AUG 2007 issue of TOE - Channel Islands PC Users Group (CIPCUG)

Transcription

The Outer E
d
g
e
Newsletter of the Channel Islands PC Users Group
August 2007
Vol. 21, No. 2
Whole No. 244
ISSN 1055-4399
The Friendly Computer Club Helping Make Computers Friendly. On the Web at www.cipcug.org
C O M M A N D. C O M
Attendance at the
July general meeting
68 members and 3 guests
We welcome 1 new member
To Contact CIPCUG
The Outer Edge...........(805) 485-7121
General Information.. . . . . . . (805) 289-3960
Mailing Address...P.O. Box 51354, Oxnard, CA
93031-1354
August honors
Photos by Jerry Crocker
Vice
President
Craig
Ladd presents
plaques
to past
president David Harris, above, and
speaker Ryan Sherstobitoff.
August 2007
By Paul Westefer, President
M
y luck recently has been too good to be true. I have won several lotteries I never entered. I have been offered millions of dollars by various Nigerian government officials. I have been promised fabulous prizes
just for participating in surveys and including all of my personal data.
The perils of these and other Internet scams were excellently presented at the July CIPCUG meeting by Ryan Sherstobitoff of Panda Internet Security. Panda has a suite of
products including Panda Antivirus, AntiSpyware, Identiy
Protect, Antispam and Parental Control
With new perils arising every day, no product or person
can keep with up with every one. Toby Scott and our memWestefer
bers help a great deal by relating their experiences in our
meetings and TOE.
There is one aspect I have not seen mentioned by the media. Some of
these deals require the participants to perform acts which are obviously
illegal. This can create a Catch-22. If the participants lose money, they risk
being charged with a crime if they go to the authorities.
It was pointed out in our meeting and in a Ventura County Star July 30
article, “Brain is often best security tool of all.” Do you respond to requests
for personal data from familiar sources? Scammers are adept at creating
Web sites which appears to be legitimate. As my old pappy told me, “If
someone offers to bet you he can draw the ace of spades out of a deck of
cards and make it spit prune juice in your eye, don’t take the bet or you will
wind up with an eye full of prune juice."
Returning to the July meeting, John Weigle reported that the first edition from the new source went well. Some members even got TOE earlier
than usual. Congratulations to Dave Minkin and his new audio equipment.
We got through the entire meeting without a feedback screech.
The Outer Edge
Page 1
Channel Islands
PC Users Group
Root Directory
CIPCUG NEWS
Annual Financial report.................16
Benefits .........................................19
Board of Directors Minutes.............3
Business meeting, Internet SIG,
Q&A..............................................4
Coming CIPCUG events .................3
Command.com ................................1
Contributors to The Outer
Edge in 2007 ..............................16
F1 — Your Help Key ....................18
Map, schedule ...............................20
Membership report ........................17
Program: Panda Security.................7
Treasurer’s report ..........................16
Web page news .............................11
GENERAL
Learning with Levy: Put a volume
control on your taskbar................13
Panda Software is now Panda
Security .........................................9
Penguin’s Lair: Fedora releases
new Linux distribution ................10
Product Review: NERO 7
Ultimate.......................................15
Product Review: Version Tracker .13
Product Reviews Updated .............14
Rick’s Rant: Opinions About
Fry’s Electronics .........................12
ShopSafe makes online shopping
safer.............................................11
Smart Computing tips and
fun facts.......................................12
ADVERTISEMENTS
Creative Technology .....................11
O’Reilly.........................................11
Ventura County Computers...........12
Member’s classifieds.....................16
CIPCUG mailing address:
P.O. Box 51354, Oxnard, CA
93031-1354
Executive Board
(Elected members of Board of Directors)
President…………………...Paul Westefer
…………….……….president@cipcug.org
Vice President/Program Chairman
………………………………..Craig Ladd
………………...vicepresident@cipcug.org
Secretary……………..Martha Churchyard
……………………..secretary@cipcug.org
Treasurer…………….……....…Art Lewis
………………….….treasurer@cipcug.org
Membership Chairman.……...Ken Church
....……………….membership@cipcug.org
(Appointed members
of Board of Directors)
Tech Support…………………..Toby Scott
Web Page Editor……………..Helen Long
…………………...webmaster@cipcug.org
Newsletter editor…………….John Weigle
………………………...editor@cipcug.orgI
Immediate Past President
……………………..Lois Evans de Violini
……...………....pastpresident@cipcug.org
Ex-officio members of Board of Directors
Chief Protocol Officer………George Lakes
CIPCUG ISP Signups…………Helen Long
Sound Equipment Technicians………...Jim
Burke and David Minkin
Marketing Director.………...Ron Pinkerton
Program Chairman.……………Craig Ladd
Publicity Chairman.…………Jim Thornton
SIG coordinator……...……...Larry Hudson
Past Presidents
Walt Yates………………………1987-1989
Lois Evans de Violini…………...1989-1991
Terry Lee………………………..1991-1993
Jerry McLoud…………………...1993-1995
Robert Provart…………………..1995-1997
Toby Scott………………………1997-1999
George Lakes…………………...1999-2001
Andy Toth……………………….2001-2003
David Harris…………………….2003-2005
Lois Evans de Violini ....... ........ 2005-2007
(With the exception of the immediate past
president, past presidents are not members of the
board.)
Life members
Frank Segesman*
Toby Scott
Lois Evans de Violini
Art Lewis
CIPCUG is a member of APCUG,
The Association of PC Users Groups
The Outer Edge
Editor……………………..John Weigle
P.O. Box 6536, Ventura CA 93006
485-7121……….jweigle@vcnet.com
The Outer Edge is published monthly by Channel
Islands PC Users Group (CIPCUG), P.O. Box
51354, Oxnard, Calif. 93031-1354. an independent,
nonprofit corporation. Contents of The Outer Edge
copyright 2001  by Channel Islands PC Users
Group.
Permission for reproduction in whole or in part is
granted to other computer user groups for internal
nonprofit use provided credit is given to The Outer
Edge and the authors of the reproduced material. All
other reproduction is prohibited without prior
written consent of Channel Islands PC Users Group.
Opinions expressed in this journal are solely those
of the authors or contributors, and do not necessarily
represent those of Channel Islands PC Users Group,
its officers or membership as a whole. The
information provided is believed to be correct and
useful; however, no warranty, express or implied, is
made by Channel Islands PC Users Group, its
officers, editorial staff or contributors. This
disclaimer extends to all losses, incidental or
consequential, resulting from the use or application
of the information provided.
Channel Islands PC Users Group does not endorse
or recommend any specific hardware or software
products, dealers, distributors or manufacturers. All
trademarked or registered trademarked names are
acknowledged to be the property of their respective
owners, and are used for editorial purposes only.
Advertising in The Outer Edge
Advertising is accepted for computer-related
materials, businesses and services only. Rates are
for Camera-Ready copy (clear, clean black and
white masters). Typesetting and graphics are
available at an additional fee.
SIZE
Cost/Issue
FULL-PAGE (9½”H x 7¼”W)................$50.00
HALF-PAGE (4½”H x 7¼”W)
or (9½”H x 3½”W )....…........$30.00
THIRD-PAGE (3”H x 7¼” W)………….$25.00
QUARTER-PAGE (4½”H x 3½W)..........$20.00
BUSINESS CARD ad...............................$15.00
Discounts for multiple issues (3, 6, 9 and 12
months)
Ad copy deadline is the 5th of the month of
publication.
Make all checks payable to CIPCUG.
Members’ classified ads are free but are limited
to 105 characters, including spaces.
*Deceased
2006 Southwest User Group Conference: second place in both the
newsletter and Web site contests.
Page 2
The Outer Edge
August 2007
Society news: Programs and SIGs
Computer tune-up scheduled in August
Programs
The next computer repair clinic will
be at the Aug. 25 meeting. It is open
only to members and will cost $10 per
computer. A sign-up form is available
on the CIPCUG Web site.
The format of the tune-up session
will follow that of the previous session:
Rick Smith and Michael Shalkey will do
quick checks of the computers, fix simple problems and give advice on more
complex ones.
The session will start after the premeeting SIGs.
The August program had not been
determined by the deadline for this issue. Watch the CIPCUG Web site for
updates. The meeting will be on the
fourth Saturday of the month, Aug. 25,
at the Camarillo Boys & Girls Club,
1500 Temple Ave. (northeast corner of
Ponderosa Drive and Temple Avenue),
Camarillo (see map on page 20).
The doors open at 8:30 a.m., and the
Beginners and Internet SIGs start at 8:45
a.m.
If you can show up early to help set
up, please do. The room seems to be
different every month, and we have to
move lots of tables and chairs around.
Topics for other coming programs
are still to be scheduled, but the dates
Door prizes
We have two types of raffle tickets:
one for prizes offered by the presenter
and one for club-provided prizes. The
tickets for the presenter’s prizes are free
and limited to one per member.
The tickets for the club-provided
prizes are $1 each, $5 for six tickets,
$10 for 13 tickets and $20 for 26 tickets
and are available to anyone.
Consignment table
A consignment table is set up at
every meeting. Anyone can buy, but only
members can sell.
The club gets 10 percent of the sales
price. Sold items must be picked up at
are as follows:
Sept. 22: TBA.
Oct. 27: TBA.
Nov. 17: TBA.
Dec. 22: TBA.
SIGs
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are
sponsored by CIPCUG and led by volunteer club members. There is no charge
for members to attend.
Unless otherwise noted, SIGs run
from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Ventura
County Computers, 2175 Goodyear
the end of the day’s meeting. Any items
not picked up will become the property
of CIPCUG and will be subject to disposal at the club’s discretion.
