10 October PC Post 10-2007
Contents
1. MPCUG October 2007 Page 6 10 Steps to Safe Computing by Sandy Berger compuKISS com sberger at compukiss com www compukiss com Obtained from APCUG with the author s permission for publication by APCUG member groups Unfortunately you must be proactive to protect yourself from today s bad guys Here is my down and dirty list for PC users 1 Install a good anti virus program and make sure that it is updated regularly While most of today s programs update automatically you should check occasionally to make sure they are working properly 2 Don t open email attachments even if they are from someone you know Open only if you are ex pecting them you know the person sending them and you know what the attachments contain 3 Don t fall for phishing schemes or other email where they try to get you to confirm or retype your personal information 4 Update your operating system regularly In Windows and Mac OS X you can turn on automatic up dates but you also need to download and install the updates as soon as possible Often the bad guys take ad vantage of new operating system holes as soon as they are discovered Companies like Microsoft Apple and others find a way to plug the whole and issue an update If you wait a week or two to install the updates you are giving the hackers and spammers time to attack your computer 5 Be careful about the websites you visit Don t visit porn sites or other suspi2. A w Member of sociation of Personal Computer User Groups INSIDE THIS ISSUE President s Report 2 Treasurer s Report The Editor Remembers Claude s Bytes 3 Reminisces from the 4 Past MPCUG Ten Years 6 ago 10 Steps to Safe Com 7 puting The Phenomenon of 8 Facebook Redefining Social Net Attack Of The Clone 9 Official Newsletter of the Modesto PC User Group Modesto California 25 years of User helping User October 2007 Volume 25 10 Our Next Meeting Pizza to celebrate a whole quarter century The Modesto PC User Group will celebrate the anniversary of its founding a whole quarter of a century ago with a pizza party on Thurs day Oct 25 All former members and friends have been invited Pizza and drinks will be supplied Celebrants can bring dessert veggie plates or fruit if they desire As usual the gathering will begin at 6 30 p m with the Random Access Special Interest Group where members can get their most pressing computer questions answered The party will start at 7 30 p m The event will take place at Destiny Christian Center on Carver Road just south of Roseburg Avenue Members and friends should park in front or back of the building as the south side driveway entry is a fire lane For directions to Destiny Christian Center see page 11 Important Meeting Dates General Meeting Oct 25 Destiny Christian Center Photo SIG Meeting November 6 Denny
3. The site is an excellent tool for professors to get to know their students on a more personal level It s not uncommon for students to ask academic questions through Facebook messaging instead of e mail or to write friendly comments on their professor s wall Employers are also discovering the benefits of Facebook and can search for the profiles of potential employ ees Therefore it s smart to keep a clean profile and to be aware of who you are associating with through the site Many sororities fraternities and campus organizations monitor the profiles of their members and discour age pictures of drinking and inappropriate behavior Facebook s privacy settings and methods of connectivity separate it from Myspace and all other internet so cial networks Myspace which has similar features to Facebook emphasizes individuality and expression through more personalized profiles Facebook focuses on simple safe connectivity Facebook corresponds more with real life than Myspace as users typically add people they already know as their Facebook friends Myspace users are often contacted by random locals In upcoming articles I d like to further examine the role Facebook plays in the life of the student as well as the advantages and maybe one or two disadvantages of the site Lastly we ll uncover how Facebook is af fecting the dating world and improving the love lives of college students everywhere Courtney Jewett i
