Wisconsin All-computer User's Club

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February 2001 WAUCtalk Newletter

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Volume 18, Number 2

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It's that time again............
***********TIME TO RENEW YOUR WAUC MEMBERSHIP**********

You may mail your dues in to:

WAUC
P.O. Box 340241
Milwaukee, WI 53234-0241

Or bring it to the general meeting.  No increases in dues, still just $25 per year.

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Remember, if Naspa is your Internet service provider, you need to be a WAUC member in good standing to get their discounted rate.

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Note - SIG Name Changes

The HTML SIG has been changed to an Investment SIG.  Learn how to track your
investments online.  There will be no money exchanged nor any investment advice given.  This SIG is just to share online investment knowledge.

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The Multi-Format SIG will now be known as the Desktop Publishing SIG.  We will be doing the same things at the same location.  Only the name is changing.

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The Telecom SIG will now be known as the Internet SIG.  Again, we will be doing the same things we always do, at the same location.  Only the name is changing.

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Eric from Office Depot will be the presenter at the February general meeting.

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February 2001 Newsletter Table of Contents

December Board Meeting	President's Report
January General Meeting	January Demonstration
January Multi-Format SIG	December Multi-Format SIG
PC SIG	Stationary For Sale
Spring 2001 Comdex	Microsoft Picture-It
Apple II/IIGS SIG	Computer Fixes
Windows ME	Treasurer's Report

COMDEX 2001 - From the Web Address Newsletter
Wednesday, April 4th, 2001

WAUC will again charter a bus to Comdex in Chicago.  Reservations are first come, first served.

This is a full day, leaving Milwaukee at 8:30 AM, returning about 8:00 PM.  The cost is $25 for WAUC members, $30 for non-members.
Everyone is welcome.  Bus transportation, snacks on the bus, Bingo, bus driver's tip, Polish buffet and gratuity is all included.

If you are interested, contact Leo Hoffer at hoffleo9@naspa.net.
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December Board Meeting
Doris Regner, Marcia Zientek, Terry Harvey, Jackie Tamsett, and Leo Hoffer met at Marcia's house on December 28, 2000. Bruce Kosbab and Marie Bellin were sick, and Di Vukovic was on vacation.

We discussed the WAUC Annual Holiday Party and made notes on the amounts of meat, soda, etc. that were consumed.  Everyone was in agreement that the party was a great success.

The February board meeting will not be held on the last Wednesday of February. It will instead be held on Wednesday, February 21st.

Roger Brinkmeier and Bruce Schneider have updated the WAUC website and have done a great job.

We ironed out the details for staffing the Free Advice table at the Milwaukee Super Computer Show. WAUC members again will enjoy a $3 discount.

Upcoming topics at the general meeting are as follows:  January: Dr. Levine, February: Erik from Office Depot, March:  Naspa, and April: Swapfest.

We have a ton of door prizes and items for raffle.
Welcome New Members/

President's Report
There is no such thing as a free lunch!!  Sound familiar? Well with BlueLight and Netzero the free lunch may be getting smaller. Both the two big names in free Internet access, that is, NetZero and BlueLight now limit access time. Netzero has its Netzero Professional service that gives you 40 hours of Internet access a month for free; once you've hit 40 hours, you have the option of paying $9.95 for unlimited access the rest of that month. If you don't pay, you are locked out for the remainder of the month. BlueLight gives you 25 hours per month of free Internet access. That's
it. Reach that limit and you cannot log back into BlueLight until the next month. Learn more by reading the company's press releases:
Bluelight: http://www. bluelight.com/ispalert/
NetZero:  http://www.netzero.net/about_us/20001221nz _pro.html

Remember your Valentine this month. Send a free online Valentine, but don't forget the candy and flowers. There are many sites to choose from. Just search for online greeting cards in your browser and you'll be surprised. Keep your calendar open for COMDEX. The date is April 4th, and if you attended last year you know how much fun it was. Seating is limited and the bus does fill up fast.
Bruce Kosbab, President

January General Meeting
President Bruce Kosbab greeted sixty-two members and five guests to the January, 2001, general meeting.

