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Volume 8, Issue 10 - December 2004 |
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Please submit any comment, article, tip, or suggestion for the January issue to Sandy Tucker (sandy1959@davtv.com) no later than December 20. Remember that articles should be submitted by e-mail or placed on disk and delivered to 2 Coburn Drive East. |
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Index |
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DECEMBER HOLIDAY PARTY
Seating is limited to 300; reservations are required and close Monday, December 6, 2004. See Programs below for more information.
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Click Classes This
Month There are no classes after the first week in December. Classes will start again the week of January 17. First class sales will be January 10 1-3pm in the Computer Room; also 6-6:30pm in Pinckney Hall before the monthly meeting. Any remaining available classes may be purchased in the Class Sales Black Box in the Computer Room during open hours. |
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE |
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Season’s Greetings to You All! J
Note that when you click on links, images and pages may open in this frame and not a separate page. To return to this column, be sure to use the back button. In the future, we will try to have the newsletter set to open links in new pages for your convenience.
A Barney Tale
Last month, I discussed in detail antivirus programs. Some images I linked to timed out and Barney showed up instead. My apologies folks! I really did not expect the images to expire so quickly. In the future, I’ll have to link to my own web space for best reliability. Personally, I got a chuckle out of it! J
My Holiday Wish List
Naturally, this list will be mostly computer related. First up is a new monitor. What I would like is a Dell 2001FP 20” LCD Display. It’s not made by Dell (nothing is) but Dell resells and puts their brand on it. It’s a winner, having been positively reviewed by several online and print magazines. And I know of someone highly knowledgeable in Florida who owns one and swears it’s the best he has ever seen. A couple of weeks ago, Dell had the 2001FP on special for less than $650 including shipping. Currently, it’s back up to $800----no it’s back on special at 10% off! After the holidays, I’ll check it out again.
A New Computer
First, I can truly wait several months or a year or more as my home-built Athlon XP 2800+ with 1 GB RAM and a Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro video card is sufficient. With my club duties and other things, I really don’t have time for games for a while.
But if I were to buy---no, build a new computer, I would get a new, quieter case by Coolermaster or Antec, get an Antec Neo-Power 480 Power Supply, and probably select an nForce3 motherboard such as the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum with an Athlon 64 3500+ or faster (as in expensive) processor. I would splurge and get one or two Western Digital Raptor 74 GB 10000 RPM Serial ATA drives and install them in a RAID configuration, with a standard 120GB ATA drive from my personal inventory for data storage. The Raptors are among the fastest consumer drives available and can help a new computer fully boot in less than 20 seconds. I am not kidding about that!
I would also upgrade my sound and get a top-notch Audigy 4 system from Creative. In the video department, I’d keep my old card for a while until prices of the Nvidia 6800 Ultra series comes down a bit. Currently, the 6800 Ultra costs as much if not more than most main system processors (Pentium 4, Athlon 64, etc.).
Seriously, I don’t need a new computer, so I will wait a while and probably lower my objectives. But right now, that Dell monitor would be great. J
Shopping Notes
There is no doubt some of you will be buying computers during December or during post-holiday sales. Some of those offers in ads initially sound mighty tempting. Just be sure to explore the various options and the fine print. Be sure you get at least one CD-RW drive and not a single basic CD-ROM drive. Also, I recommend springing for 512 megabytes of RAM. Memory is presently inexpensive and frequently packaged with hard drive upgrades, etc, making additional RAM one of the best upgrades you can add to your new computer.
For word processing, you can use WordPad for basic work and get good results. For an example of a WordPad document, check out our Membership Application form via the link on the Club’s Home Page.
For more advanced work, Corel WordPerfect software is outstanding, considered by many in some respects to be superior to Microsoft Word. WordPerfect comes with many basic packages and can be used to create Word compatible documents providing one saves the document in Word format. That is a feature of WordPerfect many people are not aware of.
Microsoft Office (which includes Word) comes in several flavors. If you are a student and attending classes, you qualify for the Student/Teacher edition available from Staples and other places such as Sam’s. It’s available for under $130.
As for security software, I still say avoid Norton Internet Security 2004. Anything else is acceptable, including the new Norton Internet Security 2005 for new computers. Just be sure to leave the 2004 version in Dell’s or any other system builder’s inventory.
