C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XV: NUMBER 10 OCTOBER, 2000
NEXT MEETING: OCTOBER 17, 2000 7:00PM KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
PRESENTATION: Matt McCann of INTUIT on Quicken2001
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| CONTENTS |
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(1) Officers, Helplines, S.I.G.s
(2) President's Corner/ Nominations Charles Barney
(3) Editor's Comments / Changes Dick Trissel
(4) September Internet SIG / Misc. Dick Trissel
(5) Web Wanderings / Misc. Gil Smith
(6) Web Privacy Dick Trissel
(7) Review: TweakUI2000 Dick Trissel
(8) Handy Windows 98 Utilities Greg Lenihan
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Officers Helplines
President Juno
Charles Barney 937-1240 Gilbert Smith 925-3743
cbarney@lightspeed.net colgil1@juno.com
Vice President Windows 95
Frank Maciel 922-2318 Amy Malicki 925-5780
frm8198@juno.com amymal@juno.com
Secretary Hardware & DOS
Barbara Godwin 934-9885 Ray Isenson 937-6938
yungbag@best1.net risenson@juno.com
Treasurer Voice control & Input/Output
Gerald Miller 934-1396 Amy Malicki 925-5780
2741 Banyan Way amymal@juno.com
Santa Maria CA 93455
gmiller33@excite.com
Librarian Desktop Publishing & scanners
Sharon Allen 928-2209 Don Harelson 934-3926
sallen4060@aol.com qef1@juno.com
Publicity Software User Identification
Bill Corning 934-0775 Fred Adams 934-1128
foster95@juno.com fred421@juno.com
Newsletter Editor Visual Basic
Dick Trissel 937-7572 Gerald Miller
rtrissel@slonet.org 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 Internet
Amy Malicki Dick Trissel
amymal@juno.com rtrissel@slonet.org
CCCC Membership is $15 for twelve months. 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 October 2000
President's Corner
by Charles Barney
Despite the hot, muggy weather and Olympics coverage on television, about
70 folks turned out for the September 19th meeting. Our loyal members keep
coming back, I think, because of the many benefits of participation in a
user's group such as ours. If you're not attending, you're missing out!
Well, it's that time again when we start the process of deciding on our
club officers for the following year. This year's nominating committee
includes member volunteers Ken Stiffler (Chairman), Amy Malicki and Dick
Trissel. Nominees for the offices of President, Vice President, Secretary
and Treasurer will be announced by the committee at the October meeting.
Any member may, of course, submit additional nominations from the floor.
The election of officers will be held during our gathering in November.
Those attending in September were treated to a lively and entertaining
presentation by Randal Whittle of MGI Software who showed us a number of
his company's great digital imaging programs. Using photos of his own
family, Randal demonstrated many of the powerful and fun features of the
recently released PhotoSuite 4.0. The program uses a simplified and
intuitive interface to perform a multitude of photo editing tasks such as
red-eye removal, defect touch-ups, color adjustment, clone, crop and resize
just to name a few. The fun really begins though with the special effects
tools such as Warping, Cutouts, PhotoSprayer, Transparency and Panorama
Stitching. When your photos are just the way you want them, you can print
them in multiples on a page to optimize use of expensive photo paper or
email them to friends and family, directly from within the program!
PhotoSuite comes with hundreds of ready-made templates that you can add
your own pictures to such as calendars, greeting cards and flyers.
Organizing your photos is a snap using custom albums; complete with
thumbnail images, titles and descriptions that are "searchable." All in
all, a great program!
Randal then demonstrated Video-Wave III, which gives the home user full
creative control of producing their own custom videos. The program allows
the capture of video material from a number of sources, including a
camcorder, television, VCR, DVD or webcam. Tools such as video blending,
transitions, audio editing and titles can be used for stunning results.
There are no more excuses for boring home movies!
