C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XVI: NUMBER 7 JULY, 2001
NEXT MEETING: JULY 17, 2001 7:00PM KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
PRESENTATION: Oscar Galis, South Bay Engineering, demonstating
2CoolPC, a device to reduce system crashes and errors.
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| CONTENTS |
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(1) Officers, Helplines, S.I.G.s
(2) President's Corner Charles Barney
(3) Order of the Crying Towel Ray Isenson
(4) Web Wanderings Gil Smith
(5) June Internet S.I.G Dick Trissel
(6) Editor's Comments Dick Trissel
(7) Review: PhotoStudio 2000 Jack Tyo
(8) Trouble Free Disk Defragging Dick Savage
(9) Review: Sundial Gil Smith
(10) Weather Gil Smith
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Officers Helplines
President Juno
Charles Barney 937-1240 Gilbert Smith 925-3743
cbarney@lightspeed.net Gs5081@aol.com
Vice President Windows 95/98/ME & Voice Control
Phil Grycel 937-1805 Amy Malicki 925-5780
feliksy@juno.com amymal@juno.com
Secretary Hardware & DOS
Barbara Godwin 934-9885 Ray Isenson 937-6938
yung.bag@verizon.net risenson@juno.com
Treasurer AOL
Gerald Miller 934-1396 Frank Maciel 922-2318
2741 Banyan Way frm8198@aol.com
Santa Maria CA 93455
gmiller33@excite.com
Librarian Help With Any Problem
Sharon Allen 928-2209 Dick Savage 928-4932
sallen4060@aol.com rsavage65@hotmail.com
Publicity Help With Any Problem
Bill Corning 934-0775 Fred Adams 934-1128
foster95@juno.com fred421@earthlink.net
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/ME Internet
Amy Malicki Dick Trissel
amymal@juno.com rtrissel@juno.com
CCCC Membership is $15 for twelve months ($20 family). 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 July 2001
President's Corner
by Charles Barney
We had a good turnout of 71 people at the clubhouse for the June 19th
meeting (thanks all!). New members joining us were Ginney Carmichael
(husband Bob joined in May) and Marjorie and Ted Hoogenbosch. Welcome to
the 4C's folks, we are most happy to have you aboard!
A special thank you goes out to those who "substituted" for absent
officers: Ray Isenson, who took on the secretary's duties for Barbara
Godwin; Howard Williams, acting as treasurer for Jerry Miller; Dick Savage,
who handled the club's book library and Sharon Allen's friend Jenny for
bringing us a "Disk of the Month."
Guest speaker David Whittle treated us to an excellent presentation in
which he demonstrated some of the award-winning programs from MGI Software.
Affordable, powerful digital imaging software has become mainstream for the
home user. Among the MGI line that David showcased were: VideoWave 4, which
gives total creative freedom to the budding movie producer; PhotoSuite 4,
the company's flagship product which features a bevy of image editing tools
in an easy-to-use interface and finally, PhotoVista Virtual Tour, an
amazing program to create interactive 3D panoramas that can provide
"virtual walkabouts" on web sites. David told me later how impressed he was
with the people and the reception he got at the 4C's and will try to fit us
into his California itinerary in the future. I'm sure you will agree that
we would be more than glad to have him back.
The club's computer picked the wisely present members who got to choose
their door prizes as follows: Joe Gatwis - Logitech Cordless Wheel Mouse,
Ted Tucker - Aladdin DragStrip, Eldeen Voris - Printmaster Premier 8.0, Ben
Middleton - MGI PhotoVista 4.0, George Spingler - MGI Soft DVD Max, Dave
Lowry - Microsoft T-Shirt, Barbara Flood - O'Reilly T-Shirt. Those folks
who were called but presumably had better things to do the evening of the
meeting get their due elsewhere in this newsletter!
