C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XVIII: NUMBER 12 DECEMBER, 2003
NEXT MEETING: December 16, 2003 6:00PM KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
CHRISTMAS PARTY -- NO PRESENTATION, NO S.I.G.s
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| CONTENTS |
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(1) Officers, Helplines, S.I.G.s
(2) President's Corner Charles Barney
(3) Classic Windows XP Dick Trissel
(4) Windows Explorer Dick Trissel
(5) File Transfers Dick Trissel
(6) Web Wanderings Gil Smith
(7) Pardon Me. . .A Parting Gesture Charles Barney
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OFFICERS HELPLINES
President Juno
Charles Barney 937-1240 Gilbert Smith 925-3743
cbarney@lightspeed.net colgil1@aol.com
Vice President Windows 95/98/ME/XP & VoiceControl
Richard Holmes 938-0622 Amy Malicki 925-5780
holmesr1@juno.com amymal@juno.com
Secretary and Book Librarian Hardware & Windows XP
Barbara Godwin 934-9885 Ray Isenson 937-6938
yung.bag@verizon.net risenson@juno.com
Treasurer AOL
Gerry Miller 934-1396 Frank Maciel 922-2318
2741 Banyan Way frm8198@aol.com
Santa Maria CA 93455
Gmiller@pronet.net
Disk Librarian Visual Basic
Sharon Allen 928-2209 Gerald Miller 934-1396
sallen4060@aol.com Gmiller@pronet.net
Publicity Help With Any Problem
Bill Corning 934-0775 Fred Adams 934-1128
foster95@juno.com wd64acj@netzero.net
Newsletter Editor
Dick Trissel 937-7572
rtrissel@juno.com
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS (S.I.G.s)
Novice (6:00pm) Hardware (6:00pm) Systems (5:45pm)
Amy Malicki Ray Isenson Dick Trissel
amymal@juno.com risenson@juno.com rtrissel@juno.com
CCCC Membership is $15 for twelve months ($20 family). For this you
receive:
Monthly newsletter
EXTRA4C E-mail Messages
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 2003
PRESIDENT'S CORNER
by Charles Barney
We have made history folks! At least that's what the charter 4Cs members
have told me; that the scheduled November 18th meeting was the first ever
that had to be cancelled. I was informed, just a few hours before meeting
time, that the clubhouse was in disarray from extensive flooring
replacement work in progress. With the help of some of the staff members, I
attempted to reach everyone by phone to inform you of the cancellation. My
apologies to those of you who could not be reached in time and made an
unnecessary trip. On the upside, we should have an even nicer meeting place
in the future!
My planned presentation on "Digital Images: Resolving Resolution" has been
rescheduled for February. In the meantime, all of those interested in
digital imaging (cameras, scanners, photo editing software, printing, etc.)
please come to my new SIG in the main room beginning in January. The first
one, I think, will be mainly some information gathering from you folks.
Come prepared to talk about what you are interested in and what hardware
and software you are using. I may begin each SIG with a mini-presentation
or demo, but want to take it in the direction that you would enjoy and most
benefit from.
At the conclusion of another year, I'd like to recognize all of those who
have volunteered their time in support of our user group. If not for your
efforts, it would not be what it is today.
A heartfelt thanks to: My staff - Richard Holmes, Barbara Godwin, and
Gerald Miller who have all done outstanding jobs respectively as Vice
President, Secretary, and Treasurer; SIG Leader, Newsletter Editor, and Web
Master Dick Trissel who continues to work capably and tirelessly in his
many contributions; SIG Leader Amy Malicki, who always brings her great
experience and eagerness to help others to the group; Presidents Emeritus
Ray Isenson and Gil Smith for their continuing support and sage advice;
Publicity Chairman Bill Corning, who always gets the word out on time to
various media regarding the meetings; Sharon Allen for keeping the club's
software library and preparing all those great disks-of-the-month; The
Kitchen Engineering staff, led by Barbara Flood and helped by Eldean Voris
and other volunteers that keep the refreshments flowing during the
breaks;Cookie Committee members Joseph Gatwis and Ken Stiffler who have
been responsible for bringing the sweet treats on meeting nights; Vic
McLaughlin, who perennially manages the 50/50 drawings that have brought
many dollars into our equipment fund; and finally to all the others (you
know who you are) that have helped out in numerous ways, from room set-up
to cleaning up after the meetings, suggesting speakers, donating equipment
and in many other ways. Thank you all!
