Minutes of the August 1, 2008 meeting of the Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204. The minutes of the July meeting were read and approved. Nellie Reeves informed the club that the ECHO symposium will run from 8:30 to 3:00 on September 30. This symposium will include break-out sessions from 11:00 to 12:00. For attendees with computer interests, there will be a break-out entitled, "Preserving Family History Digital Style," which will be led by Alice Lance and Asella Crum. Norm asked club members to tell their friends about computer classes at the Center. He reported that there were a few class enrollments arising from the Computer Learning Center Open House that was held on July 29. Norm also reported that customers of Midco (midco.net) have been receiving bogus e-mails asking for information about their accounts with Midco.
In the computer classroom, Vice President Bill Goebel described three World Wide Web sites that provide free off-site data backup for computer users. Yahoo Briefcase (briefcase.yahoo.com) is available to anyone who has a Yahoo e-mail account. Anyone can setup a Yahoo e-mail account as a way to use Yahoo Briefcase without bothering to use the account for e-mail. However, setting up the account will include reading an image with distorted letters and keying the letters into a box in a form. Sometimes the letters are too distorted to read, but one can get a new image and try again with different letters. Yahoo Briefcase is being superseded by a similar but newer free service at http://www.box.net/. HP's Snapfish (http://www.snapfish.com/) is a free data storage service that specializes in images. It lets the user save private copies of images or share them with others. Bill noted that computer users should choose carefully in deciding what to back up. For most computer users the thing that most needs to be protected is the address book. George Lair described his use of the Carbonite backup service. For $50 per year this service maintains a complete backup copy of his hard drive automatically. Nellie called attention to the weather service at Yahoo's home page. This weather service provides the local weather report, as well as the report for any other area in the country by means of its ZIP code. Bill warned that circulating e-mails may contain wrong information about politics and politicians. Claims in such e-mails can be checked at http://www.snopes.com/. This site has a search facility which can look for key words in an e-mail to show what http://www.snopes.com/ says about the e-mail's claims. The programs msconfig and msinfo32 can provide information about whether a computer has too many programs running or not enough memory. (To run msconfig or msinfo32, click on the Start button, click on Run, enter the program's name in the Run window, and finally press Enter or click on OK.) The important lines in msinfo32's display are marked Total Physical Memory and Available Physical Memory. To get more available memory, you can uninstall unneeded programs through the control panel, or buy more memory, which is usually not very expensive. Bev Johnson was briefly present and was naturally unable to escape without answering some questions. She recommends that anyone who installs Java on a PC should watch for and reject the option of installing a Google toolbar in Internet Explorer. She also recommends Windows Defender (free) as an anti-spyware program. Windows Defender contains Software Explorer, which can help to identify programs that can be removed. George observed that Adobe and Picasa are programs that can be unchecked so that they are loaded only when needed.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
Added notes about data storage: Snapfish is basically a free service, but it has fees for scanning photographs that are mailed in and for making hard copies of stored images. These fees are based on use and are not very high. Briefase and Box from Yahoo are similar services, but Box allows file sharing with its free service, while Briefase does not. Box allows more data storage with its free service. Both free services come with advertisements. Box indicates that its monthly paid services that allow more saved data leave out the ads.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Minutes - 11 July 2008
Minutes of the July 11, 2008 meeting of the Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204, and expressed pleasure at the number of members attending. The minutes of the June meeting were read and approved with one revision: The coming ECHO Symposium at the Center will be held on September 30. Actions by the club in connection with the ECHO Symposium are presently pending. There was no old business. Under new business, Vice President Bill Goebel announced the topic of the next meeting will be "off-site Internet storage".
Following the business part of the meeting, the club members moved to the Sertoma B room. In Sertoma B, Garth Peterson ran a demonstration of wireless access from the club's notebook computer to the Center's wireless router. Sertoma B is close enough to the router for successful wireless access while the computer classroom and room 204 are not. Following this demonstration, the meeting continued in the same room. Club members discussed security concerns and various technical problems, led by Bill Goebel. Bill mentioned that while flash drives are very useful, they are not immune to failure. Also,the program msinfo32 which can be run from the run box available on the Start Menu, can give information about memory usage or overloading Windows.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
NOTES OF INTEREST
Computer Learning Center Open House Tuesday, July 29 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm. Bring a friend! Spread the news! The Center will host a Computer Learning Center Open House. This is an opportunity for current students to expand their knowledge and learn more about our new end-of-summer and fall class schedules. Current Computer Learning Center students who bring a friend to this open house will receive a $5 coupon for their next computer class. Free Seminars include: MS Office Programs 9 Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher), New Computer Classes in Spanish, Photo Shop Elements, and Q & A. Computer instructors will be available to answer questions and help guide you on your learning process through the computer world. For more information, contact Lisa Howard at 333-3307.
Free Computer Seminar Wednesday, July 30th. The Sioux Falls Computer Learning Center has another free computer seminar scheduled for Wednesday, July 30th, at 12:00 noon. This is an opportunity to learn more about the VISTA operating system, Word(2003), Internet surfing and e-mail. Bring your questions for our very knowledgable instructors. Class schedules will be available for August through October. Seats are limited; call 336-6722.
Membership Listing: A listing of members as of July 11, 2008, can be seen by clicking "membership" in the Label section on your right.
The email that was sent out with the minutes had two attachments that showed the club's membership list in July. E-mail addresses are not included. The first attachment (DOC file) can be opened with Word, and the second (TXT file) can be opened with Notepad. The second attachment can be opened and then copied and pasted into a spreadsheet, or it can be opened and searched for a house number or phone number if necessary. Refer to those documents in your email if you so desire.
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204, and expressed pleasure at the number of members attending. The minutes of the June meeting were read and approved with one revision: The coming ECHO Symposium at the Center will be held on September 30. Actions by the club in connection with the ECHO Symposium are presently pending. There was no old business. Under new business, Vice President Bill Goebel announced the topic of the next meeting will be "off-site Internet storage".
