Toledo PC Users’ Group
A Forum for Personal-Computer Users — February, 2007
February Program: cancelled
Monday, February 5, 2007 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
Computer-Investing-Group Meeting
Microsoft-Vista Beta—First Look
Surprising New Search Engine
TOLTBBS Information
TPCUG’s
Website:
http://www.toledopcug.org
Coming Meeting: Monday,
March 5, April 2, May 7, June 4, July 2, August 6, August 27, October 1, November 5, December 3.
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 2007: 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:
You sit down to your computer desk and there are what appears 5 writing pens. Where’s the keyboard? One of the pens projects a picture of a keyboard on the desk in front of you and you start keyboarding the text to be included in a document. The text is projected on a flat surface. You have just used the computer of the future that may replace the current PC’s in the near future. In the revolution of miniature computers, scientists have made great developments with Bluetooth technology… These are the forthcoming computers you can carry in your pockets. How long will it be before we say goodbye to desktop computer and monitor and the that reasonably portable laptop? This is amazing technology coming from Japan. But today’s hoopla is all about Microsoft’s new Operating System, Vista. You’ve heard about lines forming at Best Buy (etc) to be able to purchase the very first releases come midnight. There are all the reviews pro and con about this new system that some have indicated is 2 years behind schedule. There is the “good” (“bad”) news that your old computer is not equipped to run the new system without considerable updating of CPU’s, memory and video cards. Also the possible decision “why bother” with the old computer and replace it with a new one with more “bells and whistles”. Indeed all these new innovations (hardware and software) are interesting, challenging, expensive, and more productive but for the average “everyday, run-of-the-mill” user one wonders if it is for them at least in the near future. But I guess the time will come when the old clunker coughs and sputters and lays down a smoke screen or throws a stink bomb, when we will have to decide on a new computer and a new operating system. Oh Lord let it come when the purse is not empty!!
Let it be said that there is not a dull moment in the computer world. Cantankerous, exasperating, hair-pulling, foot-stomping, impossible eventsYES!!!! BUT never a dull moment.
Well, you will just have to come to the next
PCUG meeting on Monday evening, February 5th at
7:30 p.m.to share your experiences, to provide some
answers, to participate in a little hand-holding—whatever
will be spinning your wheels at the particular
moment. Remember—
Visiters are welcome—
Members are expected.
Your Prez.,
Floyd L. Miller
Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 19:53 by R. Snyder, vp.
The minutes were not considered because neither the secretary nor anyone else had a good copy of the minutes.
The treasurer reported the balance $1194.14. The expenses paying for the hall and the domain-name are awaited. Jim Bell sent the bill for the club s Internet service marked paid, worth $220. Seemingly this offsets the club s advertizing in the newsletter. R. Ballogg asked about member Lorenz s paiment, in November, although due in July. The report was accepted, subject to audit.
R Ballogg reports that there are 16 members with Nina Sherman and Ann Summers, 7 present.
L. Miller said that he is looking for something about Vista. It is out for bizness, and at TU and Whitmer.
The Internet SIG met on December 18th, and meets on the third Monday at 7pm.
The computer investment SIG meets on February 1st 2–4p at the Heatherdowns library. Tax-preparation software is the topic.
On February 6th the Linux group has an organizational meeting, the regular meeting following. [The topic is kernel programming.]
Old bizness:
The domain-name is not up.
There was no new bizness.
The meeting was adjourned at 20:14.
An Adobe teaching-DVD was shown, about Creative Suite.
Respectfully submitted by Sándor Halász, secretary
Treasurer’s Report
Balance Ending 12/15/06
No Income or Expense
Balance Ending 1/15/07
Steve Tryc, treasurer
Computer Investing Group
February 3, 2007, Saturday, 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Heatherdowns Library, 3265 Glanzman Road, Toledo, Ohio 43614
No registration, no fees; just come to learn.
Tax Preparation by Software and On line
This will be a look at software available to prepare your individual tax
return plus sites to do it on line.
