March 2012 PACC TALK issue - Pittsburgh Area Computer Club, Inc.

PACC TALK
March 2012
Official Newsletter of the Pittsburgh Area Computer Club
MEETING SCHEDULE
Sunday, March 18, 2012
11:00 -11:25 am Sign In, Pay Dues, Greet visitors, Purchase 50/50
ROOM # 311 tickets (Optional), Setup Computers,
Connect to Internet , Prep for Meetings
11:00 - 11:25 pm
ROOM # 301
11:35 - 12:00 pm
ROOM # 301
12:00 - 12:30 pm
ROOM # 301
12:35 - 2:00 pm
ROOM # 301
2:05 - 3:30 pm
ROOM # 301
2:05 - 3:30 pm
ROOM # 311
1:00 - 3:30 pm
ROOM # 311
3:30 - 4:00 pm
Free
E-book
Certificate
PACC BOD Meeting
Windows New Users
Can we help you? V. Agrawala
General Meeting, Raffle.
(Déjà vu)
(pg. 1)
TDSSKiller, TreeSize Free,
Zoner Photo Studio 14 FREE
(pg. 1)
Windows 8 Consumer Preview ….
More programs and utilities …..
(pg. 1)
Hardware SIG
Users Helping Users - guests included
Linux SIG, Members Helping Members,
Computer troubleshooting, Info Exchange
Pack Up Equipment, Doors Close
Pittsburgh Area Computer Club
Board Of Directors
*** ELECTIONS ***
What is inside....
Windows SIG
PAGE # 1
Buying a New Computer - Things to think about
(Part 1)
.….... by Phil Sorrentino
PAGE # 3
Buying a New Computer - Things to think about
(Part 2 of 3)
……. by Phil Sorrentino
PAGE # 3
DO YOU “YOUTUBE”?
PAGE # 4
…... By Elaine Szaniszlo
Paintshop™ Pro X4
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Windows SIG
From Kaspersky Lab download free Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller
PAGE # 5
Reviewed by Clint Tinsley
More Than You Ever Wanted To Know
About Solid State Drives …………. by Ted Wirtz
PAGE # 7
Linux Mint 12
PAGE # 13
...…… by Cal Esneault
The Gadget Corner
Shopping Web Site Experiences ..… by Steve Baer
PAGE # 13
GoGo
PAGE # 14
…….. by George Harding
From the President …... Editors Desk
PAGE # 14
(Continued on page 2)
1
(Continued from page 1)
From Kaspersky Lab website:
“A rootkit for Windows systems is a program that penetrates into the
system and intercepts the system functions (Windows API). It can effectively hide its presence by intercepting and modifying low-level API
functions. Moreover it can hide the presence of particular processes,
folders, files and registry keys. Some rootkits install its own drivers and
services in the system (they also remain “invisible”). “
The following link : http://free.zoner.com/download.asp
will take you to a web page with five download icons, for your information this one the extreme right side is the is the one to use!
26.7 MB is a sizable download, if you are on dial-up. My Comcast hook
-up made it by the time I located the downloads directory on my PC
page. It will take a lot of HD space, so make certain you have it!
According To Kaspersky Lab the program will do the following:
“The utility can be run in Normal Mode and Safe Mode.
It detects and removes the following malware:
malware family Rootkit.Win32.TDSS; bootkits; rootkits.”
Read the material on the web site, to get a good feel about the program.
Download this freebie, it is only a 2 MB, from the following link:
support.kaspersky.com/downloads/utils/tdsskiller.zip
From the Zoner Photo Studio web site:
“ At Zoner Software, we stand behind our products, and we want you to
be satisfied with Zoner Photo Studio FREE. Have a question about the
program or want to know if it will run on your computer? Just check the
FAQs and system requirements below. If you can’t find an answer there,
you’re sure to find it on our forum, full of friendly people who know
Zoner Photo Studio FREE inside and out.”
———————————————————————————
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 (runs on 32/64-bit
Windows)
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 or compatible
Memory:
1 GB RAM
HDD:
140 MB of free disk space
Resolution: 1024 × 768 High Color (TrueColor strongly recommended)
TreeSize Free
From the Jam Software web site:
“TreeSize Free can be started from the context menu of a folder or drive
and shows you the size of this folder, including its subfolders. You can
expand this folder in Explorer-like style and you will see the size of
every subfolder. All results can also be drilled down to the file level.
Scanning is done in a thread, so you can already see results while
TreeSize Free is working. The Explorer context menu is supported within TreeSize, as well as the usual drag & drop operations.”
Download it from here: http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/
It is only 3.2 MB in size.
There is a limited functionality mobile size, so far only for Windows
Phones. You can get it from the same place as the above program.
“TreeSize Mobile V1.4 (TreeSizeMobile.CAB, English, 338.83 KB)
TreeSize Mobile requires Windows Mobile with .NET Compact Framework 2.0 (or higher) (contained in Windows Mobile since version 6.0)”
———————————————————————————
Windows 8 consumer preview is on the way, if you want it go to :
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/consumer-preview
Let us talk about it !!!
2
enough information found there to help you make up your mind. Both
Intel and AMD produce quality products, so another way to solve this
is to just select one of the manufacturers and then learn as much as
possible about that one so you can continue on to select the best CPU,
for you, within that manufacturer’s offerings.
Buying a New Computer
Things to think about
(Part 1)
By Phil Sorrentino, Past President, Sarasota PCUG, Florida
January 2012 issue, Sarasota PCUG Monitor
www.spcug.org [email protected]
Now that we’ve chosen a CPU manufacturer and maybe even the CPU
core family name, e.g. Intel i5, the job is not quite done. Typically,
there are further discriminators attached to the CPU family. Probably
the most important is “clock rate,” or speed. This is indicated in GHz,
or Gigahertz, which is a measurement of how fast the CPU is running.
The higher the speed, the faster the processor is running and the higher
the processing power, but unfortunately, the higher the power dissipation. It is probably a good decision to stay in the middle range of CPU
speed, around 2 to 2.5 GHz. High speed is good, but if you are at the
top end of the speed spectrum, which is around 3 to 4 GHz, then CPU
cooling becomes a real issue. If the computer is running a very fast
CPU, make sure there are adequate fans to remove the heat generated
by the processor. Typically, you won’t be deciding on the fans or how
many fans, but make sure when you are using the computer that all the
fans are operating and the vents are not obscured, and are not clogged
by dust or animal hair.
The thought of a new computer is always very exciting, whether you
are buying your first computer or replacing an aged one. If you are
replacing one, you’ve probably been down this road before, but if this
is your first computer there are many things to consider. Because
there is such variety available, the first consideration might be the
manufacturer. This decision is usually driven by past experience or
knowledgeable friend’s advice. But typically it comes down to preference, similar to the decision to buy a car - Ford or Chevy?; they both
are good choices and they both will get you there. So, if you don’t
have a reason for a preference in computer manufacturer, stick with
the big players, HP, DELL, Gateway, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, etc.
Once the manufacturer is selected, go to their website and look at the
various possibilities.
The last thing to note when looking at the CPU is that they usually
come in different versions within a family. The versions are indicated
by a number. So, for example, an Intel CPU might be defined as Intel
Core i5-520M (2.4GHz). The 520M indicates further technical details
such as the size of the Cache (subject for a future article). Usually, as
the number goes up, the processing power increases.