Other programs touched upon included Photovista 2.0, which lets you combine
a number of photos into an amazing 360 degree panorama and even post it on
a web site to share with the world; SoftDVD MAX, which enhances the
experience of watching and listening to DVD movies on a personal computer;
and YM Digital Makeover Magic, that allows you to see what you would look
like with a few "changes" such as spiky hair and a ring in your nose (oh
my!).
Due to the length of the presentation, as well as other factors, the
regular door prize giveaway was cancelled. Member James Miller did,
however, win the raffle drawing for a copy of MGI's Looney Tunes PhotoFun.
Don't miss the October 17th meeting! The 2001 officer nominations will be
announced, as I have said, and we will be taking a vote among members
present to amend the section of the club's by-laws regarding dues payments.
Also, another good presentation is anticipated. Matt McCann of Intuit Inc.
will be here to show us the Quicken 2001 personal financial management
program. I hope to see you all at the clubhouse. - Charles
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CCCC Page 3 October 2000
Editor's Comments
by Dick Trissel
Notice, the address for the Treasurer (Gerry Miller) is listed on the
Officer's page. This is so you can mail your dues to him if you would
rather.
If you change your mailing address or your e-mail address, please inform
one of the officers listed on the Officers page of the newsletter.
Here's a dumb comment. If you didn't receive this newsletter, it is
available online at the CCCC Web site:
http://member.apcug.org/fourseas
There you will find a Newsletter link. On that page will be links to the
club's newsletters since February 2000.
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CCCC Page 4 October 2000
September Internet S.I.G.
by Dick Trissel
As usual, we had a lively 35 member attendance with lots of questions and
almost an equal number of answers.
The first few questions had to do with free Internet Service Providers
(ISPs). The suggestion was made to go to the Web site
http://www.addlebrain.com
for advice on what's available, what's recommended, and even how to kill
some advertising banners. The new Costco/Yahoo free ISP was talked about.
Along the same line, there was much discussion about the different Juno Web
offers--free email, free e-mail/web, and pay e-mail/web ($2.95/month recent
offer).
AOL was discussed a little. One user had a requirement for 128 bit
encryption. Since they were using AOL's browser, they were advised to
contact AOL with the problem.
Several people commented on problems forwarding e-mail attachments. The
common denominator seemed to be e-mail sent from AOL users. One person
found he could save the attachment and then re-attach it in the forwarded
message successfully. For unusable attachments, it was suggested the file
be passed through WinZip to convert it.
I related my recent experience solving Netscape/Juno problems. First,
Internet Explorer (version 4.0 or more) is required to install Juno.
Second, Juno must be installed AFTER Netscape is installed or upgraded.
A question was asked whether the programs like DialPad, Net2Phone, etc.
would work with a DSL line. It was suggested they probably would work
better than with a modem because of the increased packet delivery rate.
A non-internet suggestion was made by me for users of Windows98 to dig out
their Windows98 CD-ROM and locate the file RK98BOOK.CHM located in
Tools\Reskit\Help folder. The name stands for Resource Kit 98. It is a
copy of the $40 hardcopy book and, is an excellent reference source. I
suggest putting a copy of the 3.2Mb file on your harddrive for easy
reference.
A problem was brought up about a repeatedly aborted download from Microsoft
of the Internet Explorer 5.5 upgrade. We believe it was a direct install
download being done. The error message referred to some files already
present. No solution was presented. If a download has the option to "Save
to disk" as opposed to "Install directly", it is recommended to use the
save option. At least you can complete the download. Installation
problems can then be worked off-line.
A recommendation was made for a Web site that provides a free virus program
with free updates. It also has up to date reports on new viruses. Go to:
http://www.grisoft.com/html/
us_index.cfm
I didn't download the program so I don't know the size, or make any
recommendations.
