Friday, April 10, 2009
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Saturday, April 4, 2009
Minutes of Meeting - April 3, 2009
Minutes of the April 3, 2009 meeting of the Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:
Vice President Bill Goebel called the meeting to order in room 204 in the absence of President Norm Knox, who was unable to be present. Bill announced a change in the planned program and offered to see members in need of assistance after the meeting. On a motion by Nellie Reeves, the club voted to accept the minutes of the March meeting as submitted by the secretary in e-mail.
Visitor Phyllis Knutson of the Sioux Valley Genealogical Society spoke to the club about the Genealogy Interest Group (GIG), which is new at the Center. This group will meet in the computer classroom at 10:00 a.m. on the second Friday of every month. Membership in the Center for Active Generations is not required of those who attend, but Center members pay $1 per meeting, while others pay $2.For further information, call 528-6375. Ms. Knutson also announced the expected presence in Sioux Falls of Rick Crume, contributing editor for Family Tree Magazine and a published author on genealogical subjects. Mr. Crume will be in Sioux Falls on April 17 and 18. For further information, call 275-4197 or visit http://siouxlandlib.org/adults/genealogy.aspx and http://siouxfallsevents.com/eventDetails.CFM?EventID=9225
Bill answered a couple of questions sent to him in e-mail. The first question was about how to uninstall Internet Explorer 8. System Restore can do this. The second question concerned a printer problem. Steps that may help a printer problem are as follows. Run the error checking program Check Disk (right-click the C: drive in My Computer, click on Properties, click on Tools, and click on Error-checking). Uninstall the printer and reinstall it. Use System Restore. Use a Web searcher such as Google to find help. Find and remove temporary files (files with the name pattern *.TMP).
The main part of the April meeting was a survey conducted by Justin Smorawske, Eric Sivertsen, and Kevin Kennedy of Epic Multimedia on behalf of the Good Samaritan Society. Members who chose to participate in the survey received a $5 gift card to use at a local business. Everybody opted in. The first part of the survey asked us general questions about our computer familiarity, Internet usage, and such. The second part was about our interest in long-term care and how we may choose this care. The third part asked for our reactions to the Web site of the the Good Samaritan Society with particular attention directed to the homepage of the Society and its page showing services in Sioux Falls.The survey was conducted in room 204, and the Web pages were projected onto a portable screen. This gave us more room to sit and write than we would have had in the computer classroom. The wireless service of the Center's router does not go as far as room 204, but a cable connection is available there that our visitors used. Members who were present signed a get-well card for the President. The club welcomes new members Eleanor Sturdevant and Carol Moon.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary
Vice President Bill Goebel called the meeting to order in room 204 in the absence of President Norm Knox, who was unable to be present. Bill announced a change in the planned program and offered to see members in need of assistance after the meeting. On a motion by Nellie Reeves, the club voted to accept the minutes of the March meeting as submitted by the secretary in e-mail.
Visitor Phyllis Knutson of the Sioux Valley Genealogical Society spoke to the club about the Genealogy Interest Group (GIG), which is new at the Center. This group will meet in the computer classroom at 10:00 a.m. on the second Friday of every month. Membership in the Center for Active Generations is not required of those who attend, but Center members pay $1 per meeting, while others pay $2.For further information, call 528-6375. Ms. Knutson also announced the expected presence in Sioux Falls of Rick Crume, contributing editor for Family Tree Magazine and a published author on genealogical subjects. Mr. Crume will be in Sioux Falls on April 17 and 18. For further information, call 275-4197 or visit http://siouxlandlib.org/adults/genealogy.aspx and http://siouxfallsevents.com/eventDetails.CFM?EventID=9225
Bill answered a couple of questions sent to him in e-mail. The first question was about how to uninstall Internet Explorer 8. System Restore can do this. The second question concerned a printer problem. Steps that may help a printer problem are as follows. Run the error checking program Check Disk (right-click the C: drive in My Computer, click on Properties, click on Tools, and click on Error-checking). Uninstall the printer and reinstall it. Use System Restore. Use a Web searcher such as Google to find help. Find and remove temporary files (files with the name pattern *.TMP).
