C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XXII: NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY, 2007
Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of every month at the Knollwood
Village Clubhouse 4012 S. Bradley Dr., Santa Maria.
General meeting at 7:00PM. System Special Interest Group session is at
5:45PM. Guests are welcome.
Check out our web site: http://member.apcug.org/fourseas for the latest
program schedule information.
Membership is $15 for twelve months for individuals, $20 for families.
For this you receive: Monthly newsletters, EXTRA4C E-mail Messages,
Help-line support, Monthly presentations, Valuable door prizes, Question
and answer sessions.
NEXT MEETING: FEBRUARY 20, 2007 KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
PRESENTATION: The February meeting will be a VISTA presentation by the
Staples store representative.
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******** FEBRUARY COOKIE PROVIDER IS BARBARA TUCKER *******
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The deadline for the annual membership dues has passed.
Make checks out to Treasurer:
Gerry Miller, 2741 Banyan Way, Santa Maria CA 93455
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| CONTENTS |
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(1) OFFICERS, HELPLINES, S.I.G.S
(2) PRESIDENT'S CORNER Ted Tucker
(3) EDITOR'S COMMENTS Dick Trissel
(4) WEB WANDERINGS
(5) SYSTEMS S.I.G. Dick Trissel
(6) CONVERSIONS FOR OFFICE 2007 Ray Isenson
(7) IE 7 SLOW OPENING NEW SITES Fred Langa
(8) DO I UPGRADE OR REPLACE? Data Doctors
(9) USING YOUR VISTA UPGRADE DISCOUNT Kim Komando
(10) WINDOWS VISTA TIPS AND TRICKS Chris Pirillo
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OFFICERS HELPLINES
President Juno
Ted Tucker 937-2374 Dick Trissel 937-7572
genmail@verizon.net rtrissel@juno.com
Vice President Windows 95/98/ME/XP & VoiceControl
Vic McLaughlin 937-8326 Amy Malicki 925-5780
vnmclaughlin2448@msn.com msamym5@verizon.net
Secretary Hardware and Windows XP
John McCurdy 925-1825 Ray Isenson 937-6938
jmmccurdy.1@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 February 2007
PRESIDENT'S CORNER by Ted Tucker
Greetings. The focus is on Vista.
I thought the release to the public made a pretty big splash, and to me that
is understandable. Our club has given it due attention for months now, but
we are not through yet! Now we all have to make our own response to it.
I am pondering my situation along with everybody else. We've had cautions
and presentations, and all to the good. And we will get more help and
information as we go forward.
For our February meeting, Amy has arranged for STAPLES personnel to feature
the arrival of Vista from the seller's point of view. Their last newspaper
advertisement that I saw offered eight different priced options. The STAPLES
position should be very interesting.
In my opinion, as users we are in very good shape, having XP to continue
with if we so choose, or we can charge on with Vista.
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CCCC Page 3 February 2007
EDITOR'S COMMENTS by Dick Trissel
Be forewarned, if you haven't paid your Central Coast Computer Club dues by
the February meeting, you will not be in the door prize drawing list. There
could be as many as 10 door prizes.
Also, If you have not paid by the newsletter publication date for March, you
will not receive any more newsletters until you pay (no past newsletters
will be sent), and the full $15 ($20 for family) will be due.
Send a check to:
Gerry Miller
2741 Banyan Way
Santa Maria CA 93455
However, all past and present members will continue to receive the EXTRA4C
bulletins unless you send me an unsubscribe e-mail.
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CCCC Page 4 February 2007
WEB WANDERINGS
ARE YOU CURIOUS?
It's astounding to think about how many products are available on the
market. There are literally millions of things you can purchase.
But I often find myself wondering how things are made. It can be something
as seemingly simple as a gallon of paint or as complex as a car.
At How Products Are Made, I've found the answers to many of my questions.
And it's simply fascinating to read the descriptions.
You won't find everything on the site, obviously. But you can find out about
hundreds of products. I like to visit the site with my Ian – he finds it as
fascinating as I do!
www.madehow.com
NEED A HUMAN?
Unfortunately, many companies' customer service departments are lacking. In
the drive for profit, they often overlook the customer.
One way they can cut profits is to scale back their call centers. Instead,
they opt for self-service telephone systems. I like to refer to this as
voice jail. You get trapped in menus with no hope of talking to a real
person.
No doubt today you'll have plenty of questions about your gifts. You may
need some help figuring out how something works. Hopefully, though, you
won't be needing any help with repairs.
Anyway, before you call the customer service number on the back of the box,
visit Gethuman. It features a database of companies. For each one, you'll
find the secret for getting to a live person.
www.gethuman.com
FLY THROUGH GOOGLE MAPS
Are you a big fan of Google's mapping site? It's a great way to find driving
directions and the location of businesses.
