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Meeting Reports for 2003-2004
Click on the date of the meeting reports you
wish to read.
Meeting reports for 2001-2002
The meeting was called to order at 1:30 pm by Bob Randall, President.
He welcomed every one back and, then, he introduced the club officers.
Treasurers Report
We have $2016.98 in the club's account. Announced that membership is $10.00 per family. New people can attend for 2 meetings without paying.
Discussed Net Zero. Answered questions from the floor.
It was announced that Joan Ellergodt will not be able to act as mentor coordinator, so we need a new volunteer to update the mentor list and see if there are any new mentors. Announced that we need some members to volunteer as mentors.
See Bob Randall and Dick Harris after the meeting.
Dick Harris is setting up the computer lab techs for the lab. He described the duties. We need more lab monitors for this year. Until more lab monitors can be recruited, the lab is open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9 am to Noon.
We have CD tutorials you borrow from the computer lab to use at your own place. You just have to sign out the CD's.
Talked about the new wireless broadband system in the park. Jonathan Miller of RV WiFi will be here on the 19th to talk about the new system. Answered question about the new system. Talked about Hot Spots.
The new business manager, Janice Nordmark, come in at 2:30 pm and introduced herself as "Janice". When questioned about giving out the names and numbers of club members, she talked about the "privacy act."
Some people asked for help setting up Juno/AOL 8.0
Next speaker will be from Dragon National on Nov. 12, 2003.
Meeting adjourned at 3:00 pm.
Minutes were not taken for this meeting. Bob Randall opened the meeting and introduced Jonathan Miller, who spoke about high speed wireless internet access available at Viewpoint. The signal is picked up on an antenna mounted on Northpoint, then sent out to an antenna on your park model or RV. This works like a radio signal. It has the power to send and receive at 11 megabits per second. This frees your phone line. You may have two E-mail addresses per account. It is probably more secure than having a telephone connection. To use on an annual basis, the cost is $24.95 per month; on a monthly basis, the cost is $34.95. There are some additional charges for an antenna, router or antenna card, depending upon your need. This will depend on your location in the park. Signals can be picked up at most truck stops, including Loves and Griffins, but not Flying J yet. Wireless can do everything that a cable hookup can do except talking live. Jonathan answered questions from the group. Jonathan can be reached at (480) 239-4986. Please leave a message. His e-mail address is jmiller@connectifi.com To check to see if you live in available areas back home, go to http://www.connectifi.com. This company, which is based out of Scottsdale, AZ, guarantees customer satisfaction. The Garden Room and Computer Room are now ready for sending and receiving wireless internet access. Thank you Jonathan for an very informative speech. Next, Milt Stark introduced a membership profile to gain information about the desires and needs of computer club members. Milt will be our speaker at our next meeting on Wednesday, Nov.26th. There was a brief sharing of questions from the audience. The meeting was adjourned at 3:00p.m. President Bob Randall opened the meeting with a question and answer period. Jonathan
Miller fielded questions about the wireless connections in our park. Jonathan
may be reached at jmiller@connectifi.com or (480) 239-4986. Please leave a
message. Many guests are still getting hooked up to the wireless. We are
hearing about several happy customers.
Next, Bob led the discussion of questions from the floor. This period of
questions is most successful and helpful because members help each other.
Bob showed some of the magazines that are available for loan thru the
computer club. Smart Computing and PC are two of the examples. Both publications, are
easy to read and informative for the novice or computer geek.
Milt Stark presented the results of the membership profiles. This
information can be seen by clicking on the "Profile of Club Members" link on the club's home page.
It was announced that CD's with tutorials on MS Word for Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP are available in the computer room for loan to members.
Milt then demonstrated the use of a free program called PowerDesk 4. Milt likes this program because it not only accomplishes the file management functions of Windows Explorer but can perform functions that would require several other programs.
If you want to investigate it's use, the program is installed on the Computer Lab computers.
There is a newer version available, PowerDesk 5. Click here to find more information and a link to the download site.
Bob Randall adjourned our meeting at 3:00 p.m.
Bob Randall opened the meeting at 1:30 pm and began with the question and answer period. He called on Milt Stark to explain the upcoming classes that will be offered in the computer lab.
