Toledo PC Users’ Group
A Forum for Personal-Computer Users — October, 2006
October Program: HTML—Halász Sándor
Monday, October 2, 2003 at 7:30 PM, UAW-Local-14 Hall, Jackman & Northover (between Laskey & Alexis Rd), Toledo, Ohio.
In
This Issue ...
TPCUG Data
From the Prez
Minutes
Treasurer’s Report
Membership Expirations
Computer-Investing-Group Meeting
APCUG conference, in Las Vegas, and other matters
TOLTBBS Information
TPCUG’s
Website:
http://www.toledopcug.org
Coming Meeting: Monday,
November 6, December 4.
The Toledo PC Users’ Group
P.O. Box 13085
Toledo, OH 43613
Officers
President: Floyd Miller
Vice-President: Rick Snyder
Treasurer: Steve Tryc
Secretary: Sándor Halász
Standing Committees
Computer Shows: Steve
Tryc
Librarian: Open
Membership: Roy Ballogg
Programs:
Lester Miller
Public Relations: Lavern & Eugene
Curtis
Complaint Dept.: Helen Waite
SIG Leaders
Internet SIG: Jim Bell ............ 419-877-1109
Statement of Intent: The Toledo PC Users’ Group is a not-for-profit corporation, formed to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information regarding the use and enjoyment of personal computers.
Affiliations: TPCUG is a member of APCUG (Association of Personal Computer User Groups), which provided the APCUG logo.
Meetings:
Meetings are generally held the first Monday of each month, at
UAW-Local-14-Hall, 5411 Jackman Rd., Toledo, OH. In the event of
emergency, members may be reached during meetings at a pay phone in
the hall, 419-473-9571.
Visitors are always welcome at monthly
meetings!
Executive-Board meetings are generally held
after the regular monthly meetings.
Membership: Dues are $25. per year. To obtain an application, call any officer or member.
Moving? Notify the Membership Chair to redirect your newsletters.
Copyright 2006: The Toledo PC Users’ Group, the publisher of this newsletter, is a not for profit organization. Although it asserts a copyright for the newsletter, permission is granted to reprint this publication in whole or in part for any noncommercial use, with credits acknowledged.
Newsletter Deadline is the 15th of each month. All members are encouraged to contribute articles and reviews for this newsletter. Submissions may be made by email to the editor.
Advertizing: Business cards (2”×3½”) will be run in three issues for $5. Commercial ads: $10 for ¼ page; $20 for ½ page; $30 for ¾ page; $40 for full page. Larger ads are run in two issues from a graphics format, JPEG or GIF or … Members may place free ads for the sale of computer-related personal items on a space-available basis. Contact editor for details.
Production Notes: This newsletter was compiled with Microsoft Word 6 for Windows, Open Office 1.1.5, Brief, and Notepad.
TPCUG Mailing List: If you are on the Internet, keep in touch with club doings by subscribing to the TPCUG mailing list: Send e-mail to “tpcug-request@toltbbs.com” with only “subscribe tpcug@toltbbs.com” in the body of the message. You will then receive communications sent to the list through e-mail.
The President's Message
The coverage of the 5th anniversary of “9-11” has subsided after days and days, and program after program and news story after news story and opinion piled on opinion has been the constant fare. But not much mention was made except in the financial world of the very important place computers and the digitization of millions if not billions of files and records and the secure backup procedures that preserved them all. If this were not the case, the financial structure of the whole nation could have been severely compromised. Instead the stock exchanges were up and running in 5 business days—days when a whole nation and world was dazed and grief-stricken. How thankful we ought to be for the development of computers and all the attendant technologies. They saved a nation and provides efficiencies that would spellbind those from a generation or two ago.
But time marches on and we are surprised at all the new things that are happening in the digitized world. We have gleaned the following excerpts from various responses to the “beta-testing” of Microsoft's Vista, the new operating system to be released shortly.
We then focused on likes, and found that respondents whose companies are beta-testing Vista especially liked its new user interface, its improved security features, and its interoperability with other programs.
Alliance respondent AUG43393, who is currently beta-testing Vista, finds it has a “beautiful interface…” and provides a “…very logical layout”. POW18477 concurs, adding that “the graphical user interface (GUI) is very pleasant”.
… In terms of added security features, ALJ92593 thinks the “security and operational management are greatly improved”. JBS26317 especially likes Vista's Apple-like ability to prompt administrators for “…additional credentials to run system commands…” from a user account. This appears to be an improvement over Microsoft's current XP operating system.
… Along with strong points, we also focused on the downside and found most respondents disliked Vista’s large size—which makes it slow to run without the most up-to-date equipment. Another major sticking point—significant hardware requirements that result in pricy upgrades. Here’s how the negatives shake out:
… Finding Vista “slow on anything but the best hardware”. ESL0927 is especially turned off by the extra graphics Microsoft has added to “enhance” the user experience—which at the same time exhausts resources. He describes it as “wasting processing power on eye-candy...”.