At the July 17th meeting we are scheduled to have guest speaker Oscar Galis
of South Bay Engineering to demonstrate 2CoolPC, a unique computer cooling
device that is supposed to reduce random crashes and system errors while
greatly extending the life of your computer's internal components. Come out
and decide for yourself! - Charles
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CCCC Page 3 July 2001
Order of the Crying Towel
by Ray Isenson
It's been some time since the last published report on new joiners to the
not so august organization, the Order of the Crying Towel. But this month
matters of grave interest and import demand a resurrection. In fairness to
those who satisfied the requirement for membership and to record for all
time their having done so, their roster is presented below. To do
otherwise would be to deny them the satisfaction of knowing they blew it!
As to another matter, we've suspected (or known) for eons that our
computers are more than mere machines. After all, how could simply a
mechanical servant be so inept at satisfying your purposes?
It frequently fails to do what you want it to do, demanding a precise
parsing of input phrases and spelling. In addition we now have irrefutable
proof that these self same machines have an inherent sense of awareness.
Not only did they know all the time what you really wanted but also, they
were conscious of your presence (or absence) and reacted accordingly.
The proof of this latter statement is found in a statistical analysis of
the list of door prize winners and Crying Towel initiates. And, who
questions the validity of a statistical analysis?
Now, the club currently has about 130, give or take a few, dues current
members. Of them, well over half were present when the computer selected
door prize winners on 06/19/2001. Thus, one would expect, statistically
speaking of course, because the winner selection is a random function, at
least half of the names offered up by the machine, as prizewinners would be
present.
But, oh no! That computer was aware of the surroundings. It knew who
wasn't there. And, just as it refuses so often to do what you really
wanted it to do, it output names of the folks who weren't there in a,
statistically speaking, inordinately biased fashion. Before it coughed up
names of members who were present to collect the seven great prizes, it
embarrassed the below named fifteen luckless souls.
Charles Rodgers, Bill Pugh, Frank Maciel, Sylvia Connors, Irvan Winterfeld,
Laudell Ludwig, Ed Sage, Gary Aston, Tom Phillips, Al Cooper, Warren
Randall, Mildred Smith, Vera Scott, Bob Virgin and Gerald Miller.
What more proof of awareness among computers do you need? And, of course,
how much more proof do you need that it pays to come to the meetings!
____________________________________________________________
All computers wait at the same speed.
SENILE.COM found . . . Out Of Memory .
Best file compression around "DEL " = 100% compression.
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CCCC Page 4 July 2001
Web Wanderings
by Gil Smith
FLY
Check out the Aviation homepage if you're into flying. Just about every
aspect of flight can be found on this site. From flying lessons to
classifieds, these guys really have aviation covered.
http://www.avhome.com/
GAMES
Don't let the URL of this site fool you. Happy Puppy is not a site for dog
owners, but for anyone who loves to play video games. They have demos,
information, reviews and cheat codes for all the major TV game consoles.
Plus, there are lots of cool windows and web games to check out.
http://www.happypuppy.com/
NATIONAL PARKS, MONUMENTS, ETC
This web site will whet your appetite to visit some of our National Parks.
You can select a park from among over forty Categories in all 50 states.
Many of the parks, etc are located in the western states. Add a / and the
code to see what a particular park has to offer. Listed below are the
codes for some of the parks in CA, NV, OR, WA, AZ, and NM.
http://www.nps.gov.
Redwood National Park, Crescent City, CA - redw
Organ Pipe Cactus, Ajo, AZ - orpi
Great Basin, Baker, NV - grba
Mojave Natl Park, Baker, CA - moja
North Cascades, Sedro-Woolley, WA - noca
Oregon Caves Nat'l Monument, WA - orca
Channel Islands, CA - chis
El Morro, Raman, NM - elmo
Tonto Nat'l, Roosevelt, NM - tont
MORE NATIONAL PARKS
Information Sunset Magazine published an article recently on some of the
National Parks on the West Coast. See more on these parks at:
http://www.sunset.com/travel/parks.html
NOTE: If you have a favorite web site that you would like to share with
other 4Cs members, drop me an e-mail (gs5081@aol.com) listing the web
address and I'll include it in a future issue of the 4Cs Newsletter.
