Apr / May - The Winnipeg PC User Group

Transcription

If undeliverable, return to:
Winnipeg PC User Group
337C Pembina Highway
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3L 2E4
Tid Bits ’N Bytes
Newsletter of the Winnipeg PC User Group, Inc.
“A Charter Member of the Association of PC User Groups (APCUG)”
VOLUME 24
APR/MAY, 2006
http://www.wpcusrgrp.org
OR http://wpcug.ca OR
http://wpcug.net
http://apcug.net
80XXX
1. General Meetings are usually held at Montrose School (Grant at Montrose). Meetings start
at 7 p.m. This facility is wheelchair accessible.
2. The April General Meeting will take place on Thursday, April 20th at Montrose School.
Topic: “Backing Up Your Data — Hardware and Software Solutions”. Presented by Neil
Longmuir.
3. The May General Meeting will take place on Thursday, May 18th at the RESOURCE CENTRE. Brian Lowe will be discussing how to use the FireFox browser. We hope to be able to
show another browser (such as Opera) in action as well.
4. Neil and Brian hope to see a good crowd at the upcoming General Meetings. Members who
offer to present software spend many hours “honing” their presentations and they deserve to
see many FACES in the audience!
5. Have you been thinking about getting on the Internet? Join the WPCUG ISP and if you are a
first time user of our system you’ll get the first 40 hours for your first two months FREE! And
if you’re a first time user and sign up for our yearly plan, your first year of service will just
cost you $160 (non-refundable). GST is additional.
6. We are always looking for speakers to give demonstrations of their favorite software package.
E-mail [email protected].
7. If you planted a seed and didn’t water it, you would never enjoy the fragrance of a flower or
the taste of your favorite vegetable. Your membership fee in the WPCUG is the seed. YOUR
participation is the water. If you don’t participate, then the WPCUG will die, just like that seed..
Attend meetings and Forums and help the Executive whenever you can. We’re TIRED.
Winnipeg PC User Group, Inc.
T
he Winnipeg PC User Group, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed to provide those with an interest in the
IBM Personal Computer or compatible computer, with an
opportunity to come together and otherwise assist one another
in the use and understanding of these computers. The group
serves as a forum to exchange ideas, to discuss the latest developments, and share information.
uuuuu
This periodical is published bi-monthly for the purpose of advising members of the various group activities and sharing of
information between other similar User Groups around the
world. It is mailed by bulk mail to all members of the group
and to all other User Groups who reciprocate with a copy of
their newsletter.
uuuuu
The group is not affiliated with any commercial organization
and receives no financial support other than through membership dues and paid advertising in the periodical. The officers
are volunteers and only receive the following benefits: they
learn more about their computer; gain satisfaction from having
helped others and meet many people with common interests
and problems.
uuuuu
Group By-Laws describing the purpose of the group, can be
obtained from the Executive Secretary at no cost.
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Membership Information can be obtained from the Membership Secretary, explaining the various benefits of membership.
uuuuu
Monthly Meetings are usually held on the 3rd Thursday of each
month (except December when we meet on the 2nd Thursday). See
the front page of the newsletter for the exact dates or check our
website. The Executive meets on the 2nd Monday (except December). Volunteers for many activities are always needed.
NEWSLETTER
Editor
Co-Editor
Home Phone
Paul Stephen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 2810
<[email protected]>
Bill Webster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888 3544
<[email protected]>
Major Contributors To This Issue:
R. Buchanan, P. Kesson, J.R. Allen, V. La Bash G. Goldberg,
B. Hewitt, D. Maybach, R. Derowitsch, B. Webster and P. Stephen.
Photos by N. Longmuir.
COPYRIGHT POLICY & LIABILITY WAIVER
This publication is (C)opyright, Winnipeg PC User Group, Inc., 2006. The
reprinting in another publication, of original material appearing in this
newsletter must give credit to the Winnipeg PC User Group Inc. and to
any author indicated. Such material may be reprinted at no cost, but a
copy of the publication in which it has been reprinted must be provided
at no cost to the Winnipeg. PC User Group Inc.
Views and opinions expressed are those of the author indicated (or the
editor) and not necessarily of the group or Executive. The group, contributors, and the editor of this newsletter do not assume any liability for
damages arising out of the publication or non-publication of any advertisement article, or other item herein.
The WPCUG does not assume responsibility for damages arising from
the publication or non-publication of any advertising in this newsletter.
Acceptance of advertising does not imply endorsement by the group.
Volume 24 Page 2
April/May 2006
Elected Officers for the Election Year Ending Oct. 2006
Home Phone
President
Paul Kesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 7617
<[email protected]>
Past President
Jon Phillips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788 1302
<[email protected]>
Vice President
Rodd Provencher . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 1772
<[email protected]>
Treasurer
Werner Wiebe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 1584
<[email protected]>
Membership
Doug Hutsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831 7478
<[email protected]>
Exec. Secretary
John Kesson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 7617
<[email protected]>
Online Serv. Mgr.
Greg McClure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942 3301
<[email protected]>
Newsletter
Paul Stephen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 2810
<[email protected]>
Bill Webster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888 3544
<[email protected]>
Group-Buyer
Ralph Crookshanks . . . . . . . . . . . 269 2164
<[email protected]>
Advertising Mgr.
Norm Friesen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 2329
<[email protected]>
Forum Coordinator Ryan Rapson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990 3336
<[email protected]>
Appointed Officers
Res. Centre Mgr.
Arnold Zatser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488 8765
<[email protected]>
Newsletter (Backup) Glen Ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBA
<[email protected]>
Program Chairman Paul Kesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 7617
<[email protected]>
Webmaster
Ryan Rapson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990 3336
<[email protected]>
Internet Admin.
Brian Lowe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478 3561
<[email protected]>
Internet Support
Greg McClure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942 3301
<[email protected]>
(Please do not call officers after 9 p.m.)
Telephone Numbers for WPCUG Services
Dialup ISP Line (WPCUG ISP Service) . . . . . . . . . . . 975 0200
Resource Centre “Voice Line” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958 7228
Resource Centre “FAX Line” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958 7229
Deadline & Ad Sizes
All copy and all advertising MUST reach the newsletter editor no later
than the THIRD THURSDAY of Jan/Mar/May/Jul/Sep/Nov. A cheque
or Money Order MUST accompany ad copy. Classified ads MUST be
submitted in typed form and must not exceed four 42 character lines.
Commercial ad copy MUST be submitted as an EPS or PDF file.
Width
Height
Insertions
1
3
6
Full Page
7.5"
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$65
$165
$270
Half Page
7.5"
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$35
$ 85
$135
Business
Card
3"
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$10
Flyer inserts are $225. Members are entitled to one free ad (4
lines — 44 characters) per issue. Others: $3.75 per 4 line ad.
Extra lines are $0.90 each.
Mailing Addresses
General Correspondence
Attn: Exec. Secretary
Membership:
Attn: Membership Secretary
Winnipeg PC User Group Inc.
Resource Centre
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3L 2E4
Newsletter Exchange & Review Software:
Paul Stephen
401-1025 Grant Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3M 1Y4
Yearly Membership Dues (includes GST):
Junior Membership(under age 18)
$25.00
Adult Membership
$49.95
Associate Membership
$20.00
Corporate Membership
$125.00
With an adult membership you receive one copy of our periodical and any member of your family (age 12 and under)
may attend the UG meetings. After an adult membership has
been purchased, additional associate memberships may be
purchased which include a draw ticket, but no newsletter.
A corporate membership entitles you to two copies of the
periodical and any member(s) of your organization may attend our general meetings. Contact Doug Hutsel ([email protected] or 831-7478) for further details.
Newsletter Submissions
The editor will accept almost anything you wish to contribute. Short submissions may be in any form whatsoever.
If you have a favorite Shareware package that you use, (or
one that is unregistered and you’d like to have registered),
write me up a 1-2 page review of the product and I’ll try
and get you a FREE registration! Contact the editor if you
would like to review a specific software package.
Submissions should be made on 3.5" floppy disks, or sent to
my e-mail address: [email protected]. Files should be zipped
before being attached to e-mail messages.
Other acceptable formats include: WordStar 3.x—5.0,
WordPerfect 4.x—5.1, Word, and ASCII. PLEASE DO
NOT IMBED SCREENSHOTS into your text!!
Please NOTE that we are now having all mail sent to the
Resource Centre. Our Post Office Box will soon be discontinued so DO NOT send correspondence there!
Newsletter Toolkit
This newsletter is produced using the following software and hardware tools:
WordPerfect 5.1, WordStar 4.0, Microsoft Word 97,
and SnagIt 8 (for screen captures). Printing is done
using an HP Series 4M LaserJet. Adobe’s Acrobat is
used to produce the PDF files for Dave’s Quick Print.
Corel Ventura Publisher 8 and CorelDRAW 12 were
used to publish this edition of the newsletter.
Other hardware: 2-300 gig Seagate drives, 21" G220fb
Viewsonic Monitor, LG CD/DVD burners, 2 gigs of
memory, 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 CPU.
Volume 24 Page 3
April/May 2006
Contents Of This Issue
Page
Advertisers
Computer Boulevard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Dave’s Quick Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
WPCUG Gift Memberships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
WPCUG Inkjet Refills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
WPCUG ISP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Items This Month
Controlled Escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
March General Meeting Apology/Last Minute Fillers . . 10
The Photoshop Elements 3 Book
for Digital Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The Photoshop Elements 3 DVD
for Digital Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The President’s Random Musings . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Changing Macro Shortcut Keys in MS Word . . . . . . 14
Clear Reading with ClearType . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Being Online Brings Coincidences and Lasting Trails . . 17
The Future of Broadband Access . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Hard Disk Disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
The Digital Imaging Forum Returns! . . . . . . . . . . 20
April/May General Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . 20/23
ULEAD’s VideoStudio 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
A FINE Utility Program — FinePrint . . . . . . . . . 25
Winnipeg PC User Group Calendar of Events . . . . . . 26
What To Do When — You Receive an Email
Attachment You Can’t Open . . . . . . . . . . . 27
March 2006 General Meeting Presentation
Roger Buchanan on Video Editing
with Pinnacle Studio Plus 10.5 . . . . . . . . . . 28
One Great Insurance Policy! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Winnipeg PC User Group Forums/Internet Access Form . 31
Gift Membership — $25!
Volume 24 Page 4
April/May 2006
Volume 24 Page 5
April/May 2006
Controlled ^ape©
Copyright 1985-2006 ©Paul Stephen
? by Paul Stephen
[email protected]
W
hen you don’t really venture out into the “real
world” anymore, you have to adapt. Thanks to the
Internet I often find that I know more about what’s
“going on” out there than the people who are lucky enough
to experience that “real world”.
I spot errors all over the place. One article said that Robert
Duvall was in the Brad Pitt movie. I knew that wasn’t so
because Mr. Duvall was in Alberta shooting his own western.
And where do all the movies go that were shot in Winnipeg?
Aside from “Shall We Dance?” (note that they didn’t put a
“?” in the title of the movie although it’s on the DVD box),
none have really made it to theatrical release. It looks as
though your tax dollars are just being used to subsidize
American production companies and American hotel chains
— and with a 90 cent dollar they soon won’t be visiting us
as often.
I can just hear some staffer yelling out to a director as
he/she headed for the Peg, “Oh, tell them how you love the
Exchange District and the Forks. They just love hearing that
in Winnipeg.” Can somebody please tell me what is so
GREAT about The Forks — (let’s leave out the ballpark)? It
just seems like a mini-"Farmer’s Market" (Los Angeles) to
me.
I also get a real laugh when some writers yack about how
great Winnipeg is. Yes, Winnipeg is a wonderful place to
LIVE, but as a DESTINATION city for a vacation, no thank
you.
What is there in Winnipeg for KIDS to do (assuming they
visit after the “Ex” is over) after they’ve seen all the “sad”
animals at Assiniboine Park, had a “Goog” at the BDI and
bought a bag of mini donuts at the Forks?
The rich/cultural folk keep babbling about MTC, the RWB,
the WSO, the art gallery, etc. — not exactly items that
would make a KID want to persuade his/her parents to visit
our city and most of those “cultural” activities run during
the Winter.
And a “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”? Are they NUTS? Put
a super restaurant in the old Metropolitan Theatre. We
used to have Mother Tuckers — now what — a bunch of
expensive “nightclubs” for the yuppies?
Now Edmonton, and the West Edmonton Mall — hey,
amusement park rides YEAR ROUND — even dear Brad
and Angelie went THERE.
Spending HUGE DOLLARS for this Human Rights Museum, while admirable, is just something I cannot see sus-
tainable in this city without continual major infusions of
cash. NOPE, we need a domed stadium more than we need
a museum.
