C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XIX: NUMBER 5 MAY, 2004
Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of every month at the Knollwood
Village Clubhouse 4012 S. Bradley Dr., Santa Maria
General meeting at 7:00 PM. Special Interest Groups sessions are at
5:45pm and 6:00pm. 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,
Access to the clubs software library, Disk of the month (usually for $1),
Help-line support, Monthly presentations, Valuable door prizes, Question
and answer sessions.
NEXT MEETING: May 18, 2004 KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
PRESENTATION: The May presentation will be a ComputerWorks representative
speaking on "Computer Security".
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| CONTENTS |
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(1) OFFICERS, HELPLINES, S.I.G.S
(2) PRESIDENT'S CORNER
(3) EDITOR'S COMMENTS Dick Trissel
(4) WEB WANDERINGS Gil Smith
(5) DIGITAL IMAGING S.I.G. Charles Barney
(6) SYSTEMS S.I.G. Dick Trissel
(7) SYSTEMS UPGRADES Dick Trissel
(8) WINDOWS EXPLORER PART 3 Dick Trissel
(9) ASCII CHARACTERS 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
foster95@juno.com savvyforseniors@juno.com
Secretary and Book Librarian 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
Disk Librarian Visual Basic and Genealogy
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 Digital Imaging
Dick Trissel 937-7572 Charles Barney 937-1240
rtrissel@juno.com Cbarney@lightspeed.net
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS (S.I.G.s)
Digital Imaging (6:00pm) Systems (5:45pm)
Charles Barney Dick Trissel
Cbarney@lightspeed.net rtrissel@juno.com
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CCCC Page 2 May 2004
PRESIDENT'S CORNER
For those that haven't heard, Marie Stimler, the wife of our club's
president passed away a couple of weeks ago. Due to her sudden illness,
Spence didn't attend the April meeting. So, this article is being written
in part by the staff members.
After a minute of silence in respect for Carol Rich's husband William Rich
who passed away last month, the business meeting was as usual with the
reading of the March minutes and the treasurer's report.
The discussion about possibly sending the monthly newsletter by e-mail led
to a vote for acceptance. The motion passed 43 to four. A second motion
to have those that want a hard copy request it, got vetoed with three votes
for and 44 opposed. The purpose of the change in method of circulating the
newsletter was to decrease the effort of the editor, and to save the club
about $85 per month (besides all the trees we'll save).
This does place more responsibility on the members to make sure the editor
has your current e-mail address, and to keep your e-mail server inbox
cleared. With all the spam these days, some inboxes with only one to two
megabytes of storage allowed will fill fast. However, if you miss the e-
mailing, the newsletter will be on our Web site
(http://member.apcug.org/fourseas).
The presentation was by club member Sharon Allen and Joe Simonson from
Sharon's company "Computer Support Services" at 718 E. Chapel, Santa Maria,
928-2209. The subject was "Multimedia Madness" and was meant to show what
can be done with Audio and Video materials, using fairly simple programs.
They included several audio recording software programs on the CD, and
showed several programs including Pinnacle Studio 8, Roxio CD/DVD Media
Creator and All Sound Recorder. They discussed the use of several types of
capturing devices and showed a presentation incorporating Slides,
Negatives, 8MM Film and CamCorder video. These demos also included audio
effects, both recorded and canned.
The presentation for the May meeting is by Pat and Ken Keith of
ComputerWorks in Santa Maria. They've chosen to talk about a subject that
they say involves most of the their computer work--the epidemic of computer
viruses, worms, trojan horses, etc.; and what you can do to help yourself.
This is certainly a timely subject.
