C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XIX: NUMBER 1 JANUARY, 2004
NEXT MEETING: January 20, 2004 6:00PM KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
PRESENTATION: Cosme Serdio on "The latest Hard Drive Technology"
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| CONTENTS |
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(1) Officers, Helplines, S.I.G.s
(2) President's Corner Spence Stimler
(3) Editor's Comments Dick Trissel
(4) Digital Imaging S.I.G. Charles Barney
(5) Hardware S.I.G. Ray Isenson
(6) 2003 TaxAct Ray Isenson
(7) Web Wanderings Gil Smith
(8) XP Emergency Boot Disks Dick Trissel
(9) Dual-Boot Dick Trissel
(10) Systems S.I.G. Dick Trissel
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OFFICERS HELPLINES
President Juno
Spence Stimler 938-0217 Gilbert Smith 925-3743
spence@pronet.net colgil1@juno.com
Vice President Windows 95/98/ME/XP & VoiceControl
Bill Corning 934-0775 Amy Malicki 925-5780
holmesr1@juno.com savvyseniors@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
gandamiller@verizon.net
Disk Librarian Visual Basic
Sharon Allen 928-2209 Gerald Miller 934-1396
sallen4060@aol.com gandamiller@verizon.net
Publicity Help With Any Problem
Bill Corning 934-0775 Fred Adams 934-1128
foster95@juno.com fredeadams@verizon.net
Newsletter Editor
Dick Trissel 937-7572
rtrissel@juno.com
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS (S.I.G.s)
Digital Imaging (6:00pm) Hardware (6:00pm) Systems (5:45pm)
Charles Barney Ray Isenson Dick Trissel
Cbarney@lightspeed.net 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 January 2004
PRESIDENT'S CORNER
by Spence Stimler
My first thought at being elected President of CCCC is, "This just put a
cap on all the objections to running for an office. If I can do it,
anybody can do it."
There are some reservations of course, for I can't do it without the help
of the other officers-past and present. Also, there are others who serve
in non-leadership capacities and are vital in CCCC being a live and viable
entity. I'm thinking of Barbara and coffee and cookies. She sets it up
and with the help of Aldean, has everything ready for us as we break from
the various SIGs (Special Interest Groups). Vic is always there for the
fifty-fifty drawing as is Sharon with the disc-of-the-month. I'm assuming
that everybody will continue doing these functions.
Amy has agreed to serve as membership chairman and Fred Adams will assist
her. Ray Isenson, Dick Trissel and Gil Smith have agreed to continue with
their invaluable assistance.
Probably my biggest reason for accepting the nomination is to help in any
way that I can to further the efforts of CCCC. Charles is going to lead a
SIG in Digital Imaging. This is near and dear to my heart, so if I can
further his agenda by taking over some of the more mundane duties of the
presidency, I am more than willing.
I have benefited greatly from CCCC, and feel incumbent to return the debt I
owe. I am sure that many of you feel the same. So together, we can
continue to advance and learn. To do your part, you need to communicate
your interests. We need to know what topics interest you. If you can come
up with a speaker to present these ideas-all the better.
Name badges will be near the entrance to the clubhouse. Please wear yours.
They will be placed alphabetically to ease your search. I would like to
know who you are and I'm sure others will benefit as well.
Finally, the Christmas party exceeded anything in the past. It will be
hard to surpass the gifts. Almost everybody won something. Actually
everybody did, for Charles had a pen for each, courtesy of Microsoft. He
did such a good job that we are going to let him try to better his efforts
in 2004, not only for the Christmas party but all year. I look forward to
2004, and by year's end I'm sure the nominating committee will have no
problem coming up with a slate of candidates. Like I said, "If I can do
it, anybody can do it."
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CCCC Page 3 January 2004
JANUARY PRESENTATION
The January presentation will be Cosme Serdio, a speaker we've had before
from the Seagate facility here in Santa Maria. His presentation on digital
recording was very interesting, and I'm sure he will have even more to
discuss with his topic of "The Latest Hard Drive Technology".
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CCCC ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES
Your membership dues are due and payable now. The individual rate is still
$15 and families $20. You can send a check to the club treasurer at:
Gerald Miller
2741 Banyan Way
Santa Maria CA 93455
Or you can pay at the January 20 monthly meeting. A check is preferred so
that a receipt is not required.
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EDITOR'S COMMENTS
by Dick Trissel
Is it my imagination, just wishful thinking, or has the amount of e-mail
spam gone down? I used to get 70% to 80% spam e-mail in my Juno Gold
account. Now, it is down to about 20%. My free Netzero spam e-mail has
gone down about 50%. And my free Hotmail (that used to get hundreds per
week) had 10 last week.