There doesn’t seem to be much interaction between the major “players” (hockey, football, Red River Ex, etc.) in this
city. Each does its “own thing” rather than consolidating
forces and building ONE central venue. Too late now, for
that, although the Ex and the football team could consolidate
their efforts.
And while I’m venting — why such a small major entrance
to the MTS Centre? Why does the downtown campus of
RRCC look tacky (at least to me) — I want NEW architecture, not a smish smash of old and new (Hope I didn’t send
George Siamandas’ blood pressure up a notch or two with
that comment <g> See his great pictorial website at
http://www.siamandas.com/).
Hey, at least it appears the Aspers are going to construct a
building that will really jazz up Portage and Main. And I
happen to LOVE the TD Centre building now owned by
Canwest Global. The Aspers made a good purchase decision there! Well now that all THAT’S off my chest, on to
the world of computers — (well, not quite).
Manitoba Movies
I suppose most of you are familiar with the “Six Degrees of
Kevin Bacon” game inspired by the stage play Six Degrees
of Separation. It requires a group of players to connect any
film actor to Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible and in as
few links as possible.
It’s fun to see how movies and actors are related and how
Manitoba fits into the picture. We can call it “Six Degrees of
Manitoba”!
Personally, I am kind of “ticked” that the local press doesn’t
give more “ink” to movies made in our province, but possibly the movie production companies aren’t being very cooperative.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman did it! An Academy Award for a
Manitoba-lensed picture! I first “spotted” him as the spoiled
kid in “Scent of a Woman”. Next thing you know I see him
playing a Toronto banker addicted to gambling — “Owning
Mahowny”. And now “Capote”.
The LA Times said the picture was partially financed by a
German investment fund and Canadian tax credits. Uh —
those would be MANITOBA tax credits, gang.
In another Canadian gambling-related movie, a college professor — also addicted to gambling (“The Last Casino”)
hires three students to count cards and attempt to make moo-
Volume 24 Page 6
April/May 2006
of your message. BOD members are not eligible.
lah for a “crook” to which he is indebted. Now who is this
college professor? Do you remember the “kid” who played
DIGITAL IMAGING — HOT STUFF
the bass in “The Buddy Holly Story”? Well, that’s who
Gee, I hate using that Paris
played the professor. So, how does
Hilton “word” HOT, but DI is
that connect him to Manitoba?
really going to be HOT in the
Well, his name is Charles Martin
years to come. And Canada
Smith (see photos) and I think
has many programming geyou’ll recognize him. He has been
niuses who are developing
in a slew of movies including
very powerful software.
“American Graffiti”. And, if you
I’ve mentioned the company
have seen “The Snow Walker” —
Media Chance before. All the
much of which was shot in Chursoftware at this company’s
chill, he was its director.
site was essentially written by
No w the s tar of “The Snow
ONE individual — “Oscar”
Walker” is Barry Pepper, who also
Vosca. He imigrated to CanCharles
Martin
Smith
—
as
an
actor
in
“The
Buddy
appeared in Spielberg’s “Saving
ada from Czechoslovakia and
Holly Story” and as a “current day” director.
Private Ryan”, which also starred
has built a “presence” in the
Tom Hanks — who made millions
digital imaging world.
of dollars thanks to his connection with Manitoba‘s Nia
All his software is available for a 30 day trial and it ranges
Vardalos and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”.
from nifty digital photography utilities to DVD authoring
You see how connections can be made to our province? I’m
tools. Head off to http://www.mediachance.com and take
gonna get Tom Hanks here to make “The Flying Bandit”
some
of his software for a whirl! Unfortunately, Mr. Vosca
one way or another. (So laugh!!) And if it fails to “happen”,
didn’t
answer e-mail I sent him so I can’t comment on the
well as they say, “It is better to have loved and lost...”.
level of support you’ll get. I was hoping to link up with him
Did you ever hear much about Shirley MacLaine until she
and feature some of his products in our newsletter. Oh
made the TV movie, “Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary
well...
Kay” — RIGHT HERE? Now, out of nowhere she’s in 2-3
Backing Up Paid Off
theatrical films.
Although I make backing up my hard disk a priority it really
So those were a bit easy to connect with our province. Let’s
has never paid off BIG TIME, but in early November it
make it a bit more challenging. How does Hilary Swank
DID! First my disk (in a mobile rack) wouldn’t completely
connect with Manitoba? Well, she’s never made a film here,
boot (I got as far as the Windows 2000 splash screen) and
but there is a connection. Her husband is Chad Lowe,
then it wouldn’t load. I thought perhaps there might be a
brother of Rob Lowe. Rob made a TV movie called
contact loose so I inserted/removed the rack a few times and
“Framed” here a few years ago. And Chad made a TV
the drive eventually booted.
movie here several years ago too — “Acceptable Risk”. (I
As I have a few drives in mobile racks (Neil Longmuir, my
went and write the above and the next week Hilary and Rob
mobile rack disk installer, will get a kick out of the word,
separated. Hey, I’ve got a newsletter to do. Stay married!)
“few”) I decided to use DriveImage and copy the contents of
She even gives “our boy” Phil Hoffman his Oscar.
the flaky drive to a new disk. I kept on using the old disk
And now Barry Pepper is going to be in a movie directed
for a day or so and then I had to do a reboot. At that point I
by Clint Eastwood. What a small world we live in these
couldn’t boot into Windows (past the “spash screen) no matdays!
ter what I did.
And can we connect another “American Graffiti” actor
I had downloaded more email (a couple with registration/se(Richard Dreyfuss) to Manitoba? Of course we can. He
rial information) and a few files. I used a disk to boot into
was in “Mr. Holland’s Opus”) and who introduced him as he
DOS and what do you know, I could still read the disk! So I
was about to “retire”? Joanna Gleason. Who’s she? Monty
quickly moved those files to a bootable hard drive containHall‘s daughter who was born in Winnipeg on June 2, 1950.
ing an older working version of W2K and burned those files
And the actor who fired “Mr. Holland”, William H. Macy,
to
a CD — but of course long filenames were truncated with
was the scheming husband in “Fargo” (well that’s close to
that
wonderful tilde character.
Manitoba).
Eventually (it’s a long story) I got everything synchronized
This is too easy. Can you connect the actor/director Jason
on the new drive.
Reitman to our province? Send your connection links to me
Well, I wondered what would happen to several apps that
at [email protected]. The entrant with the fewest number of
have to be “activated”. Usually if you have to reactivate an
connecting links will WIN a 256 MB USB flash drive. If
app they give you one-three activations. All went well UNthere’s a tie, I’ll randomly select the winner. Contest closes
TIL I had to use RoboForm Pro. I have over 400 “logins”
on April 30th, 2006! Put “WPCUG CONTEST” as the title
with unique passwords. Well when I tried to use that program to fill in the login for a webpage, up came a message
informing me (at 10 p.m.) that I was LOCKED OUT of an
application I legitimately paid for.
The only thing I could do (outside of shelling out more $$$
for ANOTHER license) was to send them an email asking
them to reset my “counter”. A similar occurence happened
when I clicked on my QuickTax application. It told me I had
used the program on another computer to submit a single tax
form and that I had the ability to create five more tax forms.
Nothing wrong there, I just found it interesting that the company can keep tabs on everybody.
We all will be soon be chained to the Internet if more companies do this sort of thing. It is especially bad with
RoboForm Pro because you might have essential information at a website you are prevented from accessing — and
what if this occured on a weekend! I’m writing this on a
Thursday night and hope I hear from the company tomorrow
— and if I am told to buy another license — well....
It’s four hours later since I wrote the above and what do you
know — at 2 a.m. I got an email from the folks at Siber
Systems, publishers of Roboform, telling me that they had
bumped up my number of “installs” and sure enough, I was
back in business. (This happened again when I installed a
300 GB Seagate drive and I received a similar response.)
My task would have been much simpler if, at that time, I
had created the Bart PE disk or Ultra Boot Disk for Windows. If you own XP and have slipstreamed SP2, you can
make either of these disks for yourself. These disks will help
you out of many “JAMS”. If you haven’t heard of them,
head to http://tinyurl.com/qpky or http://tinyurl.com/58kp9,
respectively.
The XP Install Problem
I bought a copy of XP a few years ago but as I was quite
happy with Windows 2000 I didn’t install it. Well some
video apps have come out that only run on XP, so figured I
better “catch up” with the rest of you. I figured this was going to be a trivial exercise. Toss in a new hard drive installed in a mobile rack and run the setup program off the
XP CD. WRONG! All went fine until it hit “Installing Devices” with 34 minutes to go. At that point my machine
froze solid. After some poking around on the Internet (using
my working W2K hard disk) I discovered this very problem
in the Microsoft Knowledgebase. I could’t get anywhere
with the “help” offered in the latter message — and it stated
that if the software help didn’t “help”, then disconnect literally everything you “added” to your computer. THIS thrilled
me to no end — especially when I could install Windows
2000 without changing anything.
So, out of frustration I decided to upgrade — a new motherboard, an ATI AIW 9800 graphics card, a 3.2 GHz HT Intel
Pentium 4 chip, 2 gigs of memory and a new 520 watt
power supply. Thanks to Jon Phillips for installing all the
above for me. Just so you know, I paid for this work, it was
Volume 24 Page 7
April/May 2006
not done free of charge. That’s the way it should be! Jon isn’t going to build complete computer systems for members
at “no charge” at the RC either.
Despite all these upgrades there likely will be the “usual”
goofs in the newsletter.
I Just Had to Buy a “Car”
After opening up my wallet (well, credit card via
Roboform), I went totally GOOFY and went and purchased
a Ferrari. No, not a Ferrari race car <g> but an Acer 4000
Ferrari notebook. I have never owned a “real” car in my
life.
It’s got 1 gig of RAM, 100 GB hard drive, an ATI XL700
graphics card, 2 GHz Athlon 64 bit Turion chip, etc. So, if
one of my two systems goes “down” I can still keep on
working — well, that’s “my excuse” anyway — and two
systems will allow me to play around with a wireless networking. I already discovered some individual has a wireless
network running in my apartment block. It’s a good thing
this individual has the networked encrypted or I’d be
tempted to poke around this system.
After totalling up everything I realized I had spent LESS
than I spent on my first IBM PC — and those were 1983
dollars!
I always keep “mortality” in the back of my mind — I’m
going to be DEAD a lot longer than I’m alive, so I want to
experience everything I can in computing. I don’t want to be
on my deathbed wishing that I had “tried something” and I
passed up that opportunity. I turn 60 in September —
SIXTY! I don’t feel SIXTY — mentally, anyway.
My Dad just made it to 66 and he was never sick a day in
his life so the sand going through MY hourglass is going
quickly. I cannot believe I am this old!
And the stars of my TV days are disappearing: Don Knotts,
Darren McGavin and Dennis Weaver all died as I was
putting the final touches on this column. I’m glad I sent off
an e-mail to Mr. McGavin a year or so ago. Sometimes I
wonder about the press. In his death notice AP stated that
his son said that he was separated from his wife, Kathie
Browne. Well they were separated all right. She DIED in
2003!
Teaching a New Computer Old Tricks
As I mentioned earlier I upgraded my system. When Jon
“took it away” to do his magic, I felt cutoff from the world.
Of course now I had to re-install all my apps. There are
some of them I really don’t know how they work in terms of
data storage, and one of them, Sidekick 98 is long gone from
the marketplace. Fortunately I found its install file and got it
working under XP. I also had to go through some tricks to
get WordStar and Ventura Publisher running properly under
XP as well.
I discovered that the 64 bit version of XP will not allow you
to run old 16 bit software apps like WordStar — so I’ll be
staying with “regular” XP for some time.
Volume 24 Page 8
April/May 2006
ware before — but I predict it will become as well known
You soon realize how much data is stored on those hard
(and popular) as PowerQuest’s Partition Magic!
drives and as Neil Longmuir pointed out in a previous article, BACKUP THOSE HARD DRIVES! I have a great
On March 7th, 2006 this bit of info arrived on the NET —
many “keys”, “passwords”, “serial numbers”, etc. stored on
Apptimum, formerly Eisenworld Inc., was founded in 1998
my hard disks and if I were to lose those I’d have to re-purand is best known for its market-leading Alohabob PC
chase a lot of software or do a LOT of begging!
Relocator products. The first public release of a Microsoft
product based on the Apptimum technology is planned to
When you have a “blank” drive, you “educate” the machine
be an optional download for Windows
as you install all your applicaVista customers.
tions/data.