If you have decided on a manufacturer, the next high level decision is
probably laptop or desktop. The laptop is portable and takes up very
little room. However, the laptop is usually more expensive and is typically not expandable. (Usually, when you discard your laptop in the
future, it will be the exact same configuration as when you bought it.)
On the other hand, desktops are usually less expensive and are expandable because there are spare slots on the “motherboard” and extra
drive bays for additional drives and/or other peripheral devices. Usually, the decision revolves around portability. If you are planning on
using the computer at multiple locations, which could include Panera
Bread, Starbucks, the airport or library, then a portable is definitely in
your future. But if most of your computing is typically done from your
home office or den, and/or you need a lot of permanent on-line storage, then the desktop might be a good choice.
One thing to point out when discussing CPUs is the fact that CPUs
come in two types, 32-bit and 64-bit. But this is probably not a deciding factor for most computer users. Both will do the job; the only thing
that the CPU type leads to is the determination of how much RAM
memory the processor can use. 32-bit machines will be limited to 4
GB (Gigabytes) of RAM, and a 64-bit machine will not. RAM
memory will be discussed in part 2 of this article.
So far, we’ve discussed manufacturers, laptop vs. desktop, and looked
at the CPU. Next month we’ll continue with some more considerations
so that the computer you purchase will be exactly the one that will
fulfill your desires, keeping in mind that what you hope to accomplish
with this computer drives most of these decisions.
Once you have decided on the manufacturer and made the laptopdesktop decision, the fun begins. Most of the rest of the decisions are
very technical in nature, but have been summarized in a few technical
parameters. The first one is CPU (Central Processing Unit), referred to
as the brains of the computer, and sometimes simply called the
“processor”. Unfortunately, this decision is further complicated by the
fact that there are two manufacturers of computer CPUs, Intel and
AMD, and they use different ways of naming their products. But behind the names there is one basic decision. Older CPUs are “single
core” and newer CPUs have “multiple cores.” The number of “cores”
or CPUs translates into processing power. This decision should probably be to go with one of the newer, multi-core CPUs. You could save a
little money with the older single core, but as the need for more processing power increases with newer applications, the single processor
may begin to feel like “it just isn’t fast enough.”
the end of the story
Buying a New Computer
Things to think about
(Part 2 of 3)
By Phil Sorrentino, Past President, Sarasota PCUG, Florida
February 2012 issue, Sarasota PCUG Monitor
www.spcug.org [email protected]
Multi-core processors, from Intel, start with the older “core duo,”
followed by the “core 2 duo” and then the more current crop of multicore processors which are simply named “Core i3,” “Core i5,” and
“Core i7.” Current multi-core processors have 2, 4, or 8 processors
packaged in the CPU chip. Recently, I’ve seen the term “second generation” added to some of these names, to indicate a newer design.
AMD has a similar set of CPUs with names like “Phenom,” “Athlon,”
“Athlon II,” “Athlon X2 Dual-Core,” and “Sempron.”
Last month we discussed manufacturers, laptop vs. desktop, and
looked at the CPU. Now it’s time to think about a few more things.
Let’s look at a laptop first because there aren’t as many considerations. Because of a laptop’s physical size and configuration, there are
only a few things that can vary and therefore make you make a decision. The first one is Display size. Today, display sizes seem to be
between about 14 and 18 inches. Larger displays can give you more
webpage space, but will probably lead to heavier laptop, a consideration if you are going to carry it around a lot.
Comparing the Intel CPUs to the AMD CPUs can be a difficult task,
and is probably best answered by a Google search for “Intel vs AMD”
and then reading many of the various opinions. Hopefully, there is
3
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(Continued on page 4)
The optical drive is only a decision point if you are specifically interested in reading and/or writing BD disks, otherwise there is little difference between manufacturers optical drive products.
(Continued from page 3)
Another parameter you may find advertised with a laptop is Battery
Life. This becomes important if you are going to use the laptop without ac power for long periods of time, like on a flight from New York
to Florida. (For really long flights, you might want to have a second
battery.) Today’s typical Lithium-Ion batteries will provide from
around 3 to around 6½ hours of use time. To get the longer use time,
the battery will probably be larger and therefore heavier, again a consideration only if you intend to carry it around a lot.
Most of the newer laptops have a camera, typically just above the
display in the center. The camera faces the user so it can be used for
audio/video telecommunications such as Skype and Google Talk. This
is definitely a decision point if you intend to use the video calling
capabilities. A camera usually does not add much to the price and may
prove to be a useful capability in the future.
All laptops have audio capabilities, usually a microphone input, provided by a 1/8th inch mono mini-jack, and a stereo output provided by
a 1/8th inch stereo mini-jack. The microphone input can be used for
audio/video telecommunications like Skype and Google Talk. The
stereo audio output can also be used to drive a set of good external
speakers or even the audio of some older televisions. Audio capabilities are not a decision point.
All computers, laptops included, rely on two types of memory, volatile
storage, called RAM (Random Access Memory), and Non-volatile
storage, typically a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). The sizes of both of these
are decision to be made. We haven’t discussed the Software Operating
System (OS) yet, but today the OS will probably be Windows 7,
Home Premium. So for a Windows 7 computer, it is suggested that a
minimum of 2 GB of RAM be included. (If the CPU is a 32-bit CPU
then the maximum would be 4 GB. If the CPU is a 64-bit CPU then
today the maximum is 16 GB, for Windows 7 Home Premium and 192
GB for Windows Enterprise, Professional, and Ultimate, but the particular laptop hardware will probably limit the RAM to something
less.) Note that increased memory does not yield any substantial increase in weight, so get as much as you can.
All laptops have an external Monitor output. On older laptops the
output connector is a 15 pin VGA female connector. On newer laptops
the video output is available on an HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) connector along with audio. HDMI is the best way to
connect your laptop to a newer television.
All laptops have USB 2.0 interface ports. The number of ports may be
a decision point. And the newer USB 3.0 may show up on some newer, more expensive laptops. Some laptops (not many) may have other
types of interface ports such as Firewire or eSATA. This is definitely a
decision point if these types of interfaces are needed.
Now for the Hard Disk Drive. Most, if not all, laptops have only one
HDD, although it can be partitioned into many logical drives, e.g. C:,
D:, etc. For a Windows 7 computer, it is suggested that the HDD size
be at least 200 GB. The OS and applications could take as much as
100 GB, leaving only 100 GB for data (documents, pictures, videos,
music). Today, most machines will have between 400 and 1,000 GB
of HDD space. Note that increased HDD size does not yield any substantial increase in weight, again, so get as much as you can.
So far we’ve looked at all the important things for the purchase of a
laptop. Next month we’ll cover Desktops and some other miscellaneous things to consider.
Sooner, than later, all laptops are called upon to access the Internet.
This can be accomplished by a wired connection to an Internet Service
Provider (ISP), or a wireless connection to the ISP. All of today’s
laptops provide both of these connection capabilities. The wired connection is provided by an RJ-45 plug somewhere on the back or side
of the laptop. The wireless connection is provided by 802.11 b, g, or n
Local Area Network communications radio transmitter and receiver
built into the laptop motherboard (the antenna is usually someplace in
the laptop cover).
the end of the story
DO YOU “YOUTUBE”?
By Elaine Szaniszlo, Editor, Northeast Ohio PC Club
December 2011 issue, Nybbles & Bytes
www.neopc.org [email protected]
I had always thought that YouTube was a site that had lots of fun videos. Well, it does, but read on!
