Minutes of Meeting - 7 December 2007

Minutes of the December 7, 2007 meeting of the Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club, as submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary:

Because of a scheduling conflict, President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in the computer classroom. The minutes of the November meeting were read and approved. Under old business, the club reviewed the Web address of the Club's weblog. This address is: http://sfscc2007.blogspot.com/

Vice President Bill Goebel took the podium to answer computer questions and to discuss "Doing Google Searches". If a custom arrangement of desktop icons is desired, it is first necessary to right-click on a open space on the desktop. Then click on "Arrange Icons", and if "Auto Arrange" has a check mark, click on it to uncheck it. After that the icons can be moved as needed.

It is possible to choose between normal computer operation and safemode by pressing F8 repeatedly right after beginning a reboot. Pressing F8 repeatedly brings up a small menu that gives a choice of Normal or Safe Mode. This procedure may be able to correct a situation where a computer boots up in safe mode when it should not. On the other hand, booting up in safe mode may sometimes be helpful. Anti-virus software may detect some virus in safe mode that it cannot detect otherwise. The programs Checkdisk and Defrag may work better in safe mode. The most important difference between safe mode and normal operation is that safe mode disables non-essential hardware devices.

The club discussed whether computers should be off or on at night. Some favor turning them off at night, but Midco recommends leaving them on continuously. Computers that remain on continuously should be rebooted occasionally.

A router is a device that can let multiple computers share a hardware device or share a single fast connection to the Internet. Router problems can sometimes be cleared by turning a router off and back on. Networks connect different computers together. The Internet is an example of a computer network. Local networks connect computers that are close together without going through the Internet.

To see what version of Internet Explorer you have, click on Help and then click on About Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer Version 7 has a box in the upper left corner that makes searching more convenient. When Google is the default search engine for this box, search words for Google can keyed into the box without the user's having to visit Google's home page first. Other search engines can be chosen as the default in place of Google or used in place of Google without being the default.

To make a desktop shortcut to a Web page, bring up the page in Internet Explorer, click on File, click on Send, and finally click on Shortcut to Desktop. When a user misspells words in a Google search, Google will guess at the intended words and correct the spellings. Clicking on the button marked "I'm feeling lucky" gives only one search result, but has the benefit of giving more information sooner about the result.To search for a phrase, enclose it in quotes. To exclude results that contain unwanted words or phrases, put a minus sign before the unwanted word or phrase. (When a phrase is to be excluded, put the minus sign before the lefthand quote mark.) More complicated options for searching are available in Google's cheatsheet. To find the cheatsheet, let Google search for the word cheatsheet.

At this point, Nellie Reeves mentioned several examples of Googlesearchs from a class in Google. Besides searching for words and phrases, Google can search for images and maps, and can give search results within other particular categories of information, such as news. Clicking on Preferences on Google's home page lets the user specify personal preferences for searching.

Google can act as a reverse phone book for numbers that are publicly listed in phone books. Just enter a phone number with area code in Google's search box.

A feature called Google Earth presents maps of the world with interesting sites marked. The user can find out more about these marked sites by clicking on their points in a map. This feature of Google needs fast Internet access.

Internet Explorer keeps a history of recently visited Web pages. This history can be seen by clicking on the button with a down arrow at the right end of the address box. Sometimes it is desirable to remove the history. To clear it, click Tools, Delete Browsing History..., Delete history..., Yes, and Close. Or click Tools,Internet Options, Delete..., Delete history..., Yes, and Close.

The Center is preparing for Windows Vista. Part of the preparationwill be a class or classes in Windows Vista especially for instructors and coaches. Instructors and coaches should inquire about this training. The Computer Club welcomes new member Joran Olson.

Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
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Notes: Google has its own history of searches. To remove this history,follow the same procedure as above, except that instead of clicking on Delete history..., you should click on Delete forms... . If you specify preferences in Google, they are saved in a cookie. Deleting cookies (similar to history and forms) will remove them. Internet Explorer Version 6 does not keep track of Google searches or other entries into forms, but is able to delete history and cookies under Tools and Internet Options. The steps are slightly different from Version 7.

The club's weblog address can also be entered as http://www.sfscc2007.blogspot.com/ Whether the string www. is required, optional, or forbidden at the left end of a Web address depends on decisions made by the operator of the Web site in question.

The Startup Menu that shows Normal and Safe Mode during bootup (whenF8 is pressed repeatedly) has some other choices, but Normal and Safe Mode are the only choices that have much usefulness. Windows 98 has this to say about safe mode: "This special diagnostic mode of Windows enables you to fix the problem that is keeping you from starting Windows normally. The problem could be caused by your network or hardware settings. Make sure these settings are correct in Control Panel, and then try starting Windows again. For more information, see the Troubleshooting section in Help. While in safe mode, some of your devices may not be available."