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CCCC Page 5 October 2000
Web Wanderings
by Gil Smith
Read about Noah's Ark
We have all heard the story of Noah's Ark. Recently, off the coast of
Northern Turkey, 300 feet below the Black Sea, explorer Robert Ballard has
discovered remains of an ancient structure that was apparently flooded in a
deluge of biblical proportions. The find may lend credence to a theory
that a Black Sea flood gave rise to the Noah story and other flood legends.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngnews/blacksea.html
Are you an Egoist of an Empath?
Don't believe what other people say. Find out for yourself. This test
will evaluate whether you are too self-centered or are capable of putting
yourself in other people's shoes. Just be honest.
http://www.queendom.com/tests/
egoism.html
Headlines from your Local Paper
Do you want to read your local paper but you're not local anymore? Or
perhaps you are the worldly type and want to see the headlines at Timbuktu.
If it's headlines you are after, you'll find them here at one of the
Internet's largest directories of 10,000 newspapers on line
http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/
EarthCam
EarthCam is a complete guide to live Internet cameras and webcam events
from around the world, including the first searchable directory that
specifically locates live images from thousands of Internet cameras. An
extensive database allows users to search by keyword or browse through
categories and subcategories, or search via 16 local U.S. City Guides.
Camera sites are categorized under several general subjects--Events, News,
Scenic, Traffic, Weather, Weird and others.
http://www.earthcam.com
Emergency Boot Disk
Did you remember to make an Emergency Boot Disk for your new computer? No?
Well, you never realize just how important a PC's Emergency Boot Disk is
until your system crashes and you have to start all over. Lost your
software or copied a game you downloaded over it? If you need a new one,
visit Bootdisk.com and get the latest boot disk versions for DOS, Windows,
Antivirus programs, patches, tweaks & more.
http://www.bootdisk.com/
Free E-Mail Providers
You aren't using a FREE e-mail account? Why not? FPEG.net lists over 1200
free e-mail providers in more than 85 countries. And, they also list many
other useful free services, such as ISP's, fax, long-distance calls,
voicemail, online storage, etc.
http://FEPG.net/
Are You or a Friend Over 50?
If so, here's a site made just for you. Here you'll find information about
health care, retirement, finance, insurance, leisure, travel, housing,
shopping, relationships, technology and more.
http://next50.com
HoaxBusters
When a friend sends you a dire warning about a new virus, Trojans that eat
the heart out of your system, and malicious software than can steal the
computer right off your desk, what do you do with it? Added to that are
messages about free money, children in trouble, and other items designed to
grab you and get you to forward the message to everyone you know. Before
you panic or forward that next e-mail, get the facts.
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
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CCCC Page 6 October 2000
Web Privacy
by Dick Trissel
Internet privacy is a big issue these days. You've heard me mention that
tracing your access into Web sites is not that difficult. I have a Web
site on my ISP that contains mostly old Commodore Club newsletters and
bookmarks. I have programmed my Web site to track hits by storing the WWW
Side Sector Includes information that is part of the information contained
in all Web transactions. Any Web server can be used in this manner to
track access. Actually, there is a much more comprehensive log with much
more information available on my ISP for Web site owners.
I log about 400 hits per month. Below, are some examples of the
information available from my Web log. Note that I am only logging some of
the informa-tion available. I just do it for my curiosity. If I were
serious about getting more detailed information, it is available.
This first example is tracing a browser who went from my Website homepage,
to the newsletter list, to the two months dec98 and mar98. It contains the
date and time, the browser's location (Slonet), the browser program (MSIE
4.01) on Windows98 from JUNO, and the source server (Name:...) with an IP
address of 63.25.100.43
08/18/00 18:13:38 index.html 63.25.100.43
http://www.slonet.org/~rtrissel/ Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; MSN
2.6; Windows 98; JUNO)
Name: 1Cust43.tnt2.santa-maria.ca.da.uu.net
08/18/00 18:14:13 newsltr.html 63.25.100.43
08/18/00 18:14:21 dec98ltr.html 63.25.100.43
08/18/00 18:17:34 mar98ltr.html 63.25.100.43
The following is an example of a hit from a Google search engine.