4. Helping User MPCUG October 2007 Page 2 Claude s Bytes By Claude Delphia Editor Emeritus Modesto PC User Group Twenty five years of computing seems like a long time Actually I started 26 years ago December when the first IBM PC came on the market I knew early on that I wanted to get involved with computers and have one for my personal use The major reason was that I like to write but I was a terrible typist and a worse speller I knew the computer would help me with both so I jumped into the personal computer revolution by chunking out 6 000 for the equipment and printer Looking back on that it was probably a stupid move to spend that much when it could do so little but that s what it cost and I had the money available Little did I know or imagine that it would be so many years later before typing something like this article would be so easy on the computer It certainly wasn t in those early days The IBM word process was abso lutely terrible and I couldn t wait to get something better It would be years before the PC was powerful enough to check the spelling on the fly or as I typed Typing on the computer was still better than a type writer but just barely I quickly segued into Lotus 1 2 3 spreadsheets and eventually became an expert in making it do quite a few tricks for me and eventually for clients Later with some help of a friend I got into database work and realized that it could do things no spreadshee
5. Please use only one space between sentences and do not use bold italicize or otherwise format the submission as we can t guarantee results in translation to Publisher Proof read and run your spelling checker Watch for special upper and lower case in brand names Do not tab or indent to layout text If you want to include a graphic please contact the editor for instructions We reserve the right to edit articles for length or to improve readability Longer articles may be published in several parts We will not knowingly promote unlicensed businesses Letters to the editor are encouraged All articles and letters to the editor should be submitted to the editor via email as an attached file Call him at 209 667 1980 before submission Please include your name day and evening phone numbers and email address for contact The MPCUG exchanges some articles with other user groups around the country via the Association of PC User Groups APCUG If for any reason you object to having your article distributed to APCUG member organizations for reprinting please notify the editor at the time you submit the article Your wish will in no way affect publication of your article in the Post Production notes Prepared using Microsoft Publisher 2007 MS Office 2007 pdfFactory and a Minolta laser color printer in addition to a lot of sweat and a few tears
6. in the hope of connecting a di versity of users Anyone with a valid e mail address can register and create a free Facebook profile The site is successful because it is changing the ways in which the world can communicate Through Facebook users create a profile where they can express their interests activities favorite movies shows books quotes and basic contact information They can search for their friends and co workers and Continued on page 9 MPCUG October 2007 Page 8 Continued from page 8 then click to add them as their Facebook friend There are countless ways to participate on Facebook such as uploading pictures tagging or identifying facebook friends that appear in your pics sending messages writing on friends walls customizing your pro file writing notes to publish on Facebook and updating your status to allow your friends to know exactly what you re up to at any given time With all of these opportunities to connect it s no wonder people especially students are spending hours on this site and visiting it repeatedly in order to stay updated with what s happening in the lives of their Facebook friends Through Facebook I am connected with 73 different networks and hundreds of people from the U S to Aus tralia I can see what my friends who are currently studying abroad are up to and view pictures of their adven tures Some of my favorite professors are now Facebook users
7. long Q amp A SIG just before the general meeting each month FUN We ve had other kinds of fun too In the early years Helen Lokker and her husband hosted a Christmas party at which members and guests ate played games visited and generally got to know each other At another Christmas party a silent auction was held Didn t make any big bucks but was a lot of fun Another party was held on the occasion of Bill Holloway s retirement from his lengthy tenure as editor Dan Shellburne and his wife provided the house and Dan cooked a great meal On that occasion Bill was presented the user groups first Member Emeritus In its 20 years the Modesto PCUG has given much to its members Hundreds of people have come trembling and shaking up to the mysterious world of computers and later have walked away filled with knowledge confi dence and best of all with many good friends found in this a very special group MPCUG October 2007 Page 5 MPCUG Ten Years ago Cee a ee ee ee es 15th Anniversary group Left to right early member Bob Bar fus founder Liz Leedom Barbara Cameron Bill Miller and Claude Delphia al f on te nE A 2 j te mt a a eS ee E 1997 Fifteenth Anniversary cake cutting From left to right Larry Arkey Michael l McDonald Len Olives Liz Leedom cutting cake Duane Fiorini first president un l known Claude Delphia Al Kaufman Hank Mudge and Barbara Cameron l