Following the business part of the meeting, the club members moved to the Sertoma B room. In Sertoma B, Garth Peterson ran a demonstration of wireless access from the club's notebook computer to the Center's wireless router. Sertoma B is close enough to the router for successful wireless access while the computer classroom and room 204 are not. Following this demonstration, the meeting continued in the same room. Club members discussed security concerns and various technical problems, led by Bill Goebel. Bill mentioned that while flash drives are very useful, they are not immune to failure. Also,the program msinfo32 which can be run from the run box available on the Start Menu, can give information about memory usage or overloading Windows.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
NOTES OF INTEREST
Computer Learning Center Open House Tuesday, July 29 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm. Bring a friend! Spread the news! The Center will host a Computer Learning Center Open House. This is an opportunity for current students to expand their knowledge and learn more about our new end-of-summer and fall class schedules. Current Computer Learning Center students who bring a friend to this open house will receive a $5 coupon for their next computer class. Free Seminars include: MS Office Programs 9 Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher), New Computer Classes in Spanish, Photo Shop Elements, and Q & A. Computer instructors will be available to answer questions and help guide you on your learning process through the computer world. For more information, contact Lisa Howard at 333-3307.
Free Computer Seminar Wednesday, July 30th. The Sioux Falls Computer Learning Center has another free computer seminar scheduled for Wednesday, July 30th, at 12:00 noon. This is an opportunity to learn more about the VISTA operating system, Word(2003), Internet surfing and e-mail. Bring your questions for our very knowledgable instructors. Class schedules will be available for August through October. Seats are limited; call 336-6722.
Membership Listing: A listing of members as of July 11, 2008, can be seen by clicking "membership" in the Label section on your right.
The email that was sent out with the minutes had two attachments that showed the club's membership list in July. E-mail addresses are not included. The first attachment (DOC file) can be opened with Word, and the second (TXT file) can be opened with Notepad. The second attachment can be opened and then copied and pasted into a spreadsheet, or it can be opened and searched for a house number or phone number if necessary. Refer to those documents in your email if you so desire.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Minutes - 6 June 2008
Minutes
Center for Active Generations Computer Club
6 June 2008
The CFAG Computer Club met Friday, June 6, 2008 at
10:00 a.m. at the Center for Active Generations.
Norm Knox, President presided; Nellie Reeves read the
minutes of the May meeting. They were approved as
read. Garth Peterson was out of town, so Bob Black
filled in to record minutes.
Old Business:
President Knox reminded the members that the Computer
Club had a laptop computer that could be used by
members. It has a wireless card. Contact Norm Knox
if you desire to borrow it. Nellie Reeves suggested
that the club have a demonstration of its capabilities
at the next meeting since many of the members do not
have laptops.
The July meeting will be on July 11 instead of July 4,
due to the holiday (and the Center will be closed.)
New Business:
Nellie Reeves mentioned a meeting to occur on
September 23rd at the Center. It is the ECHO
Symposium. The primary topic will be "Preserving your
story." The Club members have an opportunity to
provide information to the symposium on the use of
computers in arranging photographs, preserving
stories, and filing information on CD and DVDs.
The meeting adjourned to the computer room for
questions and answers by Bill Goebel. Topics covered
included the importance of backups to your computer's
hard drive and flash drives. Bill provided a
demonstration of the use of a flash drive.
The meeting adjourned at 11:25.
Respectfully submitted
Robert E. Black
Center for Active Generations Computer Club
6 June 2008
The CFAG Computer Club met Friday, June 6, 2008 at
10:00 a.m. at the Center for Active Generations.
Norm Knox, President presided; Nellie Reeves read the
minutes of the May meeting. They were approved as
read. Garth Peterson was out of town, so Bob Black
filled in to record minutes.
Old Business:
President Knox reminded the members that the Computer
Club had a laptop computer that could be used by
members. It has a wireless card. Contact Norm Knox
if you desire to borrow it. Nellie Reeves suggested
that the club have a demonstration of its capabilities
at the next meeting since many of the members do not
have laptops.
The July meeting will be on July 11 instead of July 4,
due to the holiday (and the Center will be closed.)
New Business:
Nellie Reeves mentioned a meeting to occur on
September 23rd at the Center. It is the ECHO
Symposium. The primary topic will be "Preserving your
story." The Club members have an opportunity to
provide information to the symposium on the use of
computers in arranging photographs, preserving
stories, and filing information on CD and DVDs.
The meeting adjourned to the computer room for
questions and answers by Bill Goebel. Topics covered
included the importance of backups to your computer's
hard drive and flash drives. Bill provided a
demonstration of the use of a flash drive.
The meeting adjourned at 11:25.
Respectfully submitted
Robert E. Black
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Minutes - 2 May 2008
Minutes of the May 2, 2008 meeting of the
Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in
room 204.
Nellie Reeves reported that software trouble in her
computer was fixed by Scott Cook, who does evening
(after 4 pm) and weekend work on computers for a $40
minimum when computers are brought to him. (His
address and phone number are 6005 W. 52nd Street and
361-6954.)
Nellie also brought name tags for the members to wear
during the meeting.
The rest of the business part of the meeting was
deferred until after a talk by Matt Woolridge from
Staples. Notes on his talk appear below.
After Matt's talk, the club proceeded to the annual
election of officers.
Bill Goebel was absent from this meeting, but was
provisionally re-elected as Vice President and
Advisor. (He has since agreed to serve again.)
Norm Knox agreed to be a candidate for President again
and was re-elected to that position.
Garth Peterson was re-elected as Secretary.
The club welcomed Ginny and Ralph Iverson as new
members.
Nellie will bring name tags again to the next meeting.
The minutes of the April meeting were read and
approved.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
------------------------------------------------------
Matt Woolridge brought a handout to go with his talk.
A copy of this handout is attached to this e-mail
message. He also brought two wireless routers in
their boxes. They were small enough to let a person
carry both boxes under one arm.
Now that it is common for a household to have more
than one computer, while at the same time dial-up
Internet access is becoming uncommon, a router
provides a way for all computers in a household to
have Internet access. If the computers are not close
to one another, a wireless router makes long cables
unnecessary.
Wireless routers for home use vary from about $50 to
$100 in prices. A higher price gives more speed and
greater range. The greater range of a higher priced
router is usually more valuable than the faster speed
because even the lower priced router is likely to be
as fast as the fastest available home Internet
connection.
A household with a regular desktop computer and a
notebook computer can benefit from a wireless router.
The router goes between the desktop computer and the
modem that connects to whatever Internet access is
used. The notebook computer needs a wireless access
card, but newer notebook computers are likely to have
this built in. (According to later information from
Staples, it is even possible to have a local network
that is all wireless.)
A wireless router also has connectors that allow it to
act as wired router for computers and devices that are
close to it. A printer connected to the router
becomes available to all computers that have access to
the router. However, if you want, your printer can
have its own wireless access box to communicate with
the router.
