C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XXI: NUMBER 12 DECEMBER, 2006
NEXT MEETING: December 19, 2006 KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
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| CONTENTS |
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(1) OFFICERS, HELPLINES, S.I.G.S
(2) PRESIDENT'S CORNER Ray Isenson
(3) EDITOR'S COMMENTS Dick Trissel
(4) WEB WANDERINGS
(5) SYSTEMS S.I.G. Dick Trissel
(6) CAPTURING A PICTURE FROM A VIDEO Kim Komando
(7) YOUR ZOMBIE COMPUTER Jack Lewtschuk
(8) SAVING DOWNLOADS Jack Lewtschuk
(9) SLOW COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING Shinder&Shultz
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OFFICERS HELPLINES
President Juno
Ray Isenson 937-6938 Dick Trissel 937-7572
risenson@juno.com rtrissel@juno.com
Vice President Windows 95/98/ME/XP & VoiceControl
Spence Stimler 938-0217 Amy Malicki 925-5780
SPENCE923@msn.com msamym5@verizon.net
Secretary Hardware and 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
gandamiller@verizon.net
Publicity Visual Basic and Genealogy
Bill Corning 934-0775 Gerald Miller 934-1396
foster95@impulse.net gandamiller@verizon.net
Newsletter Editor Help With Any Problem
Dick Trissel 937-7572 Ray Isenson 937-6938
rtrissel@juno.com risenson@juno.com
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP (S.I.G.)
Systems (5:45pm)
Dick Trissel
rtrissel@juno.com
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CCCC Page 2 December 2006
PRESIDENT'S CORNER by Ray Isenson
The Holiday Season is coming and our big Christmas party approaches. The
party will be on our regular meeting night, Tuesday, December the 19th.
Spence and Amy will start setting things up at 4:30 PM. Tables must be set,
and decorated, coffee and a spiced drink prepared. This takes an effort and
a few more hands would be appreciated. Please, if you can make it, come out
to the club about 4:30 PM. We expect to see most of the members starting
about 5:30 PM, or so, and will be eating those luscious finger foods (that
you all are bringing) about 6:00 PM.
The door prizes will be on display near the front of the room. Please do
familiarize yourself with them and decide which you'd like to win in some
order. At 7:00 PM Amy will produce that "Don't Open 'till Christmas" box.
Screaming; but no profanity, will be permitted. The first ticket drawn that
is claimed by a member present will entitle that member to the laptop
computer and the items displayed with it; a carrying case, mouse, and a USB
cable. After that further prize tickets will again be drawn until all door
prizes have been taken. Each winner, in turn, will be allowed to choose one
of the then remaining prizes. That's why you'd best be deciding upon your
choice ordering.
Remember the "house rule"; no member wins more than a single prize. That
way every member present will have close to a 50-50 chance of taking home a
door prize.
Finally, let me take this opportunity as the outgoing president to thank all
of the members who have helped make this past year an educational and fun
occasion. Ted Tucker will be taking the helm at the next meeting. I have
no doubt that you will help him in even more ways than you did me.
See you at the party.
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CCCC Page 3 December 2006
EDITOR'S COMMENTS by Dick Trissel
Over the years the advantages to belonging to the Central Coast Computer
Club have changed. In the past we had a disk (floppy) library and a book
library. They no longer exist. We still do have door prizes, monthly
newsletters, help lines, and of course, the companionship of people with a
similar interest (which includes the annual Christmas party.) All the other
activities are open to guests and other non-members, such as the Systems
S.I.G. and the monthly meetings with presentations.
Why am I mentioning this now? Because you have about a month from the time
you receive this newsletter to pay your annual membership dues! They are
due by the end of the January meeting (16 January, 2007). As before, send a
check for $15 (single) $20 (family) to: Gerry Miller, 2741 Banyan Way, Santa
Maria, CA 93455. It is imperative that you be prompt. Gerry relays the
membership renewals to me to be used to maintain the newsletter e-mail
addressbook and the door prize drawing name list, as well as the member
roster.
Speaking of the roster, if you have a change of street address, phone
number, or e-mail address, please notify me or a club officer.
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CCCC Page 4 December 2006
WEB WANDERINGS
FIND GENERIC MEDICATIONS
The cost of prescription medicine can be astronomical. But there are ways to
lower your costs. For instance, you can substitute generics for name brands.