Maybe the proposed new law has actually done some good. I read where one
of the spammers is planning on laying off 1700 employees. Or, maybe
because of the publicity, people have finally realized that they are the
problem and have quit responding in any way, which includes not responding
to the option to cancel.
Frankly, I'm amazed that the spammers have given up so easily, if they
really have. How do you enforce a law when you can't identify the
lawbreakers? These guys change their identities daily.
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CCCC Page 4 January 2004
NEW DIGITAL IMAGING SIG BEGINS JANUARY 20TH
By Charles Barney
Well folks, here goes! I'll be kicking off my new Special Interest Group at
the upcoming Tuesday meeting. If you have an interest in digital
photography, scanning, photo editing software, artistic composition, making
quality prints to show off your pictures or something relevant that you
would like to pursue, that's what my SIG is about. I anticipate that our
first meeting will mostly consist of information gathering. Come prepared
to talk about what you are interested in and what hardware and software you
are using. We will start at 6:00 PM in the main room. Hope to see you
there! -Charles
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CCCC Page 5 January 2004
HARDWARE S.I.G.
By Ray Isenson
The January Hardware Special Interest Group will meet in the library. The
topic will be show and tell on various types of removable drives including
CD readers, floppies and tape.
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CCCC Page 6 January 2004
2003 TAXACT USER GROUP SPECIAL OFFER
from Ray Isenson
The following is an excerpt from 2nd Story Software response regarding
their 2003 TAXACT program discount for user groups. On their Web site they
state that the federal program final edition will be available January 10,
and the state programs by January 31.
We are offering a special price on our TaxACT 2003 Deluxe and State
products - available exclusively to user group members. Members needing to
prepare both a federal and state tax return can purchase the TaxACT 2003
Ultimate Bundle for just $16.00 (regularly $19.95) by visiting
http://www.taxact.com/ad_offer3.asp?sc=0363001.
Members needing only to prepare a federal return may order the TaxACT 2003
Deluxe Edition for only $6.00 (regularly $9.95) by visiting
http://www.taxact.com/ad_offer3.asp?sc=0363002.
These Web links simply reflect a discounted shopping cart. Product
specific information may be found by visiting our "Personal Tax Product"
feature section found at www.taxact.com.
The discount prices that are referenced above are valid for our program
download option and are not available for phone in orders. For an
additional $5.95 shipping and handling fee, members may order TaxACT
software.
If you are interested in reviewing TaxACT or would like more information
regarding TaxACT's 2003 product and service line-up, you may download a PDF
version of our 2003 Standard / Deluxe / Online TaxACT Press Kit (479 KB) at
http://www.taxact.com/company/company_pressbox.asp.
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CCCC Page 7 January 2004
WEB WANDERINGS
By Gil Smith
A WALK THROUGH TIME
A Walk Through Time proudly brought to you by NIST Physics Laboratory.
This site is neat. It shows the progression of time measurement throughout
the ages. From the earliest calendars to the first simple time keeping
devices.
I think my favorite section was the Earliest Clocks. You can learn about
sun clocks and water clocks. Egyptian Shadow Clocks RULE!
This site has an excellent progression and is interesting to read - not dry
like some textbooks. I think our cultures have been fascinated with time
and will continue to be. So what are you waiting for? Check it out!
http://physics.nist.gov/GenInt.Time/time.html
WORLD WAR I TRENCHES ON THE WEB
These pages contain information on the people, places, and events that
comprised one of the worst calamities of modern history. Entire kingdoms
were to vanish in the clash. The map makers of the world would be busy
indeed! What is this site owner talking about, why World War I, of course.
This site is fabulous. I particularly enjoyed the Willy-Nicky telegrams.
You can view the entire set of telegrams between the Kaiser and the Tsar.
I read through them all and found myself awed by the two rulers pleas to
each other.
You'll also enjoy the World War I Document archive where you can read more
about the war from other viewpoints and gather your own perspective. This
is one to bookmark, I think.
http://www.worldwar1.com/
BOYCOTT WATCH
What is Boycott Watch? Their FAQ answers this question efficiently.
Boycott Watch is a non-profit organization that looks at boycott calls,
asks both sides their story and posts it at Boycott Watch so people can
decide for themselves what the truth is. If you have more questions about
them and their goals, check out their FAQ.
Get your information on boycotts you are watching as they are updated and
new information as it comes to light. Stay on top of new boycotts as they
arise. Think of it like News for boycotts.
