NOV 2004 issue of TOE - Channel Islands PC Users Group

The Outer E
d
g
e
Newsletter of the Channel Islands PC Users Group
November 2004
Vol. 18, No. 5
Whole No. 212
ISSN 1055-4399
The Friendly Computer Club Helping Make Computers Friendly. On the Web at www.cipcug.org
COMMAND.COM
Attendance at the
October general meeting
76 members and 1 guest
To Contact CIPCUG
The Outer Edge...........(805) 485-7121
General Information.. . . . . . . (805) 604-7538
Mailing Address...P.O. Box 51354, Oxnard, CA
93031-1354
Inside
November 2004
By David Harris, President
Special Interest Group meetings have been an important part of not only
CIPCUG but of all active computer clubs. It is through these sessions that
members
can exchange knowledge, information and ideas. We have
two problems in our SIG area. First, getting members to head a session and,
second, getting attendance. These areas are of great concern to the board and
will be discussed in detail at a coming meeting. Prior to that we need your
input! Should we continue SIGs? What topics should we offer? Where and at
what time should they be held?
One choice is after our general monthly meeting at the Boys & Girls
Club. We are open to any suggestions and ideas on the above questions. I am
going to list some ideas for topics below. Please send me an e- mail at [email protected] with your ideas and suggestions.
Scanning: Hardware and software
Web searching.
Auction sites: bid and buy
Shopping on the Web.
Building a computer from parts
Downloading information to your computer.
Updating all your drivers
Managing your photos.
PC-Mac comparisons
HARRIS
Mega search engines.
Backing up data
Digital cameras.
Turbo Tax
Tracking personal investments.
Vacation bargains online
Faxing: sending and receiving.
Voice/video communication online
Virus protection.
Print screen/selective printing
Shareware and freeware.
We do not want to discontinue this excellent sharing and learning program. Only with your input can we continue successfully.
The Outer Edge
Page 1
Root
Directory
CIPCUG NEWS
Benefits
19
Channel Islands
PC Users Group
CIPCUG mailing address:
P.O. Box 51354, Oxnard, CA
93031-1354
Program: Dave Whittle and
the digital home
8
Executive Board
(Elected officials)
President……………….……David Harris
…………….………[email protected]
Vice President/Program Chairman
………………...Craig Ladd...….482-4344
………………[email protected]
Secretary……………..Martha Churchyard
……………………[email protected]
Treasurer…………….……....…Art Lewis
………………….…[email protected]
Q&A, business meeting
4
Past President……………...…..Andy Toth
……...………[email protected]
Steering Committee
TOE contributors (2004)
4
18
Treasurer’s report
18
Web page news
12
Coming CIPCUG events
Command.com
3
1
Editor’s corner
F1: Your help key
18
17
Map, schedule
20
Membership report
16
Windows and Hardware 11
SIG
GENERAL
Computer cookies: What 15
are they, what do they do?
Corel Corp. acquires Jasc
Software
6
How to speed up your
computer: Shortcut keys,
faster logons
10
Review: muvee autoProducer
13
What is a newsgroup, and
how do you use them
12
ADVERTISEMENTS
Computer shows
14
Copy Court
15
Ventura County
Computers
13
Page 2
Ex-officio members of Executive
Committee
(Appointed Officials)
Chief Protocol Officer……...George Lakes
CIPCUG ISP Signups………...Helen Long
Computer Show Coordinator.Dick Otterson
.......………….………[email protected]
Go-fer Extraodinaire……….Dick Otterson
Legal Adviser..……………..John Stanton
Librarian……………......………….Vacant
Marketing Director………...Ron Pinkerton
Membership Chairman.……...Ken Church
....………………[email protected]
Newsletter Editor…………....John Weigle
Program Chairman…………….Craig Ladd
Publicity Chairman………..…David Harris
SIG Coordinator…………Lois de Violini
…………………………[email protected]
Tech Support…………………..Toby Scott
Web Page Editor……………..Helen Long
…………………[email protected]
Past Presidents
Walt Yates .............................1987/1989
Lois Evans de Violini............1989/1991
Terry Lee................................1991/1993
Jerry McLoud........................1993/1995
Robert Provart.......................1995/1997
Toby Scott.............................1997/1999
George Lakes………………1999/2001
Andy Toth.........................….2001/2003
(With the exception of the immediate past
president, past presidents are not members of the
board.)
Life members
Frank Segesman
Toby Scott
Lois Evans de Violini
The Outer Edge
CIPCUG is a member of APCUG,
The Association of PC Users Groups
The Outer Edge
Editor……………………..John Weigle
P.O. Box 6536, Ventura CA 93006
485-7121………[email protected]
The Outer Edge is published monthly by Channel
Islands PC Users Group, an independent, nonprofit
corporation. Contents of The Outer Edge copyright
2001  by Channel Islands PC Users Group.
Permission for reproduction in whole or in part is
granted to other computer user groups for internal
non-profit use provided credit is given to The Outer
Edge and the authors of the reproduced material. All
other reproduction is prohibited without prior
written consent of Channel Islands PC Users Group.
Opinions expressed in this journal are solely those
of the authors or contributors, and do not necessarily
represent those of Channel Islands PC Users Group,
its officers or membership as a whole. The
information provided is believed to be correct and
useful, however, no warranty, express or implied, is
made by Channel Islands PC Users Group, its
officers, editorial staff or contributors. This
disclaimer extends to all losses, incidental or
consequential, resulting from the use or application
of the information provided.
Channel Islands PC Users Group does not endorse
or recommend any specific hardware or software
products, dealers, distributors or manufacturers. All
trademarked or registered trademarked names are
acknowledged to be the property of their respective
owners, and are used for editorial purposes only.
Advertising in The Outer Edge
Advertising is accepted for computer-related
materials, businesses and services only. Rates are
for Camera-Ready copy (clear, clean black and
white masters). Typesetting and graphics are
available at an additional fee.
SIZE
Cost/Issue
FULL-PAGE (9½”H x 7¼”W)................$50.00
HALF-PAGE (4½”H x 7¼”W)
or (9½”H x 3½”W )....…........$30.00
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BUSINESS CARD ad...............................$15.00
Discounts for multiple issues (3, 6, 9 and 12
months)
Ad copy deadline is the 10th of the month of
publication.
Make all checks payable to CIPCUG.
November 2004
Society news: Programs and SIGs
November program to be announced
Programs
This month’s program was still
undetermined at TOE deadline. The
meeting will be on Saturday, Nov.
20, at the Camarillo Boys & Girls
Club, 1500 Temple Ave. (northeast
corner of Ponderosa Drive and Temple Avenue), Camarillo (see map on
page 20). Note that this meeting is
on the third Saturday.
The doors open at 8:30 a.m.,
and the Windows and Hardware and
Internet SIGs start at 8:45 a.m.
Other coming programs:
Dec. 18 (also 3rd Saturday):
Belkin.com. Whether you have one
computer or four, an “entertainment
center” or a TV-VCR, Belkin helps
you get the most from your valuable
home electronics.
Upgrade your computer and accessories, share the Internet, protect
your equipment, share computers
and devices, all with the assistance
of Belkin.com.
Come to the meeting and let Ed
Dugan and Patricia Shaw show you
what they have to offer in “toys” for
your computer.
2005 (all programs TBA)
Jan. 22 (4th Saturday)
Feb. 26 (4th Saturday)
March 26 (4th Saturday)
Special Interest Groups
Unless otherwise noted, Special
Interest Groups (SIGs) meet at
Ventura County Computers, 2175
Goodyear Ave., Unit 117, Ventura;
phone 805-289-3960.
From the 101 Freeway, exit at
Telephone, take Telephone south to
McGrath, turn left and go one block.
Turn right on Goodyear and then
right again into the second
driveway.
Unit 117 is the back, right corner
of the industrial building. Unless
otherwise noted, SIGs run from 6:30
to 8:30 p.m.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
are sponsored by CIPCUG and led
by volunteer club members. There is
no charge for members to attend the
SIGS, just a willingness to learn and
share.
Here is the schedule for the balance of October and all of November:
October
Oct. 21 (third Thursday): Open
for whatever topic members ask for.
Oct. 28 (fourth Thursday):
Linux, moderator TBA.
November
Monday, Nov. 1: Copying Tape
or LP to CD. Moderator Michael
Shalkey will show you how to convert a cassette tape (or LP) to CD
using your computer.
Wednesday, Nov. 10: HTML/
CSS. Moderator: Toby Scott will
demonstrate some techniques to
dress up your menus and content
using the demonstration pages we
have been working on for the past
three months. Also, users are invited
to bring in their problems for analysis and discussion. Please submit to
Toby the week before the event, if
possible.