802.11 wireless communications is available in many public places
like airports, some shopping centers, and libraries, and is referred to as
Wi-Fi, which stands for Wireless Fidelity. This type of wireless communications uses the 2.4 GHz band for communicating with a wireless
access point, which is typically part of a router. The router in turn
connects to the ISP, through a modem. The b, g, or n specifies the
particular signaling technique and communications protocols to be
used. 802.11n is the newest and the most capable, having the fastest
transfer rate (200 to 300 Mbps). 802.11g is the most ubiquitous, and is
backwards compatible with the older 802.11b. n is backwards compatible with both g and b. Today all laptops are at least g compatible and
many newer laptops are n compatible. The wireless communications
capabilities are probably not a decision factor, unless you specifically
want the newest 802.11n capability.
I was on a trip recently and the fuses blew on the car power outlets.
We needed to replace the fuses as our plug-in GPS would not work
otherwise. Of course, everyone knows the fuse box is located under
the dashboard, right? But did you know some cars have another fuse
box under the hood? We found that out on youtube.com. We typed in
the car make, model and year, and fuse box, and up came a very nice
video showing where the fuses were in the engine compartment, how
to get the cover off and showed there was a fuse puller included (a
very useful tool, indeed!). Now we would never have known that.
A friend told me he was going to replace a garbage disposal. He went
to YouTube. Again, there was a detailed video explaining how to do
that. Other ambitious folks I know have used YouTube to get videos
on repairing clothes washers, too.
Laptops typically have an optical CD/DVD Drive which is capable of
reading and writing CDs and DVDs. Some of the newer, and more
expensive laptops, are including a Blue-ray Drive which is capable of
reading and writing Blue-ray Disks (BD). These BD drives are backwards compatible with DVDs and CDs so they can read and write all
three types of optical storage disks. (Just a quick review of capacities CDs hold 700 MB, DVDs hold 4.7 GB, and BDs hold about 25 GB.)
I used YouTube once to get some cooking information, but never realized the wide scope of informative videos that was available. So the
next time you want to solve a problem or get information on any do-ityourself project, check out YouTube. It may make YOU happier.
the end of the story
4
Balance, Brightness/Contrast, Local Tone Mapping, High Pass Sharpen and Digital Noise Removal. Then under the photo space are some
additional tools for rotating the photo and sharing. The bottom is the
Organizer with tools for quickly opening photos for adjusting.
Paintshop™ Pro X4
Reviewed by Clint Tinsley, Editor, Idaho PCUG
October 2011 issue, Bits and Pieces
http://idahopcug.apcug.org/
c_tinsley (at) msn.com
Many of the tools that were available in X3 have been greatly enhanced. An example of this is the
HDR tool which is being touted as a
new in X4, was available in X3, but
in X4, there is a complete new tool
set for HDR. With X4, there are
many adjustments you can make to
the composition and creating a true
photographic work of art. HDR is
short for High Definition Resolution
and takes advantage of new digital
cameras that allow you to “auto
bracket” a shot where the camera
takes a sequence of photos of the
same shot but with different exposure values (ev units) such as -3, 0,
and +3 with the result that you get a
picture that is underexposed (-3),
one normal, and one +3, slightly
overexposed where the sky and
bright area will be blown out but
you will have more detail in dark
areas. The –3 under exposure preserves detail in the bright areas so
that when you combine the three
photos using HDR, you get a well
detail (high resolution) photo with
good detail in all areas of the photo
from dark to light. Again, this HDR
Adjustment panel only occupies the
left side of the workspace. One
other point to be made here is that
X4 is also 2 monitor friendly so that
you can move the editing workspaces to a second monitor for more
room on your desktop.
Extensively reworked with new defined workspaces and a number of
new features, Corel released Paintshop™ Pro X4 in September 2011.
With new features and enhancements totaling over 75, it is awesome.
Both the standard and Ultimate additions are available for purchase
from the Corel Website. There is also a free 30 day trial available for
downloading. At http://www.corel.com/paintshop, you can find more
information about Paintshop™ Pro X4 along with a link for downloading the 30 day trial. There are also a several new videos on You
Tube showing off the new features and enhancements that could be
the subject of a book; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Qzx5GNhc or just search YouTube for “corel paint shop pro x4” where you
will find a wide selection of videos.
X4 New Workspaces
The graphic shows the new workspaces in X4 which are Manage
(Photo Manager), Adjust (replaces what was the Express Lab in X3)
and the Edit workspace, formally “Full Edit” in X3. The changes go
beyond just the name changes as the tools have been improved and
access is friendlier. In this first graphic, you see one of the new tools,
Fill Light/Clarity, available as an adjustment. This new tool allows
you apply fill light to dark areas of the photo, drawing out the detail,
along with a clarity adjustment to sharpen up those areas. The Adjust
panel is new and occupies only the left side of the workspace. This is
important with the new 1368X766 laptop screens in that it doesn’t use
the top and bottom space, giving you more room to see and work on
your photo as well as room for the Organizer.
More New Tools
Photo Blend! This new tool provides you the ability “blend” two
photos together (assuming similar
content), taking the best from the
two to make one composite photo.
An example of this is family photos,
particularly those with children in them or other members that may not
be well behaved. Using Photo Blend, you can selectively “brush out”
and “brush in” the desirable elements to make a great photo. Best use
of this tool does require that the photos be very close in composition
such a being taken using a tripod or at least a very stable hand on the
camera.
Also, in this view, you are provided the camera’s exif information
from the photo just below the histogram. Next up is a small tool bar
providing access to the Crop, Straighten, Red Eye, Makeover Tools
(Blemish Remover, Toothbrush Teeth Whitener, Eye Drop for the
Eyes, Suntan (no tanning salon here!), and Thinify ( no exercise or
dieting required), and finally the Clone Brush. Clicking on any of
these tools or the tools in the list will result in a window opening such
as you see for the Smart Photo Fix. Other tools in Adjust are Color
New also is the Selective Focus tool. Using this tool, you can blur the
photo while keeping focus on an area of the photo that you want to
draw out; this is different than “depth of field” where you bring focus
to only the foreground or a specific object of focus. Using this tool,
you can define the area to remain in focus along with blur amount,
edge softness (hardness), and color saturation.
5
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(Continued on page 6)
and filters, a $200 value, royalty-free images from Fotolia, also a $200
value, a Custom photo book from Blurb®* ($35 value), and a collection of Free Picture Tubes™ . I haven’t seen retail or street prices yet
for Paintshop™ ProX4 but expect them to be in the $60 and $80 ranges for Standard and Ultimate respectively. And if history is any indicator, Corel may change it product offerings as to what is in the box. In
the past, I have seen them include a 2 GB USB drive and a free
eBook.
(Continued from page 5)
Vignette is another new tool. Using this tool, you can “vignette” an
area that remains in focus while the surrounding area is made to blur
and fade to black (or degree of darkness) with adjustments for amount
of blur, amount of glow, and again, the feather of the edge in defining
the hardness of the edge.
Many areas have been improved or enhanced in X4. One of those
areas is the Camera RAW lab for working with your Camera RAW
photo images. 16 bit color support has been expanded to over 20 tools
resulting in better detailed corrections using tools such as the Scratch
Remover, Object Remover, some brushes, and the Background Eraser.
System Requirements
Microsoft® Windows® 7, Windows Vista® or Windows® XP, with
latest service packs installed (32-bit or 64-bit editions).