You've probably received email with lists of alleged French companies to
boycott in reaction to the French position on Iraq. Well, here you'll find
a CONFIRMED list of which companies really are French and which actually
are not. Or read the REAL stats on where oil is imported from before you
believe the internet rumors. Head on over for the information, then decide
for yourself.
http://www.boycottwatch.org/
ABOUT FAMOUS PEOPLE
As a kid in school, I had a hard time finding women in history. This site
has a fabulous collection of information of famous women throughout
history. From First Ladies to Spies, you'll find it all here, not to
mention famous men as well.
Get information on the Presidents, and their first ladies, homes and
monuments that were erected to honor famous people, what days of the year
are dedicated to famous men and women around the globe. All in all, I was
fascinated and captivated by this site for several hours. Check it out.
http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/
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CCCC Page 8 January 2004
XP EMERGENCY BOOT DISKS by Dick Trissel
In the October 15, 2003 EXTRA4C bulletin I wrote an introduction to the XP
emergency boot disk set. Here is the "rest of the story".
Windows XP doesn't respond to most DOS utility commands. And the XP single
emergency boot disk is a joke. But there is a set of floppy disks that
makes up for all that and then some. When they are booted up they provide
the capability to run the setup from an XP installation CD. Or it will run
the Recovery Console from the floppy bootup. This provides most of the
equivalent utilities to DOS plus some special repair utilities for XP.
The program that makes the six floppy disk set is on the Microsoft Web
site. As usual, the MS Web site is a mess. My suggestion is to go to
GOOGLE and type in "XP 6 disks" (or something like that). You can try this
hairy URL:
http://support.microsoft.com/
default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/
q310/9/94.asp&NoWebContent=1
The key is that it is knowledge base number 310994. There are two files,
one for XP Home and one for XP Pro. Either will work for the full version
or the upgrade version, but the Home and Pro are different.
To use the disk set, just put the first floppy in the drive and restart the
computer. It will ask for each disk in order. This will take about 15
minutes to boot up.
If you choose the Recovery Console, be careful. Some of the commands are
dangerous, but can be very helpful if you know how to use them. At the
prompt type help, and press enter to get a list of the commands and a brief
explanation of each. Then type the command followed by /? and press enter
to get a further explanation.
The following is an excerpt of the information at the Microsoft Knowledge
Base Web site.
MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE ARTICLE - 310994
Obtaining Windows XP Setup Boot Disks
This article was previously published under Q310994
SUMMARY
Windows XP Setup boot disks are available only by download from Microsoft.
The Setup boot disks are available so that you can run Setup on computers
that do not support a bootable CD-ROM. If your computer does support
booting from a CD-ROM, or if network-based installation is available,
Microsoft recommends that you use those installations methods instead.
Future products will no longer support installation via the setup boot
disks. Installation of future Microsoft Operating Systems will require the
ability to boot from the CD or PXE boot from Network. Setup boot disks that
are provided for Windows XP are provided and supported on an as is basis.
There are six Windows XP Setup boot floppy disks. These disks contain the
files and drivers that are required to access the CD-ROM drive and begin
the Setup process.
The Windows XP startup disk will automatically load the correct drivers to
gain access to the CD-ROM drive and start a new installation of Setup. You
cannot upgrade your system from a Windows XP startup disk.
DOWNLOADING THE SETUP DISK PROGRAM FILE
The following Setup boot disk versions are available:
English Windows XP Home Edition. English Windows XP Professional
Last Reviewed: 9/30/2002 (1.0) Keywords: kbinfo kbsetup KB310994
For example, the Home edition is:
File Name: WinXP_EN_HOM_BF.EXE
Download Size: 4284 KB
Date Published: 10/24/2001
Version: 310994
Click the Download link to start the download, or choose a different
language from the drop-down list and click Go.
Do one of the following:
To start the installation immediately, click Open or Run this program from
its current location.
To copy the download to your computer for installation at a later time,
click Save or Save this program to disk.
CREATING THE SETUP DISKS
When you download the Setup disks program, the download contains only one
large program file. When you run the downloaded file, it extracts the
files. You receive the following prompt:
This program creates the Setup boot disks for Microsoft Windows XP. To
create these disks, you need to provide 6 blank, formatted, high-density
disks.
Please specify the floppy drive to copy the images to:
Type the drive letter for the floppy disk drive (this is typically drive
A). After you type the floppy disk drive letter, you see the following
prompt:
Insert one of these disks into drive letter:
This disk will become the Windows XP Setup Boot Disk.
Press any key when you are ready.
When you press a key, the downloaded file starts extracting and copying the
files. Continue inserting the blank disks as you are prompted to do so
until all six disks are created. If the process is interrupted you must run
the downloaded program file again to create all six disks. Make sure to
label each disk appropriately with the number that is specified by the
program. You will have to use the disks in the correct order during the
Setup process.
