February Bytes
Award Winning Newsmagazine of the North Orange County Computer Club
Vol 28 • No 2
FEBRUARY 2003
$4.00
NOCCC MEETINGS - February 2
9:30 a.m. Irvine Hall
1:00 p.m. Irvine Hall
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
MAIN MEETING
Printer Technology
Keith Renty of
Presented by Herbert Wong, Jr., NOCCC
Belkin Products
See Page 4 for details
See Page 4 for details
8:30 a.m.
11:15 a.m.
Visual Programming I ............................. Science 109
Computer Security ................................... Science 203
Visual Basic and Visual Basic Script for Beginners
Linux Programming Concepts ............ Wilkinson 210
Macintosh ............................................. Wilkinson 221
9:00 a.m.
Office Suites ............................................. Science 111
Autocad ................................................. Wilkinson 111
PC Q & A ..................................................... Irvine Hall
Jim Sanders • Most questions answered, some problems
Linux for Desktop Users ..................... Wilkinson 210
solved, assorted demos done
Desktop applications under Linux
Understanding Operating Systems ..... Wilkinson 111
Visual Programming II ............................ Science 109
Get Help with DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 9x, OS/2, etc.
Visual C++ and Visual J++ for Beginners
Visual Programming IV .......................... Science 109
9:30 a.m.
Office program development using VB
NEW TECHNOLOGIES ................................ Irvine Hall
12:00 Noon
See box above
PIG SIG .................................. Argyros Hall Cafeteria
Basic HTML Webpages ............................ Science 306
A lunch get together and talk. See SIG Reports
Basic HTML Webpages using Notepad
Computer Aided Investing ................... Wilkinson 221
1:00 p.m. Main Meeting, Irvine Hall
Member Investment Strategies, Techniques and Software
See box above
Hardware Essentials .............. NOTE!!! > Irvine Hall
2:30 p.m.
All about printers
Games for PC & Mac ............................ Wilkinson 221
Palms O/S PDA’s ...................................... Science 203
Games development in Orange Co: who and how.
10:00 a.m.
Genealogy ................................................... Irvine Hall
Discover your family history with modern tools
Linux for Server Adminstrators ........... Wilkinson 210
Hardware Essentials ................................. Science 109
Vendors .................................................... Science 127
OS/2 News and Installation ...................... Science 203
Visual Programming III ............................ Science 109
Intermediate and Advanced Visual Basic
** Special 1 day class, Basic HTML Webpages using Notepad, 9:30, 11:15, 2:30 Science 306
see page 24
NOCCC web site:
Future Meetings
http://www.noccc.org
Feb 2 • Mar 2
• Box 3616 Orange CA 92857 • Founded April 1976 •
Table of Contents
President’s Message ......................... 3
Product Reviews ............................... 10
Meeting Reports ................................ 20
Membership Benefits ......................... 3
Microsoft Money 2002 Suite ............. 10
January General Meeting ................... 20
Board Meeting Minutes ..................... 4
Autodesk Inventer R5 ........................ 11
New Technologies ............................. 21
Upcoming Presentations ..................... 4
PC Hardware in a Nutshell ................ 12
Computer Aided Investing SIG .......... 21
Computer Security SIG ....................... 22
NOCCC Officers .................................. 5
WinTasks 4 Professional .................... 13
Genealogy SIG ................................... 22
Consignment Table ............................. 5
January Meeting Pictures ................ 14
Office Suites ....................................... 23
Computer Talk ................................... 6
ArtIcons Pro Version 3.24 ................. 16
PC Q&A SIG ...................................... 23
Free Games .......................................... 6
Stuffit 7.5 ............................................ 17
Tobi-on-the-Run.................................. 23
Google is Great .................................... 7
Reviews Editor’s Corner ................... 18
SIG List .............................................. 24
Great Google Grabs ............................. 8
Products Available for Review ........... 18
NOCCC Help Line ............................ 25
AMD News ......................................... 9
Preparing a Review Article ................. 19
Are You an NOCCC Member? ............ 28
ORANGE BYTES STAFF
Publication Chairman
Copy Editor • Does final proofing of Bytes for typos
Jim Sanders • 714-636-5523 ........ jsanders@ligasmicro.com
and mispellings. Ted Littman
Circulation — Oversees the mailing and distribution.
Editor - Oversees, edits, and makes final selections of the
VOLUNTEER NEEDED!!!!!
articles to be included in the Bytes.
Jim Sanders ............................................... editor@noccc.org
Commercial Swap Meets • Distributes Orange Bytes and
NOCCC material at swap meets.
Associate Editor/Production - Lays out and formats in
VOLUNTEER NEEDED!!!!!
PageMaker the articles received from the editor, prints, and
Commercial Advertising • Obtains ads from both national
submits camera-ready copy of the Bytes to the printer.
and local vendors for the Bytes; the success of this helps our
Jim Sanders • 714-636-5523 ........ jsanders@ligasmicro.com
club finances.
VOLUNTEER NEEDED for local ads!!!!!
Contributing Editor
D J Jennings, National Ads ......................... dj97@hal-pc.org
Timothy B. Everingham ............. teveringham@earthlink.net
Classified Advertising • Obtains members’ computer- related
non-commercial ads.
Editor/Reviews • Communicates with the vendors and the
Jim Sanders • 636-5523 ............. jsanders@ligasmicro.com
members who evaluate products and write the reviews. Rides
herd on members to make sure deadlines are met. Also makes
Help Line • Maintains the volunteer list, and the software
sure that a copy of the Bytes gets back to the vendor with the
and hardware subjects for which they are willing to answer
review that was done.
questions.
Ted Littman • (714) 779-1936 ............... tedlit@adelphia.net
Ted Williams • 639-1009 ......... TedWilliams@alum.mit.edu
HELP WANTED
Commercial Advertising • Obtains ads from both
national and local vendors for the Bytes; the success
of this helps our club finances.
2
Orange Bytes
Presidents Message
Membership Benefits
As a valued member, you receive discounts and offers, as part of
the entire benefit of belonging. (Caveat - we are unable to endorse
We’re half way through our fiscal
these companies and products but make these offers as a service to our
members). If you have suggestions for items for this column, e-mail
year. We’re financially holding on,
them to Cathy Grammer-Margolin at: cgmargolin@pobox.com.
but we could do better. Our meeting
attendance has been slowly
NaturePainter Digital Canvas version 1.1, NOCCC members
declining and the board has
are offered a special discounted price of $24.95 (current price is
discussed at length how to get
$39.95, regular price is $49.95) for the download version. This is a
attendance up. This month we’re
realistic painting program that makes it easy to learn how to paint
going to try an auction at the main
with oils and acrylics before spending a bundle on supplies. You can
meeting. We will be auctioning off a
take advantage of this pricing by going to:
21-inch monitor, donated by a
http://www.naturepainter.net/products_secret.aspx
member. The auction will be at the 1:00PM main meeting.
Payment must be made in cash at the close of the auction.
New Fast Defragmentation Program - VOPT XP—VOPT XP
is now out and will work with Win 95, 98, ME, 2000, and XP. By
ACP has changed their swapmeet schedule for 2003. The
Golden Bow software (www.goldenbow.com). Download a free 30-
swapmeets will not be on the last Sunday of each odd month.
day trial to see how fast it will defrag your hard drive. Mention
This is due to vendor requests to avoid conflicting dates with
“Margolin” to get the user group discount of $30 or $10 off the $40
the Pomona and Costa Mesa shows. The swap meet dates for
price.
2003 are: January 26, April 6 (new date), June 15 (new date),
Orange Bytes on PDF earlier in the month! Members
July 27, September 28, and November 30.
ONLY - Watch your e-mail every month for the Password to get the
award-winning Orange Bytes much earlier in the month via PDF file
We’re always looking for people to help with the booth.
on the www.noccc.org website. Make certain you let us know any
Give me a call in the evening and I’ll give you the details.
e-mail changes (membership@noccc.org) so you can get the jump
on all the great reviews and articles
Alan Pearlman
PowerQuest- New Partition Magic 8
pearlmanA@aol.com
• PartitionMagic v8 (List $69.95) $35.00
• Drive Image v5 (List $69.95) Full System Backup Utility
•
including DataKeeper $35.00
• http://www.ugr.com/order/ with group code
• UGNOVNOCCC. Phone 801-796-7370
LIGAS Microsystems
Custom Systems - Consulting - Service
Redmond Technology Press—20% discount to User Groups.
To receive the discount, user group members need only to order
Cable and DSL services configured
directly from the Redmond Technology Press web site at
Routers installed, sick computers healed.
www.redtechpress.com and identify themselves as a user group
jsanders@ligasmicro.com
member when they give their name (for example, John Doe, CUG
member).
714-636-5523
NewRiders Book Discounts— visit www.newriders.com and
NOCCC member, Jim Sanders
check out their Promotions section. You can see examples there of
some of the UG discounts they have set up for their partners.