Problems/Questions: The question, can a Mac and a PC be networked to a common printer got the answer, yes, they can. Ron Toro gets e-mail with images that he would like to send to others without including the original message and all the ad-dresses. When he tried copying and pasting, the image did not get sent. Terry suggested saving the image to disk and sending as an attachment. Another easier method is to right click on the image and select Copy image location from the submenu. Then paste the image in a new message.

Nellie Gurrath hesitates using Cue-Cat because she heard it disables the mouse. Professor Levine cautioned using CueCat because even though you think you are going to the address you select, CueCat takes you to Radio Shack, which will send you to the sponsor that paid for the message. Each CueCat has a unique JD, which identifies you and the places you visit on the Internet.

Bonnie Bates wanted to know if anyone had any positive or negative experiences with AOL 6.0, and any recommendations for buying a CD writer. One member had problems with AOL 6.0 causing some features to lock, like the wheel on his mouse. Terry suggested trying Naspa, but Bonnie does not require unlimited service and pays only $4.95 per month. Terry mentioned other advantages of Naspa members generally have had excellent service from Naspa.

Ron Toro mentioned that Pam Hartman had a very slow Internet connection using Aero ISP. When she called them about it, she was given a code to enter that speeded up her connection remarkably.  He wondered if other services provide that code. People with poor phone connections would welcome the improvement.

Netscape 6.0 seems to be slow running in one member's estimation. Bruce Schneider says Netscape 4.7 is limited in what it is able to do compared with Internet Explorer, which he prefers.

In answer to Bonnie's question about the CD writer: you get what you pay for; stay away from models that are cheaper priced; Plexter, Yamaha and HP would be recommended brands.

Sandy Karlovich really likes the My-Smart Pad she bought for her husband to use.  It made it easier to navigate the web with the buttons that are set to go to his favorite places.

Bruce called our attention to the Smart Computing magazine.  He finds many answers to common questions, tips on surfing the web, and how to make the most of your computer.

COMDEX: Mark your calendars for Wednesday, April 4,when a WAUC bus will travel to Chicago for a fun-filled day.

Super Computer Show: Richard Durand liked the addition of seminars that were included.   Pictures of WAUC members manning the WAUC table are on our web site: http://wauc.naspa.net.

Terry said she has a promotional video of James Smith's new game called Zaks. We'll be showing the approximately 3-minute video at the SIGs. If you like action games, this game has a lot of it.

The WAUC Indispensable Person Award this month went to Webmaster and SIG leader Bruce Schneider. There were some nice comments about the animated Christmas gif Bruce created on the WAUC website.

Leo had some programs and tutorials for sale at $5.00 each.

Instead of only one program being raffled, there were a number that one winner could choose from for either the PC or the Mac.

Disk of the Month: Sandy Karlovich has two utilities: RAMsize and Defrag; a game called Funny Ball; and another utility called Folderguard. Bruce mentioned that some games have an expiration date, and if you like the game well enough, you can send money for it.

Demonstration
We again welcomed Professor Leonard Levine, who had spoken at previous WAUC meetings.

Professor Levine used cartoons and slides to demonstrate his points. Many of the slides were take-offs on the horrid error messages we see on our screen, like: "Your computer's been running for 10 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds, Microsoft does not allow Windows system to run that long, that's why your computer's about to crash." To find more of this humor, go to http://www.thehumorarchives.com and click on Microsoft.

Professor Levine traced the evolution of computers from when the big breakthrough was a computer that cost less than $1 million to the present time. He also told us about the changes that have come about since the time colleges and universities prohibited using computers when submitting a thesis.

We appreciate Professor Levine's blend of fact and humor and look forward to his next presentation.  We hope to have more comments from Professor Levine written into the WAUC minutes, now that he's a regular WAUC member.
Marcia Zientek, Secretary
 

January Multi-Format SlG
The Multi-format SIG was held on Thursday January 11th, 2001, at Corporate Technologies. There were 7 people in attendance. Jackie Tamsett gave a demo on Print Shop Deluxe Version 6, her favorite program. It was a great demo that really got us all thinking about which program we thought we liked best.