To everyone in the Central Coast Computer Club, it has been my great
pleasure and privilege to have served as your President these past four
years. I trust that you will give your continuing support to our new
President, Spencer Stimler as we begin another promising year.
Don't forget the annual 4Cs Christmas party on December 16th. Bring some
easy-to-handle foods to share and get ready to win some great door prizes!
May you all have a joyous holiday season and a blessed new year. -Charles
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PARTY TIME
Our annual December Christmas potluck party at 6:00PM on Tuesday, December
16 will be in lieu of the usual CCCC meeting. All members and their
families are welcome. Please bring a plate of "finger foods" to share if
you are planning to attend.
__________________________________________________________________________
BRING YOUR BALLOTS TO THE DECEMBER MEETING.
__________________________________________________________________________
Start saving your pennies. Next month everyone pays their CCCC membership
dues.
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CCCC Page 3 December 2003
CLASSIC WINDOWS XP by Dick Trissel
Now that just about everyone has the Windows XP operating system in their
computers, some of us would like to know how to control the operation and
appearance of XP. Maybe just to make it a little more like the Windows 98
we spent so much time on.
The two modes of display and control are called "Advanced" for the XP
style, and "Classic" for the 98 style. Here are a few tips I've discovered
and some I've extracted from the PCWorld magazine (December 2003). All
options are left-click selections unless noted as right-click.
SINGLE OR MULTIPLE TASKBAR GROUPS: Right-click taskbar / Properties /
Taskbar tab / Taskbar Appearance block / uncheck Group Similar Taskbar
Buttons.
HIDE OR KEEP TRAY ITEMS (ICONS): Right-click Taskbar / Properties / Taskbar
/ Notification area / click Hide inactive icons and then Customize etc.
RESTORE QUICK LAUNCH: Right-click Taskbar / Toolbars / click Quick Launch.
REARRANGE TOOLBAR OR TASKBAR: Right-click Taskbar (or Toolbar) / click Lock
the Taskbar (or Toolbar), then drag items to your choice of position.
CONTROL PANEL CASCADING MENU: Right-click Taskbar / Properties / Start Menu
/ Customize / Advanced / Start menu items / Control Panel / Display as a
menu.
CHANGE XP BLUE TITLE BARS: Right-click Desktop / Properties / Appearances /
Windows and buttons / Classic Style, and Advanced and Effects to customize.
CLASSIC DESKTOP: Right-click Desktop / Properties / Theme / Windows
Classic.
ADD SYSTEM DESKTOP ICONS: Right-click Desktop / Properties / Desktop /
Customize Desktop / General, and click the icons you want displayed. Icons
can be deleted directly from the desktop (Right-click and Delete).
AUTO RE-OPEN ON BOOTUP: in Windows Explorer / Tools / Folder options / View
/ Advanced settings / uncheck Restore previous folder windows at logon.
FOLDER TREE: in Windows Explorer / Tools / Folder options / General / Tasks
click on Windows classic folders.
FOLDER LEVEL DOTS IN FOLDER TREE: Windows Explorer / Tools / Folder Options
/ View / Advanced settings / Files and Folders / uncheck Display simple
folder view...
HIDE COMMON TASKS: Windows Explorer / Tools / Folder Options / General /
check Use Windows classic folders.
CHANGE SEARCH ANIMATION: On the Search Results window, change preferences /
click Without animation, and change Files and Folders search behavior /
Advanced, etc.
START MENU ITEMS: Right-click Start / Properties / Start menu / click
Classic Start menu / Customize / Advanced start menu options / uncheck Use
Personalized Menus.
CUSTOMIZE TOOLS MENU: Right-click Start / Properties / Start Menu / click
Customize next to version you use. In the Start Menu items list, click
Advanced / System Administrative Tools section / select one of the Display
options.
CUSTOMIZE DEFAULT PICTURE EDITOR: Save the registry (Restore Checkpoint)
before you do this. Note the path to the editor application you want to
use. Or, right-click the shortcut for the editor you want to use, then
Properties / copy Target text. Click Start / Run / Regedit. In Regedit,
go to HKLM\Software\Classes\SystemFile Associations\Image\Shell\Edit\
Command. Double-click Default listing. Replace (paste) the Value Data
(%SystemRoot%\System32\mspaint.exe) with the copy, and leave the %1 on the
end.
