C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XXII: NUMBER 5 MAY, 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: MAY 15, 2007 KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
PRESENTATION: The May meeting will be: Amy Malicki on How To Sell On E-Bay
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********** MAY COOKIE PROVIDER IS BEN MIDDELTON ***********
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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) GET READY; WE'RE GOING ON E-BAY... Amy Malicki
(7) PHOTOGRAPHING DOCUMENTS Kim Komando
(8) THE BIG RED X Vinny La Bash
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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 May 2007
PRESIDENT'S CORNER by Ted Tucker
Greetings to all, and I hope all is well with you. I want to share with you
what I did over the past weekend; I fired up our digital photography
software with serious intentions. It was certainly no disappointment. We've
had a 6 megapixel camera since last June and are very pleased with it. It
has a wealth of features and capabilities. The camera came with 3 programs
for acquiring, editing and managing still pictures, and another 3 programs
for dealing with motion pictures. But before, in early 2003 we replaced our
Canon printer with a Canon Photo Printer, and it brought JPEG file handling
software with it. And we've printed a few pictures back through time. (You
may be starting to see a behavior pattern here about now). Before the Camera
came, just so as to be ready, I fortunately came across a real deal (CHEAP)
on a Corel Photo Album 6 offer; that took care of that deficiency. And then
somewhere along the way, Picasa came by and it was FREE.
By last weekend, memory cards large and larger, were backing up filled to
the gills - - time to do something !
Well, purely as Good Fortune would have it, a brand new unused Scandisk card
reader was standing by at the Ready! And more, you would never guess it, on
the CD that came with the card reader were the Button Application and Adobe
Photoshop Album 2.0 Starter Edition.
I am poking fun at myself and at the ways sometimes I do things. But it is
all fun. I have some mishaps along the way, and did last weekend, and my
muddling carried over into this week. But in the end we had our scattered
pictures all together in the places we wanted them, admired a bunch of
beautiful shots, enjoyed slide shows, and played with most of the software.
The software all seems to be tolerant of one another too. I remember back to
Mom in our kitchen, when she put some developer (I guess) in a glass pie
pan, and we would hold a film negative, or a glass plate, with picture paper
up to the light for so many counts. Then we quickly got the picture paper
into the liquid, and watched it like a hawk for an image to start to form.
Then just at the right moment, out of the developer came the picture and
into a wash to stabilize it. From there the picture was laid out carefully
to dry flat and not curl up. Actually there was more to it than I have said,
but for me, in those times photography was a lot of fun and a bit of
mystery, and it can stay that way.
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CCCC Page 3 May 2007
EDITOR'S COMMENTS by Dick Trissel
LAPTOPS AND NOTEBOOKS
I've often wondered why what used to be called a laptop computer is now
called a notebook computer. It's because you shouldn't use a notebook
computer on your lap.
You've probably heard the warning that if you use a late model notebook on
your lap, the excessive heat will cause harm to your--UH-UH--body! Well,
now there is a warning that the builtin loop antenna for the Wi-Fi adapter
that's in most late model notebooks has a radiation danger to your--UH-UH--
body!
The recommendation is that if you want to use your notebook on your lap, buy
a metal pad to put under it. This will help keep it and you cool, and
shield you from the radiation.
Now, how about those cellphones radiating directly to the brain-hmm?
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CCCC Page 4 May 2007
WEB WANDERINGS
FIND THAT TUNE
Have you ever heard a song you really liked on the radio? Unfortunately, the
announcer didn't say the name of the song or who performs it.
I'm sure this has happened to you from time to time. It can be a frustrating
experience.
But there is a solution: Midomi. Midomi lets you search for music simply by
singing or humming.
You can preview the song to see if it is the one you heard. Then click the
Buy link to download the song.
Maybe you're a bit shy about singing into your computer's microphone. If you
need a little inspiration, you can listen to clips that others have
uploaded. Some are quite impressive.
www.midomi.com
FIND SOUNDS
There aren't many questions about making music. But many people would like
to make music on the computer.
Well, all you need is a program like Audacity and some sounds. Once you have
those, you can start building songs.
Finding quality sounds can be difficult. But, at SampleSwap, you can
download plenty of free sounds. In fact, the site claims almost 10,000!