1.5 GHz processor (2 GHz or faster recommended).
1 GB RAM (2 GB RAM or higher recommended).
1 GB free hard drive space (2 GB or greater recommended).
1024 x 768 resolution, 16-bit color display.
Windows-compatible CD-ROM drive for installation.
Internet connection required to post photos online and download program updates.
Paintshop™ Pro X4 is leaner and meaner now; even the install file is
smaller. X4 has over 75 performance improvements including GPU
optimizations which are noticeable with many operations now done in
real time. Perceivable improvements in operations like noise reduction
and Camera RAW file decode operations.
Learning Paintshop™ Pro X4
Concluding Notes
Starting with the Getting Started
Welcome or splash screen, help in
learning X4 is always close by.
On the Welcome screen, are links
to information on using the new
Manage, Adjust and Edit workspaces plus links to The Digital
Workflow and Learning Tools. In
the Edit workspace, you will find
the Learning Center shown here.
The choices there will take you to
the tools for the activity and guidance on using them. The F1 Help
key is well thought out in that if it
senses there is an Internet connection, you get the latest help information from the Corel website
and if you are not connected, it
opens same help information from
a local copy that was current at
installation time. Another source
of help is the Help on the Menu
bar where you will find other help
resources. There is also a 194 X4
User Guide PDF available. And
there are the numerous videos
posted on You Tube that I mentioned at the start of the article
which you can find with a simple “Corel Paintshop Pro” search on
You Tube at http://www.youtube.com.
I am quite impressed with Paintshop™ Pro X4 as issues I had with X3
have been resolved including cropping operations and printing. I can
do just about everything I want to do with a photo inside X4. PSP has
the all the tools that it has had over the years including extensive layer
support where you can preserve the original photo as the background
layer and overlay it with multiple layers in adjusting the various objects within the photo as well as adding new objects such as content
from other photos, picture tubes, picture frames, and text on top of the
original photo. You can also adjust the visibility or transparency of
those layers.
Another feature I like is the Crop to New Image where when I can
scan in multiple pictures at the same time and use this feature to automatically create a new file from the cropped area and keep the original
full scan open, so individual photo files can be easily separated from
the scanned image.
One feature I am not crazy about is Smart Carver™ which is supposed
to seamlessly remove foreground objects from your photo. It is not
seamless in its operation, it does leave a perceivable line in the picture,
as it works by essentially creating a “fold” in the picture where the
object was which can reduce the width or height of the picture if you
don’t compensate. Also, you have to mark the areas you don’t want
“distorted” by the operation. The “Art” in removing an object is to
replace the background behind the object being removed so that it
truly “seamless.” This can be easily achieved if you have two similar
photos, one with the object and one with the background so that you
can clone the background. Other approaches similar to Smart
Carver™ found in other programs also fall short. I have found one tool
that can “synthesize” the background and when used with the clone
tool comes very close, the GIMP editor and it is free.
What’s in the Box?
Other Paintshop™ Pro tools that I like which are very effective and
easy to use include the Smart Photo Fix, Straighten tool, Perspective
tool, fishbowl correction, Clone, Makeover tools and the color changer.
Corel has a number of offerings and upgrade
paths available to both new and registered
users to get to X4. I initially did the standard
upgrade download from an Email that I received as a registered user. My download
including the X4 software, User Manual
PDF eBook, the KPT plug-in filters “extras”
and a copy of WinZip 15. All for $49.99
($10 off regular price). For $20 more, there
is the Ultimate edition where you also get
Nik® Color Efex Pro™ 3.0 photo effects
I highly recommend upgrading to X4 even if you have X3 because of
the redesigned work spaces are better organized and laptop friendly in
use of the desktop plus all those new features and enhancements to
existing features.
the end of the story
6
the end of the story
the ball slowly, when the ball reaches the wrinkle it does not roll over
it, but instead rolls back, unable to cross the barrier. Roll the ball faster, and it will roll over the barrier and reach the other side. The ball
does not destroy or alter the barrier, it simply does or does not roll
over the barrier, dependent on its velocity. Stretching the analogy a bit
(a whole lot actually) to our memory cell, the carpet wrinkle is the
insulating material. But in quantum theory the ball doesn’t roll over
the wrinkle, it rolls THROUGH the wrinkle without destroying or
altering it, hence the term “tunneling electron”.
More Than You Ever Wanted
To Know About Solid State Drives
By Ted Wirtz, Member, Orange County PCUG, California
ORCOPUG’s nibbles & bits
www.orcopug.org
editor (at) orcopug.org
This article started out to be something rather simple. Explain why
standard “Secure Erase” procedures don’t really work on a Solid State
Drive (SSD). However, delving into the technology of these devices
was an exercise in peeling layers off an onion. Answering one question raised another. So without further ado, here we go.
Erasing a cell removes the electrons from the floating gate setting the
cell to a logical ”1” state. Writing to a cell adds electrons to the floating gate, changing its state to logical “0”.
Flash Memory
Flash memory is showing up almost anywhere in today’s electronic
devices. Cell phones, tablet computers, gaming consoles, digital camera memory cards,etc. As manufacturing costs for memory chips continues to fall, it is now economically feasible to assemble large numbers of flash chips into logical arrays that can be made to look like and
act like hard drives. When I say economical, I don’t mean to imply
they are the same price as a standard hard drive. They can cost anywhere from two to four times as much as a standard hard drive, and
are not available in terabyte sizes (yet). Yet they offer several advantages over a standard disk drive.
Basic Design of a Solid State Drive
Almost all solid state drives make use of a memory technology called
“Flash.” It has the unique property of retaining any data written to it
while power is removed, making it ideal for permanent (or semipermanent) storage. The memory consists of thousands of special
memory cells designed with two gates per cell. The floating gate is a
microscopic piece of conductive material insulated on all sides by an
extremely thin layer of pure silicon dioxide, which in layman’s terms
is simply pure quartz glass, an excellent insulator. The floating gate is
in a sense a small storage capacitor.
Figure 2 is an example of a cell being erased. Any electrons on the
floating gate tunnel through the insulating layer to the drain connection, leaving the cell in a logical “1” state.
Figure 1 shows the design of a single gate.
When an appropriate voltage is applied to the control gate, current will
flow between the source and drain connections. However, if the floating gate has been previously charged with electrons, the charge opposes the voltage of the control gate, and current does NOT flow. Storing
electrons (or not storing) electrons on the floating gate is part of the
“Write” process. Once electrons are stored on the floating gate they
cannot dissipate because they are completely surrounded by insulating
material. Storing electrons on the floating gate involves a process
called “hot electron injection”, and removing electrons involves a
phenomenon called “electron tunneling,” which is one of the effects of
quantum mechanics and the particle-wave duality of matter. At this
point I’m in way over my head. Feel free to research quantum mechanics on your own.
Figure 3 illustrates how a cell is set to a logical”0” state by injecting
electrons onto the floating gate. The voltages shown in these figures
will be somewhat different depending on the chip manufacturer.
Sometimes the voltages needed to erase or write a cell may exceed the
A simple (but incorrect) analogy of electron tunneling is to visualize
rolling a small ball on a carpet that has a large wrinkle in it. If you roll
7
the end of the story
(Continued on page 8)
(Continued from page 7)
Memory Organization
voltage available from the basic power source (such as the battery
power in a digital camera) so in this case the controller chip will be
designed with tiny power converters on the chip called “electron
pumps”. These “pumps” provide the voltages needed.