CIPCUG is not responsible in any
way for items bought or sold at the table.
Each item is sold as-is unless otherwise
stated.
Meeting, SIG notices
If you would like e-mail notices of
regular meetings and SIGs, go to
www.cipcug.org, where you’ll find a link
on the home page to sign up.
The URL is cipcug.org/listserv.cfm.
You will need your membership
number, which is on the back cover
of TOE, to complete the sign-up.
Ave., Unit 117, Ventura; phone 2893960. From the 101 Freeway, exit at
Telephone, take Telephone south to
McGrath, turn left and go one block.
Turn right on Goodyear and then right
again into the second driveway. Unit
117 is the back, right corner of the
industrial building.
The general schedule follows:
Second Thursday: Toby Scott on
HTML, CSS and Web design.
Third Thursday: Open.
Fourth Thursday: Linux.
(Continued on page 4)
Board of Directors meeting of July 2007
By Martha Churchyard
secretary@cipcug.org
The CIPCUG Board of Directors
meeting was held on July 28, 2007, at
the Camarillo Boys & Girls Club in
Camarillo.
Present: Craig Ladd, John Weigle,
Martha Churchyard, Dick Chaiclin,
David Harris, Art Lewis, Helen Long,
Toby Scott, Paul Westefer.
The Web site and newsletter list of
Board Members was discussed. Toby
moved that they be changed to conform
to reality. The position of librarian
should be removed until the club actually has a library and a librarian. The
August 2007
motion was approved unanimously.
Club officers now are as follows:
Elected officers are the president,
vice president, secretary
and treasurer. Appointed
members are the technical
support specialist, Web
mistress, membership chair
and newsletter editor. (The
Churchyard immediate past president
automatically becomes an officer.)
Ex-officio members not able to vote
on board matters are as follows:
Chief protocol officer, George
Lakes: CIPCUG ISP signups, Helen
Long; newsletter mail coordinator, Jim
The Outer Edge
Burke; program chairman, Craig Ladd;
publicity chairman, Jim Thornton; sound
equipment technician, David Minkin;
SIG notifier, Larry Hudson.
Art Lewis gave his report for June.
Art mentioned that Jim Thornton returned the reimbursement check we had
sent him; he stated he had not requested
it and was returning it as a donation to
the club. The bank account signature
cards were updated to reflect the new
officers just elected.
Paul reported the information he had
received from Jim Thornton, and the
matters were discussed. Additional information and discussion will be needed.
Page 3
Business meeting, Internet SIG, Q&A
Computers’ abilities, Firefox, antivirus scans
puter at one time? For example, if I am
listening to an audio stream, can I also
go to another Web site and even have
my word processor open?
secretary@cipcug.org
A. Short answer — your computer
mshalkey@cipcug.org
can
handle more things simultaneously
Business meeting
than
you can.
President Paul Westefer presided,
and the officers gave their usual reports, Sound slows down
the details of which appear elsewhere in
Q. Sometimes my sound slows down
TOE. Jim Thornton submitted his pub- and stutters when I try.
licity report via e-mail.
A. That is a limitation of your bandPaul announced that the August width — especially if you have dial-up.
meeting would be a computer “cleanup”
for members only for $10, a real bar- Firefox tabs disappear
Q. In Firefox, sometimes my tabs go
gain. Visitors are invited to join so they
away
unexpectedly.
can participate.
A.
If you double click on a tab, that
John Weigle reported on the good
results with the new newsletter printer, will close it.
and the money saved.
Creating Firefox bookmark folder
Art Lewis gave the required annual
Q. How can I create a bookmark
report. Every other year, Art likes to folder in Firefox — create a folder to
have a professional review of the ac- organize bookmarks?
counts. Last time, the review was done
A. (Demonstrating) Organize bookby our new president’s wife, who did a marks — right-click on bookmarks toolfine job. If there are no strong objec- bar and configure as you like.
tions, and she is willing, he will ask her
Router seems to slow things down
to do this again.
Q. When using a router, I find my
Internet speed drops significantly on the
Internet, e-mail SIG
second computer.
Unless otherwise noted, Toby Scott,
A. When you can see differences, it
a partner in Ventura County Computers is usually the wire, though it can be a
and our technical adviser, answered bad network card, etc. It could be a bad
questions. Notes by Michael Shalkey, wire. Internet 101: Bandwidth shares
edited by Martha Churchyard .
equally, and routers use a very small
How much work can be done at once? overhead. Normally if you have 2 comQ. Would you help me understand puters, each will have one-half of the
how many things I can do on my com- stream (half your whole bandwidth).
By Martha Churchyard
and Michael Shalkey
This can be a problem if you are using
high demand Web sites (video, sound
sites). When you see things unequally, it
could be a wire, spyware, virus on the
other computer.
Stapling wires creates problems
Q. If you staple your wires, you will
have bad connection
A. DO NOT STAPLE your wires –
you will have a bad connection!
Burning CDs and DVDs
Comment: When you are burning
CDs and DVDs, it is safer to do only
one thing at a time on your computer.
Long time for antivirus scan
Q. When I run AVG scan it takes
two hours to run a full system scan.
None of my others, for instance Spybot,
take anywhere near that long.
A. Spyware programs like Spybot,
AdAware, etc, do not check every file,
only files that are likely to be infected. A
full antivirus program checks every file
on your computer and will take much
longer. Viruses will hide in any kind of
file. Spyware can be nastier when it gets
in, but viruses actually are installed on
your computer — they can run other
things, and work in the background, etc.,
so they can hide code inside of other
files, even text or graphics files.
Reinstalling anti-spyware programs
Q. When I installed Spy Sweeper,
first I uninstalled all my others. Should I
now reinstall those others?
More about coming events ...
& Girls Club of Camarillo.
Fourth Saturday (or after the reguSaturday, Aug. 25: 8:45 a.m., Belar meeting): Michael Shalkey’s SIG, if ginners SIG, David Harris. Topic TBA.
Boys & Girls Club of Camarillo.
we can find a location.
(Continued from page 3)
Details on the SIGs for August:
Thursday, Aug. 23: Linux, Bill
Wayson. Installing Fedora 7.
Saturday, Aug. 25: 8:45 a.m., Internet / E-mail, Toby Scott. Get answers to
your Internet and e-mail questions. Boys
Page 4
SIG): Internet/E-mail. 8:45 a.m. Moderator: Toby Scott. Get answers to your
Internet and e-mail questions. Boys &
Girls Club of Camarillo.
Saturday, Sept. 22: Beginners SIG
The SIG schedule for September:
(pre-meeting SIG). 8:45 a.m. Moderator
September
and topic: TBA: TBA. Boys & Girls
Thursday, Sept. 13: HTML / CSS. Club of Camarillo.
6:30 p.m. Moderator: Toby Scott. Topic
Thursday, Sept. 27: Linux, 6:30
TBA.
p.m. Moderator: Bill Wayson. Topic:
Saturday, Sept. 22 (pre-meeting TBA.
The Outer Edge
August 2007
More Q&A: Anti-malware programs, e-mail hoaxes
A. You can keep them off. The guy This month’s Q&A topics:
Internet, e-mail SIG
who wrote Spybot is now selling a proHow much work can be done at
fessional version and now the free version is not as good. Ad-Aware Pro and once?
Sound slows down
Ad-Aware free have similar problems.
Ad-Aware 2007
Q. What about the new Ad-Aware
2007?
A. We will try the new version of
Ad-Aware 2007 at Ventura County
Computers on the next nasty infected
computer and evaluate it and let you
know.
Firefox tabs disappear
Creating Firefox bookmark folder
Router seems to slow things down
Stapling wires creates problems
Burning CDs and DVDs
Long time for antivirus scan
Reinstalling anti-spyware programs
Ad-Aware 2007
AVG ratings drop
Importance of anti-spyware programs
Federal anti-spyware efforts
Creating new tabs in Firefox
CyberDefender on Vista
Vista security
Where to check on messages
Finding Gateway Monitor driver
What happens to old e-mail ad-
AVG ratings drop
Q. I notice that AVG isn’t as highly
ranked as it used to be. Should I install
something else?
A. We are not telling you to uninstall
AVG; don’t switch just because magazines have different rankings this year.
This year’s laggard will frequently be
next year’s winner. It doesn’t pay to CyberDefender on Vista
Q. On Vista, I loaded CyberDekeep switching. Just get one that is good
fender, and on the security tab it shows
more often than not and stick with it.
Windows Defender as my Spyware and
Importance of anti-spyware programs CyberDefender as my Antivirus. Doesn't
Q. How important is it to have a
Cyber do both?
good anti-spyware program today?
A. The security tab is correct. CyberA. It’s still important because the
Defender is antivirus. Windows Despyware has become more dangerous, fender is anti-spyware.
but the amount we see is dropping. A
few years ago, 70 percent of computers Vista security
Q. How secure is Vista?
coming in for repair were spywareA. Vista hackers are working on
related; now it is less than 5 percent.
trying to get around Vista’s security; so
Federal anti-spyware efforts
far, they can’t. For the time being, bad
Q. Comment on e-mail from Barbara guys can't get to you, but it is an arms
Boxer about making it illegal to put spy- race. If they do, you will definitely hear
ware on your computer.
about it on radio, TV, newspaper everyA. Now I feel so protected now that
where.
we have a federal law that Chinese
If you get an e-mail telling you about
hackers can’t put things on my com- the latest virus that is the worst yet, it is
puter!
a hoax. Understand that news reporters
by their very nature are on the leading
Creating new tabs in Firefox
Q. When I start Firefox, I have only edge of getting any viruses or spyware.
They will know about it long before you
one tab. How do I create a new one?