But, the real draw is the satellite imagery. You can zoom in on countries
and cities all over the globe.
Fortunately for us, Google lets other sites use its mapping software, along
with its satellite images. Take Goggles, for example. It's a flight
simulation game.
It may be simple in its design – there aren't a lot of complicated controls.
But it is fun to fly a plane over London, the moon or even Mars.
Have fun exploring cities across the world by taking an aerial tour.
www.isoma.net
LOOKING FOR SOMEONE?
We all have friends with whom we've lost contact. Sometimes we're lucky
enough to reconnect. But tracking down a long lost friend can be difficult.
Recently, I recommended using a blog to find people. When friends put their
names in a search site, they'd discover you're looking for them.
But not everyone has the time or persistence to maintain a blog. In that
case, there's another solution: Long Time Lost.
It's similar to the theory behind starting a blog. When friends put their
names in a search site, they should get a link to Long Time Lost. The site
will then facilitate a reunion.
Chances are someone is trying to find you. So, browse the listings on the
site. You may find your name!
www.longtimelost.com
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CCCC Page 5 February 2007
SYSTEMS S.I.G. by Dick Trissel
After the two-month break there were several user problems. One was the
occurrence of an e-mail problem with Outlook Express in which each message
is received three times. The only suggestion was to make sure the OE
accounts didn't have three POP3 accounts all the same.
Then there was the problem where the computer would boot up okay, but if a
desktop icon was clicked, the computer would shutoff. The suggestion was to
bootup in Safe Mode and see if the problem stayed. If not, then there is
something getting loaded at startup that is causing the problem. Otherwise,
who knows?
This led to a user with the problem where a message to close programs pops
up with every shutdown. That's Windows finding running programs at shutdown
time. The user was advised to be sure all obvious programs are terminated.
If the problem is still there, use the Windows Task Manager to view running
applications and processes (press CTRL-ALT-DEL) Windows XP. An application
can be stopped by selecting it and clicking on the End Task button. A look
at Processes will show the processes that are in use. This can be tricky
determining what can be stopped without causing a running problem--best to
not mess with the processes. In Windows 9X, only applications can be "End
Tasked".
A mention was made of Windows Vista being released to the home user January
30. And, that many tech writers are recommending not installing Vista in a
computer, but to buy a computer with Vista already installed.
A question about how much does the compression function actually increase
disk space. This depends on how many of which type of files ae involved--
data files compress a lot--program files compress very little. The Windows
on-the-fly real-time file compression function is only available on NTFS
files system partitions. However, no performance is gained by using Windows
compression (in fact there may be a slight slowdown doing the
decompression/compression). Other systems can use "Zipped" files and
folders (WinZip is an example). The zipped files must be unzipped before
using. If drive space is a problem, with the low cost of hard drives, it is
recommended getting a larger hard drive--either internal or external.
The free program Ccleaner was demonstrated. It will cleanup many areas of
the hard drive partitions, and cleanup the registry. It comes highly
recommended by several tech writers. The program is available at
www.ccleaner.com. It also is on the free June 20, 2006 ComputerWorks
Utilities disc, but it is labeled CCCLEANER.
A question was asked as to what value a wide screen monitor has. Obviously
it gives you more space, but only if you use the intrinsic resolution that
has the proportions of the screen. A resolution in the proportions of a
standard 4/3 monitor causes black borders on the sides. If you are using
the monitor to watch TV programs, then the "letter box" proportions makes
sense.
Apparently some users are having a problem with IE7 (and some aren't). A
few tech writers are advising to not install IE7.
A clever clock was demonstrated. If you want the file, it is at
www.timeline.com
There was a question on how to get rid of the MSWord Office Assistant. In
Word, click on help and type in "assistant". There are instructions on how
to temporarily or permanently remove the assistant.
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CCCC Page 6 February 2007
EARLIER OFFICE SUITE CONVERSIONS FOR OFFICE 2007 DOCUMENTS
by Ray Isenson
During the brief look at the differences between Microsoft Office 2007 and
Office 2003, I mentioned that in the Office 2007 Suite Microsoft has
introduced the XML-based default file formats. The versions of Word, Excel
and PowerPoint have new extensions; .docx, .xlsx and .pptx, respectively.
Consequently users of older Office Suites; 2003, 2000, Office 97 or Office
XP will not be able to open these files.
In order to minimize the difficulties that this could cause folks who
receive documents from folks who do install the new office suite Microsoft
has been quietly shipping "Office 2007 awareness patches" to Office XP and
Office 2003 users who have been diligently keeping their suites current at
www.microsoft.com/updates. The patches alert the user to the "2007 Office
Compatibility Pack"; a free 27 MByte download. This download can be
installed to allow XP and 2003 users to open, edit and save files, if
desired, in the new XML format.