The memory is arranged into “pages” and “blocks”. The smallest increment is the “page” with multiple “pages” being combined into
“blocks”. Both page and block size can vary in order to provide the
total storage capacity being designed into the device. Some typical
configurations are shown below.
Slc and Mlc
All discussion to this point had been based on Single Level Cell (SLC)
technology. That is, a single cell contains a single bit, either zero or
one. However there are a number of manufacturers who are now producing Multi Level Cell (MLC) memories where a given cell contains
more than a single bit of data. The concept is based on the idea that the
level of charge placed on the floating gate can be varied during the
write cycle. In theory, the concept could incorporate many bits into a
single cell, but at this point in time a typical MLC carries information
for two bits. The state of a completely erased cell is “11”. Then depending on how the write potentials are controlled, the cell can also
contain “10”, “01” or “00”. When the cell is read, the controller detects how much current the cell permits to pass. Either “no current”,
“low current,” “medium current” or “high current” represents the four
possible states. Although this increases the complexity of the controller chip, the same memory capacity can be achieved with just half the
number of memory cells, a significant advantage to the manufacturer.
This advantage gets passed on to the user in a lower cost device that
performs just as well as SLC. Many of the newer SSD’s use MLC
technology.
•
•
•
•
32 pages of 512+16 bytes each for a block size of 16 KB
64 pages of 2,048+64 bytes each for a block size of 128 KB
64 pages of 4,096+128 bytes each for a block size of 256 KB
128 pages of 4,096+128 bytes each for a block size of 512 KB
The most commonly used configuration uses 256 KB blocks with 4
KB pages, but as seen above a given manufacturer may choose another configuration. In the manufacturing process it is recognized that not
every cell will be perfect, so additional cells are included, as shown in
the table above. The extra bytes are used to mark bad pages and also
incorporate error detecting bits that are accessed by the controller
during read/write operations. If an error is detected, the page is
marked “bad” and will not be used again. In better devices the error
code configuration can correct single errors and detect double errors.
Extra blocks are often included in the device which can be “swapped
in” to maintain the designated capacity as blocks fail over time.
Note that the page and block structure of the memory device is totally
different from the sector-cluster-track organization of a rotating hard
drive. The controller “translates” the page-block structure into sectorcluster-track and vice versa so the operating system sees the device as
a hard drive.
Flash (or Thumb) Drives
The simplest form of solid state drive that we are all familiar with is
the simple USB “Flash Drive.”
the end of the story
Figure 5 shows a thumb drive that has been opened up and you can see
that the NAND flash and controller are two different devices connected to a common miniature circuit board. Flash drives have been available for some time, and I would guess that every home computer user
has at least one.
Figure 4 shows how individual cells are interconnected into rows to
form eight bit “Words” which share a common layer of semiconductor
materials. Sequentially strobing each of the word lines will result in a
serial stream corresponding to the data written into each cell. The
design results in an inversion of voltages and logical state, so the array
is know as NAND (NOT AND) flash.
NAND memory arrays can be very compact as compared to other
structures such as NOR gates, and require a minimum of connections
to or between cells. This allows more memory to be designed into a
given area of silicon, increasing yields and reducing costs. A byproduct of this design is that although “zeros” can be written to individual cells, writing a “one” cannot. The entire block must be “erased”
to an all “ones” state before it can be written to again.
Memory Controller
The memory cells cannot control themselves, they are simply storage.
To make the device useful it also requires a “controller” which performs multiple functions. First, it makes the memory array appear to
the operating system as if it is a disk drive, and secondly it translates
the read and write commands from the operating system to a form that
the NAND flash can use. It also contains a small amount of read/write
cache for temporary storage, and can also perform block erasures.
Figure 5 A USB flash drive.
The chip on the left is the flash memory. The controller is on the right.
the end of the story
(Continued on page 9)
8
Some manufacturers over provision the number of blocks inside the
SSD. As blocks eventually fail, the controller marks them bad so they
are never reused. The controller is able to assign a replacement block
from this pool of reserved memory, thereby maintaining the advertised
capacity of the device, even though some blocks have failed.
(Continued from page 8)
As the cost of NAND flash has steadily dropped it has led to the availability of much larger capacities at relatively reasonable cost. This
larger capacity solid state drive is commonly known as an SSD.
Reading and Writing an SSD
Figure 7 shows a simplified SSD. In this example we will assume a
non-standard block size of five pages. We are going to write a
small .DOC file (less than 4K) to the SSD.
Figure 6 shows a typical SSD with its protective covers removed.
Although much larger than the flash drive, you can see that the architecture is much the same, with memory chips on the left and controller
chips on the right.
Figure 7
SSDs are now available in sizes that allow the complete operating
system to be stored on the device as well as room for swap files and
other folders the user might want on the drive. Why an SSD instead of
a regular hard drive? One answer. SPEED!
The green boxes are empty pages
It all fits into the first page nicely as shown in Figure 8. Now we want
A normal rotating hard drive has a track-to-track delay reaching a
specified track (seek time) and then must wait for the desired data to
rotate under the head where it can be read (latency). SSDs don’t have
any moving parts to worry about. Once the controller computes the
address, the data is immediately read without further delay and given
back to the operating system.
end of the story
to write a picture of a boy intothethe
memory.
As can be seen in Figure 9, there is space, so no problem. As we continue on, we decide that the .DOC file is no longer needed, so we delete it. Next we decide to save a 24KB picture of the sun’s rays as
shown in Figure 10.
The result is very fast read cycles, much faster than can be duplicated
by any rotating hard drive. When the operating system resides on an
SSD, the computer will complete the boot process in seconds, rather
than minutes. If the “swap file” also resides on the SSD, “swapping”
occurs much faster as well since data is being swapped to memory,
rather than a hard drive with its seek and latency delays. However we
will soon find that writing to an SSD can take more time than expected, especially if it has been in use for a while. We will find out
why in a moment.
Wear Leveling
Unfortunately, over many erase-write cycles the insulating material
around the floating gate deteriorates, and the cell fails. (Reading a cell
causes no damage.) A typical cell will function reliably for over
100,000 erase-write cycles before it fails. (Some manufacturers now
claim they have improved reliability to over 1 million cycles.) To
reduce the number of times a given group of cells (a page) is cycled,
every time the controller writes data it selects previously unused pages, spreading the “wear” over all pages, instead of allowing all activity
to occur over and over in the first few pages. This greatly extends the
life of the device. Deleted pages remain unaltered. They are flagged as
deleted, but the data still remains. Deleted pages do not get reused at
this time.
Figure 9
The picture is 8KB and thus occupies two pages, which are empty.
Problem…we don’t have enough empty pages left. Although the first
page contains a deleted file it cannot be used because the data is still
the end of the story
(Continued on page 10)
9
(Continued from page 9)
Figure 10 -
Figure 11 is a photo of one of the new SSDs which uses the SandForce
controller. The new controller is conspicuously labeled on the left side
of the memory chips.
Problem. There aren’t enough empty pages.
The Sandforce Controller
there. Remember, we can only write zeros, so if the new data requires
ones where zeros existed before in the deleted page, we are in big
trouble as the result would be junk.
In 2009 OCZ Technology introduced a new version of its SSD and
called it the OCZ Vertex 2 Pro. The new drive incorporated a new
controller from a company called SandForce. As a company SandForce is a bit unique. They only manufacture NAND flash controllers.
Users of their product need to purchase the flash memory elsewhere.
The controller is able to sense this condition and must now do something to resolve the problem.