Microsoft Press Savings—Save 20% off Microsoft Press
books. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/mindshare/offers/mspress/
Pig SIG Open To ALL
and use the code: MCPC, to get your 20% discount. Call 1-800-
Meet us in the Cafeteria in Argyros Hall
MS-PRESS to order.
around 11:30 am (until about 1pm). If you’re hungry,
O’Reilly Books at 20% off. Include code: DSUG. Order via
there is a buffet lunch and snack bars open.
phone: 1-800-998-9938, email: order@oreilly.com or online at
There are several sets of tables where NOCCC people
www.oreilly.com
gather, eat and chat. Just look for the badges, grab a chair,
and join in! This is an informal group, so many different
AOL, Earthlink and Compuserve—If you are a member of AARP,
subjects are discussed. It’s a great opportunity to mix,
you can get up to 10-20% off each month. Visit AARP at: http://
mingle and network. See ya there!
www.aarp.org/benefits-computers/
February 2003
3
January Board Meeting Minutes
Details are available in the Printed Orange Bytes which
is mailed to members
February 2nd Meeting Preview
Main Meeting - Keith Renty of Belkin. We are lucky, lucky, lucky once again to have a really good presenter demonstrating a really
interesting and useful subject – the latest in Wireless and memory products, FireWire and USB-II. Keith is an old friend who has been
with us before – always to the benefit of our NOCCC audience. His company is famous for the quality and reliablility of its products
AND the wide range of interconnectivity products it makes. Go to www.belkin.com to find products you may want to ask Keith about.
9:30 a.m. New Technologies Irvine Hall ---- Printer Technology
Inkjet, laser, Total Cost of Ownership issues, etc., Presented by Herbert Wong, Jr., NOCCC
This is a MUST ATTEND meeting. And we can expect some outstanding raffle prizes – in addition to our high quality
21 inch monitor raffle/auction
4
Orange Bytes
Consignment
NOCCC Officers
Table
President
1. The consignment table is for
Alan Pearlman ................... 714-828-5242 ............. pearlmana@aol.com
members only. Only current members can
Vice President
place items for sale, but non-members are
James C. Smith .................. 714-751-2922 ....... jamescsmith@bigfoot.com
welcome to purchase items from the table.
Secretary
This is a great place to get some money for
John Johnson ..................... 714-991-3314 ........ jrosjohnson@juno.com
your surplus computer items, and help your
Treasurer
Club at the same time.
Elise Edgell ....................... 714-544-3589 ................. eliseme@aol.com
2. The consignment table operates on
Directors
Ted Littman ....................... 714-779-1936 .............. tedlit@adelphia.net
a 90/10% basis — with the owner getting
Cathy Grammer-Margolin . 949-645-5950 ....... inventor00@pobox.com
90%, and the Club treasury 10%.
George Margolin ............... 949-645-5950 ........... inventor@pobox.com
3. Fill out a tag on each item! It must
Else Olovsson .................... 714-832-3155 ............ eolovsson@msn.com
Gerry Resch ....................... 714-772-6667 ............ gwresch@hotmail.com
contain:
Seller ’s Name, NOCCC
Linda Russell ..................... 909-949-4930 .............................. qbq@uia.net
Membership Number, Item name, a short
Jim Sanders ........................ 714-636-5523 ........ jsanders@ligasmicro.com
description and selling price.
Herb Wong ........................ 714-968-7264 ... ocug@singularitytechnology.com
4. Also, fill out the USER LIST with
Past President
Terry Warren ..................... 714-633-5467 twarren@alumni.caltech.edu
Name, Address, Phone Number. and a
Editor .................................... Jim Sanders ..................... editor@noccc.org
complete list of items and their selling
prices.
Webmaster
Jim Peugh .......................... 909-948-5150 ....... Webmaster@citivu.com
5. All items and/or money may be
picked up by the owner at any time, but
Volunteers, Committees, and Projects
MUST be picked up no later than 2 PM on
Business Solicitations/Lecture Series
day of sale.
George Margolin ............... 949-645-5950 ........... inventor@pobox.com
6. Any items and/or money not picked
Consignment Table
up by 2 PM, will become the property of
Cathy Shimozono .............. 562-437-1463 .............. shimca@charter.net
Classified Advertising (non-commercial, members only)
NOCCC and will he subject to disposal at
Jim Sanders ....................... 714-636-5523 .... jsanders@ligasmicro.com
the Club's discretion.
Commercial Advertising
7. NOCCC is NOT RESPONSIBLE
D J Jennings .................................................................. dj97@hal-pc.org
in any way for items bought and/or sold at
Help Line
Ted Williams ..................... 714-639-1009 TedWilliams@alum.MIT.edu
the Consignment Table. Each item is placed
Membership Database
and sold on an AS-IS BASIS.
Elise Edgell ....................... 714-544-3589 ................. eliseme@aol.com
Membership Chairman
James C. Smith .................. 714-751-2932 ... jamescsmith@bigfoot.com
Programs
George Margolin ............... 949-645-5950 ........... inventor@pobox.com
SIG Coordinator
Linda Russell ..................... 909-949-4930 .............................. qbq@uia.net
Public Relations
Open
University Liaison
Terry Warren ..................... 714-633-5467 twarren@alumni.caltech.edu
February 2003
5
Free demo versions of many top games are available
Free Games
at www.3dfiles.com, part of the GameSpot Website.
From a viewpoint of either a try before you buy or
getting to play one or more of the scenarios of a game
By Timothy Everingham NOCCC
for free, it is a great value. Another such place is
teveringham@acm.org
www.demoland.com, part of GameHelp.Com. An
So you spent all your money on computer hardware
excellent site for free games is
and productivity applications. You now have this very
www.worldoffreegames.com. It is a well laid out site,
powerful computer, but it is all work and no play. You
easy to navigate, and a lot of info about and screen
want to have fun with your computer, but you think you
shot of the games. They also allow users to review and
will have to wait until some new cash comes in that you
rate the games. You will even find great games of the
don’t have to be spent on necessities. However, you do
not too distant past that the manufactures have
not have to wait. There are some great free computer
decided to distribute for free, so called
games out there. It is a matter of knowing where to look.
abandonedware. Additional sources of free and
shareware games and reviews of them are www.free-
Talk You think you will have to pay out a large amount of games-net.com, www.download-free-games.com,
money to get a great flight simulator. That is not true.
www.free-games-zone.com, and www.freegaming.com.
Welcome to Flight Gear, the open source community’s
If you are into the games of yesteryear go to
flight simulator. Many have compared it favorably to
www.classicgaming.com, www.dosgames.com, and
Microsoft’s Flight Simulator, and it’s free. There are
www.dosgamesarchieve.com. Classic Gaming even
areas to fly all over the world, also free. You can even
goes into how to play those old game console games
download all sorts of planes to fly for free. It runs on
or those played on old computers (Apple II &
Windows, Mac, Linux and a number of Unix variants.
Commodore 64) on your computer (see emulation
The first version was released in 1997 with significant
section). For those who want something different and
updates 2-3 times per year since. Some of the developers
sometimes bizarre go to www.fullgames.sk (a game
are those who develop flight simulators for commercial
using Britney Spears for target practice I rate as
and military uses. Minimum requirements are probably a
bizarre.) Linux users should definitely visit
500 Mhz processor with a 3D accelerated video card. If
www.linuxgames.com. Microsoft has even gotten into
you can’t download the 41 MB program, a CD with a lot
the act with free games for kids at www.microsoft.com/
of scenery to fly in is available for a fee. To download
kids/freestuff/.
the program and for additional information go to the
Flight Gear Website at www.flightgear.org.
There are also free online games sites. One is Yahoo
Games (games.yahoo.com). There you can play many
Another great game is Tux Racer. You guide Tux the
games for free and play against other people, even in
Penguin, the Linux mascot, down the slopes with many
tournaments where some of them are for prizes. The
locations and weather conditions available. Many
games have very simple graphics, with a lot of card
people love this game. However this game is not just for
Computer
games. Another site is Pongo (www.pongo.com),
Linux users, but available for Mac & Windows as well.
which is by Electronic Arts. In their tournaments you
There are both free and pay versions. The free version
can compete for cash prizes. Shockwave.Com
has been downloaded one million times. You will need a
(www.shockwave.com) has all sorts of games and one
500 Mhz processor with a 3D video card. The download
of my favorite sites. There, one of my favorites is Tank
size is 7.6 MB. The site for the free version is at
Wars. There are a lot of try before you buy type games
tuxracer.sourceforge.net.
on it too. With many of these games you will have to
So you want to conquer the world, but you do not
download browser plug-ins to play. All Games
want to pay for it. FreeCiv is a multiplayer Civilization
Free.Com (www.allgamesfree.com) has free shockwave
clone. This is no simple game like Risk, but a complex
and java based games. Bonus.Com (www.bonus.com)
game of resource and trade management and combat
is a good site for kids. Be aware that many free games
and diplomatic tactics. One you get the hang of it
sites are heavy with pop ads and some even try to get
against the computer, and then you can play against
you to agree to add spyware to your system like Gator.
other players over the Internet. A warning is that like the
Many of these games, especially those that have
Civilization series of games, you may get so involved in
multiple platform versions, you will have to have
the game you will not realize how much time you have
installed OpenGL video drivers. OpenGL is a
spent playing it until you see the sun rising. Currently
multiplatform 3D video standard, unlike DirectX that is
for Windows, Linux, Amiga, OS/2, and Unix variants; but
only for Windows. However, because many popular
a Mac version will be released shortly (If you are
games use OpenGL, such as the Quake series, these
running OS X, you are running a Unix variant).
days most of the time when you install your video card
Download is 3.0-4.3 MB depending on the version. For
drivers OpenGL is one of them. You will usually see an
further information go to www.freeciv.org.