Thursday, Nov. 18: Subject and
moderator TBA. We may cancel
this date. Be sure to check the Web
page.
Thursday, Nov. 25: Linux.
Moderator and topic TBA.
Door prizes
The club door prizes for this month
are:
Windows XP Pro
Adjustable foot rest
USB 2 Card Reader (can read Compact Flash, IBM Microdirve, Smart Media, Memory Stick Pro, Secure Digital
Multimedia Card)
Norton AntiVirus 2005
Estimated retail value: $380
We have two types of raffle tickets:
one for prizes offered by the presenter
and one for club-provided prizes. The
tickets for the presenter’s prizes are free
and limited to one per member.
The tickets for the club-provided
prizes are $1 each, $5 for six tickets, $10
for 13 tickets and $20 for 26 tickets and
are available to anyone.
Consignment table
A consignment table is set up at
every meeting. Anyone can buy, but only
members can sell. The club gets 10 percent of the sales price. A tag with the
seller’s name, CIPCUG membership
number, item name, item description and
price must be placed on each item. Sold
items MUST be picked up at the end of
the day’s meeting. Any items not picked
up will become the property of CIPCUG
and will be subject to disposal at the
club’s discretion.
CIPCUG is NOT RESPONSIBLE in
any way for items bought or sold at the
table. Each item is sold on an AS-IS
basis unless otherwise stated.
E-mail SIG reminders
To keep members up to date on
coming SIGs, Lois Evans de Violini is
sending e- mail reminders. Sign up and
she will automatically send you a
reminder about two days before each
SIG, indicating the topic, location, and
date.
To sign up, send an e- mail to
[email protected] with the subject
line “subscribe.”
Now available from Art Lewis at any meeting: The Secret Guide to Computers, 29th edition, by Russ
Walter — $10.
November 2004
The Outer Edge
Page 3
Society news: Business meeting, Q&A
Problems with Symantec, e-mail errors, more
By Martha Churchyard
[email protected]
Business meeting
Toby Scott presided for our peripatetic president. Craig Ladd reported on
coming programs, Helen demonstrated
new pictures on the club Web site, and
Art Lewis gave the Treasurer’s report.
The club is selling “The Secret
Guide To Computers” and “Tricky
Living” at substantial discounts.
SIG Coordinator Lois Evans de
Violini discussed ideas for new SIGs.
Membership Chair Ken Church reminded members to please sign in
whenever they attend. A healthy attendance count helps attract speakers to
the meetings.
John Weigle made some announcements regarding the TOE.
Q&A session
Unless otherwise noted, questions
are answered by Toby Scott, a partner
in Ventura County Computers and our
technical adviser. Michael Shalkey
handles the demonstrations projected
on the screen.
Norton Antivirus, SystemWorks
problems
Q: Toby, would you comment on
John’s short article in the TOE regarding Symantec?
John Weigle: It concerned problems installing Norton SystemWorks
and Norton Antivirus 2003 or 2004.
Neither one would install properly,
and I had problems uninstalling them.
A: Usually when you have a problem installing Norton Antivirus, it’s
because of an incomplete uninstall.
Symantec has a thorough uninstall utility on their Web site. But that didn’t
work for you, John, did it? The other
thing is the inevitable registry hack
where you wipe out everything in the
registry that says Symantec or Norton.
Good luck.
Norton finds an E-mail scanning
error
Q: I just ran a virus scan, and Norton said I had an e-mail scanning error.
A: An e-mail scanning error just
means that Norton had trouble reading
your e-mail file. There may be something a little mangled in your e-mail
file.
Is it true there are no viruses or
spam for Macs or Linx?
Q: My cousin claims that we
wouldn’t have all these problems with
viruses, spam and so on if we all got
Macs, because they run on Unix. He
says that they are bulletproof. Is that
true?
A: No, it is categorically untrue.
There have been a tremendous number
of vulnerabilities discovered for Unix,
Linux, and the other –ix’s. The biggest
difference is that Windows and Microsoft have about 90 percent of the installed base of PCs. If you are a hacker,
targeting them gives you so much more
impact and a bigger boost to your ego.
About six months or so ago there was a
very ugly vulnerability discovered in
the Linux kernel, and they rushed out a
patch. They were really worried that
someone would hit it — but nobody
did.
The disadvantage of Windows is
that every hacker in the world is aiming at it, but the advantage is that every
programmer in the world is writing for
Windows exclusively, or at least first.
If you want all the latest programs, if
you want them to run well, if you want
all the fancy tools, and so on, you’re
pretty much stuck with Windows.
What do I do about bad clusters
on an old computer?
Q: My father was given a computer. The virus definitions were four
years old, and he never ran AdAware.
I tried to fix it as best I could, but it has
bad clusters on the drive.
A: That means he has a hard drive
problem. It’s possible you can fix it if
you wipe out the operating system,
format the drive and start over. If the
computer wasn’t used for a while, you
can end up with bad clusters just from
not being used. So if you want to spend
(Continued on page 5)
October Steering Committee meeting
By Martha Churchyard, secretary
The CIPCUG Steering Committee
meeting was held on Oct. 26, 2004, at 7
p.m. at the home of George and Arline
Lakes.
Present: Martha Churchyard, Lois
De Violini, Andy Toth, George and
Arline Lakes, Art Lewis, Connie
Vaughn, and Helen Long.
Art Lewis gave the September
Treasurer’s report. The club started
paying rent to the Boys & Girls Club
Page 4
Oct. 1. The report was accepted unanimously as submitted.
Refreshments Chair Connie
Vaughn is recruiting volunteers to help
prepare the refreshments at meetings.
SIG Coordinator Lois Evans De
Violini discussed the SIG schedule.
Art Lewis is proposing that the
board membership be expanded to include the Membership Chair, SIG Coordinator, Webmistress, Technical AdThe Outer Edge
viser (Toby) and Refreshments Chair.
Under the present By-laws, only the
elected officers and immediate past
president are voting directors. There
has been a problem getting a quorum
the last few months. The five proposed
new members usually attend but under
current by-laws cannot vote or count
toward a quorum. The issue will be
raised again when the full board is present.
November 2004
More on Q&A: Sorting and sending pictures
(Continued from page 4)
the time, make sure you have the disks
for all the drivers, and give it a try.
(From audience): He could put in a
new hard drive.
A: Yes, he could, but for a laptop, it
will cost more. You can figure things
cost just about double what they do for
a desktop.
My pictures are in alphabetical
order; can I sort by date taken?
Q: When I look at my picture files
in Windows Explorer, they are all in
alphabetical order. They are pictures I
took while traveling, and I want them
in the order they were taken. Is there
any way I can get them in date order?
A: (Demonstrating) Here is a folder
of images, in Detail View. If you want
to sort by name, click on the Name
column heading, and it will sort folders
first, and then the files, all in alphabetical order. If you click on “Name”
again, it will reverse the order, so that
the end of the alphabet is at the top. If
you want to sort on the date modified,
click on that column heading, and it
will sort by date. It will have the latest
date at the bottom, and again, if you
want the latest date at the top, click on
the column heading to reverse the sort
order. A little arrow next to the column
name shows which way the order is
going.
A: After you have used the Thumbnail View in Explorer, it creates a
thumbs.db file that you can see in the
Details View. It has a listing of all the
graphics files in that folder, and it is
created when you view them in thumbnail view. If you add files later, they
won’t be included until you view them
using thumbnails. If want to have it on
the CD, be sure you view the thumbnails just before you burn the CD, so
the thumbs.db is current. Actually, you
don’t really need it, and many computers can’t even read it. It is basically
Windows XP only. So just before you
burn the CD, many of us delete it from
the listing of files to be burned. There
is also a way to completely turn off
creating this file in the Explorer folder
options.
What does ‘date modified’ mean?
Q: When you say, “date modified,”
is that the last day that I brought it up,
or the date it was made into a file?
A: That would be the date it was
made into a file — or modified. If you
have a Word document, you might
have worked on it 10 times, but it will
be the last time you saved it.
Is the speed of a wireless DSL router
the same as a wired one?
Q: For DSL routers, is a wireless
router the same speed as a wired one?