____________________________________________________________
Interesting Perspective
"To understand how a hard disk drive works, an analogy is helpful. Imagine
scaling the drive up so that the read head was floating one inch off the
ground (the disk surface). The head itself would then be about the size of
the Sears Tower (lying sideways) and would travel over the ground at 2,975
miles per second (10.7 million MPH). It would be capable of reading data
bits 3 inches apart in tracks separated by 5 feet and would have average
sideways velocity of 116 miles per second (420,000 MPH)."
- Paraphrased from "Upgrading and Repairing PCs", 6th Edition
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CCCC Page 5 July 2001
June Internet S.I.G
by Dick Trissel
We had 30 attendees to the June Internet S.I.G--not bad for a hot summer
evening.
We started with a couple of announcements. The Aladdin Stuffit suite has a
program called expander. It will uncompress most compressed files. It is
available free from http://www.aladdin.com.
There's a provision in Internet Explorer to prohibit selected cookies from
being written to your hard drive cookies folder. This is a privacy
consideration. The location in IE is: Tools (or View in IE4) / Internet
Options / Security. Scroll down and select Restricted sites zone. Add the
address of the sites you want to exclude. Now comes the hard part--
determining the syntax for the addresses. All I can do is list the cookies
that I know of that you should restrict. Maybe I'll figure out the
addresses someday:
adforce.com doubleclick.net
admaximize.com hitbox.com
admonitor.net linkexchange.com
avenuea.com valueclick.com
bfast.com
Of course, the method mentioned in previous meetings of controlling cookies
still works. Go to IE Internet Options / Advanced, scroll down to the
Cookies section and choose the option that suits you.
Along that same line, the question of which cookies to keep and which to
delete came up again. If you delete all the cookies, you may have to
reenter data the next time you go to a particular Web site (ID, password,
or registration data). To find out which site's cookies to keep, delete
all cookies, go to the site in question, immediately look at the cookies
folder and see what got added. In the future, don't delete that cookie, or
save it away for recovery after a full delete.
There were several comments about problems with Juno e-mail. I think they
were all related to Juno version 5. One problem had to do with a mis-dial
to the e-mail server using the long distance number set for the Juno Web.
This results in a one minute charge on the phone bill. Another problem was
how Juno tries to connect to the Web when an e-mail contains a reference to
a Web site. The only suggestion was to contact Juno with the problems. I
use Juno version 4 and do not have these problems.
The sulfnbk.exe hoax was mentioned. The bad news is, it no longer is a
hoax. Naturally, someone mad it a real virus. The good news is, even if
you delete the file as the hoax recommended, no harm done. The name stands
for System User Long File Name BacKup. This file is only used if a problem
occurs during an operating system uninstall.
During a discussion about searching the Web, I recommended using Google. I
also mentioned Askjeeves. Another person mentioned Ask.com. That's
another name for Askjeeves.
One person mentioned his access to Norton virus updates via the program was
failing, but going directly to Norton to get the updates was successful.
A question came up about a previous newsletter article on making toolbars.
I explained it was all in using the right mouse button on the desktop
taskbar, going to Toolbars, New Toolbar. Then, use the right button on the
toolbar to set the options; use the mouse to position the toolbar on the
desktop (sides, top, bottom).
Here's a good one that came up after the meeting. A purchaser of a new
Gateway computer was having trouble with a distorted image on her new
monitor. To make a long story short, the problem was the close proximity
of an Uninterruptible Power Supply to the side of the monitor--moved the
UPS, problem solved.
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CCCC Page 6 July 2001
Editor's Comments
by Dick Trissel
In a few months (October 25th) Microsoft will release its latest (and
greatest ) operating system--Windows XP. Many technical writers are
advising current computer users that if their current systems are doing the
job, don't consider Windows XP.
I'm writing this article early so those people considering getting a new
computer may want to purchase before Windows XP is their only choice.