The SandForce controller offered a significant advantage over other
controllers in that it used an internal time-out function that would
initiate garbage collection soon after reading or writing had momentarily stopped. It had an even better feature. If the system OS could
send it a new “TRIM” command, the process could be started even
sooner, further improving performance. Since the process was implemented entirely within the controller, there was no involvement of the
the end of the story
computer’s CPU or RAM. So
there was absolutely no performance
penalty on the computer.
Departing momentarily from our single block memory example, a real
-world SSD would have many blocks, so the controller would start
searching for blocks where all pages are marked deleted. When such a
block was found, the entire block would then be erased, making all
pages available, and then the data would be written to pages in the
newly erased block. The result? Substantially increased time required
to write data to the SSD, slowing down the overall write timing.
This is why an SSD seems to be fast when new, but then gets slower
as time goes on. The controller has to perform “garbage collection”
before each write cycle. Remember that with wear leveling a page of
data gets written to a new physical location each time it is written.
The SandForce chip also performs file compression to increase the
amount of data that can be stored in the SSD. The amount of compression depends on how much compression has already been applied
prior to saving. ZIP and JPG files cannot be compressed much; EXE
files can be compressed to some extent (they are somewhat compressed by design); raw data being stored can be compressed to a
greater extent. I’m still researching how it is implemented in the chip.
Why is there this breakdown in communication between the SSD and
the OS? If we look at how a rotating disk drive functions, a given
sector if marked available can be completely overwritten by the magnetic head as the magnetic material on the disk spins underneath. The
magnetic head is able to record both zeros and ones on the magnetic
material regardless of what existed prior to the current write pass.
Since the OS assumes a rotating standard disk drive it is not necessary
for the OS to give the drive any sort of erase command. Erasure of
preexisting data occurs automatically when new data is written. With
SSDs as we have already learned, due to the nature of the NAND design, data cannot be written over prior data. The prior data in a page
must be erased before a new write can occur on that page.
Not all SSDs use the SandForce controller, so if you are in the market
for a SandForce-based SSD make sure the SSD you plan to purchase
uses the SandForce controller. If you intend to use multiple SSDs in a
RAID configuration you don’t need the SandForce controller since it
will not work with RAID. This may change in the future.
Trim Command
The TRIM command is now being implemented in several different
operating systems.
The main ones are:
What if there was a way to tell the SSD controller that you are done
writing for a while, and that the controller should start its garbage
collection process now, while the system is not reading or writing to
the SSD? Then the next time you needed to write the SSD would have
empty pages available.
Windows 7
Windows Server 2008 R2
Apple Mac OS 10.6.8
Linux Kernel 2.6.33
There is a way. Introducing the “SandForce” controller and the
“TRIM” command.
the end of the story
(Continued on page 11)
10
(Continued from page 10)
Row 3 shows that the controller has erased the first page, making it
available. Now there is sufficient space for our 24KB picture.
Remember our earlier example in Figure 10? Let’s see what happens
in an SSD first without TRIM and then with TRIM.
Row 4 shows that the available pages in cache have now been used to
store the image.
Row 5 shows that the NAND block can be block erased, and then the
cache data written into it. (The new block may in fact be in a different
location because the wear leveling algorithm may have come into play
during this process.) The block now contains both images and the residue from the .DOC file is gone. Note that until all these steps are completed the write operation has been delayed, substantially increasing
the time required to write the data. At this point the controller signals
the OS that the write is complete and the OS can continue writing the
next page with whatever new data needs to be written. If no available
pages can be found, the above procedure must be repeated. This accounts for the slowdown of an SSD once it has been in use for a period
of time.
Figure 13 shows how a completely different sequence occurs when the
SSD can implement the TRIM command. Let’s momentarily go back
to Figure 9, where we are attempting to write the “boy” picture. Remember that we have already deleted the .DOC file by now. After the
block containing the picture and the deleted file are written into cache,
Figure 12 shows the steps that are incurred by a write command when
TRIM is not implemented. The cache in the controller is implemented
with normal volatile read/write RAM, so each part of the cache can be
read or written to without requiring block erase.
Row 1 shows our initial attempt to write to a SSD NAND block with
insufficient pages. It cannot complete without further intervention by
the controller.
Figure 13 - The TRIM command forces the block to be
cleaned before our final write. There’s additional overhead, but
it happens after a delete and not during a critical write.
Row 2 shows that first the entire NAND block is read into the controller’s internal cache. There the controller determines that the page that
previously contained the .DOC file was marked DELETED, so it is in
reality an available page.
(Continued on page 12)
11
Windows as its default will assign all the user files (Documents, Pictures, Music etc.) to the C: drive. Although the system response will be
very fast if these reside on the SSD, the result will be a lot more write
cycles, incrementally shortening the life of the SSD. If the swap file is
located on the SSD, that too can result in a lot of write activity, although there are a couple of ways to mitigate the problem. If you are
using a 64 bit OS you can add large amounts of RAM to the system.
Since there is so much RAM, the OS will seldom need to perform
swaps.
(Continued from page 11)
the controller sends an acknowledgement that the write has been successful. Then the OS sends a TRIM command signifying that the write
process has ended.
The controller erases the deleted file which was in the first page while
the block is still in cache. Then the block is written to an available
“clean” block, or to available clean pages. Note that the later steps are
occurring as a background process, and the OS does not need to wait
for the additional steps to complete. This substantially speeds up the
write process. Further, the TRIM command creates additional clean
pages to which data can be written without waiting for block erasures
to be processed before the next write occurs.
Probably the best means of limiting wear is to have the SSD contain
only the Operating System and nothing else. That way only OS updates
and patches get written to the SSD. Anything else gets written to a
standard hard drive. The user gets the advantage of speedy boot times.
The trade-off is that the standard hard drive is slower than the SSD, so
other operations occur at normal speeds.
If the SSD has signaled a successful write, what if power should be
removed before the data can actually be written into the NAND flash?
To solve that potential problem, most SSDs have an on-board capacitor which stores sufficient power to complete the internal erase and
write processes.
Caveats - Secure Erasing
For some people, the speed advantage outweighs the life issue, especially if they buy a new computer every couple of years, so they put as
much as they can into the SSD. If they use a much larger SSD, the
wear gets distributed over the larger amount of memory, extending the
life of the SSD. How you plan to use your computer and what you
want in performance will really determine how to set up your SSD.
Now, on to the subject that started all the inquiry to the above; securely erasing data from an SSD.
Defragging
Only one comment here. Never ever defrag an SSD. First of all, since
an SSD has no latency or seek time issues, defragging will do nothing
to speed it up, despite what a defrag utility might report. The wear
leveling processes going on inside an SSD will make it appear that
what should be contiguous data is spread all over the memory of the
SSD. In fact it is, but it is of no consequence since there are no mechanical parts that have to move to get to the data. Worse still is the
fact that all the writing that the defrag process invokes simply shortens
the life of the SSD. And when the defrag process completes (if it can)
it will still show the SSD in a highly fragmented state because the wear
leveling algorithm has completely thwarted what the defrag program is
trying to do.
Existing secure erase programs are based on the assumption of conventional hard drive design. The secure erase algorithm overwrites
pseudo-random garbage into the deleted sectors (often multiple times)
to be sure that no magnetic residue of the original data can be detected. But with the wear leveling process built into the SSD, each time
there is a new write, the data gets written to a different page or block,
reducing the “wear” of a given block.