Fortunately, it's easy to change an application's XML default back to the
(more nearly) universally compatible Office 97-2003 format. Start by
clicking the Office button on the upper left-hand corner of the application,
the Options button beneath the list of recent documents, and Save in the
left pane of the Options window. Then open the drop-down 'Save files in
this format' menu, and choose the 97-2003 format from it. Or, if you use
Microsoft Word 2000 or Microsoft Word 2002 to read or write documents
containing complex scripts, please see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925451 for information to enable Word 2007
documents to be displayed correctly in your version of Word.
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CCCC Page 7 February 2007
IE 7 SLOW OPENING NEW SITES
from LangaList newsletter
A reader is frustrated with the performance of the new Internet Explorer:
"Do you know of any problems that may cause IE 7 to respond slowly when
opening and closing tabs, windows, or download pages?
Oh, yes, indeed. In fact, my first hour or so with IE 7 was very frustrating
because of its slowness. But the major speed-sapper turned out to be the
built-in Phishing Filter. Once I turned it off, pages loaded at the normal
speed again.
Microsoft has recognized the slowdowns that the Phishing Filter is causing.
The company released on Dec. 12 a fix for Windows XP SP2, Windows XP x64
Edition, and Windows Server 2003. You can download the patch for free by
visiting Knowledge Base article 928089.
If that fix doesn't work for you, you can disable the Phishing Filter by
clicking IE 7's Tools button, clicking Phishing Filter, and then clicking
Phishing Filter Settings. Scroll down to the Phishing Filter section under
Security in the list of options, as shown in Figure 1. To completely turn
off the Phishing Filter, click Disable Phishing Filter. To leave the filter
available but inactive, click Turn off automatic Web site checking. (That's
the setting I use.) When you're done, click OK. That's all it takes!
Alternatively, if the filter is currently active in IE 7, you can right-
click on the filter's icon to disable it. The icon looks like a little
window with an exclamation point and is displayed in the browser's status
bar only when you're loading a new page. When you right-click, a context
menu will appear. Select Phishing Filter Settings, then follow the steps in
the above paragraph.
Disabling IE 7's Phishing Filter causes you to lose real-time protection
against sites that look legitimate but are actually hacker tricks. If you
suspect that a Web page you're visiting might not be what it seems, click IE
7's Tools button, then click Phishing Filter, Check This Website. You'll
receive instant feedback on whether or not the site has been reported as a
phishing scam.
You can re-enable IE 7's filter using the same dialog box as described
above. There's lots more info at Microsoft's antiphishing home page.
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CCCC Page 8 February 2007
DO I UPGRADE OR REPLACE?
from Data Doctors in Lockergnome newsletter
Q: My two-year-old computer has become extremely slow and I am trying to
decide whether to upgrade it or buy a new computer.
A: Any computer that is connected to the Internet is bound to build up the
"grime" associated with cruising on the "Information Superhighway" and
cleaning out that grime should be the first step for anyone that is
experiencing slow performance from their computer.
The longer it has been since you have thoroughly cleaned up or reloaded the
operating system, the more likely it will have a dramatic improvement on the
performance.
Many users assume it's time to buy a new computer when it becomes very slow
and make the additional mistake of overlooking the pain involved when
starting with a new computer.
A new computer will likely be faster than your old one, but you will have to
install all of your old programs, re-establish your network connections,
reinstall your printer drivers, scanner drivers, digital camera software and
restore your backups (if you even have them).
What about your e-mail messages, address book, pictures, music, videos and
favorites? Will you know how to transfer those items? If you are tech savvy,
these kinds of details may not be that difficult, but for most novices
getting the new computer to work like the old one can takes weeks if not
months.
If you have to hire someone to transfer all of your data and programs as
well as get you back on your home or business network, it may be
substantially cheaper to cleanup and upgrade your existing system.
If your computer is taking a lot longer to boot-up than it did when you
first got it, this is the first indication that a cleanup may be in order.
The quickest way to determine if you have excessive grime clogging up your
computer is to check to see how many processes are running in the
background. To do this, close any open programs, click on the Start button
then on Run and type "taskmgr" (or just press CTRL-ALT DEL).
This will open the Task Manager which has a number of tabs across the top,
but you want to look at the bottom left corner for the Processes. If the
number is above 35-38 for desktops and 38-42 for laptops, you will likely
benefit from a cleanup of your computer.
The higher that number is the more valuable a cleanup will be as these
processes rob your computers ability to perform your desired tasks.