8. slate of officers Duane Fiorini our first president served for two terms Allen Ludlow led our ship of state for a year and was followed by Loyd Reedy who stuck it out for two years He was followed by Palmer VanDyke then Lyn Bettencourt Tom Crain John Oe hrke Michael McDonald Claude Delphia Bud Bondietti Chris Mitchell and our current president Liz Leedom Seems like we ve come full circle with Liz at the helm again OFFICERS It is not possible to mention here all those members who served on the board throughout the years They handled the difficult task of setting up the general meetings collecting dues and keeping member ship records keeping our finances straight and running the meetings according to the parliamentary rules An aw ful lot of work had to be done behind the scenes to keep this club running as well as it has over these 20 years Through the years our membership has varied Starting with a handful the highest membership almost 300 came during Loyd s reign and was coincident with WordPerfect s spectacular surge onto the market Everyone was hopping on the WP bandwagon and many flocked to attend our excellent SIG on Word Perfect Loyd Allen and Lyn worked very hard to make that SIG the success it was The membership declined from that point until a few years ago when it began to climb again aided by the introduction of Windows 95 the Internet and the World Wide Web Our largest meeting ever was held in June of 1
9. through lack of use SIGS Special Interest Groups are another major part of the structure of the club There were many over the years and all were led by knowledgeable kind hearted members who gave of their time The first SIG was on WordStar and was led by Don Davis Avis Olsen and Rich Kendrick started the DOS SIG and when Avis moved out of the area Rich continued to lead it for a long time His presentations were so excellent they were preserved on video tapes which were then lent out to members It would not be possible to mention all the SIG leaders who served over the past 20 years there have been many such as the spreadsheet SIG run by Claude Delphia Now people hardly mention spreadsheets SIGS have come and gone as members interests have waxed and waned When we first started 20 years ago who could possibly have even imagined a need for an Internet SIG When many of our members could barely grasp the concept of telecommunication our youngest member Joel Short led the Telecomm SIG Still in high school at the time Joel combined thorough knowledge and a gracious manner to run a very successful learning session The doughnuts that Glenda brought didn t hurt matters either Ray Nicholls took over after Joel went off to college and when Ray moved to Boca Raton Dave Gustafson stepped in followed by Chris Mitchell and Hank Mudge Bud Bondietti has been leading a beginner SIG for several years now Our most popular SIG is the hour
10. valuable This gives you a way to do risky experiments such as using questionable or incompatible software or perhaps editing the registry while minimizing the risk of having to do a total system reinstall The MaxBlast program system requirements states At least one Seagate Technology or Maxtor disc drive as well as several other pretty easy to meet requirements I did not try to see if it would work on other drive brands and I don t know if it checks It is a pretty nice feature though particularly for laptops where there is no space to add a HD only to replace a HD I would personally not recommend this as a primary data backup as it is a little tedious and backups should be as easy as possible So HD replacement could be thought of as a way to upgrade the system as well as a sort of super system restore If your laptop is seriously important such as work related for a business get it set up well func tioning smoothly and then after making a separate back up of your data create a clone of your hard drive and swap it to make sure it is a good copy Then if the worst happens your hard drive dies just swap in the the origi nal Maybe even take the spare with you on trips along with a little screw driver Just don t loose it References http www harddriveupgrade com _http www fonerbooks com laptop_1 htm http www seagate com support maxblast mb_ug en pdf This article has been provided to APCUG by the