The 64-bit Question
I’ve found from research that the high-end computer market is now being shaken up as knowledgeable buyers are increasingly opting for AMD’s high-performance Athlon 64 series from Hewlett-Packard and other specialty builders. As a result, AMD and Intel are now nearly tied at the very top-end market in sales. Intel has indeed taken notice. Following AMD’s lead, Intel will be activating 64-bit extensions in their newest versions of the Pentium 4. After 64-bit-enabled Intel compatible mainboards and BIOSes are released for manufacture, I expect Dell to begin selling 64-bit capable models during the first half of 2005.
Frankly, Intel is somewhat surprised by the Athlon 64’s sales success, originally believing buyers wouldn’t go for it in such numbers this early in the 64-bit game. Of course, it didn’t help that manufacturing troubles with the next generation of Pentium processors forced Intel to take an unplanned processor development path, giving AMD a chance to increase market share in the high-performance arena.
The Mainstream
In the middle and low-end markets, Intel is still the leader by far thanks to marketing initiatives by system builders such as Dell, who is still successfully pushing in print and video markets the entry-level Dimension 2400 with an old and obsolete version of the Intel Celeron. And for computer buyers who don’t need anything but the bare basics, that is acceptable. But I personally would never recommend the Dimension 2400. The Celeron D, Athlon XP, Sempron, and the Pentium 4 processors available in other Dell, Gateway, and HP models far outperform it for only a few dollars more.
The Dell Dimension 3000
I have a client whose two computers have given her much grief since she upgraded both to Norton Internet Security 2004. Removing that software did not fully recover either machine to optimum condition. So she ordered a Dimension 3000 from Dell and customized it with a floppy drive and 512 megabytes of RAM plus Microsoft Office Small Business Edition. Feeling somewhat snake-bitten after her Norton Internet Security experience, she opted for the Dell/McAfee Security Suite.
The first computer arrived on time. Upon setup, we discovered the floppy drive was not flush against the diskette access port. Opening the case revealed my worst fear; the floppy drive mount had not been securely fastened to the upper 5.25-inch drive cage. The entire assembly fell rearward in shipment, bending a RAM DIMM and the associated socket on the motherboard, fatally wounding the new computer and giving Dell a black-eye for slack quality control.
The replacement Dimension 3000 arrived a few days later. With 512 megabytes of RAM, a 7200 RPM ATA/100 hard drive, and a 3 GHz Pentium 4 processor, this proved to be one very nice compact machine. It responded well to keyboard and mouse input, and I experienced no delays opening, running, and closing applications. Boot-up was quick. However, shutdown was somewhat delayed possibly due to Service Pack 2 and shutdown settings in the Dell/McAfee Security Suite. There are ways to speed that up, but I decided to leave the computer in its default configuration.
Video and sound are integrated, and quite capable for most business and home applications. Serial ATA drive capability is not currently available in the Dimension 3000, but truthfully, that is not required. There is more to hard drive speeds than the data interface and currently, significantly better performance from Serial ATA requires 10,000 RPM drives, which are still quite expensive and somewhat short on storage capacity compared to standard ATA drives.
The Dell/McAfee Security Center came with a 90-day subscription to McAfee VirusScan and Personal Firewall. Getting it updated was an exercise in patience, as only a dial-up connection with AOL 9.0 was available. But once done, it worked well.
Overall, my client is very happy with the computer. Her one major complaint is that she was counting on having WordPerfect Office 12 installed along with Microsoft Office. She saw nothing in the print ad flyer she received that indicated a substitution was involved, especially since she paid Dell a premium price for Office 2003 Small Business Edition.
Well, nobody’s perfect, including Dell Computer. But I’m happy to report that the Dimension 3000 is one very capable machine at the right price and that Dell still knows how to do it right. The Dimension 3000 should serve most users quite well for the next four to six years or more. You can check it out online, via telephone at 1-800-999-3355, or for a more personal touch you can contact Bob Michatek (Computer Doc) at 705-6157 here in Sun City. Bob is a Dell Value-Added System Reseller and provides clients with a more personal touch during all phases of sales and services.
Anti-Trojan Programs
We’re talking about Trojan horses, as in the kind computer users inadvertently invite in from the Internet. Not truly considered viruses, most anti-virus programs detect only a few. So how does one effectively find and remove Trojan horse programs? If not already using Kaspersky Antivirus, the easiest way is to install one of the following programs.
A-SquaredA free version of A2 is available here. To use A2, register, download the setup file, install and update and run it. That’s all there is to it. For further details, read the Help file included.