Setting up a router at home means setting up a local
network, and this is likely to need technical
assistance. The Staples store has a department called
EasyTech that provides PC and network assistance for
home computer users. EasyTech includes on-site
assistance at home for setting up a network. The
current price for this is $70, but this is a temporary
special offer. Before long, the regular higher price
will be in effect.
It is best for a local wireless network to be set up
with the router and computers where they will actually
be used in order to be sure they all work in their
intended locations. This work is done by
subcontractors for EasyTech, but the work comes with
Staples' own thirty-day guarantee.
Because having a router creates a local network, it
not only allows different computers to share Internet
access or share a printer, it can also give the
different computers access to one another.
A home network should usually have a password. This
keeps different local networks that are close together
from interacting. If a local wireless network does
not have a password, someone close by with a notebook
computer may be able to exploit it for Internet
access, but will not still not be able to get into the
network's computers. An intruder with specialized
equipment that could access the computers in a
wireless network is not likely to be interested in
anyone's home network.
------------------------------------------------------
Here is an update about wireless operation of the
club's notebook computer.
Todd has removed the password from the wireless router
at the Center for Active Generations. This allows the
notebook computer with its wireless adapter card to
access the Internet when it is close enough to the
router. The handiest place for club members to try
this out is in the computer lab. There is an open
spot to the right of the lab's computer #4 where our
computer can sit, and for juice there is a power strip
with some open outlets next to the wall. Other places
where wireless access works are the central area of
the lounge and room 128 (the conference room). My
first test in the conference room did not go well, but
two later tests gave satisfactory operation. In the
lounge the computer needs to be close to a wall in
order not to have an extension cord running across the
floor. A more convenient place for the club to see a
demonstration of wireless operation would be either
room 204 or the computer classroom (room 133), but
both of these rooms are too far away from the router
to pick up the signal.
Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in
room 204.
Nellie Reeves reported that software trouble in her
computer was fixed by Scott Cook, who does evening
(after 4 pm) and weekend work on computers for a $40
minimum when computers are brought to him. (His
address and phone number are 6005 W. 52nd Street and
361-6954.)
Nellie also brought name tags for the members to wear
during the meeting.
The rest of the business part of the meeting was
deferred until after a talk by Matt Woolridge from
Staples. Notes on his talk appear below.
After Matt's talk, the club proceeded to the annual
election of officers.
Bill Goebel was absent from this meeting, but was
provisionally re-elected as Vice President and
Advisor. (He has since agreed to serve again.)
Norm Knox agreed to be a candidate for President again
and was re-elected to that position.
Garth Peterson was re-elected as Secretary.
The club welcomed Ginny and Ralph Iverson as new
members.
Nellie will bring name tags again to the next meeting.
The minutes of the April meeting were read and
approved.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
------------------------------------------------------
Matt Woolridge brought a handout to go with his talk.
A copy of this handout is attached to this e-mail
message. He also brought two wireless routers in
their boxes. They were small enough to let a person
carry both boxes under one arm.
Now that it is common for a household to have more
than one computer, while at the same time dial-up
Internet access is becoming uncommon, a router
provides a way for all computers in a household to
have Internet access. If the computers are not close
to one another, a wireless router makes long cables
unnecessary.
Wireless routers for home use vary from about $50 to
$100 in prices. A higher price gives more speed and
greater range. The greater range of a higher priced
router is usually more valuable than the faster speed
because even the lower priced router is likely to be
as fast as the fastest available home Internet
connection.
A household with a regular desktop computer and a
notebook computer can benefit from a wireless router.
The router goes between the desktop computer and the
modem that connects to whatever Internet access is
used. The notebook computer needs a wireless access
card, but newer notebook computers are likely to have
this built in. (According to later information from
Staples, it is even possible to have a local network
that is all wireless.)
A wireless router also has connectors that allow it to
act as wired router for computers and devices that are
close to it. A printer connected to the router
becomes available to all computers that have access to
the router. However, if you want, your printer can
have its own wireless access box to communicate with
the router.
Setting up a router at home means setting up a local
network, and this is likely to need technical
assistance. The Staples store has a department called
EasyTech that provides PC and network assistance for
home computer users. EasyTech includes on-site
assistance at home for setting up a network. The
current price for this is $70, but this is a temporary
special offer. Before long, the regular higher price
will be in effect.
It is best for a local wireless network to be set up
with the router and computers where they will actually
be used in order to be sure they all work in their
intended locations. This work is done by
subcontractors for EasyTech, but the work comes with
Staples' own thirty-day guarantee.
Because having a router creates a local network, it
not only allows different computers to share Internet
access or share a printer, it can also give the
different computers access to one another.
A home network should usually have a password. This
keeps different local networks that are close together
from interacting. If a local wireless network does
not have a password, someone close by with a notebook
computer may be able to exploit it for Internet
access, but will not still not be able to get into the
network's computers. An intruder with specialized
equipment that could access the computers in a
wireless network is not likely to be interested in
anyone's home network.
------------------------------------------------------
Here is an update about wireless operation of the
club's notebook computer.
Todd has removed the password from the wireless router
at the Center for Active Generations. This allows the
notebook computer with its wireless adapter card to
access the Internet when it is close enough to the
router. The handiest place for club members to try
this out is in the computer lab. There is an open
spot to the right of the lab's computer #4 where our
computer can sit, and for juice there is a power strip
with some open outlets next to the wall. Other places
where wireless access works are the central area of
the lounge and room 128 (the conference room). My
first test in the conference room did not go well, but
two later tests gave satisfactory operation. In the
lounge the computer needs to be close to a wall in
order not to have an extension cord running across the
floor. A more convenient place for the club to see a
demonstration of wireless operation would be either
room 204 or the computer classroom (room 133), but
both of these rooms are too far away from the router
to pick up the signal.
Minutes - 4 April 2008
Minutes of the April 4, 2008 meeting of the
Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in
room 204. He announced that our scheduled speaker was
again unable to attend, this time because of problems
at work. The business portion of the March minutes
was read and approved.
Because the first Friday in July will be Independence
Day, the club voted to meet on the second Friday in
July, which is July 11.
The club voted for quarterly distribution of the
club's mailing list to the members. The mailing list
as sent will show member's names, street addresses,
and phone numbers, but not e-mail addresses. The list
will be in word processing format readable by
Microsoft Word.
The possibility of stick-on labels for members to wear
at meetings was discussed. A problem with this is
that some fabrics are too soft for these labels.
The next meeting is the date for the club's annual
election of officers. Norm announced that he is not a
candidate for re-election.
