UCHUG Monthly DriveLight - Under the Computer Hood Users Group

July 2009
Volume 30, No 7
theElectronic
DRIVE
LIGHT a newsletter of the
Under the Computer Hood User Group, Inc
Meeting Reminder July 1 st, 2009
Topic: All things
From mapping to email to
browsers, there is more to Google than just
searching. Get an introduction into some of the
many diverse applications, features and
capabilities Google can provide.
Meeting Place : Wesley Palms
2404 Loring St.
San Diego, CA 92109 7:00 PM
Features in this issue:
Prez' Corner
Secretary's Reports
UCHUG Celebrates 30th
More Picnic Pix
SWCC Pix
Bits and Pieces
Letter From Clem Pepper
Renewal Reminders
(click map for google maps)
For More information about us go to our
website: www.uchug.org
2
5,
8
9
10
11
16
19
The above links are ”Hot”. Click on any title
and jump to that page. Cick on the Drive
Light logo at the bottom of each page to
return to this index. Use the underlined links
in each article to quickly go to the web sites
referenced.
UCHUG DRIVE LIGHT
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July 2009
President's Corner
by Greg Skalk a
The Saga of Yet Another Computer Upgrade - Part CXXI
I hope everyone that attended had a great time last month at our annual
UCHUG picnic. We had an extra special celebration this year, as it is our
30th anniversary. A lot has changed in the field of personal computing over
these last three decades, but our group’s presence has hopefully helped our
members and those who have looked to us for help and guidance with their
computing problems have a better computing experience. Coping with the
constant changes in computer hardware, software and systems has not been
easy, but we have always been ready with a friendly helping hand. Though
computer user group membership seems to be shrinking, and the average
member continues to age, I hope our group will be around in some form in
another thirty years. We have adapted in the past, and will strive to do so in
the future to stay relevant. As long as we continue to get good feedback
from our members and have their support and participation, our group can continue to provide a meaningful
reason to get out of the house on the first Wednesday of each month.
In light of our anniversary year, if any members, either long-time or those who have joined recently, have
anything to say about our group, I’m sure our editor would love to publish it. We have a lot of members who
have seen our group evolve and the changes in computing unfold, and a short article about our group’s past or
experiences with now-antiquated equipment would be of interest to our readers. Similarly, any recent members
who would be willing to write a paragraph or two about how they found our group and why they joined would
no doubt receive the admiration of our readers and the thanks of our editor.
Chapter 210 - Watch Me Pull a Rabbit Out of My Hat
I’m sure that everyone has done something that they immediately regretted. For the lucky among us, it didn’t
involve incarceration. There are few “take-backs” or “do-overs” in life, but sometimes you can get them in
computing if you are careful and lucky. It is often said that the successful make their own luck. This morning,
my luck was made by Symantec/Norton. It was no magic trick for me to accidentally delete some critical files,
but like a successful magician, Norton pulled the rabbit out of the hat and saved the day.
I have a pair of Maxtor BlackArmor 160 GB encrypted USB hard drives that I use to store all of my personal
financial data in electronic form. I keep the primary drive out at my computer, so it is available to easily store
new electronic bank statements or any other financial files. Since the data on the drive is encrypted, it is safe
from misuse. The drive must be plugged into the computer and unlocked with the password to access the data.
The identical secondary drive is kept in our home fire safe as a back up. Every Sunday morning, I plug both
drives into my computer, delete the data on the secondary (backup) drive, and copy the contents of the primary
to the secondary. I then put the secondary drive back in the safe, knowing that if one drive fails, I will lose a
week’s worth of data at most. While is not very likely that one drive would fail, it is extremely improbable that
both would fail at the same time. What I didn’t take into account was my own ineptitude.
This morning, I plugged both drives in as usual, but unfortunately deleted the two directories containing my
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July 2009
documents from the primary drive, instead of the secondary. I knew as soon as I had done it that I had made a
mistake. I did, of course, have the back up data on the secondary drive, which was only one week old. Most of
the documents it was missing could be retrieved from the banking web sites where I had obtained them. There
were, however, a few documents that I had scanned to PDF, as part of my efforts to convert all my financial
documentation to electronic form. When I’d first started this conversion task, I’d always kept the paper
documents I’d scanned for at least a week before I shredded them, so I would not lose them if a mishap like this
occurred. Lately, however, I have become less careful, and was shredding more often to keep things tidy. It
was possible that some of documents I had scanned this week were now gone forever, unless I could make the
missing directories on the primary hard drive reappear.