You'll find drum loops, along with other instruments and vocals. I'm sure
you can do a lot with these files. Have fun experimenting!
www.sampleswap.org
NEED A NEW FONT?
In the earlier days of Windows, there weren't many fonts from which to
choose. So projects always looked somewhat similar.
Newer versions of Windows include more fonts. And some programs will install
even more.
But if you're working on a special project, you may not have the exact font
you want. In that case, you can download a font from the Internet.
At Creamundo.com, you'll find plenty of free fonts. When you find one that
you like, you can download it for free!
You can preview the fonts, so you know what you're getting. Just put in some
same text and click Display.
www.creamundo.com
A HEALTHY SEARCH SITE
Every day we use the Internet to search for information. It puts more data
at our fingertips than we could ever find before.
We couldn't possibly read everything on the Web. So we rely on search sites
to provide information that's relevant.
Unfortunately, generic search sites don't always return the best results.
That's when specialized sites come in handy.
Take Medstory, for example. It is dedicated to searching for information on
health and medicine. It works a lot like Google.
Just enter your search phrase. Then, you'll get a list of results. You'll
also see lists of related topics. These topics help you narrow your search
and get focused results. Talk about smart!
www.medstory.com
WHO'S SHORPY?
There's something really magical about capturing a moment in time.
And looking at photographs can transport you to another time or place. Look
at the photos at today's Cool Site, for example.
Shorpy is a blog dedicated to exploring through pictures what life was like
100 years ago. It is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a subject of one of
the photos.
While the photos are fascinating, life 100 years ago seems pretty grim.
You'll see many photos of children working in factories and mines.
Now, not all the photographs are 100 years old. Some are only about 60 years
old. These are mostly of trains and railroad tracks. They're some of my
favorite photos on the site!
www.shorpy.com
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CCCC Page 5 May 2007
SYSTEMS S.I.G. by Dick Trissel
Those members that subscribe to SmartComputing magazine (or won it as a door
prize this month) noticed the May issue has a large article on the continued
limited support for Windows 98/98SE. Microsoft still has Web site support,
some magazines have articles, and independent Web sites have support (and I
still support it ).
There also was an announcement that there will soon be Internet capability
built-in to some new cars--just what we need--UGH!
There seems to be an increase in the number of Bank of American phishing
scam e-mails. DON'T respond, DON'T click on any link on it, DELETE it
immediately.
There was a warning to not unplug peripherals while the power is on either
the computer or the peripheral. There were two cases recently in which the
PS2 port controller was damaged by replacing the PS2 keyboard.
There was a discussion about deleting spam e-mail before opening it. Most
e-mail readers will allow you to select each spam e-mail by holding down the
CTRL key and clicking on the message (it will be selected without opening).
Then click on the Delete button.
There was a request for the procedure on changing the desktop icon size.
The procedure is as follows:
Right click on an empty space on the desktop. Click on Appearance. Click
on Properties. Click on Advanced. In the Item window, scroll down to Icon.
Note the value in the Size window (usually 32). Change the value to what
you want--you may have to experiment. Click Apply and OK back out.
However, NOTE: the icon arrangement on the desktop will probably change.
Usually the icon arrangement on your desktop can be saved and restored by
using the free program IconLock. To get IconLock, go to Google and type
Iconlock.
Most users have way too many icons on the desktop--many that don't get used
very often. You can decrease the clutter by making a Shortcut folder on
your C:\ drive, create a shortcut to the Shortcut folder, and drag and drop
the unused icons into the shortcut icon on the desktop. Any time you want
to use a hidden shortcut, just double click the Shortcut icon and double
click on the desired icon.
Many users aren't aware of the control you have over the taskbar and other
items (the taskbar is that line at the bottom of the desktop that has START
at the left.) To see what things you can affect, right click in an empty
space on the taskbar. There are too many items for me to describe here.
I'll demonstrate these features at the next S.I.G.
The problem was mentioned of long Web site URLs in e-mail, those that don't
fit on one line and can't be successfully clicked on. The solution is to
select both lines, copy them to the clipboard (either Edit / Copy, or CTRL-
C), and paste in the address window of your browser (either Edit / Paste, or
CTRL-V).