The LED Shoppe
You also soon “learn” the difference
between a “FULL” and “UPGRADE”
Ever need a flashlight with a gazillion
version of a software package.
LEDs running off 3 “AAA” batteries?
Or how about a snazzy 7 port USB2
I purchased the upgrade version of
hub with lots of flashing lights? Visit
Paint Shop Pro X and as I had an
http://www.ledshoppe.com for more
older version of the software on my
info. The firm is in Hong Kong and
computer the previous install on Winshipping is free.
dows 2000 went “tickety boo”.
Ever Forget Your “Dial-Up” PassBut when I started re-installing softword?
ware for my XP OS there was no
older installed version of PSP. I
Did you ever forget your dial-up passhunted and hunted and eventually
word to get access to your ISP? If you
Here’s what a “Snarfer” looks like!
found a Version 7 CD. But do you
did, you might fight it challenging to
think that install program from Verrecover that information. However, if
sion 10 would simply check to see
you go to http://tinyurl.com/d78px the
that I had a full version of an earlier version of the software
Dialupass program will spit out all those passwords for you.
on that CD? NO! I had to install Version 7 before I could
Cost? It’s FREE! And it works under all versions of Wininstall Version X. I say NUTS to Corel on this one!
dows too.
PAUL’S “DUMP THE REGISTRY” CAMPAIGN!!
SAT Tests
Are you as fed up with the Windows registry as I am? I
Remember those “mind bending” IQ tests they used to give
mean — why should you have to re-install ALL your softyou in school? Relive those “days of old” by visiting
ware applications when you move to a new OS/install a new
http://www.satmathpro.com/Index.html and taking some of
hard disk, etc. And the ruddy thing gets “crudded up” so
those tests again. It’s FREE too!
quickly you need programs to “uncrud it” — and even then
TravelZoo/Snarfer/BBS Documentary
you have to be a programming genius just to know which
A few years ago Marc Camm, a former member of our
entries are really safe to remove.
group who now works for Computer Associates, sent me an
Even John Dvorak says the same thing: Isn’t it about time
e-mail advising me how I could get a few free shares in
we junked the entire concept of a “registry?” This concept
TravelZoo, a “startup” company offering vacation packages
has been the bane of Windows since its invention. It prevents
on the Internet. By getting friends to take advantage of this
easy program migration. It creates conflicts. It invites tamoffer, you could “earn” more shares.
pering. It’s exploited by viruses and spyware. Why does
Well, of course, most people I sent the post to didn’t “sign
Microsoft insist on continuing its use? There has to be a
up” — so I just ended up with just 18 shares. About a year
better way.
ago, those “worthless” shares had attained a value of over
Give me back my INI files, Microsoft. But they WON’T.
$US100/share. I should have sold them at that time, because
All the “mumbo jumbo” that’s in the registry brings in a lot
they are now worth about $US20/share. But as I didn’t pay
of cash as Microsoft charges major bucks to train developanything for them, I’ve still earned $US360 doing absolutely
ers how to use all those wacky keys!
nothing. I think I’ll just hold them and see the price go to
Do you think “Big Bill” would mind reading the above? Not
zero or go higher again.
at all. Here’s a quote from him: Your most unhappy customDon’t always be suspicious of Internet deals. They could be
ers are your greatest source of learning. That’s why Bill is
the real deal.
so smart!
Marc sends along a couple of tidbits. He has thrown a few of
STOP THE PRESSES!
his own dollars into a company that is publishing Snarfer an
I guess Mr. Gates or an employeel must read our newsletter.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) program. Take it for a spin
When I reviewed PC Relocator in our Feb/Mar 2003 newsand see if you like it. Head to: http://www.snarfware.com/.
letter I stated: Folks, you may not have heard of this softIf you were a fan of “BBS’s” — you might like to buy a 3
Volume 24 Page 9
April/May 2006
Steve Bass’ Newsletter
DVD collection that contains 200 interviews with the people
that were responsible for its development. Head to
Steve sends out an e-mail newsletter each week. He writes
http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/ to learn more about this
for PC World magazine and has written the book called PC
package. I bought a copy for myself.
Annoyances which is published by O’Reilly (see the last
newsletter for a review of the book). He always has some
Here are a few production notes and its director, Jason
good tips and fun links. If you’d like to
Scott. Originally slated to be 100 intersee a guy “disappear”, head for this link:
views and a year of filming, the BBS Dochttp://tinyurl.com/l3tvc. Subscribe by
umentary has taken three years and 200
cl i cki ng t he appr opr i a t e b o x a t
interviews. Between travel by airplane,
http://tinyurl.com/4zys5.
train and a fleet of unhappy rental cars,
Jason has travelled roughly 25,000 miles
SQUEET.COM
to record 250 hours of footage, from
which the documentary has been edited. A SUPERB RSS app that sends stuff If you like the idea of RSS you can have
feeds sent to you by email. Sign up for
Along the way, Jason has lost a lens cap,
to you via e-mail. A+++
FREE at http://www.squeet.com. Don’t use
tungsten light, cell phone, dust screen, trithe LIVE option if you use Google as one
pod foot, prescription sunglasses, 7 hard
of your “feeds” or you’ll get a ton of mesdrives, one rental car, and 30 pounds.
sages!
BEST E-Mail Client
On Getting OLD
I was happy to see that the website,
I watched the movie on the life of Ray
donationcoder.com gave The Bat! its
Charles. I could associate events in my
best e-mail client award. If you handle
life with every decade shown in that
piddling bits of e-mail then stick with
film which now is history. So much to
your browser’s e-mail app, but if you
do — so little time in which to do it.
are serious about e-mail, you just must
When those of you in your 30’s or
try The Bat! The Pro version also gets
younger reach my age, I’ll be DEAD!
you “The Voyager” version which alIt hasn’t been a good few months for
lows you to run “The Bat!” off a thumb
celebrities. The death of Dana Reeve
USB drive — portable e-mail that alwas very sad. Now Buck Owens has
lows you to grab your email off any
departed as well.
computer hooked to the net — but
Life isn’t fair.
which will not alter the “host” comHas this newsletter got a morbid thread
puter in any way.
or what? I’ll try to be more cheerful in
You can get 50% off the price of the professional version by
my next issue!
heading to: http://tinyurl.com/o57lf.
Humour?
Flash Drive Software
I found the following story in a Forum on the 1-Click
I told you “solid state” was the way of the future quite some
website. 1-Click is a DVD compression, which, when used
time ago. Samsung already has a 32 GB flash drive ready to
in conjunction with a decryption program like AnyDVD will
go into production. It’s expensive now — but in a few
make perfect copies of your DVD collection. The program
years....
was written by a Canadian who lives in Montreal.
You can get 2 GB flash drives that will run some of your faVisit http://www.dvdextreme.com if you want to learn about
vorite apps on any computer without touching its registry.
a top notch piece of software to backup your DVD collecThere are U3-enabled flash drives that may be necessary, but
tion.
there is an application out there (supplied with Verbatim
Now for the story.
hardware at no charge) called CEEDO. You can try it free
A “backwoods” family of three visits the
of charge on your own USB flash drive OR any USB-at“big city”. Father and son come upon a
tached drive. Head to: http://tinyurl.com/lm74u. Microsoft
bank of elevators — something they’ve
better start moving on this front because the “boat is leaving
never seen before.
da shore”.
An elderly woman steps into one of the elParticipation In the Newsletter
evators and the door closes. A minute later
I was DELIGHTED to see a report from our President,
the doors open and a beautiful young lady
Paul Kesson, in the last newsletter. And, as you can see, he
emerges. The father says to his son, “GO
has a column in this issue as well. Thanks!
GET YOUR MAW!”
Paul
This IS YOUR Newsletter — PARTICIPATE by sending in
See you in September.
tips, comments about my wacky thoughts, etc.
Volume 24 Page 10
April/May 2006
March General Meeting Apology
P
? by Roger Buchanan, WPCUG
lease accept my sincere apologies for the poor nature
of the presentation of the Pinnacle MovieBox USB
and Pinnacle Movie Studio Plus at our recent March
General Meeting. Though there may be many reasons why
things did not turn out as I planned, there are no excuses.
When I was working with the Exec of the WPCUG I expected high standards from our vendors during their presentations. For not providing a presentation that would have
met those same standards I am truly sorry.
It would be hypocrisy to hold vendors to standards that I am
not willing to meet myself. To that end I would like to invite
all interested members to attend a presentation of the
LAST MINUTE FILLERS
I
t really is a SMALL WORLD! Curtis Bars was on a
flight to Las Vegas and asked the flight attendant where
she lived. He expected to hear Chicago or some other
major American city. Instead she said, “Orem, Utah”.
“Orem, Utah?”, said Curtis. “You don’t happen to know
Alan Ashton do you?” (Newbies: Alan Ashton was the
founder of the WordPerfect Corporation and visited us
three times — twice in person and once via a personal
video. He was our “special guest” at our 10th anniversary
celebration in 1992.)
She looked amazed and said, “He’s a neighbour of mine!”
Isn’t that amazing!
I’d like to call this newsletter, “Konnections” or something
other than “Tid Bits `N Bytes”. Any ideas?
It’s hard to believe that our 10th birthday was 14 years ago
and next year we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary.
We just MUST have a VERY SPECIAL MEETING to celebrate this event. How about a fancy dinner at the
Fairmont? Hey, there likely won’t be a 50th anniversary
and many of the current group will be “six feet under” if
there were. Sad but true. I really hope some of you will support this idea but it will only HAPPEN if you SPEAK UP!
John La Rue sent this in. Great keyboard trick! This really
does work....Try it!!!! This is for everyone over 50 whose
eyesight isn't what it was.
I just found out about this. Thought I'd pass this on. It's
very useful when trying to read small e-mail print (especially in the early hours). If you hold down the Ctrl key on
your key board and turn the small wheel in the middle of
your mouse, the print size will change - it will either get
larger or smaller - depending on which way you turn the
wheel.
Pass this on to other friends who may find it very useful. I'm
glad I was told.
MovieBox USB and Pinnacle Studio Plus (with Media
Suite). The Date, Time and Location are yet to be determined.
One thing is for sure though. The hardware will be working,
and this presentation will meet the standards expected by the
membership of the WPCUG.
Stay tuned to the newsletter and/or website and email, for
the latest developments regarding this upcoming repeat
meeting.
Sincerely,
Roger Buchanan
Volume 24 Page 11
April/May 2006
The Photoshop Elements 3
Book for Digital Photographers
(Author Scott Kelby, Editor Photoshop User Magazine)
reviewed by Roger Buchanan, WPCUG
S
cott Kelby uses lots of humour to keep the reader of
“The Photoshop Elements 3 Book for
Digital Photographers” at ease, with
each chapter having its own funny intro. One
thing that I really appreciate is the ample
white space available for making notes. There
are a lot of different techniques described in
this book, but instructions are not congested
by being cramped together. The techniques
are well described, and they are clearly and
evenly laid out to make those instructions
very easy to follow. Another thing that I appreciate is the honesty that Kelby brings to
the topic. He provides both praise and criticism for Elements, but at no point does he
pander to Adobe. An honest author is wonderful to find. One last comment is that there is a
tremendous amount of additional resource
material at the end of the book, as well as a
URL that will provide you with all the royalty
free images that are used throughout the book.
The book is well laid out. Chapters One and Two deal with
the File Browser and the Organizer in quite good detail. It is
with chapters 3-11 that users get into the meat of the book,
and thereby digital photography processing tips, by dealing
with the various techniques available for use on digital photos. Whether you want to learn better ways to crop images,
work with layers, reduce noise, make special effects, correct
blemishes, selecting and colour correcting techniques, you
name it. I found the section on digital body sculpting to be
of particular interest. Chapters 12 and 13 deal mostly with
issues such as copyrighting your images, ways of distributing your work as well as the various “projects” that Elements 3 makes available to you. Again, it is worth mentioning that there is a tremendous amount of additional user
resource material at the back of the book.
The clarity of the instructions for each technique are top
notch. They are topical and step by step instructions that are
easy to follow with the use of appropriate colour illustrations and screenshots. Each tip has its own clear rationale
for why it is being used and provides you with settings specific for the technique being used. Kelby is not afraid to
give credit where credit is due, as many of the tips have
been provided by other professionals in the field. As you
work with the instructions don’t be afraid to make notes in
the margin, there is ample space and nothing will get
crowded.
I know what you are thinking by now. “Sure, the book is
good… but how does it work with the software?”. Actually
it works very well. You can read the book from cover to
cover, or you can just open an image in Elements and dive right in with the technique of
your choice. Simple. Easy as falling out of
bed. I do it all the time. Well, not the falling
out of bed part that is.