This program has so many advantages over others. You can start out a project by personalizing a quick-start layout, help me design, or start from scratch options. It basically has the same categories as the others but you can do so much more within those categories. You can add water-marks, do many different kinds of text headlines (shapes, sizes, colors, proportions) etc. You can add many different effects to objects such as drop shadow, radiant glow, outline edge, and transparent effect. You can make logo graphics, seals, timepieces, signatures etc. You can customize the color from 100% down to 10% color.

You can also make an address list in this program and pick and choose who you want the same as you would in Works or Word. You can do envelopes, pre-designed ones or your own. The Program has quotes and verses such as "On this day", "Proverbs", and many more.

With this program you can import graphics with no renaming involved. The graphic just pops into place. You can lock and unlock graphics and also group graphics. You can import, export, change format and rename graphics. This program also has a spellchecker.

I've had this program for a long time and didn't realize all of what it could do, but thanks to Jackie we have all been enlightened.   Great demo Jackie!
Sandy Karlovich

The topic for February will be how to use crop ping tools in Print Artist Everyone should bring a blank disk.

December Multi-Format SlG
The Multi-format SIG was held Thursday, December 14th at Corporate Technologies, 9733 W. Greenfield Ave., West Allis at 7pm with 8 people in attendance.

Terry Harvey started the meeting by showing us several Christmas gifts she had made.  First she showed how to make personalized pens by using RSVP Pentel pens which can be purchased for around 60 cents each but must be purchased in packs.  Both Wal-mart and Office Depot carry them.  This project is completed by using a 1" by 3" label template and inserting it carefully into the pen. Sometimes it was difficult to feed in and a new label had to be made. Try rolling with tape, then remove the tape and wind around again, and insert.  Terry shared a polka dot design she created in Print Artist. She then demonstrated how it could quickly be changed to another design (i.e. hearts or shamrocks).

To change grouping choose Graphic, click Edit, Select All graphics, click OK. All will change to new graphic. The same steps can be used to change the color of all objects. Instead of change graphic choose change color.

The next gift Terry shared she learned about on the PALS site. "Hoojies" are clear flat glass stones with a picture attached behind and magnet to create refrigerator art. The glass stones can be purchased at Accents for $2.50 for 25. Beware of the iridescent clear stones at Wal-mart as it is difficult to see through them. Fifty extra strong 3/4" magnets can be found at Wal-mart for $5. Use Elmers No Wrinkle glue pen or other clear glue to attach picture and magnets. Allow at least 24 hours to dry. Terry said this was a time consuming project. First scan in a picture, laminate the picture, then glue picture and magnet on the back. Terry used Microsoft Picture lt. Go to crop. It has shapes to pick from.  Save. Copy and save in Print Artist.

The last 3045 minutes of the meeting were spent browsing in a PALS site showing recycling craft - CD Art. Creative people show their use for all those AOL CDs you receive in the mail. Take a look yourself at http://
www.zing.com/album/?id=429464077.

PC SIG
On December 6th, fourteen WAUC members attended the PC SIG held at the Super America meeting room at 60th and Layton.

Questions/Answers:

Media Player/Real Audio took over files on the computer. It was suggested that one try: My Computer> View> Folder Options> file type tab. This will allow you to change/edit file associations. A second suggestion was to download "Stop Cop" from the Internet and this will allow you to change associations. Another suggestion was going to Windows Explorer> Windows directory > Media directory. Click once to select file, Shift and Right click on file> click open with> and select program you want to use. Then click the box "always use this program to open this type of file." It was explained that .wav files play sound.

Another discussion ensued on the question of what to download to limit access to pornographic sites. It was suggested to try "CD.net" and search for a filter or blocker to limit access. A second suggestion was to contact Valorie Hauk at the Brookfield Library on Calhoun. A third suggestion was a search engine for "Internet Site Blocker" from the Internet. When using a search engine, use "quotation marks" to limit search to information within the quotes.