… According to BEN24054, the added hardware requirements “...means few existing computers are candidates for an upgrade until they are replaced”. MAJ8457 adds that Vista “is way over the top in needs—and is still not user-friendly like an Apple”.
… “50+ million lines of code will have several security holes in it—a marketer's dream; an engineer's nightmare.”
PC Replacement. What impact will Vista have on the PC replacement cycle? The consensus estimate among respondents is that one-in-three of their corporate PCs will need to be replaced at the time their company upgrades to Vista.
… Another issue for users is the new configurations their PCs will have to adopt in order to run the Vista Operating System. Respondents cited several key differences in how their company's computers will have to be set up—most notably the need for More Memory/RAM and Better Processors. Respondents also mentioned changes in Security Management, Upgraded Video/Graphic Cards and a Steep Product Learning Curve.
And so another challenge waits in the wings for PCUG users of this new
“operating system”. Hopefully the best and
brightest in the Group or Lester's programs will lead us through the maze.
See you all in the October-2nd meeting—remembering
"Visitors are welcome,
Members are expected”
Your Prez, Floyd L Miller.
Minutes
Brandon Perry of Ameriprise Financial spoke of on-line trading.
(Lester Miller accepted Halász s offer of speaking about HTML, and there was a general discussion of printer-cartridges and their filling.)
The meeting was called to order at 20:54 by Floyd Miller, president.
The minutes were accepted.
The treasurer s report, there are $1094.32 in the account, was accepted, subject to audit.
Seven members were present.
It was brought up that noöne in the club has keys to the upstairs room where the club now usually meets, with the dance-teaching on the ground floor in the room where it was arranged that the club meet, beside which is the closet where all the equipment is kept. But as long as the equipment is not needed, aside from unlocking the door, there is no problem with meeting upstairs.
The Internet SIG meets on the third Monday at Jim Bell s place, around the corner from the restaurant which no longer is Chickaroo's.
At 21:12 the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by Sándor Halász, secretary
Treasurer’s Report
No Income and no Expense
Balance remains the same as August, $1094.32
Steve Tryc, treasurer
Expired & Expiring Memberships
SEPTEMBER 2006
1058 John Hawley
NOVEMBER 2006
1382 Lester Miller
1506 Steve Tryc
1668 Lawrence Russell
Computer Investing Group
October 7, 2006, Saturday, 2:00 PM-4:00 PM
Heatherdowns Library, 3265 Glanzman Road, Toledo, Ohio 43614
No registration, no fees; just come to learn.
Internet Research
We will be investigating many sites online where we can find data on stocks. These will include sites such as BetterInvesting, Reuters, Yahoo, MSN, Morningstar, and Manifest Investing. Bring your favorite sites to share, too.
For more information on the computer group, to add a friend to our mailing list, and to send ideas of possible programs, please contact Donna Bardis at (419) 517-3279 or dbardis on nwbuckeye.betterinvesting.net
“Judgment Day”—SSG Advanced
Oct. 25, 2006, Wednesday, 6:15–8:30 pm
Holland Branch Library, 1032 South McCord Rd., Holland, OH
Cost $15, REGISTER BY Oct. 18, 2006
So, you took the SSG Class, and now you are ready for the next level. In this class, we will present a short refresher of the Basics, and then help you learn more about making “Judgments”—finding and assessing the many bits of information that factor into your opinion of any stock you are studying. Beginners will gain the knowledge and confidence to make good and reasoned stock picking decisions, while experienced investors will get the chance to refresh and expand on their judgment techniques. After all, you can never know too much about a company in which you want to invest your hard-earned dollars!
It is strongly recommended that you have a good understanding of the Stock-Selection Guide.
You may use the registration form found in the Fall newsletter which was mailed to you or go on line to print it out. Go to our web site, http://www.betterinvesting.org/chapter/nwohio. Click on “Judgment Day—SSG Advanced”. Click on “NW Buckeye Registration form”. Use “Judgment Day—SSG Advanced” as the program name.
Please direct questions about registration to Event Registrar, Marilyn Adams, 2331 Mill Race Court, Holland, OH 43528. E-mail to contact@nwbuckeye.betterinvesting.net, Telephone: 419-865-6061
Reminder of the address of our chapter web page for more info at
all times: http://www.betterinvesting.org/chapter/nwohio
Maps of the locations of these events are located there.
APCUG-matters
APCUG conference, in Las Vegas
Excerpts from the web-page:
Our 2007 Annual Conference is off and running. Registration is open, and our schedule of events is almost complete. The conference starts on late Thursday afternoon, January 4th and ends on Sunday afternoon, January 7th.
Registration:
By Oct. 15th
Between Oct. 16th and Nov 30th
After Nov 30th
Interesting articles
What is RSS, by Don Singleton, and Weed it and Reap, by Esther Schindler,.