C C C C N E W S L E T T E R
CENTRAL COAST COMPUTER CLUB
Santa Maria, California
VOLUME XVI: NUMBER 10 OCTOBER, 2001
NEXT MEETING: OCTOBER 16, 2001 7:00PM KNOLLWOOD VILLAGE 4012 S. BRADLEY
PRESENTATION: Rollin White from Sundial Systems Corp. presenting the
Junk Spy e-mail anti-spam filtering program.
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| CONTENTS |
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(1) Officers, Helplines, S.I.G.s
(2) President's Corner Charles Barney
(4) Editor's Comments Dick Trissel
(5) September Internet S.I.G. Dick Trissel
(6) Web Wanderings Gil Smith
(7) Microsoft Newsgroups Dick Savage
(7) Correction--System Print Dick Trissel
(8) QUICKEN 2001 Review Amy Malicki
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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 (S.I.G.s)
Windows 95/98/ME Internet (5:45pm) AOL (6:00pm)
Amy Malicki Dick Trissel Ray Isenson
amymal@juno.com rtrissel@juno.com risenson@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 October 2001
PRESIDENT'S CORNER
by Charles Barney
An enthusiastic group of 55 folks attended our September 18th meeting at
the Knollwood clubhouse, including new member JoAnn McBride. We are most
pleased to have you join us JoAnn and it is our sincere wish that you will
enjoy your time with the Central Coast Computer Club, learn a lot and feel
comfortable in sharing your own ideas and experiences as well.
In my column last month, I made an appeal to the membership for volunteers
to serve as club greeters. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those
who answered the call and offered their time to help fill this important
position. Hats off to Bob Sanford, Spence Stimler, Eldean Voris and Ken
Stiffler. You folks deserve a hand!
Computer technician, web designer and local Sisquoc resident Linda Bennett
addressed the membership on the subject of Internet security. Speaking from
her own personal experience of being violated by online hackers, Linda
expounded the necessity of protecting your computer from outside intrusion
by those who would seek to do it harm,
create mischief or attempt to steal your personal information. Among the
types of protections recommended were anti-virus, firewall and e-mail
encryption type programs, many of which are available for download on the
web.
When time for door prizes came around, the club computer first called
absentees Maurice Ross and Paul Highfill before naming ever present (and
ever lucky!) Win Campbell who chose a box of 25 CDRWs. Spencer Stimler was
picked next and he decided to take home a copy of the Canon Photo program.
The next name to flash on the screen was that of one of the luckiest people
I know, Gilbert Smith, who selected a ream of printer paper as his prize.
Carl Geisler was then picked and he "drove home" a copy of Test Drive 6.
No-shows Homer Sanchez and Marjorie Hoogenbosch lost their chance to (are
you sitting down?) Dick Trissel who is now a two-time winner of door
prizes! Dick incidentally, chose to take Kai's Super Goo program. Finally,
Irvan Winterfeldt was called on to win a copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking
2.0.
One of the most important functions of our club is to provide assistance to
the members in helping them find solutions to their computing problems -
and if you never have any of those, you aren't using a computer! Member
Dick Savage has put in a considerable amount of time and work developing an
excellent Help page on the 4C's web site that I encourage you all to make
use of. There are many available resources detailed there and an extensive
list of "clickable" links to various web pages offering help with just
about any quandary you may find yourself in. Of course, you have to make
the first move and seek out these resources. But I can tell you, from my
own experience, that there just about isn't any answer that cannot be found
online if you know where to look. The address is
http://member.agcug.org/fourseas. After the opening page loads, click on
the underlined CCCC Help link near the bottom to go to the Help page. I'd
advise bookmarking this page in your web browser for quick reference in the
future.
Well, it's just about that time again that we elect the club officers (i.e.
President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer) for the coming year. If
you would like to be an officer or would like to nominate someone, the
October meeting is the time to speak up. The Nominating Committee will
announce the current list of candidates and take additional nominations
from the floor. The election will be held, as is our custom, at the
November meeting.
Perhaps the most popular online feature, and understandably so, is e-mail.
Offering virtually effortless and instant communications with nominal
expense, it's great! But I'm sure you would agree with me that the one big
downside to e-mail is spam; that unsolicited and annoying junk mail (some
of it very offensive) that clutters up our inboxes and makes it difficult
to sort out the important stuff. Our guest speaker at the October 16th
meeting will offer a solution to this very problem. Rollin White of Sundial
Systems will present his company's anti-spam e-mail filtering program
called Junk Spy. Please make an effort to attend the meeting and help us
show our support for this vendor representative speaker. I'll see you all
at the clubhouse. - Charles
_______________________________________________________________
***** NOTICE *****
If you have any nominations for the upcoming CCCC officer elections, please
submit them to the Nomination Committee Chairman, Ken Stiffler at:
Kenneth Stiffler, 5321 Redwillow Dr., Santa Maria CA 93455
Phone: 934-5039
E-mail: kenwanda@pronet.net
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CCCC Page 3 October 2001
EDITOR'S COMMENTS
by Dick Trissel
I got this from a newsletter. Microsoft announced the following support
expiration:
DOS, Windows3.x, & 95 Jan. 2002
Windows98, WindowsNT July 2003
WindowsXP 2005
The XP is suppose to stand for eXPerience. I believe it stands for
eXPloit.