A. Click on File, New Tab. There is will. Don’t forward or even reply to any
a setting in Tools, Options, Tabs and of these warning e-mails. They are very
old and inaccurate. The other e-mails
check Always Show Tabbar.
Comment on tabs: You can add that say that you should do a search on your
computer and if you find a certain file,
to the toolbar as well.
A. Right mouse click on the toolbar, delete it, and they give you the name of
and you can drag and drop the icon to an obscure but necessary Windows file,
so deleting it ruins your system.
add a tab onto the toolbar.
August 2007
The Outer Edge
dresses?
E-mail greeting cards
Opening e-mailed PowerPoint files
Regular Q&A:
Introduction on e-mail postcards,
high-speed connections
Is DSL price part of a bundle?
Is FIOS faster than satellite?
IPhones crash RAID arrays
Disabling Spy Sweeper splash
screen
Ripping DVDs into MP4s
Difficulties with Yahoo e-mail
Best e-mail provider, refilling HP
cartridges
Which are webmail providers?
Getting more space in HP cartridges
Putting photos on DVD
I can’t read POP3 messages elsewhere
Gmail difficulties
Ventura Publisher printing issues
Where to check on messages
Q. Comment from audience: If you
get any e-mail that you think is a hoax, it
is easily checked on www.snopes.com.
A. Snopes is the biggest repository
of urban legends and hoaxes and is very
well written and documented.
Finding Gateway Monitor driver
Q. Where is a good place to
download a driver for a Win98 Gateway
Monitor?
A. www.driversguide.com has many
drivers for many devices. Be careful and
virus scan it before you run it. They try
to do a good job policing, but there are
things that can slip through. If you give
them your e-mail address, make sure
you give a fake one (or disposable one)
because they sell it, and you will get
spam. If you Google it, there are a couple of Usernames and passwords for
Driversguide that have already been
done.
From audience: Username “drivers,”
password “all” works.
A. With Yahoo, Hotmail, Google
and so on, you can get as many e-mail
addresses as you want. All of us should
get in the habit of having a disposable
one that you will get rid of in six
months, or whenever they start
Page 5
More on Q&A: E-mail greeting cards, iPhones and RAID
spamming, and get another one. Don’t
give out your e-mail address to anyone.
Most sites do sell your e-mail address
when you sign up. Strangely, Microsoft.com does not.
What happens to old addresses?
Q. What happens to those old e-mail
addresses?
A. They do die eventually, but they
last for a long time. You can’t get mail,
but no one else can register them for a
while.
E-mail greeting cards
Q. What about opening greeting
cards from e-mail.
A. Never open them. Except from
jacquielawson.com, which is different.
But the others are spam harvesters. The
newest danger is pretending to be from
Bluemountain.com or Hallmark.com.
Opening e-mailed PowerPoint files
Q. Can I open PowerPoint files emailed to me?
A. It used to be safe, but now PowerPoint and PDFs have been hacked so
that they can be a danger. It is not safe
to double-click on the attachment and
open it. Generally, I wouldn’t click on a
PowerPoint or PDF unless I knew the
source. And look at the message — if it
says, “I thought you’d like this” but
doesn’t have anything specific about
your relationship, it could be a virus.
Someone could have gotten into Joe’s
computer or a mutual friend who knows
both you and Joe and now is pretending
to be you. PowerPoint viruses aren’t
common, but right now PDFs are.
When you are sending attachments,
please be courteous and put some personal information in the body so your
recipients know you are a real human
and not a machine trying to get people to
click on things.
Question-and-answer session
Unless otherwise noted, Toby Scott,
a partner in Ventura County Computers
and our technical adviser, answered
questions. Michael Shalkey also contributed and handled the demonstrations
projected on the screen.
Page 6
Toby: A few things that came up in
the pre-meeting SIG that I want to go
over for the beginners: One, if you get
any e-mail that says, “you have a postcard,” don’t open it, don’t click on it.
Trash it. There aren’t any legitimate
postcards to speak of. Second, the advantages of FIOS and other types of
connections. To answer that question, I
need to know what do you do on the
Internet. Before you decide on fast,
slow, whatever, analyze what you do. If
you’re just getting your e-mail and doing Web site stuff, any DSL connection,
the cheapest one they have, will be just
fine. There’s no point in paying extra for
bandwidth you don’t use. You pay for
how much potential you can download
at one time; if you don’t download
much, you are paying a lot for it. If you
do a lot of pictures, movie trailers, etc,
then you might very well be a candidate
for FIOS or one of the other faster connections. Personally, I don’t want to pay
for the fastest connections. It depends on
what you are doing — if you are playing
online games where reaction time is
important, then you need the faster connection.
About one-third of Camarillo can get
FIOS, which is a fiber optic connection.
It comes in three flavors, up to 15 MB
per second, for about $50 a month.
Their cheapest connection is about
768K, not MB — and that one is $16 or
$19.
Is price part of a bundle?
Q: Do you have to get a bundle?
A: No you don’t. One of the things
that people are selling you is a bundle of
Internet connection and your telephone
service. I am not too thrilled with the
state of Internet phone connection —
called voice over IP (VOIP) — quality
is variable. On the other hand, our phone
connection with no long distance service
is $30 a month. Before my father died,
he turned off his business and home
phones and just used his cell phone. He
paid a little more on the cell phone, but
not as much as the business and home
phone lines. One disadvantage is that
when you call 911 they don’t know
where you are.
The Outer Edge
FIOS includes a phone line because
that is the way Verizon wants to sell it.
Is FIOS faster than satellite?
Q: Is FIOS faster than satellite?
A: Satellite is very slow. There are
two aspects to Internet speed. There is
sustained, throughput speed, and then
there is the speed at which you can get a
round trip, and the word for that is latency. Sustained is like when you are
downloading a file, and it comes
through in a stream. Latency is, if you
send a request out, how long does it take
for that request to get back? If you are
doing Google searches, for example,
almost all the delay is latency delay; it
has nothing to do with sustained
download speed because the Google
home page is less than 1K, less than one
full packet; it comes virtually instantaneously when it arrives, even over a
slow modem. But what you get is that
latency, how long does a round trip
take? For instance you can get a T-1, a
trunk line, a data connection that ISPs
use with a standard speed of 1.54 Mb/
second. You can get DSL that is faster
than that, but it won’t work as fast because DSL has relatively slow latency,
while T-1 has very short latency periods.
T-1s cost about $500 a month, however.
In most operations a 1.5Mb/sec T-1 will
operate much faster than a 15Mb FIOS
DSL. The only time it won’t is in a sustained download of a single file.
With satellite, you can get fast
throughput, but it has very poor latency,
because the signal has to go up to the
satellite, partway around the earth, and
back, and the speed of light starts to
affect it. For instance, you can’t run a
Web page on a satellite connection; on
DSL, it will seem somewhat slow, even
on FIOS DSL; on a T-1, it seems very
fast.
(Michael demonstrating) Speedtest.net is a good one — it shows latency.
IPhones crash RAID arrays
Michael: Does anyone have an
iPhone? If you have a VISTA computer
with RAID arrays — like one we sold
—and have done the latest updates, your
computer can’t boot. After working on it
August 2007
More on Q&A: Splash screens, types of e-mail
cartridge?
A: Let me do the inkjet question
for three days, we were talking to Intel,
and they had just been notified by Apple first. Basically, unless you have a lot of
that if you have iTunes it destroys your strange tools in your garage you will
need to get a kit. I recommend the lady
RAID. But Apple is working on it.
that came here and did a program, the
Disabling Spy Sweeper splash screen
Inkdot Lady at theinkdot.com. To do it
Q: Last year, I won Spy Sweeper at
yourself you need to buy a kit; she will
one of our raffles, and it does a good job,
sell a refilled cartridge for about onebut one thing that drives me nuts is the
third less than retail prices and a bit
splash screen, which stays there until
more than if you refill it yourself, but it
just before I need to go on. Is there any
saves you a lot of work.
way I can get rid of that?
(From audience): Walgreen’s is ofA: If you look for a setting in the
fering a refilling service; I think it is $10
program’s settings or Tools, options,
for black, $15 for color — I think the ad
there can be a checkbox to show the
I got said half-price.
splash screen.
Toby: That sounds like a good deal; I
may go back to Walgreen’s. But, actuRipping DVDs into MP4s
Q: I would like to rip some DVDs ally, we have been using inkdot.com for
into MP4s. Is there an easy program to several years, and she gives excellent
service.
use for the iPod?
But to answer the question about
A: Most of those DVDs are copyprotected; you will need to find some- which is the best e-mail: There are two
thing that does what it is not supposed different kinds of e-mail. Sometimes you
to. Does anybody know how to get com- can get both kinds in the same, but there
mercial DVDs to rip to MP4s for iPod? is webmail, and POP3 mail. POP3 mail,
(From audience) I’ve been successful you download it all to your computer,
in copying commercial DVDs to the and read it with something like Outlook
hard drive on the computer using a prod- Express, Eudora, Thunderbird, etc. I
uct called “shrink.” I believe you can get have a huge prejudice in favor of POP3
e-mail. Because I get so many e-mails, I
it free of charge on the Internet.
(From audience) The sites appear can’t tolerate the slow download speeds
of the Web-based systems. If you’re
and disappear frequently.
looking for a good POP3 mailbox, CIPDifficulties with Yahoo e-mail
CUG can give you e-mail for $15 a year.
Q: Is there a problem with Yahoo email? Every message comes back saying Which are the webmail ones?
Q: Which are the webmail ones?
they can’t find the person.
