Volume 21  May, 2003   Issue No. 05

 

 

The Next Meeting

 

Regular Meeting


 

 

Wednesday, May 21st.  at 7:00 PM 

Caseyville Township Bldg. 
10001 Bunkum Rd.
Fairview Heights, IL

Directions:      Map:

 

Board 
Meeting

Wednesday, June 4th

Ryan's Steakhouse
Fairview Heights, IL
Meals starts about 6:00. Meeting starts at 7:00

Everyone is welcome

The Presentation
 

This
Meeting

This month's demo will be about genealogy. This is one of the more quested in the recent survey.

 

Next
Meeting

 

 The demo for June 18th will be about computer repair and upgrades. While there were several requests for this demo, we pushed it up to the front because this meeting will be right after the Computer Show. Experience has shown that many people have lots of questions and problems getting everything installed and working with the new machines and components they purchased at the show.

 

Hello From The Pres...
Mike Taphorn

COMPUTER SHOW IS COMING UP SOON

 

At the last board meeting, we realized that the next computer show is going to take place on June 6th, 7th and 8th. We’ll have sign up sheets at the meeting so we’ll know who is working the booth and when they plan on helping out.

 

If you do not have a badge, please see Leonard Hill, and we’ll make sure you have one before the next show. Thanks for your help and make sure you have your badge and a slot on the sign up sheet for the booth….

 

THANKS IN ADVANCE JIM !

 

I’m starting to feel like the missing President, but, I have to be away from home on the meeting night and there is nothing I can do. I would like to thank Jim Tomlinson in advance for filling in for me again. Jim will preside over the May meeting in my absence. I’m sure everything will be fine. I promise to attend the June meeting…

 

200 MEMBERS AND COUNTING

 

When I took over as President, one of my goals was to get the club going again and I wanted to try to get the membership up a little. Thanks to everyone that has helped out at the shows and volunteered their time and efforts at the meetings, we have broken the 200 member mark that we were shooting for. It may be short lived though. A lot of memberships come due each quarter. Please make sure you keep your dues up to date, and we’ll hit the 300 mark if we keep growing. I would like to say WELCOME to any of our new members and I hope you enjoy our club!

 

BY-LAWS (Continued)…

 

We had another marathon Board meeting to discuss the By-Laws. They are getting closer and closer to completion, and we should have them in final form soon. We’ll have to have the revised version read out loud at a meeting.  I’ll warn you before that meeting so you can skip (Just Kidding). Actually, we will have a public viewing and hand out copies at one of the future meetings to make sure everyone agrees with them. Then we’ll figure out what to do to make them official, and they will be finished. We’ll keep you posted. (If you just got déjà vu, I didn’t have to change this paragraph from last month. Everything is accurate again this month.)

 

 

GENEALOGY DEMO

 

In an effort to give Chuck and Leonard enough time to finish a little renovation they are working on, J.C. Spelce has volunteered to do the demo this month. J.C. is very familiar with Genealogy programs, and he is going to show us how to get started with them. Please make sure you attend this demo to learn how to keep track of you ancestors. It was one of the most popular survey items…

 

PRIZES PRIZES PRIZES

 

We’ll have good prizes once again… Come to the meeting and find out what kind of goodies we have this month….

 

 

See you at the meeting …

 Mike

 

The Treasurer's Report
Don Wold

                                        TREASURER's    REPORT
                                             Don Wold, Treasurer
 
Balance as of April 1, 2003:                                                      $2889.67
 
    INCOME:
       4 New Mbrs:         $60.00
       19 Renewals        285.00    
         (l for 2 yrs)      
       April 50/50:             42.00
       CD Sales:              106.00
                        Total Income:               $493.00                         $3382.67
 
    EXPENSES:
 
       NewsLtr:                  46.00
        (stamps for cards)
        Equipment:           149.90
         (Purch PA amp/mike)
        Miscellaneous:       55.61
        (stamps,batteries, cy paper)
        CD Expenses:       158.80
                    Total Expenses:                $410.31

 

Balance as of May 1, 2003:                                                       $2972.36

 

The Secretary's Report
 Carlos Mariles

President Mike Taphorn opened the meeting at 7 P.M. The first order of business was to distribute and explain the club’s survey. Mike talked about the different topics that were mentioned in the survey, and how it could affect future meetings. He explained that because of the GCC's rapid growth in the last 8 months we need to find out what our  members needs.  Based on that information we receive we can decide what to present and discuss at future meetings. The membership filled out the questionnaire and returned it to the board members for study and discussion at a future time. 