OpenGL section in your video card’s configuration
6
Orange Bytes
Computer Talk
panel if the OpenGL drivers are installed. The recent driver
question, this narrows the boundaries of the search. You can
packages for ATI & Nvidia based video cards have included
also get there directly by going to: http://www.google.com-
OpenGL drivers.
microsoft.html .
For you that are looking for something really different there is
Notice from the ‘Advanced Search” page that other narrow
something coming out called Facade. This interactive 3D
searches can be done for Apple, BSD Unix, Linux, and
rendered story has you being invited for diner by a couple that
Government-related sites. Try doing a “vanity search” by
are long time friends. When you get there things quickly turn
typing your name in the search box. Or even try it with friends
ugly because the couple is going through major marital
you’ve lost contact with. I’ve found some long-lost souls just
problems. In this high conflict situation where accusations are
by doing this. Enter a name, city, state, or zip code for a
being thrown back and forth, how you interact with these two
business or a person and see if you get a hit. You may be
friends will determine whether they make up or get a divorce. I
surprised at how easy it can be to find information about
saw this in July 2002 at the SIGGRAPH Conference, and it is
yourself. Enter a phone number and see if you get a name
fascinating. The goal of the game is to get the couple to make up
back. If Google recognizes what you entered as an address,
and thereby save their marriage, but unexpectedly some of the
you’ll get a street map back.
beta testers got sadistic and tried to find out how fast they
Google is so good at finding things that there was even a
could get the couple to break up. The game will be released as a
game called “googlewhacking” where people would try typing
free download in the summer of 2003. For more information go to
in a combination of words that just returned one search reply.
www.interactivestory.net.
It’s fairly hard to do unless you use some really obscure
There are a lot of free games and sources of such out there,
words & variations.
far more than I can mention here. Now have a good time with
The search screen
your computer without your wallet becoming thinner.
Looking at the basic search screen on the opening Google
Timothy Everingham
page, you’ll notice four tabs on top. The default is the Web
He is CEO of Timothy Everingham Consulting in Azusa,
tab, which we were just using. The next one is the Images tab,
California. Further information can be found at http://
taking you to: < http://images.google.com >. This will allow
home.earthlink.net/~teveringham. n
you access to millions of images on the Web.
Suppose your child is doing a school report on oak trees.
Google is Great
Type “oak trees” into the images search engine and you’ll
find plenty of pictures for the report. Of course, I need to pass
along the disclaimer that lots of stuff on the Web is
By John Lenihan, Pikes Peak Computer Application
copyrighted, so you need to be careful how you use what you
Society
find. But I doubt you’ll get into too much trouble using a
picture in your school report. But I did hear that teachers
Listen to any of the technology talk shows or read articles
could use Google to search for text phrases in reports to
that discuss “search engines” and you’ll see that Google has
check for plagiarism.
been rated high for a long time. I find it accurately displays
There are thousands of newsgroups in cyberspace,
whatever I’m looking for, so much so, that it’s like having an
covering thousands of topics, and only so much time in a day.
encyclopedia of knowledge at my finger tips. Newer engines are
The third tab over is the “Groups” tab and it will let you find
coming out, but I still trust Google to find my answers. But have
out what is (or was) being discussed out there that you would
you dug deeper down into what’s available with this search
be interested in. For example, if you’re thinking of buying a
engine? Well read on, because there’s a lot more to it.
new digital camera, type the model number in the Groups
Get ready-start
search window. You’ll see messages from people in various
Let’s start by using the basic search window found on: http://
newsgroups that discussed that item. You can use this
www.google.com . When my computer runs into a problem and
can give me enough of an understandable error message, I’ve
continued on page 9
found that typing the message into a Google search window
usually gives me enough hits to help me narrow the problem.
My son called me a few months ago and said he thought he
Your Business Card
had sent me a virus, and wanted me to delete the file called
sulfnbk.exe. It sounded a little fishy, and since he was close to
would look good here!!
his computer, I asked him to type the file name into Google. He
saw the words HOAX come up in big block letters. Google
For information about
saved me the hassle of trying to resurrect that file later.
advertising in the Bytes, contact:
If you want to narrow your searches to just Microsoft-related
pages, you can click on ‘Advanced Search” and go to the
editor@noccc.org
bottom of the displayed page and click on “Microsoft.” Thus, if
you have an operating system or Microsoft application
February 2003
7
Computer Talk
mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. It’s a very
Great GOOGLE
large number - which is more than appropriate since the
grabs
company says it gets something like 150 million queries from
users who’ve come to depend on its laser-like focus. ON
gobs of good guides
Magazine called it ‘the closest thing the Web has to an
automatic answer machine.”
Is there anything Google can’t find? It even indexes millions
by Rob Eulow, 1000 Oaks Personal Computer Club
of portable document format files (the PDF files read by the
It’s a recipe for chaos. Over two billion pages are out there
ubiquitous Adobe Acrobat). Google’s Image Search
on the Web. And they are interconnected by billions more
(www.images.google.com) even lets you hunt among 330
hyperlinks. Another million or more pages are added every day.
million picture files. Another 700 million Usenet posts which
They can be any size, a simple document or an encyclopedia.
stretch back to 1981 and the prehistoric days of the Internet are
The Web has become the gateway to humanity’s greatest
also available. Actually, Google can now search documents
storehouse of knowledge about anything and everything.
produced in a dozen file formats such as Microsoft Word, Excel
Understand that and you begin to just slightly grasp the
and PowerPoint And if that’s not enough to boast about, this
complex task presented to a search engine when you send its
privately held dot-com even claims to have made a profit in the
spiders scurrying for information. And there are rules to live
past year!
by; break them and your search brings tens of thousands of
A software robot dubbed Googlebot identifies and
“hits” many of which are misses. Example: say you’re
evaluates billions of pages of Web content, making it,
searching for Morro Bay. Type it into Google that way and you
according to the company, the world’s most comprehensive
get 67,200 hits. Trouble is they’re for Morro Bay - plus Morro
search engine. The result is an average response time of less
and Bay individually. But put the search phrase in quotes -
than half a second per query. Exuding confidence in the
“Morro Bay” and the result is 57,400 targeted finds.
technology’s accuracy, Google’s home page carries a button
The first widely used Internet searcher was WebCrawler,
labeled “I’m Feeling Lucky.” Clicking on it will take you
introduced in 1993. Now there are hundreds of search engines
directly to what Google decides is – more often than not - the
and directories, with some 20 or so leading the pack. But the
best site for your search.
top dog has to be Google, perhaps the best Internet search
For users of Windows 95 and up plus the Internet Explorer
engine around. If you’re into instant gratification, search speed
browser (version 5 or higher), the search engine is now even
is astounding, results are clean and focused - and you’re not
better thanks to the Google Toolbar. A zap- quick download
buried in flashing ad banners.
automatically attaches itself just below IE’s other tool-bars.
Google first surfaced in 1998, the result of some noodling by
Then, no matter where you are on the Web, just type in your
Stanford University Ph.D. candidates Larry Page and Sergey
search word or phrase without having to go back to Google’s
Brim to create a new powerful engine that would improve the
home page.
Websearching experience. Today Google has even become the
And if you’re mobile, this high- powered hunter can be
hunter-finder of choice for Yahoo!, America’s #1 portal. Sony
used on PalmOS PDAs and wireless phones. Google’s also
Corp., AOL/Netscape, and Cisco Systems rely on Google to
involved in another mobile computing venture — an effort to
power searches on their websites. And last month, Earthlink,
integrate its search technology into BMWs new line of
one of the nation’s leading ISPs, chose Google as the search
Internet-ready automobiles.
engine for its nearly 5 million subscribers. New Yorker
So if you spend time trolling the Net for information, this
magazine called it “the default search engine of the digital in
one deserves your attention and a bookmark - and a Google
crowd.”
Toolbar. www.google.com
And it’s become much more since the horrendous events of
SIDEBAR
9/11. Within minutes, Google was flooded with a tidal wave of
If you’d like to try other engines besides Google, here’s
related inquires. Rather than just wring their hands at the
some of the competition:
packed lines, the folks at Google turned it into a treasure trove
of news sites. Go to their Web page and click on “News and
ALTAVISTA (www.altavista.com) - Among the grand-
Resources” and you’re instantly at a portal to nearly 100 links
daddies of search engines, this one recently got a major
n
of international electronic and print media, government sites
overhaul. It now features Babel Fish, which can translate text
and more. It’s worth a bookmark on your computer. www.
or Web pages into a variety of languages. Altavista doesn’t
google .com/news
scour as many pages as Google, but it does have some
interesting extra features.
Google’s lightning-fast response times are the result of the
firm’s unique hosting environment. Instead of running a
SURF WAX (www.surfwax.com) - One of a type known as
handful of large servers, the Mountain View-based company
metasearch engines because they search other search engines.
uses a network of nearly four thousand Linux computers, each
Surfwax. though less than two years old, is finding its way into
with 80 GB hard drives, to quickly find answers to a constant
many Internet tool boxes. Its unique format and proprietary
stream of questions. The name derives from ‘Googol,” the
tools make it worth a look.
8
Orange Bytes
Computer Talk
IXQUICK (www.ixquick.com)- another metasearcher, this
requested. So search wisely — historians may learn about us,
one speedily sifts results from a dozen engines including
while we learn about what interests us.
AltaVista, Excite and Lycos. The log-on sreen presents you
This article is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of
with options to target searches in the categories of Web, news,
the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG),
MP3 or pictures.
an International organization to which this user group
From Nibbles and Bytes, Journal of the 1000 Oaks Personal
belongs.n
Computer Club, July 2002. n
Google is Great continued from page 9
AMD News 01-16-03
method to monitor almost any topic you have an interest in.