A: Yahoo, Hotmail, Google (Gmail,
A: There very well may be. One
morning people start calling, telling me from which you can also do POP3).
that four servers are down. One comGetting more space in HP cartridges
pany working with T-1s that we do busiQ: I have a quick question about the
ness with told us that the T-1s all over
inkjet cartridges. She talked about how
Southern California are down. There are
HP blocks up some of the space in the
still links that are not working. My guess
cartridges to make them smaller. My
is that Yahoo is having an issue with
colors run out very fast, and that’s why I
what they call “Mae-West,” the central
reload, because it’s faster. Is it possible
node for Los Angeles and one of the five
to increase the capacity by taking out
major nodes in the U.S.
some of the blockage?
A: I believe the question was asked,
Best e-mail provider, refilling HP
and a provisional answer was “no.”
cartridges?
Q: What would you recommend as
Placing photos on DVD
the best e-mail provider for speed, space
Q: I tried putting some photos on a
and reliability: AOL, Yahoo, Gmail?
DVD, so that someone could put them
And is it possible to refill an HP inkjet
through their DVD player and see them
August 2007
The Outer Edge
on TV. Is that possible, or should it be
minus R or plus R, or what kind of software do I need? It showed the pictures
being copied, and checked, but when I
tried to view them it was blank. It said,
“no DVD in place.”
A: First of all, plus-R or minus-R
should not be that big a problem anymore. Almost all recent DVDs can read
both. If your computer can’t read the
DVD it supposedly created, there’s
something wrong with the way it’s writing.
I can’t read POP3 messages elsewhere
Q: This is back to the e-mail question
again. If I use POP3 and download to
my desktop, then I can’t read the e-mail
if I am someplace else. What are the
advantages it that case?
A: There are two answers, relating to
the management of e-mail. If you don’t
get very many messages, and the lack of
speed of webmail isn’t a problem, then
webmail may work out just fine. Maybe
webmail is the solution for you. The
other possibility, if you use mail on
more than one computer, there is an option in your mail, in tools, properties,
advanced, to choose whether to leave
messages on the server, and you can
even tell it how many days. All mail
clients I know of have this feature. All
mail systems have some upper limit of
size to leave on the server. Only leave
them on long enough for you to be able
to download copies to all the computers
you use.
Gmail difficulties
Q: With my Gmail, I cannot tell
where I have been once I go on the Web.
With AOL, I used to be able to click on
the information of where I had visited on
the Internet, and I could go back and
forth.
A: Look at the history file
(demonstrating in Outlook). It is chronological by day, and alphabetical within
days, and I don’t know of any way to
change that.
Ventura Publisher printing issues
Q: I use Ventura to produce a quarterly magazine and send the printer a
Page 7
Program: Panda Security
Malware goes after your personal data
By John Weigle
editor@cipcug.org
ost malware is no longer aimed at
destroying your computer files.
Instead it’s designed to sit quietly on the
computer gathering information to
empty your bank accounts.
That was the message of our July
speaker, Ryan Sherstobitoff, product
technology officer for Panda Security,
USA, which makes a variety of antimalware software.
He offered a one-year free use of the
OEM version of Panda Internet Security
at the meeting, but that offer is no longer
valid because OEM versions of the justreleased 2008 products are not available
yet. The suite, which includes Panda
AntiSpyware, Panda Firewall, Panda
TruPrevent, Panda IdentityProtect,
Panda Antispam and Panda Parental
Control, is offered on the CIPCUG Web
site with a two-year license for two
computers for $69.95.
As is true of any antivirus program,
he said, you should uninstall any other
antivirus programs before installing the
Panda product. As has been noted many
times, running more than one antivirus
program is likely to crash your computer. Multiple anti-spyware programs
will not do that. Panda’s Web-based
software should not crash your machine,
he said. CyberDefender does not need to
be uninstalled because it’s designed to
be a second layer protection, he said in
answer to a question.
Key-logging software can be placed
M
Photo by Jerry Crocker
Ryan Sherstobitoff, product
technology officer at Panda
Security, USA, discusses security
threats at the July meeting and
some of Panda’s solutions.
on your computer via malicious code on
hacked Web sites or downloaded malware, he said. Some such software not
only captures all our keystrokes but also
video of your monitor, which is then
silently sent to criminal sites while
you’re connected to the Internet. A few
years ago, malware writers just wanted
to gain fame or destroy computer files or
were just being stupid, he said.
Today, the sophisticated malware
comes from such places as “the Russian
Business Network, which has a legitimate incorporation but a hidden agenda
behind it. Their whole intention is not to
earn a name for them. Their whole intention is to steal personal information
necessary to commit financial fraud.”
Sixty percent of the malware that
Panda Labs sees today is designed to
steal financial information, he said, and
it affects many banks. “You’re not going
to see any visible symptoms because
that’s the idea behind it,” he said. “You
won’t know that you’re infected, you
won’t see strange error messages, you
won’t see performance degradation, you
won’t see anything that alerts you to
infection.”
Recently, he said, there was a fake
phone site that looked exactly like Apple’s, but “you would pay and pay and
pay and never get an iPhone.”
Another danger, he said, is the botnet
that plants key-loggers on as many computers as it can to send information to
hack servers in Russia, China and Taiwan.
But “the real scary stuff,” he said is
that auto-hacking tools can hack a large
volume of Web sites, he said, injecting
code into Web pages that takes hours to
find. “The Super Bowl Miami Dolphins
site a couple of months ago was seeded
for at least at least 14 hours with some
hidden Trojan that when you clicked on
one of those animations or a page dis(Continued on page 9)
More on Q&A: Creating e-mail spam rules
PDF. Recently the type in the final product has printed somewhat grayish and
the printer tells me it is testing out at
about 85 percent black.
A: One possibility for font issues is
what color they are using as default in
Ventura. Any of these types of programs, you can change the default font
color to red, for instance, or green. A
dark gray would show as about 85 perPage 8
cent black. It will look black but won’t
print as darkly as it should. The other
possibility is that in the PDF settings the
PDF is not converting it as black, it is
converting it as color. If it is a blackand-white publication, you want to make
sure you are doing it as black and white.
than spam! Is there any way I can tell
my Thunderbird program that anything
to do with this particular address is
spam?
A: Create a rule. Incidentally, you
can do rules in any of the e-mail programs. (Demonstrating) selecting Subject,
From, to filter for. Use the “run
Getting rid of spam
filter
now” button to test it. Every proQ: I started watching a show called
gram
has
one.
“Kramer,” and unfortunately I signed
like for a zillion newsletters. He is worse
The Outer Edge
August 2007
More on Panda ...
played, a Trojan would come back in.
So at that point the user names and passwords of a bunch of people were being
stolen.”
Stolen information is sent off to a
hacked box, a computer containing lots
of stolen information that the user does
not know about but that hackers can
regularly visit to download data.
The number one country to host malware is China, followed by Russia and
the United Stares, he said.
PDF files can contain Trojans, and a
program called Pay Rob steals information from Pay Pal accounts to place on
the Internet to sell.
“If you can infect Orbitz (a traveloriented Web site), imagine how many
people just go to search for vacations for
leisure time, just dreaming of how they
can go to the Bahamas, when, in fact, a
banking Trojan is being inserted,” he
said.
Then, self-adapting botnets search
out other computers to store information
on. The botnets can be used to send
spam, break into government sites and
search hard drives for personal information to sell.
“There’s a shop where they sell people’s Social Security numbers, personal
details. If you’ve got Quicken or any of
those tax accounting programs, they
would love to sell that file on the Internet,” he said. “They sell these Trojans
too, so somebody down the street can
buy one for $300 off of an underground
Russian hacking site. They’ll give you
tech support for a year through ICQ, and
they will customize it to your needs.”
Some Web sites that sell cheap computers put malware on them, he added.
“The solution to all this problem is
to consistently scan your PC to insure
that whatever is lurking on there is detected,” he said.
Hackers are creating so much malware that some 30 percent of it has
never been seen by antivirus labs.
In 2006, Panda got more malware
than it had in 15 years, he said. “Just in
2007 in May we got more than we ever
did in five years.”
There are probably 1 million variants
of malware that has never been seen
“because there is not enough resources
to handle it.” Panda tracks its findings
on the Web site infectedornot.com,
which shows the results of scans by
Panda’s free online scans: NanoScan,
which checks the memory for malware,
and TotalScan, which checks the system
for malware that has not been activated.
Total Scan also has a cleaning routine.
(The TOE editor tried both the
NanoScan and the Deep Scan. Both require Active X controls and, depending
on your browser, you might have to give
permission to allow the installation. The
NanoScan worked well and showed no
infections, but the DeepScan software
was blocked by Avast AntiVirus as a
possible virus.)
Sherstobitoff advised members to
beware of e-cards, which can often contain Trojans, and said that users who
find that typing information into bank
sites takes longer than usual might have
a key-logger on their machine. If it happens on just one browser, it could be a
sign of a problem with the browser or it
could be a browser-specific piece of
malware.
Firewalls are designed to defend
against direct-hacking attempts, he said.
Today’s viruses are designed to use
ports that are generally expected to be
open.
Virus writers exploit Internet Explorer flaws and general Windows
flaws. That’s why Windows Update is
important, he said, especially for security updates. Firefox is safer, but if there
are notices of upgrades, the upgrades
should be installed, he said. The Macintosh operating system has fewer problems because of different coding, he
said. But exploits are based on market
share, he said, which explains why Internet Explorer is attacked so often. As the
number of users increases for any
browser, the number of attacks will also
increase.
Multiple firewalls help block “the
silent epidemic,” he said. But if you’re
surfing the Internet, the firewall might
not block it. (Toby Scott noted that he
has often recommended that people with
always-on Internet connections should
have both a hardware and software firewall.)
