COMPUTER CLUB COMMENTS

ByPhillip Shuppel

President

KeyStrokes going Paperless in January 2004

We are blessed that Sun City and the Computer Club both continue to grow and with this growth comes change. The Computer Club has over 500 members and delivering the monthly newsletter takes a rotating staff of 50 people. Sun City has over 2700 houses now and at build-out it is expected to be around 7000 houses. Finding the increasing number of volunteers gets more challenging every year. We have been testing and refining the electronic KeyStrokes newsletter on our web site (www.suncitycc.org). We will notify you by e-mail when it is available on-line. The switch over to a paperless newsletter will take place with the January 2004 issue. The best part about going paperless is that the newsletter will not be black and white. It will have more graphics and an imaginative use of color that is much more engaging. The staff has worked long and hard to make this happen but we are open to suggestion. We think of complaints as free consulting – it saves us money. Send suggestions to me at pshuppelsccc@davtv.com. A few printed copies of KeyStrokes will be available in the Computer Room for those who do not have e-mail.

E-mail Abbreviations

Abbreviation usage is quite rampant with e-mail. In the quest to save KeyStrokes, users have traded clarity for confusion (unless you understand the abbreviations). Some of the more common abbreviations are listed in the table below. I would recommend that you use abbreviations that are already common to the English language, such as FYI and BTW. Beyond that, you run the risk of confusing your recipient.

This	Means This
BCNU	be seeing you
BTW	by the way
FWIW	for what it's worth
FYI	for your information
IMHO	in my humble opinion
OBO	or best offer
ROTFL	rolling on the floor laughing
RTFM	read the funny manual
TNSTAAFL	there's no such thing as a free lunch
TTFN	ta ta for now
TTYL	talk to you later

Phillip’s Web Site Pick of the Month

I found a great site for you. My first visit was three hours. It’s like picking a great book and not being able to put it down. Try http://www.computerhistory.org/ - Five decades of computer history. Just great!

Does the following ring a bell with you?

Components The 5 1/4" flexible disk drive and diskette were introduced by Shugart Associates in 1976. This was the result of a request by Wang Laboratories to produce a disk drive small enough to use with a desktop computer, since 8" floppy drives were considered to be too large for that purpose. By 1978, more than 10 manufacturers were producing 5 1/4" floppy drives.

Computers IBM released its PC Jr. and PC-AT. The PC Jr. failed, but the PC-AT, several times faster than original PC and based on the Intel 80286 chip, claimed success with its notable increases in performance and storage capacity, all for about $4,000. It also included more RAM and accommodated high-density 1.2-megabyte 5 1/4-inch floppy disks.

Grace Hopper (1906-1992)
1987 Fellow Award Recipient

For her development of programming languages, computer instruction, and lifelong naval service.

Admiral Hopper in a lecture taught me that a nanosecond is 11 inches long. On September 9, 1945, Grace Hopper recorded the first actual computer "bug" - a moth stuck between the relays.

MAC SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

In lieu of the usual meeting in September, Members of the Mac Club (and spouses) will go for a luncheon buffet at Carsonie’s Italian Eatery at the Bridge Center on Monday, September 8 at 1:00 pm. If you would like to join us, call Lynn by Thursday, September 4.

For more information about the Mac Special Interest Group, call Lynn Conley at 3906.'

GENEALOGY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

The Genealogy Group has installed Family Tree Maker (Version 10) on most of the computers. (Thanks, Computer Club.) We had a full house at a FTM workshop we did during the summer. Hopefully, we will be doing additional workshops in the new year.

The next meeting will be held on September 3 at 7 p.m., in the Computer Room. Bob Eberly, from Hilton Head will present "Your Ancestor and the Civil War." Most of us will find that some of our ancestors fought in the Civil War and access to records has become a little easier, on the Internet and otherwise. Bob has a lot of experience tracking down his Civil War folks and will share what he has learned. Guests are always welcome.

For more information about the Genealogy Group, please contact Sharon Ede at 705-7987 '

MUSIC SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

The music SIG will continue meeting on the third Monday of the month. The next meeting will be Monday, September 15 - 7-8:30 pm. The September topic will be Music Match Jukebox, including line-in recording. In October, we hope to actually transfer a vinyl LP to the computer, using Music Match Jukebox. I will need a turntable for this. Please let me know if you have one we can use.

The meeting will start with open discussion for up to 30 minutes, followed by the program. We had a great meeting in June. Please come with questions and answers. Sharing information is fun!

For information, call Diane Hutchings 7805 ' or e-mail to dianehutch@aol.com.