If you get a Microsoft warning popup when downloading or installing a
program, it is because the author of the program didn't get the program
accepted by Microsoft. I suggest just clicking OK.
You may not know it, but you have control of the Microsoft updates for your
computer. Recently, there have been some updates that have caused problems
in Windows. It has been recommended that the Automatic Updates and Install
be turned off, and use one of the other three options.
To control this, you can adjust these options at any time by opening System
in the Control Panel and clicking the Automatic Updates tab. There are four
options in XP SP2 (the first one is not in systems without SP2 and the other
three are worded al little differently):
( )Automatically download recommended updates for my computer and install
them.
( )Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them.
( )Notify Me but don't automatically download or install them.
( )Turn Off Automatic Updates.
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CCCC Page 6 May 2007
GET READY; WE'RE GOING ON E-BAY...
By Amy Malicki
You hear a lot of people talking about GOING ON E-Bay, and every single one
of them probably has a different reason. Some people just like to search,
some like to sell, and some like to buy - and some people do all three -
every day -- 24 hours a day --- and Yes, it CAN become addictive.
If you just want to search or buy, it's easy --but you might want to make
sure your Anti-Virus & Firewall are up to date. Just because they are
working doesn't mean you are protected from the latest viruses. If you don't
upgrade regularly they don't have current virus information. If you want to
know more about virus protection, check some of Dick Trissel's CCCC
Newsletter articles or EXTRA4Cs.
To get to E-Bay, type - e-bay.com in the search box on your Internet Web
Page and Click, there you are. Take some time to study it. Scroll down,
all the way. Finally, at the e-Bay Web Page cursor, type in what you want
to see or buy, CLICK and there it is.
You don't have to register with E-Bay to BUY - unless you plan to use Pay-
Pal. Sellers offer many other options to buy: Some will take your check
and send the item after the check has cleared; others accept Credit Cards or
will send the merchandise COD. Pay-Pal, however, is probably the fastest
and most secure option. It's really scary to give your bank number or your
credit card number to someone you don't even know, who may live in another
part of the world. Of course, Money Orders are also a good option.
Most sellers charge for shipping, handling and insurance. This is good, just
in case the merchandise gets damaged or lost. Returns are another story we
will talk about later.
Whether you want to buy or sell, you MUST first learn to "browse" the Web
site and look around. When you type the name of a product or category you
will get many links and options to buy - sometimes more than you bargained
for.
Select something inexpensive that you have been thinking about buying, or
try buying an inexpensive knick knack or Andy Williams's record; or find
something expensive with a good discount. Something you WANT to buy. Get a
feeling for the hype of "buying on the internet to save money," and start
saving - as millions of others do. CONNECTING WITH THE BEST DEALS is where
the challenge lies.
Registering with E-Bay is not the toughest thing you have to do; LEARNING TO
SEARCH FOR THE BEST RESULTS is. E-Bay has one of the most powerful search
engines on the Internet. Understanding how search engines work, and how to
make the MOST of them, is the real trick.
Take a few minutes to think about it for a while. What do you want from E-
Bay? What will you look for when you Search? Instead of using Products and
Categories (records, songs or cat food), try typing exactly what it is you
want to buy, and make Notes. Instead of: "Andy Williams Records" - type
"Dear Heart Andy Williams" or just Andy Williams (Use Spaces, Upper or
lower case, No quotes) You will be AMAZED at the different amount of "hits"
you will get - or click the Category list.
Instead of typing Health or Medical, use arthritis pain reliever. Instead
of just Sale Items, you may also get some AUCTIONS to bid on, however, you
can only bid on AUCTIONS IF YOU ARE REGISTERED with E-Bay and Pay-Pal. If
you find an auction you like, see how many days are left to bid, bookmark
the page and go back later.
For a QUICK COPY of a Web Page, Click the PRINT SCREEN button on your
keyboard. Open Word, Right Click the blank page, Left Click PASTE, and then
save it, or Print it out and bring it with you to the meeting and we can
talk about it. DO IT, DO IT AGAIN, & AGAIN & AGAIN - HAVE FUN!