Sherstobitoff also showed examples
of several malware programs in the
Panda site’s encyclopedia of malware.
Of viruses, Trojans and worms,
about 95 percent are oriented toward
Windows 2000 and above, he said.
Rootkits for Vista are emerging, and
Panda offers a free tool to scan for rootkits. A lot of the code for Windows
Vista was rewritten so much of the old
malware won’t work on it, but hackers
are already seeking and finding vulnerabilities, he said.
On the Net:
www.infectedornot.com (the scanning site)
www.pandasoftware.com (includes a
dictionary of malware, which tells what
the software does, lists symptoms of infection and gives file names of software
installed)
Panda Software is now Panda Security
From Panda Security
MADRID, July 30, 2007 — Panda
Software is now Panda Security. This
change of brand reflects many other
major changes taking place in Panda,
both technologically and in terms of
organization.
Malware is increasing exponentially.
In 2006, PandaLabs detected more malAugust 2007
ware than in the previous 15 years combined. At the same time, Internet crooks
are no longer motivated by notoriety and
are now simply looking for cash.
Panda has taken a step forward. Just
as it is a pioneer in preventive technologies with TruPrevent, it is tackling the
new malware situation with a new security model in the shape of a new generaThe Outer Edge
tion of security solutions characterized
by ultra-high detection capacity.
The change to Panda Security implies a profound change at all levels. For
example, we have taken a great step
forward with the PandaLabs laboratory,
incorporating automated processes that
allow it to deal with much more new
malware.
Page 9
Fedora Project releases new Linux distribution
By Bill Wayson
bwayson@gmail.com
arlier this year, the Fedora Project,
Red Hat’s community-based Linux
arm, released its latest Linux distribution, Fedora 7. The Fedora distributions
are important to the Linux community
because they introduce and showcase
technology that can make its way into
Red Hat’s enterprise Linux products,
and Red Hat is probably the number one
vendor of enterprise Linux products in
the world. We will take
Penguin’s
a brief tour of the FeLair
dora 7 distribution to
see what might become
the Next Big Thing.
Version 7 is the first
Fedora distribution to
drop the qualifier
“Core” from its name.
Fedora 7 now includes
software from both the
Fedora Core and Extras
Wayson
repositories, which
should simplify software installation and
updates.
It is also the first Fedora release with
installation media that comes only as a
DVD image. Standard installation images for CDs are no longer an option.
Accordingly, Fedora 7 provides a very
large number of packages to choose
from if you don’t like its default choices.
What does Fedora 7 give you? Fedora has traditionally been one of the
“everything plus the kitchen sink” distributions, offering several alternative
packages in each popular software category. A scan of the Fedora 7 DVD package list suggests to me that they are
moving closer toward a “best of breed”
distribution that includes reasonable
default selections of software in all the
popular application categories and a
more limited selection of alternatives,
with the goal of a hands-off installation
that results in a very usable system.
You are not restricted to installing
only the software available on the DVD.
Additional packages are available
through Internet-based repositories,
which should be an issue only for those
with dial-up or otherwise slow connections to the Internet. Having said all this,
E
Page 10
the 2.7 GB Fedora 7 DVD does include
a large number of packages to choose
from. You’ll get the very recent 2.6.21
kernel. Of course, you’ll get the obligatory new desktop theme, “Flying High.”
For desktop managers, both Gnome and
KDE are available, as are the base applications that each environment includes.
The GUI runs on top of xorg R7 1.3.
The expected productivity and Internet
software is there, including OpenOffice,
the Gimp, and Firefox.
As with most large Linux distributions, support for formats such as MP3,
DVD, and encrypted DVD are not included on the DVD due to legal issues in
the U.S.A., but instructions abound on
the Internet for adding this support to
Fedora. Many multimedia audio, video,
and graphics tools are also available.
If you are setting up or updating a
network server, Fedora 7 has you covered. All of the standard applications are
there, from host configuration and name
services; through Web, FTP, database,
and Microsoft Windows-style file and
print servers; and on to network auditing
and troubleshooting utilities. The
graphical tool to administer SELinux
(Security Enhanced Linux) has been
improved and expanded, as have
SELinux troubleshooting tools, to help
those who really want to lock down the
security of their systems.
If it is a software development system you are looking for, then just about
everything you likely are looking for is
on the Fedora 7 DVD. No matter what
type of computer system you are trying
to build, more than likely the software
you need will be on the Fedora 7 DVD.
If you are adventurous, Fedora 7
introduces the new Fedora goal to facilitate creating customized Linux distributions based on Fedora. Fedora refers to
these custom distributions as “spins,”
and makes several special-purpose spins
available. Ubuntu has long provided this
capability for its distribution, and several Ubuntu-based distributions are now
available.
Moving on, you might want to use
the latest open source virtualization
technology, which makes it possible to
run multiple “instances” of independent
The Outer Edge
computer systems on one physical PC.
This interests both those who want to
safely experiment with multiple Linux
distributions as well as system administrators wishing to maximize the utilization of their hardware.
Fedora 7 supports several computer
architectures, including Intel PCs, recent
Macintoshes, some IBM midrange computers, and even the Sony Playstation 3.
Live image files are available, which
can be burned to a CD or DVD and allow you to run and test Fedora 7 completely from the optical media.
Once you have Fedora 7 installed,
your gateway to further information is
the Fedora Project Web site at fedoraproject.org. There, you will find links to
known issues in Fedora 7, Fedora documentation, a Fedora wiki, Fedora support forums, mailing lists, and different
ways to get involved with the Fedora
Project. Use your favorite Web search
engine to search on “fedora support” and
locate other independent resources.
One can understandably be confused
and overwhelmed by the sheer number
of Linux distributions. To get some of
the less popular distributions to work for
you, sometimes you are required to
manually tweak and configure things,
but you are often rewarded with some of
the more interesting, cutting-edge, and
bizarre software that is out there. But if
you are looking for one that gives you a
PC that just works with minimal fuss,
you can hardly go wrong by choosing
one of the top-tier distributions like Fedora, Ubuntu, openSUSE or others.
And even these can be tweaked, customized, and changed to your heart’s
content. Your available time and patience are the only limits.
If you have questions or would like
to learn more about Linux and FOSS,
come to the August CIPCUG Linux SIG
meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday the
23rd at Ventura County Computers in
Ventura. We will install Fedora 7 on one
of our SIG member’s PCs.
If you have a question or topic you
would like the Lair or Linux SIG to
cover, drop me a line at bwayson@gmail.com.
Until next month, happy computing.
August 2007
New freeware CD should be ready in August
By Helen Long
webmaster@cipcug.org
e were supposed to have the revised version of the freeware
disc in July, but somehow it didn’t update itself, so we are hoping to have it in
August. I’ll tie a string around my finger
to remind the “update fairies” to get
with it.
W
Don’t forget, we plan to have the
Mini Computer Tune-Up at the August
meeting. This went over very well in
March, and Rick and Michael are going
to do it again in August. There will be a
sign-up sheet on the Web site 10-14
days before the meeting, so watch for it.
The charge will be a $10 donation to the
club. Time will not permit any major
repair, but if your
computer has been a
bit sluggish lately,
they will be able to
make some recommendation to speed
things up, and if it can
be done at that time,
they will do it. Check
Long
the Web site for the
available times.
I still have some of the XP Mentor
discs, and will try to keep some available for a $5 donation to the club. I believe that David is now working on the
same type of thing for Vista. Perhaps
instead of repeating the XP Mentor Program at the Saturday pre-meeting SIGs,
they will start with Vista. This is not
Web page
written in stone yet so just keep an eye
on the Web Site SIGINFO page.
So far, we have been unable to proceed with a Photo Group SIG, however,
the Thousand Oaks Personal Computer
Club does have a very active group interested in digital photography. This
group meets at the Goebel Center on the
fourth Thursday except for November
and December, when the meetings are
held on the third Thursday. They welcome visitors; however, the visitor fee is
$3. Anyone interested might want to
drop in and see what they have to offer.
More information available from
www.topcc.org.
HAVE YOU RUN YOUR ANTISPY WARE PROGRAMS LATELY!
ShopSafe makes online shopping safer
From Bank of America
ShopSafe is a free service Bank of
America is offering to customers who
have a Bank of America credit card and
use its Online Banking service.
ShopSafe is a free service that allows
you to create a temporary card number
each time you make an online purchase.
This number links directly to your real
credit card account number but keeps
your card number completely private
and protected. The ShopSafe number is
used just like any other credit card — a
merchant never knows it’s not your real
credit card.
— Purchase securely and with peace
of mind: You can shop online without
spending limits you desire, and ShopSafe will automatically generate a temporary account number that allows you
to complete your purchase while protecting your privacy.
The ShopSafe 16-digit account number works just like a regular credit card.
Each ShopSafe number can be used at
only one online merchant, but you may
reuse the same ShopSafe number at the
same merchant.
Please remember ShopSafe is available only for customers who have a
How it works
Bank of America credit card and use our
Shop online as usual. When it comes
Online Banking service. Check with
time to check out, just sign in to Online
your bank to see if or when it will be
Banking to access ShopSafe. Enter the
adding this secure shopping service.
exposing your real credit card number.
— You can use ShopSafe for recurring payments: The ShopSafe service
allows you to set your “Valid Thru” date
for up to one year in the future. The recurring monthly payment feature allows
you to securely manage your monthly
bills.
— Use ShopSafe any time you shop
online: Merchants do not need any special software or applications to process
your ShopSafe account.
The Outer Edge is printed and prepared for mailing by:
August 2007
The Outer Edge
Page 11
Smart Computing tips and fun facts
New Cell Phone Plan: When shopping around for a new cell phone plan,
you may want to think about getting a
group plan. If you have family members
living with you, consider whether they
will need their own cell phones. Putting
two or more phones on a family plan is
usually less expensive than having separate plans and contracts for each person.