The last tab over at the top is the “Directory” tab. Click here
by Timothy B. Everingham, NOCCC
and you’ll see Web pages organized into directories by topic,
I just came off of the 4 quarter/Fiscal Year End 2002
much like you’d see at Yahoo. For example, click on
conference call for AMD. News significant to the computer
“Computers” and you’ll see almost 50 computer topics
user group community includes:
arranged by categories, any one of which takes you to many
1. Shipment of AMD processors was far better in the 4th
other Websites. They advertise they have over 1.5 million
quarter than expected and is probably in part due to an
pages indexed in this directory.
increase in market share compared to their competitors (read
Want to keep up with current news stories? Go to: http://
that Intel).
news.google.com and enter in a news topic. Say you wanted
2. The next 32 bit Athlon, code named Barton, release has
to stay abreast of the Hayman Fire that burned close to us a
been delayed until next month(was suppose to be this month).
few months back. Entering those words into the search
I believe this was a marketing move because they are doing so
window resulted in stories from newspapers all across the
well with volume and margins on their current processors.
country. Google would even tell you how old the stories were,
Barton will increase the cache from 384 KB to 512 KB and have
with many only hours old.
a 333 front side bus like the higher end current Athlons
For the linguists out there that need help translating short
introduced in November. Pricing on these new chips will be in
pieces of text from one language to another, there’s http:/ /
the $300+ range.
www.google.com/language tools. Need help translating “yo
3. The desktop 64 bit processors called Athlon 64 have
quiero” from Spanish to English, then give it a try.
been postponed with no new date(was to be late March).
The future
AMD is concentrating on the launch of their 64 bit
Want to see additional tools being worked on by the Google
multiprocessor chips for servers and workstations called
development team? Look at:
Opteron still scheduled for April release. Athlon 64 launch will
Four tools are listed, the most interesting to me being the
depend on market conditions and concentration with their
glossary. If you come across an unfamiliar word or phrase and
partners. It does not have anything to do with manufacturing
go here, you’ll get a link or pointer to pages that offer a
capacity and the launch could happen any time after the
definition.
Opteron launch.
Another tool at this site is Google Sets, where you can type
4. AMD will finish its force reductions during the 2nd
in a few related words, and it give you a list of more related
quarter of this year, when also they expect to break even. They
items. There’s also a voice recognition tool to help you search
expect to be profitable during the entire second half of the year.
Google by phone, and a keyboard shortcuts tool that lets you
5. AMD just got a nice contract with HP for processors,
search Google without a mouse.
which improves their situation.
I hope I’ve convinced you why Google is great, not only as
6. They have just entered into a 3-year R & D agreement
a search engine for the Web, but also for its many other
with IBM on 65 nm process development which will reduce
capabilities for specialized searches. Do you ever wonder how
their long term R & D costs which will also have an impact on
history would look if recorded by the types of searches being
manufacturing costs in the second half of this decade
done on the Web? Then look at the year 2001 laid out at: http://
(probability that a chip manufacturing plant will be built in US
www.google.com/press/timeline.html You can see what was on
with IBM as partner. Currently the Athlons and the upcoming
the minds of many people that year by the searches that were
Opertons are built in Dresden, Germany.)n
Share Your Expertise
Membership Drive
We wish that all of the articles in the Orange Bytes were
Please tell more people
written by NOCCC members! Why don’t you share some
about the advantages of
of your expertise with the rest of us by writing an article
for our Computer Talk section?
membership in NOCCC.
February 2003
9
toward greater use of the Web in financial
Microsoft Money
management with the aim, no doubt, of making users
more aggressive consumers of on-line financial
services (with the accompanying ads and other
2002 Suite
annoyances). Furthermore, Money requires you to
sign up for Microsoft’s .Net Passport to avail yourself
of many services, an approach that is not universally
By Ted Littman, NOCCC
applauded. However, this is in keeping with
The two most popular “must have” personal finance
Microsoft’s aggressive expansion campaign into
management programs are Microsoft’s Money and
Internet services.
Intuit’s Quicken. With the 2002 version, Quicken is in
Installing Money went without problems on my
its 17th incarnation while Money is in its 10th. It has
Dell Dimensions Pentium III XPS T500 computer with
been a tough struggle for Microsoft, who once tried to
Window XP Professional as the operating system and
acquire Quicken, but Microsoft finally seems to have
lots of RAM and hard drive space. Money uses a
caught up; perhaps it even surpasses Intuit, at least in
lengthy “Assistant” with a Q & A format to initially
some elements of the program. While the focus of this
set up your preferences, accounts financial
review is on Money 2002 Deluxe, both Microsoft and
information, etc. It’s a good approach except for the
Intuit now have their 2003 versions available.
fact that all options aren’t available until you
The Microsoft Suite has two programs bundled with
complete setup and start using the program. (The
Money Deluxe: The highly-rated H & R Block’s TaxCut
Assistant isn’t available after the initial setup.) For
Deluxe and Kiplinger’s Home and Business Attorney.
example, the Assistant only seems to recognize
These programs are not reviewed here. Money comes
income sources from wages. Those of us who are
with a useful 128-page printed User’s Manual which
retirees on social security, pensions or other non-
wages income, have to add these income flows after
Reviews also is available electronically as part of the software. I
applaud companies when they provide printed manuals
setup. The Assistant also takes you through the on-
since I find it tedious to read through a lengthy
line setup of your Internet data sources using .Net
description of a software program at the computer
Passport to secure your Money file accounts from
screen.
which to download data and for Web roaming and
Money Deluxe is “full-featured” and covers every
synchronization. It also can store and remember your
area of managing your personal finances, including
log-on names, numbers, and passwords for all of your
budgeting, cash flow, asset allocation, debts,
on-line financial institutions in a “Lockbox,” if you
checkbook balancing, and check-writing, as well as on-
trust that .Net’s and Money’s security is OK.
line banking and tax planning. If you use TaxCut for
Money’s opening default Home Page window is a
preparing your federal and state income taxes, you will
bit overwhelming. Fortunately, the program allows
find a smooth connectivity with Money, which has long
you to select and customize numerous other views
been a selling point of Intuit’s Quicken and TurboTax
and switch between them to suit your needs and
combo.
temperament.
Money is highly interactive with “Wizards” for
Money’s Toolbar can be customized to give you
startup, help on all topics, and for offering suggestions
quick access to your accounts, bills, portfolio,
Product to improve your finances as well as connect you to reports, and Web sites. “Advisor FYI,” also at the top
useful on-line tools, products, and services. For
of the Home Page, gives you instant access to
example, Money’s Background Banking can provide a
personalized financial guidance. In addition, Money
steady stream of data from your financial institutions
automatically updates your Help topics when you are
(banks, credit card companies, brokerage firms, etc.) to
online. New relevant information, when available, is
your software, even when the program isn’t active!
linked to the appropriate topic in Help.
And these automatic downloads match results to
Money’s system requirements include a multimedia
relevant tax-form lines, a big aid to the do-it-yourself tax
PC with Pentium 166 or higher processor (Pentium II
preparer. You also can use Money’s “what if” scenarios
300 is recommended), Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/
to see how different financial choices affect your
2000/NT 4 or XP, 32 MB RAM (64 MB is
income taxes. However, there is a critical caveat to this
recommended), 85 – 165 MB of free hard drive space
interconnectivity – your financial institutions must
(with an additional 125 MB if you run the instructional
provide the necessary capability to download the
videos and audio from the hard drive), 2X or faster
information and not all do that yet. My bank doesn’t,
CD-ROM drive, super VGA graphics card, super VGA
although my broker does.
color monitor (256 colors minimum) displaying 800 x
In fact, the trend in the last few years has been
600 resolution, and, of course, an Internet connection
1 0
Orange Bytes
Product Reviews
and Service Provider.
CrWare now has material for Inventor 6 and have indicated
For your further edification, I recommend several reviews
they will have E-learning soon. I did have a problem with the
by PC Magazine and PC World, which laud Money and can be
setup because of the priority of drivers in my windows setup.
viewed on line. Additional details on Money are available at
After a series of e-mails and two phone calls, my problems
Microsoft’s Web site. After you purchase the program, I
were solved in about thirty minutes. The book has thirteen
highly recommend viewing the dozen instructional videos
chapters and is just over five hundred pages in length
(available in the Help menu), even if you are an advanced user.
.
If you are new to the use of personal finance software,
Chapter 1 Getting Started.
Money is a fine choice, loaded with bells and whistles and
Chapter 2 Working With Assemblies.
Internet connectivity. I say this, even though I have used
Chapter 3 Creating Parametric Parts.
Quicken exclusively in the past and still find it to be an
Chapter 4 Editing Models and Features.
excellent program in spite of changes to make it “more like
Chapter 5 Adding Placed Features to Models.
Money.” Money has excellent graphics, a nifty (if limited)
setup wizard, an omnipresent Help menu, and lots of choices
Chapter 6 Work Features.
for personalizing its windows, toolbar, tasks, and multi-themed
Chapter 7 Creating Derived Components.
home pages. In addition, there are loads of free financial and
Chapter 8 Creating Sheet Metal Parts.
investment advice/services via MSN Money on
Chapter 9 Adapting Parts and Sketches.
www.cnbc.com. (Of course, trading equities isn’t free!) You
Chapter 10 Presentation Views.
have the ability to pay bills either by printing computer checks
Chapter 11 Documenting Parts and Assemblies.
or by on-line banking, for which there is a fee. My brother
swears by the latter!