PROGRAMS

Three Terrific Websites - We are beginning the Fall season on September 8 with an excellent program that will be of interest to all. SSS Productions (Robin Seaver, Sam Sugarman, and Phil Shuppel) will each present one of their favorite websites. I have looked at all three and agree with them and am sure you will find them very interesting, informative, and useful. Be sure to bring a pad for notes.

What are the websites? Check our website www.suncitycc.org just prior to the meeting when they will be posted.

MEMBERSHIP

Please welcome the following new members:

May-June
Anderson, Ken & Jan	2420
Becker, Donald	2061
Daniel, Carolyne & Gil	683-2101
O’Reilly, Joe	1026
Pitras, Albert	9975
Rees, William	3585
Stanton, Gerry (Ms)	3585
Sweatt, Lorrie	1025
July
Bily, Judy & Richard	247-2374
Cameron, Donald	7743
Fowlkes, Jere (Mr)	7772
Gannon, Joseph	7660
Gerona, Mae	7300
Hastings, Thomas	1060
Hippensteel, Donald & Glenna	6530
Kelly, Wendy	9408
Lebow, Irene	5361
Mayrand, Ray	7753
McNamara, James & Eleanor	9516
Meek, Paula	1092
Palmieri, Ralph	7300
Raye, Mary Anne	3566
White, Robert & Koto	3031
August
Bauer, Bill	3215
Cummings, Andi	9990
Deane, Ingrid	7886
Fuchs, Margaret	5125
Grine, Pat	2013
Hobbs, Dru	6826
Meador, Lee and JoAnn	3160

Any questions regarding Membership, e-mail Diane Frazier-Ciravolo at disfc@aol.com or call 3841 '

NOTES FROM THE EDUCATION CHAIR

Class sales for September and October are Monday September 8from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Computer Room and 6:15 to 6:45 p.m. in Pinckney Hall before the monthly meeting. On the class schedule we have several old favorites and a few new classes to offer members this fall. Our Instructors, Assistants and Monitors are all volunteers; we appreciate the time and effort they contribute!

Jim Murnane, Club Past President, is offering a free Computer Club Orientation for new and existing members. Club member, David Rosenberg, who’s been giving our flatbed scanner a workout, now has almost all of his paper records (including tax returns back to 1959) scanned and archived to CDs. Based on his experience, David is offering a two session workshop called Creating a Paperless Home Office. The first session is an explanation of the project, the concepts, and the discipline required, and is available free to 20 registrations. The second session will demonstrate the computer techniques required to transfer paper records to CD, and will be sold at the end of the first session. David is also offering a new workshop on using the Treasury Department’s Savings Bond Wizard. Do you know how much your saving bonds are worth today? Do you know the best months to sell your saving Bonds and not miss interest? In two hours you can learn not to let money slip away from you.

Often spaces are still available after scheduled class sales. Beginning September 9 you will be able to check the class Black Box in the Computer Room during open times to see if the class or workshop you are interested in is still available. If it is, there will be one or more forms behind the associated tab in the Box. Fill out the form; tear off the Yellow copy and paper clip your check to the White copy. You will find complete instructions in the Box. Also, we will begin updating the Classes This Month and Classes Next Month links on our Web site each weekend so you will be able to check online to see what may be available.

If you have comments, questions or suggestions, please contact Robin Seaver (searobin@islc.net) or Diane Hutchings (dianehutch@aol.com).

Classroom Assistants Needed

As the fall classes begin we’d like to inform our new members and remind our members of long standing of the opportunity to help the Club and further your knowledge of a subject by being a Classroom Assistant. The instructors usually have one or two people, with some knowledge of the class help the students as they work at the computers. One need not be an expert. Once you have taken the course offered at the Computer Room and have some knowledge of the subject and the ability to help people follow the instructor’s directions, you are ready to be an assistant. This frees the instructor to concentrate on the material being presented and gives the students individual help. It also offers the assistant an opportunity to further understanding of the subject being taught. In the case of a new class being offered, check with the instructor if you feel you could be of help and would like to assist.

There are a number of qualified people now volunteering their time, some every month, to assist with the classes. A big Thank You goes to all of you for helping make the Computer Club a success and making the instructor’s job a little easier (as well as mine!). Any and all of you interested in becoming a Classroom Assistant for any of the classes listed for the coming months, please e-mail me at jbeb@aol.com or call me at 705-5417 and I’ll make every effort to fit your schedule into the class schedule. Those of you who have done classes in the past can e-mail me as well, when you see a class in which you would like to help. Be sure to put “classroom assistant” as the subject as I delete unknown e-mail with great abandon! Jackie Bushey, Classroom Assistant Coordinator

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE JUNE MEETING

Phillip Shuppel, President, called the meeting of June 9, 2003 to order at 7:00 p.m.