It’s also easier to pay one bill each
month and remember when one contract
expires instead of three.
Blocked Program: A firewall keeps
the bad stuff out and the good stuff in,
but sometimes it can keep programs you
need from sending and receiving the
data they need to function. In that case,
the program is said to be “blocked.”
Often you’ll see a pop-up window explaining this and prompting you to unblock the program or continue to block
it. For instance, if Windows Firewall
has blocked a program, it will show you
a message reading, “To help protect
your computer, Windows Firewall has
blocked some features of this program.”
The message has three buttons: Keep
Blocking, Unblock, and Ask Me Later.
Page 12
If you know and trust the program that’s
trying to send or receive data, just click
the Unblock button, and the problem is
solved. (NOTE: The Windows Firewall
only blocks incoming data. Only thirdparty firewalls, such as the firewall in
Symantec’s Norton Internet Security or
McAfee’s Internet Security Suite, will
block data from leaving your computer
as well as invading it.)
Pop-Up Ads: One way to shield
yourself from pop-ups is to install a
toolbar that has built-in pop-up protection. The Google Toolbar (free; toolbar.google.com) and the Yahoo! Toolbar (free; toolbar.yahoo.com) have
built-in pop-up blockers. These toolbars
will automatically block pop-ups. When
necessary, you can allow individual
sites to display pop-ups. This allows
you to see pop-ups when necessary, and
avoid them otherwise.
Reprinted with permission from
Smart Computing. Visit http://
www.smartcomputing.com/groups to
learn what Smart Computing can do for
you and your user group.
The Outer Edge
Opinions about
Fry’s Electronics
Rick Smith proposed using portions
of Fry’s Electronics Sucks at http://
www.doofus.org/Frys/ as his rant this
month. Because we can’t legally reprint material on the Web — or in
other media, for that matter — without
permission, I wrote to
Rick’s
Aaron Williams, who
rant
prepared the page, for
permission, and he replied, “Thank you for
asking. I would prefer it
not be reprinted.”
Given that response, I
placed the URL above so
anyone who is interested
Smith
in reading the article may
do so. Rick suggested
that we add the following paragraph to
the material if we printed it: “The article is extremely outdated and Fry’s
may be different now. I don’t know
because I’ve never been in a Fry’s. If
you have a Fry’s story good or bad
please e-mail me at rants@vcmail.net.
August 2007
Put a volume control on your taskbar
box next to “Place volLearning
ume icon in the taskbar”
indows XP shipped with a clean with Levy
to place a check mark
look, leaving it up to you to custhere. Click Apply, and
tomize the Taskbar by adding new
that’s it, you’re done.
items. Adding a volume control makes it
Click OK to close, and
quick and easy to adjust your speaker's
you now have a volume
volume with your mouse. Here's how
control
in
the
it’s done.
Levy
“ N o t i f i c a t i o n
Click on Start and then open ConArea” (formerly called
trol Panel.
the System Tray) located on the far right
Now click on Sounds and Audio
side of the Taskbar.
Devices. On the Volume tab click in the
By Jeff Levy
W
This lesson is copyright by Jeff Levy
and reprinted with permission. Jeff is
the host of “Computer News with Jeff
Levy” from 1 to 3 p.m. every Saturday
on KNX News Radio, 1070 AM on the
dial. All of his more than 400 lessons for
both the PC and the Mac can be found
on his Web site, jefflevy.com.
Jeff’s show notes for every show are
also at www.jefflelevy.com. Click on the
Show Notes picture on the opening page
to access a wealth of information.
VersionTracker keeps programs, drivers up to date
By Jim Thornton
jasthorn@gmail.com
ne of the more common ways to
keep your computer running at its
highest performance level is to run only
the most current versions of your programs. Program developers often release
new versions of their programs to add
requested program enhancements as
well as to eliminate variProduct
ous forms of program
review
problems.
Two fairly
recent minor but annoying problems come to
mind. The popular solitaire computer card program Pretty Good Solitaire had a problem —
whenever you would
Thornton
open the Klondike game,
the first game would always be either game 0 or 1, and after a
while it became annoying to play either
of these two games, as you already
know the outcome. Recently, the program developer, Thomas Warfield, corrected this problem with a new version
release. Another program is the popular
photograph and music-playing program
IrfanView: When overlaying text on a
photograph, it wouldn’t center. Developer Irfan Skiljan corrected this problem
with a new version. What I would do
was maintain a list of the programs installed on my computer with their version numbers and periodically, typically
every three months, check each program’s Web site to verify that I had the
O
August 2007
most current version installed. As you
can image, this is a time-consuming
task. I recently found a better and faster
way of doing this routine maintenance
activity by using a small utility program
called VersionTracker.
The first time that I ran the program,
it report that I had 17 outdated programs
and 11 outdated hardware drivers on my
computer. The program report lists all
the programs installed on your computer
and your version and the developer’s
current version numbers. So it is very
easy to go through the list and to quickly
identify the outdated programs as their
version number appears in red. On an
outdated program, just left mouse click
on the program’s name, and VersionTracker would immediately open your
Internet Explorer and go to the program’s Web site, where you would click
on the program’s upgraded version and
immediately download and install the
latest version. The driver report is very
similar except that the report lists the
name of the device (for example HP
LaserJet 4), its class (disk drive, display,
image, keyboard, media, modem, monitor, mouse, net, printer, USB, etc.), and
a red X indicating that the driver is Out
Of Date or a green checkmark indicating
that the driver is Up To Date. Clicking
on the device’s name produces the same
results as when clicking on a program’s
name (opening Internet Explorer, going
to the driver’s Web site, etc.).
Upon viewing VersionTracker’s
Web site <www.verisiontracker.com>,
one of the first things that you see is a
The Outer Edge
long list of Updates for Windows programs — typically more than 100 for the
day. This list provides the program title,
version number, a brief description of
each program, the size of the update
(KB or MB), and whether the program is
licensed as freeware, shareware, commercial, beta, etc. By clicking on the
Category tab, the list is rearranged by
category (Audio/Video, Business/
Productivity. Design/Graphic, etc.) or by
clicking on the License, the list is rearranged by type of license. You can customize the Web site to list only the upgrades for all Windows programs or one
of these Windows operating systems —
Vista, Server 2003, XP, or 2000. In addition, you can customize it to show
only Mac OS X or Palm OS systems.
The Previous Day’s list of upgrades
are available if you subscribe to the free
subscription service and, in addition,
you will be able to access the Top
Downloads, the Editor’s Picks, and My
Tools (information or feedback on products you are interested in; a single report
comparing all of your computers monitored by Version Tracker Pro as you can
install the program on three computers;
a list of new downloadable products that
you are interested in; and a list of future
updates so that you will be notified as
soon as they become available.
The freeware VersionTracker performs just like its shareware version
called VersionTracker Pro for the fiveday trial period. Using the freeware ver(Continued on page 14)
Page 13
Product reviews updated: What’s new?
By Jim Thornton
jasthorn@gmail.com
requently, software developers release new versions or updates to
their products to add enhancements and/
or to correct problems. Here are the updates to various software products that
we have recently reviewed.
AD-AWARE SE 1.06r1 — Advertising and Spyware File Searcher and
Eliminator (Reviewed In April 2006
newsletter)
Product Description: Ad-Aware’s
Standard Edition is the award-winning,
free, advertising and spyware detection and reProduct
Evaluation moval utility that leads
the industry in safety,
user satisfaction, support,
and reliability. With its
ability to scan your memory; registry; and hard,
removable, and optical
drives for known data
mining, aggressive adThornton
vertising, and tracking
components, Ad-aware provides the
confidence to surf the Internet knowing
that your privacy remains protected.
What’s New in This Version? The
disk scan progress is approximately 30
percent faster as its search engine is improved and uses less CPU and memory
resources.
Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/
F
NT/2000/XP
Release Date: Dec. 4, 2006
Web site: http://www.lavasoft.de/
software/adaware/
BADCOPY PRO 3.81 - Recovers
Corrupted or Lost Data (Reviewed in
March 2006 newsletter)
Product Description - BadCopy Pro
is a data recovery tool for floppy disk,
CD-ROM and CD-R/W discs and other
storage media. It effectively recovers,
rescues, and repairs corrupted, damaged,
defective, lost, unopenable or unreadable floppy disks and CD discs. In addition, data on deleted, inaccessible, and
quick formatted floppy disks may be
recovered, repaired or rescued as well as
burning CD problems are. Data on hard
drives. flash drives. and Iomega ZIP,
JAZ, and MO disks may be recovered.
Even lost photographs on memory sticks
from digital cameras may be recovered.
Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/
NT/2000/XP
Release Date: March 10, 2007
Web site: http://www.jufsoft.com/
PRETTY GOOD SOLITAIRE
11.0.1 - Solitaire Card Game (Reviewed
in June 2007 newsletter)
Product Description: Pretty Good
Solitaire is a collection of 640 solitaire
card games, from the classic games like
Klondike, FreeCell, and Spider, to original games found nowhere else. The
games are easy to play, giving you the
choice of the standard drag and drop or
its unique quick right button mouse
clicks to move the cards. You can leave
a game in progress, Pretty Good Solitaire will save it for you, and when you
start the game again you’ll be right back
where you left off. You can submit your
statistics to the Pretty Good Solitaire
Web site and see how you rank against
other players worldwide. The playing
cards are large, beautiful, and easy-toread with a large choice of backgrounds,
which you may change to any color or
any image of your choice. If you can’t
decide which game to play, Pretty Good
Solitaire can select a game at random for
you. You can even create your own solitaire games with the Pretty Good Solitaire wizard!