The following are the six lucky door prize winners: Francis Maciel,
MyLabels Premium - Labeling Software; Amy Malicki, Disc Dealer - CD Holder;
Shirlee Hickey; Flex Tube Computer Cable Organizer; Howard Williams, Body
Glove Steel CD Case; Bob Allington, Ultra PC Vent II - Computer Cooler;
Richard Trissel, Drive Copy 3
And the following are the absentees whose names got called:
Richard Holmes; William Barnett; Stan Voris; Philip Smith; Carol Chambard;
Willa Wiley; Roy Grisso; Bob Gallagher; Cheri Holmes; Eugene Johnson;
Alexina Tyo; Enid Gilham; Ken Baur; Donald Calhoun; Elaine Barnett; Fred
Adams; Peter Dettelis; Carl Geisler;
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CCCC Page 3 May 2004
EDITOR'S COMMENTS by Dick Trissel
Last month's trial run of publishing the CCCC monthly newsletter by e-mail
was a big success. So much so that a motion was made at the April business
meeting to go exclusively to e-mail distribution. It was voted on and
approved 43 to 4. From now on there will not be a hardcopy mailing.
Besides making my job as newsletter editor much easier, the club will save
about $85 per month.
The e-mailing will be done on or around the second Tuesday of each month (a
week before the monthly meeting.) If you don't received it, it will be
either because your inbox is full, or your ISP decided it was spam, or I
don't have your e-mail address (yes there are a few who have never given it
or changed it without notifying me). Obviously, the latter won't get this
notice. So, if you hear someone complain that they didn't get a
newsletter,
give them the word.
If you miss getting the e-mail, the newsletter (along with the past four
years of newsletters) is on the club's Web site at
http://member.apcug.org/fourseas.
The format of the newsletter is plain text. However, there is a note at
the top stating that there are HTML commands around the text to allow you
to view the newsletter in a browser. If you save the e-mail file, rename
the file with an htm extension (i.e. news.htm), and double click it, it
will look like a Web page with article links in the contents section.
Actually, the e-mail text IS the Web page. If this is a problem, let me
know. And, if enough people complain, I'll change it.
For those that want a hardcopy, turn on your printer and either print it
from your e-mail reader, or save the file and edit and print it from a text
editor, or print it from the Web view. Just know that it will not be
paginated like the mailed hardcopy used to be.
One of the side effects of the e-mail version is that I'm not restricted to
only ten pages. However, I'm not obligated to fill ten pages, either--
you'll get what you get. That means all you closet authors can send me
your newsletter articles.
Another condition of the e-mail version is that the text is not double
column. This makes it easier to read directly on the screen.
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CCCC Page 4 May 2004
WEB WANDERINGS By Gil Smith
THE PALATUS PERSONALITY TEST
This site is just for fun. Ignore the three ads and have a blast
Answering the 10 questions to find out your personality type. Just choose
your answer to the question and click through to the next question. It
takes only about two minutes to take the test. Here's an example of the
kind of personality analysis it gives.
"Other people see you as sensible, cautious, careful, and practical. They
see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest. Not a person who makes
friends too quickly or too easily, but someone who is extremely loyal to
the friends you do make and who expects the same loyalty in return. Those
who really get to know you realize that it takes a lot to shake your trust
in your friends, but equally, that it takes you a long time to get over it
if that trust is shaken."
Take the test and find out about your personality.
http://www.bhmedia.com/personality/index.shtml
PUZZLE PARLOR
Do you enjoy puzzles? Well then, you're going to love this site. Start by
clicking the logo to begin your playtime. Select a shape to start your
puzzle. Try one of the favorites - Snowflake Square.
Choose a piece and place it on the puzzle surface you can rotate pieces by
pressing the right arrow key on the keyboard, and if you mess up you can
reset the puzzle at any time. Some of these puzzles are difficult, but
very enjoyable.
http://www.gamepuzzles.com/pparlor/puzzleparlmm.html
GARAGE SALE HUNTER
This site's goal is to create a "nationwide garage sale forum." It's that
season and the garage sales are already in full force. You can find a
garage sale near you or you can post your garage sale so people can find
you. The best part is that it's absolutely free.