TrojanHunter 4.0
My personal favorite is from Mischel Internet Security of Germany, a product called TrojanHunter 4.0 (TH4). TH4 scans your hard drive for known and suspect malware that can wreak havoc with your computer security. TrojanHunter cleanses by renaming the suspect file with a dual .tcf extension. This renders the offending files non-functional, giving the user an opportunity to determine an appropriate course of action. To remove the files completely, run Search/Find for *.tcf and delete the found files.
TH4 is available for approximately US$50 and has no expiration or renewal at the present time. Updates are downloaded semi-automatically and may be fully automated via the Windows Task Scheduler.
A trial download is available here but must be manually updated. Go here for instructions for manual updating during the thirty-day trial period.
BOClean
This is a tiny program that runs resident in memory and quickly detects and blocks the first indication of Trojan activity. I’ve found from online research that users swear by it. I’ve never heard of any major complaints. For product information, visit www.nsclean.com.
Defender Pro 5-in-1
Though not a dedicated anti-Trojan application, I said last month that I would do a summary review. This security suite features an older version of Kaspersky’s products. My testing revealed potential problems so I don’t recommend it. A new 2005 version is available and I will report on it to you in the next couple of months.
Reminder for the Party
Our Holiday Party is December 13, 2004 at 7:00pm in Pinckney Hall. Ray Smith will provide entertainment. Those of you with reservations, we look forward to seeing you.
May you all have a warm and safe Holiday Season!
Allyn Perdue SCHHCC President |
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The Mac Group will hold their annual holiday party on Monday, December 6 at 6:30pm in Pinckney Hall. All Mac users and their spouses are invited to attend. It is a potluck supper. If you are coming, please RSVP to Lynn Conley at 3906 by December 2.
The Mac group will start the new year off with a meeting on January 3 at 7:00 p.m. in the Computer Room. We will look at keeping track of your expenditures using Quicken or a spreadsheet. Any computer club member who has a Mac is invited to this meeting.
For more information about the Mac Special Interest Group, call Lynn Conley at (3906.
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GENEALOGY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP |
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The Genealogy SIG will not be meeting in December. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, January 5, 2005 at 7:00 pm in the computer room. There will be no speaker that night. We will discuss programming for 2005.
For more information about the Genealogy Group, contact Gail Boggs at 7932 or kaila5@davtv.com.
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MUSIC SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP |
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Diane Hutchings will continue to be available for music help. Watch the monitor schedule for music help or e-mail at dianeh@alum.bu.edu for assistance. |
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DIGITAL IMAGING SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP |
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The Digital Imaging SIG is open to members of the Computer Club or the Photography Club. For more information about the Digital Imaging SIG, contact Vicki Levy at (6580 or Robin Seaver at searobin@islc.net. |
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Do you have computer related questions or problems? If so, the
Koffeeless Klatch is the place for you. We meet Friday mornings from 9:00 to 10:00 in the
Computer Room. The meetings are informal. Feel free to come late or leave
early. We know you are busy. Each week, we do a short presentation on topic
of general interest and then handle questions and answers. |
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December 13
Come join us at Pinckney Hall for our annual Holiday Party. We are lucky to have Ray Smith as our entertainment. He is a musician and a musicologist now teaching music history classes for TLX. He will entertain us with his collections and vast knowledge of music. Invitations are available in the Computer Room if you no longer have your email invitation. Fill out the short form and leave it in the box in the Computer Room or return to one of the volunteers listed on the invitation. The price of admission is an appetizer or a desert. Seating is limited. Please arrive 10 minutes early with your dish.
January 10
Valerie Matthews, Principal Sales Engineer with ScanSoft, Inc., will discuss ScanSoft's primary scanning applications, PaperPort 10 and OmniPage 14, and also touch on the related applications PDF Converter and PDF Create! Valerie will demonstrate the software, including using it with a scanner and a camera. There will be topics of interest to both experienced users of the applications and computer users who are new to scanning and optical character recognition (OCR). |
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NOTES FROM THE EDUCATION CHAIR |
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Our wonderful volunteer instructors are taking a well-deserved break during the holidays. Computer classes will resume the week of January 17. First class sales will be Monday, January 10 1-3pm in the computer room and 6-6:30 in Pinckney Hall. Check Classes This Month and Classes Next Month after the first of the year to see what will be offered in the January/February time frame.
If you have comments, questions or suggestions for the Education committee, please contact Robin Seaver (searobin@islc.net) or Diane Hutchings (dianeh@alum.bu.edu). |
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MEMBERSHIP |
Membership needs to know if any member changes your email at any time during the year. Contact George Weyhrich (weyhrich@hargray.com).
