C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XV: NUMBER 12 DECEMBER, 2000
NEXT MEETING: DECEMBER 19, 2000 6:00PM KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
PRESENTATION: Christmas Party
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| CONTENTS |
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(1) Officers, Helplines, S.I.G.s
(2) President's Corner Charles Barney
(4) Editor's Comments / Labels Dick Trissel
(4) FIND Power Dick Trissel
(5) November Internet S.I.G. Dick Trissel
(6) Web Wanderings / Misc. Gil Smith
(7) Large Display Dick Trissel
(7) PrintScrn Dick Savage
(7) File Name Extensions Dick Trissel
(8) Review: PartitionMagic 6.0 Dick Trissel
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Officers Helplines
President Juno
Charles Barney 937-1240 Gilbert Smith 925-3743
cbarney@lightspeed.net colgil1@juno.com
Vice President Windows 95
Frank Maciel 922-2318 Amy Malicki 925-5780
frm8198@juno.com amymal@juno.com
Secretary Hardware & DOS
Barbara Godwin 934-9885 Ray Isenson 937-6938
yungbag@best1.net risenson@juno.com
Treasurer Voice control & Input/Output
Gerald Miller 934-1396 Amy Malicki 925-5780
2741 Banyan Way amymal@juno.com
Santa Maria CA 93455
gmiller33@excite.com
Librarian Desktop Publishing & scanners
Sharon Allen 928-2209 Don Harelson 934-3926
sallen4060@aol.com qef1@juno.com
Publicity Software User Identification
Bill Corning 934-0775 Fred Adams 934-1128
foster95@juno.com fred421@juno.com
Newsletter Editor Visual Basic
Dick Trissel 937-7572 Gerald Miller
rtrissel@juno.com Gmiller33@excite.com
Program Chairman AOL
Ray Isenson 937-6938 Frank Maciel 922-2318
risenson@juno.com frm8198@aol.com
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
Windows 95/98 Internet
Amy Malicki Dick Trissel
amymal@juno.com rtrissel@juno.com
CCCC Membership is $15 for twelve months. For this you receive:
Monthly newsletter
Access to the clubs software library
Disk of the month (usually for $1)
Helpline support
Monthly presentation
Valuable door prizes
Question and answer sessions
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CCCC Page 2 December 2000
President's Corner
by Charles Barney
We once again had about 60 people turn out for the meeting on November
21st. This seems to be our "core" number of faithful members who regularly
attend. This is only approximately half of our members though. I know that
things come up and schedules get busy, but please try take advantage of the
benefits of membership in your computer club and attend whenever possible.
You have only to gain!
I'd like to welcome new members Russ and Sylvia Connors to the 4C's.
Talking to Russ at the Guest Orientation SIG last meeting, I learned that
he and his wife had just recently moved to Santa Maria. They were still
going to the Computerooters club up in Arroyo Grande and were looking for a
closer users group here locally. We're glad you found us and trust that
your experience with our group will be a most pleasant and beneficial one.
Our club officers for the year 2001 were elected by those present at the
meeting and any who sent in absentee ballots. The results of the election
(no drum roll necessary) were as follows: President, Charles Barney
(myself); Vice President, Phil Grycel; Secretary, Barbara Godwin;
Treasurer, Gerald Miller. Also returning next year in appointed positions
will be Librarian, Sharon Allen; Publicity Manager, Bill Corning and
Program Chairman, Ray Isenson. Dick Trissel still is currently producing
the club newsletter for now, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if someone else
wanted to do it (ask him!).
Alan Raul from the San Luis Obispo computer club, the SloBytes, was our
guest speaker for the evening and it was a pleasure to have him back again.
Alan spoke to us about the emerging alternative operating system LINUX. Our
uncooperative projector prevented him from giving his planned presentation
using the server tower system he brought along, but being quite familiar
with and having great respect for Murphy's Law, Alan had a backup plan.
He ran through a series of Power Point slides and explained that creator
Linus Torvalds first posted LINUX on the Internet in 1991 with the concept
that the source code would always be free and anyone could modify and
improve it. Since then, the program has gone through much evolution as
programmers from around the world helped to develop it.
Today LINUX is the fastest growing operating system and claims some 12
million users.
While renowned for it's speed and reliability, it is still not the OS for
the masses quite yet. A fair amount of technical knowledge can be required
to install and configure the program and there aren't as many applications
available as there are on the familiar Windows platform. This I understand
is changing rapidly and that we can expect a friendlier and more useful
LINUX in the not too distant future. Even Microsoft is positioning itself
to take advantage of a growing population using this computing platform.