The various features that are offered with Elements 3 are covered in this book in a most
comprehensive manner. Yes, the focus is on
dealing with specific photographic issues, but
once the reader has gone through the entire
book there won’t be much of Elements 3 that
is left untouched. From importing the images
from the camera to the final steps of output,
be it print or still in digital format, the book
covers things really well. One thing that you
do need to remember is that this book assumes that you are using files taken directly
from your camera. If you use scans, or photos
from a CD the techniques might not be identical, as some of the functions will be different. For example, if you use a photo from a CD you might not have the
same view of the histogram for levels, etc.
Scott Kelby has a biography that is strong in the areas of
photography and Photoshop. Simply put, it is what he does.
As well, he is an engaging writer that has fun with his work.
That fun passes along to those that read his work. By acknowledging the tips and techniques of other professionals
in the field Kelby provides the reader with maximum value
for the amount of time spent reading. With that said though
I only feel obliged to mention that at over 400 pages this is
certainly not a book to take in the field. It most certainly is
a bookshelf reference. Simply put, this book made me want
to take more photographs to work with. It motivates with
both humour and relevance, and it empowers with its easy
to follow instructions regarding powerful techniques.
So the book is well laid out, informative and easy to read,
covers a great variety of useful materials and is written by a
true expert in the field, but is it worth the sticker price of almost fifty dollars? Yes, especially when you consider that
almost every bookstore that carries it has some kind of readers “membership discount” program. With that said, if you
are ready to move beyond just uploading your photos to an
online service, if you want to move past standing and working at a Kodak kiosk, then this is the book for you! “The
Photoshop Elements 3 book for Digital Photographers”, by
Scott Kelby, is an excellent read straight through, and it can
just as easily be used on a topic to topic basis as the need
arises. Now excuse me while I go take some more shots.
Volume 24 Page 12
April/May 2006
The Photoshop Elements 3 DVD
for Digital Photographers
Authored by Scott Kelby
A review by Roger Buchanan, WPCUG
T
he Photoshop Elements 3 DVD for Digital Photographers, or PE3DVD4DP as we
will refer to it, is a separate
source of information from the book of
similar name. Together the two complement each other well, and provide a
wealth of information for the digital
photography enthusiast. The book is
very good, the DVD is very good, the
combination of both is fantastic. Now
on to the details of the DVD.
This DVD packs a lot of information
into two hours. It follows up where the
Photoshop Elements 3 for Beginners
DVD left off. PE3DVD4DP covers
workflow, advanced editing and retouching. Each topic has several examples with many novel solutions for
common digital photography concerns
and issues.
The section on “Workflow” covers
backup strategies, File Browser vs Org a n iz er (w hich is new to PE3),
metadata and searches using metadata.
Searching with metadata is great as it
allows you to search by date, time, or
even camera type! The last search
method is great if you have more than one digital camera. If
you are used to dialog boxes and having to fill in values by
moving sliders you will just love what Scott shows you to
do with “scrubby sliders”. Knowing about scrubby sliders is
almost worth the price of the DVD alone. Scott discusses
his preference for “adjusting” images, rather than “auto-correcting” them. Though most users are now familiar with using a histogram to check their exposure there will always be
that one image that is either over-exposed, under-exposed or
just has problem lighting. Not a problem when you see what
Scott does with PE3.
In “Advanced Editing” Scott discusses, and very adeptly
demonstrates, several uses for shooting in RAW (something
that I am only starting to investigate). Whether it be for
white balance, 16-bit editing of tonal adjustments, or neat
tips like “RAW bracketing”, you best pay attention. RAW
processing is powerful and surprisingly convenient when an
expert with good demonstration skills shows you how it is
supposed to be done. This section is not all about RAW
shooting though. It is also in this section that you will learn
how to effectively sharpen images using layers, and seeing
several examples thereof. You will also
learn a lot about working with saturation and hues with examples working
on photographs of blue sky. To expedite
matters you will also see how you can
work on one image, and then using a
cascade style of work apply those
changes to other images that share similar lighting traits by basically using a
“drag and drop” correcting technique.
“Retouching” deals mostly with portraits, which are often the most difficult
shots for me to take effectively. Using a
self-portrait, and the tips in this section
of the DVD, I effectively whitened my
teeth, made my eyes sparkle, removed
some wrinkles, eliminated a couple of
hot spots, added a bit of a suntan, and
lost about 50lbs. Whoa! Nice!
Throughout the DVD Scott makes very
effective use of the computer screen,
which is what you see while listening to
Scott describe what you are viewing.
Good use of image “before and after”
results serves to reinforce learning the
subject matter. For the more hardcore
crowd Scott throws in all the pertinent Keyboard shortcuts.
The only two issues that I might bring up are sound quality
and price. The sound seems to be a little distorted at times,
almost scratchy, but does not detract from effectively learning the material. To be fair it might just have been my DVD
player. If you have a membership account at any of the major book retailers you will likely get a discount, making this
more of a $50 expense. I even found this title already in
stock at a couple of stores around town.
In short, viewing this DVD a couple of times, and putting
the tips to use, WILL make your photographs better. So forget about filling your tank with gas this week, and go buy
the DVD and walk, don’t drive, around with your camera.
You’ll thank me, you really will.
[EN: Both the Elements 3 Book and DVD have been updated to sync with the changes made in Elements 4. Time restraints (imposed by ME) prevented Roger from updating
these articles.]
Volume 24 Page 13
April/May 2006
The President’s Random Musings
? by Paul Kesson
[email protected]
S
o I’ve somehow managed to end up with a bi-monthly
column in the newsletter. For the time being, I’ve decided to call it, “The President’s Random Musings,”
since I quite frankly expect it to mainly be whatever happens to be on my mind when I get down to writing it. Sometimes it will be more insightful, like my column with Rodd
last month, others it may be a bit more ranty or just plain
random. We’ll see how it goes. In any case, I’m honestly
not sure how I got talked into it, but I’m always up for a
challenge. Then again, if I’m not I’m in the wrong position.
That puts me to the central “theme” of my column this
month; Challenges for the User Group.
The biggest challenge for the User Group right now is our
financial situation, as Rodd and I mentioned last month. We
need more members and we need more people on the ISP. I
don’t think there’s much more I can say about the membership problem. We’re working on new advertising campaigns,
but the biggest source of new members is word-of-mouth.
SO GET OUT THERE AND GET US NEW MEMBERS
ALREADY. OK? Good. Thank you. :-)
The ISP is a slightly different problem. Word-of-mouth is a
major source for new users, but the limiter is that we’re still
just a dial-up ISP. I don’t understand what makes high speed
so much better personally, but that’s me. While I can exist
quite happily on dial-up, not everyone is so happy to stick to
5K/s. If it were cheaper to get into high speed, we wouldn’t
be in so much trouble.
That said, here’s my question for you: If the User Group
was able to offer high speed Internet at the same price as
Shaw or MTS, would you be willing to switch from
Shaw/MTS or upgrade from dial-up? Would it have to be a
bit cheaper (or a lot cheaper) before you’d switch? What if
the group were able to supply a high speed wireless service?
Would that encourage you to switch, or would that be a
problem? What I want you to do is send your answers to
these questions to me at [email protected]. Your answers will help us decide what to do because we certainly
don’t want to spend a lot of money setting something up
which no one will use.
The biggest challenge facing me personally is the constant
problem of arranging presentations for the monthly General
Meeting. Once upon a time it was easy to arrange presentations. As far as I know vendors were coming to us wanting
to show us their latest software. Unfortunately, user groups
just aren’t as popular as they used to be, so fewer and fewer
vendors are willing to commit resources to giving us presentations. About the only vendor we still get out on a regular
basis is Corel; almost all of our presentations these days are
given by members of the group. If my memory serves me
correctly, there was a year not that far back where I was the
presenter a full one half of the time.
Sometimes coming up with a presentation isn’t the hard part.
The March topic was Pinnacle Studio 10 as presented by
Roger Buchanan. Paul Stephen was originally the person
working on getting a presentation on PS10, but they went
through a merger (or purchase or something) and the rearrangement complicated matters. I took over from Paul a few
months ago and I got a response from Pinnacle fairly
quickly. “We currently do not have the staff to do any presentations at this time.” OK, fine, that’s understandable, particularly after the changes and given that we’re now actually
a fairly small group. What annoyed me was that was the
only response I got. I sent several other messages attempting
to get a copy of the software to use for the presentation, but
they never responded. I’m assuming I was ignored as opposed to my contact having left the company because I consider it basic practice to at least place an auto-responder on
the person’s address to inform people of the parting.
I was later informed by Paul Stephen that the software
Roger used for his presentation was actually supplied by
Pinnacle, but that doesn’t justify giving no reaction at all —
we’re quite thankful for having received it though, for the
record. Even a, “Sorry, but we can’t offer you any software
for free,” or, “We already sent you the editing software, perhaps your record of this was lost,” would have been nice.
Not the best public relations strategy if you ask me, but I
obviously don’t know anything. ,_,
Possibly the most maddening issue we’ve had to face of late
has been the sheer incompetence of Winnipeg School Division 1. We have an agreement with them that we get the use
of the gym at Montrose School on the third Thursday of every month for our meeting — unless of course they decide
they want to use it instead. Sometimes they tell us, sometimes they don’t. Other times they forget about us entirely
and tell other people they can use the gym even though we
have it. That was the case at our last Christmas meeting.
If only their inability to keep track of what’s happening in
Montrose’s gym was the only problem we have with them.
As anyone who was at the February meeting knows, they’re
not very good at remembering to tell us when they change
their Internet configuration, either. I was supposed to do a
presentation on online shopping, but that was rather difficult
because the information they gave us for getting out on the
Internet was outdated. We could go almost anywhere on the
Internet except eBay and PayPal; two of the main sites I was
going to use for my presentation! Here’s hoping they’ll be a
little more helpful in the future. I do have another question,
though: do you prefer having meetings at Montrose, or are
the meetings at the RC better since they go more smoothly?
Granted, that was more of a rant than I’d intended. Oh well.
Hopefully it was interesting and/or informative.
Volume 24 Page 14
April/May 2006
Changing Macro Shortcut Keys in MS Word
I
? by John Robin Allen, WPCUG
f you use macros
when w orking
with MS Word,
you already know
that when you record a macro you
can assign it a shortcut key to run it.
You also have to remember what shortcut key you assigned
to the macro. Nothing in the Tools >
Macros menu lets
you see or revise
your shortcut keys.
If you open the VBA
code editor with the
Figure 1.
Alt + F11 command,
th e re is nothing
there either to help.
The VBA editor will
display all your macros and the code that
makes them work, but
it will not tell you
what shortcut keys you
have assigned to any
of your macros, much
less give you any help
in revising those shortcuts. You just have to
r e me mber or w rite
down each shortcut
key combination you
assign before you create a macro and hope
Figure 2.
y o u never need to
change the shortcuts.
[Actually I have a short VBA [Visual Basic for Applications] program that will print out a list of assigned keyboard
shortcuts that I can send to anyone who asks me for a copy
of it. However, even if you know which shortcut key to use
for any given macro, you still cannot change that combination with the VBA program.]
A workaround solution to the problem of just remembering
the shortcuts is to put the name of the shortcut key into the
name of each macro you write. For example, let’s assume
that you create a macro to copy the preceding paragraph in a
document. If you are going to assign the shortcut “Alt + Ctrl
+ Shift + J” to the macro, instead of naming the macro
something like “CopyAboveParagraph” you can name it
“j_CopyAboveParagraph”, or perhaps just “j”. (One almost
always uses Alt + Ctrl + Shift combined with another key
as a shortcut to avoid inadvertently changing keys Word itself uses. None of the built-in shortcut combinations in
Word use that triple combination, Alt + Ctrl + Shift, so if
all your shortcuts include those keys, you need only to provide the letter used with those keys.)
There is a better solution. Word handles macro shortcut
keys quite separately from the VBA code that is behind all
the macros you record or create in Word. To see not only
what macro shortcut keys you have used but also to change
them to other keyboard combinations, forget about clicking
on Tools > Macros or VBA and work with Word itself. In
Word, click on Tools > Customize (or just press Alt + t,
then “c”) and you will see the Customize dialogue box
shown in Figure 1 If the “Commands” tab is not showing
at the top of the dialogue box, click on it so that it looks
like that first illustration. Then click on the Keyboard button (or just press Alt + ”k”) and you will open the Customize Keyboard dialogue box that you see in Figure 2 Your
cursor will be in the “Categories” window highlighting the
word “File”.
You then need to move that highlight to “Macros”, which
not currently visible in the “Categories” window since it is
so far down in the list of categories being displayed.