11. 997 with some 180 people counted With the declining demos by major software companies and the ease of computer usage our membership has declined to a steady 100 or so members MONTHLY Our monthly general meetings have included excellent demonstrations from major soft ware companies and from vendors Many of them donated software which enriched our treasury by being used as door prizes an activity which continues Our club members have also demonstrated software programs Possibly the best attended general meetings were panels of our own club experts fielding questions In the early years our software library was very large and for several years we held our December meetings in the MJC lab and sold cop ies of the shareware and public domain software With the advent of more stable software shareware is no longer offered The lack of presentations by major distributors has hit MPCUG like all user groups and more effort is required to get name software presentations We are now lucky if we can get one or two a year NEWSLETTER One of the main attractions of the club has always been the newsletter The PC POST Some members never attend meetings but join to receive the newsletter The first editor was Liz Leedom and she was followed by Don Davis Bob Barfus Claude Delphia and Bob Gauvreau In the spring of 1985 Bob Gauvreau persuaded shanghaied might be a more accurate word Bill Holloway to try his hand at the newsletter and try he
12. HDs are usually in a small slide out tray my tray was held in place by two screws The drive is held in the tray by two more screws If you try really hard the removal and replace process can be extended to 10 minutes but most folks will finish the task in about 5 Note that these screws are frequently tiny so it is a good idea to do this work on a light colored surface in a well lit work area In addition to the screws holding the drive in place there will likely be a small adapter that fits over the pins on the IDE drive and makes it compatible with the connector inside the laptop s tray holder This figure shows the HD naked connector pins on the left and the pins with the adapter installed on the right This adapter has the same hole pattern as the USB IDE cable adapter Note that there are two groups of pins the 4 pins on the right separated from the larger group on the left and the 4 pin group is not used in this application either for the internal drive adapter or the USB IDE connection Be careful when handling the drive to avoid static discharge Hardwood floors and leather soled shoes are preferred over carpets and sneakers in the work area Also the drives should never be squeezed on their flat surface when inserting the pins in either the USB IDE connector or the internal adapter grasp the drive by the edges to avoid placing too much pressure on the flat surfaces of the drives The ability to easily replace a a HD is very
13. author solely for publication by APCUG member groups All other uses require the permission of the author see e mail address above MPCUG October 2007 Page 11 The Club s Meeting Place Our general meeting and the Random Access Special Interest Group are held at the Destiny Christian Cen ter 1161 Carver Road on the west side of Carver across from Sam s Food City Parking is available both in front of and behind the Center No parking along side of the Center please Briggsmore Carpenter Member of sociation of Personal Computer User Groups Need help hooking up that new PC or installing DSL Cable Call J im Goodman 60 00 for as long as ittakes 579 0122 igood99 sbcqlobal net Modesto Ceres Area b Ai Eq m NI SC SS EEE ES ES Ea x Free classifieds for members Email the text to the editor at editor mpcug net Go Wireless Your Personal Connection to the World A j For Information about our website host and how you can get on board Click on this link info fire2wire com LTLTUTUTUTUNLTUTUTUTLUTUTUTLTLTLTUTUTLTLTLTL ULT U UUU UT Cyrano Writing amp Editing When you need help putting it in words call Cyrano PTL j 209 523 4218 499 5401 1 Ji 1 Resumes letters applications articles newsletters press releases theses Ji UUU 1 Elizabeth Leedom MUTUAL 1 T COLTUL ji ml
14. ber only on a secure Web page If you use Internet Explorer a secure site will show a yellow padlock in a closed position on the toolbar at the bottom left hand side of the screen Netscape will show a closed darker colored padlock somewhere on the bottom toolbar In both browsers a secure site will have https rather than http in the Web site address at the top of the page Continued on page 8 MPCUG October 2007 Page 7 Continued from page 7 10 Don t give your Social Security number out on the Internet Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes because computers and the Internet make stealing an identity from an unsuspecting victim easy So don t be an unsuspecting victim Your social security number is the golden key to your identity Never keep your social security number anywhere in your computer Never give it out over the Internet even in a secure site Some sites like online banking may require you to use your social security number as a password Take a pass on any such site or service that makes you send your social security number over the Internet Keep your identity secure by keeping your social security number as private as possible One more thing don t buy anything from spam or unsolicited email While this won t keep your computer any safer it might help to lessen or eliminate spam If no one bought anything from spam it would take away the financial incentive to send spam and it would probably disappea