You can also find garage sale tips, and get on their garage sale mailing
list. The mailing list will give you a daily e-mail of garage sales in
your area. You can even use their flyer maker for free to make flyers to
post for your garage sale.
http://www.garagesalehunter.com/
TIME CONVERTER
Need to know what time it is in France? Or New York? Well, if you need to
figure out what time it is in another area of the world, (or country) check
out this handy little converter.
http://www.timeconverter.com/
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CCCC Page 5 May 2004
DIGITAL IMAGING SIG April '04 Recap By Charles Barney
There were 20 folks sitting in the main room (more or less at the DI SIG)
during the April 20th meeting - a considerable increase over the previous
month!
Member Charley Currey brought in a CD containing a beautiful scenic
panorama that he had composed from his own photos using MGI's PhotoVista
program. Photo 'stitching' software does an amazing job of joining together
pictures that were taken of a wide area in overlapping sequence that
normally could not be captured by the camera lens alone. However, a
characteristic result of this process is that, in order to believably align
elements common to adjoining shots and to maintain proper perspective, the
top and bottom edges of the panorama can be quite uneven and usually
require a final trimming in order to look nice. Charley wanted to crop his
picture to a specific size (I believe 4.5x11 inches) and then print it out.
After opening the picture in Photoshop Elements 2 and looking at the file
properties, there were some evident problems in the way of achieving this
desired result. The panorama file had already been saved to print at 72
pixels per inch (ppi) at near the final output dimensions. This is not
nearly enough information to make a good printout. You really need from
200-300 ppi sent to the printer to produce sharp images with smooth color
gradations that we expect to see in a photographic print. Programs like
Elements can get away with 'interpolating' or making up pixels fairly well,
up to a point. Making an image smaller by removing pixels (down-sampling)
can be taken further than making it bigger by adding pixels (up-sampling).
So, up-sampling by 300 or 400 percent wouldn't, I felt, do the picture any
justice.
What I ended up doing, as a demonstration, was using the 'Clone Stamp' tool
in Elements which allowed me to sample matching portions of the picture and
'paint-in' the missing areas between the rectangular border and the
irregular edges of the panorama image. This, at least, would permit a
larger crop size. As far as the dearth of pixels, I could do nothing about
that. A lesson to be learned here is to take your photos at the highest
resolution that your digital camera is capable of and to avoid resampling,
if possible, during any intermediary processing steps. Adjust pixel
resolution and print dimensions (each being totally dependent on the other)
as the final step.
During the second half of the SIG it was movie time! The multimedia CD that
I played was on advanced Adobe Photoshop techniques as demonstrated by
various professionals in the photography/graphics business. Although
somewhat arcane for most of the audience (including myself), it was
fascinating to see some of the visual wonders that can be achieved with
this powerful program. The disk was obtained through a partnership between
our user group and a company called Software Cinema. As a reward for the
members who filled-in and returned evaluation forms which I passed around,
they provided four additional training CDs on different subjects as raffle
prizes. These were given away by random drawing. After polling the members,
it was decided that we should continue this alliance in the future.
Software Cinema plans on releasing a new package each quarter.
If I can get my scanner to work with my laptop, before the May get-
together, I plan to do a demo on scanning traditional photos and editing
them for reprint. Hope to see you there!
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CCCC Page 6 May 2004
SYSTEMS S.I.G. by Dick Trissel
We started the session with a video of what was labeled "MD80 Hard
Landing". Those that saw it know that was an understatement.
We now not only have the use of the old CCCC projector, but we also have
the use of the club's laptop, thanks to Charles Barney volunteering to
bring his laptop for his Digital Imaging S.I.G. Now, if I could just
figure out how to reliably get both the laptop screen and the projector at
the same time (which I finally did), we'll be set.