TurboTax will be demonstrated; please bring your own favorite to share.
Also, please bring any ideas of online sites where we can calculate our
taxes.
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@nwbuckeye.betterinvesting.net
Treasurer’s Workshop
February 1, 2007, Thursday, 6:30 to 8:30 pm
Way Public Library, 101 E. Indiana Ave. Perrysburg, OH
No fee, but register so that we will know how many to prepare for. Please register by January 25, 2007 by contacting Marilyn Adams, 2331 Mill Race Court, Holland, OH 43528. Telephone 419-865-6061 E-mail contact@nwbuckeye.betterinvesting.net,
Learn how to close out the club’s books for the year, produce all the necessary forms and reports by hand, and using the NAIC Treasurer’s Software. Also covered will be how to conduct an audit. Handouts are included. Bring your questions and suggestions, and meet with other club treasurers!
ValueLine Plus, Part 1 and Part 2
DATE: Part 1 on Feb. 26, 2007; Part 2 on March 5, 2007
TIME: 6:15–8:15 pm
LOCATION: Sylvania Branch Library, 6749 Monroe St., Sylvania, OH
COST: $15 for each part or $25 for both parts
REGISTER BY Feb. 19, 2007
Microsoft-Vista Beta—First Look
by Brian K. Lewis, Ph.D., Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., Florida
Many of the reviews that I have read on the early releases of Windows Vista have been done on "fast" hardware, many times with 1-2 GB of RAM. Knowing that many users of Windows XP will probably upgrade to Vista with their current hardware, I installed a Beta 2.0 copy of Windows Vista on an older machine. This computer has an Intel 1.3 GHz CPU and had 256 MB of RDRAM. I upgraded the RAM to 512 MB which is normal for many Windows-XP users. The computer also has an ATA 40-GB hard drive and it did have a CD writer. However, when I went to install Vista, I found the installation disk was a DVD. So I had to upgrade to a DVD unit. I did manage to find a Sony DVD burner at a very reasonable price. So, a word of warning for those interested in upgrading to Vista when the final version is available, you may have to have a DVD drive to install it. This review is based on my hands-on experience with Vista.
I installed this Beta version to the hard drive as a new installation. It saved the previous version of Windows and user files in one folder. Since I had no applications or personal information on the drive I was able to delete this folder after the installation was complete. I did note that the installation took more than 90 minutes to complete. I'm sure that this was partly related to the speed of this computer as well as the size of the operating system. Since this is a pre-release version, it probably contains debugging code which contributes to its overall size.
Once Vista was installed, it brought up a Control-Center Window. This had icons for several items, one being hardware that wasn't installed and other to add a printer. There were also a Vista tutorial and an icon for new items in Vista. The first thing I tried was to see what hardware wasn't installed. The first item on the list was the ethernet card, next the sound system, then a "Simple Controller" which I finally figured out was the modem and a SCSI controller. To simplify things I removed the modem and the SCSI card. Then I tried to install the ethernet card. At that point I started getting the User-Account Control (UAC) windows which required that I approve every step that might change the make-up of the computer. Every time I tried to install a driver I had several UAC windows to get through before I could get to the installation process—this in spite of the fact that I was running as the System Administrator.
Any of you that have set up Window XP Professional should be familiar with the Administrator and User-Account system. On my XP-Pro system I have the Administrator account and a User account, both of which are password-protected. I rarely use the Administrator account, instead I work in the User account. You might ask why I do this. The reason is that without the Administrator account running it is more difficult for trojans or parasites to make changes to any of the system files on my computer.
That is assuming that they can get past the firewall in the first place. I have seen too many XP Pro systems where the user is always running in the Administrator mode which has allowed invasions of the system by trojans & parasites. I have just cleaned out one system that was acting weirdly until I removed 295 parasites & trojans. Whenever I need to install software on my XP system, I simply use the "Run As" command and enter the Administrator password. That way I don't have to change from the User mode to the Administrator mode.