Tips and Tricks

Robin Seaver demonstrated the Atomic Clock and how to access it on your own computer. You can click the link on the SCHH Computer Club web site or go to http://www.time.gov. Newer Macs and XP computers are already set up with the Atomic Clock to synchronize time. To download it to older computers, go to http://boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/; click Internet Time Service, and then click Windows 95 and later. Robin recommends saving the download to the desktop for easy use. Instructions may be downloaded and synchronizing may be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Help with Atomic Clock or AAR may be obtained whenever there is someone scheduled for computer help in the Computer Room.

President’s Report – Phillip Shuppel

Phillip was wearing his new tee shirt imprinted with the Club website. He emphasized that it is important to type .org at the end of the site name, and not .com. If you type .com, you will get Sun City Country Club in Australia. His tee shirt was designed by Diane Hutchings using a computer. She would be happy to give you advice on how to get started with a project such as this.

Technical Report – Bob Rasmussen

Bob reported that several computers in the Computer Room were deluged by water when an air conditioner pan in the ceiling overflowed. The technical meeting is the second Wednesday of the month at which they will work on several problems including assessing any damage done by the water overflow. Bob reminded the group that sometimes just unplugging a cable and plugging it back in again can solve a computer problem. The teacher’s projector became overheated and has left a yellow spot, which is projected onto the center of the screen. The projector will be sent out for repair this summer.

A new Broadcast Group is being formed and is in need of some computer help in programming: 1) getting the schedule for Channel 50 for programs and videos into computer format so that it can be put on the air, and 2) writing the scheduler in the broadcast room for running programs. Applications for volunteers to help are in the CAM office. They may be turned in to Bob, any of the Broadcast group members, or to the CAM office. Bruce Barton (who has been video taping our programs) is a member of the Broadcast Group.

Treasurer – Ron Garner

April 2003 Balance Forward $20,498.65

May Income $547.91

May Expenses $496.02

Operating Balance as of

May 31, 2003 $20,550.54

Education – Diane Hutchings

There are no classes scheduled for July and August. Classes for September and October will be arranged in August. Since the first Monday in September is Labor Day, class sign up will be on September 8. If you have any ideas for new classes, please give them to Robin Seaver or Diane.

Membership – Diane Frazier-Ciravolo

There were 134 attending the meeting (8 of whom were visitors). Ten people have signed up for membership since the last meeting making the current membership a total of 575. As of July1, membership dues will be prorated.

Monitors – Richard LaFever

There are currently 61 monitors. Even though there are no classes in July and August monitors should still sign up to keep the room open as many hours as possible. On weekends, the monitors need to make arrangements to get the Computer Room key early, as the CAM office is only open Saturday morning. As an experiment, the weekly monitor schedules will be sent via e-mail, as well as being delivered to monitor’s mailboxes. If monitors have any comments about either forms of delivery, contact Richie Sherson at rhsraleigh@aol.com.

Program – George Weyhrich

George reminded the Computer Club members that the Veteran’s Club has burning ceremonies of old flags.

If anyone has suggestions for new programs, please let George know. Due to a problem in scheduling, the representative from AMD could not be here. He will be at the Hilton Head Computer meeting on Wednesday and Sun City CC members are welcome to attend.

George introduced Chip Creed of Computer Dynamics and Robin Seaver of our Education Committee who gave an interesting program including “How to burn a CD.”

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted

Pat Beaty, Secretary

Tips and Tricks
President’s Tips of the Month

Stop Moving My Task Bar!

One of the biggest problems with the task bar is just how easy it is to move, but if you don’t know how you moved it, then how do you move it back? If you are tired of accidentally moving your task bar, lock it in place! Right click anywhere on the Task Bar and select the “Lock the Taskbar” option. This is on by default in Windows XP.

Right Click to Print!

Do you ever need to quickly print a file from Windows Explorer or your desktop? There is no need to open the application, and then print the file. Just right click the file name and select print. Your application will be launched and you will be in the print menu. Once the file is printed your application will close automatically.

Cool Custom Screen Savers!

You can create a custom screen saver slide-show from a folder of your favorite photos. Right click the desktop, click Properties on the Short cut Menu and than click the Screen Saver Tab. Select My Pictures Slideshow on the Screen Saver drop down menu, click settings, then click the Use Pictures in This Folder Browse button and select the location of your pictures