USING THE SETUP DISKS
After you create all six disks, insert the first disk in the floppy disk
drive, and then restart the computer. Note that the computer must be
configured to boot from the floppy disk drive. In some cases, you may need
to modify your computer's BIOS settings to do this. After the setup process
starts. Insert the other floppy disks as you are prompted to do so. Note
that you will need to use the Windows XP CD-ROM to finish Setup.
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CCCC Page 9 January 2004
DUAL-BOOT
by Dick Trissel
Since the onslaught of the Windows XP operating system (OS), many of us
would like to be able to go back to Windows 95/98 or ME, but without the
loss of XP. This is possible. I have experienced five different methods
for accomplishing this task. One method is simple and inexpensive. The
others are not so simple or a little expensive.
One method requires purchasing and installing a second hard drive. The
other methods require at least two partitions on a single drive. The
partitioning can be done with the Fdisk utility, but only if you are
starting with a hard drive with nothing of value on it. My recommendation
for partitioning is to use PowerQuest's PartitionMagic program.
One of the methods requires the use of PowerQuest's BootMagic program.
Another requires the use of PowerQuest's PartitionMagic program to
accomplish the OS selection.
Most of the methods will work with any two operating systems (or two of the
same operating system). Only the method using XP's dual-boot function
requires XP. All installations of XP can also have a multi-boot capability
with the Windows XP Recovery Console, if it is installed.
The simplest and least expensive way to have two operating systems is the
one where one OS is Windows XP. You install the non-XP system first into
one of the C:\ partition. Then install XP into another partition. Windows
XP will automatically setup the dual-boot capability where, at startup or
restart, you select the OS you want. Control of the dual-boot OS selection
is done in the Boot.ini file located in the root folder of the non-XP drive
(C:\). It can be edited in a text editor, or from within XP (Start /
Control Panel / System / Advanced / Startup & Recovery / Settings / Edit).
There is a source of free software and instructions to accomplish this
dual-boot even after both operating systems have been installed. However,
this is only for experienced users. The Web site is:
http://tweakhomepc.virtualave.net/
Another method that works well, if both systems are already installed, is
the use of PartitionMagic to control the "Active" partition. You set the
desired partition as "Active" and then "Unhide" the other partition. This
gives you visibility into the non-active partition folder if you are not
looking from a FAT32 file system to an NTFS file system. I find being able
to access files on either system, when possible, very useful. However, you
usually can't run a program from the non-active system. Your system of
choice will be started at every startup or restart. If you are willing to
purchase BootMagic, it is made for multi-booting. Just install both
systems, install BootMagic, and configure it for the two systems.
You will make the choice of which system you want at each startup or
restart. The other OS will be hidden as if you only had one OS.
Now, if you use Bootmagic, you can disable it and combine the
PartitionMagic method described in the preceding paragraph. This, again,
will give you visibility into both partitions if you are not looking from a
FAT32 file system to an NTFS file system.
Finally, what may be the trickiest method, is to have two hard drives with
an OS on each drive. You choose which drive is the boot drive by going
into the BIOS setup at startup or restart and setting the order of the
device boot sequence. This assumes you know how to use the BIOS setup,
which is not the same on all computers. With this method you will have
visibility into both systems if you are not looking from a FAT32 file
system to an NTFS file system.
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CCCC Page 10 January 2004
SYSTEMS S.I.G.
By Dick Trissel
W-a-a-a-y back in October, 2003 we had our last Systems S.I.G. meeting.
The first subject was the mention of the new e-mail virus recognizable by
the name
"DUMARU.A". Yep, dumb are you is a very fitting name. Obviously, don't
open an e-mail with that in the name or subject.
I announced that the Symantec company (Norton Systems, etc.) is buying the
PowerQuest company (PartitionMagic, BootMagic, etc.). When and what the
effect will be is yet to be determined.
Microsoft is planning on an upgrade to WindowsXP that will take advantage
of the new 64 bit processors-either later in 2004 or 2005. The radically
new Windows system (code named Longhorn) is not due out until 2006.
For those that have to have the latest, there's a new Microsoft mouse that
is wireless and has a "tilt" wheel. You not only can scroll vertically
with the wheel, but you tilt the wheel to the side to scroll left and
right.
And another item for the hardware accumulator, LG Electronics has a $200
DVD recorder that handles all five DVD formats. That was back in October.
It may be less now, and other manufacturers have probably lowered their
prices.
Have you XP users noticed the defrag function automatically repeats?
Apparently, this is normal. Mine does this three times before it is happy.
Of course, it still only defrags files, but not the disk spaces.
I'll see you all at the January Systems S.I.G. We ought to have a lot of
items to discuss after a two month layoff.
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