A: The wireless and the router will
be hugely faster than any Internet connection you can buy for under a couple
of hundred dollars a month. Any of the
standard DSL or cable modem devices
go up to maybe a couple of megabits
per second. For routers, the wired connections will be at least 100 megabits,
and the 802.11b’s are 11 megabits a
second, which is still faster than the 2
or 3 you get from cable. The 802.11g is
faster; it has 54 megabits a second. It
also has better ability to go through
walls, etc. For houses, I don’t recommend b; get an 802.11g. If you already
have 802.11b and it is working, don’t
throw it away, but if you are thinking
of getting wireless for the house, there
is a small difference in price but a huge
decrease in frustration.
When I copy pictures, I sometimes
get a ‘thumbnail too large’ message
Q: My other question is about
copying them to a CD. When I do that
in Explorer, every so often I get a message, something about a thumbnail
being too large, and you may lose a
file. When I print from the CD, the
pictures are there, but the thumbnail
file is also there. What is that?
How can I transmit video files
to friends in Europe? What’s best:
internal or external DVD burner?
Q: I recorded some tapes on a digital video camera, and I have two questions. How can I most efficiently transmit this to friends in Europe who use
the PAL system, rather than the NTSC
system used in this country? And I am
considering buying a new computer
November 2004
The Outer Edge
with a DVD burner. Please comment
on the advantages and disadvantages of
an internal DVD drive as opposed to an
external drive.
A: Incidentally, do you know what
NTSC stands for? Never Twice Same
Color. There is no good conversion
tool. There are some labs that will do
it, but they charge something like $100
a minute.
(From audience) I believe that there
are conversion systems. I know there
was one for VCRs, called a dual VCR,
which would do the conversion.
A: Maybe so. I know of dual VCRs
that will play both, but I don’t know
that they will convert. But if there are,
look for them.
The other question had to do with
DVD recorders. My advice is to get a
burner that will do both +R and –R.
There is little difference in price, and it
avoids any incompatibility problems
with the occasional player that can only
read one type.
As far as external versus internal, if
you need to use the DVD burner on
more than one computer, go ahead and
get the freestanding one with USB or
Firewire connection. If you don’t need
that functionality, get an internal one.
You will have far fewer problems.
I had two calls just yesterday about
problems with Windows suddenly not
detecting USB devices. USB every
once in a while gets messed up, and
needs to be tweaked before it starts
working again. The mice almost always work, but the more complicated
the device, the more problematic it is.
With the internals, about the only time
they have a problem is if they die —
which can sometimes happen. They are
fragile.
My advice is not to get an external
unless you absolutely need the portability. Get one that goes inside the
computer. You will have far fewer
headaches.
I’m sending DVDs to several people
Q: I’m planning to send DVDs to
different people to play on their DVD
players —
A: It makes no difference. Both the
(Continued on page 6)
Page 5
More on Q&A: DVD writers for laptops, USB issues
(Continued from page 5)
internal and the external will be able to
do the +R and –R. Just be sure to buy
one with this capability. They come in
both internal and external.
What if you’re upgrading a laptop?
Q: Would that hold true if you were
upgrading a laptop?
A: For the most part, if it didn’t
come with the laptop originally, you
are not going to be able to put a DVD
writer inside your laptop. The exception would be a model that was sold
with the option of having either a CD
burner or a DVD writer. If you bought
it with the CD drive, and later you decide to take it out and put in the DVD
burner instead, you can do that. Generally speaking, you will pay $300 or
$400 for that. It is an expensive item,
because you are buying the manufacturer’s proprietary format that fits exactly inside your laptop. It is not a standard install.
So with a laptop, you are pretty
much stuck with an external. And with
a laptop, you must be used to the frustrations of USB troubles.
What brands do you recommend?
Q: What brands do you recommend?
A: The Plextor has the best reputa-
tion. They cost about double the price
of others, but the techies swear by
them. A more affordable brand, and
one that gets ratings almost as high, is
LiteOn. I have had very mixed results
with Sony and don’t recommend them.
Sony has some good products, but in
my opinion the CD/DVD products are
overpriced and not reliable.
Do I have to worry about which
socket to plug USB devices into?
Q: I have several USB sockets, and
when I remove a peripheral from a
computer, and then plug it in again, I
have always tried to be careful to put it
back in the same socket, like the printer
in No. 1, and the scanner in No. 2. Is
that necessary?
A: No. The one thing you want to
make sure of, when you plug in a USB
device, you go to the icon in the system
tray that controls removable USB devices. If you right-click on it, it will say
“unplug USB device.” Click OK, and it
will say, “You can now safely remove
your USB device.” Sometimes Windows caches things instead of writing
them to disk right away, and if you
unplug the device without telling Windows you are going to do that, you can
lose what is still in the cache. It won’t
be copied. And if you are always careful to do this, you will have fewer
problems with USB getting farkled
later.
What if the icon doesn’t appear?
Q: What happens if the icon does
not appear in the system tray?
A: If it does not, you have a problem with your USB root hub. If you
have the original disks for your computer’s motherboard drivers, you can
delete the root hub, the USB functionality, in the Device Manager, and let
Windows detect it again. When you
restart, Windows says it has detected
new hardware and asks if you want to
install software. Answer “yes” and
install it. If you have a messed-up
USB, that is what you usually do to fix
it.
What does UPnP do for a router?
Q: I have a new router that offers a
UPnP option. I’ve usually just typed in
the numbers or let it find them itself.
What does UPnP do for a router?
A: UPnP is “universal plug-nplay.” It may have some functionality
in the future, but right now it does
nothing, and it is potentially a security
hole. Do not enable it, unless you have
a specific application that has to have
it.
There are a couple of specific vertical applications that need it.
Corel Corp. acquires Jasc Software
From Corel Corp.
OTTAWA, Canada (Oct. 14, 2004)
— Corel Corp. today acquired Jasc
Software Inc., the award-winning developer of the Paint Shop family of
digital-photography and image-editing
software. A critical milestone in
Corel’s ongoing growth strategy, this
acquisition follows four consecutive
quarters of profitability and a successfully completed turnaround since Corel
was taken private in August 2003. The
acquisition further extends Corel’s
position as a powerful force in the
packaged software industry providing
exceptional office and personal productivity and graphics products. Corel will
Page 6
now serve a combined base of more
than 60 million customers worldwide
with an extended software portfolio
that combines innovative photo editing
and graphics creation, vectorillustration and technical-graphics applications along with Corel’s popular
WordPerfect line of products. The acquisition is expected to officially close
by the end of October 2004.
Corel corporate headquarters will
remain in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Corel will maintain the former Jasc
facility in Minneapolis, Minn., for the
Paint Shop family operations. Amish
Mehta will continue to serve as the
chief executive officer of Corel Corp.
The Outer Edge
Several members of the Jasc senior
management team will join Corel.
Corel will sell Paint Shop Pro,
Paint Shop Pro Studio and Paint Shop
Photo Album as stand-alone products
and will continue to provide worldwide
service and support to customers under
the Corel brand. In addition, Corel will
actively support new R&D initiatives
for the Paint Shop family, ensuring that
the next generation of Jasc products
will continue to flourish.
In August 2003, Corel was acquired
by Vector Capital, a San Franciscobased venture capital concern which
currently manages approximately $500
(Continued on page 7)
November 2004
More on Corel acquisition of Jasc ...
(Continued from page 6)
million in capital. Vector helped Corel
create and execute a focused product
and market strategy — leveraging
Corel’s most popular and enduring
products, the WordPerfect Office
Suite, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite and
Corel Painter — while streamlining its
operations and product lines. With the
support of Vector, Corel is poised for
future growth with the addition of the
Paint Shop family as well as through
future acquisitions on the horizon.
Corel’s innovative software offerings, which include the popular WordPerfect Office Suite, the CorelDRAW
Graphics Suite and Corel Painter Natural-Media painting and illustration
software, have earned a strong following among value-conscious consumers,
graphics professionals, and businesses
around the world. This acquisition extends Corel’s unique value proposition
to millions of customers worldwide
and dramatically expands Corel’s
reach in both the business and consumer graphics market sectors.
Now, Corel can provide users of
graphics software a complete migration path from the most basic photo
organizing and sharing, to image improvement and retouching, all the way
to advanced image editing and graphics creation. The addition of the Paint
Shop product family allows Corel to
better serve sizable new consumer
graphics markets while expanding its
coverage of the business graphics market segment.
“The acquisition expands our reach
in digital imaging software — one of
the key drivers behind our growth
strategy,” said Mehta. “The Paint Shop
family gives us strong entry level
graphics and imaging software products that will help Corel capture millions of new customers. Over the long
term, we will significantly expand our
footprint with consumers who regularly purchase digital photography
software — a fast growing software
market segment.”