Roger then led a discussion on the COMDEX Computer show in Las Vegas. He attended the show from November 13th to 17th, and wrote a four page outline of what he felt was of interest to him. A short synopsis of his report is as follows:

Roger felt that it was the best COMDEX show in several years. The basic show theme seemed to be the new Palm technologies. When he entered the convention building, he was presented with an opportunity to "beam" or "download" the complete exhibit floor plan database to his Palm IIIc. The data would display a floor map indicating the location of the vendor he was looking for. They also provided a downloadable Las Vegas information database. The vendor providing this was Vindigo.

There were new wireless modems ($72) for the Palm type devices. Most of these services ran about $40/month. Kodak was demonstrating a new camera attachment for the Palm ($99) Pocket Photo, in the Palm booth, demonstrated a screen saver type program for the Palm. As Roger had just purchased a Palm IIIc with 8mgs memory ($319) and a Kodak camera, he sounded like he was literally in seventh heaven with his new toys.

ACDSee was demonstrating a new version of their graphic display soft-ware. The IRS was giving out CDs that included all the 1999 IRS tax forms. Visioneer demonstrated a scanner that included a Sony memory stick, which would allow the scanner to act as another input device to PCs. Pacific Image had a USIB slide and negative scanner that was faster than others on the market; had higher scan resolutions and was considerably less expensive. There was a new line scanner from Docupen that scanned a line at a time. You drag the scanner down the page and each line is scanned and stored. ORB showed a fast removable disk storage system - up to 5.7 GB storage per removable disk. Z@uid had another USB port device that is short, a little larger than the width of the USB slot, that plugs into the USB port and then another, smaller storage device actually slides into the end of the unit. These are called Flash Memory Cards and store as much as 64MB of data on each module.

We then previewed the WAUC website on Explorer. It included pictures and Christmas music. "Great Job".

Again, this is a very limited description of all that was said. Contact Roger if you want to know more details. Nine p.m. came quickly and the meeting was adjourned at this time.
Joan Machtel

Computer Stationary
Items for Sale
Cardstock (15 sheets).           $1.00
8usiness Cards/sheet                 .20
Address Labels/sheet                .25
Return Address Labels              .50
3 1/2" diskette Labels                .25
Iron-on Transfer Sheet            2.00
Decal 5heets, Clear-8+ x 11     1.75
Photo paper 8 1/2x 11              .65
Checkbook covers-clear vinyl  1.50
Magnets-Business card size       .25
Envelopes-4x6, pastel               .10
Envelopes-6x9 (4)                    .25
VHS Cassette Labels                .25
File folder labels                       .45
Certificates                              .10
WAUC Logos-Iron on            1.00
WAUC Logos-Clear vinyl       1.00
Magnetic 5heets                     1.25
 

Comdex 2001
January 9, 2001
It's that time of the year again for all you computer geeks to head south to Chicago for Comdex 2001.  WAUC is planning on chartering a bus for Wednesday, April 4th, 2001.

We will leave at 8:30am from the Park & Ride lot on 6th & Holt. If you are not there on time, we will leave without you.  We should get to Comdex about 10:30am.

We will serve juice and doughnuts on the way down followed by a short Bingo session with cash prizes.

We will leave Comdex at 4:30pm and proceed to the Jolly Inn for a 6:00pm buffet dinner of genuine Polish food.

The cost this year will be $25.00 per WA UC member, $30.00 per non-WAUC member, which includes bus fare, tip for bus driver, juice & doughnuts, bingo, buffet dinner and restaurant gratuity.

In order to determine if we have enough people interested in going, we request you sign up on the attached sheet. The bus normally accommodates 47 people, but we can order a 55 passenger bus if necessary. Seating and reservations are on first come, first serve basis. You do not have to be a member to go on the trip. Invite your spouse, friends, neighbors, etc. We also welcome other computer club members.

Make your checks payable to WAUC. Payment must be made by March 17, 2001. NO REFUNDS WILL BE ALLOWED.