The following article was extracted from the Windows-Help.NET News - 23
June 2001, Vol 4 No. 25 e-mail newsletter:
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Windows XP Ready
PC Specifications
Microsoft this week published "Windows XP Ready" PC Specifications, so that
consumers wanting to buy a new system can buy one and be sure that it meets
the system requirements for the new operating system. That will allow them
to upgrade to Windows XP the day it ships. Compaq Computer Corp., Dell
Computer Corp., eMachines Inc., Equus Computer Systems, Gateway Inc.,
Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., KDS Computers, MicronPC, Northgate
Computers, Premio Computer Inc., Sony, Systemax Inc. and Toshiba are
current PC manufacturers offering Windows XP Ready PCs worldwide today.
The complete list of Windows XP Ready PCs worldwide can be viewed online at
the http://windows-help.net/cgi-bin/link/4.25.cgi?42501
The Windows XP Ready PC Program ensures that the PC meets or exceeds the
Windows XP system requirements and has passed Windows Hardware Quality Lab
test for Windows 2000, and that PC manufacturers will provide any necessary
drivers at the launch of Windows XP.
System Requirements for Windows XP
Customers can begin to prepare their current PC systems for a Windows XP
upgrade by reviewing the Windows XP system requirements, which are now
available for Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional--
1) PC with 300MHz or higher processor clock speed recommended--233MHz
minimum required;*
2) Intel Pentium/Celeron family, AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family or compatible
processor recommended (dual processor support in Windows XP Professional)
3) 128MB of RAM or higher recommended (64MB minimum supported but may limit
performance and some features);
4) 1.5 GB of available hard disk space*
5) Super VGA (800x600) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor
6) CD-ROM or DVD drive
7) Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
* Actual requirements will vary based on system configuration and the
applications and features chosen for installation. Additional available
hard disk space may be required if installing over a network. Additional
requirements may be needed for additional programs and peripherals. More
information is available at
http://windows-help.net/cgi-bin/link/4.25.cgi?42501
Note: Personally I would NOT recommend anything less than a PC with 300MHz
or higher processor clock speed, and 128MB of RAM. Since RAM is cheap
these days, get some more: Windows XP will use it!
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There's also a controversy brewing about a Distributed Denial Of Service
(DDOS) problem with XP (a hacker's delight). And, there's a complicated
registration requirement intending to prevent illegal copies of XP
installations.
Microsoft states that Windows XP can only upgrade systems that already have
Windows 2000 or Windows ME installed.
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CCCC Page 7 July 2001
REVIEW: PhotoStudio 2000
From ArcSoft
By Jack Tyo
PhotoStudio is a powerful, easy-to-use, digital image editing program for
PCs running Windows 95, 98, 2000 or NT. It enables full-color images to be
acquired, managed, enhanced, retouched and output for publications,
presentations and the Internet.
This review is written from the perspective of a life-long involvement in
photography, now evolved to the digital level with a whole new universe of
challenges opened up. When I think of the large proportion of my
photographic career spent in darkrooms manipulating images below the
enlarger lens, I am deeply appreciative of the opportunities now so easily
available by this happy marriage of computer power and programming talent.
But, the images don't have to come necessarily only from digital cameras;
they can be acquired from existing image files, from albums, from disk
drives or from scanners, or for that matter from the desk-top of any
application window. What a universe!
So, let's roll up our sleeves to see what we can do. First of all, we all
can recognize the ability of photo editing programs to widen the world of
visual presentation. Here at the CCCC we have had a dramatic demonstration
of such programs as PhotoShope Deluxe, of which this program, PhotoStudio
2000, is a strong competitor. These programs share much the same
cornucopia of image editing, the only real question being the relative ease
of use, as they all cost typically below fifty dollars.
Installing the program from the CD was relatively straight-forward, almost
automatic, and the launching was easy. We are presented with a Main Menu,
a Quick Access Bar, a Status Bar, a Tools Palette, a Layers Palette, an
Options Palette, an Album Palette and a Navigation Palette. These palettes
are displayed on the screen providing a work-space to edit image files.
Each palette is almost self-explanatory, especially with the assistance of
the User's Manual.