According to InfoTrends/CAP
Ventures, the worldwide market for
consumer digital cameras is expected
November 2004
to expand at a CAGR of approximately
20 percent, to over 100 million units
that will ship in 2008, up from 45 million in 2003. A recent survey by InfoTrends/CAP Ventures also stated that 55
percent of owners of digital cameras
reported purchasing additional software for managing and enhancing digitally captured photos.
The Paint Shop family optimizes
the digital photography and imaging
experience for consumers and business
professionals at all skill levels, offering
a growth path from novice to seasoned
professional. Its flagship products,
Paint Shop Pro, Paint Shop Pro Studio
and Paint Shop Photo Album, are recognized worldwide for innovation. “As
a leading consumer software brand, the
Paint Shop family is a natural and synergistic addition to the Corel packaged
software portfolio,” said Mehta. “Like
Corel, Jasc has consistently delivered
innovative, reliable and easy-to-use
graphics solutions at a very competitive price point. This acquisition signals our focus on increasing the
breadth of our product family in order
to service the broad, growing market of
value-conscious consumers and businesses.”
The combined global sales channels of both Corel and Jasc will yield a
much wider worldwide distribution
network. With this acquisition, the
Paint Shop family will now be sold
through a broader channel that reaches
millions of Corel and Jasc customers
around the world. Together, Corel and
Jasc’s global distribution network includes more than 5,000 value-added
resellers and major retailers serving 75
countries around the globe.
In addition, both Corel and Jasc
have secured powerful OEM bundling
partnerships with several major companies, including DELL Computer,
Wacom, and others. These OEM relationships will continue to expand the
combined company’s reach with consumers and businesses alike.
This year, privately held Corel
achieved record levels of profitability
and realized significant growth across
all of its product lines. Corel is now
The Outer Edge
poised for future market growth with
the addition of the Paint Shop family
of digital photography and image editing software.
“This has all the signs of a very
successful acquisition because both
companies need what the other provides,” said Rob Enderle, principal
analyst for the Enderle Group. “Corel
has a strong international brand and
products that effectively target professional digital photographers but needed
a strong entry-level product like Jasc’s
to capture new customers. Jasc needed
the power of an international brand and
robust product set to expand their customer base. The combination of the
two firms will deliver a powerful software portfolio encompassing consumers and businesses seeing a proven
digital photography solution at a very
competitive price.”
Jasc is recognized as a global
leader of digital photography and imaging software, providing the Paint
Shop family of products that is anchored by Paint Shop Pro, Paint Shop
Pro Studio and Paint Shop Photo Album. Jasc is focused on optimizing the
digital photography and imaging experience for consumers and business
professionals at all skill levels, offering
a growth path from novice to seasoned
professional. Jasc products are Windows-based and provide an affordable
solution for PC users — all backed by
award-winning service and support.
Corel Corp. provides innovative
software solutions that help millions of
value-conscious businesses and consumers in over 75 countries improve
their productivity. The company is best
known for its graphics, office and personal productivity solutions, including
the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, the
WordPerfect Office Suite and the
Corel Painter Natural-Media painting
and illustration software. Corel was
acquired by San Francisco-based Vector Capital in August 2003 and, since
that time has achieved record levels of
profitability and growth across all
product lines.
Founded in 1985, Corel is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada.
Page 7
Society news: Program
Vivitar offers digital multimedia recorder/player
By John Weigle
[email protected]
CIPCUG members got a preview of
Vivitar’s newest camera, which has
imaging, music and voice, audiovisual, and utility capabilities at the
October meeting.
The suggested retail price for DVR390H is $589.95, said Thomas Piehn,
director of imaging technologies and
Web initiatives at Vivitar in Oxnard.
The camera is a combination digital
video recorder, digital camera and media player, he said, adding, “Think of it
as an iPod with a camera and the ability to do movies and films and things
like that.”
It ships with a 20 Gig internal hard
drive, which can be upgraded, and offers a batch of features:
IMAGING: a digital still camera
and digital video camcorder.
MUSIC AND VOICE: an MP3
player and voice/sound recorder.
AUDIO-VISUAL: an AV recorder/encoder and a video player.
UTILITIES: it can serve as a portable hard drive and storage device.
Users can record movies and music
and use the device as a portable home
theater or use it primarily as a recording device for both sounds and
pictures.
The 3 megapixel camera is detachable and has a 2X digital zoom, macro
focus (as close as 6 to 8 inches) and
built-in flash. “The operation is pretty
simple,” he said. “You just point and
shoot.”
As a photo player, it allows the
display of hundreds of images, he said.
The digital video camcorder provides VGA or QVGA resolution and is
totally integrated with your computer.
The photo gallery player can be
used on a desktop to run a continuing
show of pictures.
The MP3 player can hold up to
5,000 songs, and users can upload to a
PC or download from a PC. The camera comes with earphones or users can
use their own.
The player can also play MP3s
Page 8
Photos by Jerry Crocker
Thomas Piehn, above, director of
imaging technologies and Web
initiatives at Vivitar, demonstrates
the new DVR-390H, which is
shown in the closeup at rght.
from a Secure Digital card, he said, but
it can not record MP3s.
“You get a lot of time on the battery” for MP3s, he said. For movies,
you get about 1.5 hours.
The voice-sound recorder has an
internal mike and can also use an external mike, Piehn said. Users can record
to both a Secure Digital card and the
hard drive.
A docking cradle allows easy connection to a PC, and the recorder will
take input from a cassette player, record player and tape deck, offering “a
lot of opportunities to recapture older
stuff.”
The A/V recorder/encoder can re-
cord from any AV source, he said. Users can record tape to ASF, and this is
“one of the most exciting aspects of the
DVD-390H. It will revolutionize digital video.”
It also allows the editing of movies
so you can delete portions you find
objectionable. It “has the potential of
shaking up Hollywood … probably
turn the movie world inside out.”
It does not have TV tuner capability, but a tuner with composite video
out would allow recording. He said his
old VCR has a tuner that works even
though the tape drive no longer does.
Next year, he predicted, the unit will be
(Continued on page 9)
The Outer Edge
November 2004
More on Vivitar’s new camera ...
(Continued from page 8)
available with tuner included.
The video player can play back
movies anywhere, he said, but probably not movies downloaded from the
Web without conversion.
The ability to use the device as a
portable storage device is “one of the
most underappreciated features of the
DVR-390H,” he said. It’s a USB deIMAGE SENSOR:
IMAGE RESOLUTION - STI
MOVIE MODE
LENS
DIGITAL ZOOM
EXPOSURE
WHITE BALANCE
LCD DISPLAY
FLASH
SELF-TIMER
MEMORY
FILE FORMAT
vice that appears as a removable hard
drive on Windows Me, 2000 and XP
machines. It has native OS support and
does not rquire speciaol drivers or software.
The DVR-390H can also serve as a
portable personal theater. You can take
movies with you, and it can be powered by AC, battery or DC.
Users can convert VHS tapes to
3 MegaPixel
2048 x 1536, 1600 x
1200, 1280 x 960
640 X 480 or 320 x 240
@ 28fps
AV-IN mode for DVD
or VCR
Focus free
- Focal length: 7.7mm
- Max Aperture: f/3.5
- Focusing range: 4 F to
infinity (Normal), 2 to 4
Ft (Macro)
2x Capture, 4X play
back
Automatic.
Manual over rides: 1/3
EV step, -1.8 ~ +1.8 EV
Automatic with presets
for Daylight, Shade,
Fluorescent-1,
Flourescent-2, Lamp
3.6" Color TFT LCD
with flip
3 Modes: Auto, Flash
Off, Red-Eye reduction
10 second delay
Internal: 20GB
External: SD Card
512MB Maximum
Still Image:JPEG
Video: MPEG 4 (ASF
file format)
Audio: IMA-ADPCM
digital to show on the camera and have
slide shows of digital still photos.
“Whatever goes in can come out,”
he said, meaning that files can be easily
transferred to or from another system.
For more information: Vivitar:
http://www.vivitar.com
Here, from a Vivitar press release,
are the specifications for the unit:
SENSITIVITY
POWER SAVE
SHOT MODE
SOFTWARE
SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS
LANGUAGE
SUPPORT ON
SCREEN DISPLAY
CONNECTORS
POWER
CERTIFICATION
WEIGHT
DIMENSIONS :
BODY
CAMERA
Auto, ISO 100, 200,
400
3, 5, 10, or 30 minute
Single shot, Self-timer,
Movie with audio
PhotoSuite, WinDVD Creator,
Muvee autoProducer, USB driver
PC: Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP
English, French Italian, Portu
guese, , German, Spanish, Chinese
Traditional, Chinese Simplified,
Japanese
USB, TV output, Stereo earphone,
Clip on microphone
Rechargeable 3.7 V Lithium-ion
battery, 5V, 3A Charger / Adapter
(included)
CE, FCC
Media player body: 9.8 oz (278g)
(w/ battery, w/o SD card)
Camera module: 2.4 oz (80g)
4" x 2.8" x 1.3" (106 x 71 x 32
mm)
1.6" x 2.8"x 1.3" (41mm x 71mm
x 32mm)
Wanted: Advertising Manager
We need someone to talk to computer-related businesses about advertising in The Outer Edge.