You can bet, Bill Gates is looking over his shoulder!
Our door prize drawing was not without the usual mix of winners and losers
(i.e. those who stayed home). The club computer called on no-shows Laudell
Ludwig, Maurice Ross, Mike Reineke and Mal Plambeck before a surprised Amy
Malicki was picked to chose first among the booty and she wisely took the
copy of McAfee ViruScan 5.1. Paul Highfill was present when his name came
up and he chose to take a very nice surge protector home. Ken Baur and
Pamela Brunson lost their chance before George Keys won a copy of Partition
Magic 4.0. Eldean Voris was there when her name appeared on the screen and
she picked up a 2001 Quicken Family Lawyer CD. Absentees Peter Dettelis,
Phil Grycel and Leonard Smith's names came up before Richard Holmes was
chosen and selected a rather handsome Microsoft t-shirt. The final prize, a
Smart Computing Magazine bundle, was missed by James Brunson, Christian
Heck, Don Feragen and Roy Grisso before going to a beaming Sharon Allen.
As I mentioned in my last column, I was going to attend the Fall conference
of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG) in Las Vegas.
Well, that I did and had a most rewarding experience. There were about 350
attendees comprised of computer club officers or appointed members from all
over the world. Most were from the continental US, but I also met people
from Canada, Japan and Australia.
I attended several "roundtable" discussions on various topics of interest
pertaining to running a user group and went to a number of vendor sponsored
"meal events" which were enjoyable. About 30 different vendors were there
for the weekend event. Only the biggest ones such as Adobe, MGI, Jasc,
Borland, etc. could afford to put on the dinner parties, but all took part
in the "vendor fair" on the final evening. I talked to all that I felt had
potential for future club presentations. Some we already have associations
with and some were new. We'll see what develops.
I'd like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the
following people who have voluntarily given their time and effort during
the past year to do the many jobs required to keep our club operating
smoothly: My fellow officers Frank Maciel, Barbara Godwin and Gerald
Miller; Program Chairman, Ray Isenson; Librarian, Sharon Allen; Publicity
Manager, Bill Corning; SIG Leader and Executive Advisor, Amy Malicki; SIG
Leader, Newsletter Editor, Webmaster, Maintainer of club roster, etc, Dick
Trissel; Kitchen Workers, Barbara Flood, Annabelle Wood and Eldean Voris;
Greeter, Barbara Lohman; Backup Treasurer, Howard Williams; Room Setup,
Fred Adams; Free Materials Table, Glen Wood; Election Committee Chair, Ken
Stiffler; 50-50 Drawing Manager and Equipment Assistant, Vic McLaughlin and
Past President, Gilbert Smith as Executive Advisor. My apologies if I have
omitted anyone.
We will be having our annual Christmas party during the December 19th
meeting and all are encouraged to attend. It will be a potluck event and
folks are asked to bring a plate of "finger foods" along to share. This can
be anything that you like, the more diversity the better! No SIGs or
regular program are scheduled, but I'm sure a good time will be had by all.
I have found these holiday gatherings to be a relaxing and fun time and a
welcome change of pace from the usual club business. There could be some
surprises in store and there will be the best door prize drawing of the
year, I promise you! So come on out, bring a friend and let's have a good
time. Wishing you all a bright and merry holiday season. - Charles
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CCCC Page 4 December 2000
Editor's Comments
by Dick Trissel
N O T I C E AGAIN
Check your mailing label on this newsletter. In the upper right corner
there will be an arrow pointing to a number (--\ #.##). That is the amount
in dollars and cents that you will owe by January's business meeting for
your membership to continue through the year 2001. Only those due in 2000
will still show an expiration date on the label.
There are three categories of members; those that have dues payable this
year (Oct., Nov., Dec.), those that have dues payable in 2001, and those
that have already paid through 2001.
The first category will pay when due this year for the rest of this year
and all of next year. The second category will pay in January for the
remainder of 2001. The third category owes $0.00.
It would help a lot if you paid by check and on time. It's going to be a
little hectic. And paying by check, a receipt will not be necessary.
N O T I C E New
Because of the Christmas party at the December 19 meeting, there will not
be any Special Interest Group meetings. There may not even be a business
meeting. In fact, there may not be a presentation. Just bring a few
servings of finger food and plan to eat, drink (non-alchohol), and be
merry.