Though not necessarily current, I keep a copy of Norton SystemWorks installed on each of my computers. It
includes a Norton Protected Recycle Bin, and the Norton Utilities part of the suite contains an UnDelete
Wizard. As soon as I realized I had deleted in error, I fired up the UnDelete Wizard, which claimed to be able
to recover from Norton’s protected or the Windows normal recycle bin. In any recovery situation, it is
important to perform the recovery right away, before any additional data is written to the disk in question. The
UnDelete Wizard displayed all the files and directories I had deleted recently on my computer, including those I
had just deleted from my primary BlackArmor drive. I was able to find the two directories I needed by location
and date, and easily restored them. And there was nothing up my sleeve.
I’ll certainly be more careful when I perform my weekly back-up copying, but if I mess up again, it is nice to
know that Norton has my back (up).
Chapter 211 - Mis-Guided
GPS receivers are wonderful things, but you should not depend too much on any technology, as nothing is
without flaws. I was reminded of this a few days ago, when I was late to a birthday party and just plugged the
address into the GPS software in my PDA and took off.
I was to attend a 50th birthday party being held on Third Avenue (spelling is per the invitation) in San Diego. I
fortunately checked on Google Maps quickly before I left and found it was near Laurel Street and Balboa Park.
If I had not, I’d probably have missed the party.
The invitation included the street address, but no zip code, so I typed the address information I had into the GPS
receiver and started off, already a little late. Coming from North County, the route it selected down I15 seemed
appropriate. As I continued south past Highway 94, I began to wonder when it would direct me to get off the
freeway. When I finally realized that it appeared to want me to continue south to National City or further, I got
off the freeway and headed north again. I couldn’t seem to get the GPS to direct me correctly, so I had to pull
out a map (lucky I still had one in the car) and find my way unaided. I was late, but would have been much
later had I blindly let the GPS lead me to who knows where.
At the party, another guest mentioned that they too had been misdirected by their Garmin GPS to either
National City or Coronado. Their GPS did not direct them correctly until they finally entered “Third Street” as
“3rd Avenue”. That was probably the reason my GPS was trying to direct me the wrong way as well. Having
the zip code would have probably helped resolve the issue, but I would think the software should be able to
handle both Third and 3rd without being so picky. From now on, I’ll always keep a map in the car as a back up.
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July 2009
Chapter 212 - The Arrival of Laptop Junior
When I bought my Dell laptop a year and a half ago, I wanted something very portable. I could have selected a
notebook computer with a 15”, 16” or even a 17” screen, as it seemed from the offerings in the market that
bigger was better for laptops. Instead, I purchased one with a 14” screen. I have traveled with it, and currently
bring it with me to handle my notes and the agenda electronically at UCHUG board meetings. It almost always
attends the general meetings, providing the pre-meeting slides or hosting one of the presentations. It is small as
laptops go, but still significant to carry around.
Last fall I bought myself a PDA and abandoned the paper dayplanners I had been using for more than a decade.
I’m very satisfied with my PDA’s portability and its compatibility with the Office programs and files I’ve
grown familiar with. Its main shortcoming is in its web browsing capabilities. It has Wi-Fi, but the Windows
Mobile version of Internet Explorer does not provide a good rendering of web pages.
My son has an iPod Touch, the non-phone cousin to the iPhone, and I admire their web page display, but I think
they are too expensive and proprietary.
Now there is a new class of portable computer that is quite a bit smaller than a laptop, but with all the graphics
and computing capabilities. Referred to as netbooks (as opposed to notebook computers), they weigh in at
under 3 lbs and sport a 9” or 10” screen. They have a less powerful processor, but are intended more for web
surfing than running intensive software. To keep them small, they have had to give up their optical drive,
relying on Wi-Fi, wired Ethernet or USB for interfacing. They are now made by many manufacturers, but one
of the initial and most popular brands is Acer.
I have admired these netbooks for some time, but did not think seriously about getting one until my wife
suggested it. She had recently used my old laptop on a training trip for her job, and thought a netbook would be
great for similar applications, and for when we travel. I was leaning towards the smaller model with the 8.9”
screen, but she insisted on the 10.1” model. Both have the same footprint, with the 8.9” being just a little
thinner and lighter.