The minutes of the March meeting mention the donation
of a carrying case with handle and wheels, for the
club's notebook computer. The club thanks member
Linda Bauer for this carrying case.
Lois Rasmussen expressed appreciation for assistance
at the previous meeting with regard to trouble using a
mouse. Lois reported that a new mouse solved the
problem.
The club then adjourned to the computer classroom for
a session of questions, answers, and discussion led by
Vice President Bill Goebel.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in
room 204. He announced that our scheduled speaker was
again unable to attend, this time because of problems
at work. The business portion of the March minutes
was read and approved.
Because the first Friday in July will be Independence
Day, the club voted to meet on the second Friday in
July, which is July 11.
The club voted for quarterly distribution of the
club's mailing list to the members. The mailing list
as sent will show member's names, street addresses,
and phone numbers, but not e-mail addresses. The list
will be in word processing format readable by
Microsoft Word.
The possibility of stick-on labels for members to wear
at meetings was discussed. A problem with this is
that some fabrics are too soft for these labels.
The next meeting is the date for the club's annual
election of officers. Norm announced that he is not a
candidate for re-election.
The minutes of the March meeting mention the donation
of a carrying case with handle and wheels, for the
club's notebook computer. The club thanks member
Linda Bauer for this carrying case.
Lois Rasmussen expressed appreciation for assistance
at the previous meeting with regard to trouble using a
mouse. Lois reported that a new mouse solved the
problem.
The club then adjourned to the computer classroom for
a session of questions, answers, and discussion led by
Vice President Bill Goebel.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
Friday, January 4, 2008
A New Year!!!! 2-0-0-8.........HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Happy New Year, Everybody! I hope you got everything you wanted for Christmas!! An upgrade to Vista, maybe, or a new laptop. Maybe it was a digital camera. If you got "nutting' for Christmas", maybe you're just satisfied with what you already have.
It would be interesting to hear what New Year's resolutions you may have made.
On the top of my list, as far as computer-ing goes, is to try harder to get more of you interested in this blogging experience. It's fun, you know, and I certainly don't want to be a pest and "bug" you all the time about it. But I do wish you would give it a try.
Secondly, and this is almost contradictory, but I hope not to spend so much time on the computer and other indoor activities. I want to get outside in the fresh air, walk more or do some type of exercise, and just "smell the roses."
It would be interesting to hear what New Year's resolutions you may have made.
On the top of my list, as far as computer-ing goes, is to try harder to get more of you interested in this blogging experience. It's fun, you know, and I certainly don't want to be a pest and "bug" you all the time about it. But I do wish you would give it a try.
Secondly, and this is almost contradictory, but I hope not to spend so much time on the computer and other indoor activities. I want to get outside in the fresh air, walk more or do some type of exercise, and just "smell the roses."
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Holidays Are A'Coming
'Tis the season to be jolly! and thankful!What are your plans for this season? Are you going out of town? Are the kids coming to see you and bringing along the grandkids, and their dogs and cats? Do you attend any of the many programs put on at this time of year?
Is there anything special you'd like to get as a gift? We're not Santa Claus so you won't get it from us, but maybe someone will be looking in and surprise you.
Let us know here. We'd like to hear how you spend your holidays!! (11/10/2007)
Friday, October 12, 2007
Links Of Interest
This area will list some links of interest to the computer user, provided by the person listed in parentheses.
AbiWord - free word processor (Bill Goebel)
http://www.abisource.com/
Ad-Aware - free anti-spyware (Bill Goebel)
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html
AVG Anti-Virus - free AVG anti-virus detection program (Bill Goebel)
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/Get+AVG+FREE/lng/us/tpl/v5
Bill Goebel Genealogy - invitation to view personal genealogy (Bill Goebel)
http://www.geocities.com/bill_goebel/
File Saver - this program will recover deleted files (Bill Goebel)
http://www.file-saver.com/undelete/
Grisoft AVG Virus Removal Utility - free virus removal (Bill Goebel)
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/8/lng/us/tpl/v5/nid/3001
Mayo Clinic - health information, archive of previous editions (Bill Goebel)
http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=C81FF3D8-C9AC-4505-ABA3031F205506728si=2796
Senior Net - website for seniors (Bill Goebel)
http://www.seniornet.org/
AbiWord - free word processor (Bill Goebel)
http://www.abisource.com/
Ad-Aware - free anti-spyware (Bill Goebel)
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html
AVG Anti-Virus - free AVG anti-virus detection program (Bill Goebel)
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/Get+AVG+FREE/lng/us/tpl/v5
Bill Goebel Genealogy - invitation to view personal genealogy (Bill Goebel)
http://www.geocities.com/bill_goebel/
File Saver - this program will recover deleted files (Bill Goebel)
http://www.file-saver.com/undelete/
Grisoft AVG Virus Removal Utility - free virus removal (Bill Goebel)
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/8/lng/us/tpl/v5/nid/3001
Mayo Clinic - health information, archive of previous editions (Bill Goebel)
http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=C81FF3D8-C9AC-4505-ABA3031F205506728si=2796
Senior Net - website for seniors (Bill Goebel)
http://www.seniornet.org/
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Minutes of Meeting - March 7, 2008
Minutes of the March 7, 2008 meeting of the Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204. The minutes of the February meeting were approved, with a correction. One sentence needed to say: Vista needs a new version of MicrosoftWord, and does *not* accept a too old version of Office. Norm announced that our speaker had to cancel because of flu in his family. Matt Woolridge, Assistant Manager at Staples, will speak to the club instead in April. Under old business, Norm reported that Lisa Howard was using the club's laptop computer, but it would be available to the club again by Wednesday, March 12. The computer now has a donated carrying case with wheels and a handle. Norm read a message from Asella Crum about Family Tree Maker, the Genealogy Class for Computers, starting on March 13 at 9-11 a.m. for eight weeks. (The price is $45.)