You must also pre-register with Comdex. See copy of registration form, or register on line at hffp./Iwww.comdex.com for your free $100 exhibit pass. Priority code UAASAT

Be sure to wear comfortable shoes, carry a bag for all the freebies, and have a supply of business cards or labels, so you won't have to fill out all the registration forms at the vendor booths.

Contact Leo (hoffieo9@naspa.net) (414-421-5705) or any board member if you have any questions.
Leo Hoffer

Microsoft Picture It 2000 Review
By Sandy Karlovich
This is a desktop publishing software. With this software you can fix all photos in the Mini Lab. You can add special effects to photos and print or include them in your email.

For this software you need a multimedia PC with Pentium 166MHZ or higher processor, Windows 95, 98 or NT. You need 32 MB of RAM, 270 MB of available HD space, Quad speed CD-ROM drive. You also need a VGA monitor, 1MB of VRAM, mouse, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later. Explorer 5 is included on the CD.  This program was easy to install. It came with 2 CDs  - the first has setup and Picture It on it and the second  has projects such as collages, calendars, cards, design mats, design frames, putting pictures on magazine covers, funny money, and stickers. You can also make cards, business cards, certificates, flyers, and so much more. All of these are templates that you are able to change text and add your pictures to.

I'm an average user and I'd say this program could be used by a teen on up.

This program doesn't come with a manual. With the tutorials that come with it, you don't really need one. This program comes with a section on getting started with tutorial movies. You can learn how to stack pictures, do cutouts, create pictures for the web, add sounds and animation. You can remove wrinkles, touchup paint and clone painting colors, remove scratches from old pictures and change the brightness, contrast or tint. You can also send an email right from the program.

The only weakness of this program that came to my attention was in the saving of the pictures and using them in other programs.  You can not save them in a .jpg format. You can copy and paste after going through a few extra steps. They won't paste as a Metafile, you have to change them to a .bmp. You can also only view saved pictures on a floppy in the Picture It Program and not on a program such as ACDSee.

You can receive no-charge personal support via the web or the telephone. There is also an 800 number, pay-per-incident line you can call.

I checked on the web to see what this program would cost.  At this time, I could only find Microsoft Picture It 2001 for $39.95, Microsoft Picture It Photo Premium 2001 for $49.99 and Microsoft Picture It Silver Edition for $29.99.

I'm very happy with the ease of use and all that Microsoft Picture It 2000 can do and I would highly recommend it, in fact I have. The writeups on the other Microsoft Picture It Programs all look very similar.

Apple II/IIGS SIG
The Apple II SIG for January, 2001, took place on one the coldest and windiest evenings of the year.  Seven hearty WAUC members nevertheless showed up and as had been agreed upon earlier, we celebrated the venerable Apple II machine many of us started with, by going for pizza. Sister Samuel knew of the perfect place Kaleta's, a neighborhood pizza parlor, just kitty-corner from the Child Development Center of St. Joseph's, our usual meeting place. It was only a short walk, but it was so cold and windy that it was a considerable effort.

Kaleta's is a quaint family place with only a few tables and chairs but plenty of room for us. The staff was expecting us, made us feel welcome, and served us courteously and promptly. Beside general informal discussion, the group discussed possible activities for the coming year.  Among the ideas discussed was a demonstration of shrinking and unshrinking files and also, making an effort to obtain the WAUC library of Apple II software.

The pizza was great, a good time was had by all, and we all agreed we would be glad to return in the future.
Submitted by Richard Durand WAUC Member

Computer Fixes
Submitted by Terry Harvey
Jelayne Underwood wrote:
Here are some suggestions to try if you are having computer problems.

1. Turn off the computer and wait 5 minutes before turning back on. Some troubles fix themselves.

2. If that did not work, then run scan-disk and/or any 3rd party fix-it type programs like, First Aid by McAfee or Dr. Watson. I think Dr. Watson is by Norton. Or use any 3rd party fix-it program that you have.

3. If that did not work, then run an anti-virus program. Make sure it is up to date before you run it. Don't have an anti-virus program? Then try: http://www.esafe.com. It's free. Takes about 90 minutes to download at 33,000 bps. Or, try http://www.pcpitstop.com/.  I like them both.