For example, the Tools Palette displays thirty-one choices, and it is fun
to try them all. Each tool selected also has its own Options Palette,
which is like a fine-tuning supplement. To a photographer, the Layers
Palette is especially interesting, as it enables one to add additional
image elements to the basic image.
These layers are independently addressable and can be manipulated just like
the basic underlying image. You can make a sandwiched combination, so to
speak, building a whole new display limited only by your creative
imagination. The possibilities are endless!
My son, a computer expert, took a photograph of him and his wife stretched
out on the wing of a plane safely parked near the hanger. Then at home he
removed the background including the wheels and the propeller, and
"layered" the resultant image on top of an aerial view of Boston. The
result is spectacular, an apparent dare-devil stunt which even fooled some
of his friends.
Other easily accessed mind-boggling effects include stitching images
together to produce either horizontal or vertical panoramas, or enhancing a
photograph to improve the composition, or adjusting the brightness and
contrast and the hue and saturation, to say nothing of removing blemishes.
Good-bye chemical darkrooms, hello the digital darkroom.
Finally, the resultant image can be printed out, saved to a drive or sent
away on the Internet. All this for$39.99!
You will need a Pentium-based computer, 50 MB free hard disk space, 32MB
RAM, 16-bit (or higher) color display, a CD-ROM drive, all of which I am
sure, you have in spades. Have fun!
Available from:
ArcSoft, Inc.
46601 Fremont Blvd.
Fremont, CA 94538
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CCCC Page 8 July 2001
Trouble Free Disk Defragging
by Dick Savage
Unfortunately the standard Windows Disk Defragmenter program is very
susceptible to interference from programs running in the background such as
anti-virus programs and screen savers. Fortunately there is a simple
solution to the problem.
The PowerDefrag program enhances the Windows 9X Disk Defragmenter by
rebooting your computer and running the defragmenter at a point during
reboot when nothing but Windows itself has kicked in -- instantly solving
all problems with interference; and defragmentation goes very quickly in
this mode.
PowerDefrag Lite is available as freeware at: http://www.powerdefrag.com
The download file is about 1.7 MB. It is called pd0200.exe and clicking on
it will run and automatically install the program. Too bad Microsoft
didn't use this scheme to start with.
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CCCC Page 9 July 2001
REVIEW: SUNDIAL
(California Collection)
from Aladdin Systems
by Gil Smith
Desktop scenes that change with the actual time of day!
Sundial provides a continuously updating view of the outdoors right on your
desktop. The California Collection lets you choose from ten famous
locations throughout the Golden state from Death Valley to Mount Shasta and
many interesting scenes in between. Each location features nearly 300
professionally-shot photographs, compiled into a Quick-Time movie which
updates your desktop every 5 minutes to coincide exactly with the actual
time of day. With Sundial, even though you might be stuck indoors, you can
still keep an eye on the outside world.
Watch the fog roll lazily in and out of San Francisco Bay. See day turn
into night as the moon rises over majestic Mt. Whitney. Follow the subtle
color changes at breathtaking Zambriskie Point in Death Valley. With ten
beautiful California landscapes from which to choose, you'll never tire of
Sundial's amazing choices. It's easy to synchronize Sundial to your
location, so that sun rises and sets in synch with your actual conditions.
You can also visit Sundial's Hawaii Collection to see all the magic and
beauty of the islands right on your desktop, with ten ever- changing scenes
from the Aloha state.
Instructions are easy to follow and, once installed, the scenes change
automatically as the time changes.
Sundial is available at local software outlets or online from Aladdin at:
http://www.aladdinsys.com. Online - $4.95 (+S&H)
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CCCC Page 10 July 2001
Weather
Submitted by Gil Smith
(I believe this site is for US residents only.)
I'm a weather fanatic, especially in summer. I always seem to have some
kind of outdoor activity coming up and I like to keep an eye on what the
weather's gonna be.
Well, AWS has come up with an awesome piece of software that will give you
all the weather info your little heart desires. Live weather conditions,
radar, updated forecasts, and tons more. It's 100% free so take a look:
http://www.weatherbug.com/aws/
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