You could push the slider bar down until you see “Macros”,
but an easier way to get to “Macros” is to press the letter
“m” twice. The first time you press it, the cursor jumps to
“Mail Merge”, and the second time you press “m” the cursor
jumps to “Macros”. (See Figure 3) The former “Commands”
window to the right
of “Cat egor i es ”
changes to “Macros”
and di s pl ays t he
nam es of al l t he
macros you have in
whatever file name
is displayed in the
“Save changes in”
window below the
“Macr os ”. I n t he
third illustration, the
current document
loaded is “Vocab for
19t h
cent ur y
contes”, but if you
press the letter “v”
Figure 3.
(as in “Save changes
in:”) or click on the
down-arrow in that
window, you can make it to display the alternative: “Normal.dot”, which contains all macros available to all Word
Volume 24 Page 15
April/May 2006
documents, both past and future.
To s ee w hat
shortcut key
combination is
assigned to a
given macro, be
sure that you
have the correct
location of the
macro in the
“Save changes
in ” w indow.
There are usually only two
places that hold
macros, the active document,
or Normal.dot.
Figure 4.
If the macro
you are seeking
is not in the one, it must be in the other. When you have
found the macro you want, select it in the “Macros” window. The “Current keys” window will then display the
shortcut key combination currently assigned to that particular macro.
To change a keyboard shortcut key to another combination,
click on the shortcut in the “Current keys:” window. That
highlight the shortcut and also activates the Remove button,
as you can see in Figure 4. If you then press Alt + r (or
click on the Remove button), that deletes that shortcut.
Whether or not you delete the current shortcut, if you want
to assign a new shortcut to this macro (you can have more
than one shortcut key for any macro) press Alt + n (as in
“Press new shortcut key:”; you can also just press the tab
key twice to jump to that window, and then you can press
whatever new combination you want to assign to this macro.
In Figure 5 you can see I pressed “Alt + Ctrl + Shift + Y”
as a new combination. (Those were the actual keys I
pressed, rather than the words you see in that window.) If
for any reason you want to change a shortcut key you just
entered, press the backspace key and the combination will
deleted. You can try any combination of keys to make a
shortcut. Once you have typed the new shortcut key, the Assign button
becomes active and just
pressing the
Enter key is
equivalent to
clicking on
that key: it
puts
the
shortcut key
into
the
“Current
keys:” winFigure 5.
dow and the
“Close” button becomes the default. You can always add a second or
third shortcut key to run the same macro, but most persons
just press the Enter key, equivalent to clicking on the
“Close” button.
If you have followed these steps, hearty congratulations are
in order. You will have just successfully created a new shortcut key combination for running a macro.
Readin’ the newsletter at the RC!
A “full house” for the Pinnacle Systems Demo!
Although Professor Allen now
lives in Alberta, he is still a
member of the WPCUG and
takes the time to send us articles.
Thank you so much. I wish
“the locals” would do the
same. Too many UG editors
are just reprinting the same
articles making them look
“McDonald’s-like”.
Volume 24 Page 16
April/May 2006
Clear Reading With ClearType
M
? by Vinny La Bash, [email protected], Sarasota PCUG
y students know why LCD displays are superior to
CRT monitors. When one of them complained to me
that he found text difficult to read on his new 21
inch LCD Monitor, I told him it was probably because the
screen resolution made the text too small to read easily. He
didn’t think so because his teen age granddaughter also
thought the text wasn’t clear. His comment made me think.
Flat panel LCD Monitors are designed to display information at a specific resolution known as the “native resolution”. Manufacturers refer to them as “fixed-pixel displays”
because they are limited to displaying only one resolution. If
they receive an image signal that is either higher or lower
than the native resolution, they convert or scale the image
automatically to fit the native resolution.
If the incoming source has more pixels than the display’s
native resolution, you will lose some visible detail and
sharpness. Very often you will need to carefully compare the
images side by side to see any difference. Only the most exacting applications will suffer from this small constraint.
If the incoming source has fewer pixels than the native resolution, there is no benefit from the higher resolution. Extra
pixels will not improve the appearance of a lower-resolution
source.
Converting images from either a higher or lower resolution
to the LCD’s native resolution hardly affects the quality of
graphic or video images, but it can make text appear blurry.
Early LCD displays had no ready solution for this problem.
All one could do was experiment with various font styles
and sizes until an acceptable compromise was reached.
Microsoft didn’t want to keep its customers waiting while it
found an answer so it licensed TrueType fonts from Apple.
The advantage of TrueType fonts was that text could be
made larger or smaller with little distortion. Text became
easier to read, and Microsoft made some improvements to
the technology, but TrueType proved to be an interim response.
While Microsoft was working on Windows XP, it was also
developing a new software technology designed to enhance
text readability on flat panel LCD monitors, laptops, PDAs,
Pocket PCs, indeed any device that used an LCD screen, no
matter how big or small.
Microsoft claims that its development people spent two
years studying typography and the psychology of reading to
create ClearType. Instead of affecting individual pixels
which are either treated as “on” or “off”, ClearType works
with a different type of pixel that is constructed of three individual pieces tinted with red, blue, and green stripes. The
technology varies the brightness of the sub-pixels, making
the screen characters appear smooth, clean, and sharp
around the edges.
Now that you know what it is, how can you use it? You
have three ways to turn on or “enable” ClearType for your
LCD display. Let’s start with the easiest way.
Go to http://tinyurl.com/6e3cc
Follow the online directions to enable ClearType on your system.
Another way is to download the PowerToy version of the online tuner. This lets you do the same thing that the above procedure does, but you do it by accessing the Control Panel and
activating the ClearType settings from there.
Go to http://tinyurl.com/6ys8z
Follow the online directions to download, install, and use. It’s
easy.
Finally, for the propeller heads and bit twiddlers in the audience, you can access the Registry. To enable ClearType for
all users of your system:
From the Start button, select Run and type Regedit in the
Text box. (As if you didn’t know).
Navigate to HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop.
Create or Modify the Data Type and Value Name as detailed
below.
Data Type: String Value
Value Name: FontSmoothing
Setting for Value Data: [Set Value to 2]
Data Type: Dword
Value Name: FontSmoothingType
Setting for Value Data: [Change Value to 2]
Exit Registry and Reboot
Enabling ClearType only for the current user instead of all
users is identical to the above procedure except that instead
of HKEY_USERS, work with HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead.
When you’re finished, check the Desktop and examine the
icon titles. Open the Start menu while you’re at it and observe the readability of the text. You may find the text too
small to read even though it is sharp and clear. If this is the
case:
Right click on the Desktop
Choose Properties from the popup menu.
Clock the Appearance tab.
Click the Advanced button and make changes there.
Decide which technique is best for you, and enjoy text that is
clear, crisp and sharp.
There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this
article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given
the author. The Editorial Committee of the Association of
Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international
organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.
Volume 24 Page 17
April/May 2006
Being Online Brings Coincidences
and Lasting Trails
A
? by Gabriel Goldberg, APCUG Advisor
song written by Peter Mayer, a great singer I’ve just
discovered, is titled “Earth Town Square.” Describing
how technology and travel have shrunk the world, Peter lyrically observes “Now it’s feeling like a small town,
with six billion people downtown, at a little sidewalk fair, in
Earth Town Square”. Even though all six billion of us aren’t
(yet!) online, the Internet as a meeting place is certainly one
of the engines making the Earth seem smaller. While it was
once exotic — or alarming — to have a long distance telephone conversation, chatting electronically with people half
a world away doesn’t raise my pulse.
A decade ago, early in my use of the Internet, I was astonished by its ability to create coincidences. This is a true
story. I was consulting for an online service that gave me an
e-mail address used only for their work. I received a note at
that address with the intriguing subject, “I am you” from another Gabriel Goldberg. Nowadays, that’s the sort of spoofed
e-mail I’d likely delete without reading. He had checked his
entry in the service’s directory and found my entry next to
his. We exchanged pleasantries, described ourselves, shared
wonder at having found each other, and he mentioned that he
was a music student in Boston.
Later that week, I received another note at my regular e-mail
address, from a woman who said that she’d known a Gabe
Goldberg years earlier, the last she’d heard from him he was
going to Boston to study music, and was I that person. I replied to her, copying the other Gabe, that either they were
playing a joke on me or we had a mighty powerful coincidence. Truth is stranger than joke — they were former high
school sweethearts who had drifted apart. In the same week
they both found my name and two different e-mail addresses, and for very different reasons, they contacted me. I
later heard from her mother, who thanked me for reuniting
them! Remarking on the coincidence of names, the other
Gabe wondered “how do guys named Jim Smith handle all
the coincidences.”
Participating in mailing lists, newsgroups, and Web sites
leaves online footprints and makes us visible. The bad news
is that’s one of the ways spammers find targets, but the good
news is that being visible makes it easier for lost friends to
track us down. Soon after 9/11 I heard a voice on the phone
I hadn’t heard for nearly 30 years: my college girlfriend.
She’d searched Google (often called “Googling”) for me,
found me, and called. We’ve stayed in touch since, have gotten together several times, and shared news of our respective
families. And just recently I used Google to contact an elementary school friend after hearing of her taking a new job
in San Francisco.
Amidst the fun of unanticipated connections and reestablished friendships, there’s a cautionary note: information on-
line has a long memory. Web sites like Google cache (retain)
Web pages even after they’re deleted from their original Web
locations. Postings to mailing lists, Web forums,
newsgroups, and other online venues are usually retained indefinitely. It can be unnerving to discover that items posted
in the heat of the moment or as youthful indiscretions can be
retrieved years later by potential employers or new acquaintances, or just be someone snooping for unpleasant reasons.
Just as it’s worth checking your credit report periodically, it’s
a good idea to occasionally check out what online trails
you’ve left. My current favorite surfing tool is Google, so I
search for “Gabe Goldberg” and “Gabriel Goldberg.” The
quote marks bind the first and last names together so that
only Web pages having the exact full name are found. I
search on Gabe and Gabriel because I’ve used both names.
If your name is closer to Jim Smith’s — offering 56,000 hits
rather than the more manageable 182 for my name — you
can tighten the search by adding terms such as a middle initial, state of residence, hobby, employer, etc. But don’t make
the search too narrow or you may miss genuine references.
It’s tedious to erase tracks from an online history. It requires
contacting each site that hosts material you’d like to delete,
perhaps following instructions and filling out forms. Some
mailing list sites refuse as a matter of policy to delete list
postings, reasoning that doing so would distort a list’s historical record. The government has made serious efforts to sanitize the Web by removing content deemed dangerous, such
as plans for water and power system. Even when successful,
scrubbing data off Web sites often doesn’t really make it unavailable, it just slows people from finding it. It’s much
better to avoid saying anything online that might return to
haunt you, than try to clear the record after the fact.
This article originated on AARP’s Computers and Technology Web site, www.aarp.org/computers, and is copyrighted
by AARP. All rights are reserved; it may be reproduced,
downloaded, disseminated, or transferred, for single use, or
by nonprofit organizations for educational purposes, with attribution to AARP. It should be unchanged and this paragr aph i ncl uded. P l eas e e- m ai l G abe Go l d b e rg a t
gabe(at)gabegold.com when you use it, or for permission to
excerpt or condense.
There is no restriction against any non-profit group using
this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit
given the author. The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member,
brings this article to you.
Volume 24 Page 18
April/May 2006
The Future of Broadband Access
? by Bob Hewitt, Editor, The Journal of The Computer Club, Inc., Sun City Center, Florida
T
his may end up to be a case of who gets there fastest
with the mostest.
The goal is Broadband. Just about all computer owners want
it. Many cannot afford it. But every provider wants to get
the biggest share of the pie.
The telecommunications industry was
in the driver’s seat first with dial-up.
Then came cable as a carrier and
telecom countered with DSL. Up rose
Wi-Fi , Broadband Wireless Mesh, and
finally BPL (Broadband over Power
Line).
Pew Internet and American Life Project
released a survey finding that about 55
per cent of internet-using Americans
enjoy a broadband connection at home
or at work.
Since computers have overwhelmed the
marketplace, it may be somewhat misleading to lump them together.
The goal of computer mavens is the most speed per dollar
expressed in Kbps (Kilobits per second), Mbps (Megabits
per second), or preferably MBps (Megabytes per second).
The latter conforms to the standard measurement of file size
and gives an operator an instant impression of the time involved in achieving a download or a transfer, depending on
the speed of his CPU or internet connection.
Because their infrastructure was already in place, the telephone and cable industries became the leaders in delivering
internet resources to their subscribers at $10 to $50 per
month depending on speed. But then came the advent of
wireless transmission, commonly called Wi-Fi, with its short
range signal providing access principally to portable (laptop)
PC’s—a significant advantage to travelers who were charged
a small amount for access.