The questions and answers session followed for approximately thirty minutes.

Joe Martin was the big winner of the main door prize for the night, along with other four club members.

Leonard Hill presented the last part of the topic dealing with digital photography. He talked about night photography, and editing to make better photos. He also explained that there were detailed tutorials that were on the CD. You can get all 6 of the Digital Photography CD's from the Librarian. They are CD numbers 26 to 31 inclusive. Remember each CD cost only $1.00

The next membership meeting will be held at the same place on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 at 7:00PM.

Your Pen Slave

Carlos

The Membership Chairman
JC Spelce

Number of Members in attendance last month:   71 actual
Total Membership Before last month's meeting  197
      Number of Members renewing last meeting    18
      Number Of Members  joined last meeting    04
      Number of members dropped     
Current Total Membership   201
     Number of Members in Good Standing  
     Number of Members on Probation      6  members dues due this month 
    I have not deleted any of the delinquent dues people as yet. Plan to do that after the next general meeting. 

The Web Master
Chuck Hill

MS patch slows down Windows XP

A security patch released by Microsoft on April 16th slows down machines running Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) and certain third-party applications. The patch addressed an issue related to a buffer overrun vulnerability as documented in a security bulletin on the Microsoft website.

It concerned a flaw that could allow an attacker to raise his or her privilege level on a computer. It offered a patch, which reportedly is slowing some machines. You may have downloaded and installed the patch automatically. Its number is 811493.

If your computer has slowed, this is worth checking. I found my update in Add or Remove Programs. To check yours,  click Start>>Control Panel. Double click Add or Remove Programs.

If you think this update is causing problems, remove it in Add or Remove Programs. That reportedly restores the computer's speed. Microsoft says it is developing a remedy. If you aren't working in a networked business  environment, you can get by without this patch.

 The description of the situation is at: http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-013.asp

IF YOU'RE SWAPPING MUSIC, YOU MAY HEAR FROM THE INDUSTRY

The Recording Industry Association of America plans to send warnings to people who are swapping music online. The notes will be sent through the software's chat features built into peer-to-peer software.
The message: You're breaking the law. And you could be prosecuted.

A U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles recently refused to shut down Grokster and Morpheus. Both are popular P2P programs. If that ruling stands on appeal, the RIAA will most likely put more resources into prosecuting individuals.

HP inkjet cartridges have built-in expiry dates


By Mike Magee: Tuesday 29 April 2003, 16:20

PRINTER GIANT HP has built in time limits for its inkjet printer cartridges which means machines may stop working even if the consumable has 75% ink left to go.

A corporate user who has an HP BusinessJet 2200C, an expensive model with separate ink cartridges and printer heads for black and CYM, said his printer stopped working earlier this week with the message: "Cyan Ink Cartridge has expired". And that has led to the discovery that the only fix for this cunning consumables plan is to either set systems to dates in the past or, you guessed it, go change the cartridge or buy a new one.

To learn more click on the title above. 

 

WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER SKINS ARE VULNERABLE TO ATTACK

Microsoft has identified a security problem in Windows Media Player 7.1 and 8.0 (Media Player for Windows XP). The flaw involves skins, or overlays of custom graphics, used to dress up the program.