What's New in This Version? Updates for Windows Vista compatibility
Requirements: Windows 95/98/NT/
ME/2000/XP/Vista
Release Date: Jan. 18, 2007
Web site: http://www.goodsol.com/
REGISTRY MECHANIC
6.0.0.780 — Registry Scanner and
Cleaner (Reviewed in September 2006
newsletter)
Product Description: Registry Mechanic is an advanced registry cleaner
for Windows that allows you to safely
clean and repair registry problems with a
few simple mouse clicks. Windows reg(Continued on page 15)
More on VersionTracker ...
sion is an excellent tool to learn the
status of the programs and drivers on
your computer at no cost.
To upgrade to VersionTracker Pro
3.6.1 for Windows, the one-year subscription rate is currently discounted
from $49.95 to $29.95 and available at
www.versiontracker.com. You will be
notified by e-mail when updates become
available.
In addition, since the VersionTracker
Pro program is on your computer monitoring all of your installed software, it
will alert you as soon as updates become
Page 14
available. Other features of the VersionTracker Pro are that it provides reviews,
ratings, system compatibility, features,
bug fixes, and download links for each
update. Another advantage is that you
can run the program whenever you like.
The program lists the status of installed
programs and drivers, new programs,
and the history of what programs and
driver upgrades you have installed and
on what dates. The Installed Software
Page looks like the Web site page except
at the bottom of the screen, where there
is more detailed information about the
highlighted program. This additional
The Outer Edge
information includes the name and version number of the program, the program’s function, the program’s path
(location on your hard drive), and a detailed description of what the program
does. Off to the right hand side is more
information about the program’s category, the developer, the developer’s
Web site, the license, the release date,
the total number of downloads of the
current version and for all versions, and
a rating of the program. Similar information is provided for the installed drivers, new software, and the download
history.
August 2007
Product review
NERO 7 Ultimate: New version adds features
By David Harris
papadavid1@verizon.net
have been using Nero’s previous
versions. It was my favorite because
it contained many features that were
user-friendly. Nero 7 is built around the
same “StartSmart” engine that earlier
versions were. It allows you to easily
choose what task you wish to perform,
and the appropriate Nero application
will start. This is very helpful to computer novices or anyone who isn’t completely familiar with its interface and
variety of applications.
The layout of StartSmart is very easy
to use, and it puts all the applications at
I
“The layout of StartSmart is
very easy to use, and it puts all
the applications at users’
fingertips.”
the
users’ fingertips. Nero 7 includes a new
program called Nero Scout, which is a
media organizer that keeps track of your
video, audio and image files. Nero Scout
can be useful if you have a lot of images
on your computer because it allows you
to easily organize them into categories.
Nero Vision, which I have not had
the application to use, is a video-editing,
-authoring and slide-show application.
Another added program is Nero
Home, a Media Center application with
an interface that allows you to watch TV
if your computer has a TV-tuner card.
You also can make DVDs with chapters.
Some other changes are the interface
of a few programs that were in previous
versions. Nero Express, the wizardbased disc burning application, and
InCD, the rewritable CD program, have
been updated in their user interface.
BackItUp has a ton of new features.
The file back-up program now can back
up or restore to external drives. The new
music composer, SoundBox, allows you
to experiment and create your own music.
More on product review updates ...
istry problems are a common cause of
Windows crashes and error messages.
By using a registry cleaner regularly and
fixing your registry, your system will
become more stable and even run faster.
Registry problems occur for many reasons, from left-behind data after the uninstallation or incorrect removal of software, to missing or corrupt hardware
drivers, to orphaned startup programs.
Req uir e me nt s : W ind o ws 9 8 /
ME/2000/XP
Web site: http://www.pctools.com/
VERSIONTRACKER Pro 3.6.1 —
A Finder, Downloader, and Installer of
Software and Driver Updates (Reviewed
in August 2007 newsletter)
Product Description: A software
updated for all your drivers and thirdparty applications. VersionTracker Pro
provides the current version information
to assist you in making the proper decision whether to update your software
and drivers or not. The program automatically monitors and inventories the
versions of the drivers and software on
your Windows computer, compares it
against the manufacturers’ current versions, and immediately notifies you of
any differences and of all new updates.
Version Tracker Pro currently maintains
August 2007
a comprehensive database of more than
75,000 products.
Requirements: Windows NT/2000/
XP/Vista; Intel Pentium or better processor; 64MB RAM; 3MB HDD space;
Internet connection; and a Web browser
such as Internet Explorer or Firefox.
WINDOWS DEFENDER 1.1.1593
— Advertising and Spyware File
Searcher and Eliminator. Formerly titled
Windows Antispyware (Reviewed in
June 2006 newsletter)
Product Description: Windows Defender has a redesigned and simplified
user interface incorporating the feedback
from the Microsoft customers, which
makes it able to detect and remove more
threats posed by spyware and other potentially unwanted software. Real Time
Protection has also been enhanced to
better monitor key points in the operating system for changes. Windows Defender will first validate that your copy
of Windows is genuine before starting
its installation. Should your copy of
Windows not be genuine, Windows Defender will remove only severe threats
while low, medium, and high threats
will be detected but not removed.
Requirements: Minimum system
requirements are an Intel Pentium
233MHz or higher processor; Pentium
III (recommended); operating system of
The Outer Edge
Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or
higher, or Windows Server 2003 with
Service Pack 1 or higher; 64MB of
RAM (minimum); 128MB RAM
(recommended); 20MB of available hard
disk space; Microsoft Internet Explorer
6.0 or higher; and an Internet access
with at least a 28.8 Kbps connection.
Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/
athome/security/spyware/software/
default.mspx
WINPATROL 11.3.2007 — Identifies New Programs That May Have Installed Without Your Knowledge
(Reviewed in December 2006 newsletter)
Product Description: WinPatrol and
its Scotty the Windows Watch Dog will
quickly expose worms, Trojan horses,
cookies, adware, spyware, and other
malicious programs. WinPatrol will alert
you to all new programs, including the
ones that may have been added without
your knowledge, and will ask you to
confirm if you want these new programs
to start and run whenever you start your
computer.
Req uir e me nt s : W ind o ws 9 8 /
ME/2000/XP
Release Date: April 19, 2007
Web site: http://www.winpatrol.com
Page 15
Annual financial report Treasurer’s
report for
FY 2006/2007
June 2007
CHANNEL ISLANDS PC USERS GROUP
P.O. Box 51354, Oxnard, CA 93031
2005/06
ASSETS
Cash
$ 4,520.60
Equipment (depreciated value) $ 4,093.00
Total Assets
$8,613.60
LIABILITIES
Accounts Payable
Contracts
none
none
By Art Lewis
2006/07
$ 4,766.57
$ 3,451.00
$ 8,217.57
none
none
Total Revenue
$13,266.39
$ 14,742.53
Total Disbursements
$15,O29.36 $ 14,496.56
Cash Assets increased $245.97 and Total Revenue exceeded
Total Disbursements by the same amount, due to careful fiscal
management.
Equipment (depreciated value) decreased $642.00, and Total
Assets decreased $396.03 during FY 2006/2007. The club has no
liabilities and no long-term contracts.
Equipment expense was $827.46 including replacement parts
for our amplifier, as well as a new computer to run Windows
Vista.
This report has been prepared without audit from the book and
records of the corporation, and is believed to fairly represent its
financial condition as of June 30, 2007. CIPCUG books are available for inspection by members on written request to the Treasurer.
Arthur V. Lewis, Jr.
Treasurer
July 26, 2007
Lewis
treasurer@cipcug.org
6-1 through
6-30, 2007
Category Description
INFLOWS
Coffee income
Donation
ISP Income
Membership Income
Renewals
420.00
TOTAL MEMBERSHIP
Raffle
TOTAL INFLOWS
420.00
140.00
932.06
OUTFLOWS
Equipment
ISP Expense
Misc. Expense
Raffle Prizes
Rent Paid
TOE
65.41
325.00
-0113.54
150.00
425.00
TOTAL OUTFLOWS
OVERALL TOTAL
Unrestricted Funds
Restricted Funds
Bank Balance 6-30-07
Year to Date Income
Year to Date Expense
10.10
256.96
105.00
1,078.95
-146.89
2,766.57
2,000.00
4,766.57
13,582.82
-13,336.85
Members’ classified ads
2007 contributors to The Outer Edge
Classified ads are free to members. Each ad is limited to 105
characters, including spaces and to one ad per member per
month. Copy has to be to John Weigle, editor or TOE
(editor@cipcug.org), within the week after the regular meeting.
Otherwise, the ad is held to the following month. A form is also
available on the Web site to submit ads.
Your name can appear here, too. Share your knowledge with other members by sending an article, letter or
computer tip to editor@cipcug.org.
Free to a good home
HP Printer Refill C6615DN (#15)
Refilled by The Ink Spot
Used with Deskjet 810C/ 812C / 825C / 840C / 841C / 842C /
845C / 920C / 940C / 3820, OfficeJet V40 / V40xi, PSC 500 /
500xi / 750 / 750xi / 950 / / 950vr / / 950xi, Digital Copier 310, Fax
1230 / 1230xi
FREE to good home.
David Minkin, dddave@cipcug.org.
Sarasota PCUG, Florida
Ken Church
Helen Long
Martha Churchyard
Tony Pizza
Jerry Crocker
Smart Computing
Bob de Violini
Lois Evans de Violini
Rick Smith
Jim Thornton
David Harris
Bill Wayson
Jeff Levy
John Weigle
Art Lewis
Brian K. Lewis, Ph.D.,
Wanted
For sale
Other categories added as needed
Page 16
The Outer Edge
August 2007
Membership report:
Is it time to renew?