If you consider the following timelines:
Win3.11 was released in 1992-
Expiration in 10 years-7 years after release of Win 95.
Win95 was released in 1995-
Expiration in 7 years-4 years after release of Win98 (and SE the next
year).
Win98 was released in 1998-
Expiration in 5 years-3 years after release of WinME.
WinME released in 2000-
Expiration unstated.
WinXP release in 2001-
Expiration in 5 years after release of WinME.
Using these timelines, and based on the expiration of WinXP (2005), the new
Windows?? will be released in 2002 (3 years before the expiration of
WinXP). And Win?? will expire in 2007 (5 years after release)
As far as WindowsME, I think it will go down in history as a Ho-Hummer.
Now don't get me wrong. I think Windows is the best deal in town. Where
else can you get that much power, ease of use, and capability for a
computer for around $100. That is, if only you pay the $100 once.
Unfortunately, the successive $100 is not for a whole new additional $100
worth of capability. So that after about 3 iterations of this, you've
spent $300 for basically the same $100 system with a few extra bells and
whistles.
I've tried to minimize this by staying with the best compromise for me-
Windows98.
Granted, WindowsXP is a major change in the system design. But, based on
the previous timelines (and a few other considerations), I would not rush
out and buy it-it looks like there's going to be a major upgrade soon after
WindowsXP is released (probably late in 2002).
I must be the only person not receiving AOL CDs in the mail. The new
mailings are in plastic cases that are great for us CD burners. If anyone
has some extras, please bring them to the meetings.
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CCCC Page 4 October 2001
SEPTEMBER INTERNET S.I.G.
by Dick Trissel
Because I took most of the time at the August Internet S.I.G. talking about
modems, we spent most of the September S.I.G. answering questions. So,
here is an item I didn't take time to mention.
I frequently receive e-mail in HTML format. Usually this is because the
sender doesn't realize they've set their e-mail application to send that
way (it's the default setting for Outlook Express). Please set your e-mail
program to send in plain text, unless you really are sending an HTML
document.
Here's how in Outlook Express (Netscape users are on their own). Go to
Tools/Options/Send and choose Plain Text. Press Apply and OK.
Someone asked if Internet Explorer 6 would work in WindowsXP. I don't
know, but you can experiment with WindowsXP at the local Gateway store.
Maybe they know the answer.
I then spent a little time discussing the features of Internet Explorer's
Temporary Internet Files. I find it very useful for playing back Web
accesses after I've gone off-line--saves time on the phone.
The question was raised--does Netscape use the Temporary Internet Files.
One attendee that uses Netscape said no--it uses a Cache folder. However,
the Cache files can be accessed for playback off-line. It's not as
convenient as the Temporary Internet Files because the Cache files are not
labeled in readable names--the Temporary Internet Files file names are
easily read and identified as HTML, graphics, etc.
________________________________________________________________
****** SPECIAL NOTICE FOR AOL ENTHUSIASTS ******
There will be a special AOL subgroup session of the Internet SIG at the
October meeting. Ray Isenson will chair it in the club house library.
Members using AOL who want to discuss e-mail problems, whether working
online or offline, are invited. Please bring a notebook and writing tool.
Editor's Note: Ray anticipates having a computer system with AOL on it at
this S.I.G. It won't have 'Net access, but with it he will be able to
demonstrate the functions and options of AOL on a computer. However,
bringing a system to a meeting is not an easy task. Unfortunately, neither
of the club's computers have AOL installed on them.
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CCCC Page 5 October 2001
WEB WANDERINGS
by Gil Smith
LICENSE TO DRIVE
We all have some idea of how to drive like a "moron," but the makers of
this site have defined exactly what it takes to be an idiot motorist.
http://members.aol.com/doggiesnot
THE REAL SPORTS STORIES
This site vows to take sports beyond the same old stories told by corporate
sports media. Get news on your favorite sports and then go beyond the
headlines to learn "the rest of the story".
http://www.sportsjones.com
SIMEON'S WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE
This is really a fun site with all kinds of puzzles and stuff to figure
out. Simeon claims to be the world's Finest Internet Magician. I'll bet
that there are some puzzles, card tricks, and word manipulation that you
can't figure out.
http://www.caveofknowledge.com/
REFLEX TESTER
Do you want to see how fast you are? Check this site. You'll be surprised
how addicting it can be.
http://happyhub.com/network/reflex/
WANT TO MAKE A WEBSITE?