A victim could be tricked into downloading a file touted as a custom  skin. Instead, it could be malicious code that would install itself on the victim's computer. The code could be used to seize control of the  computer. The newest Media Player, Version 9, is not affected. Microsoft has more information and links to updates at:  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-017.asp http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-017.asp 
 

SERIOUS FLAW REPAIRED IN MICROSOFT'S PASSPORT

A Pakistani security consultant, whose Microsoft Passport account was repeatedly hacked, found a serious flaw in the system. It allowed him to get into the accounts of others, where he could potentially steal credit card numbers or other sensitive data. He reported the flaw on the Internet, and the company fixed it.

The flaw was critical. Microsoft touts Passport as a one-stop place for consumers to enter their personal information. Businesses then use it to validate purchases. The flaw affected 200 million accounts, according to Microsoft. The Federal Trade Commission is investigating this latest report. An official said that under an agreement with Microsoft, the flaw could result in a huge fine. Don't trust the security of Passport. Do not put your personal information there. 

MOTHER'S DAY VIRUS IS INFECTING COMPUTERS

Always looking for an advantage, virus writers have released the Mother's Day Virus. If you open the attachment, you'll install a program that allows the intruder to seize control of your computer. Sigh. Keep your anti-virus software updated.

 

 

The Computer Master
Jim Tomlinson, Vice President

See you at the meeting.

Enjoy.....JT

 

 

Mitch's Corner
Mitch  Graves

 

FEATURE

Hi everyone,

Over the past few months I have talked to many of you at the meetings and  in the course of many conversations the need for a certain type program has come up.  When I asked most of those I talked with if they had checked the "Corner" they had never been there. So I took a poll on the use of the "Corner" and found that only 14 of you use it at all. Even if I assume that half the folks who use it failed to write,  it still would be only a bit over 10%.  So I have decided to truncate both the descriptions of the programs, and the number of programs listed. I will look for unique, useful, important, and/or greatly improved versions of winners. I will endeavor to stay away from the antiquated or limited use stuff generally. I will try and pick those that will have the greatest appeal. As I have a weakness for utility programs you might see lots of them. 

If  you have any ideas about a program you would like to see,  write out a description of what you  want it to do in detail and send it out as a GCC email.
If there is anything like it one of us may know just the program for you.
For instance lets say one of you likes what RealPlayer does but for some
VERY good reasons you don't want RealPlayer spying on you and
crashing your system. REAL PLAYER is **SPYWARE**!!!
Not only is it sending info about you out,  it also is a bloated unstable piece of garbage. 

Then someone will recommend Jet Audio to you . JET AUDIO does not spy or nag you.  I have it installed and I love it.

Another one of the many added to "MITCH'S CORNER"  this month is SmartMorph.
This is just fun.  It is so easy to use I never even opened the help file. You can 'morph' from any image to another one and export the file as an AVI. Here is one I made. (Click on cartoon picture). http://www.foche.net/zzzevents.htm

For MANY more free programs check out the link to "Mitch's Corner" at the top of the page.

Here is a bit of humor for ya. It is an actual Honda TV ad.
A Rube Goldbergian piece of amazing flash.
Enjoy; http://home.attbi.com/~bernhard36/honda-ad.html

 

Later,

 

 

 

The Librarian
Bill Broda

Three more new CD's for this month. They are:

 

#31. Video of Demo -- Digital Photography 3.
This is the video of the demo for last month. We now all all 6 of the demos for Digital Photography .
#34. Video of Demo -- Digital Audio.
This is the video of the demo that was done March.
#36 Mitch's Corner Disk -- March 2003. 
This CD is our second Mitch's disk, and more will be coming each month. This CD contains all of the programs, and downloadable data that appeared in Mitch's Corner that appeared in the March newsletter. There are some great programs on here for digital photography folks, including Photoshop tutorials, and a FREE photo album generator. If you have lots of CD or disks and you want to get them under control, try one of the FREE cataloging programs too. 
#37 Mitch's Corner Disk -- April 2003. 
This CD is about 1/2 done at press time and hopefully we will have it too. There are some great home schooling aids, more disk, file, CD catalogers, and all of Karen's power tools. Great simple to use software all for FREE.