Cleaning up your operating system, while leaving all your programs and
settings in tact and adding additional RAM can generally bring a two to
three year old computer back to a life and be substantially cheaper than
buying a new computer, especially if your primary use is the Internet and e-
mail.
Having had to perform both tasks for hundreds of users, it is without
question, a lot less stressful for the user to get an existing computer back
to health than it is to start over, provided the computer is not too old.
You don't have to learn anything new or go track down your original disks or
try to figure out where all the critical files reside on your hard drive -
contrary to popular belief, everything does not reside in the My Documents
folder!
Each situation is unique, so take some time to really think both scenarios
through and do the math in both time and money before you make your
decision. The advertised price on a new computer is just the beginning, not
the end!
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CCCC Page 9 February 2007
USING YOUR VISTA UPGRADE DISCOUNT
from Komando newsletter
Q. My wife gave me a new PC for Christmas. It came with a free Vista
upgrade. I know that upgrades can be problematic. When I upgrade, will I
have to reload software or drivers for hardware, such as printers? What
about files, such as pictures?
A. Microsoft's Express Upgrade program offers discounts on Windows Vista
upgrades. Depending on the retailer, the discount may cover the upgrade in
full. Express Upgrade is available for Vista capable computers purchased
between Oct. 26 and March 15.
The program incentivizes people to buy a PC before Vista is released. It
also makes things more complicated for those people.
As you noticed, drivers are an important issue with upgrades. Without new
drivers, Vista may not know its way around your hardware.
The computer maker likely will include new drivers with the upgrade kit. For
example, this is true of Dell and HP. You can also check retailers' Web
sites for Vista drivers. For peripherals like printers, check the
manufacturers' Web sites.
Before you upgrade, be sure to back up your files. I wrote a tip to help you
choose the right files for backups
(http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=2059). The Vista installation
process includes the option to transfer files and settings. It walks you
through the process of backing up to CD, external hard drive or other
storage.
Unfortunately, installed programs are difficult to transfer. I have an
explanation along with some advice on my site
(http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=2256). Usually, it's best to
reinstall programs from the original discs or downloads.
Generally, the upgrade kits do not come automatically. You must request
yours using the retailer's site or a paper form. The deadline for the
Express Upgrade program is March 31.
An easy way to get started is Microsoft's Get Ready site
(http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/expressupgrade.mspx). It
links to many retailers' individual Express Upgrade pages.
Check out my column on Vista
(http://www.komando.com/columns/index.aspx?id=2547) for all the details on
different versions and system requirements. I also have tips on what to do
with an old or unwanted computer
(http://www.komando.com/columns/index.aspx?id=2653).
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 10 February 2007
WINDOWS VISTA TIPS AND TRICKS
by Chris Pirillo
Categorized by GnomeREPORT
Given that many of us have been using Windows XP for the past few decades
years, the move to Windows Vista will not come easy. Far too many details
have changed in the new operating system - and I’m discovering many of them
first-hand, as I started to migrate my primary system to Vista late last
night. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
1. Install XP first. If you have a legacy (read: pre-Vista launch) system,
you might have a more difficult time with Vista than those who purchase
machines with Vista pre-installed. My suggestion is that you install Windows
XP first, and then Windows Vista on a different drive and/or partition.
2. Resize partitions during Vista setup. It’s nice to see that there’s a
slightly more advanced disk management tool in Vista’s installation routine.
You can resize and create new partitions, making my first tip a bit more
easier to manage. No need to rush out and by a partition manager anymore!
3. Your software won’t work. Consider that a huge tip. Assume that if
something works in Windows XP, there’s a good chance it will NOT work the
same way in Windows Vista. I can’t tell you how many things they’ve changed,
but most of them have been due to past security flaws. A more secure OS is
definitely welcomed, but that security level comes at a compatibility cost.
I’ve had to scrap Outlook 2000 after seven years of PIM bliss (largely).
Moreover, Miranda IM doesn’t work either. If you love your software more
than Windows, stick with XP for at least another year.
4. Fix font mayhem. I’m glad I found a way to knock out legacy fonts in
Vista a few months ago. Sure came in handy today, when I only wanted to see
Segoe UI as my shell font. More details about the font fix here:
http://chris.pirillo.com/2006/09/26/fix-windows-vistas-fonts/
WARNING: this one is difficult to undo, so make sure you backup and/or
create a system restore point before applying my hack.
5. Get an ISO mounting tool. I’m still not sure why Windows doesn’t ship
with the ability to read / write / mount ISO files. Robert McLaws clued me
in to MagicDisc (which is freeware). Not the best user interface in the
world, but it certainly gets the job done. I needed to use it to install my
version of Office. Dealing with ISO files is much easier and quicker than
fiddling with a darn stack of CDs.
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