The editor’s job doesn’t allow him to sell advertising for a competitor, even one as small as TOE.
Anyone interested should contact Dave Harris or John Weigle at any meeting.
November 2004
The Outer Edge
Page 9
How to speed up your computer
Shortcut keys can make work go faster
By Jim Thornton
[email protected]
This is another in a series of “How
To Speed Up Your Computer” articles
to help get the most performance out of
your existing 95, 98, 98SE, and Me
computer(s).
Shortcut keys (also called hot keys)
are special keystrokes that you created
to quickly go to a favorite program,
similar to clicking on a desktop icon.
For the example, let’s make a shortcut
key to Microsoft’s Solitaire card game.
(First, a little trivia: Did you know
that Microsoft added its Solitaire game
to its earliest versions of Windows not
strictly for your enjoyment but as a
method of getting you used to using
the mouse.) Left-click on Start, Programs, Accessories, and then Games
and right-click on Solitaire. A small
menu will appear. Left-click on Properties and the Solitaire Properties window will open. Look for the box titled
Shortcut key and left-click anywhere in
the box. Now momentarily depress the
S key and immediately you will see
CRTL+ALT+S appear in the box replacing the word None. Left-click on
Apply then the OK. Now, anytime you
depress the CTRL+ALT+S keys together, your Solitaire card game will
immediately open up on your desktop.
In this example, we selected the letter
S; however, you may use any letter of
your choice.
In the previous example, we used
the CTRL+ALT keys as the shortcut
keys. You may also use any of your
function keys that are not previously
assigned. You may find Windows or
other programs reserved the lower
numbered function keys for various
functions — help, refresh, etc. Thus,
the higher numbers are usually safe to
use; a frequent first choice is F12.
After you have left-clicked anywhere
in the Shortcut Key box, momentarily
depress the F12 key and you will see
F12 appear in the box replacing the
word None. Left-click on Apply. then
OK. Now anytime you depress your
F12 key, Solitaire will appear waiting
for you to play the game.
The instructions in this article, like
all other articles on How To Speed Up
Your Computer have been separately
tested on different computers using
Windows 98, 98SE, and Me to ensure
their accuracy.
Speed 2: How to log on more quickly
By Jim Thornton
[email protected]
This is another in a series of “How
To Speed Up Your Computer” articles
to help get the most performance out
of your existing 95, 98, 98SE, or Me
computer(s).
One of the easiest annoyances to
fix is the need to log on (entering your
name and/or password) every time that
your computer boots up. Why should
you need to identify yourself to your
own computer inside the privacy of
your own home? The answer is you
don’t!
Eliminating the logon requirement
is very simple. Left mouse click on the
My Computer icon on your desktop,
on the Control Panel icon on the My
Computer window, on the Network
icon on the Control Panel window, and
a small window appears titled Network
with three tabs at the top. If the Configuration window isn’t on top, leftclick its tab to bring it to the top.
Halfway down on the Configuration tab window, there is an open box
titled “Primary Network Logon:.” If
the open box says “Windows Logon,”
Page 10
then go to the next paragraph. If it says
“Client for Microsoft Networks,” then
left-click on the downward pointing
arrowhead to the right hand side of the
box, and click on the other listing titled
“Windows Logon.” Next click on OK,
and a smaller window will appear asking, “Do you want to restart your computer?” and click on No.
Left-click on the Passwords icon
on the Control Panel window, and a
small window appears titled Passwords
Properties with three tabs at the top. If
the Change Passwords window isn’t on
top, left-click its tab to bring it to the
top. In the upper section of the window, left-click on the “Change Windows Password…” bar, and a small
window opens. Enter in your current
password in the box titled Old password, and leave blank (empty) the two
remaining boxes titled New password
and Confirm new password, then depress your Enter key. A small window
will pop-up stating that “The Windows
Password has been successfully
changed” and depress the Enter key to
close the window.
On the Change Password window,
left-click the “User Profile” tab, and if
The Outer Edge
the User Profile tab windows has the
“All users of this PC use the same
preferences and desktop settings”
checked, then click on Cancel, and
restart your computer. Windows will
now completely load, and you will not
be asked for a password again.
If the “Users can customize their
preferences and desktop settings. Windows switches to your personal settings when you log on” is selected,
then click on the “bulls-eye” to the left
of the “All users of this PC use the
same preferences and desktop settings.”
Click OK and restart Windows.
Windows will now completely load,
and you will not be asked for a password again.
Of course, if you do require privacy and you don’t want other family
members, relatives, or friends to use
your computer, don’t change these
options.
The instructions in this article, like
all other articles on How To Speed Up
Your Computer have been separately
tested on different computers using
Windows 98, 98SE, and Me to ensure
their accuracy.
November 2004
Society news: Windows and Hardware SIG
E-mail: Sorting, setting priorities, making groups
(Notes for Michael Shalkey’s SIGS
are available on the Web. Go to http://
www.cipcug.org, click on Education in
the menu and then on Shalkey’s SIGs.
— Editor)
E-mail issues
Q: I can look at my e-mail on the
Web at cipcug.org. I get most of my
mail with Outlook Express, but some
of it is visible only on the Web.
A: I’m not sure. The opposite —
having it in Outlook Express but not
seeing it on the Web — is easy to explain. You can set your e-mail program
to leave messages on the e-mail server
after you’ve picked them up or delete
them after they’ve been downloaded.
People who want to download messages at different locations — home
and work, for instance — leave messages on the server for some length of
time. The problem with this is that if
you leave mail on the server long
enough it will fill up your mailbox, and
incoming mail will bounce back to the
sender.
You can set up several users in
Outlook Express and most, if not all,
other e-mail programs. In Outlook Express, go to Tools > Accounts > Add
and fill in the details.
You can also sort your mail by any
of the columns that show on your
screen, such as the From, Subject, Received, Priority, Attachments and
Flags. To do that, click on the title bar
on the column you want to sort by. To
change the order (i.e., A-Z or Z-A, or
latest date on top, latest date on bottom), hold down the Shift key and
click on the column.
Sorting your mail by a column you
don’t usually use can be helpful if you
remember the topic of a message but
not the sender, or you know the sender,
but not when the message arrived.
Some e-mail programs also let you
search for text in the body of the message.
Flagging messages
Q: How do I flag a message?
A: In Outlook Express, open the
November 2004
message you want to flag and go to
Message > Flag Message.
Outlook Express offers
only one flag.
To set the priority on a
message you’re sending,
have the message open
and go to Message > Set
SHALKEY
Priority. The possible
priorities in Outlook Express are high, normal and low.
Making groups
Q: How do I make groups to send
messages to?
A: In Outlook Express, go to Tools
> Address Book > New > New Group.
Select the names you want to put in the
group. Give it a name that will make it
clear what group you’re sending to
(i.e., Family, Joke list, CIPCUG members).
Do the people on the list a favor
and put their names in the BCC (blind
courtesy copy) line. To do that in Outlook Express, open the message, click
on Cc.
That opens another dialog box with
the Bcc. Type one name — your own
works — in the Send to line.
Names in the Bcc field don’t show
on the messages, so people can’t gather
— or be bothered by — a whole list of
e-mail addresses of people they might
or might not know.
Cleaning up messages to forward
Q: Can I clean up a message before
forwarding it?
A: If you want to forward a message that has already been forwarded
several times to someone, consider
pasting the message into a word processor or text editor, deleting all the
other addresses, using search and replace to delete all the more than (>)
signs, and pasting the message back
into your e -mail program.
How can I fix margins in e-mail?
Q: I got a long message with narrow margins. How do I change them?
A: The easiest thing is to cut and
The Outer Edge
paste it into a word processor or text
editor and change the margins in that.
If it has carriage returns, you’ll
have to turn on the show special characters feature of your word processor.
Most word processors will let you
search and replace for these characters,
but you’ll have to explore your program to find out how to do it. Look for
a feature like Find/Replace Special
Characters.