However, this has all changed in Vista with the User-Account Control. Even if you are logged on as the System Administrator, it requests your permission for access to anything related to the system or devices. Just to review the list of hardware in the Device Manager requires that you get permission to do so by clicking in the Permissions request window. When you try to install new software or drivers you get a security window which requires your permission to let you continue. Then you get the UAC window which requires that you verify that you know you are installing new software and that you think it is reliable! You even get a UAC window when you try to download and install Windows Updates! I have learned that there is a good reason for this security. According to one report I have read it is possible for Trojans downloaded to your computer along with a web page to inactivate your anti-virus, firewall and anti-parasite software. This can all be done in the background if you are running in the Administrator mode. Then changes can be made to your system software that can affect the operation of your computer. The UAC in Vista is designed to prevent this from happening. Once I set up my User account, then I had fewer UAC windows show up. They occurred only when I wanted to install new software or drivers. The only thing I had to do then was to provide the Administrator password.
Since I didn't have drivers for the ethernet card, I had to search for one on the Internet using my XP computer. After some research I was able to identify the make & model of the card. Then I found a driver on DriverGuide.com. I downloaded the zip file to my hard drive and burned it to a CD-RW. Then I transferred it to the hard drive on the Vista machine. Vista quickly extracted all the files for me. Then in the device driver, I clicked on "Update drivers" for the ethernet card and told it to search the drive for a driver. Lo and behold, it did find and install the driver. Now, after some hard-drive activity and approving the UAC to update the Network center, I was on the Internet.
The next thing I wanted was not my sound-card driver. It was an anti-virus program. According to the Vista information site only TrendMicro has an A-V program approved for Vista. However, I had noticed on the Avast Web site that they had a Vista-compatible version of their A-V software. So I went back to their web site and found that all versions of Avast are now Vista-compatible. So I downloaded a free Home Edition and installed it. Again, I had the UAC windows to get through to get the installation under way. After it was installed, I went through the Avast registration and my A-V program was operational. So far, the Avast is running normally and is doing its usual updates in the background.
I have been using the Windows Firewall as I assumed it was a two-way firewall. I have since learned that it is only an incoming firewall. I plan on replacing it with ZoneAlarm.
After a re-boot of the computer, Vista popped up a window and asked if it could install my multimedia sound card. I clicked on OK and the next window had two choices, one of which was to search the Internet for a driver. At this point I still had no indication as to the manufacturer of the sound card, so I selected the Internet search. In just a few minutes it changed from searching to installing the software. Then I had a window saying it had installed the software for the Creative Labs sound card! Now that, in my mind is quite an improvement over previous Windows versions.
The one interesting aspect of the Creative installation is that Vista could not install a driver for the game controller. As with most sound cards, there is a output for a game controller. For some reason, Vista was unable to install a driver for this output. It is now listed in the Device Manager as an unknown device. The sound card is listed correctly.
My next step was to set up a User account and shift out of the Administrator mode. That was accomplished quite easily through the Control Panel. So, once I was in User mode, I downloaded a copy of OpenOffice. When I started to install it, a UAC window popped up and I had to enter the Administrator password. Then the installation proceeded normally—not really any different from the User mode in XP.
Vista has a Security software setup in the Control Panel that is similar to that in XP. It shows the status of the firewall, anti-virus, updates, and a new item, Windows Defender. This latter software is an anti-parasite package. It has a default setting to scan your hard drive every day at 2:00 a.m. Since my computer is rarely turned on at that hour, I changed the setting to 5:00 p.m. It is more likely to be running at that time.
The last step was to install two networked printers. I clicked on the "Add printers" icon in the Control-Center Window.
That brought up the Printer-Installation Wizard. I selected a networked printer and told it to find the printer. Several
minutes later it told me there were no networked printers. So I backed up and selected browse for printer
. That took me
through the whole network tree, but I did find the printer. When I selected the printer and went to the next window, a
bright yellow warning popped up to tell me that "printer drivers can install viruses! Are you sure this networked computer
is trustworthy?" Well, since it is my main computer, I decided it was trustworthy and clicked on the OK
button. Then I got
the usual UAC window. After entering the password, the installation was completed and a test page printed. I had to go through
the same routine with the second printer. But at least both of them are installed and working.