WELCOME SCREEN: Save the registry (Restore Checkpoint) before you do this.
Click Start / Run / Regedit. In Regedit, go to
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\LogonType.
Change the data value to 0 (zero) for classic, 1 for Welcome Screen. Or,
Click Start / Run / Command / gpedit.msc / Computer configuration /
Administrative Template / System / Logon folder. Double-click Always Use
Classic Logon Policy. Select Enabled to use Classic; Disable for Welcome
Screen; Not Configured to allow registry control as set above.
__________________________________________________________________________
Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.
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CCCC Page 4 December 2003
WINDOWS EXPLORER
by Dick Trissel
You've all heard me say that I live in Windows Explorer (not Internet
Explorer). That's why I use the Explorer shortcut in the Startup list so
that when I turn on my computer, I automatically end up in Explorer. I've
been asked why. Why do I go directly to Windows Explorer? Because I don't
know any other way to manage files and programs in a Windows operating
system.
Some users are opening Windows Explorer and don't realize it. For example,
by doing a double click on the Desktop System icon they are opening an
abbreviated version of Explorer. Here are all the ways to invoke Windows
Explorer in a Windows 98/SE system. I think they all apply to ME and XP,
also.
Press the Windows key and the E key simultaneously.
Go to Start / Run / Explorer.exe
Right click Start / Explore
Right click a Desktop icon / Explore
Right click a folder in the left pane /Explore
Double click a Desktop System icon (My Documents, Briefcase, etc.)
Put a shortcut to Explorer in the Startup list (automatically starts at
bootup).
Click an Explore shortcut in Start Menu
Click an Explore shortcut on Desktop (c:\windows\explorer.exe)
Click an Explore shortcut in the Quick Launch area of the Taskbar
All the shortcut methods allow setting opening parameters. Right click the
shortcut icon, click on properties and in the Target field, use the
command:
explorer.exe /n,/e,/root,object,/select,subobject
where: n forces open in a new window
e open with the folder tree on
root,object lets you choose as the open root folder
subobject causes open in a particular folder in left pane
select (used with subobject) causes open in a particular folder
in the left pane with subfolders in the right pane.
For example:
explorer.exe /n,/e,c:\documents
opens the documents folder on the C: drive.
If you don't get a left pane (Folder tree) in an Explorer run , click on
View in the Toolbar, point to Explorer Bar, and click on Folders and put a
check mark.
I've written many articles on how to use Windows Explorer, so I'll not
repeat them here. I'll just refer you to our club's Web site and the old
newsletters available there that contain the series on using Windows
Explorer.
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CCCC Page 5 December 2003
FILE TRANSFERS
by Dick Trissel
OK, your "old" computer is bogged down with so much "stuff" (I was going to
say "junk") that you decided to buy a new computer. AH! But it doesn't
have all that neat "stuff" of yours on the old computer that you can't live
without. So, how do you transfer the files from the old computer to the
new computer?
First, realize that nearly all the programs on the old computer can't be
"copied" to the new computer. Most programs have to be "installed". That
is because there are support files that need to be put in the program and
system folders, and there are entries that need to be put in the registry.
For example, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) programs must be
installed. There are a few simple standalone programs that can be copied,
like AIDA32, HexEdit, Zipit, etc.
The files that can be copied are your program data files, graphics files,
and e-mail address book (if you know where in the computer they are
hiding), etc. Their locations may not be obvious, especially e-mail files
and address books. I'm not going to try to tell you where these are for
all the different e-mail programs.
The really big problem is how to make the transfers--how do you copy files
from computer A to computer B. In most cases this constitutes a transfer
from a Windows 98(SE) or ME to a Windows XP system. Here are the different
techniques available to you.
1. Small files of less than 1.4 Megabytes can be copied to a floppy disk,
assuming the new computer has a floppy drive (some don't). Or, for a
little larger file, you can use WinZip and span across several disks.
2. Remove the hard drive from A and put it in B long enough to make the
transfers. Obviously, this requires opening the computers and a knowledge
of IDE cable configuration and device master/slave jumper settings. It is
best to partition the drive in B and just copy all of the drive content in
A to that partition if you have enough space on B. Then you will have the
files whenever you need them. Of course, you need a partitioning utility
like PartitionMagic to do that.
3. Another option is to take both computers to a computer store and have
them do the above operations. If you don't do the whole drive transfer,
you'll have to tell them what you want transferred. I would imagine this
method would be expensive ($50 to $100).