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FIND Power
by Dick Trissel
I imagine most Windows users don't realize the power intrinsic in the
Start/Find function. Oh sure, you've used it to find a file that you
forgot where you put it. Or, to find all files that end in .dll or
whatever. But, did you know you can use Find to locate a file by using a
unique word inside that file?
Let's say you have an MSWord file that contains the word alligator, and you
don't know where you saved it. Just go to Find, leave the Named: block
empty, put alligator in the Containing text: block, put the C: drive (or
wherever) in the Look in: block, and press
Find Now.
This works for finding files in .zip and .cab files as well, as they are
compressed files in ASCII text.
Another neat feature in Find is the ability to find by date. Sometimes you
can't remember the file name you're after, but you know about when you
saved it. Got to Find, choose the Date tab, click the Between option,
scroll through the calendars and days and click on the dates, and press
Find Now. I use this feature frequently to find out what has been added to
my hard drive on a particular day.
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CCCC Page 5 December 2000
November Internet S.I.G
by Dick Trissel
I guess the elections (both the CCCC and the national fiasco) didn't
discourage the 30 attendees to the Internet S.I.G.
The first item covered was the warning about the KAK virus that appeared in
May of 2000. It gets recognized by anti-virus programs, but not always
properly removed. There have been several club members infected. Because
of the complexity of the remedy, the advice, if you are hit by the KAK
virus, is to contact myself or Ray Isenson. We have both assisted in
removing the virus. You'll know if you have it--a message will be
displayed.
The virus is spread from Outlook Express e-mail to other O.E. users by
including a signature to the outgoing message. The effect (besides
spreading) is to cause periodic shutdown of your computer. For more
information search the Web for "KAK virus".
One member brought a hard copy of the announcement by JUNO that their "Free
Web" users will be monitored starting December 4 for "excessive" Web usage,
whatever that means. They said light users will not be affected. However,
heavy users may be limited, whatever that means.
A new JUNO subscription offer for current Free Web users is for
$4.95/month. You will not be limited and there will be less advertising
(no banner, I think).
I followed their instructions to learn more of the $4.95 offer, but was
unable to get details as to what is offered, or not.
One member related his experience from deleting the files from his
Temporary Internet Files folder (TIF). He had over 2500 files, and, after
deletion, gained several hundred megabytes of disk space. This brought up
some interesting questions.
What did he have his maximum file size set to in the Internet Options,
Properties, TIF Settings? Mine are set at 16Mb by default. How did he
find out how many files were in the TIF folder? Just using Windows
Explorer to open the TIF folder doesn't display the number of files, like
it does in other folders. If you have Windows98SE you can do a Select All
(CTRL-A) in the right pane to get the count in the lower left of the status
bar. How did he delete the files? He used Windows Explorer, Select All,
Shift-Delete. This procedure removes files without putting them in the
Recycle Bin.
Of course, you can use the Internet Options to delete the TIF files, but
that does not remove the cookies listed there. They can be deleted
manually, but the cookies will still be in the Cookies folder. And, they
can be deleted manually, if you wish.
Since the November presentation was on the LINUX operating system, a
suggestion for an interesting Web site was
http://www.newsforge.com. It also covers other subjects, but concentrates
on LINUX support.
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CCCC Page 6 December 2000
Web Wanderings
by Gil Smith
BUILDER HOUSE PLANS Also known as "your source for planning and building a
home". the Builder Site has an extensive and comprehensive list of plans
for your next "dream house." Search through the entire database by style,
size, bedrooms and bathrooms and other parameters, or search through the
Editor's Choice Selections for what Builder thinks is the best of the best.
http://builder.hw.net/plans/
UNLIST ME Are you tired of receiving junk mail and e-mail? This may be
what you're looking for to control the situation. UnlistMe is a service
provided by PopularDemand which enables you to reduce junk mail and
invasive phone solicitations for free and for life. Using the Internet to
empower consumers while protecting their privacy, PopularDemand also lets
you pool your buying power with other consumers so you can command greater
deals on products and services from companies that will treat you as a
preferred customer - but only if you choose to do so.
http://www.unlistme.com
LIFE MAGAZINES BEST PHOTOS OF THE YEAR When a photograph makes the ranks
of Life Magazine, it has to be extra special. Every one of the photos at
this web site fit the description.
http://www.lifemag.com/Life/
eisies/eisies2000/contents.html
ARTICLE FINDER This is basically a magazine search engine. You type in
the kind of article you're looking for and it gives you a list to choose
from. Find an article that looks interesting and you're off. You can
think of tons of uses for this site.
http://www.findarticles.com
HOME IMPROVEMENT Need to do some home repairs? Not sure where to start?