So you want to make your own web page but you don't know a cascading style
sheet from a java applet. Well, fear not, you too can be a geek. This
site will help you with the basics of web design and much more. You can
check out their main page too at:
http://www.webdeveloper.com/library/doit.html
KNOW YOUR SURFING SPEED
Want to know your true Internet speed? Stop looking around your computer
to give you the answer. It's right online here at this test which gives
you speed results in a matter of moments.
http://www.cinci.rr.com/performance/index.html
THE DOCTOR DIRECTORY
The Doctor Directory is a free service to help patients find doctors in
their state. It's a fast and easy way to locate over 100,000 primary or
specialist physicians by providing addresses, phone number and maps to the
offices. With the advanced search feature, you can narrow the search to
your zip code and a 5 mile radius.
http://www.doctordirectory.com/
DVD CENTER
DVD: Digital Versatile Disk is the up and coming industry standard for
video and computing. Learn how it works, what the advantages are, and
compare the quality of DVD to video and laser disc. If you are one of the
few to already use DVD, you will find information on suppliers with their
web sites.
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/s.roberts
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THOUGHTS & FACTS
If you were fascinated by the movie "The Matrix", then this site about
the realities and future of Artificial Intelligence is made for you. Click
here for a look into the World of Artificial Intelligence, how it started
and what technologists think about it.
http://www.newscientist.com/nsplus/insight/ai/ai.html
GET NETWISE
Get Net Wise is one website where both parents and kids can get educated.
In light of the recent tragedies, this site has a few links that may be
useful for parents and caregivers in this time of grieving and unrest.
http://www.getnetwise.org
LANGALETTER:
The Best PC Help, Reference, And Test Sites.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20010916S0021
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CCCC Page 6 October 2001
MICROSOFT NEWSGROUPS
By Dick Savage
Microsoft newsgroups provide one of the best source of information on
Microsoft products. Why? In addition to the peer-to-peer aspect of
information sharing, Microsoft MVPs (Most Valuable Professionals) monitor
many of the Microsoft newsgroups. MVPs are computer professionals who
voluntarily share their expertise with others in the newsgroups. They are
officially recognized by Microsoft for their high level of product
expertise and outstanding contributions to Microsoft's on line community.
As such, your chances of getting a solution to your problem in these
newsgroups are very good.
Newsgroups is the name given to the over 50,000 message boards that employ
the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). They are an information system
that is much older than the World Wide Web and are an outstanding source of
information and help. The classical access to newsgroups is through
newsgroup reading software such as Internet Express' Outlook Express and
Netscape's Messenger that interface with newsgroup servers. If you are
familiar with accessing newsgroups in this classical way, I urge you to
continue. But most newsgroups of interest can also now be accessed via the
WWW.
The How To Get Help section of the club web site, available at
http://member.apcug.org/fourseas/help.htm, contains specific detailed
instructions on how to access the Microsoft newsgroups.
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CCCC Page 7 October 2001
CORRECTION
In the August CCCC newsletter there was an article titled SYSTEM PRINT.
The last paragraph should not have been included. It referenced an
attachment that was in the original e-mail message from which the article
was derived.
The article confused some by recommending setting the default printer to
Generic. That is not necessary if you use the Setup button on the Print
window (provided you have the Generic/Text printer driver installed).
Here's the corrected article:
SYSTEM PRINT
by Dick Trissel
Here's a useful trick to obtain system information to help solve hardware
problems. Go to My Computer/Properties/Device Manager. In the lower right
corner is a Print Button--press it. Select "All devices and System
Summary" and check the Print to file option. Press the Setup button.
Choose Specific printer and select Generic/Text.
The use of the Generic print driver option makes the print file readable
with Notepad without any embedded printer codes.
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CCCC Page 8 October 2001
QUICKEN 2001 REVIEW
By: Amy L. Malicki
1) Installed Quicken
2) Loaded all files except Internet Explorer (and Quick Payroll)
3) Quicken promised to get you started in five minutes
4) Asks if you are married, have children, own a home and checking
account balance
5) If you have Bank Book ready with beginning balance, it will be less
than five minutes.
6) Checkbook register page appears with current date. Click little box
at date line, calendar
appears. Click "left arrow at top" for month, then click day
7) Click next column (gray num) for checking or deposit options.
8) If Deposit is selected, type name of issuer, then amount. Click on
Calculator button if
calculation is required.
9) Income and Expense Category choices are available to keep track of
entries. There
was no category for Social Security. Tab appeared asking if I wanted
to create a new
category. Created Retirement Income
10) Using Shift-Plus or Minus keys changes the date a day at a time.