The club members then moved to the computer classroom, where Bill Goebel conducted a question and answer session. Bill recommends against using Outlook Express to save e-mails for very long. E-mails that need to be saved should be copied and pasted into word processing files. Norm reported that the Web browser Netscape, once widely used, is now going off the market. Hazel Johnson is back after having "been through the mill" because of health problems. Hazel brought to the meeting a very interesting e-mail that she recently received that officially informed her that ATM card number such and such had been credited in her favor in the amount of $6.8 million. Unfortunately, Hazel is still waiting for the money. Norm reported the case of a neighbor who got a telephone call that led her to believe that she would receive a large sum of money, to be delivered in person. The neighbor then got a later call in which the caller said that the personal delivery had been delayed and asked the neighbor for her bank account number. Bill described software clean-up work that he recently did during a house call. A computer had a program that needed to be removed, but it would not go away. The uninstall operation for the program would not work, and the program's files located under "Program Files"could not be removed. Bill rebooted the computer in Safe Mode and tried to repeat these two methods of removal without any better success. The solution that worked was to use System Recovery to roll the computer back to a checkpoint taken at a time before the bad program was ever on the computer. This operation was performed in Safe Mode. Bill then did a disk cleanup and ran a registry cleaner that he carries with him on visits like this. His registry cleaner is PC OnPoint. (The troublesome program was a trial version of a different registry cleaner.) Bill recommends creating a system checkpoint before making any substantial change in a computer. For help and useful information about personal computers, visit http://www.komando.com/ or do a Google search for Kim Komando. Her site also provides downloads, including programs for security. When a Web site offers both a paid version and a free version of a useful program, finding the free version usually takes more looking at the site than finding the paid version.
The program msconfig controls what programs are allowed to run in background. Some programs listed by msconfig can be disabled but others should not be. A Google search on the name of a program listed by msconfig can often find out what a program does. Bill conducted a demonstration of using function key F8 during reboot to get to Safe Mode on the classroom's main computer.If a traditional mouse with a ball is sticky and unpredictable, it may work better after cleaning. However, if cleaning dust out of the inside of a mouse does not make it work better, it is probably time to get a replacement. The speed of a mouse when it reacts to double-clicking is determined by a setting that is reached through the Control Panel. Computers in the classroom are set for the slowest available speed of doubleclicking, but club members may prefer a faster speed on their own computers at home.
Helen Tieszen raised a question about how to have one's address book available when using webmail during travel. To do this, two steps are needed. First, the address book in Outlook Express must be exported to a text file, and second the text file must be imported into webmail. The procedure for importing depends on what kind of webmail is provided by one's Internet service provider.In Outlook Express, the procedure for exporting the address book is:Click on File, Export, Address Book, "Text File (Comma Separated Values)", and Export. Enter a filename for the address book in the box and click on Next. Under "Select the fields you wish to export"click on First Name and Last Name, and leave Name and E-mail Address checked. You may want to uncheck any checked squares below the E-mail Address for the sake of privacy. Then click on Finish and Close. The exported file will probably be in My Documents. Copy it or move it to the Desktop. If goes somewhere else, it may be necessary to search for it. Most Internet service providers have some kind of webmail software. However, not all webmail software can import address books. Midco and Yahoo both have webmail that can. For help with importing to Midco, contact Bill Goebel at goebel33@sio.midco.net. To import to Yahoo, direct your browser to http://www.yahoo.com/ and sign in. Then click on Mail, Contacts, Import/Export, and Browse. Find and click on the file you exported, and click on Open and Import Now. To review or edit your address book in Yahoo, click on Address Book in the upper right corner.Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204. The minutes of the February meeting were approved, with a correction. One sentence needed to say: Vista needs a new version of MicrosoftWord, and does *not* accept a too old version of Office. Norm announced that our speaker had to cancel because of flu in his family. Matt Woolridge, Assistant Manager at Staples, will speak to the club instead in April. Under old business, Norm reported that Lisa Howard was using the club's laptop computer, but it would be available to the club again by Wednesday, March 12. The computer now has a donated carrying case with wheels and a handle. Norm read a message from Asella Crum about Family Tree Maker, the Genealogy Class for Computers, starting on March 13 at 9-11 a.m. for eight weeks. (The price is $45.)
The club members then moved to the computer classroom, where Bill Goebel conducted a question and answer session. Bill recommends against using Outlook Express to save e-mails for very long. E-mails that need to be saved should be copied and pasted into word processing files. Norm reported that the Web browser Netscape, once widely used, is now going off the market. Hazel Johnson is back after having "been through the mill" because of health problems. Hazel brought to the meeting a very interesting e-mail that she recently received that officially informed her that ATM card number such and such had been credited in her favor in the amount of $6.8 million. Unfortunately, Hazel is still waiting for the money. Norm reported the case of a neighbor who got a telephone call that led her to believe that she would receive a large sum of money, to be delivered in person. The neighbor then got a later call in which the caller said that the personal delivery had been delayed and asked the neighbor for her bank account number. Bill described software clean-up work that he recently did during a house call. A computer had a program that needed to be removed, but it would not go away. The uninstall operation for the program would not work, and the program's files located under "Program Files"could not be removed. Bill rebooted the computer in Safe Mode and tried to repeat these two methods of removal without any better success. The solution that worked was to use System Recovery to roll the computer back to a checkpoint taken at a time before the bad program was ever on the computer. This operation was performed in Safe Mode. Bill then did a disk cleanup and ran a registry cleaner that he carries with him on visits like this. His registry cleaner is PC OnPoint. (The troublesome program was a trial version of a different registry cleaner.) Bill recommends creating a system checkpoint before making any substantial change in a computer. For help and useful information about personal computers, visit http://www.komando.com/ or do a Google search for Kim Komando. Her site also provides downloads, including programs for security. When a Web site offers both a paid version and a free version of a useful program, finding the free version usually takes more looking at the site than finding the paid version.
The program msconfig controls what programs are allowed to run in background. Some programs listed by msconfig can be disabled but others should not be. A Google search on the name of a program listed by msconfig can often find out what a program does. Bill conducted a demonstration of using function key F8 during reboot to get to Safe Mode on the classroom's main computer.If a traditional mouse with a ball is sticky and unpredictable, it may work better after cleaning. However, if cleaning dust out of the inside of a mouse does not make it work better, it is probably time to get a replacement. The speed of a mouse when it reacts to double-clicking is determined by a setting that is reached through the Control Panel. Computers in the classroom are set for the slowest available speed of doubleclicking, but club members may prefer a faster speed on their own computers at home.