Not sure if there are generic equivalents for your medications? Visit this
Site. It will help you find generic alternatives. Then, you can speak with
your doctor about switching.
Also, check the drug interactions page. This will tell you if your
medications will react badly with one another. Plus, it will tell you
whether to avoid certain foods.
www.drugdigest.org
WHICH DO YOU LIKE BETTER?
The things you like say a lot about your personality and who you are. But
you might not be aware of this. It presents you with pairs of pictures. You
simply click on the one you prefer.
After you click several pictures, look for the brain to turn pink. When it
does, click on it. It will tell you a couple of things about yourself.
Sometimes the results are uncanny. Other times, they're way off base. Want
to know what the site will say about you? You have to play the likebetter
game to find out!
www.likebetter.com
TRACE YOUR ANCESTRY TO CASTLE GARDEN
When you think of immigration, you probably think of Ellis Island. Millions
entered the United States through there.
But long before Ellis Island, there was Castle Garden. In case you're
unfamiliar with Castle Garden, it is located in Battery Park at the tip of
Manhattan. Castle Garden was a point of entry for millions of immigrants. It
was open from 1830 through 1892. It was the official immigration center for
many years.
Maybe you're one of 73 million who can trace their ancestry to this period.
If so, visit Castle Garden's Web site. You can enter a name and select a
range of dates. Then, see if you can track down an ancestor.
Genealogists will love this site. But even if you're just curious, you'll
find something. For example, check out the timeline for important historical
information.
www.castlegarden.org
CLASSIC 'TOONS
Looney Tunes cartoons are classics. They've been around for ages, yet they
never seem to lose their appeal.
Which Looney Tunes character is your favorite? There's Bugs Bunny, of
course. But there's also Daffy Duck and Roadrunner.
Well, at the Looney Tunes site, you don't need to choose your favorite. You
can have them all!
You can start by watching videos. You'll find episodes you know and love as
well as new ones. If that doesn't hold your attention, try the games.
They'll keep you occupied for hours. Finally, brush up on your trivia and
download screen savers and wallpapers.
Note: This site makes heavy use of ActiveX. So you'll need to view it in
Internet Explorer with ActiveX controls enabled.
looneytunes.warnerbros.com
A SEARCH SITE FOR PHOTOS
There are plenty of sites on the Internet for finding photographs. But
finding the right photograph for your needs can be difficult. It's even more
difficult if you have to search through many sites.
That's where Yotophoto comes in. It is a search engine dedicated to finding
free-to-use photographs. You can search by theme or by license type. (Yes,
even though they're free to use, there are restrictions). You can also
search by dimension or picture shape.
A favorite is the search by color feature. It is breathtaking to see groups
of pictures with the same color. One complaint about the site is it's a bit
confusing at first. But it's still in beta.
yotophoto.com
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CCCC Page 5 December 2006
SYSTEMS S.I.G. by Dick Trissel
The November Systems S.I.G. started small but lively with the first item
being the announcement that the Grisoft free anti-virus program AVG 7.1 is
being replaced with version 7.5. There are rumors that it is no longer
free. That's not so. Just go to free.grisoft.com and click on the free
download. On the next page, scroll about halfway down to the free download
of AVG Anti-virus version 7.5.430.
We then demonstrated the option in XP to use the device Autoplay feature.
Right click the device, the CD, for example. Click on Properties and click
on the Autoplay tab. For each type of CD in the upper window, use the
Action to choose which action you want. Click Apply, and then choose
another type of CD. Continue this until you have what you want. Then click
OK. These changes will become effective after a system restart.
This is not to be confused with the Autorun feature. Autorun is when, for
example, a CD has an Autorun.inf file on it that is detected by the system
and runs the program referenced in the Autorun.inf file. This feature can
be defeated by holding down the Shift key during the initial CD spinup.
A suggestion in a newsletter said you could overcome the loss of part of a
Web page when you choose to print it. In Internet Explorer, go to File /
Page Setup and change the margins. It was suggested to use 0.25 for the
left and right margins. You can see if this is sufficient by going to File
/ Print Preview. Also, I recommend deleting the Header and Footer settings
in the Page Setup.