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CCCC Page 7 May 2007
PHOTOGRAPHING DOCUMENTS
from Komando newsletter
Q. I have two digital cameras: a Fuji E-900 and a Fuji E-550. Some cameras
apparently have a setting for photos of documents. I'm not sure if my
cameras have this feature. Can you tell me what I should be looking for on
the dial?
A. The scene mode you're describing is Copy. It is specially designed for
documents. However, your cameras do not include a Copy mode. That's because
they were designed for more advanced users. Modes, on the other hand, are
intended for beginners.
But that doesn't mean you can't photograph documents. Modes simply optimize
the settings for a specific situation. You can manipulate your camera's
settings yourself. You'll probably need to do some experimenting. That's one
of the joys of digital cameras, you can explore your camera's settings at no
expense. Of course, when you get the settings right, it makes things easier
in the future.
First, you should set up the document properly. If you have some kind of
document holder, that would work best. Failing that, lay the document flat
on a table.
Next, set up the lighting. Avoid fluorescent lights. They flicker on and off
rapidly. Sooner or later, the camera will snap a picture while the light is
off. The lighting should be between the camera and the document. If you're
using multiple lights, make sure the bulbs are the same. This is necessary
to maintain the same color balance. Avoid placing lighting sources behind
the camera. Otherwise, you will end up with shadows on the document.
You'll probably want to use some kind of tripod to stabilize the camera. A
desktop model will be more convenient than larger tripods if you're using a
document stand. If you lay the document flat, look for a larger tripod that
allows you to reverse the center column. That way, you can take pictures
with the camera pointing down. The tripod legs won't get in the way. These
tripods are relatively expensive. But they're worth the cost.
Now, you're ready to look at the camera settings. Turn off the flash. There
won't be enough time for the light to disperse before the shutter opens. So,
the text could be washed out. Also, if you're photographing old documents,
the flash could damage them.
You'll want to set most of the controls manually. Use a small aperture
(large f-numbers mean smaller apertures). Use aperture priority mode. The
camera will determine the ideal shutter speed. The small aperture will give
you crisp, well-focused images. Because you're using a narrower aperture,
the shutter speed will be relatively slow. Avoid camera shake. The tripod
will help. But you can also shake the camera when you press the shutter
release. So use the timer feature.
You'll probably need to experiment to find the best white balance. This will
vary, based on the type of lighting.
Sometimes, cameras take pictures that fade at the edges. If you encounter
this, try reducing the aperture. And avoid using macro telephoto. If fade
continues, leave space around the document in the photo. Use software to
crop this space out.
You may also be interested in learning about macro photography. Macro lenses
let you focus on close objects. Macro photography is best done with a
digital SLR.
Copyright 2007, The Kim Komando Show. All rights reserved. Reproduction in
whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission
of The Kim Komando Show is prohibited and strictly enforced. Newsletters
may contain links to sites on the Internet owned and operated by third
parties.
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CCCC Page 8 May 2007
THE BIG RED X
By Vinny La Bash, Sarasota PCUG, Florida
Email, along with the spreadsheet, is one of the greatest computer
applications ever developed. Along with its usefulness are a few minor, but
irritating inconveniences. The one we'll address in this article is the
frustration with observing a red X where an image should appear.
There are several possible causes for pictures failing to materialize. They
are not particularly difficult to correct, but the method is far from
obvious. Start by right-clicking the red X and from the popup menu select
"Show Picture". If this works, consider yourself blessed. More likely is
that either your email setup is not allowing the picture to be viewed or the
sender's options are not allowing the picture to be sent. Let's make sure
that your setup isn't causing the problem, and then we'll figure out what to
do with the sender.
If the problem is at your end, it could be caused by having Internet
Explorer's email settings too restrictive. To reset the default settings for
Internet Explorer 6.0 open Internet Explorer, click Tools from the top menu
bar, and select Internet Options.
1. Click on the General tab to make sure it's active.
2. Click Delete Files.
3. Check Delete All Offline Content, and click OK.
4. Click the Delete Cookies button, and click OK.
5. Click the Settings button.
6. Set cache to 25 MB or less, and select Every Visit to Page, then click
OK.