Result? The pseudo random data is written into new blocks or pages,
leaving the deleted pages intact. Someone with proper forensic tools
could still access and read the deleted data, since it was never actually
erased or overwritten. (Obviously, depending on how many times the
pseudo-random data is written some blocks or pages will be covered
up by the pseudo-random garbage, but some data will still be intact.)
Whatever you do, don’t assign one of those auto defragging programs
such as Diskeeper to an SSD. There are hints in various forums that the
PRO version of Diskeeper 2011 can handle SSDs but I find nothing on
their web site that confirms this.
How does one get around this problem? One way is to encrypt the data
before it is written. Without the encryption key the recovered data is
still garbage. Another way is to set up the programs handling the secure data so they never write to the SSD. However that approach will
only work if the OS swap file is assigned to another drive, not the
SSD. Otherwise pieces of the secure data might still be exposed in the
swap file assigned to the SSD. If the computer is going to be passed
on to someone else or discarded, it is essential that all private data be
forever gone before the hand-off.
References
Much of the above information was gleaned from sources such as Wikipedia, and discussions on a variety of user forums.
Ted Wirtz retired from Pacific Bell Network Engineering in December of 1991 after 34 years of service. After being totally bored out of
his skull, he found a "
retirement"job at a local craft store (Tall Mouse
Arts and Crafts) working in their IT department, installing and
maintaining computers for both their back office and point of sale
networks. The location was ideal since it was within the local area
instead of the Los Angeles area. Ted enjoyed the work so much that
he stayed with them for 16 years before finally re-retiring in 2009.
Ted is retired for good now and enjoying every minute of it, traveling
to such far away places as Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Anaheim's Disneyland.
Secure data is probably not an issue for most of us, but if the computer
is used for business purposes, it might contain private information
such as employee names, addresses, social security numbers or performance evaluations. We obviously don’t want that information to fall
into the wrong hands. For some people the only absolute solution of
assuring an SSDs data is unavailable is to remove the SSD and forcefully apply a sledgehammer multiple times. Perhaps a bit draconian,
but very effective.
Reducing Wear
Since we already know that memory cells have a finite number or
erase write cycles, what steps can we take to extend the life of an
SSD? Remember, reading an SSD does not produce wear, only writing. One way is to reassign system folders to standard hard drives.
the end of the story
12
Tab hot keys, the Superkey-W combo, or the virtual workspace icons
on the bottom panel. Choose whichever you want as they are all available!
Linux Mint 12
By Cal Esneault,
President, Cajun Clickers Computer Club, LA
and leader of many Open Source Workshops & SIGs
February 2012 issue, Cajun Clickers Computer News
http://cccclinuxsig.pbwiki.com
www.clickers.org
ccnewsletter (at) cox.net
Linux Mint, a community-based operating system
(OS) for PC’s, is among the four most popular OS
types for average users (Windows, Mac OS, Ubuntu,
Mint). Although Mint is a derivative of Ubuntu, it
has recently passed its parent in popularity. Known
for working “out of the box”, it appeals to those who
don’t want to have to “tinker” with their installation. Using a customized software manager, over 30,000 Debian-based software programs
are available at no cost.
Linux Mint 12 also has available a developmental windows manager
called “MATE” which has a more GNOME 2 feel and which allows
you to incrementally select which GNOME 3 shell features you want.
Recently, the base GNOME development platform was upgraded to
GNOME 3, and a new interface was launched that is more adaptable
to touch screens and mobile devices (GNOME 3 Shell). Due to superior component and network integration, many distro’s have switched to
GNOME 3. Canonical moved to GNOME 3 for Ubuntu, but it chose
its own Unity desktop interface in order to support future commercial
development plans.
The main Linux Mint download is 1.0 GB in size, so you will have to
use a DVD or USB for it. An optional CD version is available. My
experience is that you need at least 1 GB of memory for it to work.
Also, you can choose a “classic” GNOME version at login for older
PC’s graphic cards. Expect intense future development since many
concepts for this version are quite new.
To maintain its non-commercial focus and open software alignment,
Linux Mint 12 elected to go with GNOME 3 and GNOME 3 Shell.
As Canonical directs desktop Ubuntu to more business users with
switch to a 5-year long-term support version so as to focus on tablets
and mobile devices in 2014, you may want to visit linuxmint.com to
investigate this powerful and popular Linux distro for average users.
The GNOME 3 Shell interface has caused a lot of resistance from long
-time GNOME 2 users. Linux Mint 12 has a hybrid desktop strategy
by adding features similar to GNOME 2 while still using GNOME 3
Shell as the underlying desktop (see screenshot below).
the end of the story
The Gadget Corner
Shopping Web Site Experiences
By Steve Baer, Featured Writer,
Hilton Head Island Computer Club, SC
February 2012 issue, Island Computing
www.hhicc.org
Baer (at) ieee.org
There is still no new tablet at gadget central. I’m still waiting for a
good ice cream Sandwich device like the new Asus Transformer
Prime. But, with the holidays over, I had a chance to reflect with Mrs.
Gadget about our recent web shopping experiences.
This was stimulated by a frustrating session with hotels.com, where I
searched for things, made a selection, entered credit card data and then
received an email back from them first saying the location was sold
out at that date, and then a few minutes later saying there had been a
computer error.
Bottom-left you see the traditional start-button “kicker” screen to
launch applications and a bottom panel with buttons for switching
virtual workspaces (these have been removed from Unity and standard
GNOME 3 Shell). This gives comforting familiarity to existing
users as they transition into the new desk-top metaphor.
I contrast that with my amazon.com experiences where they know
who I am, offer reviews of products, show what others bought that
looked at this type of product, and execute flawlessly. Even a recent
event in buying an old book (from a sub-merchant) that arrived smelling of cigarette smoke, resulted in an immediate refund.
By moving the cursor into the top-left corner, you get the GNOME 3
Shell side-screen launcher panel with top buttons to activate the new
software “lenses” for alternate selection of applications or files (see
below).
With multiple windows open, you can switch applications by many
methods: the launcher panel icons, right-side thumbnail icons, the Alt-
Based on the above, there seem to clearly be rankings in the quality of
(Continued on page 14)
13
From the President ..
.. Editor’s desk
(Continued from page 13)
web shopping sites, just as there re for everything else. Below are a
few of our family experiences and approximate ratings. Hopefully,
others will pass along their experiences.
Hi PACCsters!
Required reading list:
A -Very Good (Favorites I would use again) Amazon.com - The
standard to which all should aspire. Good in all aspects: search, reviews, pricing, execution, problem resolution.
Buying a New Computer - Things to think about
(Part 1)
.….... by Phil Sorrentino
Buying a New Computer - Things to think about
(Part 2 of 3)
……. by Phil Sorrentino
Shoemall.com - Quite good in search, selection and execution.
Buy.com - Quite good in execution and price. But sometimes the
price is not as low as the competition.
DO YOU “YOUTUBE”?
PAGE # 3
PAGE # 3
…... By Elaine Szaniszlo PAGE # 4
Paintshop™ Pro X4
Target.com – Good execution.
Reviewed by Clint Tinsley PAGE # 5
More Than You Ever Wanted To Know
About Solid State Drives …………. by Ted Wirtz PAGE # 7
Partsexpress.com – Good for electronics and home theater parts, including the obscure. Good search, review, and return policy. Shipping
may be a bit high at times.