I’m still trying to set up our new addition, but have found that the lack of removable media drives makes it
more challenging. There will be more to this saga next month.
Greg
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July 2009
Secretary's Reports
General Meeting, June 3, 2009
Ray Ferbrach, Secretary
The meeting was held at Crown Point on the North West Shore of Mission Bay. About 30 People from the
group and invited guests were present. Out summer picnic and Celebration of 30 years of the Heath User
Group(HUG) and Under the Computer Hood User Group(UCHUG) was enjoyed by all. We had the traditional
Pizza Feast with Cake and Ice Cream to commemorate our 30th year of being active as a group.
The meeting was adjourned when most of the Pizzas' and Most of the Cake was gone.
Board Meeting , June 17, 2009
Ray Ferbrach, Secretary
The meeting was called to order at the home of Ray Ferbrache at 7:15 p.m. by
President Greg Skalka. In attendance were Greg Skalka, Mark Ferbrache,
Abbott Brownell, Art Gresham, Mike Trempe, Bill Palmer, Sandy Shapiro, Bob
Woods and Ray Ferbrache.
REPORTS:
President - The President passed out Certificates of Participation to Sandy Shapiro and Bill Palmer from The
Southwest Computer Conference Photo contest.
Vice President - The Vice President is doing better. He was glad to attend the Picnic.
Secretary - The Secretary had nothing to report.
Treasurer - The Group is solvent and operating below budget. Most of the bills for the picnic have been paid.
Membership - The membership chairman reported 48 active members with 4 renewals last month. We still had
4 dropped for not renewing membership.
Editor - Request inputs over the next weekend as the meeting is on 1 July making for a short month.
WebMasters - The Webmaster reported he is using Windows 7 for producing our website. It appears to be
stable and working well.
PROGRAMS: A general discussion was held on future meeting presentations and the options we have
acquired during the Southwest computer conference.
August - We plan to have "All things Google" as the theme for the program. The members are requested to feel
free to present or bring up for display any of their favorite functions from the Google
WebPage(http://www.google.com/). There are many features and capabilities that may be made part of google
homepage on your computer(http://www.google.com/intl/en/about.html).
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July 2009
We are working on a presentation from Gene Barlow(Acronis True Image).
Acronis is a complete data protection suite -- backup your entire PC, Plus your data, applications and
the Operating system. In total or as incremental backups depending on how you want your system to be
secured. The session will be in 2 parts. The first month will be the setup and verify the Internet
connectivity.
The second month will be the Webinar presentation by Gene from his Office in Colorado. Web
conferencing is used to conduct live meetings or presentations via the Internet. In a web conference,
each participant sits at his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the internet.
This can be either a downloaded application on each of the attendees computers or a web-based
application where the attendees will simply enter a URL (website address) to enter the conference.
A webinar is a neologism to describe a specific type of web conference. It is typically one-way,[1]
from the speaker to the audience with limited audience interaction, such as in a webcast. A webinar can
be collaborative[1] and include polling and question & answer sessions to allow full participation
between the audience and the presenter. In some cases, the presenter may speak over a standard
telephone line, pointing out information being presented on screen and the audience can respond over
their own telephones, preferably a speaker phone. There are web conferencing technologies on the
market that have incorporated the use of VoIP audio technology, to allow for a truly web-based
communication. Webinars may (depending upon the provider) provide hidden or anonymous
participant functionality, enabling participants to be unaware of other participants in the same meeting.
In the early years of the Internet, the terms "web conferencing" was often used to describe a group
discussion in a message board and therefore not live. The term has evolved to refer specifically to live
or "synchronous" meetings.
September - Second Part of the Acronis True Image Webinar. Presentation on the capabilities of Acronis True
Image.
October - D-Link presentation in a box from the manufacturer of Home/Office Wireless Networking
products(http://www.dlink.com/)
OLD BUSINESS: - Picnic Discussion. The turnout was good although the weather had been predicted to be on
the wet side. A good time was had by all. The Board will look into any suggestion from the members and on
our own thoughts about how to reinvent the festivities.
Business cards were produced and members attending the Southwest Computer conference had a supply to
hand out to prospective members.
We still need a new Secretary for the upcoming year. As noted in the past, The present Secretary will be
traveling in Alaska by RV next summer. We mainly need someone to fill in from May to September.
