Volume 24  March, 2005  Issue No. 3

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENT

BIG STORY, THIS MONTH'S JACKPOT!!

The Next Meeting

Progressive Raffle

Jackpot is up to $325.00!!

8 cards left 

 

Regular Meeting


 

 

Wednesday, March 16

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

Directions:      Map:

 

Board 
Meeting

Wednesday, April 6

Ponderosa Steakhouse

5 Eastport Plaza Drive 
Collinsville, IL
(618)345-5006

Directions: 

Meal starts about 6:00. Meeting starts at 7:00

Everyone is welcome
   

 

The Presentation

This
Meeting

 

Swap meet/computer fix

 

Next
Meeting

 

Undecided

 

 

Hello From The Pres...
Mike Taphorn

PROGRESSIVE RAFFLE IS ALMOST GUARANTEED 

The Progressive Raffle Prize continues to grow. There are 8 cards left and the prize is up to $325 cash. If nobody wins this month when we draw 5 out of the 8 cards left, we'll have a guaranteed winnner at our April meeting and I'm not trying to fool you...I'm sure we are going to be busy selling tickets for this month's raffle. We're going to give away a batch of prizes and the five winners will get to pull a card from the deck. Make sure you take a chance this month, the odds have never been better... 

COMPUTER SHOW = ANOTHER SUCCESS 

The show was a little weak, but, we had a strong showing of members and I know that we signed up at least 8-10 members. Overall, everyone found a few bargains and we found a few new members. I'd like to thank everyone that helped out at the show and welcome all the new members that are reading their first edition of our newsletter... Thanks and Welcome.... 

COMPUTER FIXING AND SWAP MEET MEETING 

As most of you know, we like to have swap meets at the meetings right after the computer shows. This allows us to clean out our computer rooms, garages and basements to make sure we have enough room to unpack all the stuff we got at the show. I know that you all have stuff you would like to sell or swap, so make sure you come to the meeting and see all the goodies that your fellow members are bringing. I would like to suggest that you get there a little early to get set up and to get a good table for your stuff. The swap meet usual unofficially starts before the meeting starts and then it starts up again after the official meeting has ended. 

If you have a computer with problems, we'll have our tools handy and we'll try to get your machine running smoother before you go home. Our services are first come first serve and I think we're going to be busy, so bring as much of your gear as you can to avoid waiting for a monitor or some other component. Please be patient if we are swamped... 

That's all for now.... 

See you at the meeting …

 Mike

 

The Computer Master
Jim Tomlinson, Vice President




See you at the meeting!
 Enjoy.....JT

 

 

The Treasurer's Report
Dianne White

TREASURER'S REPORT 
Dianne White, Treasurer as of March 1st, 2005 

BALANCE: as of Feb. 1st, 2005 $4,365.15 

INCOME: 
2 new members, 6 renewals @15.00 each= $120.00
CD Sales: 0.00
Feb. Roll over jackpot $143.00

Total Income: $263.00 

$4,628.15 


EXPENSES: 
Ponderosa deposit for March $20.00 
Total Expenses $20.00 

BALANCE AS OF MARCH 1st, 2005 $4,608.15 

ROLL-OVER JACKPOT NOW WORTH $325.00
8 cards left

 

The Secretary's Report
 Carlos Mariles

February 16, 2005 Minutes. 

President Mike Taphorn opened the meeting at 7:00 pm and he welcomed the new members and guests. He also explained and clarified the rules of the on going door prize. He proceeded to talk about the different computer related articles that he finds either through correspondence or other magazines.  He also requested assistance from the membership to help with the coming computer show, March 4, 5, and 6 that will be held at the Gateway Center in Collinsville, IL.  Most members signed up for different days and different hours.  During the month of March we are going to have a “swap” meeting in conjunction with our normal meeting.  So bring your items that you have too many or do not need any more. 

We received a product form Micro Soft that requires review and comments from a club member.  If you wish to participate if future MS presentations go to Microsoft.com for a list of future meetings and places.