Milt explained that if anyone wanted to follow the classes offered by the club, he or she should go to club's web site and click on the link called "Workshop (Classes)." Milt also explained how to find club members who can help with problems by clicking on the link called "Volunteer Mentors." Sign up sheets for classes at the lab will be posted on the west wall in the computer lab. If you have signed up and find you can’t make it, please take your name off the list so it gives other people a chance to go.
Bob took a few more questions before our guest speaker was introduced. A.J Saferstien from InkJets Southwest Sales explained about new trends in the industry. He talked about sizes and weights of cartridges for printers. He will e-mail Viewpoint with the weights of cartridges when they are full and the weight when they are empty.
There was a short discussion about the use of software to detect the presence of spyware on your computer.
Web site for downloading Ad-Ware for detecting spyware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Web site for downloading Spybot for detecting spyware: http://spybot.safer-
networking.de/
Web site for checking software for embedded spyware: http://www.spychecker.com/
Bob closed the meeting with a few more questions at 3:30 pm.
The meeting was called to order by president Bob Randall at 1.30 pm.
Our guest speaker, Mark Peery, from Smart Computing was introduced by Joe Chambers.
Mr. Perry talked about what Smart Computing is all about. He explained the values of the Subscription to their five magazines.
The magazines hold information dealing with Tech Diaries, Hardware Reviews, P.C. Operating Installations, General Computing, Quick studies and much more. He mentioned a new magazine called Consumer Electronic Tips would begin January 27th 2004. It would help subscribers with what to buy, were to buy, and how to use your new purchases. Web services can be reached at 1-800-368-8304 and customer services at 1-800-733-3809. Web access is free to subscribers of any of the five magazines.
Bob Randall asked for volunteers to help organize our end of season banquet on Feb.20th 2004. We had a good response and we now have Lauvette Thessen #5320, Gene Lemoine #5154, Barb Fluegee #1501, Joyce McColl #5513, Donna and Jerry Melnechuk #5253, and Hugh and Louella Tamblyn #0918 all offering their help. Thanks to all that have volunteered. We will be in touch when the next step needs attention.
There was a question and answer period . Milt Stark went over a few points of the date changes on the Basic II class. Being held now on Jan 8th 2004. Giving those that thought they wouldn’t do Basic I if they were away for the second class. It would assure better timing to do both.
Dick Harris has agreed to be a volunteer mentor for AOL users.
The meeting closed at 3:30.
Milt Stark covered some of the topics that had been requested in the profile questionnaires collected from members. In doing so, he likes to use free software programs, when possible, so that members don't need to buy new programs to accomplish specific tasks. Among the topics covered were:
When to use left and right click with the mouse.
Changing the size of photos for E-mailing.
As an aside, Milt showed how IrfanView can be used in conjunction with the Print Screen button to create a picture file or print anything seen on the computer screen, eliminating the need for an additional program for that purpose.
Creating an icon.
Wrapping text about pictures in word processing.
Removing the "Read only" file attribute from files copied from a CD to the hard drive.
Links to these free programs follow:
The meeting was called to order by president Bob Randall at 1:30 p.m. We began with a question and answer period. Some hints that were gleaned from this discussion were:
K.E. Johnson introduced our speaker, Peter Nolan, from SoftQue. They are a company that specializes in service rather than sales of hardware or software. SoftQue is located at 62 N.Stapley Dr. Mesa, AZ. 85203. Their phone number is (480) 834-1318, Fax 1-877-527-5734.
The e-mail address is info@softque.com and the website is www.softque.com
Peter related the merits of high speed wireless. Generally basic security on wireless connections is good. If you have more than one computer that is serviced by wireless, you need to learn about sharing or networking. Peter's company or your server can help you with this.
Peter gave us some general hints on how to care for your computer.
The meeting closed about 3:15 p.m. Milt Stark explained upcoming classes to the interested parties who remained behind.
President, Bob Randall opened the meeting and introduced our speaker, after draw tickets were
distributed to members. There was a large attendance to hear Theresa Calvert demonstrate Microsoft
Office 2003. Theresa was representing Microsoft. Information about office may be obtained by visiting
www.microsoft.com To run Office 2003, it is necessary to have Windows XP or Windows 2000 with
service pak3 on your computer already.