By Ken Church
email address: membership@cipcug.org
New Member: Brad Callison — Wel- CHURCH
come
Attendance at the July 2007 general meeting:
68 Members and 3 Guests.
Total membership: 270
MEMBER RENEWAL INFORMATION
$30 for single membership,
$35 for two or more family membership.
NEW MEMBER INFORMATION
$40 first year for single membership,
$55 first year for two or more family memberships in same household.
Please send your renewal payment to:
CIPCUG MEMBERSHIP
P.O. BOX 51354
OXNARD, CA 93031-1354
Or bring your payment to the sign-in table for
the Aug. 25, 2007, meeting.
June 2007 renewals payment due:
Mbr# Last Name
First Name Pd to Dt
1192 Altman
Harry
200706
1120 Bunker
Sandra
200706
1120A Bunker
Terence
200706
0456 Dinsmore
Bob
200706
1190 Johnson
Vee
200706
1191 Salerno
D.A.
200706
July 2007 renewals payment due:
Mbr# Last Name
First Name Pd to Dt
1122 Brody
Richard
200707
1028 Burke
Jim
200707
0006T Burnett
Bob
200707
0357 Chaiclin
Dick
200707
0687T Clark
Lewis
200707
0350 Colter
Don
200707
0624 Lambert
Ted
200707
0933 Leberknight
Gary
200707
1149 Little
Robert
200707
August 2007
July 2007 renewals payment due: Cont’d
Mbr# Last Name
First Name Pd to Dt
1178 Mueller
Shaun
200707
0873 Pass
Jim
200707
1156A Pocengal
Louise
200707
1156 Pocengal
Stanley
200707
0020 Van Slyke
Kathy
200707
0019 Van Slyke
Noel
200707
0051T Wefel
Ralph
200707
0812 White
Norm
200707
August 2007 renewals payment due:
Mbr# Last Name
First Name Pd to Dt
1193 Abbate
Mannie
200708
1159 Allen
Roy
200708
0985 Bartels
Pat
200708
0027 Burger, M.D. William
200708
1030 Cole
Chuck
200708
0729 Durocher
Ernie
200708
1180 Estes
Frank
200708
0028 Fiedler
Art
200708
0806 Hurme
Seppo
200708
0562 Johnson
Harold
200708
0986 Kennedy, Jr. Robert
200708
0159 Knopf
Jerry
200708
0368 Long
Helen
200708
1014 Marcovitz
Morton
200708
1065 Nicholes
Mike
200708
0225 Nunez
Thomas
200708
0867 Pryor
Dorothy
200708
0474 Pryor
John
200708
1125 Robinson
Bill
200708
0723 Smith
Bernadine
200708
0722 Smith
Gary
200708
0803 Snyder
Harlan
200708
1111 Sperske
Dineane
200708
0244 Zilm
Charles
200708
The Outer Edge
Page 17
Initials
Name
(805)
BDV
BR
Bob de Violini
Bill Robinson
BW
DM
Bart Wood
David Minkin
JM
Jerry McLoud
rjddev@gmail.com
389-2997 (b)
bill@bzus.com
482-4993 (e)
469-6970 (cell);
484-2974 (home);
dddave@cipcug.org
(818) 889-6176 (e)
JT
Jim Thornton
MS
F1—Your Help Key
(Revised June 3, 2007)
Phone: (d) = days; (e) = evenings; (b) = both
COMMUNICATIONS/INTERNET (GENERAL)
World Wide Web
DM
DATABASES
Access
BR
DOS
RP
If you would like to volunteer to help others, please send
your contact information and programs you’re willing to
help on to <editor@cipcug.org>.
........................
EDUCATIONAL / CHILDREN TZ
E-MAIL
Eudora
Outlook
Outlook Express
Thunderbird
JT
MS
BR, DM
MS
HARDWARE, UPGRADING
JM
GRAHICS PROGRAMS
IrfanView
Paint Shop Pro
Print Shop
MS, JT
DM
BR
SPREADSHEETS
Microsoft Excel
DM
UTILITY PROGRAMS
Norton Utilities
JT (and Anti Virus)
WORD PROCESSING
Microsoft Word
WordPerfect
BW, DM
DM
WINDOWS
Windows 98, 95
Windows Me
Windows 2000
Windows XP
DM, JM, MS (98)
JT
BDV
JT, DM
Page 18
RP
TZ
987-1748 (d)
jasthorn@gmail.com
Michael Shalkey 483-9921, ext 142 (d)
mshalkey@cipcug.org
Robert Provart 498-8477 (b)
Trish Zakas
985-8519 (b)
The Outer Edge
WEB HELP SITES
Annoyances Central blog (from authors of the O’Reilly
Anno yances ser ies, including Steve Bass) :
www.annoyancescentral.com/
DSL reports: www.dslreports.com
Steve Gibson: grc.com/
Kim Komando: www.komando.com
Fred Langa: www.langa.com
Leo Laporte: leoville.com/
Jeff Levy: www.jefflevy.com
Microsoft: www.microsoft.com/
Microsoft Windows XP The Official Magazine (UK):
www.windowsxpmagazine.co.uk/
PC Pitstop: pcpitstop.com/
PC World: pcworld.com/
SANS Institute — Computer Security Education and
Information Security Training: www.sans.org/
Smart Computing: www.smartcomputing.com/
Spyware Warrior: www.spywarewarrior.com/
User Group Relations (Gene Barlow): ugr.com/
Ventura County Computers (Rick and Toby’s shop):
www.vccomputers.com
Virus Bulletin: www.virus-bulletin.com/
ZD Net spyware blog: blogs.zdnet.com/Spyware
If you have a favorite help site on the Web, please forward it, so we can expand the section.
August 2007
Why join Channel Islands PC Users
Group (CIPCUG)?
Please make checks payable to
CIPCUG.
Every month, members of the
Channel Islands PC Users Group have
access to:
♦The Outer Edge newsletter, which
includes a list of members willing to
help other members.
♦The general meeting, featuring a
question-and-answer session and
program on new software or hardware.
♦Special Interest Groups — special
meetings held several times a month.
♦Door prizes at the regular
meeting.
Other benefits include:
♦Special user group discounts on
books and software.
♦An Internet Service Provider at a
large discount (see next column).
♦A chance to make friends with
people who have similar interests.
♦The ability to put your knowledge
to good use by helping other members.
The whole concept of user groups is
members helping members.
Please clip the coupon below and
send with payment to CIPCUGMembership, P.O. Box 51354, Oxnard,
CA 93031-1354.
month, six-month or annual increments.
We also give a 12-month subscription if
prepaid in advance at the 11-month price
of $165. Many of our club members are
Dues for new members
Individual member, $40.
electing to do this to keep Helen from
Family membership (same address), nagging them for money. Renewals can
$55.
also be mailed to Treasurer; just be sure
Renewals are $30 and $35 per year to mention the dates that your check is to
respectively
cover.
There is no program to install; you
will use programs that are already on
your computer. It’s simple to talk you
through the set-up, but if you’re the least
bit timid about setting up your computer,
a club member will come to your house
and make the necessary arrangements.
CIPCUG members are eligible to Our agreement will also give you a 5
sign up for the group’s Internet Service MB Web page allowance.
Provider (ISP) at the low price of only
$15 per month plus a $15 processing fee.
CIPCUG INTERNET SERVICE
To sign up, contact one of the club’s
TECH TEAM
techies (see next column). Call one of Helen Long, 642-6521
them you may know or one in your area,
helen@cipcug.org
and they will be glad to provide you David Minkin, 469-6970 (cell), 484with the details necessary for signing up.
2974 (home)
Checks should be made payable to
dddave@cipcug.org
CIPCUG and sent to Treasurer, c/o Bob Thompson, 647-2287
CIPCUG, P.O. Box 51354, Oxnard CA
93031. Don’t forget to include the $15
set-up fee in your first sign-up check.
You may make payments in three-
CIPCUG MEMBERSHIP
APPLICATION
Phone (Home): ______________(Work): ______________
Amount enclosed: ____________________________
E-mail address: ________________________________
Please Print the following information:
User level: Novice ____; Intermediate _____; Advanced
_____
Name: _______________________________________
Can you help the club as a volunteer? If so, what would you
be interested in working on?
Address: ______________________________________
City: ___________________________, State:________
ZIP Code: _______________________________
Date __________________ Member # ____________
August 2007
The Outer Edge
Page 19
|
|
NON-PROFIT
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
OXNARD. CA
PERMIT NO. 1785
Channel Islands PC
Users Group Inc.
P.O.Box 51354
Oxnard, CA. 93031
DATED MATERIAL
Please Do Not Delay
DUES REMINDER
If the number above your
name is 200708, your
membership dues are
payable in August 2007.
august 2007 Meeting
Meeting
Of the Channel Islands PC Users Group
Saturday morning, Aug. xx,
at the Boys & Girls Club,
Ponderosa Drive and Temple
Avenue, Camarillo, Calif.
The map shows
the easiest
route to the
Boys & Girls
Club, but if you
prefer, you can
take the
Carmen Drive
offramp to
Ponderosa
Drive, which
leads to Temple Avenue.
Page 20
Meeting Schedule:
8:30 a.m.
Doors open
8:45-9:30
Windows XP SIG, Internet SIG
9:30-10:30 Business meeting, Q&A
10:30-11:00 Break — Please contribute requested
amounts for coffee and doughnuts
11:00-12:00 Program (TBA),
Drawing
The Outer Edge
August 2007

AUG 2007 issue of TOE - Channel Islands PC Users Group (CIPCUG)

Transcription

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