15. cious websites Don t download software from any website unless you are sure it is safe 6 Use a firewall As I stated in a previous column a hardware router is a very good unobtrusive fire wall If you don t have a router turn on the firewall that comes with Windows The Vista firewall is pretty good and the XP firewall is better than nothing If you are an expert user you can use a software firewall like Zone Alarm but for the uninitiated user these complex software firewalls can be difficult to use 7 If you are using Vista or Mac OSX or even Linux you should create an account for daily use that does not have administrative rights That way if a piece of malware gets into your system during an average computing session it will have restricted rights Using an account with administrative rights gives the mal ware administrative rights as well While this is also a good practice with Windows XP most users includ ing myself find that because of the way XP is engineered it is almost impossible to perform average tasks unless you are logged on as an administrator Fortunately with the Vista operating system you can easily perform day to day operations when logged in as a non Administrator 8 Even with good habits it can be useful to occasionally run a good anti spyware program to scan and remove spyware from your computer 9 Shop at Secure Sites If you shop on the Internet enter your personal information and credit card num
16. did He put out 54 issues until he retired in 1990 A group effort was then mounted to publish the Post which consisted of Tom Crain Asa Dean and Palmer Van Dyke with the assistance of Cheryl Dean Continued on page 5 MPCUG October 2007 Page 4 Continued from page 4 Dave Gustafson was then elected Editor a board position and formed a group which jointly carried on until turning the reins over to Claude Delphia Claude was assisted by Joe Mangieri who did all copy editing with contributions by Cathy McDonald Claude completed his first term of some 64 issues with 15 anniversary Post and passed the banner to Kirk Stockham Editor and Ken Rattenne Associate Editor After serving as president Claude retook the reins of editorship and the finally gave it up in July of 2001 However he still remains active in it s production The current editor is Gene Richards Claude is editing this issue SPECIAL There have been several special events in our 20 years The earlier years saw more hardware and how to events We participated in a computer faire sponsored by MJC and brought in many new members One Saturday morning we held a Hardware Clinic People brought their equipment and learned how to install chips track down problems and install boards All this was accomplished under the tutelage of Tom Putney and Bob Bar fus Another early event was a demonstration by Lyn Bettencourt of building a CPU from scratch This helped many people ove
17. e reliable and easier to use In the last five years we users have watched the computer operating system evolve from keyboard commands that were so archaic to a simple pointing of an arrow a click and usage The computer user of today has so much more convenience at their finger tips it s hard to predict where computers will be heading in the next five years It s really hard to believe that the personal computer is only about twenty five years old The evolution in that short a time is hard to comprehend and to wonder where it will go in the next twenty five years is mind boggling Our club also is celebrating our twenty fifth anniversary Who would of believed that we would be able to provide twenty five years of User helping User to an ever changing group of computer enthusiasts Through the years our num bers have risen and shrunk and as a group have faced trials and tribulations but we have always been able to help each other solve our computer problems We have been fortunate in the fact that we have always been able to have people who want to be involved step up to lead our group I for one would like to thank these un selfish individuals for their patience and ability to take time from their busy schedules to lead and provide presentations that are both beneficial and a source of learning for us to better use our computers In closing I wish the Modesto PC User Group a Happy Anniversary and a wish for another twenty five years of User