I always stress keeping your computer "clean" by removing old files and
unneeded startup items so the computer will run as fast as it did when you
bought it, and to speed up starting (and stopping). I was asked how fast
my startup times are. On a 600Mhz / 96MB computer (with dualboot), both
Windows 98SE and Windows XP get to the desktop in 50 seconds. The W98SE
shuts down in less than 5 seconds. The WinXP takes 20 seconds (I can't
imagine what XP is doing since I shut down all applications first.)
Obviously, one way to make a system start fast is not to start any programs
you don't need immediately. To control some of that is by using the
Windows utility called MSCONFIG, which is available in both W98, ME and XP.
I've covered all this in previous articles, and demonstrated the procedure
at the S.I.G, but I'll go through the steps again that get you to the point
of making the selections.
Go to Start / Run and type the command msconfig and press Enter. Click on
the tab labeled Startup. Write down every item shown and whether it has a
check mark in its box. It will not be obvious which items can be unchecked
so they don't startup-it's just trial and error for some items. In W98 you
should keep checked the Systray, Scanregistry, and the two Load Power
Profile (Windows XP doesn't have these items). Then click Apply and OK.
These changes will not be effective until the next startup or Restart. If
you remove a critical item and can't get started normally, restart in the
Safe Mode (tap F8 or tap F5). Then re-check the suspect item (that's where
the trial and error comes in).
We had a brief discussion on combating spam e-mail. There are spam filters
available, both as offered by ISPs, and by subscription. Management of
these filters, so as to not reject valid e-mail, is a problem. Also,
because these filters are not foolproof, you will still have some spam get
through, and you'll have to scan the "trash" for rejected good e-mail. I
find it easier just to not read "strange" e-mail, and NEVER open an
attachment that I have any doubt about, because, that's where viruses lurk.
And, NEVER respond to the request to be removed from a spam e-mail.
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CCCC Page 7 May 2004
SYSTEM UPGRADES by Dick Trissel
With 20% of home computer users still using Windows 9X, and nearly 80% of
home computer users converted to Windows XP, some of them (the computers)
are getting "old". By that I mean you may feel you need either to upgrade
your present computer, or buy a new bigger and faster computer.
The way you use your computer can be a deciding factor. If you do a lot of
graphics, audio and games, you might benefit greatly from the big
technological improvements of the past couple of years. If all you do is
e-mail, word processing, finances, etc., you may not benefit much from an
upgrade.
Of course, the decision is usually whether to upgrade the components of the
"old" computer, or buy a new computer. The data for the following table
were extracted from the February 3, 2004 PC Magazine. The costs do not
include labor--the assumption is you or a friend will do the work. The
base unit is probably already a better computer than most of us have. The
upgrades are each retained for the next upgrade. So, it is a cumulative
effect. However, the costs are incremental. The increases are in
processing speed running the programs Business Winstone 2004 and Multimedia
Content Creation Winstone 2004.
BASE UNIT
CPU 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4
RAM 128MB PC2100 DDR 266 SDRAM
HDD 40GB 5400rpm
FSB 400MHz
UPGRADE COST INCREMENTAL CUMMULATIVE
TO INCREASE INCREASE
256MB $40 16% 16%
512MB $80 14% 30%
160GB 7200rpm ATA $140 11% 41%
2.6GHz P4 $210 39% 80%
The bottom line is that if you already have a computer like the base unit,
then for $430 worth of hardware you can increase its performance by 80%--
assuming you can do the upgrades without paying for labor. However, even
if your computer isn't that new, you still might benefit as much as
represented here from more memory or a faster hard drive.
For less than $1000 you can get a brand new computer with the same
performance. But then, you have to figure out how to transfer your
programs and files from the old computer. But that's another story.
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CCCC Page 8 May 2004
EXPLORING WINDOWS EXPLORER PART 3 by Dick Trissel
Before I get into the actual folder and file manipulation, I want to list a
few of the most used keyboard shortcuts for Windows Explorer. There are
nearly a hundred Windows keyboard shortcuts, and not all apply in Explorer.
These listed below do apply.