Almost paralleling the transition from fixed telephone to cell
phone, Wi-Fi evolved into wireless mesh internet which has
sparked a huge demand for municipal wireless broadband.
Fifty four localities, including major cities, are in the process
of establishing or already have established such services.
Tempe, Arizona established a wireless access network last
November, covering 40 square miles, with an access cost of
$30 a month per subscriber or $3.95 per hour.
Manassas, Virginia became the first citywide Broadband-Over-Powerline site last October when it opened a 10
square mile site available to all at $29 per month.
Philadelphia has contracted with Earthlink to cover its 135
square miles with wireless internet service—-the cost to
Earthlink an estimated 10-million dollars and a cost to resi-
dents an estimated $20 per month for service. It’s assumed
that Earthlink will amortize its investment by income from
advertising.
The excitement over wireless broadband in heightened by a
comparison of download speeds available. The fastest of the
three Wi-Fi formats now in use (the 802.11g) is 54 Mbps
(megabits per second) or 7 Megabytes
per second which is 18 times faster
than the cable modems of today. Further is the recent approval of the IEEE
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers) for the new 802.11n Wi-Fi
format which may be two years before
activation but could achieve data processing speeds of 600Mbps; an almost
incomprehensible 75 Megabytes per second—200 times today’s cable modem
speed.
At that rate, one could download 80
minutes of music in 10 seconds or an entire opera in 30.
The wired communications industries are not unaware. Witness the fact that they have spent millions of dollars lobbying state legislatures to kill off community internet. Over the
past few years, no less than 14 states have enacted legislation that bans or places limits on municipalities from building community internet projects. Florida Governor Jeb Bush
signed a law last June that prevents cities from offering
broadband if there are competing private services.
There are anti-competitive issues at the federal level, also.
Republican Representative Pete Sessions of Texas introduced
an anti-community internet bill which would prevent any
city in the country from providing internet access if a private
company offers internet services nearby—even if the private
company serves as little as 10 per cent of the residents.
Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada introduced the
Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act which
would severely hamper cities’ ability to build and manage
wireless networks.
In response to Ensign’s bill, Republican Senator John
McCain and Democrat Frank Lautenburg introduced legislation that gives municipalities free rein to offer broadband
and would overturn state laws banning such activities.
Now that President Bush has lent his support to a broad set
of proposals to get every corner of the country access to
broadband connectivity by 2007, it will be interesting to
watch both sides welcome that goal as supporting their particular positions.
The big question for the public is cost. There have been no
definitive publicly-available figures on installation and main-
BROAD
BAND
Volume 24 Page 19
April/May 2006
tenance of the cutting-edge WiFi mesh application.
Jupiter Research has estimated that the average cost of
building and maintaining a wireless network is $150,000
per square mile over five years. Bert Williams, vice president of marketing for Tropos Networks, which has successfully provided mesh based WiFi hardware in several locations around the world, says, “We usually talk in terms of
$75,000 per square mile for our gear.” Adding the ongoing
costs for backhaul and system management, he believes the
total to be closer to $100,000 per square mile, while Sky Pilot Networks quotes $50,000.
A long and vigorous battle is ahead involving the established
vs the un-established. But one thing is certain. Everyone is
going to end up with a piece of the pie. For this is still early
in the digital age and there is plenty to go around.
Muniwireless.com
informationweek.com
zdnet.com
vnunet.com
jupitermedia.com
arstechnica.com
eetimes.com
mercurynews.com
slate.com
eweek.com
mistershape.com
S. Derek Turner
Hard Disk Disasters
H
? by Dick Maybach, member Brookdale Computer User Group, New Jersey
ard disk failure is the most serious PC problem, because it jeopardizes all your data. Even if everything
else in your PC dies, if your hard disk is good, you
can just move it to a new machine and be back in business
as though nothing had happened.
The first problem is to recognize hard disk failure. Look for
one or more of the following symptoms.
· A squealing or clicking noise – you will have to open
your system case to find where the noise is coming from.
Diskette and CD-ROM drives and fans can produce similar
noises.
·
·
·
·
·
·
A longer than usual time to boot up.
A longer than usual time to open a folder or file.
Spontaneous file or folder name changes.
Frequent error messages.
Missing or corrupted files or folders.
Frequent “blue screens of death”.
If these begin to appear, immediately copy your data files
(most likely your My Documents folder) to another device,
preferably one with removable media, such as a CD-ROM
or a DVD. Do not turn off your PC and do not spend time
trying to diagnose the problem before saving your data. Every second you delay increases the likelihood that more data
will be lost.
Clearly, the best defense is to back up your data before you
have a problem. However, few people do this, and even if
you do, it may have been some time since your last backup.
If your hard disk fails before you can save your data, all is
not lost. If your data is very valuable, for example if it’s
customer data, you can send your disk to a commercial firm
that specializes in data recovery. This service will cost from
several hundred to several thousand dollars, but usually
there is no fee unless they are at least partially successful. If
you decide to do this, shut of your PC immediately and contact the firm for instructions. If your data is worth less than
this amount, there are two things you can try that may work.
·
Remove the hard drive from the system unit and give it a
light tap by holding a screwdriver by its blade and tapping
the unit with the handle. Reinstall the hard drive and reboot.
·
Remove the drive and place it in a freezer for several
minutes, until it is cold to the touch. Reinstall and reboot.
If either of these works, move your data to a safe place immediately.
If you have only a partial disk failure, save as much data as
you can; then try the following.
·
Restart your PC, but before Windows boots get into the
BIOS setup utility. If you watch the screen carefully, you
should see directions on how to do this. Often you will press
F2 or F10. Look for an area called Utilities or something
similar and run any drive diagnostics available.
·
Run CHKDSK. (Click on Start, then on Run…, and at the
prompt type“chkdsk x: /r”, where x: is the drive in difficulty.
If c: is problem drive, you will probably see a message that
chkdsk can’t check the drive now, but will offer to check it
the next time you restart. Answer “y” and reboot.
Volume 24 Page 20
April/May 2006
·
Run diagnostics supplied by your drive manufacturer, or
if you don’t have one, use Western Digital’s Data Lifeguard
Diagnostics, available free from http://westerndigital.com.
Versions are available for both Windows and DOS.
You can take some simple steps to prolong the life of all
your PC components.
·
Keep the system unit clean, especially if it sits on the
floor. Once every month or two open the system case and
remove any dust and debris with a vacuum. I prefer this to
compressed air, which just moves the dirt to a new resting
place.
·
Don’t move your PC while it’s operating; especially,
don’t jar it.
·
Use a pow er s urge protector or preferab l y an
uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The latter are widely
available for $100 or so. Besides reducing stress on your
components, one of these will save your data if the power
fails. I always had a UPS at work, and every so often I
would see the lights blink and hear streams of profanity
from other offices whose occupants did not have one.
Modern PC components are quite reliable, and the chances
are that you will replace your computer before anything
fails. However, you should have a plan in case there is a
problem. Similarly, the chances are that you will replace
your car without ever having an accident yet you still wear a
seatbelt, and carry insurance.
The Digital Imaging Forum Returns!
H
? by Neil Longmuir, WPCUG
ere are outlines as to what will be discussed at
the DI Forums in the coming months. This Forum is held at 7 p.m. at the Resource Centre on
the second Wednesday of the month.
April
· Color correction using the Levels and the individual
Red, Green and Blue Channels.
· Why your monitor needs to be calibrated. (I will
show a great example.)
· The latest developments in the digital camera world.
· 16 bit RAW files vs 8 bit JPG files — does it make a
difference for editing?
· Make great black and white prints from color images.
· Is there a down side to using RAW files or JPG files?
· Why you want to use an adjustment layer to make
image corrections
May
· Photography web sites.
June
Paint Shop Pro X vs Adobe Elements 2/3/4, the good
and the bad.
APRIL GENERAL MEETING
N
eil Longmuir will be discussing backup “solutions” (gee, I hate that word) to keep your data
safe. Here’s his outline for the meeting:
File organization and backup
Backup Solutions
Internal Trays with a large hard drive
External USB 2.0 or Firewire hard drives
Backup Software
Drive Image
Maxtor‘s Backup that comes with Maxtor external
hard drives
Nero 7 Backup
The plain and dirty solution using Windows Explorer
(Total Commander) copy
Volume 24 Page 21
April/May 2006
ULEAD’s VideoStudio 9
? by Paul Stephen
[email protected]
E
very time I embark on a review I am filled
with fear and trepidation. What if I HATE
the
program ?
Normally I take a
demo for a brief test
drive, but this time I
jumped right in to review ULEAD Software‘s VideoStudio
9.
First Impressions
The basic interface
was very familiar to
me as I’d used earlier
versions of this software but just wished
for a few additional
features. Well friends,
those additions are
HERE!
Unlike some software
packages the GUI in
VS 9 is actually
READABLE on my
2 1² monitor —
there’s no ”squinting"
to reading tiny text in the
GUI! And it’s SO EASY
to use you’ll be producing
videos in no time flat!
Although many video
packages require the use
of
Window s
XP,
VideoStudio 9 will run on
Windows/98/ME/2000/XP
— so if you are using an
earlier version of Windows
you won’t have to upgrade
your OS to use this new
version.
The Interface
Figure 1 shows the main
interface of the program.
Along the top of the
screen are the main modules: Capture, Edit, Effect, Overlay, Title, Au-
Fig 1. Main Screen Showing the use of a Kaleidoscope filter.
(Storyboard Mode)
Fig. 2 Main Screen Showing Title Addition.
(Timeline Mode)
dio and Share.
The Capture Module
T he f i r st m o d u l e ,
“Capture” is quite
obvious. It can grab
audi o/ v i d e o f r o m
your MiniDV camcorder, from your
webcam or from your
SVHS/VHS recorder
or even a television
tuner source. It can
al s o i m p o r t v i d e o
from DVD-R disks.
If you happen to own
the piece of software
called AnyDVD you
can extract clips from
your favorite movie
and plunk them into
your o wn h o m e
movie — hey, do a
scene with your favorite actor or actress
or have a bit of fun
by putting the “MGM
lion” at the beginning
of your home movie
— I ’ m l i ke l y g o i n g t o
prison for saying that!
It can also grab “stills”
from the video source. I
have an ATI AIW 9800
video card and found that
grabbing stills through that
source’s software when
deal i ng w i t h a n a l o g
SVHS/VHS video was superior to that of the Capture
module in VideoStudio,
however.
When saving video you can
save it in AVI, MPG, WMV,
DV, DVD, VCD, or SVCD
formats.
If you are using a digital
camcorder here’s a tip. Before you start shooting anything on a blank tape put
Volume 24 Page 22
April/May 2006
izes your video
the lens cap on
even more. In
your
camt he Ov e r l a y
corder and remode, for excord “nothing”
ample, you can
on the entire
dr op a f i l t e r
ta p e . Why,
over a clip to
you
as k,
add “zany” efwo u ld I do
f ect s — y o u
th a t? Well,
can see that in
th e r e ’s
a
Figure 1 where
timecode track
I dropped a Kao n e ach D V
leidoscope filtape and if the
ter on to a “Dacamera head
vid Letterman”
“sees” unreFig 3. Timeline Mode showing where you add video tracks,
clip.
corded tape it
titles, “voice over” audio and music.
will reset the
I f y o u a r e n ’t
time code to
happy with the
“00.00.00". If
colors in your
you “black a
clips (brighttape” you will
ness, saturaensure that the
tion, etc.) you
time code does
can
a d j u st
not
have
those as well
b r e a ks w hen
in this module.
you start/stop
Of
c o u r se
taking video.
vi
de
o
i sn ’t
With a contigucomplete
withous timecode
out audio. You
track your softcan watch your
ware will make
project and do
it easier to sepa “voice over”
a ra te
your
track or add a
Fig. 4 Storyboard Mode showing where you drop video tracks
video clips autrack from a
and add “transitions” between clips.
t o m a t i c a l l y.
music CD. The
And as a boprogram also
nus, this process helps shake loose dust and magnetic oxide
ships with about 25 tracks of music you can use without
left over from manufacturing, slightly reducing the risk of
worrying about licensing problems.
dropouts during critical recording.
The Effect, Overlay, Title and Audio Modules
The ability of software to automatically separate your variI have more or less described what these modules do above.
ous clips makes editing so much easier!