We discussed the concept of file and disk fragmentation and the use of a
defrag program. Since the XP defrag program is so lame, I recommend the
free XP defrag program from www.auslogics.com. It defrags the files and
folders in one pass, but doesn't totally defrag the disk. If you use it
everyday (as you should), it will eventually defrag the disk. It runs fast
enough that this isn't a problem. Of course, for Windows 98X and ME, the
best program is the Windows ME defrag program. Unfortunately, it doesn't
work in XP.
There is a difference between file/folder fragmentation and disk
fragmentation. And that's where the XP defrag program falls short. It
defrags files and folders (if you use it repeatedly), but doesn't do a good
job of defraging the empty spaces an the disk. It makes the files
contiguous, but doesn't make the total drive contiguous. These empty spaces
left on the drive promote unnecessary file and folder fragmentation.
And, of course, this led to a discussion on hard drive partitions. Since so
many computers have very large drives, it behooves the user to partition the
drive to isolate the operating system from the data and miscellaneous files.
A practical configuration is at least two partitions. The operating system
and the installed applications (note the word installed) stay in the C:
partition. If installed programs are put in the data partition and you
should happen to lose the C: partition, the applications would not function
as they have support files in the system folders and the registry.
Standalone (uninstalled) programs can be put in the data partition.
To manage a hard drive in this manner requires the use of a special program.
Unfortunately, I don't know of any decent free programs. PartitionMagic
($70) was the preferred program until lately. Now the Acronis DiskDirector
Suite 10 is available for $50 ($29 with the user group discount). This
program was reviewed in the November CCCC newsletter, and demonstrated at
the November CCCC meeting.
One person mentioned he found how to dump the printer buffer when a print is
aborted--he pulled the power cable out of the wall. Most printers are not
really totally powered off by pushing the power button off. It is suggested
that you plug the printer into a power strip or panel that allows turning
off the power to the printer. This holds true for some other peripherals
(like scanners) and for many computers, also.
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CCCC Page 6 December 2006
CAPTURING A PICTURE FROM A VIDEO by Kim Komando
Sometimes I use my digital camera to take short movie clips. This is great,
but I often find that I want pictures from the movies. Is there any way to
extract pictures from them?
Digital cameras are a quick, fun way to capture video. You don’t have the
added expense of a camcorder. Plus digital cameras are easier to carry
around.
There are drawbacks, though. The video quality is much lower than with
camcorders. And you have to decide between making videos or taking pictures.
But you can always extract pictures from your video files. The resolution
won't be as good as photos taken in camera mode. That's because video is
captured at a lower resolution.
There is a quick and dirty way to capture images from videos. You can use
Windows' Print Screen command. To do this, transfer the video to your
computer. When you get to the frame you want to save, pause the video. Then,
press the PrntScrn button on your keyboard. It may seem like nothing
happens. That's because the screen print is saved to the clipboard. So open
Paint (Start>>All Programs>>Accessories). Paste the picture into the new
file by pressing Ctrl + V.
You'll notice that the Screen Print feature captures the entire screen. This
means you'll need to edit out toolbars and the program windows. Also, you
may end up with a picture of an empty video player window. This happened to
me with Windows Media Player. In order to capture a picture from the video,
I had to turn off video acceleration.
To turn video acceleration off in Windows Media Player, click Tools>>
Options. Open the Performance tab and slide the Video acceleration slider to
None. Click Apply and OK. When you're done, save the photo by clicking
File>>Save. Enter a file name and then select the file type. I recommend
JPEG. If you want to edit the photo, save it as a TIFF. Click Save. Don't
plan to enter the photo in a contest. A screen grab will be mediocre.
If you have a photo-editing program, use it instead of Paint. If you need a
photo-editing application, I have links to several. They're free.
If you bought video-editing software, explore it. Some will extract photos
from video. That's easier than using Windows' Print Screen feature. And the
quality may be better.
Windows Movie Maker can capture images from videos (Start>>All Programs>>
Windows Movie Maker). First, import the video into Windows Movie Maker.
Click File>>Import into Collections. Select your video and click Import.
When it appears in the Collection window, double-click it to play it. Use
the controls to pause it at the frame you want to capture. Then, click
Tools>>Capture Picture from Preview. Enter a name for your picture and click
Save.