Several tools to clean up e-mails
can be found at http://
www.spamliquidator.com/directory/
clean-up.html.
Open Office, a free program that
can open Microsoft Office and many
other files, also has such a search and
replace function. It can be found at
http://www.openoffice.org (be aware
it’s a large download and will take a
while on a dial-up connection).
How does Google sort?
Q: When I search for something on
Google, I get thousands of hits. How
does it sort?
A: Google doesn’t release all the
details. The top entry now is “news
results” if the topic is in the news.
Then come sites in the order that most
closely matches your search (this
means that changing the order of words
in your search might affect the results).
Paid ads are on the right side of the
search window.
What are blogs?
Q: I keep seeing and hearing references to blogs. What are they?
A: The phrase is short for Web log.
Blogs are similar to online diaries, random thoughts posted by the blog
owner. Some blogs are quite popular
and have many readers; others have
very limited readership.
Gasoline prices site
During the meeting, we couldn’t
find a gasoline prices site that Michael
had found useful. It’s http://
www.venturagasprices.com/
Page 11
Society news: Web page
Thanks to Jerry Crocker, we have a collage
The collage effort has finally been
accomplished.
Jerry Crocker took pity on me and
did it for the September pictures, and
his collage is on the Behind The
Scenes Photo pages for
September.
If you are curious
about doing collage in
the computer, ask Lois
for a SIG on Paint Shop
Pro, and I’ll be the first
one to attend. I am sure
LONG
the class would not
spend two hours just on that subject,
but perhaps a beginners level, update
with simple tips and tricks and collage.
In the mean time, I did a separate
page for the Garage Sale Photos, and
they are posted separately in the most
recently issued pictures. I’ll add them
to the TOC also.
This means I am now up to date
with the photo pages, as both the Meeting 2004 Photos and Behind the Scenes
Photos are now updated.
Since this is supposed to be Web
Page News, if any of you have any
favorite Web sites, let me know, and I
can post some of everyone’s favorites.
It’s fun to see what other people are
interested in.
Please share with me.
What is a newsgroup, and how do you use them?
By Jim Thornton
[email protected]
A newsgroup is like a Special Interest Group (SIG) where everyone has a
common interest in a particular subject
except that all the group’s members are
remotely located from each other and
participate together over the Internet.
There are thousands of groups dedicated to a wide range of subjects —
birding, computer hardware, fine art,
golfing, genealogy, etc.
To access newsgroups, you will
need a special computer program
called a newsgroup reader. Luckily
Microsoft’s Outlook Express, besides
being an e-mail program, is also a
newsgroup reader. Other popular mail
programs like Qualcomm’s Eudora,
etc., lack this feature, but there are
other specialized newsgroup reader
programs like Forteinc’s Agent, etc.
Basically a newsgroup is like a
bulletin board where you can post a
message related to the subject of the
group. If your message is a question,
fellow group members will reply with
their answers and suggestions. The
replies and the original message are
threaded together to keep them in order
for easier reading. Some members are
Page 12
just listeners (readers to be more exact)
and never actively take part in the ongoing discussions.
Groups are arranged like folders on
your computer with the highest level
grouping major items together. For
example, some of the groups are computer (abbreviated as comp.), recreation (rec. and including sports, hobbies,
arts, entertainment, etc.), science (sci.),
social (soc.), business (biz.), etc.
Newsgroups are provided by the
major Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
who have dedicated newsgroup servers
in addition to their e-mail servers. You
may request your ISP to start your own
group and you may even become its
monitor, who is responsible for keeping the messages related to the group’s
theme.
Let’s configure your Outlook Express to be a newsgroup reader. (1)
Open Outlook Express, (2) on the
Toolbar, left-click on Tools, (3) on the
dropdown menu, click on Accounts,
(4) click on the News tab, (5) click on
the Add button, (6) click on News —
this will open the Internet Connection
Wizard, (7) on the Your Name screen,
type in your name or the name that you
want to be known as in the space pro-
The Outer Edge
vided, (8) click on Next, (9) on the
Internet News E-mail Address, type in
your complete e-mail address in the
space provided, (10) click on Next,
(11) on the Internet News Server
Name, type in your newsgroup’s name
in the space provided — for Adelphia
cable modem users, it would be
news1.news.adelphia.net, for Microsoft
Network users, it is
msnews.microsoft.com, for other ISPs,
you will need to ask them for the setup
information, and (12) click Finish.
Once you have established a newsgroup account, it may take several minutes to download and display the list of
the individual groups. Highlight one
that sounds interesting and left-click on
Go To. The group title will appear on
your left pane and all of the current
messages will be on the right.
Review the messages to determine
that this is a group that you want to
subscribe to. If you want to subscribe
to that group, then right-click on the
group’s title in the left pane and from
the dropdown menu left-click on Subscribe. Repeat this process for all other
groups that you want to subscribe to.
(Continued on page 14)
November 2004
Review: muvee autoProducer
Slick software for video production, editing
By Bruce Pechman
“The Muscleman of Technology”™
Vice-President, Atlanta PC Users
Group
[email protected]
Let me tell you about an absolutely
astounding piece of software that
should be included in everybody’s
video software arsenal. It is called muvee autoProducer by muvee Technologies (www.muvee.com).
muvee autoProducer differentiates
itself from all other video manipulation
and editing software by automating
the entire video production process in
an intelligent way. How does it do it?
Maybe it’s some type of awesome
scene detection algorithm or something
because the results are truly stunning.
Best of all it only takes a few steps —
and a child could do it in minutes. I’m
not exaggerating either.
November 2004
Here is all you do
Go to www.muvee.com and click
the download trial version of muvee
autoProducer (fully functional except
there will be the muvee demo watermark through your video).
After you launch the software, you
will see the simple but elegant main
interface window of muvee autoProducer. The first button you will see is
“Select Video.” You can select video
The Outer Edge
from either your hard drive or directly
from your digital video camera. The
next step is to “Select Music” (WAV
or MP3s work great). Now is the really
fun part — you “Select Style” from a
drop down menu of 24 types. They run
the gamut from music videos, to fire, to
slow motion. Next, you “Add Caption” (if you desire) for the start and
ending sequence and that is it. The next
two buttons let you create the movie
based on your selections and finally
save your movie. You can save it for
computer playback, e-mail, or Web
streaming.
Don’t worry, be happy
That’s because muvee autoProducer does all the work for you. The
results will be a professional video
production complete with custom transition effects, fades, and synchronized
(Continued on page 14)
Page 13
More on newsgroups ...
(Continued from page 12)
Should you not want to subscribe to a group, just leave it in
the left pane and when you exit Outlook Express, it will be
automatically removed.
Now any time that you want to visit your newsgroups
just open Outlook Express, click on the newsgroup’s name
in the left pane, then click on the group subject and a list of
the current messages will appear on the right. If you decide
that you no longer want to subscribe to a group, right-click
on its name in the left pane, and left-click on Unsubscribe,
and it’s gone. To participate in a group, just use Outlook
Express as you normally do by using the usual e-mail functions of New Post (Create Mail), Group Reply (Reply All),
Reply, and Forward.
Besides ISP newsgroups, there are Web site groups,
with Yahoo being the most popular, and if the group is
marked Public then anyone can read the messages without
joining. If it is marked Member, then you would need to
join the group before you can read the messages. An advantage to the Yahoo group is that you can select to have the
messages posted for a particular group (like genealogy) sent
to your e-mail mail box — either as individual messages or
as a single common message containing all of the messages
for each day. The Yahoo address is groups.yahoo.com.
There are several other popular Web site groups — Google
and MSN, and their addresses are groups.google.com and
groups.msn.com.
I always thought that our computer club should have its
own newsgroup, which would be similar to the early days of
our club when Frank Segesman operated the club’s popular
dial-up BBS (Bulletin Board System).
I’m sure that it would be a popular item for resolving
computer problems of our fellow members based on the
number of telephone calls and e-mail messages that I receive each month. One advantage is that you wouldn’t need
to wait for an answer to your current computer problem
until the next general club meeting weeks away. Another
advantage is that if the problem you’re describing is identical to another member’s you both will benefit from the fellow member’s replies.
More on muvee ...
(Continued from page 13)
music. Best of all, you can preview the whole shebang right
in the main interface window. You can redo things until
you are happy with it before saving. I’m telling you, this
software is hot and great for augmenting other projects you
may have in mind.
Items like this are available at the monthly consignment table. The rules are summarized on
page 3, but briefly only members can sell; anyone can buy.