Chapter 12 Annotation for the Sheet and Views.
Money’s reports and charts display just about every
Chapter 13 Importing Data into Inventor.
conceivable view of your financial data. In addition, available
are a free year of MSN on-line bill paying as well as tax
I am working my way through the book for the second time,
preparation/filing from H & R Block, a credit report, and other
and I will watch all of the multimedia extensions clips a second
goodies. Considering the street price of the software
time. I like Inventor as a design and drafting tool and this book
(especially at outlets like Costco and Sam’s Club), Money is a
was a good way to start really learning the software. After
bargain, even if you have a prior version.
going through the tutorial and working the exercises I am
The Money 2002 Software family offers, in addition to the
ready to start a complete project. I will now be coming on
Suite, Standard, Deluxe, and Deluxe & Business (for small
different problems than shown in the tutorial and feel I am
business users) versions to satisfy just about any need. Prior
ready. I do not expect any major problems as all of the basic
to the release of the 2003 versions, the Deluxe 2002 program
construction and editing procedures were covered. The fast
had an MSRP of $65, but it can be had now for a fraction of
start tutorials included with AutoDesk Inventor are not
that price. Money 2003 Deluxe lists at $65 (with a $20 mail-in
adequate for other than very basic commands. The help
rebate) while the 2003 Suite lists at $95 (also with a $20 rebate).
section in Inventor is well written and provides a lot of help. I
The Deluxe edition adds powerful financial planning tools
just do not like bouncing from one screen to the next to find
(Lifetime Planner, Financial Event Modeler, Capital Gains
the information I need. This book provided a guided tour by
Estimator, etc.) to the Standard version of Money.n
introducing the procedures of making parts and then creating a
drawing. I have already recommended this book to a number of
students as a way to get a fast start. Included with the book is
a CD with the student exercises that gives partially made
Autodesk Inventor R5 drawings and can then be used to add features and edit the
model they have created. Chapter eight on sheet metal parts
Fundamentals
shows how easy it is to construct sheet metal parts. At work I
am doing a number of sheet parts using Mechanical Desktop
and hope it is the last time, since we will not be able to upgrade
Book Review by Joe Mizer, NOCCC
to Inventor until mid 2003.
The cost of the book is $70.00 by itself or $95.00 with the
This is a very good tutorial if you want to learn Autodesk
multimedia extensions CD. The new book for Inventor 6 is also
Inventor, and it is available from CrWare. CrWare conducts
available for the same price, but the multimedia extensions CD
seminars and uses this text in a three-day, 22-24 hours course
may not be available yet. This is low cost and high quality
of instruction. Since attending one of their seminars was out of
training for a company to provide to everyone using Inventor.
the question I purchased the entire package that includes the
Check out their web page at www.crware.com.n
multimedia extensions CD. Once installed the CD will present
most of the material in the book in the form of a short film clip.
February 2003©
1 1
Product Reviews
Internet resources beyond the printed page. Most URLs are
PC Hardware in a
for recommended products (software utilities, miscellaneous
hardware, manufacturers, etc.).
Nutshell,
The most commonly referenced domain is for the authors’
web site (http://www.hardwareguys.com/). It has many
additional photographs, “Supplemental Motherboard
Second Edition
Information” (A Motherboard Tour), “Supplemental Processor
Information,” etc. The major (only) errata section is for broken
links that changed because of inconsiderate webmasters.
by Herbert Wong Jr., NOCCC
The highlight of their Web site is entitled “Designing a PC.”
Buy this book, everyone! This is one of the best computer
The printed book omitted this chapter due to the constraint of
hardware books that I have read. Short paragraph organization
the publisher’s maximum page count. Twenty-one thousand
provides plenty of information that tempts one to pick up this
words detail the selection of entry level, basic, mainstream,
book and learn something new.
performance, and dual processor systems, plus a section on
Author Robert B. Thompson wanted to buy his first CD
purchasing components.
burner, but could not find resources that he considered
A stunning omission from this otherwise complete work is a
accurate enough. His quest to find what he needed appears to
treatment on printer technology. There isn’t even an entry in
have turned into an obsession and, ultimately, into this book.
the index for printers, cables (printer), USB (printer), etc.
Along the way, his research assistant became his coauthor
Printers easily can be the most expensive component in a
and, apparently, his wife.
computer. Moderate usage of a printer can easily drive its total
His stated goal is to provide “useful” information rather
cost of ownership to several hundred dollars per year, more
than just “interesting” information. He has succeeded
than the cost of many entire inexpensive computers. It is in the
throughout the book.
best interest of the reader to understand printer technology.
There are three major aspects to this book. They are
To be fair, there is some printer information scattered about
providing technological information, buying components, and
other topics (ex. – under parallel ports).
installing components (how-to).
I suspect that the thoroughness of and attention to detail
The most obvious strength of this book is the presentation
by the authors is the cause of this exclusion. The rapid pace of
of detailed technological information. For example, for each
printer model introductions by manufacturers and vendors
permutation of microprocessor, there is a complete explanation
(who simply sell relabeled products) make it impossible for a
of every feature. The details are all there, but as we shall see,
book to provide timely information. A periodical is your best
there are some larger omissions.
bet for finding the latest and greatest printer reviews. On
The authors freely give their advice about buying
second thought, perhaps there might be something usable,
components. On the positive side, they recommend
somewhere, on the Internet…
components that they have used and tested for a while. On
Also missing, to a lesser degree of importance, is a section
the negative side, they recommend components that they have
on networking hardware. And, there is no chapter on modems.
used and tested for a while. I mean that there is only a very
Ahhh! The Microsoft Syndrome! A PC is a stand-alone
limited amount of products that two people as compared to the
device that runs one application at a time and does not
staff of a periodical. Secondly, recommended components fade
connect to any other device or computer!
into the past faster than the publication schedule of any book.
In summary, PC Hardware in a Nutshell is a great book for
As far as installation information goes, there are plenty of
those interested in PC technology, buying components, or
described procedures. They are detailed and useful,
building a system. It is densely packed with information that is
however…
both accessible and easy to read (for a technical book). The
From chapter 4 (page 180): “Good practice would have been
authors’ research and hands-on experience are evident
to clean the leftover parts of the thermal pad from the
throughout; and they don’t fear stating their opinions, too. Do
processor and heatsink before proceeding, but we simply
not make the mistake of buying the biggest and most popular
added a dollop of thermal goop, which worked fine.” Leaving
books on the shelf. It’s all here …in a Nutshell.
the “leftover parts” of the thermal pad to reflect heat back into
This article first appeared in the North Orange County
the microprocessor severely jeopardizes the microprocessor’s
Computer Club’s Orange Bytes Newsletter and at http://
life and hundred(s) dollar value. Thermal compound should be
www.noccc.org/.
used in the thinnest possible layer, not a dollop. Isn’t the term
PC Hardware in a Nutshell, Second Edition (June 2002)
dollop used exclusively to describe a quantity of whipped
By Robert B. Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson
dairy dessert topping?
ISBN : 0-596-00353-6. List price: US$39.95.
PC Hardware in a Nutshell does not limit itself to a nutshell.
Published by O’Reilly & Associates, Inc, 1005 Gravenstein
There are plenty of URL references in the text that take you to
Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472.n
12
Orange Bytes
Product Reviews
started with Windows (the default setting) and run in the
WinTasks 4
background. The latter is by far the more useful if you need to
monitor CPU or memory usage for individual processes or
overall. Occupying a megabyte plus of hard drive space
Professional,
(including a 20-page PDF user manual, the running program
occupies only 5 MB of memory.
Version 4.15
Over the course of a month, I was able to exercise most of
WinTasks features. One notable exception was the built-in
script language, which can be used to create new functions
By Ted Littman, NOCCC
and automate changing processes or resource allocations if a
This is a nifty Windows process-viewing utility by
condition set by the user is met. Programmers will love this
Swedish-based Leading Interactive. According to the vendor,
tool!
it is intended “for Information Technology (IT) professionals,
When you open WinTasks, the main window displays a
software developers, and other advanced users.” In the last
printable list of all running processes (i.e., executable
category, I would include Network Administrators as well as
programs) along with their full paths, date/time started, CPU
the myriad of “tweakers” who just like to improve the operation
priority and usage, memory usage, and number of “threads”
of their computers or are curious about what’s going on inside
(i.e., objects within a process that run program instructions).
of the box (like me).
Both WinTasks and Windows Program Manager displayed 39
Did you say that Microsoft’s Windows comes with its own
processes for me, a comforting consistency! However,
process viewer, the ubiquitous Task Manager Control-Alt-
WinTasks makes an effort to identify each process’s name or
Delete? So, it does; but, to paraphrase the renowned Star Trek,
display the program’s icon and give a brief function
WinTasks 4 goes where Control-Alt-Delete has never gone
description rather than just the .exe file name. For my system,
before! Not only does it provide a wealth of information, but
that turned out to be 22 of 39, a bit of a disappointment.
also it can put you in full control of your system’s resources.