Our librarian, Jason Whitener, advertised our new three CDs available to the membership.

The regular Q. & A. period followed for about thirty minutes.  After the Q&A the membership attended the meeting’s presentation given by Mr. Chuck Hill and yes, Mr. Jason Whitener.  How can Jason be in two places? go figure. 

Our next meeting will be held on March 16 at 7PM at the same location. 

Till then,

Carlos

 

 

The Membership Chairman
JC Spelce

Number of Members in attendance last month:  
Total Membership Before last month's meeting  
      Number of Members renewing last meeting    
      Number Of Members  joined last meeting   
      Number of members dropped    
Current Total Membership   
     Number of Members in Good Standing  
     Number of Members on Probation  

 

The Web Master
Dennis McMurtrey

 


Librarian
Jason Whitener
Assistant  
Dennis McMurtrey

The Librarians

 



Thanks So much and I hope to see you at the Meeting,

 

 

The Editor
 Chuck White

I'm working on badges. If you don't have a badge, hunt me down and REMIND me. At the time of this writing I was still sifting through the computer show photos.

 

Mitch's Corner
Mitch  Graves

FREE PDF writer

Another alternative for those who may want to write PDF files from their documents. http://www.exp-systems.com.
The free program is very simple to use, and handles large files very well. 
The Pro version has more features of course but you probably don't need them. 
The Pro has a 90 day trial, and costs $19.99 to purchase.
Both will even create a PDF file from an "E" size architectural drawing without losing any detail. 
The best free PDF writer I have tried.

***

Quicktime and Realplayer - ALTERNATIVES

Quicktime and Realplayer -
Both of these consistently annoy me with their desire to install extras and run all the time.

QuickTime Alternative - http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/finalbuilds.htm#quicktimealt

And

Real Alternative - http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/finalbuilds.htm#realalt

All they do is install the codec to decode the audio/video files and a player to play them
(it gives you the option to not install the player, but I find it doesn't then integrate with my media player).
Simple.

If you ever need to find out what codec you need to play a file - try:
VideoInspector: http://www.kcsoftwares.com/index.php?vtb

***

Later,

 

 
 
 

Miscellaneous
 Things Of Interest And Importance To Someone 

Review: Netscape Captures Eyeballs for AOL

Mar 10, 5:05 PM (ET)

By ANICK JESDANUN


NEW YORK (AP) - The once-mighty Netscape browser is attempting a comeback. How, you ask? Simple. By combining the best elements of its two leading rivals.

Netscape is out with a test release of version 8.0, and the new browser is nothing like its recent predecessors, which were mostly about fixing bugs and playing catch-up.

I just wish Netscape didn't constantly try to dispatch me to content from its developer, America Online Inc., or its partners. But more on that later.

More than 90 percent of the world's surfing is still done on Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s Internet Explorer, but many users complain of its numerous security vulnerabilities and lack of modern features like tabbed browsing, which lets you visit multiple Web sites without opening multiple browser windows.

Enter Mozilla Firefox, which debuted last fall to much fanfare. It lacks many of the IE features, like ActiveX, which is often blamed for enabling security breaches, and with its relatively low usage, malicious hackers don't target Firefox as much. But some sites won't work with Firefox because they need the IE features.

The new Netscape, which is only available for Windows PCs, addresses the quandary through a regularly updated list of "good" and "bad" sites.

If Netscape deems a site good, a green shield appears and the browser displays the site using the IE software engine that is built into Windows. Netscape figures such sites present little security risk, so why not enable all the features?

I succeeded in accessing Microsoft's Windows Update site along with the advanced features of my company's Web-based Outlook e-mail, neither of which works with Firefox.

Netscape displays a yellow shield when a site is absent from its list. In such cases, deeming Firefox safer, Netscape uses a Firefox engine that is embedded in Netscape's software.

Red shields along with a warning page appear when sites are on the bad list.