All this for the low price of …
Here is the best part. Dave Whittle has arranged special
pricing of muvee autoProducer for User Group members.
The regular price is $49.95, but if you call 1-877-887-8687
you will get the User Group price of just $35. You can also
get the UG price if you order at http://www.whats4me.com.
Speaking of video and photography, let me leave you with
just one thought … “Everyone has a photographic memory,
some just don't have film.”
System Requirements:
550 MHZ Pentium III, AMD K-6, or equivalent processor with MMX support
128 MB RAM
16 MB video RAM
Operating systems supported are Win 98 SE, Win ME,
Windows 2000, Win XP.
Page 14
The Outer Edge
November 2004
Computer cookies: What they are, what they do
By Jim Thornton
[email protected]
Internet cookies are simply a marketing tool of the Web
site’s manager and are small text files, typically 1KB in size,
that the manager places on your computer’s hard drive when
you visit the site. All computers using Microsoft Internet
Explorer permanently store their cookies in the computer’s
cookie folder (C:\Windows\Cookies; for XP users, the
cookie folder is in a different location — C:\Documents and
Settings\Network Service\Cookies). Take a look at that
folder and see how many cookies are there. Are you surprised by the quantity? Do you have 300 files? If yes, then
you have the maximum number of cookies that Windows
allows to be stored, and newer cookies automatically replace
the older ones. Cookies are harmless by nature as they are
neither executable files nor contain viruses.
As marketing tools, the stored cookies tell the Web site
that you are a returning visitor while the lack of a cookie
says that you are a first-time visitor. The cookie can even
identify to the site which Web pages you previously visited.
For example, let’s assume that you visited Amazon.com and
were searching for mystery novels. Amazon places a cookie
on your computer noting that you are interested in mysteries. The next time you visit their site, it reads the stored
cookie and displays the current mystery novels for sale with
the intent to entice you to buy those novels while you’re still
online. Some cookies are designed to collect personal data
as an aid to provide a quick and personalized logon to a site
as Amazon does if you are a frequent customer.
Notice when you look at the cookie’s filename you can
easily see which Web site it came from. A typical filename
would be johndoe@amazon(1).txt where johndoe is your
name, amazon is the Web site, (1) is the number of the
cookies from that site, and txt indicates that it is a text file.
Perhaps you don’t want any cookies placed on your
computer. You can start by deleting all cookie files with the
file extension of txt located in your cookies folder. Now, the
downside of doing this is that whenever you revisit a Web
site you deleted a cookie for, that Web site will think that
you are a new visitor, and you will need to reset your preferences for that site.
An easier way would be to selectively delete the cookies
that you don’t want to keep or revisit.
Now, let’s stop cookies from being placed on your computer without your permission. There are several freeware,
shareware, and commercial software programs that will do
this. But since that same feature is built into Internet Explorer, let’s use that one. With this feature activated, every
time that a cookie is sent to your computer, a small pop-up
window will appear asking if you want to accept or block
the cookie. In addition, you can choose to accept or block all
future cookies from that Web site without the pop-up window reappearing. Certain firewall-like software and hardware routers may also restrict cookies.
November 2004
The Outer Edge
The method of activating this feature varies slightly in
the different versions of Internet Explorer. I use Internet
Explorer version 6.0 and have it configured to ask what to
do each time a cookie from a new site is sent. Here’s how
to activate this feature: (1) open or launch Internet Explorer,
(2) on the Toolbar, left-click on Tools, (3) on the dropdown
menu, click on Internet Options, (4) click on the Privacy
tab, (5) in the Settings area, click on Advanced and a new
small window opens, (6) in the Cookies area, check Override Automatic Cookie Handling, (7) then check how you
want to handle first- and third-party cookies (first-party
cookies are cookies coming directly from the site that you
are visiting while third-party cookies come from unvisited
sites that have an agreement with the first-party sites to
send their cookies along with the first-party cookies to your
computer) — I have checked Prompt for both, (8) in the
Advanced Privacy Setting area, click OK, and (9) on the
Privacy tab window, click OK. The instructions for the
earlier versions are similar.
Now some sites will allow you to enter only if you are
accepting their cookies. If you have previously blocked
cookies from this site and assuming now that you want to
go into this site, you will need to start accepting cookies
from this site. The easiest way is to (1) open or launch
Internet Explorer, (2) on the Toolbar, left-click on Tools,
(3) on the dropdown menu, click on Internet Options, (4)
click on the Privacy tab, (5) click on Edit and a new small
window opens, on the lower window, there is a listing of all
of the sites that you have visited and whether or not cookies
from those sites are allowed or blocked, (6) highlight the
Web site that you want to change, (7) click on Remove, and
(8) on the Per Site Privacy Actions, click OK, and (9) on
the Privacy tab window, click OK.
In summary, Internet cookies are similar to your favorite
grocery store, which records the groceries that you purchase
and then mails you discount coupons for similar products.
Many other businesses use the same marketing coupon
strategy to keep existing customers and to attract new ones.
COPY COURT
Page 15
Membership report:
Is it time to renew?
By Ken Church
email address: [email protected]
Attendance at the October 2004 General meeting:
76 Members
1 Guest
Total membership: 329
RENEWAL INFORMATION
The renewal/New Mbr dues are
$25/$35 for single membership,
$30/$50 for two or more family membership.
Please send your renewal payment to:
CIPCUG MEMBERSHIP
P.O. BOX 51354
OXNARD, CA 93031-1354
Or bring your payment to the Nov. Meeting at
the Boys and Girls Club of Camarillo.
September 2004 renewals:
Mbr# Last Name First Name Pd to Date
0227 Caminer
Jerry
200409
0894 Duchacek
Ralph
200409
0972 Farley
Ulysses
200409
0373 Houle
Robert
200409
0236 Kelly
Charles
200409
1123A Lancet
Lenny
200409
1123 Lancet
Robert
200409
0145 Lee
Bill
200409
0989 Shobe
Ivan
200409
0909 Sorrels
John
200409
0802 Taylor
Audrey
200409
October 2004 renewals:
Mbr# Last Name First Name Pd to Date
1128 Brown
Dee Dee
200410
0734 Buchanan John
200410
0034 Campbell
Gordon
200410
1107 Carlson
Gordy
200410
0941 Clark
Reagan
200410
1127 Gross
Bob
200410
Page 16
October 2004 renewals:
(continued)
Mbr# Last Name First Name Pd to Date
1038 Harris
Tom
200410
0037T Hosford
Victor
200410
0990 Mehr
Steve
200410
0942 Mickey
Barbara A.
200410
0901 Shelton
Charles
200410
0492 Skinner
Donald
200410
0733 Wall
Sinclair
200410
November 2004 renewals:
Mbr# Last Name First Name Pd to Date
0388 Armstrong Bob
200411
0516 Cantarini
Billy
200411
1074 Chaison
Doris
200411
0944T Coon
Donn
200411
0268 Douglas
Patti
200411
0738 Dutro
Georgia
200411
0823 Gieschen
Barbara
200411
0822 Gieschen
Vic
200411
0635 Godwin
John
200411
0945 Gorelik
Donn
200411
0946 Gorelik
Patricia
200411
0934 Jensen
Art
200411
0905 Knauer
Hedy
200411
0789 Knauer
Wolfgang
200411
0553 LaHue
Philip
200411
0820 Laningham Lynn
200411
1110 Lopez
David
200411
1046 Snyder
Bill
200411
1111 Sperske
Dineane
200411
1109 Stafford
Jack
200411
1017 Vaughn
Connie
200411
1076 Weeks
Bob
200411
0046 Wood
Bart
200411
Hope to see you all at the Nov. 20 meeting;
we need your support, and bring a friend.
The Outer Edge
November 2004
F1—Your Help Key
WORD PROCESSING
Microsoft Word
WordPerfect.
BW, DM
DM
WINDOWS
Windows 98, 95
Windows Me
Windows 2000
Windows NT
DM, JM, AT (98), MS (98)
JT, AT
TS, AT
TS
Initials
AT
Name
Andy Toth
(805)
604-7538 (e)
BR
Bill Robinson
BW
Bart Wood
389-2997 (b)
<[email protected]>
482-4993 (e)
DM
David Minkin
469-6970 (cell); 484-2974
(home);
[email protected] or
[email protected]
JM
JT
Jerry McLoud
Jim Thornton
(818) 889-6176 (e)
987-1748 (d)
<[email protected]>
MS
Michael Shalkey
483-9921 ext 142 (d)
[email protected]
RP
Robert Provart
TS
Toby Scott
TZ
Trish Zakas
(Revised Oct. 25, 2004)
COMMUNICATIONS/INTERNET (GENERAL)
Compuserve
DM
Note Tab Pro
TS
World Wide Web
DM, TS
DATABASES
Access
BR
DOS
RP
EDUCATIONAL / CHILDREN
TZ
E-MAIL
Eudora
Lotus:CCMail.