Helen Tieszen raised a question about how to have one's address book available when using webmail during travel. To do this, two steps are needed. First, the address book in Outlook Express must be exported to a text file, and second the text file must be imported into webmail. The procedure for importing depends on what kind of webmail is provided by one's Internet service provider.In Outlook Express, the procedure for exporting the address book is:Click on File, Export, Address Book, "Text File (Comma Separated Values)", and Export. Enter a filename for the address book in the box and click on Next. Under "Select the fields you wish to export"click on First Name and Last Name, and leave Name and E-mail Address checked. You may want to uncheck any checked squares below the E-mail Address for the sake of privacy. Then click on Finish and Close. The exported file will probably be in My Documents. Copy it or move it to the Desktop. If goes somewhere else, it may be necessary to search for it. Most Internet service providers have some kind of webmail software. However, not all webmail software can import address books. Midco and Yahoo both have webmail that can. For help with importing to Midco, contact Bill Goebel at goebel33@sio.midco.net. To import to Yahoo, direct your browser to http://www.yahoo.com/ and sign in. Then click on Mail, Contacts, Import/Export, and Browse. Find and click on the file you exported, and click on Open and Import Now. To review or edit your address book in Yahoo, click on Address Book in the upper right corner.Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
Minutes of Meeting - February 1, 2008
Minutes of the February 1, 2008 meeting of the Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club:
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204, and announced that Susan Niemeck would be our speaker, replacing Bev Johnson. Under old business, the club discussed what to do with the club's laptop computer. Bill Goebel reported that he has done software cleanup work on it, and it also now has new power cord. The club decided that the computer will reside in a locker at the Center when no member has it checked out, that Norm will keep the key to the locker, and that a member who currently has the laptop checked out on the day of a meeting should bring it to the meeting. Norm will put instructions for borrowers with the laptop. Norm lives close to the Center and is often at the Center itself during the day.
The minutes of the January meeting were approved after being viewed in hard copy.
In the computer classroom Bill introduced Susan Niemeck, who gave the club a first look at Windows Vista. Susan started with the sign-on procedure. One PC with Vista can have multiple users. Visitors, such as grandchildren, can have their own user-IDs without changing the rest of the system. Different users can have their own desktops, with choices of plain or fancy wallpapers. The Vista desktop has some parts that are similar to the XP desktop, but some parts and new features are quite different. A whole new feature is the sidebar on the right side, which contains new things called gadgets. These gadgets need to remain unchanged on the computers in the classroom, but home users can remove some of them or add to them. Special gadgets are available from software vendors outside Microsoft. New users of Vista may want to leave gadgets alone at first in order to become familiar with features that are not so different from XP.
There are several versions of Vista available, including Home, Home Premium, and Business. Susan has Home Premium. (Norm says the premium version is worth the extra cost.) Computer hardware must match the requirements of the version of Vista. In any case, higher computer power is needed for Vista than for XP. When Susan gets a new version of Windows, she studies its new features not only to understand the changes Microsoft has made, but also to understand why these changes have been made. This is her philosophy for studying new versions of Windows.
The start button in Vista is in the familiar place in the lower left corner, but is now an icon without the word "Start". The start button provides access to recently used programs, and to All Programs. Under All Programs there are folders as before, but as the user navigates through the folders, they do not spread all over the desktop. Instead all folders are opened within the same window. Another change is that folders within folders are shown after programs rather than ahead of them. Individual programs within folders can be started with one click. A brand new feature of the start button is that its display shows an icon that represents the current user. Any action on the computer that affects security brings up a small security warning window. This is useful when a PC accepts remote log-ins, but this window also pops up whenever the User Accounts icon is selected in the Control Panel.
Vista has an improved search facility that can search by context, but this searching requires a fast computer. "My Documents" has been renamed as "Documents" and is also reorganized. Folders for pictures and music and such have been moved out to become folders beside Documents rather than being folders within it. Functions of Microsoft Outlook are now in Vista. These functions are more powerful than Outlook Express. The calendar function of Outlook is a significant new feature. E-mail is now handled by Windows Mail, which is more like mail in Outlook than mail in Outlook Express. "My Computer" is now called "Computer", but it still opens a window to give the usual access to different drives. This window gives a choice of opening a drive with one click on the left side of the window, or with two clicks on the right side. Any programs presently on a older machine should be freshly installed on a Vista machine. Copying program files across from the older machine is not advisable. Data can be brought across by means of export and import. Documents can be written to a CD and copied into a folder on the new machine. All open programs in Vista are shown on the taskbar. Hovering over a button on the taskbar creates a miniature display of the button's window. In the quick launch part of the taskbar there is a button that activates a 3-D display of current windows. This display is radically different from anything in any previous version of Windows and made a strong impression on the club members. It is very demanding of a computer's hardware, and needs the premium version of Vista or higher. Vista needs at least 1 gigabyte of main memory, but 3 gigabytes is a desirable number. The hard drive should provide 250 gigabytes of storage or more. If a printer from an older computer is installed on a Vista machine, it may need a driver. The computer's manufacturer should be able to provide the driver.
The Center for Active Generations will have an introductory course in Vista soon. The first offering of this course will begin on March 18.
Vista needs a new version of Microsoft Word, and does accept a too old version of Office. Office 2003 and Office 2007 will work in Vista, but Office 2000 does not. Microsoft Word has a Save-As option for compatibility with older kinds of formats. Older formats may be needed in e-mail attachments for recipients who have older computers. It is now possible to get a CD that installs Vista on a computer that is currently running Windows XP, provided the computer hardware is suitable for Vista. Before any installation of a new system, back up all data. When you put in the Vista CD and run the install program, you will have a choice of installing Vista over XP, or creating a new partition on the hard drive so that it will contain both XP and Vista. Information about Vista can be found in books at Barnes and Noble or in the very good help screens that come with Vista. Click on the start button and then on Help and Support to get to the help in Vista.
The club welcomes new members Don H. Platt, Patricia A. Powell, and Tom VandenBosch.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204, and announced that Susan Niemeck would be our speaker, replacing Bev Johnson. Under old business, the club discussed what to do with the club's laptop computer. Bill Goebel reported that he has done software cleanup work on it, and it also now has new power cord. The club decided that the computer will reside in a locker at the Center when no member has it checked out, that Norm will keep the key to the locker, and that a member who currently has the laptop checked out on the day of a meeting should bring it to the meeting. Norm will put instructions for borrowers with the laptop. Norm lives close to the Center and is often at the Center itself during the day.
The minutes of the January meeting were approved after being viewed in hard copy.
In the computer classroom Bill introduced Susan Niemeck, who gave the club a first look at Windows Vista. Susan started with the sign-on procedure. One PC with Vista can have multiple users. Visitors, such as grandchildren, can have their own user-IDs without changing the rest of the system. Different users can have their own desktops, with choices of plain or fancy wallpapers. The Vista desktop has some parts that are similar to the XP desktop, but some parts and new features are quite different. A whole new feature is the sidebar on the right side, which contains new things called gadgets. These gadgets need to remain unchanged on the computers in the classroom, but home users can remove some of them or add to them. Special gadgets are available from software vendors outside Microsoft. New users of Vista may want to leave gadgets alone at first in order to become familiar with features that are not so different from XP.