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One hundred plus new members have joined since the last meeting. A warm welcome to you all!
Memberships Registrations for 2005 are now welcome from all current members, as well as new members. Memberships are $20 for one and $35 for two persons from one household. Please have all renewals in for 2005 before January 1, 2005. Registration forms can be found on line, as well as on the bulletin board in the Computer Room. Please put the lower portion of the form, along with your check in the green box in the Computer Room or in the lower mailbox at 307 Hampton Place.
We look forward to seeing you wearing your new 2005 name tags!
Membership chair George Weyhrich – 705-5696 – Weyhrich@hargray.com
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Tips and Tricks:
You have seen several graphic images in this newsletter including the menorah, nativity scene, flickering candles and lighted wreath to the left. You can make any of these (or other images you find on the Web) your own.
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Wishing you a joyous holiday and all the best for 2005!
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Pre Meeting Program:At 6:30pm, a question and answer session was conducted by Bob Rasmussen with an assist from Allyn Perdue. Questions were submitted by e-mail before the meeting and additional questions were taken from the attending members. President: Allyn PerdueAllyn called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. He asked the members if any would be interested in building a computer. There were a few members interested.
The minutes from the October meeting were approved as published in the November KeyStrokes.
Education: Robin Seaver The black box for November and December class sales is almost empty. The next classes will begin the week of January 17. The January and February class schedule will be available after the first of the year. Sales for January and February classes will begin the second Monday in January. The demand is high, so members should line up early.
Monitors: Richard LaFeverThe Monitor Committee has updated the monitor list. New monitors have been added and monitors that are no longer performing duties have been deleted. The Computer Room access list has been updated. This list includes Club Staff, Instructors, and Computer Room Administrators. The Activity Desk at CAM uses this list to give out keys to the Computer Room.
Membership: Diane Frazier-Ciravolo and George Weyhrich Diane has turned over the Chairmanship to George Weyhrich. We now have 923 members. There were 155 attending the meeting, including 4 guests. We have 94 new members, 80 new members joined at the Club Fair. The form for renewing club membership is available on the website and in the Computer Room. Members may fill out the form, include a check, and put it in the box in the Computer Room, or in George’s mailbox at 7 Tuten Court. The new member tags are ready now. Renewal tags will be ready in a week to 10 days. They will be available for pick up in the Computer Room. Assisting George on the Membership Committee will be Suzanne Bergman, Jane Deakin and Chuck Herman. George thanked the Committee and also Stephanie Kitchen for their assistance. Our President, Allyn Perdue, presented Diane with a bouquet of flowers and thanked her for her outstanding work as Membership Chairman.
Treasurer: David RosenbergDavid announced that he is moving from Sun City and asked for members to apply for the Treasurer position. David gave another creatively designed, detailed financial report.
August 31, 2004 opening checking balance $14,881 September and October Income + 1,791 September and October expenses - 454
October 31, 2004 Checking Balance $16,218 Treasury Bills 30,000 Petty Cash account 60
October 31, 2004 Total Cash/Investments $46,278
Technical: Bob Rasmussen The Technical Committee will meet Wednesday, November 10 at 7pm. Ron McLean will hold the meeting. Clean-up and updating will be done on the PCs. There will be no Technical Committee meeting in December.Programs: Margery SimmsThe January presentation will be by ScanSoft discussing the Paperport program for organizing your files and paper work.
December 13 is the Holiday Party. Several volunteers have come forward to handle the various duties. Marge thanked all those who volunteered. Invitations have been sent via e-mail and were made available at the November meeting. The number of guests is limited so invitations should be turned in ASAP. Ray Smith, will play music and give commentary on the music. A short meeting of the volunteers will be held after the membership meeting.
Will Ragan and Jason Stansell of Verizon Wireless gave an excellent presentation titled “Cell Phones: Past, Present, and Future”. They discussed the history of the cell phone concept, the advantages of owning a cell phone and future features of cell phones. They also discussed service plans and tips on picking a plan. Q & A’s followed the presentation.
The December Holiday Party/Meeting will be held on Monday, December 13, at 7pm.
Please use the following email address to reach the Computer Club President, Allyn Perdue: Suncitycc@mindspring.com.
Our website is www.suncitycc.org .
The meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm.
Submitted by: Elsie Doherty, Secretary
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