They can be reached by either clicking on their module
The “Edit” Module
name or by clicking on an icon at the beginning of tracks
Once you’ve captured the video you can move to the “Edit”
(video track, overlay track, title track, voice track, and music
module. There’s lots of “fun” to be had here. You can bring
track) shown when the program is in the Timeline View
in clips and adjust their beginning and end, adjust the speed
mode.(Figs 2/3)
of clips, adjust volume fades, etc. You can even play your
If you are in Storybook View (Fig. 4) you can drop pre-devideo clips backwards!
fined “transitions” (Fig. 5) between clips and these can be
At the bottom of the screen you can have the program discustomized as well. Most videos just use straight “cuts”
play your video in terms of a storyboard or time layout. You
without special effects, so don’t get carried away with these
can just drag and drop video clips onto this area or change
transitions or you’ll drive your audience “nuts”.
the default to be Transitions instead of Video and then insert
You can learn a lot by watching documentary films. Often
transitions (a TON of them) between clips. You can have a
you see a person being interviewed and then the interview
main video track plus an OVERLAY track. This secondary
audio continues while a different video clip is shown. This
video track allows you to create PIP (picture in picture efeffect can be accomplished with VS9 by splitting the audio
fects) or allows you to switch between two video clips. In
and
video tracks from a clip. The “split” audio portion conmost of the modules you can add “attributes” that custom-
Volume 24 Page 23
April/May 2006
“Share” module and export your project to
tinues from the main video clip while
a video file (WMV, RM, MPEG1/2, etc.) or
any clip put into the secondary video
just burn your project to a DVD or CD
track is shown (that track is always
(VCD/SVCD).
“muted”). It’s easier doing than it is telling you how to do this!
Summing Up
We’ve looked at most of the above
There are so many options (I continue to
modules, except for the “Title Track”.
find things!) in the program you will have
When this option is selected the profun just experimenting with them. I’ve regram plunks a message on your preview
ally only touched the surface in this review.
screen telling you to double click and
For example the program starts in 3 differinsert a message here. You can select
ent modes. I’ve only discussed ONE of
any font or color, or use some predethem in this article. There’s a DV to DVD
fined “outlined” fonts. I found that after
Wizard which gives users with digital
rendering, text in relatively small fonts
camercorders a quick and easy way to get
looked a bit blurry — especially if I
their video onto DVDs. The other module
used non-white/black colors to fill the
strips out some of the tools found in the
font. I found a similar effect with clips
full-fledged editor to make it even easier
that had been defined to be “slow mofor “newbies” to create their first video.
tion”. This “blurriness” really made my
Once you’ve “mastered” this program and
videos look “second rate”. Inserting and
need more than two video tracks, you can
positioning text was extremely easy,
consider moving up to a more powerful
however.
(but harder to use) package such as Ulead‘s
I must say, however, that the text modMediaStudio 8.
ule is fantastically easy to use and will
ULEAD runs support Forums for all its
allow you to produce effects that only
Fig. 5 Transitions between
products and they are quite active — so if
the PROS used to be able to do. Animavideo clips.
you encounter a problem there is usually
tion allows you to do amazing things
somebody who can help you. You can test
with your text — you can make a
drive all their products for 30 days to see if you like them
“trailer” of your own home video — it’s a “piece of cake”!
before making a purchase.
Audio
For the average home user, however, I think VS9 will keep
This module allows you to do “voice over” your video (say
you very happy — until VS10 arrives. <VBG>
for a documentary). You can do this sort of work in small
Program:
Video Studio 9
portions so that if you GOOF you won’t have that much to
Publisher:
ULEAD Systems
re-record. The program also allows you to import music
WWW:
http://www.ulead.com
from CDs! In this module I just wish the program would
MSRP:
$US89.99 (download)
automatically bring up the Windows sound module which
allows you to select which audio input device you wish to
use for “voice over” work. In my system I could use the
microphone attached to the sound module on my motherIf you haven’t tried Version
board or the microphone built into Logitech‘s QuickCam
8 of SnagIt, you are missing
Pro.
out on using a GREAT piece
of software. Try it out!
Share
http://tinyurl.com/rkg5x
Once you’ve assembled your project you can enter the
MAY GENERAL MEETING
The MAY General Meeting will be a presentation on Web Browsers. Brian Lowe will demonstrate FireFox and we
hope to have someone do a presentation on Opera.
49K+
Connects!
WPCUG
Volume 24 Page 24
April/May 2006
Internet Service
“Let us connect you to the world!”
WPCUG
Winnipeg PC User Group Inc.
Need help getting set up?
Call ahead and bring your
PC to the
Resource Center
for “hands on” help.
People Helping People Use Computers Since 1982
**
0
n
** TUP
SE E!!
FE
þ *40* hours/month FREE
þ V.90 Support
þ PPP dial up access
þ Guaranteed user/modem
ratio of 15:1
þ 2 MB of disk space
for your own home page
þ Full Telnet shell access to
maintain your home page
þ Unlimited technical support
via e-mail, phone, Web BBS
and the Resource Center
þ Your own e-mail address
JUST $14*/Month!!
$0.25/hr after 40 hours
Maximum
billing of
*
$20 /month
(*Plus PST/GST)
Make a one time payment
of $192 (plus taxes)
and get UNLIMITED ISP
Access for a year!
We run on a cost recovery
basis. Every dollar goes to
improve, not just the Internet
Service, but all the other
services the User Group
provides as well.
If it weren't for the ISP, the RC
would close its doors!
Please remember that the Internet Service is a
cooperative effort. Give others a chance to
connect. Hang up when you are not actively using
the Internet! Thanks!!!
Make the RIGHT connection so YOU
don’t end up like this!
Volume 24 Page 25
April/May 2006
A FINE Utility Program — FinePrint
? by Paul Stephen
[email protected]
Y
ou know that song from “The Sound of Music” — “My
Favorite Things”? Well, that’s the way I feel about
good utility programs. I have previously written that
File-Ex 3 and Total Commander are GEMS! Now I have another to add to my list, FinePrint.
FinePrint that you’re printing a document in that format.
You can also put watermarks on the pages of any document
such as “Urgent”, “Confidential”, etc. and have this placed
on only the first page/sheet or on all pages or sheets. If
you’ve got a duplex printer it will handle its printing options
too.
FP was written by two programmers — Jonathon Weiner
and Mark O’Brien. When it was first released five years
(or more) ago I took it for a
whirl. It was buggy and I figured these two fellows had
taken on just too great a task.
Flash forward to 2006 and I
decided to try it again —
WHAT A DIFFERENCE! It
works fantastically.
I f you have a PostScript
printer there are options available to you that allow you to
print more than one logical
page on one physical page.
FinePrint allows you to do this
with any printer.
Just like other printing utilities
FinePrint installs a printer
driver to which you send your
output. It allows you to print
up to 8 logical pages on one physical page. Although not
great for reading at this degree of scaling, it is great for
quickly “on screen” viewing the “look” of a document before committing it to paper. And, in the preview mode you
can right click on a page and see it blown up (and readable).
Pages can be shifted about in portrait and landscape resolution. It appears PDF prints “differently” so you can inform
Forms can be saved which are merged with print jobs. For
example, you can create a
form containing your logo and
a footer containing address information. You don’t have to
imbed these items in each of
your documents — just select
the form you want to use at
print time. I did find it took a
bit of fiddling to position the
merged files.
Because you are printing multiple logical pages on one
physical page, you also save
on the cost of paper and ink.
The program keeps track of
the amount of paper you have
saved.
Take FinePrint for a test drive.
I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Program:
FinePrint 5
Publisher:
FinePrint Software
16 Napier Lane
San Francisco, CA 94133
WWW:
http://www.fineprint.com
SRP:
$US49.95
Volume 24 Page 26
April/May 2006
Winnipeg PC User Group Calendar of Events
April 9, 2006 - May 13, 2006
Sunday
Apr 9
Apr 10
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Apr 11
Apr 12
Apr 13
Apr 14
Windows
Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
Digital Imaging
Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
Executive
Meeting
7 pm - 9 pm
Friday
Saturday
Apr 15
Install/Drop
In Forum
10 am 4 pm
Apr 16
Apr 17
Apr 18
Apr 19
Apr 20
Apr 21
Apr 22
Apr 23
Apr 24
Apr 25
Apr 26
Apr 27
Apr 28
Apr 29
Apr 30
May 1
May 2
May 3
May 4
May 5
May 6
May 7
May 8
May 9
May 10
May 11
May 12
May 13
Access Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
Linux Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
Family Tree
Maker
7 pm - 9 pm
Windows
Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
Digital Imaging
Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
General Meeting
Backing Up
Your Computer
Neil Longmuir
7 pm - 9 pm
Investment
Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
Executive
Meeting
7 pm - 9 pm
Internet/
Hardware
10:30 am 11:30 am
Install/Drop
In Forum
10 am 4 pm
LAN Gaming
Play Networked
Games at the RC!
7 pm - 9 pm
Install/Drop
In Forum
10 am 4 pm
Computer
Basics
10:30 am 12:30 pm
May 14, 2006 - June 17, 2006
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
May 14
May 15
May 16
May 17
May 18
May 19
May 20
May 21
May 22
May 23
May 24
May 25
May 26
May 27
May 28
May 29
May 30
May 31
Jun 1
Jun 2
Jun 3
Jun 4
Jun 5
Jun 6
Jun 7
Jun 8
Jun 9
Jun 10
Jun 11
Jun 12
Jun 13
Jun 14
Jun 15
Jun 16
Jun 17
Access Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
Windows
Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
Linux Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
Family Tree
Maker
7 pm - 9 pm
Digital Imaging
Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
General Meeting
Browsers
Firefox and
Others
Brian Lowe
7 pm - 9 pm
Investment
Forum
7 pm - 9 pm
Executive
Meeting
7 pm - 9 pm
General Meeting
Topic: TBA
7 pm - 9 pm
LAN Gaming
Play Networked
Games at the RC!
7 pm - 9 pm
Install/Drop
In Forum
10 am 4 pm
Internet/
Hardware
10:30 am 11:30 am
Install/Drop
In Forum
10 am 4 pm
Computer
Basics
10:30 am 12:30 pm
Install/Drop
In Forum
10 am 4 pm
All Forums and Board Meetings are held at the Winnipeg PC User Group Resource Centre 337C Pembina Highway
General Meetings are held at Montrose School, 691 Montrose Street at Grant Avenue — Use the east door on Grant Avenue.
Volume 24 Page 27
April/May 2006
What To Do When — You Receive An Email
Attachment You Can’t Open
S
? by Rachel Derowitsch
with the security settings of Outlook Express.
ometimes the things that are meant to protect us also can frustrate us. Such is the
An HTML file can be opened from within OE if
case with antivirus settings and programs.
you disable the security setting for attachments we
Occasionally, that security throws up roadblocks
described. However, because it does far more good
for safe, legitimate content.
to keep that setting enabled, it’s fine to follow the
steps outlined here to open such files from the
A Faulty Default Setting
Desktop.
You might need to temporarily disable a key seAdjust The AV App
curity setting in Outlook Express to open and
view an email attachment.
Sometimes friendly sources may unwittingly send
you an infected file. An antivirus program can proCheck a default setting in Outlook Express that
tect you in this scenario. But when you can’t open
blocks the opening of attachments. Click Tools,
a legitimate file from a trusted source, don’t overlook the
Options, and the Security tab. Under Virus Protection, if it’s
possibility that the culprit could be overzealous settings in
selected, clear the box next to Do Not Allow Attachments
your AV program. If need be, temporarily disable the proTo Be Saved Or Opened That Could Potentially Be A Virus
gram or change its set(do this only if you are
tings to access the file.
certain the attachment
is legitimate and one
Get With The Program
you are expecting).
When OE can’t find the
Click Apply and OK,
right app with which to
and try again to open
open the attachment,
the attachment. Once
you’ll see the following
you open the attacherror message: This File
ment, enable the secuDoes Not Have A Prority setting again.
gram Associated With It
To Be Safe, Save It
For Performing This AcFirst
tion. If this happens, OE
might display the Open
Even though a good
With dialog box. That
antivirus program scans
dialog box also contains
emails and attachments,
a link to a Web site that
a cautious user might
will help you look for
save a file and let the
program scan it on the You might need to temporarily disable Unblocking a file will allow the right program.
a key security setting in Outlook Exhard drive.
you to view it without tinker- See i f t h e f i l e t y p e
press to open and view an email.