There are several versions of Vista available, including Home, Home Premium, and Business. Susan has Home Premium. (Norm says the premium version is worth the extra cost.) Computer hardware must match the requirements of the version of Vista. In any case, higher computer power is needed for Vista than for XP. When Susan gets a new version of Windows, she studies its new features not only to understand the changes Microsoft has made, but also to understand why these changes have been made. This is her philosophy for studying new versions of Windows.
The start button in Vista is in the familiar place in the lower left corner, but is now an icon without the word "Start". The start button provides access to recently used programs, and to All Programs. Under All Programs there are folders as before, but as the user navigates through the folders, they do not spread all over the desktop. Instead all folders are opened within the same window. Another change is that folders within folders are shown after programs rather than ahead of them. Individual programs within folders can be started with one click. A brand new feature of the start button is that its display shows an icon that represents the current user. Any action on the computer that affects security brings up a small security warning window. This is useful when a PC accepts remote log-ins, but this window also pops up whenever the User Accounts icon is selected in the Control Panel.
Vista has an improved search facility that can search by context, but this searching requires a fast computer. "My Documents" has been renamed as "Documents" and is also reorganized. Folders for pictures and music and such have been moved out to become folders beside Documents rather than being folders within it. Functions of Microsoft Outlook are now in Vista. These functions are more powerful than Outlook Express. The calendar function of Outlook is a significant new feature. E-mail is now handled by Windows Mail, which is more like mail in Outlook than mail in Outlook Express. "My Computer" is now called "Computer", but it still opens a window to give the usual access to different drives. This window gives a choice of opening a drive with one click on the left side of the window, or with two clicks on the right side. Any programs presently on a older machine should be freshly installed on a Vista machine. Copying program files across from the older machine is not advisable. Data can be brought across by means of export and import. Documents can be written to a CD and copied into a folder on the new machine. All open programs in Vista are shown on the taskbar. Hovering over a button on the taskbar creates a miniature display of the button's window. In the quick launch part of the taskbar there is a button that activates a 3-D display of current windows. This display is radically different from anything in any previous version of Windows and made a strong impression on the club members. It is very demanding of a computer's hardware, and needs the premium version of Vista or higher. Vista needs at least 1 gigabyte of main memory, but 3 gigabytes is a desirable number. The hard drive should provide 250 gigabytes of storage or more. If a printer from an older computer is installed on a Vista machine, it may need a driver. The computer's manufacturer should be able to provide the driver.
The Center for Active Generations will have an introductory course in Vista soon. The first offering of this course will begin on March 18.
Vista needs a new version of Microsoft Word, and does accept a too old version of Office. Office 2003 and Office 2007 will work in Vista, but Office 2000 does not. Microsoft Word has a Save-As option for compatibility with older kinds of formats. Older formats may be needed in e-mail attachments for recipients who have older computers. It is now possible to get a CD that installs Vista on a computer that is currently running Windows XP, provided the computer hardware is suitable for Vista. Before any installation of a new system, back up all data. When you put in the Vista CD and run the install program, you will have a choice of installing Vista over XP, or creating a new partition on the hard drive so that it will contain both XP and Vista. Information about Vista can be found in books at Barnes and Noble or in the very good help screens that come with Vista. Click on the start button and then on Help and Support to get to the help in Vista.
The club welcomes new members Don H. Platt, Patricia A. Powell, and Tom VandenBosch.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary
Minutes of Meeting - 4 January 2008
Minutes of the January 4, 2008 meeting of the Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club as submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary:
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204. Because of a scheduling limitation, all of the meeting was conducted in room 204. The minutes of the December meeting were approved after being viewed in hard copy. Vice President Bill Goebel reported that the club's laptop computer was unusable because of a missing power cord. This laptop was paid for by club dues collected in the past, and had previously provided reliable service. Bill proposed that the laptop should be kept by a club member rather than in the front office. A motion to this effect was approved by the members. Another motion, also approved, designated Bill as the club member in charge of the laptop computer.
Bill answered an e-mail question about YouTube. Access to YouTube does not need Google. However,access faster than dial-up is necessary. YouTube can be accessed directly at its Web site http://www.youtube.com/, subject to an easy registration requirement. A YouTube presentation via e-mail does not need registration. Special software for YouTube is not required.
There was also a question about sending an e-mail attachment to a group of people. A group name in Outlook Express can be used to send e-mail to a group of recipients, and this will work with an attachment. However, some computer users are reluctant to open attachments because of the fear of viruses. Bill described how to overrule a pop-up blocker, in case a pop-up blocker is preventing pictures from being seen.
A picture in e-mail may be saved by right-clicking on it and then clicking on Save As. Outlook Express can re-size pictures in outgoing e-mail. A picture can be resized by putting it into Word and resizing it there.