Check out this site. They have information on just about any kind of home
repair or improvement you might want to do.
http://www.todayshomeowner.com/
FALL COLOR Looking for some fall color? Not sure where to start? Check
out The Weather Channel's fall color guide. They can show you where the
color is, where it's going to be, and where it was.
http://www.weather.com/outdoors/fall/
GOT A PATENTABLE IDEA? If you've ever wondered about getting yourself a
patent, here's a site that can help you every step of the way. No more
excuses, it's time to patent that idea you have had for so long.
http://www.patentcafe.com/
SPECIAL FOR SENIORS Did you ever feel like the net is geared to the
younger crowd? Here's a site that's just for you. It covers everything
from news to health. It's an excellent portal type page that I think you'll
enjoy.
http://www.senior.com
FINANCIAL TIMES Here's a Financial site that brims with information. If
you're interested in the stock market or just looking for some business
news, this site will keep you busy for hours. It has a search feature too!
http://www.ft.com/
RIDDLES, WITTY QUIPS, DYING WORDS OF FAMOUS PEOPLE This site has a variety
of funny sayings, last words of famous people, and other stuff. One of my
favorites: "I drank WHAT!?!" by Socrates.
http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy
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CCCC Page 7 December 2000
Large Display
by Dick Trissel
Here's a suggestion that might make your computer monitor screen easier to
look at--it makes some of the window's characters larger. Of course, the
larger your monitor, the less crowded it gets. Anyway, it doesn't take
much to try it. Here's the procedure:
Go to My Computer/Control Panel/Display/Appearance. You'll be in the
Display Properties Appearance tab. In the Scheme section, scroll to the
option Windows Standard (Extra Large) and select it. Press Apply. Back
out to your desktop. If you feel things are too large, go back and try the
Windows Standard (Large) option. Or, to get back to normal, choose Windows
Standard.
Did you notice all the other options for the schemes? And did you notice
all the other neat things you can do to change the appearance of your
display? Have fun!
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PrintScrn
by Dick Savage
Here is a great way to show someone what you are seeing on your computer
screen.
1. Whenever you see something on your monitor screen that you would like to
show someone, you start out by saving the screen or the window to the
clipboard. To save the entire screen, simply press the 'Prt Scrn' key.
(Top row to the right of the function keys on my keyboard) To save only
the active window portion of your screen to the clipboard simultaneously
press both the 'Alt' and the 'Prt Scrn' keys.
2. Go to your 'Paint' application. (Start-Programs-Accessories-Paint). In
the Edit menu click on 'Paste'. This will place the clipboard into the
Paint application.
3. In Paint's File menu click on 'Save As' and fill in the blanks as to
where you want to save the file, the name to give it, and the extension you
want on the file. You probably want to save as a .jpg file because a .bmp
file is much bigger than you need or want.
4. Attach the .jpg file to the e-mail message you want to send.
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File Name Extensions
by Dick Trissel
Have you ever wondered what those strange .xxx extensions on file names
mean? Here's a couple of Web sites that list almost every extension that
has any significance.
http://whatis.com/ff.htm#a
http://www.cknow.com/ckinfo/acronyms/fileaextensions.htm
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CCCC Page 8 December 2000
Review: PartitionMagic V.6.0
by Dick Trissel
I doubt that there are many computer users that haven't heard of
PowerQuest's PartitionMagic program. Any printed article that discusses
hard drive disk management will recommend PartitionMagic. In this article
I will make you familiar enough with PartitionMagic 6.0 so that you can
decide if this is something you can use.
I admit that I am a skeptic. But, I was favorably impressed with the range
of capability and ease of use of PartitionMagic 6.0. I've never used a
previous version. There were times in the past when I needed to do a job
that PartitionMagic would have done, but I, like many others, didn't really
know what all it could do.
In these days of large hard disk drives, it is almost imperative that the
user have the capability of managing the drives. This is true whether it
be to conform to the maximum partition size limited by the BIOS, or for the
convenience and protection of separate areas on the drive.
Sure, we have the DOS (Oh No!) FDISK and FORMAT, but these are brutal and
dangerous for the average user. There are specialized programs available
that help relieve the complexity of hard disk drive management, but to have
all the programs necessary would be expensive, cumbersome, and possibly
dangerous to the disk content.