Saving a stubborn file
ing with the security settings you’re trying to open is
recognized on your sysmay also help you open
tem. In WinXP, click Start, My Computer, Tools, and Folder
it. We don’t know all the different file types that might have
Options. On the File Types tab, look for the file’s extension.
to be opened this way, but an HTML (Hypertext Markup
If it’s listed, you may need to change the program associated
Language) file is a good example of one.
with it. Click Change to launch the Open With dialog box or
If you try to open an attached HTML file, Internet Explorer
click Advanced and Edit to associate a different program
will attempt to open the file from your Temporary Internet
with the file type. If the extension is not listed, add it to the
Files folder. But nothing displays in the browser, except for
list by clicking New and typing the extension.
the Done and Restricted sites messages in the Status Bar.
Seek The Sender’s Help
The restricted message gives you a hint as to what is causing the problem: your security settings. Instead of messing
When in doubt, ask the sender what program to use to open
with the settings in either OE or IE, however, change one
the file. If you have the program the sender suggests, verify
setting pertaining to the attached HTML file.
that it’s the most recent version of that application. You also
may need to ask the sender to compress a file.
In OE, right-click the file and choose Save As. After you
save the file, locate it on your hard drive, right-click it, and
Reprinted with permission from Smart Computing. Visit
choose Properties. On the General tab, see if Unblock is an
http://www.smartcomputing.com/groups to learn what
option. If it is, click Unblock and OK to remove a safety
Smart Computing can do for you and your user group!"
feature for this file only. Now when you try to open it again,
the file should display.
Unblocking a file will allow you to view it without tinkering
Volume 24 Page 28
April/May 2006
March 2006 General Meeting Presentation
Roger Buchanan on Video Editing
with Pinnacle Studio Plus 10.5
B
? by Bill Webster, Co-Editor WPCUG
ness in the image or what is called dropped frames. Video
y the attendance, standing room only, (the meeting
processing is even more taxing than gaming
was held in the club house because
for a machine, but in a slightly different
the school board usurped the school
way.
gym for parent teacher interviews), this
topic appears to be one of great interest to
You should have the best video card you
the membership at large.
can get to offload the rendering process
(converting the project to DVD format, or
Of course as most live presentations do, and
tape, and burning the final file to disk, or
probably because it was the eve of St. Pathard drive).
rick’s Day, Leprechauns (maybe from Pinnacle‘s Treasure Chest) were there and
The two top video card makers are ATI
played with the hardware.
(Fire GL 1800/1900) and NVIDIA (Quattro
FX 7800). [EN(PS): I have no problems
The interface/capture device between the
whatsoever using the ATI 9800 Pro AIW
VCR and the computer did not work, so
card. I just wouldn’t want members to be
while we were waiting to see if it would
“scared off” video editing if they didn’t
come back to life Roger expounded on some
have the most powerful video card on the
of the basic hardware/settings requirements
m ar ket !
P ro f e ssi o n a l
for video editing and provideo-editing cards can cost
cessing. Video files are
THOUSANDS of dollars.]
quite large, usually greater
than the FAT32 limit of 4
After these introductory reg i g a b y t e s ,
marks/discussions, with
(http://tinyurl.com/sxag2),
great participation and quesso it is essential the the hard
tions from the audience
drive be formatted as NTFS
Roger proceeded to show
[EN(PS): Not really. NTFS
some of the features of the
is slower but will allow for
program, Pinnacle Studio
unrestricted file sizes when
Plus 10.5. He gave a brief
dealing with extremely large
overview of the tutorials
video files. I use FAT32.]
that are included with the
program and informed us
Video processing is very inthat it was on sale at Lontensive and CPU time condon Drugs with a $40.00
suming so it is important to
rebate which may well be
have at least a 2 GHz proover by the time you receive
cessor and between 2 and 3
Roger Buchanan uses HIS Acer Ferrari Notebook for his
this newsletter. [EN(PS):
g ig b ytes of mem ory
I’m “guessing” this would
[EN(PS):I have 2 GB of
presentation of Pinnacle Studio Plus 10.5
be for the Pinnacle software
memory but 1 GB should be
ONLY and would not insufficient.] Even with this
clude the hardware required for conversion of VHS tapes to
much power it is best to have a separate hard drive of at
DVD.]This meeting ran at least half an hour over the normal
least 200 gigbytes. In order to avoid dropped frames while
time and could quite well have gone on for another hour.
editing and processing files, turn off all non-essential services, and make sure your drive is defragmented.
Roger told us that he is not as familiar with this program as
he is with Adobe‘s video editing program, Premiere
Roger had a very good example of what fragmentation is.
[EN(PS): Premiere is too complicated for me. <g> PinnaHe compared a fragmented hard drive to a book with its
cle is a division of AVID. That company makes editing softspine ripped off and the pages scattered in a room. Obviware used to edit theatrical films.]. It was suggested that anously it would take the drive a lot longer to read the data off
other presentation be done using Adobe‘s product.
the scattered pages than from the book assembled in order.
When fragmentation occurs it can cause the video project to
A great presentation Roger. Thanks from all.
not be able to write all the data in time, thus causing jerki-
Volume 24 Page 29
April/May 2006
Views on Aging
True Author Unknown
[EN: This arrived unsolicited in my GMAIL inbox. I thought
it was worth printing.] The email stated it was written by
George Carlin, but he states on his website that things circ ulating on the NET
weren’t written by him.
o you realize that
the only time in
our lives when we
like to get old is when
we’re kids? If you’re less
than 10 years old, you’re
so excited about aging
that you think in fractions.
“How old are you?” “I’m
four and a half!” You’re
never thirty-six and a
half. You’re four and a
h alf, going on five!
That’s the key.
You get into your teens,
now they can’t hold you
back. You jump to the
next number, or even a
few ahead.
“How old are you?” “I’m
gonna be 16!” You could
be 13, but hey, you’re
gonna be 16! And then
the greatest day of your
life . . . you become 21.
Even the words sound
like a ceremony — YOU
BECOME 21. YESSS!!!
But then you turn 30.
Oooohh, what happened
there? Makes you sound
like bad milk! He
TURNED; we had to
throw him out. There’s
no fun now, you’re Just a
sour-dumpling. What’s
wrong? What’s changed?
You BECOME 21, you
TURN 30, then you’re
PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it’s all slipping
away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams
are gone.
But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn’t think you would!
So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and
D
MAKE it to 60.
You’ve built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that
it’s a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!
You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle;
you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And
it doesn’t end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards;
“I Was JUST 92.”
Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you
become a little kid again. “I’m 100 and a half!”
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!
HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age,
weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them.
That is why you pay “them”.
2.
Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you
down.
3.
Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts,
gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. “An idle
mind is the devil’s workshop.” And the devil’s name is
Alzheimer’s.
4.
Enjoy the simple things.
5.
Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for
breath.
6.
The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The
only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves.
Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7.
Surround yourself with what you love, whether it’s
family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8.
Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is
unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9.
Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to
the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where
the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every
opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but
by the moments that take our breath away.
Volume 24 Page 30
April/May 2006
ONE GREAT INSURANCE POLICY!
I
bet some of you think you’re just tossing $49.95
away each year. I said this in my last issue and I’m
gonna say it again!
Well, even if you don’t take advantage of:
·
·
·
·
·
the Newsletter
the Forums
the Picnic
the General Meetings
ETC.
you’ve still got the experts at the Resource Centre to get
that non-functioning computer back up and running
again. That alone is worth 50 bucks, don’t you think?
The future of the WPCUG is in JEOPARDY.
Don’t “roll your eyes”. We are currently losing over
$6000/year because the profits of the ISP do not cover
the costs of the Resource Centre — and those costs
keep rising each year.
It is up to YOU, our MEMBERSHIP, to “step up to
the plate” to HELP! Eleven of us can no longer do it
all.
If no concrete ideas are put forward in the next few
months the WPCUG will soon be history.
No more meetings, no more picnics, no Resource
Centre, etc. THINK ABOUT IT!
Paul Stephen,
Newsletter Editor
Installing XP Without SP2 on Large Hard Drives
? by Paul Stephen
[email protected]
I
wonder how many of you have 200 GB+ hard drives on
which you installed XP? Well, I do, and early versions of
Microsoft‘s XP has problems determining their correct
size.
I bought an OEM version of XP several years ago (prior to
the release of SP1 and SP2) — thinking I’d upgrade from Win2K fairly
quickly. But I was happy with W2K —
until video software started arriving
that required XP.
To accommodate XP, I purchased a
Seagate 300 GB hard drive and began
the installation process. Unfortunately,
the version I had only “saw” 132 GB
of magnetic real estate on my giant
hard drive. This version of XP was
“the original” — it did not contain SP1
or SP2 code. And you cannot download a Service Pack unless you have registered — and I didn’t want to do that right away. I remember “ordering” a free
SP2 upgrade a year or so ago, but that was misplaced.
I then remembered I had purchased a second OEM copy of
XP that did come with SP2. I used that disk to install the
OS, and BINGO, that version of the installation program
“saw” 300 GB of disk space. Installation then proceeded
without problems.
So — if you have an “original” copy of XP and are trying to
install it on a large hard drive, forget it. Get SP2
“slipstreamed” with your original disk and then you won’t
have problems. Or find somebody that has already done this
merge.
There’s another “gotcha” if you get a
slipstreamed disk that uses the CORPORATE version of XP. The installation looks just the same as XP Pro,
but the algorithm that checks the key
is different. So, if you try to install
XP Corporate using an XP Pro key
you won’t be able to install the OS.
XP Corporate uses Volume License
Keys. You will be able to install the
OS if somebody “supplies” you with
a VLK, but you will not be allowed
to upgrade the OS with the various
patches as chances are that VLK has
been stolen and reported to Microsoft! (You’ll get that info
from Microsoft as it checks to see if you are using “genuine” Microsoft software during OS “upgrades”.) To avoid
headaches, always stick with your own install CD and your
own Certificate of Authenticity (key)!
Winnipeg PC User
Group Forums
? by Ryan Rapson, Forum Coordinator
A forum is a group of members who meet to share information on topics of mutual interest, i.e. Computer Basics Forum, Hardware Forum. Members can help, and learn from,
each other. Each forum has one or two leaders.
Volume 24 Page 31
April/May 2006
Internet Access Form
Complete and return with $15.96
[$14 (first month’s fee) + $1.96 (PST/GST)]
TO:
Winnipeg PC User Group
c/o Internet Subscriptions
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3L 2E4
Meeting Place
Unless otherwise stated, all Forums meet at the WPCUG Resource Centre (The Clubhouse) at 337C Pembina Highway
(Pembina Highway at Fleet Street).
And Now....Here are the Forums
Computer Basics FORUM
Meets the Second Saturday of the month.
10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Leaders: Barb Randle/Jim Roy
Digital Imaging FORUM
The DI Forum RESUMES THIS MONTH! It will run during the
months of April, May and June on the Second Wednesday of each
month. 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Leader: Neil Longmuir
Family Tree Maker (Genealogy)
Leader: Glen Ash
This Forum meets on the Fourth Wednesday of the month.
7:00 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Hardware/Internet FORUM
Meets the Fourth Saturday of the month. 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Leaders: Jon Phillips & Greg McClure
Install/Drop-In FORUM
Meets First and Third Saturdays of the month.
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Leaders: Jon Phillips and Greg McClure
Introduction to Computers (Mentoring)
One on One mentoring is available to new members who have little or
no computer skills. There is no charge for this service. You just have to
be a member of the group. Call Barbara at 667-6474 to make arrangements.
Investment FORUM
Meets the First Thursday of the month 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Leader: Art Cavenagh
Linux FORUM
Meets the Third Wednesday of the month 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Leader: Brian Lowe
LAN Gaming Forum
Meets the Second Friday of the month.
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Leaders: Rodd Provencher and Paul Kesson.
Microsoft ACCESS Forum
Leader: Harvey Zimberg The Forum will meet every Third Tuesday
at the RC from 7-9 p.m. THIS FORUM HAS BEEN ON HIATUS
BUT WILL BE ACTIVE AT LEAST FOR THE MONTHS OF
APRIL AND MAY.
Windows FORUM
This Forum meets on the Second Tuesday of the month
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Leader: Myles Munro
Check the WPCUG website and the Sunday email “blast” for the
latest information on WPCUG Forums, Meetings and Special
Events!
Name: (last, First, Initial)
Home Address:
City:Postal Code:
Home Phone:Business Phone:
PC User Group Membership Number
Bill Method:
r
Pre Pay
r
Visa
r
Card #:
r
Mastercard
Expiry Date
Direct withdrawal from Bank Account Mo
(provide sample void cheque)
Bank
Signature:
Branch
/
Yr
Account
Date:
I authorize the Winnipeg PC User Group to charge my
bank account monthly for my use of the
WPCUG Internet connection.
Parental/Guardian signature required for members under
18.
Volume 24 Page 32
April/May 2006

Apr / May - The Winnipeg PC User Group

Transcription

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