08/10/00 11:28:47 dec98ltr.html 204.210.206.24
http://www.google.com/search?q=stationary+ark&num=50&hl=en&safe=off
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows 95; DigExt)
Name: aultman2.neo.rr.com
This hit was into my Website guestbook form an AOL subscriber using IE5.0.
08/13/00 15:40:52 index.html 152.163.189.104
http://www.slonet.org/~rtrissel/guestboo.html Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE
5.0; AOL 5.0; Windows 98; DigExt)
Name: cache-rl08.proxy.aol.com
This is a hit from a WebTV user searching for the keyword "commodore".
08/15/00 23:18:55 index.html 209.240.220.189
http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/commodore/cbm-ug-list.html
Mozilla/3.0 WebTV/1.2 (compatible; MSIE 2.0)
Name: proxy-1372.public.svc.webtv.net
This hit is from a Windows98 user running an Opera browser.
08/17/00 23:32:52 newsltr.html 38.30.235.6
http://www.slonet.org/~rtrissel/ Mozilla/4.72 (Windows 98;US) Opera 4.0
[en]
Name: ip6.laurel.md.pub-ip.psi.net
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CCCC Page 7 October 2000
Review: TweakUI 2000
by Dick Trissel
When Windows95 came out, there was a software utility made available from
Microsoft called TweakUI. At first only the avid computerists paid any
attention to it. But, when many of the problem solvers kept referring to
it, more users installed TweakUI and discovered its capabilities.
Then, when Windows98 came out, a revised version was made available on the
Windows98 installation CD at Tools\ResKit\Powertoys\tweakui.inf (a double-
click installs it). Unfortunately, some computers that came with Win98
already installed didn't have the CD included that has TweakUI on it.
So what is TweakUI? In a nutshell, TweakUI allows you to fine tune
("tweak") the Windows User Interface ("UI"). Who needs TweakUI? Better
question--who doesn't need TweakUI? If you've never had a problem with
your computer's operating system, hardware, or applications (that doesn't
leave much), then you don't need TweakUI.
The list of what can be done with TweakUI is about 150 lines long as
displayed from the Help option (tweakui.hlp). The six major categories in
Help are: About TweakUI, Using TweakUI, How to..., Tips and Tricks,
Troubleshooting, Issues and Limitations.
The TweakUI on the Win98 CD is not the same as the original. Recently, a
version of an expanded TweakUI has become available--TweakUI 2000
The file is TWEAKUI.EXE [111k] W9x/2k FREE, obtainable at:
http://www.windows-help.net/windows98/download.shtml
NOTE: The first issue expired on August 15, 2000. This version does not
expire.
Here are comments about Tweak2000.
"If you are looking for an updated version of the famous TweakUI powertoy,
you've found it. This version boasts that the bugs which where present on
the Windows 98 First Edition CD, have been fixed. TweakUI 2000 works with
Windows 98, 98SE, and NT/2000. It also has a friendlier appearance, ala
TweakUI 1.1 (the Windows 95 version)."
When you double-click the TWEAKUI.EXE file, it will ask for the unzip
program you use (WinZip, PKunzip, etc.) to uncompress zipped files. The
uncompressed files are: readme.txt, tweakui.inf, tweakui.hlp, tweakui.cnt,
and tweakui.cpl.
To install, right-click on tweakui.inf and select INSTALL.
Here's the content of the About TweakUI section of the tweakui.hlp file:
"TweakUI" allows you to fine-tune ("tweak") the Windows User Interface
("UI"). To run "TweakUI", double-click its icon in the Control Panel. To
learn more about "TweakUI", click the "Contents" button in the button bar
at the top of this window. To uninstall "TweakUI", make sure to follow the
instructions in the "How to... Uninstall TweakUI" section of this help
file. Copyright 1995-1998 Microsoft Corporation
One final word. If you already have TweakUI installed on your computer,
this version will install right over it and retain the icon on the Desktop-
-that's what I did.