PartitionMagic 6.0 by PowerQuest puts all the tools in one package. And
even though they warn that you should backup your drive's content, they
also say most of the options will not affect the disk content.
After installing PartitionMagic 6.0 on one of my drives (I have five on
removable trays on two computer systems), I used the Wizards to resize the
primary partition on one of my drives to create some unallocated space. I
then created an extended partition. Because I have a CD-ROM in my system,
PartitionMagic asked if I wanted to fix all the references to my D drive
(the CD-ROM) to the new letter E (D got replaced by the second partition).
I agreed.
With all the changes displayed, I thought it was done. Nope, that was just
what I had told it to do. Now I had to tell it to do it. At that point I
could have backed out with nothing changed. That was comforting. However,
I turned it loose, and everything was done as advertised with no damage
done.
A very useful feature in PartitionMagic 6.0 is the ability to make "rescue
disks". These are two floppy disks with a Caldera DR-DOS version
containing most of the features of PartitionMagic 6.0. Primarily they are
for operating systems that are not Windows9x/ME/, or WindowsNT4.0/2000
workstations. However, they will work on almost all systems except
WindowsNT/2000 servers. A few options are not available with the rescue
disks, such as Remote Agent, split/shred/undelete partitions, undo, and the
Wizards.
So, I used the rescue disks to undo all the changes I had made. I should
mention I was working with an old disk with Windows98 and FAT16. So, after
going back to a single partition, I told PartitionMagic 6.0 to make it a
FAT32 disk. My disk now has a little more space, uses less space for new
files, runs a little faster, and I never lost a byte.
On a systems that I thought had a perfectly normal hard disk,
PartitionMagic reported a discrepancy in the FAT cluster allocation. I
don't know what was the problem. PartitionMagic asked if I wanted it to
fix the problem. With my fingers crossed I told it to do it. It not only
fixed it but showed a small amount of unallocated space on the disk. I
resized the primary partition to include it.
PartitionMagic 6.0 has too many features to go into any detail, and the
technicalities are too extensive for this article. The 149 page User Guide
gets pretty technical and, unfortunately, doesn't have a glossary of terms.
However, their Web site has a link to an online glossary that can be
downloaded for future reference:
http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/index.html
If you buy PartitionMagic 6.0 in the box, it comes on a CD-ROM--loaded. If
you download it from the Web site, it's a 40MB Download. The list price
for PartitionMagic 6.0 is $69.95 (check the special price at the end of
this article). PartitionMagic 6.0 Upgrade list price is $29.95.
Here are the system minimum requirements:
Windows 9x/ME/NT4, 32MB RAM (64 for NT4), 50MB disk space, 486 processor
(Pentium150 for ME, 133 for 2000), 3.5 floppy drive, CD-ROM (unless you
download). PartitionMagic 6.0 includes support for FAT, FAT32, Linux ext
2, Linux SWAP, and NTFS partitions
What can you do with PartitionMagic 6.0? PartitionMagic allows you to
create, resize, split, merge, undelete, and convert partitions without
destroying data. PartitionMagic helps organize and protect your data, run
multiple operating systems, convert file system types and fix partition
table errors.
The task automation wizards will allow you to create, resize, merge, and
copy partitions, and redistribute free space. PartitionMagic 6.0 also lets
you change drive letters, retest bad sectors, hide partitions, resize the
root directory, set active partitions, resize clusters, split partitions,
delete and undelete partitions, and create bootable partitions. It also
lets you visually see your hard drive structure. PartitionMagic includes
BootMagic for multi-operating system Boot.
The three significant changes from version 5 are: (1) allow the user to
split a current FAT or FAT32 partition into two partitions and designate
which root folders and files should be moved into the new partitions; (2)
"Drag and drop" a partition to another unallocated space on the hard drive;
(3) restore partitions that have been accidentally deleted but not
overwritten.
The manual references a program named Remote Agent that is only available
with PartitionMagic Pro. This is a DOS program for running PartitionMagic
on a network.
In my opinion, PowerQuest has attempted with PartitionMagic 6.0 to make
hard disk management so simple and easy that even the "computer challenged"
can do it. Read the User Guide, use the wizards, and it works.
Now, here's the deal!
User group members may purchase PartitionMagic v6 at a special price of $30
by ordering from a secure web site at www.ugr.com/order/. Indicate the
special code of UGEVAL00 with your order.
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