Computer Club of Oklahoma City
3000 United Founders Blvd. Suite 201
Oklahoma City, OK 73112-4279
405-843-4300
June 2005
General Meeting Program for June 16, 2005
By Troy Segler, VP of Programs
I want to plug the general meeting for June 16, 2005. Mark your calendars.
Our guest will be Gene Barlow. Gene and his
wife, Linda, have been supporting User Groups longer than we
have been an organization. Make plans to support our club and
Gene at this meeting. If you are interested in purchasing any
of this software discussed below or updating your current
version, doing so at this meeting is encouraged. Discounts will
be available for User Group members.
Gene Barlow has been a key
figure in the user group community for the past 25 years. He is
an educator, writer and a talented presenter, representing many
vendors over the years with products that he finds valuable and
effective for home and small business users. Gene currently
represents Acronis Software, WhiteCanyon Software, and Spearit
Software and their products. Gene will demonstrate 3 of the
most exciting products from his clients at the general meeting
this month.
MoveMe: This is a clever utility to help
users easily transfer all of their application programs,
settings and data files from an old computer to a newer
computer. By using this utility from Spearit Software, you can
quickly stay current with technology and still use your familiar
files on your new computer.
SecureClean/WipeDrive/MediaWiper: Recent
studies have shown that hard drives on PCs contain hundreds of
private files that most users thought they had removed from the
drive months or years earlier. Simply deleting a file from the
hard drive does not permanently remove it from the drive. The
only effective way to remove information permanently from a hard
drive is to write blanks or zeros over the top of the deleted
information. Gene will demonstrate three wiping utilities from
WhiteCanyon Software and show you how easy it is to prevent
personal and private information from getting in the hands of
the wrong people.
Continued...
If you have not attended a General Session recently, attend one soon and bring a guest!
Coffee and refreshments will be available for the taking and soft drinks are available at a cost of $.50. Invite a friend to join you for this meeting. I wish to thank all those who have regularly attended these meetings. If you have a recommendation for a specific topic or speaker, please drop me a note in the Program Vice President’s mail box just around the corner from the refrigerator.
President's Corner: This is a
Meeting to Attend
by David Robbins, President, CCOKC
I usually don’t write about a presenter for
the General Meeting, Troy does a good job at that. However, I would like to
make an exception this time. Gene Barlow and his wife, Linda, are going to
present software from three different companies. Each company produces
several pieces of software that help you manage your hard drive. Some of the
things you can do with this software is back-up, partition, multiboot, image
your drive, transfer data from one computer to another and make an old hard
drive safe to give away. There is more software that I will not take time to
list, but you can get this information at their website
www.ugr.com
.
I am writing to say I would like to have all of
you come to this meeting. It will be interesting as well as informative for
the beginner to the advanced. I think everyone will benefit and I would like
to see us show much support for the club and Gene and Linda. They have made
many excellent presentations to this club over the years and we should have
as large an attendance as possible so we can expect to see them back in the
future.
So plan on coming to the Resource Center at 7:00
on June 16th and having a good time, with your questions answered.
If you haven’t been coming to the General
Meetings, you don’t know what you have missed; don’t forget to register for
the door prizes.
There are some interesting links on the ccokc.org/greatlinks page. Check them out!
The Review for the May General Meeting - Continued....
Articles for May 2005
**The following are articles from our
very faithful writers. They support our computer club and our
website every month by writing helpful, technical, legal
and funny articles for us. There is much useful
information here. Their email addresses are at the
bottom of their articles. Drop them a note and let them
know you appreciate their efforts and time.
Legal Bytes: The USA Patriot Act Revisited - by John Brewer
In 2001, Congress passed
and the President approved the USA Patriot Act. The Patriot Act gives law
enforcement broad powers that are targeted for the “war on terror.” It
actuality, it goes far beyond that purpose.
It is reported that approximately 10% of
the Act “sunsets” in 2005 unless Congress extends those provisions. A sunset
provision in a law means that a provision “expires” on a date certain unless
the legislative body extends the date of the provision.
One aspect of the new Patriot Act
legislation is a hot topic. That topic concerns expanded authority to use
administrative subpoenas. Search warrants are normally issued by courts
after a showing that the warrant is justified. However, a number of agencies
also have administrative subpoena power. Administrative subpoenas are
similar in effect to search warrants and do not require court oversight.
Continued...
Ram & Reason: Keeping Your Laptop Young: The Resilient PC Card -
by Rob Rice
Laptop computers are
pricey little gizmos that depreciate faster than a new car just driven off
the lot. Just as soon as you have convinced yourself that you bought the
most current and feature-packed model, some gee-whiz component comes out
that has people asking why didn’t you buy that other model. Fortunately
there is a saving grace, that little PC Card slot on the side of almost all
laptop computers built in the last ten years or so.
The PC Card is a small, thin, metal and plastic
card that is 85.6mm long and 54mm wide. It is a tough little device, able to
be stored and operated at freezing and up to roughly 130 degrees Fahrenheit
temperatures.
Continued...