The May Southwest Computer Conference was discussed. Attendance was the highest ever at about 350 plus.
The fewer number of Vendors and Presentations by corporations was noted. The schedule change in which the
conference was started early Friday and ended at Noon on Sunday was evaluated. Its purpose was to get people
out of their rooms by Noon and on the Road Home without being charged another day.
New UCHUG T-shirts design and finding a source was discussed. Any members having an input, please
contact a board member.
NEW BUSINESS: - An announcement was made that the Seniors computer Group is arranging to have a
presentation by Microsoft at the end of July. The UCHUG has been invited to attend. As soon as more
definitive information is available it will be passed along. The meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m.
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July 2009
UCHUG Celebrates 30th Anniversary
at Summer Picnic
by Greg Skalka
The Under the Computer Hood User Group
commemorated its 30th year in a celebration at its
annual picnic at Crown Point on June 3, 2009.
Around 30 members and guests enjoyed pizza,
drinks, cake and ice cream provided by the group.
The group was founded in 1979 as the San Diego
Heath User’s Group, or SDHUG, to support those
building and using the Heathkit H89 eight-bit
computer. The group’s orientation changed in the
1980’s to include the IBM PC-XT compatibles
produced by Heath/Zenith. As Heath/Zenith faded
from the marketplace, SDHUG decided to rename
and refocus itself to better serve its membership, then
consisting mainly of those interested in tinkering with
the hardware and software for Intel-based Windows PCs. The new name adopted in the early nineties, the
Under the Computer Hood User Group, or UCHUG, reflects the group’s continued interest in upgrading,
modifying and maintaining personal computers.
For much of its existence, UCHUG was an
affiliated group of the San Diego Computer
Society. In 2005, after the SDCS altered its
relationship with its SIGs and affiliated groups,
UCHUG ended its affiliation and incorporated,
receiving non-profit tax exempt status in the
same year. It has maintained membership in
the Association of Personal Computer User
Groups (APCUG) since that time.
Over the years, the group has held its monthly
general meetings on the first Wednesday of the
month in various locations in San Diego
County, including the Heath store and a junior
high school in La Mesa, the Kearny Mesa
Recreation Center, the San Diego County
Office of Education headquarters and its present meeting location at the Wesley Palms Retirement
Community in San Diego. The two-hour evening meetings provide an opportunity to exchange information
and seek solutions to problems, in addition to timely presentations on computer topics, and are always free
and open to the public. Membership has varied from 30 to nearly 200, with approximately 50 active
members today. This includes one remaining active charter member, Mike Trempe, who presently serves as
Treasurer. Many on the present board have been happily serving for a decade or more.
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July 2009
The group has been publishing a newsletter for its members continuously through its thirty years. As
SDHUG, it was published as the “Dup & Dump” and later as the “D & D Lite”. After the name change to
UCHUG, it was published as the “Drive Light”. In April of 2006, the group switched from a mailed paper
newsletter to an electronic publication, distributed via email and available on the group’s web site,
www.uchug.org. In the early years, the group’s librarian sold disks of useful public domain software as a
service to the members. Today, the webmasters provide links to a new selection of interesting utilities and
software each month on our web site.
This year’s picnic celebration included a drawing for prizes, along with the free refreshments and usual
camaraderie. President Greg Skalka recorded the achievement with a group photo of all present at the event.
And More Photos...
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July 2009
30th Anniversary Summer Picnic
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July 2009
UCHUG Members attended the 2009 South West Computer Conference
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July 2009
BITS and pieces
A look at items of interest found on the web
From the Computer Edge On-Line
[This letter is in regard to Jack Dunning's June 5 Windows Vista (and Windows 7) Tips and
Tricks column.]
I would like to add my experience. For those readers who are afraid of Win 7's Vista
pedigree, I'll say what many Win 7 users are saying; it's what Vista was meant to be. The
bottom line is: It works. Vista was a system hog; 7 uses hardware more efficiently. Vista
had terrible problems with compatibility; 7 solves those problems—and then some. Win 7
is the future, as well: It's the first OS optimized for SSD drives. SSDs are not in most
consumers' price range now, but they will be in the next year or two. Traditional hard drives have always been
performance bottlenecks; now we are approaching where the SATA 300GB/s is the bottleneck, and newer
models of SSDs will require SATA 3.