18. elphia Editor Emeritus Bud Bondietti and Elizabeth Leedom Presidents Emeritus Barbara Cameron Member Emeritus Join The Modesto PC User Group Web site www mpcug net To join MPCUG or just get more information about us go to our Web site and fill out the new member form or mail your check to MPCUG P O Box 5122 Modesto CA 95352 5122 Membership is just 24 a year and includes 12 issues of the PC Post along with participation in all meetings and events You will also receive e mail advising you of extra events or news The PC Post and Editorial Policy The PC Post is published online 12 times per year and is available to all group members as a membership benefit Annual group membership dues are 24 00 For information write Modesto PCUG PO Box 5122 Modesto CA 95352 5122 Opinions expressed in the PC Post do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the members as a group or the Board of Directors The PC Post encourages group members to submit articles for publication We would like to have articles which deal with the writer s experience with computer hardware and software or digital photography An article may deal with any computer related subject provided it contains no libelous or offensive material We can t use information copied from other publications without written permission except for quotes Articles should be submitted in MS Word text Do not spend time formatting your article such as indents or centering
19. hich I read thoroughly OK maybe 10 minutes then run it One of the choices is Bootable Media Builder This allows the creation of a CD that is bootable Flash or other USB also supported but your BIOS must support USB booting to use it Note that Windows is ALWAYS using the disk it is booted from making this disk hard to copy but by using a bootable CD it is possible to start the computer while the existing hard drive is not in use by Windows so it can be more easily copied Maxblast has two modes for Bootable Media Builder The Full version and the Safe version The full version seems more appropriate for using USB devices which I will need to use for externally attached USB drive so that is what I choose And since I wish to make a bootable CD I choose the ISO image which is the standard format for this capability About ready to make a clone of my hard drive Since the laptop has no capability to add additional internal drives the new drive is connected externally through a USB IDE cable under 20 for a cable that will interface with 2 5 and 3 5 internal drives CLONES GRAPHIC After the bootable CD is created Power off the computer then connect the cable to the computer and the new drive Put on your good glasses and examine the large end of the cable closely There is a set of holes that match the pins on the disk drive and where is one pin missing on the drive there is one hole that is plugged on the adapter If you have a
20. irst surprise on opening the box was right on top a big yellow card with bold print READ THIS Q Can I install this drive myself A This kit is designed for professional installation ONLY None of the temporary storage devices hardware software specialized tools or instructions that may be needed to install this drive is included in this kit All right a challenge the only thing I love more than a good deal is a technical challenge I then worked about 4 hours on studying preparing and executing stuff like partitioning formatting managing drive imaging copying followed by several more hours of FIXMBR FIXBOOT C copying NTLDR and generally suffering extreme frustration Things that worked in years past seemed to no longer work After I slept on it I realized there may be an easier way This new drive is a Seagate Hard Drive a product of the most advanced HD company on earth says so right on the box They must know that they could sell more HDs if they make it easy to transfer stuff to the new HD Off I go to http Awww seagate com www en us support downloads after a bit of poking around I find MaxBlast 5 a Maxtor program Maxtor is now a Seagate subsidi ary However MaxBlast looks really promising It is a free download it is a product of Acronis who makes several high quality disk cloning and data backup products Now we are making progress I download and install Maxblast 5 Maxblast has a 60 page manual on line w
21. k our website at WWW MPCUG NET MPCUG October 2007 Page 3 Reminisces from the Past by Mary A Ruggieri and Claude Delphia MPCUG This article first appeared in our 20th anniversary edition of the PC Post October 2002 From its inception in 1982 our Modesto PC User Group has survived under three different names has been led by 12 presidents has met at at least a dozen locations has had innumerable wonderful moments and not a few crises The club was first known as The Modesto Turlock IBM PC User Group In fall of 1984 we became The Mo desto IBM PC User Group and finally IBM was deleted and we took on our present identity the Modesto PC User Group Among our meeting places have been California State University Stanislaus in Turlock Bowing to the ma jority s desire to stay in Modesto we met at Modesto Junior College seldom in the same place for long Then for a time the computer store ACT on McHenry Avenue put us up Next we went to Beyer High School where we enjoyed a more lengthy stay until hot summers and remodeling gave us a problem Modesto Business College permitted us to use their facilities which we then outgrew and moved to Denny s on McHenry This was followed by the Realtors Building on McHenry and currently St Paul s Gym PRESIDENTS Liz Leedom started the whole thing then Sy Guth became our first leader but was offi cially known as Chairman When bylaws were adopted we elected our first