Not only does Netscape use Firefox, thus disabling ActiveX, but it also blocks that site from leaving data trackers called "cookies" and turns off support for Java and JavaScript, which can launch programs designed to steal information or perform other nasty tricks.

In this sense, Netscape is safer than Firefox or IE alone. I ran on all three browsers a site that tries to steal AOL billing information, and only Netscape successfully blocked the program from running.

Whether Netscape uses Firefox or IE, the site appears within the Netscape environment, and you always have access to tabbed browsing. You get IE's functionality and Firefox's security when you need them most.

Netscape also sports "multibars," a way to cram the equivalent of 10 toolbars into the space of a single one. Just click on "1,""2" and so on to switch among them. Each is customizable with whatever features you happen to want. Choose from Netscape's preprogrammed tools, like news headlines or maps, or add your own using Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, a technology for pulling content from sites (A bug that's supposed to be fixed before the final release in the next several weeks currently prevents you from fully doing so, though).

I particularly liked the feature that lets you check Web-based e-mail from Netscape, AOL, Excite, Gmail, Hotmail, Lycos, Mail.com or Yahoo. You get automatically logged in with a single click, though for now you don't get alerts for new mail. I did have occasional problems with the auto sign-in, but found the tool useful overall.

Netscape also sports a few improvements to Firefox: It's easier to open and close tabs and to instantly clear sensitive information like Web sites visited.

And while Firefox has a tool for remembering passwords, Netscape automatically logs you in.

My one major fault with Netscape is, however, a show stopper.

Most of its tools are geared toward generating traffic for AOL properties. The maps tool gets you MapQuest, the movies tool reaches Moviefone. Weather gets you AOL partner WeatherBug.

AOL says other companies, such as Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) and Fandango, are free to develop tools for Netscape, but that'll take time, limiting choice in the meantime. And while some of the third-party add-ons already developed for Firefox may work with Netscape, the ones I tried didn't.

Likewise, the built-in search box automatically runs Netscape's search engine, unlike Firefox, which lets you easily switch among Google, Yahoo and four others, while letting you add hundreds more.

The tools for the other engines weren't done in time for the test release, and even so, switching is more complicated with Netscape.

So until I get more choice, I plan on sticking with Firefox, even if it means occasionally having to run IE for those sites that need it.

---

On the Net:

http://browser.netscape.com/nsb/download/default.jsp

---

Anick Jesdanun can be reached at netwriter(at)ap.org 
---

 

 

The Lighter Side 
Of Computing

PROGRAMMER JOKES


An artist, a lawyer, and a computer programmer are discussing the merits of a mistress. The artist tells of the passion, the thrill which comes with the risk of being discovered. The lawyer warns of the difficulties. It can lead to guilt, divorce, bankruptcy. Not worth it. Too many problems. The computer programmer says "It's the best thing that's ever happened to me. My wife thinks I'm with my mistress. My mistress thinks I'm home with my wife, and I can spend all night on the computer!"

***

At a recent software engineering management course in the US, the participants were given an awkward question to answer. "If you had just boarded an airliner and discovered that your team of programmers had been responsible for the flight control software how many of you would disembark immediately?"

Among the ensuing forest of raised hands, only one man sat motionless. When asked what he would do, he replied that he would be quite content to stay onboard.

With his team's software, he said, the plane was unlikely to even taxi as far as the runway, let alone take off.

***

There was an engineer, manager and programmer driving down a steep mountain road.

The brakes failed and the car careened down the road out of control.

Half way down the driver managed to stop the car by running it against the embankment narrowing avoiding going over a cliff.

They all got out, shaken by their narrow escape from death, but otherwise unharmed.

The manager said "To fix this problem we need to organize a committee, have meetings, and through a process of continuous improvement, develop a solution."

The engineer said "No that would take too long, and besides that method never worked before. I have my trusty pen knife here and will take apart the brake system, isolate the problem and correct it."

The programmer said "I think you're both wrong! I think we should all push the car back up the hill and see if it happens again." 

Found at www.computerjokes.net

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