Outlook
Outlook Express
Poco Email
JT
DM
TS, AT, MS
TS, AT, BR
MS
HARDWARE, UPGRADING
JM
HTML
TS, AT
Phone: (d) = days; (e) = evenings; (b) = both
NETWORKS
TS
OFFICE SUITES
MS Office
Open Office
Star Office
AT
AT
AT
If you would like to volunteer to help others, please
send your contact information and programs you’re
willing to help on to <[email protected]>.
Also, if you have a favorite help site on the Web,
please forward that, too, so we can make a separate sec-
GRAHICS PROGRAMS
IrfanView
Print Shop
MS, JT
BR
SPREADSHEETS
Microsoft Excel
Quattro Pro
DM, AT
DM
UTILITY PROGRAMS
Norton Utilities
Virus)
PCAnywhere
November 2004
498-8477 (b)
289-3960 (d)
[email protected]
985-8519 (b)
Practice safe computing:
Back up
Back up
Back up
DM, JT (and AntiDM
The Outer Edge
(And then test the backup to be
sure it worked)
Page 17
Editor’s corner:
Computer shows or
not? It’s all unclear
Society news
Treasurer’s report
By Art Lewis
<[email protected]>
With little or no notice as far as I can tell, MarketPro
has ended its computer show operations in California. Its
Web site has no explanation but now lists only shows in
other states. It appears that, at least for a little
while, some of the people who put on the MarketPro shows are going to try to keep something going. Helen Long found some information, and we have an ad based on what she
found in the old MarketPro spot on page 14.
The CIPCUG Web page has links to other
shows in Southern California, including the
one in Santa Barbara, so check there periodiWEIGLE cally to find out where else to find discount
prices on the weekends.
***
You’ll notice that a couple of the regular features —
The Penguin’s Lair and Rick’s Rants — are missing this
issue. The early deadline required because of the change in
meeting dates in November and December to avoid conflict
with the holidays made it impossible to get them this time.
If this issue is late — and it could well be — it is not
because Martha Churchyard or Toby Scott failed in getting
me the Q&A on time. It’s all my fault because I had too
many things going on the weekend after the October meeting and practically no time during election week to work on
TOE. Fortunately, we don’t have presidential elections
every year, and the other elections generally go much easier
than the presidential ones.
***
Letters are often the most popular part of any publication, so I’m surprised as I look at TOE and other computer
club newsletters that the letters are few and far between. Is
everything going so well with your computer, software and
hardware companies and TOE that you don’t have anything
to say? Members’ comments are always welcome, as long as
they’re not obscene or libelous (there are laws about both
those).
Other reader submissions are also welcome. Do you
have a computer tip? A favorite Web site or two? A recommendation for a book or a piece of software? A great experience — or a bad one — with a computer purchase or repair?
Would you like to join the other contributors listed in the
adjoining column? If so, put your ideas down on paper or in
an e-mail message and give them to me at any meeting or
send them along as an e-mail message to [email protected].
Before I forget, thanks to Jim Thornton for his articles this
issue.
The more voices represented in The Outer Edge, the
better it is for our members and other readers.
— John Weigle, Editor
Page 18
September 2004
Category Description
INFLOWS
Coffee Income
Donation
ISP Income
New Members
Raffle
Renewals
9-1 through
9-30, 2004
$
62.21
45.00
615.00
105.00
186.00
570.00
TOTAL INFLOWS
1,583.21
OUTFLOWS
Coffee-Dougnuts Expense
ISP Expense
Rent Paid
Storage
TOE
TOTAL OUTFLOWS
45.61
378.00
140.00
50.00
443.70
1,058.21
OVERALL TOTAL
525.00
Unrestricted Funds
Restricted Funds
Bank Balance 8 -31-04
8,733.47
2,000.00
10,733.47
Year to Date Income
4,232.70
Year to Date Expense
-3,185.26
2004 contributors to TOE
Your name can appear
David Harris
here, too. Share your knowlArt Lewis
edge with other members by
Helen Long
sending an article, letter or
Bruce Pechman
computer tip to ediThe Institute Smart Com
[email protected].
puting magazine
Rick Smith
Carl Bailey
Jim Thornton
Ken Church
Andy Toth
Martha Churchyard
Bill Wayson
Jerry Crocker
John Weigle
Bob de Violini
The Outer Edge
November 2004
Why join Channel Islands PC
Users Group (CIPCUG)?
Every month, members of the
Channel Islands PC Users Group have
access to:
♦ The Outer Edge newsletter,
which includes a list of
members willing to help other
members
♦ The general meeting, featuring
a question-and-answer session
and program on new software
or hardware
♦ Special Interest Groups —
special meetings held several
times a month on a variety of
topics
♦ Door prizes at the regular
meeting.
♦ The CIPCUG library of books
and videos.
Other benefits include:
♦ Special user group discounts
on books and software
♦ An Internet Service Provider
at a large discount (see
below).
♦ A chance to make friends with
people who have similar
interests
♦ The ability to put your
knowledge to good use by
helping other members. The
whole concept of user groups
is members helping members.
CIPCUG members are eligible to
sign up for the group’s Internet
Service Provider (ISP) at the low price
of only $15 per month plus a $15
processing fee.
To sign up, contact one of the
club’s techies (see below). Call one of
them you may know or one in your
area and they will be glad to provide
November 2004
you with the details necessary for
signing up. Checks should be made
payable to CIPCUG and forwarded to
Treasurer, c/o CIPCUG, P. O. Box
51354, Oxnard CA 93031. Don’t
forget to include the $15 set-up fee in
your first sign-up check. You may
make payments in three-month, sixmonth or annual increments. We also
give a 12-month subscription if prepaid in advance at the 11-month price
of $165. Many of our club members
are electing to do this to keep Helen
from nagging them for money.
Renewals can also be mailed to
Treasurer; just be sure to mention the
dates that your check is to cover.
There is no program to install; you
will use programs that are already on
your computer. It’s simple to talk you
through the set-up, but if you’re the
least bit timid about setting up your
computer, a club member will come to
your house and make the necessary
arrangements. Our agreement will also
give you a 5 MB Web page allowance.
_________________________
Dues for new members
Individual member, $35.00
Family membership (same
address), $50.00
Renewals are $25 and $30/yr.
respectively
CIPCUG MEMBERSHIP
APPLICATION
Amount enclosed:
____________________________
Please Print the following information:
Name:
_______________________________
Address:
_______________________________
City:
___________________________, CA
ZIP Code:
_______________________________
Phone no. (Home): _______________
CIPCUG INTERNET SERVICE
TECH TEAM
Jerry Crocker, 486-0308, 6-10 p.m.
[email protected],
Roland Fleig, 983-8707, mornings
[email protected],
George & Arline Lakes, 983-2969, 210 p.m.
[email protected],
Helen Long, 642-6521
[email protected]
David Minkin, 469-6970 (cell), 4842974 (home)
[email protected] or
[email protected]
______________________________
Please clip last column and send
with payment to CIPCUGMembership, P.O. Box 51354,
Oxnard, CA 93031-1354.
Please make checks payable to
CIPCUG
The Outer Edge
(Work): _______________________
E-mail address:
_______________________________
User level: Novice _____;
Intermediate _____; Advanced _____
Can you help the club as a volunteer?
If so, what would you be interested in
working on?
Date ___________________
Member # ____________
Page 19
|
|
NON-PROFIT
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
OXNARD. CA
PERMIT NO. 1785
Channel Islands PC
Users Group Inc.
P.O.Box 51354
Oxnard, CA. 93031
DATED MATERIAL
Please Do Not Delay
DUES REMINDER
If the number after your
name is 0411, your
membership dues are
payable in November
2004.
November 2004 Meeting
Meeting
Of the Channel Islands PC Users Group
Saturday morning, Nov. 20,
at
Boys & Girls Club,
Ponderosa Drive and Temple
Avenue, Camarillo, Calif.
Meeting Schedule:
8:30 a.m. Doors open
8:45-9:30 Windows and Hardware SIG
and Internet SIG
9:30-10:30 Business meeting, Q&A
10:30-11:00 Break — Please contribute
requested amounts for
coffee and doughnuts
11:00-12:00 Program (TBA),
Drawing
Page 20
The Outer Edge
November 2004