22. n adapter for 3 5 as well as 2 5 drives there will be one set of holes for either type of drive Some about 4 of the pins will remain exposed no holes CLONES GRAPHIC 2 In theory this setup should work when plugged in after the power is on but with a weak USB power there have been reports of the drive not spinning up fast enough and the drive logic indicating a bad drive Turn on power and Continued on page 11 MPCUG October 2007 Page 10 Continued from page 10 quickly insert the CD If the computer boots to Windows you can shut down and retry Note that you may have to change the BIOS set up to boot from the CD before the HD BIOS setup procedures are different on every machine but are usually accessed by hitting F2 or Delete while booting but before windows starts Check your user s man ual The Clone Disk is the choice and if you are happy with your existing disk setup no partitions or like the existing proportions the default may be best I was able to increase several of my partitions for some slack and have room for a 20GB spare After you have finished the cloning process it is time to swap the internal hard drive with the external drive Remember that laptops have a battery don t do ANY work on the inside of the laptop without first removing the battery In fact don t do anything without reading the appropriate sections of your particular laptop s user manual They are all a little different Laptop
23. r This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups All other uses require the permission of the author see e mail address above The Phenomenon of Facebook Redefining Social Networking By Courtney Jewett a member of the Alamo PC Organization Texas www alamopc org Courtney_Jewett at baylor edu Obtained from APCUG with the author s permission for publication by APCUG member groups What do Hillary Clinton Tony the Tiger and millions of college students have in common They all have profiles on the contemporary social network known as Facebook As a college student and avid Facebooker I intend to share my knowledge and experiences with the site in order to uncover the reasons behind Facebook s widespread success As Facebook com explains the purpose of this social utility is to keep friends connected and help people network in a safe online environment Mark Zuckerberg an extremely intelligent student of Harvard University created Facebook three years ago At the age of 19 Mark and his college friends launched the site which began as a place to connect Harvard students Today Facebook has connections to universities across the globe with over 25 million registered users If you have a high school or college age child chances are they re very familiar with this popular site Once a fixation only among college students Facebook is quickly expanding
24. rE Modesiirreneh Info Claude Delphia pebllshar t dtl Websites Photo Editing amp Graphics 209 402 1936 Be sure and check our web site at least once a week at www mpcug net MPCUG October 2007 Page 12 Modesto PC User Group Officers President ccsccsccssssseesees Mike Kumler 6 DS1H2262 sessios assas president mpcug net Program VP ssccecseee Elizabeth Leedam s sirais 523 4218 eececeeseeeeee programyvp mpcug net Secretary sssccsssssssssceees Terry Fix 0000 524 8062 cssccseeseeeeeee SECretary mpcug net Treasurer ccceeeeeeseseeee Barbara Cameron 522 1389 ccecseesccceeeees treasurer mpcug net Director At Large Hank Mudge 529 1936 viscosa cecdssasdecessveees membership mpcug net Appointed positions SIG Coordinator Jim Goodman 579 0122 scssccssssrsssrreee SIE mpcug net Press Relations Elizabeth Leedom 523 4218 sscsssseeeeeee programyp mpcug net Membership Hank Mudge 529 1936 ssesssssseseeeseeee Membership mpcug net Web Master Jim Goodman 579 0122 ssscccssssreeeee WEDMaster mpcug net Editor scceceeeeeee BUA Bondiettt 667 1980 sccesrsesssrsssesrreee ECItOr mpcug net PC Post Editor Bud Bondietti Editor Emeritus William Doc Holloway 1920 1996 Claude D
25. rcome their fear of opening their computers and doing things inside At later meetings Joe Man gieri took a computer apart and passed the pieces around for members to see The last 10 years of meetings have seen the introduction of Windows 95 Windows 98 ME and the latest version of XP Accessing the Internet and World Wide Web via the Internet has exploded in usage over the last 5 years More recently demo s of digital cameras scanning and other technical feats unknown in the early years of MPCUG have been featured Five years ago digital cameras were a non subject BBS For many years BBS s were our primary online method of communication Our first Bulletin Board was through the Modesto Junior College where for a time we had a special section reserved for our mem bers only For a number of years The Bird House and Flight Line of the dBase served as our BBS headquarters However the Internet essentially killed BBSing At one point BBSing was so important that a whole page of the Post was used to list all the local ones HELPERS For many years we put out a Helper s or Mentor s List These were members who were willing to help others with programs or equipment they felt comfortable with Another service the club offered its members was the ISSI Individual Systems SetUp Summary An optional part of ones membership the ISSI listed the hardware and software of participating members This was never a popular service and was discontinued