Theresa told us about free on line classes and training, better Spam control in Outlook, reading lay outs
are available, backups are saved every 10 minutes. Theresa gave a very interesting presentation. Publisher
produces professional business cards, stationery plus it has an easy to use website layout. Bundling of
programs is the most economical way to purchase. Office 2003 may be loaded on 2 P.C.'s Office will save
documents from previous versions. It can be loaded over previous versions. Many prizes were given
away at the conclusion of the meeting. Evaluations need to be given to Dick Harris, #1853 .
Question:
The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m. This was an excellent learning experience.
The meeting was called to order by Vice President Dick Harris at 1:30 pm. Dick introduced Hugh Tamblyn, who presented a detailed report on a program called MailWasher.
Hugh explained that this free software works only for E-mail programs that use a POP3 server, i.e., ones that actually download the individual E-mail files to your computer. It does not work for what is known as "web mail." When you use web mail, you are actually reading the information that exists on the server. When you leave the web based E-mail program, the individual messages will not exist on your computer; they remain on the server.
MailWasher allows you to view the mail on the server and remove spam before it is downloaded to your computer. The major advantage the program offers is the ability to identify mail which comes from the recognized addresses of your friends and to check the origin of the E-mail against DNS blacklist servers such as Spam Cop (www.spamcop.net). These servers will identify almost all of the spam received without having to review the messages. You can then delete them without having to download them from the server. You also have the option of "bouncing" the message back to the sender so that it appears that your E-mail address doesn't exist. It is hoped that the spammer's program will remove you from his or her list. Hugh fielded questions on the subject and answered any concerns about the program.
Hugh explained how to download a free copy of MailWasher from the web at http://www.mailwasher.com
Bob Randall answered questions from the problem sheets and answered a number of questions from the members.
Milt Stark went over some items about computer classes and showed how to go to the club's web site to find information that might help members during the week.
Bob Randall called on the members for a volunteer to be a Coordinator of Volunteer Mentors. Ethelyn St John at #923 said she would help.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:20 pm.
A good explanation of how E-mail works can be found at http://www.howstuffworks.com/email.htm
The meeting was called to order at 1.30 p.m by Dick Harris. He mentioned that the tickets for the banquet were now on sale. He asked for a volunteer to give blessing for that night.
K.E. Johnson introduced our guest speaker. Larry Martin from Landmark Computers spoke about his company and explained that he rebuilds computers and does repairs and service. His company is located at 950 W. Apache Trail # 5 Apache Jct. Phone (480) 671-0577. His web site is http://www.landmarkcomputers.com
Prices and listings of parts and labor can be found on Larry’s Website.
Larry answered a number of questions for our members.
Bob Randell fielded a number of questions as well and explained a few points about the upcoming banquet. The tickets will be sold for two more Wednesdays.
Milt Stark mentioned that a new class would be added Feb 12th. It will be on Micro Soft Word in the morning. Sign up sheets are in the Lab.
The meeting was adjourned at 3.30 P.M
Questions:
1.Have many people had a problem with a slow boot of Windows XP, after a recent update?
If this problem occurs, delete you latest patch by going into Start,Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove programs.
P.C. and Smart Computing recommend that you do not use auto update in your critical updates of Windows. Check the update to see if it is something you will use. Only download security patches. Wait 3-7 days after the initial patch is published. It gives Microsoft a chance to fix any errors or problems.
2.Does someone have an Earthlink Disk? Yes, Bob Randall #4714
3. A club member reported a problem with downloading Norton Anti Virus updates.
Some suggestions were to remove this program, then reinstall, go to website and get update. You could also try going to Norton's website to see if you can find a solution.
4.How difficult is the program Turbo Tax to use?
Members report much success with this program. They advise to buy Turbo Tax Deluxe because it has a tutorial. At Cosco, it currently sell for $35. with a $10. rebate. Usually it comes with a free state tax laws. However, you must buy the state version first and then get a refund. You need to purchase a new copy each year to be update with changes. It does keep track of your information from year to year even though you have bought a new copy. You can install a second copy on another computer but you cannot print from this copy. Everyone was advised to file taxes electronically even if you do not use Turbo Tax.
