee. All
officers agreed to stand for reelection,
with Art desiring to step down as editor when a replacement can be found.
UCHUG NEWSLETTER
The P~ez' Co~~e~
by c;•.e9 Skalka
[email protected]
Keeping Your Cool
August is typically one of the hottest
months in San Diego. I'm used to sitting
in an air conditioned office or lab Monday through Friday during the day, so the
weekend mid-day heat at home is a bit
unexpected for me. I don't have air conditioning at home, as there are probably
only a few weeks a year when we really
find it objectionable without it. This may
be one of those weeks.
When the temperature is so high that humans are uncomfortable, it is also probably uncomfortable for computers. And
faster processors, with more drives and
peripherals means more heat generated in
the computer case. All that heat has to
(and had better) go somewhere! I'm in an
upstairs room, with all the computer gear
packed in one small comer. My computer
power supply fan is throwing out a fair
amount of heat, but the case, overall, is
not too hot. The fan noise in the case
seems loader than normal, however. I
opened up the case by removing one side,
and the fan noise started to drop soon
afterwards. One of the temperaturecontrolled fans, probably on the processor heat sink, was able to slow down due
to the cooler air coming in from the open
side. Over a few minutes, I could tell that
the fan speed was continuing to drop.
Running with an open case in these hot
days might be good idea for cooling,
though it increases the risk of foreign
objects getting into the case and damaging something. Spilling that cool drink on
the outside of the case is nothing compared to dumping some of your beverage
on the inside.
I have a total of five fans in my computer
case, most of which I've added myself.
The power supply fan pulls air from the
inside of the case, over the power supply
electronics and blows it out the back (1)1'
the case. The processor heat sink has a
fan on top of it, which pulls air in from
the middle of the case and blows it down
over the heat sink and processor. I added
a fan to the back of the case to blow cool
air in from the outside. I also added two
the PREZ' Comer
(Continued
011
page 4)
New Business Greg reported that
Smart Computing could present to our
group again in this fall or next spring,
if the group is interested, He detailed
their offer of additional free subscriptions available. He also told of a couple of additional Microsoft Mindshare
software packages remaining, which
could be used as door prizes or in our
December auction. Some ways to
make the editor's job easier were also
discussed, including the possibility of
an online newsletter.
The meeting adjourned at 9:47 PM.
2004 = UCHUG = 2005
EXECUTIVE BOARD
President ..
YP
.
Secretary .
Treasurer. .
WebMaster
Editor .....
Membership.
O-a-L.
.
O-a-L.
.
O-a-L.
.
O-a-L.
.
Greg Skalka
Al Brengle
Ray Ferbrache
Mike Trempe
Bob and Jackie Woods
Art Gresham
Virginia Faber
Abbott Brownell
David Marston
Greg Wauson
Sandy Shapiro
858.484-7024
619.588.0674
619.275-2718
619.283-3543
858.486-4485
858.354-6939
619.795-0365
619.698-1506
858.454-2341
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
1editor [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
PAGE
16
SEPTEMBER
Reminder
This week we continue discussing portable music players and Flash Memory Devices. Also we will present the nominees
for the next board elections.
SEE YOU THERE.
I'