For each process, you can open a Modules window that
With that said, use of WinTasks 4 requires substantive
shows a printable list of all of the associated DLL and driver
knowledge of your operating system and care in its
files along with their full paths. This can be very insightful if
application. But, thoughtful changes can streamline
you need to know the commonality of DLL usage by your
operations, improve performance, and provide assistance in
programs. Have you ever been troubled when trying to
locating and removing undesirable processes working in the
uninstall a program and “asked” to decide if it’s safe to delete
background like Trojans, viruses, spyware, and other noxious
certain DLLs, which also may be used by your other programs?
intruders. However, if you really don’t know what you are
Most of us take the chicken-way out and keep these DLLs,
doing, changes to Windows Registry, for example, can cause a
allowing the accumulation of unneeded files on our hard drive.
lot of grief, lost time, and possibly expense in setting things
WinTasks gives you the visibility to see which files can be
right.
safely removed.
There is a wealth of useful information on the vendor’s web
Another useful feature is the Autostart subwindow. Here
site, www.LIUtilities.com, including “white papers” on memory
you can see a list of all programs, which start automatically on
leakage, tracking DLLs, spyware detection and removal,
bootup or reboot. Included are each file’s name, path, and
system security and CPU tracking, and finding viruses and
parameters. If your computer is taking more time to start than it
Trojans. In addition, there are links to numerous well-written
used to, here is a good place to start streamlining; and you can
2002 reviews of the software that give high marks to WinTasks
temporarily disable programs from automatically starting on
4 Professional and are worth looking at. These include PC
boot (to make sure no harm is being done) before having
Magazine (June 11, by Edward Mendelson), IT World.com
WinTasks remove the boot startup entry in Windows’ Registry.
(August 16, by Jim Pile), TechWeenies.com (by Mark Oberg),
I was able to remove 5 of 15 startups, which weren’t needed!
Geek.com (March 19, by Amy R. Zunk, a systems
However, in all fairness, I think that Windows System
administrator), and OnePC.net ( March 14, by Christopher
Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe) is more capable in this
Wong).
regard, especially for the advanced user who is capable of
safely modifying the three .ini files.
In my review, I downloaded the Zip file for WinTasks 4.21
Professional from the vendor’s web site, decompressed the file,
I wont go into other details since they are well described in
ran setup, and followed the on-screen instructions. Installation
the aforementioned references. I did find the program
on my 500 MHz Dell Dimensions computer using a partition
educational, useful, and fun to use from the perspective of an
with the Windows XP Professional operating system was quick
“intermediate” computerist. It is recommended based on the
and without problems. System requirements are Windows 98,
caveats mentioned in this review.
NT, 2000, or XP, plus a 200 MHz (or faster) CPU, and 10 MB
Two versions of WinTasks are available, Standard (MSRP is
free hard drive space.
continued on page 16
The program can be run like any other (when you need it) or
February 2003
13
Jim Morrison
Presenting Adobe Photo Shop 7
at the January Main Meeting,
gives Herb Wong a photo
makeover
14
Orange Bytes
Vance Yokum and Bill Myatt address the Main
Meeting during random access
You know who Graham is.....
Because he’s wearing his badge!
The raffle prizes
The
raffle
winners
February 2003
15
Product Reviews
continued from page 13
The help files are satisfactory, but the software really needs
$17) and Professional (MSRP is $47). Only the latter was
a tutorial, a step-by-step procedure, on how to use the more
reviewed here. Occasionally, the vendor offers Professional at a
advanced features. Some help files show an icon to click on
$10 discount. Boxed copies with a CD and printed manual also
but do not name it. For example, an eyedropper is shown, but
are available. n
its name, Color Picker, is not included. The icon is not easily
recognizable when printed at 300 dpi on a monochrome laser
printer. I would also have appreciated a short tutorial on the
nature of icons in Windows 9x and ME. Several icons I used as
ArtIcons Pro
test objects had several formats. Those used for the taskbar
and start menus are small; 16x16 pixel icons using sixteen
Version 3.24
colors, whereas on the desktop they may be 32x32 pixels using
256 colors. More information is provided on the new
requirements and capabilities of icons for Windows XP.
By Steven M. Breitbart, NOCCC
Library Management Features
A major aspect of ArtIcons Pro is management of icon
ArtIcons Pro is a powerful utility for creating and editing
libraries. This can be a useful way to group icons together for a
icons and managing icon libraries. What is ArtIcons Pro
specific project. You can gather all the icons from files and
needed for? You can create icons using the Paint applet
folders on your system into one or more libraries. Initially, I
included with Windows, but its scope is limited. You can create
tried to import all the icons on my C: drive into a library.
detailed icons using ArtIcons Pro and not have to buy a high-
ArtIcons Pro found over 2,000 icons and needed to create a
priced photo editing or drawing program. If you frequently
second library. The maximum number of icons in a library
access a file and want it on your desktop, you can use
defaults to 1,600, but can be increased to 16,000. Of course, the
ArtIcons Pro to create a custom icon for it. Similarly, you can
more items in a file, the more difficult it is to manage.
create icons for software or custom applications you have
Eventually, I picked a few random icons of different styles and
written.
level of details to experiment upon.
Installation
While you can sort the icons within a library several ways
Downloading the software didn’t take too long even with a
and remove duplicates, ArtIcons Pro did not detect all
56K modem; the ZIP file for ArtIcons Pro is only 1 MB.
duplicate icons in my initial test. It also was not clear what
Installation was accomplished easily though I installed it to a
some sort options, such as “Name as Number” actually do.
partition I use only for applications; that is not the normal
You can actually have many icons within a library with the
Program Files folder. An interesting feature is that the software
same name or number.
can be set for one of seven languages.
Hints
Editing features
If you do choose to try ArtIcons Pro, here are two hints. 1)
The major feature of ArtIcons Pro is that you can create and
Go to the Windows’ Display Properties, on the Effects tab and
edit icons in standard or custom sizes and in color depths of
check the box that says “Show icons using all possible
up to 16 million colors. You can import, edit and paste images
colors.” That way, you will be able to see the results of your
into icons using several standard graphics file formats
work. 2) Remember to save both the icon you have modified
including ICO, BMP and JPEG. Similarly, you can export icon
and the icon library before exiting the library or the software.
images to several formats as well. Many type of effects that are
Aha-soft’s Web Site
common to photo editing, drawing or presentation software,
The impressive Aha-soft web site has lots of good
such as gradient and chess fill, drop shadow, grayscale, rotate,
information about ArtIcons Pro. They have many free icon
roll and mirror can be applied to icons. Some effects are
libraries available for downloading; Arrows, Flowers, Nature,
extremely configurable and impressive. There are 16 levels of
Earth, Flags, Hardware, Hard disks, Help, Keys, and
undo, but deletion, copying and creation of icons or images
Multimedia are just a few of the icon collections available.
can’t be reversed.
They have a list of Windows 98 files that contain icons. For
While the capability of ArtIcons Pro is high, once you start
example, PROGMAN.EXE has 46 icons, that can be imported,
importing images, it is not easy to use. Despite a lot of effort, I
into an icon library. Hopefully, Aha-soft will soon put
could not find the opacity sliders for the foreground and
Windows 2000, NT and XP icon files on their web site.
background colors. I could not determine how the software
Conclusion
uses “transparency” settings to aid in importing and placing
images into icons. The Import Image window shows about 400
ArtIcons Pro is excellent for managing icon libraries and
x 300 pixels of an image; there is no way to view the entire
producing icons that are basically drawings, which covers a lot
image before selecting some or all of it for your icon. An
of ground. It is not as capable at creating icons based on
explanation of the differences between “Import Image” and
photographs or similar images, but it is certainly a good value
“Add Image(s)” would also have been useful.
if you regularly need to create icons of any type.
16
Orange Bytes
Product Reviews
Requirements
my results will only provide a “feel” for the program’s
ArtIcons Pro requires a Pentium-133 MHz CPU, 16MB of
compression capabilities rather than any scientifically
RAM, 2MB of hard disk space, true (32-bit) color and can
predictable criteria. I started my indoctrination here by making
operate under Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP. It is
sample compressions of a variety of file types and sizes. I then
available as trial software via download at www.aha-soft.com
made three nine-file sets, two were graphics (based on a 5.4
and can be purchased there for $29.95. n
MB TIF file) and one was text. Each of these was organized to
have successive files doubled in size so that the largest of
each set was 256 times larger than the smallest. One of the
graphics sets was created by reducing the resolution of the
largest image, the other set was made by cropping down the
central area of the scene in a telescopic fashion, keeping the
Stuffit 7.5
resolution constant.
To create a similar set of text files I went to Word Pad where
I have maintained a large amount of information as .DOC files.
a Multi-platform
From these I created a single 1.165MB file by concatenating
three of my largest files. This file had a wide variety of fonts,
Compression Program
font sizes, color, italicizing etc. To make a set of differing sizes I
successively deleted large blocks of the text. The smallest of
this nine member set was 18KB.
By John Donan, NOCCC
I then compressed the files as SIT and ZIP archives, with
I received this reply to one of my Emails, “I received your
and without self extraction.