Next, make the Security tab active by clicking on it. There are four zones
listed on the security tab: Internet, Local Intranet, Trusted Sites, and
Restricted Sites. 1. Click Internet. 2. Click the Default Level button. 3.
Repeat the steps for each of the remaining zones.
Third, click on the Privacy tab, and click the Default button. If the
Default button is grayed out, ignore this step. Now click the Connections
tab.
1. Click the LAN Settings button.
2. Make sure nothing is checked, and click OK.
Last, click on the Advanced tab.
1. Click Restore Defaults.
2. Click Apply and OK.
Internet Explorer 7 is similar, but there are enough differences to warrant
its own set of instructions. Open Internet Explorer, click Tools, and select
Internet Options.
First, look at the General tab
1. Click the Delete button.
2. The Delete Browsing History dialog box appears. Click the Delete Files
button.
3. Select Yes in the confirmation box.
4. Repeat step 2 for the Delete cookies, and Delete history buttons.
5. Click Close.
6. Click the Settings button in the Browsing history section.
7. Select "Every time I visit the webpage," then set the "Disk space to
use" value to 50 Megabytes or less.
8. Click OK.
Next, click the Security tab. There are four zones listed on the security
tab: Internet, Local Intranet, Trusted Sites, and Restricted Sites.
1. If the Set all zones to default level button is not grayed, out click it
and you're done with this section. Otherwise continue with step 2.
2. Click Internet.
3. Click the Default level button (if it is not grayed out).
4. Repeat the steps for the remaining zones.
Click on the Privacy tab, and click the Default button unless it's grayed
out. Then click the Connections tab.
1. Click the LAN settings button to activate another dialog box.
2. Make sure nothing is checked, and click OK.
Finally, click on the Advanced tab.
1. Click the Restore advanced settings button. Don't, repeat don't click
the Reset button as that will delete any forms and passwords saved through
auto-complete.
2. Click Apply and OK.
That takes care of your browser. If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express,
you need to check several more options that control how images are received
or sent. There are two ways to send pictures in Emails. You can imbed the
picture in the email or you can send the picture as an attachment. Whichever
way you choose, you need to set your email client so it can handle pictures,
and you do that by setting your email to work in HTML format.
We'll start with Outlook Express and finish up with Outlook. We'll make a
big assumption that all of your recipients are set up to receive their Email
in HTML format. You need to make sure that you have Outlook Express set up
to send Email in HTML. Service Pack 2 should be installed on your system.
Because of its extra security features, you need to avoid blocking
attachments when you send or receive email.
1. Open Outlook Express, go to the Tools/menu, and click "Options",
2. Click the "Send" tab, and then select "HTML" as the format to send mail.
3. Click the Button to the right that's named "HTML Settings", and put a
check in the box that says "Send Pictures with Messages". Be sure that
"Quoted Printable" is selected in the "Encode text using" box.
4. Click OK.
5. Click the Read tab.
6. Confirm that the "Read all messages in plain text" is not checked.
Your machine is now set up to correctly send and receive images. If people
who are receiving your email complain about red Xs, send them these
instructions. If you want to check out your system, try sending some emails
to yourself.
If you're using Outlook, perform the following check.
1. Open Outlook and select Options from the Tools menu.
2. Select the Mail Format tab.
3. In the "Message format" section select HTML from the drop down menu.
4. Click the Internet Format button.
5. In the HTML options section, confirm there is no checkmark in any of the
boxes in the dialog box.
6. In the Outlook Rich Text options section, select "Convert to HTML
format" from the drop down menu.
7. Click OK to save the settings.
8. Click OK to exit.
Other possibilities that could prevent pictures being displayed in your
email are your anti-virus and firewall settings. You may need to relax the
security settings on these programs. We can't provide instructions for this
because we don't know whose software you're using. You may need to contact
the producer of the software for information.
If you create and send an email with a photo image or forward an email with
a photo in it and the recipient gets a red X instead of the picture, you can
be fairly confident that their email, firewall or anti-virus setup is
preventing the picture from being seen. Send these instructions to them.
Vinny La Bash is a member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group,
Inc., FL, http://www.spcug.org, and may be reached at, vlabash@comcast.net.
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