Not only does Win 7 bring with it a complete XP virtualization mode, but it can also install old programs in
other compatibility modes, such as Win 95 and 98SE. I have tried to convince my Dad, who complains that M$
is constantly changing the OS when it runs just fine for him. In a way, I agree that there's no reason to change
your personal OS if it works fine for you. On the other hand, 7 is going to have the best of both worlds—
compatibility for your old software and hardware, and optimizations for the future.
Take it from someone who hates Vista and for whom performance is key, Win 7 is the future of computing.
And the free RC is, well, it's just silly not to download and copy it. It is more full featured and complete than
Vista ever was. And if you're still a little squeamish, you could always dual boot Win 7 and XP. My wife loves
it. It runs great on my laptop—way better than Vista ever did.
Windows 7 Beta will expire soon
If you installed the public beta of Windows 7 that was released back in January, you need to be aware that the
software will expire on August 1. But you'll start getting reminders of that earlier. After July 1, the operating
system will start shutting down every two hours. Although Microsoft doesn't officially support upgrading from
the beta to the RC, there is a way to do so. You can find those instructions here:
http://www.vistanews.com/BF2EMH/090618-Win7-to-RC
The release candidate is still available and will be at least through the end of this month. If you don't have it yet,
you can get it here.
UCHUG DRIVE LIGHT
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July 2009
XP passwords rendered useless
By Brian Livingston Windows Secrets
Windows XP, which has been marketed by Microsoft as "the most secure version ever," has been found to have
a flaw so bone-headed that it renders passwords ineffective as a means of keeping people out of your PC.
A Reader alerted me to the problem, which all administrators of Windows XP machines should immediately
take to heart:
•
Anyone with a Windows 2000 CD can boot up a Windows XP box and start the Windows 2000
Recovery Console, a troubleshooting program.
•
Windows XP then allows the visitor to operate as Administrator without a password, even if the
Administrator account has a strong password.
•
The visitor can also operate in any of the other user accounts that may be present on the XP machine,
even if those accounts have passwords.
•
Unbelievably, the visitor can copy files from the hard disk to a floppy disk or other removable media —
something even an Administrator is normally prevented from doing when using the Recovery Console.
This problem is unrelated to a feature of XP that allows an Administrator to set up automatic logon when the
Recovery Console is used. Even without the Registry entry that enables this, XP is vulnerable. (For info on that
feature, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 312149.)
Windows 2000, of course, doesn't allow Recovery Console users to access a hard drive without a password, if
one previously existed.
I notified four Microsoft executives of the XP flaw weeks ago, but haven't yet received an official response.
There's no Knowledge Base article about it, and there may not even be a good solution to the problem.
When I've spoken with Microsoft security pros about similar problems in the past, they've referred me to a
company policy that says, "If a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your
computer anymore."
That's all well and good - but the fact remains that Windows 2000 doesn't allow anyone with an old CD to get
password-free access, and Windows XP does.
My recommendation: If you use XP machines in open spaces, put the PCs behind a locked door or put a lock on
the PCs themselves. The bad guys know about this flaw, and it's just one more thing for the good guys to
protect against.
This revelation immediately became a top story at Internet sites and high-tech magazines around the world.
They all credited our newsletter as the source:
• Slashdot • Extreme Tech • WinInformant • Lockergnome • Wired News • Security Administrator
• Langa List • Geek.com • IT World (Canada) • The Register (U.K.) • The Inquirer (U.K.)
• PC Welt (Germany) • PC Tip (Switzerland)
UCHUG DRIVE LIGHT
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July 2009
Break from MS Office with free alternatives
Scott Spanbauer By By Scott Spanbauer
If you're thinking of skipping the next expensive Microsoft Office upgrade, you can begin preparing today for
the move to a free Office-like suite or Web service.
A gradual and easy transition allows you to avoid any possible file incompatibilities, because you can still keep
an old copy of Office available as a safety net.
I like almost everything about Microsoft Office except its price. Even so, like many people, I use only a fraction
of the suite's features. I rely mostly on the basic formatting, spellcheck, grammar, and review features of Word,
with an occasional Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint slide thrown in for good measure. The rest of Office is
bloatware to me.
I don't automate my documents with VBA macros; my Excel tables are rudimentary; and my PowerPoint
presentations are just the facts, ma'am. Do I really need to pay to load a copy of Office on every computer I
use?