Email today, it took so long that I thought something was
With this accumulation of data I looked for a pattern among
wrong with my computer......... “ on the same day I obtained
the self extracting files and found it. There is a constant
Stuffit 7.5 Deluxe. Quite a coincidence. On the Stuffit box it
increase of 80KB to make an archived file self extracting
says, “Send and receive files on the internet or across the
whether it be SIT or ZIP. i.e. a 100 KB compressed file would
network, fast! Stuffit shrinks files up to 98% so they get there
become a 180KB .exe file. This means that a file which had an
quickly. And, it’s easy to just Stuffit. Simply drag and drop to
80% compression that would reduce it from 100KB to 20 KB, if
create compressed files that will open automatically.” (There is
then converted to a self-extracting file (.EXE), it would grow
another mention that Stuffit’s .SIT format results in 20 percent
back by 80KB to its original 100KB size with nothing gained. I
smaller files than the .zip format.) I decided to base my review
limited all my other comparisons to files greater than 100KB.
on these capabilities.
When I compared the two modes of compression for the set
This program was developed by a 15 year old schoolboy
of text files, it was nearly a wash, some compressed to the same
Raymond Lau in 1987 (now Raymond Lau PhD, MIT) . It
size, the rest were nearly equal, never differing by more than
became available for the Macintosh in 1988. In May, 1989 Lau
3KB, regardless of which one was larger. There was a slight
turned over the marketing rights to the entire Stuffit family to
edge toward the SIT files. The compression varied between
Aladdin Systems Inc. Its SIT files became the compression
65% to 75% averaging around 70%. If a file SIT compressed by
program for the Mac. In 1995, Aladdin released some elements
70% the ZIP compression would never be less than 67% . This
for Windows as freeware and shareware. The current version,
is different from the figures above which cited 98% and
7.5, was designed for Windows XP with the capability to also
20%(obviously relate to some other class of files.)
run on Pentium-class computers running Windows 98/ME/NT/
ZIP compression of my 24 bit RGB TIF files, which were
2000. Versions of Stuffit will also work with Linux, Solaris and
derived from a photograph, ranged from only 25% to 40%. The
Macintosh, making files compatible to all. Stuffit also supports
SIT compressions, for the same files, averaged around 58%
other compression formats. It not only supports creation and
(the largest file, not in this average, compressed by 70%.)
expansion of the ubiquitous .ZIP archives, but it also gives
Eliminating the larger file, SIT compression was 18 to 23%
you a choice of as many as ten other compression formats.
better than ZIP (an average difference of 20%.)
Today it is considered the complete compression program in
The program requires 28MB of disk space but it wouldn’t
that it can traverse the platforms of Windows, Macintosh,
load on my Windows 2000 system. I did my evaluation on my
Linux and Solaris. Should you want to send me a SIT file from
slower (166MHz) Windows 98 machine having 256 MB of
your Macintosh, I can handle it on Windows. You can set any
RAM and about 1.8 GB of unused disk space. I was able to try
of the supported compression types as your default, and, for
some of the dragging a file to an icon (Expander) which
some file types, you can manually set the level of compression.
resulted in Stuffit Deluxe opening and showing a
Stuffit Expander, the program that will expand and decode the
representation of this dragged file as opened. Double click on
files you download is available free from Aladdin in the same
this and MS Word. appeared with the opened file available to
fashion as Acrobat is available from Adobe.
Because of the variations of the content possible for
individual files, regarding patterns and repetitions, I realize that
continued on page 26
February 2003
17
Reviews Editors Corner
If you write a review for the Orange
viruses by preventing them from
Windows XP Home Edition: The
Bytes, you may keep the item. If you
escaping an infected computer. It is
Missing Manual – An excellent book
complementary to current anti-virus
would like to review a specific
by David Pogue for intermediate &
programs.
advanced users of the XP operating
product (software, hardware, or
IconLover 1.11 - A great solution for
system.
book), please let me know and I will
extracting, cataloging, and managing PC
Windows XP in a Nutshell – One of
try to obtain it. If you are interested,
computer icons.
the David Karp series to serve as a
please contact me:
Handy Backup 3.5 for Windows -
comprehensive but compact desk
Ted Littman
Automatic backup of critical data to any
reference for XP users.
NOCCC Reviews Editor
storage type.
Windows XP Annoyances – Another
• (714) 779-1936
Essential Net Tools 3.1 for Windows
Karp book to help customize &
• reviews@noccc.org
- A suite of network tools.
troubleshoot Windows XP.
• TedLit@Adelphia.net
Xplay - Enables Windows users to
Windows Security Inside Out for
use Apple’s i-Pod. It brings to you the
XP & 2000 – Another Microsoft Press
power of the ultimate portable MP3
book by Botts & Siechert. It covers
PRODUCTS
player.
security for Windows, the Internet, and
Apycom Java Menu Applets 3.0 -
your computer and how to keep the bad
AVAILABLE
Create cross-browser drop down
guys at bay.
menus, bars, buttons, etc. for your
If you would like me to try to obtain
FOR REVIEW Website.
a specific product (software, hardware,
Greenface: The Virtual Reality 2.01
or book) to review, please contact me by
- An action puzzle/game for all ages.
phone or e-mail:
A number of products have been
Sammy Suricate 1.45 – A 3-D
Ted Littman, NOCCC Reviews Editor
obtained from vendors for review by
action/puzzle game designed for all
qualified NOCCC members. If you are
ages.
interested in doing a review (which will
3D-Album for Windows 2.03 –
be published in Orange Bytes), please
Preparing a
Create TV-quality animated 3D photo
call or send an e-mail to me and provide
shows with music, text, & voiceover
your membership number, phone
Review Article for
using dozens of different presentation
number, and e-mail address.
styles.
Remember, YOU GET TO KEEP THE
the Orange Bytes
Microsoft’s Picture It! Digital
SOFTWARE, HARDWARE, OR
Image Pro 7.0 – Import photos from a
BOOK! Currently available are the
by Ted Littman, NOCCC Reviews
digital camera, scanner, Web site, hard
following software programs:
Editor
drive, etc. and use advanced editng
Microsoft Office XP Professional –
tools to deliver professional results and
The following suggestions for
The office suite that leads the pack.
achieve masterful final results.
preparing a review article for the Orange
Quicken 2003 Premiere – Probably
VicMan’s Photo Editor Pro 7.0 – An
Bytes were extracted from an OCIPUG
the best financial planning & tracking
inexpensive versatile image editor from
article and are intended as a guide only.
software, and it’s better than ever.
Russia with intuitive skin interface that
As a reviewer, your audience wants to
Watznew 1.9.5 – Award-winning
comes with a range of essential features
know your opinion (as an end user) of
software that regularly checks your
for both novices and professional
the product (hardware, software, book)
favorite web sites & mailboxes &
designers.
you are reviewing. Please fully identify
notifies you of changes.
CrazyTalk Standard Edition 2.5 –
the product and its cost so that
Sygate’s Home Network 4.2 for 6
The “Talking Heads” program. Make
interested club members may be able to
Users – The top-notch firewall to
your own still images look like they are
purchase it. After you have tested the
protect your home network.
talking!
product consider these questions:
Red Earth Software’s Policy Patrol
Currently available are the following
1. What is the product’s stated
2 - Protect yourself against e-mail
books:
purpose and does it meet it?
security threats with virus scanning,
Digital Photography Pocket Guide –
2. Within its category of software
spam blocking, and other tools.
An O’Reilly book for anyone using a
(i.e., word processor, spreadsheet,
ViraLock – The first software that
digital camera.
database, etc.), does it stand out?
prevents the spread of e-mail-borne
3. What are its major features?
18
Orange Bytes
4. Is it easy to use? Can a novice
7. What don’t you like about it?
on disk and printout directly to Alan
use it?
8. What improvements or changes
Pearlman (President), Jim Sanders
5. Can you quote or reference
would you like to see?
(Publications Chm.), or Ted Littman on
articles/reviews in the computer
the next meeting day. If you e-mail your
9. Can the software be downloaded
magazines?
review, please send a copy to
from the vendor’s Web site; is there a
TedLit@Adelphia.net.
The following list contains more
free trial period before buying?
specific questions that apply to either
To transfer your article from your
10. What warranty is there on
software or hardware:
Windows word processor, click at the
hardware?
beginning of the article with your
1. Requirements:
7. What are the Name, Address,
mouse, shift down arrow to the end of
1. Operating systems?
Phone number (including 800#), and
the article, then Edit Cut (^C), open your
2. Windows?
WEB address (e-mail & URL) of the
e-mail program, and Edit Paste (^V).
3. Memory?
vendor?
This will convert the file to ASCII. If
4. Disk space?
After you have answered all these
your article is too long to include in an
questions you should have enough
5. Is a Mouse supported?
e-mail, please save as ASCII file with a
information to write your review. Please
.TXT extension. Then zip the article and
2. Installation (do not
be precise but do not make it so
attach it to your e-mail.
overemphasize details):
technical that only a few people can
All documents should have flush left
1. Was it difficult?
understand. Please advise the Orange
margins, and double carriage returns
2. Copy or write protected?
Bytes Editor if you need graphics,
(skip a line) between paragraphs. The
3. Does it allow drive and directory
pictures, or illustrations to get your
editors will bold your paragraph
selection?
point across. n
headings, etc., in order to obtain
4. Does it automatically configure
consistent formatting throughout the
system? Can you control it?
3. Information about your system:
1. Hardware?
Guidelines for Bytes.Don’t use CAPS for emphasis; that’s
like shouting at someone! We usually
2. Operating system? Version?
3. Memory?
Submittal
have to delete and retype them, which
can be a lot of work. CAPS are reserved
4. Video display?
Important! Please limit the length of
for computer commands or file names,
4. Documentation:
your submittals. We request you limit
like AUTOEXEC.BAT or KNOW.TXT.
general articles and software reviews to
For titles of books and software,
1. What is supplied? Manuals
a maximum of 1300 words, SIG reports to
capitalize the first letter of each word.