The main part of the April meeting was a survey conducted by Justin Smorawske, Eric Sivertsen, and Kevin Kennedy of Epic Multimedia on behalf of the Good Samaritan Society. Members who chose to participate in the survey received a $5 gift card to use at a local business. Everybody opted in. The first part of the survey asked us general questions about our computer familiarity, Internet usage, and such. The second part was about our interest in long-term care and how we may choose this care. The third part asked for our reactions to the Web site of the the Good Samaritan Society with particular attention directed to the homepage of the Society and its page showing services in Sioux Falls.The survey was conducted in room 204, and the Web pages were projected onto a portable screen. This gave us more room to sit and write than we would have had in the computer classroom. The wireless service of the Center's router does not go as far as room 204, but a cable connection is available there that our visitors used. Members who were present signed a get-well card for the President. The club welcomes new members Eleanor Sturdevant and Carol Moon.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary
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Added note: On most PCs System Restore sets up restore points automatically at regular intervals. However, it is advisable to take an extra restore point manually ahead of any major system change. This provides a convenient place to roll back to when necessary. If a rollback is needed that goes back to an automatic restore point that is several days old, there is the problem of saving recent user data prior to the rollback. User data that is newer than the latest restore point should be downloaded into files from whatever software has it stored, and these files should be copied out to a backup medium before the rollback. The best backup medium is probably a recordable compact disk (CD-R).
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Minutes of Meeting - March 6, 2009
Minutes of the March 6, 2009 meeting of the Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:
Prior to the meeting, printed copies of the list of member names and e-mail addresses were available.
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204. The club discussed the question of how often the list of member names and e-mail addresses should be printed and handed out. On a motion by Bob Black, the club voted to have this list distributed every six months.The secretary will forward e-mail messages as needed to new members whose names and e-mail addresses are not on the most recent printed list.
Norm Knox mentioned SeniorNet facilities that are available to club members when they travel to other places. SeniorNet also has a Website that offers courses on a variety of topics besides just computer topics. These SeniorNet opportunities that go beyond SeniorNet courses in Sioux Falls do cost additional dollars. Norm reminded the members that letting the Center's office know about their interest in particular topics for computer classes can be helpful in getting their desired courses scheduled.
Due to a misunderstanding by the secretary, the name of Marvalyn Rollag was omitted from the printed list of members. She had wanted her name on the list, but without the e-mail address beside it. Members were given the opportunity to write in her name on their printed copies. The secretary apologized for two problems. The printed list came from the spreadsheet software, which prints small and has no option to increase the print size. The Yahoo e-mail account used for sending out the minutes has an invalid reply address which creates a problem for members who try to reply to a question that comes from that e-mail account.
Our speaker at this meeting was Charlotte Jaeschke. Ms. Jaeschke is Tax-Aide Coordinator for Sioux Falls for IRS and AARP. Tax-Aide is an all-volunteer group of tax-preparers, reviewers, facilitators, and the coordinator herself, who assist taxpayers of all ages who need help with their tax returns. Tax-Aide is jointly sponsored by AARP and the Internal Revenue Service. The volunteers use tax preparation software that runs on the preparers' PCs and Tax-Aide's highly reliable server. The IRS supplies this software. When taxpayer data is saved on the server, it is in encrypted form. The server has two hard drives that are mirrors of each other, and data is regularly copied and saved off-site on flash drives. During the off-season, all tax data is removed from the server and saved elsewhere and the server is put away in storage. With a taxpayer's permission, summary data from a return can be carried over from previous years to assist in the preparation of a new return. Taxpayers who use Tax-Aide for the first time should bring in their old tax returns. Taxpayers can also bring in their returns for the current year that they themselves have prepared. The assistance that Tax-Aide can provide has some limitations. Volunteers at Tax-Aide cannot go to court on behalf of taxpayers. High income level, inventory, or depreciation will take a taxpayer's return outside the scope of what the volunteers are trained for. On the other hand, Tax-Aide can help taxpayers who have received incorrect W-2 forms. All tax returns are reviewed, and two reviewers go over the work of four preparers. All volunteers must agree to respect the privacy of taxpayers. Tax returns are filed electronically (e-filing). After a return is prepared and is on the server, it has to go through a three-stage process. In the first stage, returns are submitted tentatively to the IRS. In the second stage, the IRS checks what has been submitted. The third stage consists of the actual electronic filing of the returns that the IRS has approved. People who want to do their own tax returns with computer assistance can use personal tax software, or they can go to tax-preparation Webpages at the IRS's Web site (irs.gov).