4. If you have a CD burner on A, then you can copy the files to CD and from
CD to B. It might even be worth the few dollars ($10-$15 with rebate) to
buy a burner for A if it doesn't already have one.
5. If you are not in a hurry, you can send the files to yourself as e-mail
attachments. However, be careful, there are limits as to how much space
you can use on your e-mail server--sometimes as little as 2 Megabytes.
6. Then there is the "Direct Cable Connection" (DCC) method, whereby the
two computers are connected either over their serial or parallel ports, or
between network cards. The serial port method is the slowest (about 14,000
bytes per second), and requires a "null modem cable". The parallel port
method uses a parallel cable (sometimes referred to as a Laplink cable). A
DCC parallel cable costs about $10. The 8 bit parallel cable allows
transfers of about 130,000 bytes per second--the 4 bit cable transfers at
about half that rate. Windows 9x/ME has DCC routines as part of the
Windows installation. Windows XP doesn't have DCC, but has an equivalent
system. The setup for this method is very complicated.
7. The Ethernet network method using network cards requires a card in each
computer and a connecting cable. This will cost about $100 and the opening
of both computers unless you use USB or PC plugin cards. And you will have
to learn how to use the systems networking utilities.
This discussion should give you an idea of the complexity of doing what
would seem like a simple operation. If anyone has any better ideas, or can
share their experiences, please communicate them to me.
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CCCC Page 6 December 2003
WEB WANDERINGS
By Gil Smith
Earth Day Network
A few days ago was Earth Day. I remember Earth Day as "tree day", because
at schools throughout my childhood, we alwayss planted trees outside (yikes
even if it was raining) and then we got to take home a little pine tree
sapling
to plant in our yard.
This site has heaps upon tons of information on how to make the earth a
better place to live. Find out what's in the water you're drinking. Check
out the Earth Day Event Calendar. Learn how to plant a tree and lots more.
http://www.earthday.net/
Strange Facts
One of my favorite sites on the net is Strange Facts. If you have a love
for the curious and unusual, this site has it. And it's factual. You can
read strange facts that were featured in USA Today, and the Chicago Times,
not to mention a huge "As Seen on TV" section. Here are a few strange
facts to wet your appetite:
"Saturday mail delivery in Canada was eliminated by Canada Post on February
1, 1969!" "The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache on a
standard playing card." "Tourists visiting Iceland should know that
tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult."
http://www.strangefacts.com/
Do It Yourself
Another fabulous site for those of you who like to "do it yourself" rather
than pay someone to do it.
In the world of home repair and such, too many of these sites can't be
anything but a blessing. I know it is for me.
And believe me, this site has it all from the do it yourself tips to a loan
center to help you get the money for those repairs and the Occasional
blunder you need to fix. You can choose your repair tips by topic, or
search for it with their search engine.
Topics include: Build/Remodel, Repair/Fix It, Decorate, Outdoors and
Living/Finance. Each of those topics drop down into more specific areas to
be more helpful for you when looking for the particular tip needed at the
moment. I give this site an A+.
http://www.doityourself.com/
America's Thank-You Note
Not everyone supports the President's decision to target Iraq. Many
Americans have chosen to protest the war - this is their right, although I
strongly disagree with them.
Whether you support or oppose military action, just remember that thousands
of American men and women have chosen to serve in the armed
forces and are diligently honoring their commitment to freedom, not just
ours, but that of others also.
You can express your gratitude to these brave Americans by visiting the
Department of Defense web page and signing "America's thank-you note" to
the men and women of the U.S. military services for their selfless efforts.
When I last checked, over 7 million had signed!
http://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html
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CCCC Page 7 December 2003
PARDON ME. . .A PARTING GESTURE - by Charles Barney
In keeping with the time-honored tradition followed by outgoing Presidents,
I have decided to exercise my authority and issue unconditional pardons to
the following people:
To those that, when in the course of common computing, have been accused of
"Performing an Illegal Operation" or perhaps have been charged with issuing
a "Bad Command or Filename."
To those misfortunates that have been proclaimed to have "Insufficient
Memory", committed a "Runtime Error", or attempted to access "Invalid
Media."
And finally to those that have, either knowingly or unknowingly, committed
a "Fatal Exception Error" and have thus been sentenced to suffer the "Blue
Screen of Death."
I hereby pardon you all to go free and live in peace.
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