Bill then discussed important parts of the Windows XP Control Panel, using a borrowed laptop computer. The club was fortunate and is grateful that Mildred Hottmann Roesch brought her laptop to the meeting and made it available. During his discussion, Bill referred to the Classic View of the Control Panel. He skipped over certain parts of the control panel that have limited interest to most computer users, and these parts are omitted below. Different versions of Windows have differences in their control panels. The option Add New Hardware in the Control panel can be used when adding new hardware to a computer, but Bill said that the wizard supplied by the manufacturer of new hardware will usually serve the same purpose. Add or Remove Programs is a very important part of the Control Panel that all computer users need to know how to use. The window under this item is the place to go to remove a program from a computer. Generally, any program that one does not recognize should be left in place. To carry out a removal select a program and click the Remove button. This will usually give complete removal of a program. If it does not, it may be necessary to go to My Computer to finish up. If you are unsure how well the removal process will go, it can help to create a restore point just before starting the removal. It is not wise to depend on a restore point that is several days old because going back to a restore point means losing e-mails and possibly other important information that was received since the restore point was made. Bill recommends leaving the Automatic Updates option on. Date and Time icon lets the user choose a time zone for a computer's display of time. Display Properties can be changed by clicking on Display in the Control Panel or by right-clicking in an empty area of the desktop, followed by clicking on Properties. Some programs may need a change in the resolution of the display. This is also the place where you can turn off your screen saver while running Disk Defragmenter. File types can be changed to allow new file types to be recognized in attachments. These come under the Folder Options icon. Fonts can removed in some cases to save disk space,but this may interfere with the operation of some programs. Internet Options in the Control Panel will take you to the same menu that is found in Internet Explorer under Tools. Keyboard changes are permitted to vary the way the keyboard works, but it is advisable to make a note of all the old settings before making any changes here. Mouse options are available like options for the keyboard, and again you should make note of the old settings before changing anything. Network Connections can let you see how your computer connects to the Internet, and there is a wizard here for making new network connections, but your Internet service provider should provide you with a disk for making a new connection. Power Options in the Control Panel provide ways to put various things in a computer on standby after various periods of idle time, but Bill feels it may be simpler to leave these alone. It is desirable for a laptop to give a low battery warning. Some keyboards have keys to bring a computer up or down or put it on standby. Printers and Faxes will take you to the list of print requests, where stalled print requests can be removed if necessary. This is the place to select your default printer. Older PCs may have old unused printers listed here. These can be removed here. Scanner and Cameras icon leads to a wizard for adding devices, but programs with these devices will also do this. Scheduled Tasks can let you run the defragmenter on a schedule, or you can have a quick disk cleanup run whenever there is a reboot. Task to be run automatically can be tied to clock times or run at reboot. Security Center controls the firewall that comes with Windows XP. This firewall needs to be turned off if a computer has another firewall included with software from a security provider. Security options under this Control Panel item include the firewall and anti-virus protection. Sounds and Audio Devices icon leads to the window for sound volume adjustments. There is also an icon at the lower right corner of the desktop to get to these same adjustments. System on the Control Panel leads to very technical adjustments. Among other things, the system restore capability can be turned off here. User Accounts icon lets different users of a PC have their own desktops while using the same programs on the hard drive. Bill feels that this feature is not all that effective.
The Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club welcomes new members Linda Bauer, Ladean Klein, and Kris Rauscher.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
President Norm Knox called the meeting to order in room 204. Because of a scheduling limitation, all of the meeting was conducted in room 204. The minutes of the December meeting were approved after being viewed in hard copy. Vice President Bill Goebel reported that the club's laptop computer was unusable because of a missing power cord. This laptop was paid for by club dues collected in the past, and had previously provided reliable service. Bill proposed that the laptop should be kept by a club member rather than in the front office. A motion to this effect was approved by the members. Another motion, also approved, designated Bill as the club member in charge of the laptop computer.
Bill answered an e-mail question about YouTube. Access to YouTube does not need Google. However,access faster than dial-up is necessary. YouTube can be accessed directly at its Web site http://www.youtube.com/, subject to an easy registration requirement. A YouTube presentation via e-mail does not need registration. Special software for YouTube is not required.
There was also a question about sending an e-mail attachment to a group of people. A group name in Outlook Express can be used to send e-mail to a group of recipients, and this will work with an attachment. However, some computer users are reluctant to open attachments because of the fear of viruses. Bill described how to overrule a pop-up blocker, in case a pop-up blocker is preventing pictures from being seen.
A picture in e-mail may be saved by right-clicking on it and then clicking on Save As. Outlook Express can re-size pictures in outgoing e-mail. A picture can be resized by putting it into Word and resizing it there.
Bill then discussed important parts of the Windows XP Control Panel, using a borrowed laptop computer. The club was fortunate and is grateful that Mildred Hottmann Roesch brought her laptop to the meeting and made it available. During his discussion, Bill referred to the Classic View of the Control Panel. He skipped over certain parts of the control panel that have limited interest to most computer users, and these parts are omitted below. Different versions of Windows have differences in their control panels. The option Add New Hardware in the Control panel can be used when adding new hardware to a computer, but Bill said that the wizard supplied by the manufacturer of new hardware will usually serve the same purpose. Add or Remove Programs is a very important part of the Control Panel that all computer users need to know how to use. The window under this item is the place to go to remove a program from a computer. Generally, any program that one does not recognize should be left in place. To carry out a removal select a program and click the Remove button. This will usually give complete removal of a program. If it does not, it may be necessary to go to My Computer to finish up. If you are unsure how well the removal process will go, it can help to create a restore point just before starting the removal. It is not wise to depend on a restore point that is several days old because going back to a restore point means losing e-mails and possibly other important information that was received since the restore point was made. Bill recommends leaving the Automatic Updates option on. Date and Time icon lets the user choose a time zone for a computer's display of time. Display Properties can be changed by clicking on Display in the Control Panel or by right-clicking in an empty area of the desktop, followed by clicking on Properties. Some programs may need a change in the resolution of the display. This is also the place where you can turn off your screen saver while running Disk Defragmenter. File types can be changed to allow new file types to be recognized in attachments. These come under the Folder Options icon. Fonts can removed in some cases to save disk space,but this may interfere with the operation of some programs. Internet Options in the Control Panel will take you to the same menu that is found in Internet Explorer under Tools. Keyboard changes are permitted to vary the way the keyboard works, but it is advisable to make a note of all the old settings before making any changes here. Mouse options are available like options for the keyboard, and again you should make note of the old settings before changing anything. Network Connections can let you see how your computer connects to the Internet, and there is a wizard here for making new network connections, but your Internet service provider should provide you with a disk for making a new connection. Power Options in the Control Panel provide ways to put various things in a computer on standby after various periods of idle time, but Bill feels it may be simpler to leave these alone. It is desirable for a laptop to give a low battery warning. Some keyboards have keys to bring a computer up or down or put it on standby. Printers and Faxes will take you to the list of print requests, where stalled print requests can be removed if necessary. This is the place to select your default printer. Older PCs may have old unused printers listed here. These can be removed here. Scanner and Cameras icon leads to a wizard for adding devices, but programs with these devices will also do this. Scheduled Tasks can let you run the defragmenter on a schedule, or you can have a quick disk cleanup run whenever there is a reboot. Task to be run automatically can be tied to clock times or run at reboot. Security Center controls the firewall that comes with Windows XP. This firewall needs to be turned off if a computer has another firewall included with software from a security provider. Security options under this Control Panel item include the firewall and anti-virus protection. Sounds and Audio Devices icon leads to the window for sound volume adjustments. There is also an icon at the lower right corner of the desktop to get to these same adjustments. System on the Control Panel leads to very technical adjustments. Among other things, the system restore capability can be turned off here. User Accounts icon lets different users of a PC have their own desktops while using the same programs on the hard drive. Bill feels that this feature is not all that effective.
The Sioux Falls Seniors Computer Club welcomes new members Linda Bauer, Ladean Klein, and Kris Rauscher.
Respectfully submitted by Garth Peterson, Secretary.
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."
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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."
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