KEY ACTION
F1 Help
F2 Rename the selected file or folder
F3 Find dialog box
F4 Drop-down address list
F5 Refresh (update) the display
F6 or Tab Move the focus from pane to pane to address.
F10 Selects File in Toolbar
Backspace Move up one level in the folder hierarchy
Arrow keys Move up and down the folder tree or file list.
OR
Right arrow Expand the selected folder or go to subfolder.
Left arrow Collapse the selected folder or go to parent folder.
CTRL+Arrow keys OR PgUp and PgDn keys
Scroll the left or right pane.
Enter Runs the right-pane selected file or opens a folder.
Shift+F10 Same as right click (displays the context menu).
Keypad + Expand selected folder (same as Right Arrow).
Keypad - Collapse selected folder (same as Left Arrow).
Keypad * Expand all levels of subfolders
Alt+Spacebar Open the system menu (restore, move, size,
maximize, close).
Alt+Enter Display the folder's properties sheets.
Letter(s) Jump to first or next folder starting with those letters.
Alt+F4 Close Explorer (or any application in Windows).
The following are dangerous in Explorer:
CTRL+A Select all right-pane items.
CTRL+X Cut selected item.
CTRL+C Copy selected item.
CTRL+V Paste copied or cut item/
CTRL+Z Undo a previous action (repeat for multiple actions).
Delete Puts selected item in Recycle Bin.
Shift+Delete Deletes item permanently (not into Recycle Bin).
There are a few more general Windows keyboard shortcuts applicable to
Windows Explorer. These listed ought to suffice for awhile.
All of these shortcut actions can be accomplished with mouse actions and
menu selections. Use what is comfortable for you.
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CCCC Page 9 May 2004
ASCII CHARACTERS By Dick Trissel
Have you ever wondered how editors get those weird symbols, like (tm) for
trademark, or (c) for copy write? Well, you have 224 of these symbols on
your computer (including numbers and letters, and excluding characters for
22-29 and a few others used for control). They are formed from your
keyboard using the keypad (tenpad). The list of some of the characters and
the corresponding numeric code is shown below for 0123 thru 0255. You may
get a different result for some by leaving off the 0. Also, the font you
are using can affect some characters.
To get the symbol (with the Num Lock on), Press and hold the Alt key, and
enter the four digit number using the keypad. You must release the Alt key
for the symbol to appear. The symbols for 0127, 0129, 0141, 0143, 0144,
0157 are not errors--that's just what you get. If you inadvertently press
Alt and release it, press it again, and then press and hold.
This is what I get on my computer using MS Word. You may get a different
result in a program such as a text editor.
{ 0123 > 0155 1/4 0188 0225
} 0125 ? 0157 3/4 0190 a 0227
~ 0126 z 0158 0191 0228
0127 Y 0159 A 0192 0229
? 0128 0 160 A 0193 0230
? 0129 0161 A 0194 0231
, 0130 0162 0199 0232
0131 0163 E 0200 0233
, 0132 0164 0201 0234
... 0133 0165 E 0202 0235
+ 0134 0166 E 0203 0236
0135 0167 I 0204 0237
^ 0136 " 0168 I 0205 0238
% 0137 (c) 0169 I 0206 0239
S 0138 0170 I 0207 d 0240
< 0139 0171 D 0208 0241
O 0140 0172 0209 0242
? 0141 - 0173 O 0210 0243
Z 0142 (r) 0174 O 0211 0244
? 0143 _ 0175 O 0212 o 0245
? 0144 0176 O 0213 0246
' 0145 0177 0214 0247
' 0146 0178 x 0215 o 0248
" 0147 3 0179 O 0216 0249
" 0148 ' 0180 U 0217 0250
0149 0181 U 0218 0251
- 0150 0182 U 0219 0252
- 0151 0183 0220 y 0253
~ 0152 , 0184 Y 0221 _ 0254
(tm) 0153 1 0185 _ 0222 0255
s 0154 0186 0223
0187 0224
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