I stuck with the Microsoft behemoth all the way through Office 2003. To date, I've never felt a need for Office
2007. In recent years, meanwhile, upstart productivity applications have seduced me away from Microsoft's
ubiquitous suite.
I started using the free, open-source OpenOffice.org suite on a daily basis several years ago to see whether it
could really replace Office. Though OpenOffice's menu commands, dialog boxes, and settings often vary only
slightly from those of the corresponding Microsoft Office applications, I found the switch to OpenOffice's
Writer and Calc applications easy.
And because OpenOffice is free, I can install the program on every one of the PCs I use, whether it runs
Windows, Linux, or OS X. You can get your copy — or copies — at the OpenOffice.org download page:
http://download.openoffice.org/
[editors note: The DriveLight has been produced with OpenOffice since April 2006]
Keep The Bad Guys Out With The Sunbelt
Personal Firewall
Why do I need a firewall? Together with antivirus and antispyware, a firewall is a "must" to protect your
computer. PC Magazine gave the Sunbelt Personal Firewall a "Very Good" rating with 4 Stars and a conclusion
of "good protection". Check out the Reviews on the site and it will be clear why you need the Sunbelt Personal
Firewall to protect your PC. One good example: Unlike the Windows XP and Vista Firewall, you can tell the
Sunbelt Personal Firewall to look carefully at the data leaving your browser, so that sensitive information like
your credit card numbers, email address, bank account, social security number and PIN code do not get stolen
by hackers!
http://www.vistanews.com/BF2EMH/090618-SPF
How to get the most out of browser Favorites/Bookmarks
Are you using the Favorites bar in IE or its equivalent in your other browser of choice to its full potential?
Many folks use the Internet History or other methods to access their commonly used web sites, instead of
UCHUG DRIVE LIGHT
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July 2009
making use of more efficient methods. There are ways to get more sites on that Favorites bar, too - you can
shorten the text label or not use one at all if the site has a unique icon. Read more tips along those lines here:
http://www.vistanews.com/BF2EMH/090618-Bookmarks-Faves
Does Bing have Google nervous?
When Microsoft released their new search engine, Google die-hards scoffed. No way would they ever defeat the
G Man. Well, Bing ended up getting some very good reviews and Microsoft's share of the search market
immediately went up a couple of percentage points - and it seems the folks over at Google are now sitting up
and taking nervous. According to the New York Post, they've responded with a team to work on "urgent
upgrades" to their own service. The competition can only make all the options better. Read more here:
http://www.vistanews.com/BF2EMH/090618-Google-vs-Bing
Have you experienced Vista's Black Screen of Death?
Here's a problem that I've had once or twice; how about you? The screen on your Vista computer goes black but it's not frozen up. You can still see the cursor, which moves freely, but nothing else. CTRL+ALT+DEL
doesn't work. What's up with that? Nobody's sure, but this writer speculates that it might be an anti-piracy
mechanism gone wrong, and/or has something to do with event logging. Find out how he recovered at
http://www.vistanews.com/BF2EMH/090618-Vista-BSOD
Zero Day exploit in IE 8 patched
Last week, Microsoft released a security update for IE 8, in response to an exploit demonstrated by a hacker in a
recent contest - but the problem had already been addressed in the final release of IE 8 by a mitigation. If you're
still running the beta version of Windows 7 (build 7000), you should get the update, but if you're using the RC
(build 7100), it's not impacted. Read more here:
http://www.vistanews.com/BF2EMH/090618-Updates
Can't view of change read-only folder attribute
If you have one or more folders that are set to Read-only in Windows Vista and you aren't able to view or
change the attributes in the Properties dialog box, you can work around the problem by using the attrib
command line tool. To find out how to do that, see KB article 326549 at
http://www.vistanews.com/BF2EMH/090618-Read-Only
You can't modify Hosts or Lmhosts files in Vista
You might be used to changing your Hosts and/or Lmhosts files to tell the computer where to find particular
computers on the network (mapping names to IP addresses). If you try to change these files on your Vista
computer, you might get a message that says access is denied, even if you're logged on as an administrator. You
can find a workaround for this issue described in KB article 923947 at
http://www.vistanews.com/BF2EMH/090618-Hosts-File
UCHUG DRIVE LIGHT
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July 2009
Lab researcher pushes new microelectronics technology
Ushering in a novel method of microelectronic fabrication at Los Alamos National Laboratory is James
Maxwell of Applied Electromagnetics. His technology, called Lasonix, is poised to revolutionize many facets
of society, from household electronics to medical x-ray machines.