The Vista computer is now part of my local network and I can share files with it. In fact, part of this article was written on the Vista computer using the OpenOffice I downloaded. I had intended to finish the article on that computer, but the hard drive died. I can't fault Vista for this, the computer is old and it was the original drive. So, when the new drive arrives, I will have to reïnstall Vista and all the drivers. Since I had activated this copy of Vista, it will be interesting to see what will happen when I have to activate the new installation.
Next month I hope to tell you of my experience with the Vista interface. So, hang in there, more information on Vista will be coming.
Dr. Lewis is a former university & medical-school professor. He has been working with personal computers for more than thirty years. He can be reached via e-mail at bwsail(at)yahoo.com.
Surprising New Search Engine
By Sandy Berger, Compu-KISS
sandy(at)compukiss.com
Google has been my search engine of choice for several years, but recent developments have made me change my allegiance to a new search engine.
Perhaps you read about it. A few weeks ago, 20 million of AOL's customers' Web-search queries appeared on the Web. These included the user's ID, the query typed into the search engine, and other information.
Newsmakers picked up on the story because of some of the dramatic Web
searches performed. For instance, AOL user 2708 searched for I hate my
ex boyfriend
, how to humiliate someone
, free angry
stuff to send to an ex lover
, and makehimpay.net
.
User 17556639 looked for even more vicious information with searches on
how to kill a wife
, photo of dead people
,
decapitated photos
, wife killer
, and steak and
cheese
. (Guess he got hungry.)
After the sensationalism died down, many people realized that the true story was that search engines are keeping a collection of information that can lead to a personal dossier of an individual. AOL’s information included user numbers that were identified by cookies, but users can also be identified by Internet addresses, bringing them closer to our true identities.
All of the big search engines keep such information. Recently Google, AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo were subpoenaed to turn over information of this type to the Justice Department. Of the big four, only Google refused to release the information.
In response to this story, one search engine, Ixquick, immediately issued a press release stating that they are taking steps to provide privacy protection for their users. Ixquick stated that after a search, they will immediately and permanently delete all personal search details.
I was impressed by a company who thought that protecting our privacy was more important than gleaning information from our searches and selling data for marketing purposes. I had never heard of Ixquick, but I immediately surfed over to www.ixquick.com. I was impressed with what I found.
Ixquick, which is owned by a Dutch company, is a metasearch engine. That means that it searches several databases to get its search results. Ixquick uses Yahoo/Alta vista, Gigablast, Ask Jeeves/Teoma, Open Directory and 7 other search engines. It is available in 18 languages.
Ixquick marks the search results with stars, one star for every search
engine that chooses that particular Web site as one of the ten best results
for your search. This effectively gives you the relevancy of the search
results. Also, the Ixquick interface is clean and easy to use. It allows you
to quickly choose if you want your search to find only one of the words of
your search phrase, all of the words, or the exact phrase. There is also a
place where you can easily enter words that you may want to eliminate from
your search. You don’t need to fool around with pluses, minuses, or quotation
marks as you do with some popular search engines.
I was extremely impressed with the Ixquick's International Phone Directory. Just type in a name and city or state and you can actually find people. Ixquick's Reverse Directory can tell you who’s calling when you enter a telephone number. With Bigfoot and most other people directories now charging for people searches, this is an extremely useful free search tool.
Ixquick also has a comparison shopping service and an image search feature. Like Google and others, Ixquick offers a search toolbar.
After using Ixquick for a few weeks, I can honestly say that I have been very happy with the results. Using it in conjunction with Google gives you a wonderfully wide selection of search results. If, however, you want to really keep your searches private, then you will want to use Ixquick exclusively. After the recent AOL debaukle, I feel that Ixquick is providing a great service not only as a search engine, but also as a leader on privacy issues.