Some cameras record movies in the MOV format. These videos play in Apple's
QuickTime. To capture a picture from a QuickTime movie, pause it on the
frame you want. Then click Edit>>Copy. Paste the screen print into Paint or
a photo-editing program.
Copyright 2006, WestStar TalkRadio Network. All rights reserved.
Kim Komando hosts the nation's largest talk radio show about computers and
the Internet. To get the podcast or find the station nearest you, visit:
http://www.komando.com/listen . To subscribe to Kim's free e-mail
newsletters, sign-up at: http://www.komando.com/newsletters.
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CCCC Page 7 December 2006
YOUR ZOMBIE COMPUTER
by S. Jack Lewtschuk Monterey Bay Users' Group - Personal Computer
(MBUG-PC) www.mbug.org
There are literally hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of "zombie
computers" out there. Is your computer one of them?
Creating zombies out of computers used by you and me has become a major tool
used by computer hackers, unscrupulous marketers, and other malicious evil-
doers. A computer becomes a zombie when it performs tasks as instructed by
someone other than the computer owner. The instructions given to the zombie
usually involve distributing information to other computers, which the
zombie computer does without notifying its owner. In every spare moment, a
zombie computer sends out data, most of which is spam that tries to get
someone to purchase something.
Watch for "Zombie Computer" Warning Signs
The computer seems sluggish.
The computer seems to be accessing the hard drive constantly.
The mouse or keyboard becomes unresponsive.
Excessive "bounce" notifications from people you never knowingly
tried to e-mail.
These warning signs may also be symptoms of other computer problems, but if
you see any of them you should investigate. For more information on zombie
computers and spam, check out the Federal Trade Commission's Operation Spam
Zombies website at
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/zombie/index.htm.
Protect Your Computer from becoming a Zombie
Install a good antivirus program and make sure you update it
regularly.
Install a good two-way firewall. It will notify you when information
is being sent from your computer. Unfortunately the WindowsXP firewall is
not adequate for this purpose-it is "one way" only.
Update your operating system and other software regularly.
Use an anti-spyware program to eliminate spyware on your system.
Check your antivirus and firewall software occasionally to make sure
they are running properly-often one of the first instructions given to a
zombie computer is to disable the antivirus and firewall software.
Don't open unknown/unexpected e-mail attachments!
Use caution when downloading software-buy from reputable companies,
and be sure to read every screen as you download and install any software.
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CCCC Page 8 December 2006
SAVING DOWNLOADS
by S. Jack Lewtschuk Monterey Bay Users' Group - Personal Computer (MBUG-PC)
www.mbug.org
So, you've decided to download a program from the Internet. Are you sure
that you really need it? OK, if you can't live without it, are all of your
security programs active and updated? If so, click on "download" and cross
your fingers.
An Internet download usually comes with a "prompt" from your browser-you'll
be asked whether to "Run" (or "Open") or to "Save" the file. What should you
do? Here's the difference:
If you select "Run", the download file will go to your "Temporary
Internet Files" folder. Then it will run or open automatically.
If you select "Save", you have to choose where the file will be
stored on your hard drive (creating a "Downloads" folder on your C-drive
might be a good idea at this point). The file will sit in this file until
you decide to open it yourself.
So "Run" is convenient, but "Save" gives you more control and it's generally
safer. Once the file is saved, you can run a virus scan on it and examine
the file. On the other hand, you shouldn't be downloading something of which
you are unsure. Downloads from companies you know-for instance, Microsoft,
Adobe or Apple-are always OK.
Even if you do choose "Run", you may still have the option to do some
checking. Internet Explorer often lets you view digital signatures from the
download prompt. After you click "Run", a digital certificate message will
pop up. You can click on the name listed under "Publisher" for more
information. Under "Digital Signature Information", it should say, "This
digital signature is OK". Otherwise, the file is high risk.
Another option you might see is a checkbox labeled something like "Always
ask before opening this type of file". Other browsers might use different
phrasing such as "Always perform this action with this type of file". The
phrasing can be tricky-the two examples mentioned here have opposite
effects. So be careful with options that include "always", "never" or
"automatically". Select the setting that will alert you with every download.
Good luck!