Bob Randall discussed the topic of wireless connectivity to the Internet while on the road. The outline of the discussion can be found by clicking on the following link:
Dick Harris opened the meeting at 1:30 p.m.
K.E. Johnson introduced our speaker, Gene Barlow, who represents Power Quest. Effective December 2003, Symantec owns Power Quest. Gene represents White Canyon Software as well. Gene & his wife, Linda visit over 100 user groups annually. Members of our club qualify for the user group discount.
Gene briefly discussed the use of Partition Magic V8, It is the ideal tool to help you organize and maintain your hard drive. It lets you create partitions, delete partitions and undelete previously deleted partitions. You can resize partitions larger or smaller without loosing the files in the partitions. Partitions can be moved and copied from one disk location to another. You can convert a partition from one file system to another or from a primary partition to a logical partition. You can split a partition into two partitions or merge two adjacent partitions into one larger partition. You can hide and unhide partitions for security reasons. PartitionMagic is also an excellent tool to help you setup multiple operating systems on your hard drive. This makes the task of cleaning up your operating system or moving to a new operating system much easier to accomplish. You can quickly and easily switch between operating systems with the BootMagic utility that comes with PartitionMagic. PartitionMagic supports hard drive operations on all Windows and Linux operating systems.
Gene informed us about the importance of backing up the files on your computer. If the hard drive fails and cannot be restarted, you will either loose all of your data or pay someone dearly to recover the files from the failed disk. To avoid this eventuality, you need a back-up plan.
Data files - files you have created - may be copied to a variety of media, including tape, zip disks, CD's, DVD's or another disk drive, either internal or external. It is suggested that you back up data files daily.
Data files are a just small number of the files on the computer. If you have all of the program disks for the programs on your disk, they can be reinstalled on a new disk drive, but to do so would require a great deal of time. After they were reinstalled, you would then have to reconfigure everything again. To avoid this problem it is recommended that you do a full system backup - everything on the drive - on a monthly basis. This would enable you to restore a new drive to the same condition with minimum effort. There are 2 types of utilities to aid you in this effort. A basic backup utility copies and stores information on another medium. It usually compresses the files to take up less storage space. After the first full backup in created, an incremental copying utility copies only the new material or modified material since the previous backup. This saves time and space. If it is necessary to restore the information, the program would unscramble the original and incremental files to reproduce the drive system as it was when the disk failed.
Gene sells Drive Image V7, which is a great tool to help you upgrade to a new hard drive by copying all of the partitions and files from your old hard drive to your new hard drive. Its main function, however, is to backup your existing hard drives.
V2i Protector is very similar to Drive Image v7. The main advantage of V2i Protector Desktop Edition is the ability to make incremental backup images of your system and to roll back your system to a prior incremental backup image if anything should happen to your system. . Gene demonstrated how easy it was to use this product.
Gene informed us that deleted files, which have been sent to the recycle bin are not gone from your hard drive. Until the files are deleted from the recycle bin they can be restored to their original folders. When the files are emptied from the recycle bin, they still exist on the hard drive until another file is written over them. If you are getting rid of a computer and want to avoid identify theft, it is a good idea to use a utility program to write over the files that are left on the computer. This type of program writes over the files with 1's and 0's so that the original information is no longer recoverable. It may take 3 or more wipes to have these files removed.
Gene recommended "Secure Clean" to scan deleted files on a monthly basis. It wipes around active files and prevents the built up of deleted information. "Wipe Drive" is uses only if you are selling or donating your computer. These wipes prevent pertinent personal information, e.g., bank account numbers, social security numbers, credit card numbers, etc. from falling into the wrong hands. Information on these products is available at http://www.whitecanyon.com
Gene & Linda Barlow may be reached by e-mail gene@ugr.com and linda@ugr.com or (801) 796-7370. The web site is www.ugr.com. After the presentation, there was a drawing for door prizes. Gene said, "Good luck with your backups."
After the presentation, questions were entertained from the floor. One of the questions was, "How does one find out what programs need to be launched at startup?"
It was suggested that there are numerous web sites that can provide information about startup programs. One of the quickest ways to get links to those sites is to simply enter the name of the file in Google and search. For example, enter hidserv.exe and search. This will often provide links to a forum where a question has been asked about the file or to a web page that will provide a list of common startup programs and their purpose.