4. If that did not work, go to the control panel, choose "system", click on the "device manager" tab. Check for any conflicts.  If you recently installed new hardware, click on hardware, then "properties".  Check for the newest driver.

5. If that did not work, try right clicking on the taskbar, choose properties, advance, then browse down until you see the start-up folder. Remove the shortcuts from this folder. (I drag and drop them to my desktop, but you can move them to another folder. They are only short cuts to the programs so it is safe to delete them if you want.)  Remove the shortcuts in the folder (DO NOT DELETE the start-up folder). Remove all the short cuts, even the anti-virus.  You can put the short cuts you still want back in later.
 

Then close the window. Shut down the computer. Unplug any printers, scanners, joystick, zip disks, phone lines, etc. that you still have attached. It is Ok to leave the monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse,  attached. Unplug the power strip from the wall, or the computer from the wall in case you don't use the strip. Then wait at least 5 minutes before plugging the computer into the power outlets and turn your computer back on. (Just plug in the power cords, do not reattach the printer, scanner, zip disk, joysticks yet.) After you turn things back on, you may want to run scandisk and any 3rd party fix-it programs. If the computer appears to work OK, then wait a day and install only one new hardware item, like the printer. If there are still no conflicts, then on the 2nd day add more hardware, i.e. scanner. Wait at least one full day in between adding new hardware software, so you can tell what might be causing the conflict.

6. lf that does not work, try contacting tech support for your computer.

7 Not happy with the help you get at tech support? Then use a search engine, like http://www.ask.com and see if they have any suggestions. Or, try http://www.egroups.com and see if they have a user group that may offer suggestions.

8. Computer still not working? Well, you can try to use the "recovery" disks that came with your computer. Because each computer is different, follow the directions very carefully. Remember to back up your user files, or you may lose them when you use the recovery program.

Our sincere condolences to Peter Lee and family in the recent loss of his mother-in-law and father

Update on WIN ME
Friday January 5, 2001, started out as a normal day, but quickly turned into a day of disaster. I have a program called Signature Mail, which allows me to affix my signature onto an e-mail. Since the program stopped working a couple of weeks ago, I researched the problem and determined that it was not set up as an application in Netscape V.4.07.

I went to Netscape Communicator I Edit I Preferences I Applications and was going to add the application. I clicked on add new and was asked for a description, which I gave as Signature Mail. Then I had to add a file extension which I called EXE. I was asked to provide a mime format, image/tif, then select a location which I called C:/Win/Programs/Netscape 4.07.

Apparently this was a horrible mistake, because what I had done was to inadvertently delete the WIN Me.EXE file and was no longer able to execute any of the executable files in my operating system. None of the shortcut icons on my desktop worked, I could do practically nothing with my computer.  I thought if I could get back to the restore point before I goofed up, I would be able to again use my computer. Since I had no Exe files available this did not work. I then thought if I reinstalled Win ME my problems would be solved, again no luck.

Finally, out of desperation, I contacted Eric Neitzke from Office Depot, who came over and through his expertise and knowledge was able to reinstall WIN Me by going through DOS. Believe me when I say I will never attempt to do something for which I am not knowledgeable about again. The computer works fine again now.

The moral of the story is, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
Leo Hoffer

Treasurer's Report
December  2000

Beginning Balance	$3909.72
Income
Membership Dues	1177.00
Rebates	34.99
PC DOM	14.00
Lotus 123 sales	18.00
Raffle	13.00
Paper Sales	3.25
Paper Sales 3.25	3.25
Total Income	$1260.24
Expenses
Doris Regner -- Prntng/Broch/swtshts	69.39
Marcia Zientek -- Postage	66.00
Jason Maline -- Custodian/Donation	30.00
Terry Harvey -- Door Prizes	126.92
Postmaster -- P.O. Box	19.00
R Gordon  --   Refund Paper	2.00
C. Lutterbie -- Refund/Dues	25.00
Total Expenses	$338.31
Ending Balance	$4831.65

Jackie Tamsett, Treasurer

 

Updated: January 30, 2001

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