Business Solutions: Computing Occupancy Rates With
Access 2003 - Pseudo Code - by James D. Duncan, CPA
I am still working on the
questions for the survey that the agency I am helping has to fill out. The
questions get harder. The question is, “What is the average occupancy rate
for a given period?” This sounds simple enough. Gee, have I got caught on
the simple questions here lately.
We know that there are 18 units in the complex.
We have a table containing each of the families’ entry dates and exit dates.
All we need to do is compute the number of families there in January 2004,
February 2004, and so on. Total up each month and divide by 18 (fixed number
of units available). Average each month’s occupancy rate and we have the
answer.
Continued...
Computer Hysteria: Crash! - by Berry F. Phillips
Crash! Crash! That was the sound of Stephen King's
sledgehammer bashing the car that hit him while jogging. Perhaps he thought
Christine from his earlier horror novel had come back to haunt him!
Crash also strikes terror in the hearts of computer
users. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project approximately
two thirds of Americans use the Internet and about 87% of them through
connections in their homes. While there is no research data on the number of
computer users that cannot master their computers, there is evidence of
anger and frustration with computers that could escalate into what one
psychologist calls "computer rage."
Continued...
This & That: Fun With Mail
Merge - by Elizabeth B. Wright
Now that's an oxymoron if ever there was one.
Except for the people who have mastered mail merge, and
that person is still obscure, the rest of us just muddle through.
This article will be published in either two or three
installments, starting this month. In it we will address the designing and
printing of organizational name badges using The Print Shop software.
Continued...
Read the New articles under the APCUG heading on the left column of the website. There are new articles each month. When you click on the "PUSH Articles from APCUG" hyperlink, it will take you to the synopsis page and the links to the articles.
Managing the Information Flood
By Gene Barlow User Group
Relations
Copyrighted May 2005
It is said that we are living in the Information
Age. This has been made possible by the widespread availability of computers
connected to the Internet. This gives us access to millions of web sites
containing a wealth of information. What we are finding is that we actually
have an "information overload" to contend with. Finding information on the
Internet or even on our large gigabyte hard drives is becoming a real
problem. The key to effectively finding information is organizing our access
to this information. The better organized we are on our computers, the
quicker we can find and use the information available to us.
Continued...
The eMonitor Newsletter (The eMonitor Newsletter with a new look:)
The eMonitor seemed to pass through most spam filters with the May issue. We will continue the eMonitor in the same format for the June issue and then make a decision as to the continuance of the eMonitor. We will keep you informed.
Do remember that if you change your email address, you need to remove your old email address from the eMonitor and then re-subscribe with your new email address. This could be one of the reasons for not receiving the eMonitor.
Contact David Robbins if you want to join in the fun of building your own computer. The class will begin on June 4th and meet on June 18th, and June 25th. If you are interested contact him by clicking here. David Robbins
***CHECK OUT the discounts from Vendors to our Members
Beginners Study Group resumes:
Due to my now being able to work part-time instead of full time, I plan to resume the Beginners' Study Group at the Computer Club of Oklahoma City's Resource Center. Although the format will remain the same, the days and times have changed: the Study Group will meet on the second and fourth Thursday afternoons of every month. We will meet for two hours, starting at 1:00. If you attend the SNUG class on Thursday morning, please plan to go grab a bite of lunch and be back by 1:00. I have missed teaching this class and am looking forward to seeing everyone again. Doris Collins
Good News For Those 45 And Better
The Third Annual Southwest Senior Expo is coming
June 17th & 18th ,OKC Fairgrounds – Centennial Building,
Hours Friday and Saturday 9:00-4:00. There will be hourly
Bingo Games, Free Health Screenings and much more
including $10,000 in free door prizes. NO CHARGE OR TICKET
IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND.
Once again CCOKC (Computer Club of Oklahoma City)
and SNUG (SeniorNet User Group) are privileged to be a
part of this great event. Plan to stop by our booth and
visit, or, to ask any questions you may have. We would
love to see you.
Protecting Your Internet Passwords - by Gene Barlow, User Group Relations Continued...
June Tip of the Month
Get Rid of Script Error Messages
Internet Explorer, if you choose, announces script errors relentlessly. This may help Web and application developers, but it's just plain annoying for the rest of us.
If you're getting these messages, click Tools>>Internet Options. Select the Advanced tab. Under Browsing, select "Disable script debugging." Clear "Display a notification about every script error."
June Cool Freebie
Have you ever tried to remember the exact filename of your document? Opening
each file to look inside wastes a lot of time. Now there's a more simple
way: Agent Ransack. Agent Ransack displays the text found inside each file,
so you don't have to separately open each search result.
You can also search for text inside of documents using this application.
Agent Ransack integrates into the Windows Find menu, so it can easily
replace the File Search function included with Windows.
Agent Ransack is free. To download, simply go to:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_download.asp?fid=16100&fileidx=1
(Note: If the link doesn't work, simply copy and paste it into your
browser.)
Enjoy!
Doris
Join the Computer Club of OKC. See the Membership form on the Website
Senior Net Membership Continued...
eMonitor Editor: Fran Crane