For more information about these CD's and the other great GCC CD's check out the Library. CLICK HERE.

 

The Editor
 Leonard Hill

Well it has been another busy month...I have finished up the CD's and they will be ready. We will have a new Mitch's disk. Hopefully I will be able to get one of these done a month now that I am finished with demos for a long while. 

We got the second wireless microphone. It will make Q and A easier and it will help with the demos. It works on a different frequency than the two we now have.

I also got another draft completed on the By-Laws. Hopefully, there will only be one more cut before the Board is happy with it. 

You will also notice there is a slight change to the newsletter format. Each contributor's articles have boxes around them. It was done to make them more readable. It will also help with the separation of each of the parts within a section.

 
For this months newsletter we  have added another contributor...Dennis McMurtrey. Dennis has provided a lot of input to the newsletter and the club ever since he became a member. This time, he sent in enough stuff to make up a whole column. 

See it below and enjoy. Some of the programs are real good. I downloaded GSplit and tried it. It work great. 

 

Save Money

If you are a smart printer user you can save a lot of money by doing some very simple things. Check out these suggestions. 

 

Here's An Idea For All Solitare Players

Are you tired of playing the same old solitaire games on your computer? Looking for cards with more current appeal? How about a deck of cards with Iraq's most wanted? Silver Creek Entertainment is offering a FREE game using that deck. Download by clicking on the above link. 
 

New Name Tags

I think I have finally found a quick easy way to make name tags. This should also save us a lot of money. If we go to this technique, we can issue name tags just as soon as a new member joins.

 

 

 

Dennis McMurtrey

Note! Dennis generally sends things to me and other members about current topics as well as interesting articles and software. This month he sent in a lot of things, so I put the ones of general interest here in a column. If you like what you see, let Dennis know. Maybe we can talk him into becoming another contributor. 

GSplit

By Craig Higdon  

You finally threw away your floppies, and you're singing the praises of your CD burner. Congratulations! However, some files are too big even for a CD, despite its tremendous amount of storage space. Don't panic. This rarely happens. When it does, GSplit will save you. Want to know what to do with those floppies? See the article in the  Miscellaneous section below...

GSplit is a FREE program that spans large files over more than one CD and automatically puts files into a zip format.  GSplit is a well-designed program that takes large files and chops them into smaller pieces so you can span them over more than one disc. Use the Express Split feature to chop up a file with a single click.

For more information check out the article on Tech TV at  http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/print/0,23102,3422495,00.html   or click on the above title and go to the GSplit website. You can also download it from there.

 

Nag Free WinZip Alternative:  IZArc

By Roger Chang

This Free download gives WinZip some competition. Every self-respecting Windows user has a good Zip archiver in his or her software library. Sure, Windows XP has one, but you don't want to use its primitive interface and capabilities for an extended period of time. The time-honored WinZip is a perennial favorite among many new and experienced users. That said, unless you pay for WinZip, you encounter the ever-present nag screen. So, today I present to you, our favored frugal viewers, a free alternative that matches, and in some ways surpasses, WinZip.

IZArc is like many other Zip applications; you can open zipped files as well as create your own. It goes one step further by supporting a myriad of other compression formats such as ACE, RAR, TAR (for you Unix types), and dozens of others, allowing you to open a number of different compression archival formats without installing additional programs. This  is a big plus if your Start Menu already looks like the Manhattan phone directory.

Other nice features allow you to convert one compression format to another (i.e. *.zip to *.ace) and span multiple files. Get this, it also includes a built-in password hacker to go along with its password  encrypter. Not bad, eh?

For more information check out the article on Tech TV at http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/print/0,23102,3425537,00.html or click on the above title and go to the website. You can also download it from there. IZip site is SLOW. Try this mirror for more info and a much faster download.

 

Thinking About Making A New Computer

You might want to check our the latest prices on AMD processors. They are dropping fast because AMD has just introduced a new 64 bit chip. 