Linux Mint 12
Nordstroms.com – Good for clothing. Free shipping and returns. No
minimum purchase required. Should prices go down after purchase of
an item, a simple phone call to customer service and a credit for the
difference is issued to the customer.
...…… by Cal Esneault PAGE # 13
The Gadget Corner
Shopping Web Site Experiences ...… by Steve Baer PAGE # 13
GoGo
…….. by George Harding PAGE # 14
Potterybarn.com – Good for home accessories. Items arrive well
boxed and in a timely fashion.
I will see you all on Sunday March 18, 2012. PJK
Please confirm your e-mail address, so the PACC TALK notification
can go out to let you know, the newsletter is at the PACC web site
ready to download. Thank you, PJK .
Crateandbarrel.com – Excellent site for kitchen utensils, dishes,
cookware and bake ware. Items arrive well boxed and in a timely fashion.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The PACC web site is working. You are again able to
get your copy of PACC TALK there. If you have a problem with viewing it with
Adobe Reader, use another PDF reader, such as Nitro. to view the PACC TALK.
Talbots.com – Good for women’s clothing. Approximately once a
month they have free shipping with no minimum purchase required for
24 hours but it is never advertised. One must visit the website to find
out.
PACC Web Site: http://pacc.apcug.org/
GoGo
Belks.com- Complete department store. A gift for someone else was
ordered. Item was lost and never received by recipient. Customer
Service refunded money, no questions asked. They have come a long
way in the past few years.
By George Harding, Treasurer, Tucson Computer Society, AZ
January 2012 issue, eJournal
www.aztcs.org georgehardingsbd (at) earthlink.net
When you fly, whether commercial or private, you are prohibited
from using your laptop, tablet or mobile phone to access the Internet . No longer! GoGo has available technology that allows you to
surf the Internet once your aircraft has reached 10,000 feet . This
means you can access cloudbased documents, use email, sign into
web sites and access VPNs while aloft.
Kayak.com – I use this site only to get an idea of the range of airline
prices and schedules. Usually going directly to the airline site provides
slightly lower prices.
B - Medium (Worth a try, if nothing better around)
Bedbathandbeyond.com – Interesting website for home accessories.
During “check out” an error was made but unfortunately the software
was not specific enough to explain the problem. Purchase had to be
completed via phone.
GoGo has the system operational in over 1,000 commercial aircraft,
such as Air Tran, Delta, Virgin America and select Air Canada
flights, and 5,000 private aircraft.
What does it cost? Pretty reasonable at $4.95 per session, $12.95 per
24 hour period or $39.95 per month for unlimited use. You are connected to GoGo’s portal where you sign in, then can surf to your
heart’s content. The aircraft has three antennas, two nderneath and
one on top. Installation is quick.
C - Needs Improvement (Not worth another visit, unless I have no
other choices)
Hotels.com - Posted inventory not as good as that of individual hotel
sites.
For those who need access to the Internet while in flight, this is a
service well worth having.
Homedepot.com and Lowes.com – Both seem designed to steer you to
their local stores as opposed to providing a central place from which
to order online.
About: GoGo
Vendor: Gogo Service
www.gogoair.com
Remember, these comments are based only on a small sample. Your
experience may vary. I thank Mrs. Gadget for her input to this article.
the end of the story
the end of the story
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MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FOR PACC:
(Please print in CAPS)
NAME.................................................................DATE................................
ADDRESS....................................................COMPANY.............................
CITY...............................................STATE.............ZIP+4...........................
PHONE...................................E-MAIL........................................................
OCCUPATION.............................................................................................
INTERESTS.................................................................................................
RECOMMENDED BY PACC MEMBER......................................................
Dues: $25 per year.
Make your check out to: PACC and send it with your application to:
Treasurer, PACC, P.O. Box 6435, Pittsburgh, PA 15212-6435
cut here.....................................................................................cut here
PACC HELP LINE
Help is available to PACC members on various computer topics by contacting one of
those listed below. It is recommended that the initial contact with any of these experts
should be made via the PACC WEB SITE. In this way others can benefit from the
questions and responses. Be courteous and call only during the listed times.
NAME
COMPUTER AREA
Agrawala, Vishnu
Hardware
Cutrara, Phil
Geoworks
766-0274
Fisher, Bill
Cobol, Word Perfect
367-8996
7 - 9:00 pm
Konecny, P.
Windows, DOS 6.2x, MS IE,, Hardware
795-6075
8 - 9:00 pm
FOR SALE
——————————
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724-553-8051 3 - 6:00 pm
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Classified ads. Buy, Sell, Trade. Members
may place free ads (up to 5 lines).
For commercial ads send a inquiry to:
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DATE ON YOUR LABEL DOES NOT REFLECT
CORRECTLY YOUR MEMBERSHIP STATUS OR
HAVE AN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION YOU
WANT TO SHARE SEND E-MAIL
DIRECTLY TO: [email protected]
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Permission to reprint articles from PACC
TALK is given to school, personal computer club,
and nonprofit organization publications, provided
that: (a) PACC Inc. receives a copy of the
publication; (b) credit is given to PACC TALK as
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and (d) the article author has not expressly
copyrighted the article. Recognition is one means of
compensating our valued contributors. Arrangements
can be made to receive copy on magnetic media; for
details, contact the editor.
15
PITTSBURGH AREA COMPUTER CLUB
P.O. BOX 6435
PITTSBURGH PA 15212-6435
E-mail: [email protected]
NEXT PACC MEETING
IS ON MARCH 18, 2012
P A C C 1975 - 2012
IN ITS THIRTY-SEVENTH YEAR
NOT
PACC TALK
OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE PITTSBURGH AREA COMPUTER CLUB
P.O. BOX 6435, PITTSBURGH PA 15212-6435
RESPONSIBLE FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS OR WRITERS ACCURACY
NEXT MEETING: March 18, 2012
The Pittsburgh Area Computer Club (PACC) holds its meetings the THIRD Sunday of each
month. The next meeting will be in room 311 at Point Park University, Wood St. and Blvd.
of the Allies. The doors open at 11:00 am and close at 4:30 pm. Bring your PC!
NOTICE THE EXPIRATION DATE ON THE MAILING LABEL OF YOUR NEWSLETTER.
You won’t get your newsletter if you let your membership expire. Renew your
Memberships !!! Send a check or money order for $25 made out to ‘PACC’ and addressed
to Treasurer, PACC, P.O. Box 6435, Pittsburgh, PA 15212-6435.
Classified ads. Buy, Sell, Trade. Members may place free ads (up to 5 lines). Articles
should be prepared in plain ASCII text. WITHOUT formatting. Deadline for articles is the
25th of the month. Send them to P.J. Konecny, P.O. Box 557, Monroeville, PA 15146.
PACC homepage can be found at: http://pacc.apcug.org
VP Comm. Homer James
Treas. - Vishnu Agrawala
Exec VP – J. Duda
Pres. – P J. Konecny
367-0392
341-0252
724-553-8051
367-0392
795-6075
MAL - Rich Springer
MAL - Bill Fisher
MAL - Anil Rodrigues
VP Edu. Bud Kittle
Editor - Pavel J. Konecny
655-2883
367-8996
521-4096
821-5807
795-6075
PACC OFFICERS AND VIPs
VP Prog. - Lori Cislon
Hardware-Vishnu Agrawala
795-075
724-612-1443
Internet - Bill Didycz
Windows - P. J. Konecny
884-6225
795-6075
PACC SIG LEADERS
MS Publisher - P. J. Konecny
16