Lasonix enables the creation of three-dimensional electronic circuits, rather than circuit boards, and integrates a
wide range of microelectronics through a single tool.
"It's the next wave of microelectronics miniaturization and integration and could generate an entirely new
industry," said Maxwell, who holds a doctorate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
"Lasonix illustrates the ability of the Laboratory—specifically that of James and his team—to truly push the
envelope of current manufacturing techniques. They've created a technology that someday could enhance the
very way we live our everyday lives," said Glenn Mara, principal associate director for Weapons Programs.
Read the complete article here
http://www.lanl.gov/news/currents/2009/may/maxwell.shtml
Gmail in real-time: Google does the Wave
Google on Thursday, May 28, publicly demonstrated Google Wave for the first time at the Google I/O
conference in San Francisco. Billed as "the e-mail of the future," Google Wave is the result of a multiyear
project inside of Google to reinvent the in-box, blending e-mail, instant messaging, photo sharing, and perhaps,
with input from developers, connections to the world of social networking.
Wave organizes Internet discussions in the trendy stream of consciousness fashion. It's a little bit Twitter, a
little bit Friendfeed, and a little bit Facebook all in one service, allowing you to send direct messages to online
contacts with real-time replies, share photos or documents, and add or delete members of the conversation as
needed,
Read more about Wave
UCHUG DRIVE LIGHT
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UCHUG DRIVE LIGHT
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July 2009
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UCHUG DRIVE LIGHT
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July 2009
2008 - UCHUG - 2009
EXECUTIVE BOARD
A
President . . . . Greg Skalka
R e n e w a l
R
VP . . . . . . . . . Al Brengle
Secretary . . . . Ray Ferbrache
E
Treasurer. . . . Mike Trempe
M
WebMasters . Bob and Jackie Woods
Editor . . . . . . . Art Gresham
I
Membership. . Bill Palmer
N
O-a-L. . . . . . . Abbott Brownell
O-a-L. . . . . . . Mark Ferbrache
D E R
O-a-L. . . . . . . Greg Wauson
The following memberships are due for renewal:
O-a-L. . . . .
Sandy Shapiro
April
Jerry Dolan
June Dunham Reilly
July Gene Anselmo, Ray Ferbrache, Franklin
Tabor, Walter Thompson, Mike Trempe, Wil
Wakely
THE DRIVE LIGHT is published by the Under The
Computer Hood User Group INC. primarily for UCHUG
members.
Copyrighted material may be reproduced with the
written permission of the copyright holder. Other
contents of DRIVE LIGHT may be reproduced for noncommercial purposes only if appropriate credit is given
to DRIVE LIGHT and the author and a copy of the
publication is supplied to the UCHUG care of the Editor.
Submissions of interest to computer buffs are welcome.
All authors and sources must be identified. Copyrighted
material can be accepted for reprint only if permission of
the copyright holder is included.
The Drive Light preferred method for article transfer is
by ASCII text or dot doc file to the editor at
[email protected]. Deadline for submissions is the
weekend following the board meeting (third Wednesday
of the month.)
The Drive Light is produced with OpenOffice.org Writer,
and printed to PDF using its native pdf printer.
August Wesley Russell, Louis Toth
DROPPED, NOT RENEWED: March:
Richard Baxter, Charles Hartjen
Membership in the UCHUG is open to
any person interested in computers.
The Membership Chairperson is Bill
Palmer and he will happily accept
your application or renewal at any
meeting. Dues are $15 per year.
Please make checks payable to UCHUG.
Checks may be brought to the meeting, or mailed to:
Mike Trempe, UCHUG Treasurer
4027 S. Hempstead Circle
San Diego, CA 92116
If you have questions concerning your membership,
renewal date, address info or other questions, please
contact Bill Palmer [email protected]
Please be sure to inform us if you change your
E Mail address so we can continue to send your
monthly Drive LIGHT .
UCHUG is a member of the Association of P C Users
Groups, WWW.APCUG.NET
UCHUG DRIVE LIGHT
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July 2009