Examples of such links are:
Our meeting was brought to order at 1:30 pm and our guest speaker was introduced. Allan Boehm from the Mesa library gave a very interesting talk on what the library has to offer through their web site. The web site address is
www.mesalibrary.org
He explained that one can find 40+ research databases on business, health, job openings, homework etc.
There you are able to find an online catalog, renew material, and check on available items. There are many advantages of using their web, such as sourcing after hours and being able to source information even if you are in your own home in another state or province.
They offer classes there for beginners and for more advanced computer users.
Bob Randall adjourned the meeting early at 2:45 pm.
At 1:30 p.m., Milt Stark opened the meeting in the Garden Room. Bill Rogers gave the treasurer's report. Willie
demonstrated solutions to questions that were proposed. Some of the
questions were:
1.To move favorites on Millenium , copy to a floppy disk, then import your
favourites.
2. To clean up address bar, go to Tools, General, delete Temporary Files.
History may be set to zero. This keeps the
history clear. Do not delete cookies or you may have to reinsert your
cookies for banking etc.
3.To run Drive Sweep, do not delete cookies.
4.To find software for HP 1100 or 1200 all in one, go to website, support &
drivers, select model number, download
software and burn a CD. Do not download a file this large unless you are on
high speed. It would probably take 8
hours thru the phone line.
5.To solve a problem with Configure Virus Scan options, that is getting an
error message, go to website, support,
ask question, print the instructions & follow.
6.The difference between CD -R for music or data CD: a CD-RW can be rewritten,
a CD-R is for a one time use only.
The quality appears to be the same. A music disk may have more space.
Answer given at http://www.digitalrevolution.tv/faq.htm:
7.To find Spell Check, it is part of each program not a separate item.
8.To run Internet Explorer, while using Juno; Run Juno, go to Internet
Explorer & then browse.
9. If you get the message, This page can not be displayed, reboot and start
over.
Downloading: Receiving information
Uploading: Sending information
Bob Randall closed the meeting at 2:30 p.m.
Our meeting was called to order at 1:30 pm.
Our guest speaker Jonathan Miller from Connectifi was introduced. Jonathan presented us with an update on the progress of the park's efforts to connect to a wireless connection. The park has had more towers installed and more members have signed on. If you are interested in wireless connection you may call Jonathan at 480-239-4986. Or you may go to the web site www.rvwifi.com. There you will see the cost of the program. There is a place to check if there is a hotspot near you in your hometown. On this site you can download a complete list of dial up numbers of every state and province. You can also go to rvwifi_dialup_number.zip for a list of numbers for your area. The site provides a good understanding on gear needed to get up and running as well as account setup and customer support.
Bob Randall had one question for our question and answer period.
It is the time of year again for nominations and volunteering for positions for our club. Bob Randall has volunteered to be president again. Hugh Tamblyn and Donna Melnechuk are on the nomination committee to try to find members to take the positions of Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President.
The Computer Club is a very helpful means to have any Computer problem solved and for our members to have a means to learn the computer. We need new people to volunteer some of their time to help us keep this club a success. PLEASE VOLUNTEER
The meeting was adjured at 2:45 pm.
In the Garden Room, K.E. Johnson introduced our speaker, Ron W. Ostrom. Ron gave a
slide show presentation about digital photography. Some of his recommendations were:
A full copy of this presentation is available on a CD at the Computer Lab. You may pick your copy.
Next week is the election of officers for Viewpoint Computer Club for the 2004-2005
Season. THIS IS YOUR CLUB -WE NEED YOUR HELP! More Volunteers are still
needed.
This is our last meeting for the year. There was a discussion on worms and viruses that some people reported getting this past week.
Hugh Tamblyn headed the meeting with the nominees for elected members for the upcoming year 2003/2004.
The new elected officers are:
Vera McLoud has agreed to be our membership secretary for another year and Joe Chambers and Kay Johnston have agreed to look after booking guest speakers and setting up our sound system. Milt Stark will again help set up the lab lessons.
A thank you to all the past members on our board and to those who have volunteered to work next season.
The meeting adjured at 2:35 pm.
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