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CCCC Page 8 October 2000
Handy Windows 98 Utilities
Compiled by Greg Lenihan, newsletter editor for the Pikes Peak Computer
Application Society in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Each of these utilities can be accessed by typing the commands below into
the Start/Run box.
System Information
Command: msinfo32.exe
You can get there the long way by going to
Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information. What you get
is information about the hardware and resources used, software components
installed as part of Windows, and software currently loaded and running
(called the Software Environment). To view any of these areas, click on a
plus sign next to the heading shown in outline form. If you look under the
Tools menu, you can launch other Win98 utilities, such as the System
Configuration Utility, System File Checker, Registry Checker, and Dr.
Watson. Want to know how long your system has been running since turned
on? Look for the Uptime value in the right panel.
System Configuration Utility
Command: msconfig.exe
This is a handy utility used to modify many of the settings for Win98.
Individual lines can be turned on or off in your config.sys, autoexec.bat,
system.ini, or win.ini files.
You can use it to turn off the annoying Scandisk function if you are forced
to shut off your system, and can turn off any program starting at boot up.
The command msconfig.exe is found in the c:\Windows\system directory where
you can create an icon for it on your desktop. It's a very handy tool for
troubleshooting startup problems.
System File Checker
Command: sfc.exe
The System File Checker verifies the integrity of your system files in
Win98. Running this file will determine if any of your system files have
been replaced or corrupted. It will then prompt you to replace them from
your install CD. A nice feature of the utility is that by running it after
installing new applications, you can find out what system files that
application has installed or changed.
Version Conflict Manager
Command: vcmui.exe
This utility enables you to revert to newer versions of certain files that
are replaced when you install or reinstall Win98. An install of Win98 will
overwrite DLLs and other files even if they were newer than those installed
by Windows. Launching the Version Conflict Manager will display a list of
possibly troublesome files that you may then fix with the click of a
button.
Dr. Watson
Command: drwatson.exe
This tool can provide clues to software-related problems. Typing drwatson
into the Run command box won't launch to a main screen or dialog box like
the other utilities. Instead an icon will appear in your system tray.
Right-clicking on it will display the user interface. To be effective in
troubleshooting, Dr. Watson should be running in the background when you
are testing problems. That way you can look at log files generated and
maybe get some meaningful error messages about what occurred to your
system. This may mean loading it at startup so it can try to interpret why
a problem or crash occurred.
Hardware Diagnostics Tool
Command: hwinfo.exe /ui
The Hardware Diagnostic Tool provides the same information as the Microsoft
System Information Tool, except it is color coded to display problem areas
and potential problems. Bright red displays problems and blue is for
potential problems. Open the Run box in the start menu and type it in with
the /ui switch. It will not run without the switch.
Automatic Skip Driver Agent
Command: asd.exe
When a software driver prevents the system from booting properly, this tool
can help determine which driver is having problems, and how to fix it. Make
sure two consecutive restarts were attempted whereby the same driver
doesn't load. After typing in the command, a listing of all drivers not
loaded should appear along with advice on what to do.
Link Check Wizard
Command: chklnks.exe
This wizard is found on the Windows98 install CD in the directory
\Tools\Reskit\Desktop. It scans all of the shortcut files on your system,
and checks to see if the link points to an existing application or
document. If the associated application or document is not found, it lists
that file as a dead link, giving you the option to remove it. Copy
Chklinks.exe to your Windows directory and create an icon on your desktop
to use it.
IP Configuration Tool
Command: winipcfg.exe
This tool provides the current information about your IP address assigned
when you connect to your Internet Service Provider. It includes your subnet
mask and the gateway your ISP is using. This information can be helpful in
connecting your system to other computers on the Internet. IP Config is
found in your c:\Windows directory.
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