 

Improve Your Laptops Fonts

Microsoft ClearType is an essential download for those using TFT monitors (laptops). Clear Type Fonts work with Windows XP. By displaying  fractions of a pixel Clear Type makes smoother, clearer text and more readable text on your screen. And believe it or not it is  FREE from Microsoft, no less., Bill must be feeling guilty about the Billions he's bilked us out with his sloppy code. Click to Download - ClearType. Be sure to follow the  instructions. The Fonts are free, but Microsoft wrote the instructions and install procedures, and they are not straight forwarded. 

 

USB Test

Here is a FREE APP. for testing a pc to see if your is USB ready! 

Click one button to run test. This FREE App checks for the for 3 "Must Have" Drivers on a pc. It work with ALL Windows OS - 98 and above

http://www.buslink.com/driver/usb/usbready.exe

 

Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology or SMART.

In an effort to help users avoid data loss, drive manufacturers are now incorporating logic into their drives that acts as an "early warning system" for impending drive problems. This system is called :
Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology or SMART.

The hard disk's integrated controller works with various sensors to monitor various aspects of the drive's performance, determines from this information if the drive is behaving normally or not, and makes available status information to software that probes the drive and looks at it.

 
Find out how your data may still be on that disk you think you've erased.

Getting rid of an old hard drive? Before you do, take a look at the top ten mistakes people make with their sensitive hard drive data. (This is anecdotal. It's not a scientifically derived list.)

 

Miscellaneous
 Things Of Interest And Importance To Someone 

Ok!  Interesting Sites Of the Month

Well this time we have two. Here is something to put in your backyard. It will make you popular with your kids and or grandkids as well as every youngster in the neighborhood. No....no clues; click on the links....

Site One      Site Two

Well that was fun. If I see any of you with a sling, in a cast,  or on crutches we will just assume you tried....

 

KIDS' SITE: ONLINE WEEKLY READER


Weekly Reader publishes a newspaper for school-age children. Check the online edition here. Much of the reporting is done by kids themselves.

WATCHING THE WEATHER?


Desktop Weather gives you free instant access to The Weather Channel with current temps and severe weather alerts always on your desktop.

 

TRY VIDEO CHAT & VIDEO E-MAIL FOR FREE


With ICUII, you can connect with family and friends in real time
anywhere in the world over the Internet. This software lets you send
and receive color video, audio and text messages. You can see and
chat with many people, too!

Stay up to date with the kids, grandkids, parents, and friends...
the possibilities are endless!

Download your FREE 21-day trial version today!

Welcome to the Backyard Ballistics Home Page!


Yes here is another interesting site. If you want more this guy has a book on Amazon for 14.95.....


"I thought it would be fun to have a Web site that was dedicated to the development of home-brew devices for propelling weird objects through the air. When I put up this page in early 1995, I had no idea that there was so much interest in this kind of foolishness." 

 

Need a good computer chair?

Chairs in the today's workplace and home office are created for the desk environment. Our chairs are designed to provide perfect ergonomic support, and allow the user to recline comfortably with the legs supported by a footrest. 

 

Just For The Birds

The BioDiversity Institute is using the Internet to help concentrate humanity's knowledge of biodiversity, to put this knowledge into better order, and to make it more accessible to everyone. Have a bird feed? Ever 
want  to know the species of birds in our yard? Check this site.

 

A New Use For Floppy Disks

Do you still have a lot of 3 1/4 floppies sitting around?  Here is an interesting idea of something to do with them.  

 

 

 

The Lighter Side 
Of Computing

OK we got more humor than what I know what to do with this time. I put a lot of it in the Miscellaneous Section above, but there was too much to put it all there. 

To keep the members of "The Great Dead Tree Society" happy, I decided to link to each of the other cartoons and humor items rather than display each one here.  Click on a link and enjoy. Some are just photos, while others are to html pages with more options...

 

 

 

If you have something you want to share, just send it to the editor using the above mailbox 
or catch me at a meeting.