The club welcomes new member Linda Barnett.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary
Prior to the meeting, printed copies of the list of member names and e-mail addresses were available.
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204. The club discussed the question of how often the list of member names and e-mail addresses should be printed and handed out. On a motion by Bob Black, the club voted to have this list distributed every six months.The secretary will forward e-mail messages as needed to new members whose names and e-mail addresses are not on the most recent printed list.
Norm Knox mentioned SeniorNet facilities that are available to club members when they travel to other places. SeniorNet also has a Website that offers courses on a variety of topics besides just computer topics. These SeniorNet opportunities that go beyond SeniorNet courses in Sioux Falls do cost additional dollars. Norm reminded the members that letting the Center's office know about their interest in particular topics for computer classes can be helpful in getting their desired courses scheduled.
Due to a misunderstanding by the secretary, the name of Marvalyn Rollag was omitted from the printed list of members. She had wanted her name on the list, but without the e-mail address beside it. Members were given the opportunity to write in her name on their printed copies. The secretary apologized for two problems. The printed list came from the spreadsheet software, which prints small and has no option to increase the print size. The Yahoo e-mail account used for sending out the minutes has an invalid reply address which creates a problem for members who try to reply to a question that comes from that e-mail account.
Our speaker at this meeting was Charlotte Jaeschke. Ms. Jaeschke is Tax-Aide Coordinator for Sioux Falls for IRS and AARP. Tax-Aide is an all-volunteer group of tax-preparers, reviewers, facilitators, and the coordinator herself, who assist taxpayers of all ages who need help with their tax returns. Tax-Aide is jointly sponsored by AARP and the Internal Revenue Service. The volunteers use tax preparation software that runs on the preparers' PCs and Tax-Aide's highly reliable server. The IRS supplies this software. When taxpayer data is saved on the server, it is in encrypted form. The server has two hard drives that are mirrors of each other, and data is regularly copied and saved off-site on flash drives. During the off-season, all tax data is removed from the server and saved elsewhere and the server is put away in storage. With a taxpayer's permission, summary data from a return can be carried over from previous years to assist in the preparation of a new return. Taxpayers who use Tax-Aide for the first time should bring in their old tax returns. Taxpayers can also bring in their returns for the current year that they themselves have prepared. The assistance that Tax-Aide can provide has some limitations. Volunteers at Tax-Aide cannot go to court on behalf of taxpayers. High income level, inventory, or depreciation will take a taxpayer's return outside the scope of what the volunteers are trained for. On the other hand, Tax-Aide can help taxpayers who have received incorrect W-2 forms. All tax returns are reviewed, and two reviewers go over the work of four preparers. All volunteers must agree to respect the privacy of taxpayers. Tax returns are filed electronically (e-filing). After a return is prepared and is on the server, it has to go through a three-stage process. In the first stage, returns are submitted tentatively to the IRS. In the second stage, the IRS checks what has been submitted. The third stage consists of the actual electronic filing of the returns that the IRS has approved. People who want to do their own tax returns with computer assistance can use personal tax software, or they can go to tax-preparation Webpages at the IRS's Web site (irs.gov).
The club welcomes new member Linda Barnett.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary
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