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CCCC Page 9 December 2006
SLOW COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING
Condensed from article By Debra Shinder and Greg Shultz
10+ things you should know about troubleshooting a slow PC
1. Spyware and viruses - Spyware and viruses pose a significant security
threat, and they can also dramatically decrease computer performance.
2. Processor overheating - Modern processors generate a lot of heat. That's
why all processors require some sort of cooling element, typically a fan of
some type.
3. Bad RAM - Several situations can lead to a bad RAM relationship with a
particular machine:
RAM timing is slower than optimal machine spec.
RAM has minor flaws that only appear on detailed testing.
RAM is overheating.
4. Failing hard disk - There may be many signs of imminent failure before a
hard disk finally gives up, depending on the type of failure (mechanical,
electronic, logical or firmware failure). Some of these signs include:
Slow access times on the affected drive.
An increasing number of bad sectors when running scandisk and chkdsk.
Unexplained Blue Screens.
Intermittent boot failures.
5. BIOS settings - One often-ignored culprit of system slowdown is the
machine's BIOS settings. Most people accept the BIOS settings as they were
configured in the factory and leave them as is. However, slowdowns may occur
if the BIOS settings do not match the optimal machine configuration. Often
you can improve machine performance by researching your motherboard's
optimal BIOS settings-which may not be the same as the factory defaults.
6. Disk type/controller compatibility - You've just purchased a new UDMA-100
disk drive, and it doesn't seem any faster than any of the other drives in
your machine. You do some benchmark testing, and the new disk tests the same
as the other drives in your system. So what's the problem? It could be that
your motherboard doesn't support the UDMA 100 specification.
7. Windows services - Many Windows services are enabled by default. Many of
these services, however, are not required for your machine to run properly.
You should review the services running on your Windows 2000/Windows XP
computer and disable those that you don't need. One way to see what services
are running is to use the Services applet found in the Administrative Tools
menu. Right-click My Computer and select Manage.
8. Runaway processes - Runaway processes take up all of the processors'
cycles. The usual suspects are badly written device drivers, and legacy
software installed on a newer operating system. You can identify a runaway
process by looking at the process list in the Windows Task Manager. Any
process that takes almost 100 percent of the processing time is likely a
runaway process. There are exceptions to this rule. On a smoothly running
system, the System Idle Process should be consuming the majority of the
processor cycles most of the time.
9. Disk fragmentation - As files are added, deleted, and changed on a disk,
the contents of the file can become spread across sectors located in
disparate regions of the disk. This is file fragmentation. Disk
fragmentation can significantly slow down your machine. The disk heads must
move back and forth while seeking all the fragments of a file. A common
cause of disk fragmentation is a disk that is too full. You should keep 20
percent to 25 percent of your hard disk space free to minimize file
fragmentation and to improve the defragmenter's ability to defrag the disk.
Thus, if a disk is too full, move some files off the drive and restart the
defragmenter. In Windows XP, you can use the defrag.exe command line tool to
schedule defragmentation on a regular basis.
10. Background applications - Have you ever visited an end-user's desktop
and noticed a dozen icons in the system tray? Each icon represents a process
running in either the foreground or background. Most of them are running in
the background, so the users may not be aware that they are running 20+
applications at the same time. This is due to applications starting up
automatically in the background. Look first for such programs in the Startup
folder in the Start menu. Many applications place components in the Startup
folder to run in the background. Some of these, such as the Microsoft Office
Findfast, can really chew up processor and disk time and noticeably slow
down a system. Review each of the entries in the Startup folder and delete
any that are unnecessary. Not all programs that run at startup appear in the
Startup folder. Run msconfig and check the Startup tab to view startup
programs. You can uncheck the boxes to keep individual programs from running
at startup.
11. File system issues - Some file systems work better than others for large
disk partitions. If the machine runs Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or
Windows XP, you should use the NTFS file system for best performance. File
system performance is closely related to cluster size and the number of
clusters on the disk. NTFS file systems will bog down if you have a 60-GB
hard disk configured with a cluster size of 512 bytes. This creates an
enormous number of clusters, which the file system must track and seek. This
becomes especially problematic when the drive is highly fragmented. One
solution is to use larger cluster sizes. If you set the cluster size to 4K
or larger, you will see noticeable improvement in file load times. Please
note, however, that large clusters can significantly increase the amount of
cluster slack space and lead to a lot of wasted disk space.
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