11) Rent payment at a Mobile Home park (where I live) includes utilities.
These can be
separated using the "split" option. A calculator button is
available for input. I found using
keyboard number keys faster than clicking number buttons on a
calculator. Once the
total is subtracted or added, the enter key places the total in the
proper place on the
register. Memo can be used for one time or additional explanation of
the category
12) Quicken recognizes names of payees, categories and amounts. You don't
have to set these up unless you need reminders of bills to pay.
13) Quicken asks you if you want to use Tab Key or Enter key to move to
next box. Using Tab Key is better, then Enter Key can be used to close an
entry if you don't always use a mouse
14) Corrections are easy, just click on date or name to be corrected &
replace
15) If you write the wrong information in "next check", correct the check
and then write in the correct number for the following check instead of
clicking on "next check"
16) If you have AUTOPAY Bank Withdrawals, You can create an account for
that by clicking on the num account and creating an "AutoPay" Account
17) If you have other accounts you transfer money into and out of, you can
create these new accounts as you enter information and transfer funds. It
does not require detailed Bank information, only the name of the Bank and
the name of the account (Business, John's, etc)
18) Once you have a month complete, the program remembers your accounts and
it takes only a few clicks to complete the data entries. Very easy to get
up and running.
Other Quicken Options
My Finances Page - Lists all of the asses and liability accounts that are
created.
1) BANKING - Set up any number of checking, savings, or asset accounts,
which can be used to transfer money in and out of. Set up monthly bills as
reminders; Set up credit card accounts so lump sum payments can be split to
show interest and purchases. The "reconcile" program helps to balance
checking accounts and corrects data entry errors.
a) Besides Home Banking Accounts, you can keep Small Business Accounts,
which can be viewed independently or as a group. Accounts Receivable and
Accounts Payable are available for Home Business. A program called "Quick
Payroll" is also available on the CD Rom. It can be installed from the
"Start", "Programs", "Quicken" list.
2) INVESTING - Set up Brokerage Accounts, 401K's, Mutuals, CD's, etc. (Did
not see any property management options).
a) Once the portfolio of accounts is created, you can see daily changes in
your Portfolio value by going On-line and connecting to Quicken. If you do
not use the Internet, you will have to enter changes in portfolio values
yourself. This is really one good reason to go on line.
b) The program provides information on Investment "Classes" to help you
optimize your investments and provides information on Capital Gains.
c) The program helps you TRACK investments and provides information to help
you plan for future retirement, home purchases, college education, etc.
3) HOUSEHOLD Accounts offer many record-keeping options. The Inventory
Record Keeping setup is unbelievably easy, with items to choose from,
including optional (new and resale) costs. My favorite category was the
Emergency Records Organizer, which included Contact, Insurance, Property,
and other information needed for Caregivers or Executors. Reports provided
such pertinent information as dates and names and where the policy or
"paper" could be found. I found both reports to be very comprehensive.
4) TAXES - some categories are automatically marked as tax items, but you
can show other categories as tax items also. The program provides the
latest tax data and supports "QuickZoom" to give you access to account
details. If you use TurboTax, the information you will need is already
there.
5) Other - you can track credit card payments and charges; dividend,
interest and stock payments; mortgages; and other loan payments, etc. When
bills are paid by the bank or through the internet, transactions are
downloaded to your account register when you go on line so these entries do
not have to be made.
6) The Help Menu offers a slide show that shows you what's new in Quicken
2000. This tour and the Quick-Start information that comes with the disk
give you a good idea of what the program is about. If you are new to
account record-keeping, it's a good idea to review this tour before setting
up your accounts. A "How Do I" button is available on almost every Window.
7) The program puts two icons on your desktop, one for data entry and one
for the regular program, however, you can access all of the features easily
using either icon
In addition to it's variety of Software (QuickBooks, TurboTax, etc), the
Intuit Company also provides many other "Quicken" products, such as: Credit
Cards, Store, Insurance, Loans, Direct Sales and Other Services. All of
these products and services are readily available through links on nearly
every page.
I have been using Microsoft Money for my business for several years.
It is an old version and does not "besiege" me with Internet offers -- but
that's only because it is OLD. I have recently helped a client with a newer
version and find the new MSMoney also bombards you with Internet options.
I do go on-line to track my investments and print copies occasionally,
but I don't mind paying my own bills. I'm just happy I don't have to
subtract or add, and that my accounts balance easily. I also enjoy
creating specialized reports. Since I operate on a cash basis, I would not
use the Accounts Payable or Receivable options. This is a good program,
very easy to use, with a lot of benefits. It would be nice though, if
there was a "with" or "without" Internet option for people like me.
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