26. s Restaurant Board Meeting November 7 Ridgeway s Restaurant Beginner s SIG Meeting Nov 12 Denny s Restaurant President s Report Mike Kumler I have just gone through the travails of replacing my computer Unfortunately for me it was an unplanned event At least the Lae eae with the or computer was the mother board P contact lists and WWW favorites ae m sure I ll never get them all replaced making sure everything works I have spent way too much time with my computer these last few days We are looking forward to a good turn out for our 25 anniversary celebration next meeting We will have the Q amp A and then a social See you there Treasurer s Report Barb Cameron Income Modesto PC User Group Expenses Membership 24 00 Financial Statement Interest on Savings 0 00 September 2007 Donations 0 00 Total Expenses 00 00 Total Income 24 00 Current Assets Checking US Bank Modesto 2229 04 Savings US Bank Modesto 332 39 2 561 43 Total Club Assets 2 561 43 The Editor Remembers by Bud Bondietti editor MPCUG Five years ago I wrote of my past experiences with computers ranging from the Commodore 64 on through the IBM clone 8088 XT this was one of the first personal computers available for home usage Little did I dream that in just five years computers would be approximately 200 times faster with storage beyond be lief Today s computers are more faster mor
27. s a Senior English major at Baylor University and is pursuing a career in Journalism This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups All other uses require the permission of the author see e mail address above Attack Of The Clone by Mick Topping a member of the ICON Interactive Computer Owners Network Missouri www iconusersgroup org mickt at mtopping us Obtained from APCUG with the author s permission for publication by APCUG member groups I have been dragging my feet on Vista I really don t see much in it that I think I need However it is getting time for a new laptop the hard drive on the old one is getting a little crowded and a little busy and slow on startup Continued on page 10 MPCUG October 2007 Page 9 Continued from page 9 What I really needed was a way to distract myself from how much I wanted a new LT and maybe delay getting a new one until Vista gets a little more debugged Here we go a really good deal at a local store on a laptop hard drive I never could resist a good deal The staff guy had a hard time finding the special A bit of confusion on the sale circular But finally found it Then he says you are not going to install that by your self We have a fine technical staff that can do that sort of thing for a small fee I had done a similar install be fore and did not remember much of a problem so I politely declined The f
28. t could When needed I jump between Excel and MS Access using them interactively when needed I ve had my share of software disasters but most of those didn t compare to the occasional hardware disaster which we all still face during our computer usage So where am I now Along the way I taught myself to do computer illustration using CorelDRAW I earned part of my living illustrating furniture for Stuart s Find Furniture in Ceres Having some artistic abilities that was a natural I still use CorelDRAW to create logos and draw other projects I also bought an early PC version of Adobe PageMaker which lead to my years as PC Post editor I now use MS Publisher and create a lot of newsletters and advertisements I also taught myself to create webpages and websites I maintain 4 5 sites on a regular basis It became fairly simple after learning the concept of how stuff is transmitted on the internet I now use most of my computer talents whenever necessary to make a current project happen Amongst the software I use are Adobe Elements for photo editing Adobe PDF creator PaperPort for docu ment handling MS Word MS Access Excel FrontPage and Quicken for my banking At this point I wouldn t give up computing for anything except poor health It is a major part of my everyday life Without it I wouldn t be able to do 1 10 of what I m able to accomplish for myself and others For the latest information about the MPCUG Chec
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