(paperback, electronic) Tutorial?
700 words, book reviews to 600 words,
We will add the underlining in
Templates? Table of Contents? Index?
low cost CD-ROM titles to 600 words,
PageMaker.
2. Was it clear, concise and helpful?
and more sophisticated CD-ROMs to
Also please spell check your article,
3. Is there a troubleshooting
1000 words. As far as the minimum is
and try to follow the ordinary rules of
section?
concerned, we’d just like to see you do
grammar. Don’t use columns, tabs,
5. Product Support:
justice to any general article or to any
indents, justification, hyphenation or
1. How is the vendor’s tech
product that’s reviewed. An expensive
formatting codes. (If columns or tables
support?
software package ($300-700) deserves at
are absolutely needed, send us a hard
2. Does it cost anything?
least 1,300 words. An inexpensive
copy to guide us.)
3. Is it a toll call?
program ($50 or less) might have 500
We will look forward to seeing your
words. Reviews must be completed
review in print and on the Web site. n
4. Does the vendor provide
within 2 months so that the Reviews
Internet support?
Editor (Ted Littman) can, in a timely
6. About the product:
manner, send a copy to the vendor. If
1. What comes with the product?
you change your mind about doing the
2. What is the cost? (list & street)
review, please call him (714)779-1936
3. Version number and release
ASAP to make arrangements for
date?
returning the product for reassignment.
4. How difficult is the learning
We hope you enjoy writing your review.
curve?
You can now e-mail articles directly
5. Would you buy/use the
to the Editor through the North Orange
product?
County Computer Club’s Web Site:
6. Do you recommend it?
editor@noccc.org Or just give the file
February 2003
19
News and Meeting notes of
Meetings Reports Special Interest Groups
everything he showed us, he did not
warned that the use of layers can get
General
even cover a tenth of the product’s total
confusing and if we decide to use them,
capability, as it is so powerful and
we should always keep track of the
Meeting
flexible.
current layer we are editing.
The features Jim had demonstrated
= Various features for selecting
included the following:
objects within a photo. These included
By Eric Saca, NOCCC
= The healing brush, which he
the following:
used to remove wrinkles from a photo of
= Subtraction of parts of a
In January, our very own member, Jim
an old man. The man’s face looked
selection. This enables the user to
Morrison, gave us a fascinating
years younger in the process.
select a wide range of objects, then
presentation on one of the most
= The lasso tool, used to select and
tailor his/her selection by unselecting
powerful photo editing packages on the
edit a section of a picture.
some of the objects.
market – Adobe PhotoShop.
= The great number of brush types
= Hiding of selections, so that their
The meeting was opened by
and sizes at your disposal. At one
boundary lines are invisible, although
President Alan Pearlman. A great
point, Jim was filling a picture with stars
they are still in effect and you are still
number of raffle prizes were won by our
by using the star brush.
limited to editing inside the invisible
members this month – including a copy
=
lines.
of Windows XP Pro Edition, Microsoft’s
The use of layers in PhotoShop
= Saving of selections for use again
Picture It Pro, Adobe PhotoShop
to section off specific portions of
in the future. With this feature, you can
Elements, Que’s Using Office 2000 (a
pictures for editing. They can also be
literally close PhotoShop, run it again
thick volume) and more.
used to back out changes and compare
changes to the original picture.
later, re-open your photo file and still
Cathy Grammer-Margolin announced
=
use the same selection criteria you had
that V Communications had just
The great number of undo levels.
established in the previous session.
acquired Ontrack Inc. and is now selling
In fact, several changes can be undone
(This helps when you make complex
their popular products like Power Desk
with a single keystroke (Ctrl-Alt-z). (Jim
selections that take time to set up.)
Pro 5 and System Commander. Their
pointed out that undo history
= Removal of all but the selection.
website is www.v-com.com. She also
disappears once a file is closed,
This allows you to remove the clutter
announced a helpful, grassroots
however.)
from your screen so you can focus on
website that provides great information
= The bucket, which fills a section
nothing but the selection. Of course,
on CD and DVD technology –
of a photo or graphic with a specific
the rest of the picture is still there – it’s
www.vcdhelp.com.
color.
just not visible.
She mentioned that the club has
= Use of layers to produce a margin
= Color brightness features,
acquired a 21 inch monitor for the
inside a graphic drawing. To
including the following:
February raffle/auction and advised us
demonstrate this, Jim used the star
=
not to miss the next meeting.
brush to paint a graphic of stars. He
The dodge tool, used to brighten
and clear up pictures darkened by
After some Random Access, Cathy
created a new drawing window. Then
under-exposure.
introduced Jim Morrison. Jim has been
he created a smaller rectangular layer
=
a long-time member of NOCCC, used to
inside that window, which represented a
The level tool, which can brighten
be a schoolteacher and is now retired.
margin. When he painted inside that
or darken a picture’s color using a slide
He now teaches PhotoShop and
layer with his star brush, the stars
bar.
Business Math at Rancho Santiago
would appear only within the ‘margin’ –
= The eyedropper tool, which can
College. So we were VERY LUCKY to
the smaller layer – even if he moved the
be pointed to specific portions of
have such a competent and personable
brush outside that layer. He also
pictures to brighten or darken their
presenter.
demonstrated how he could reverse the
color. (A slide bar indicates how much
effect and paint only in the layer
Jim announced that he was
the colors will be brightened or
outside the margin. New stars appeared
demonstrating the latest version of
darkened.)
outside the margin but still inside the
Adobe PhotoShop – 7 ($600 retail or
·
Auto-contrast, which
graphic window. In both cases, inside
$100 - $150 upgrade). In the course of
automatically adjusts color brightness
and outside the margin, Jim’s brush was
his presentation, he showed us a great
in a picture. (This didn’t work as well as
limited only to the chosen section by
number of the multitude of features
manual adjustments of slide bars.)
the rectangular margin layer. Then, Jim
available in PhotoShop. Yet, with
= Powerful text editing features.
2 0
Orange Bytes
Meeting Reports
Jim first typed the word FONT,
“Utility that Windows Forgot” called
has a lot of wizards that help you to
capitalized in a huge size. He then took
PowerDesk (originally by Mijenix, then
understand it and even let you “Click
a beautiful picture of a mountain. It had
OnTrack, now V-com). It is like the old
here to do it.” It is a lighter version of
been taken at an angle and he wanted to
File Manager, or Xtree, that allows you
Photoshop with many of the features
straighten it out. He did so by using
to look at two folders at the same time
and more help to get up and running
the rotation tool to slightly tilt the
and drag and drop files or folders, map
quickly. It also is much cheaper than
picture. Then he used the cropping
network drives, format a floppy, look at
Photoshop as it runs from cost $63-100
tool to cut the edges of the picture so it
zip archives, etc. And it is FREE at:
($30 rebate for upgrade from almost any
was a straight rectangle and no longer
http://www.v-com.com/product/
photo editing program). It takes out red
appeared tilted. Finally, he performed a
pd_free_trial.html . You get a window
eye, changes backgrounds, adds text
copy on the picture. Instead of pasting,
when you close that tells about the
and talking bubbles, allows you to crop,
he used paste into and put the picture
product. If you want to buy it, it is
resize, take out objects you don’t want
into the lettering of the word FONT.
$29.95 for more features. I download
(when I did regular photography , we
The letters then became a fancy window
this to all my clients computers, so they
always wanted that “Telephone Pole
through which we saw the mountain.
can easily see how the folders are
Filter”!.) With programs like this we can
Thus, he not only demonstrated a slick
organized.
be more creative and less perfectionist
text feature, but he also showed us the
Photo Tools
about getting just the right photo,
cropping and rotation tools in the
because this is the “Digital Darkroom”
First off, try the software that came
process.
where many flaws can be corrected.
with your camera to do simple things
Toward the end, Jim demonstrated
like brightness, contrast or cropping. It
Elements works on layers just as
how to put a picture on the face of a
is free.
Photoshop does. The first thing to do
clock. He first took a plain pre-made
when you open a picture (as also in
There are three levels of photo
clock face – basically a circular white
Photoshop) is to duplicate the layer.
manipulation tools:
graphic with the numbers of a clock all
That way you can go back to the
around it. Then he took an amusing
1. Quick Fix, Novice, Easy which are
original if you got too creative on the
picture of George Margolin in a doctor’s
programs like Jasc AfterShot, Photodex
duplicated layer. This is the hint that I
outfit. He copied and pasted the picture
CompuPic Pro, ACDSee, Roxio (formerly
learned the hard way!
on the clock face and enlarged it to
MGI ) Photosuite. These allow
For the price, Elements has a lot of
completely fill the clock. Then he
changing brightness, contrast, crop and
features, especially if you want to
cropped the edges so that they did not
resize (to shorten the e-mail time). They
eventually learn Photoshop, this is the
extend outside the clock. Thus, he
all have many more features. I showed
way to go. n
created a clock with George’s picture,
the audience AfterShot (formerly Image
suitable for printing out on a color
Expert), Compupic Pro and ACDSee.
printer and pasting on a real clock to
Price points are about $40-$70.
produce a custom clock face.
2. Intermediate which are programs
Computer
The audience was amazed at Jim’s
that let you do more involved photo
demonstration and gave him a great
editing such as getting rid of items in
round of applause at the end. n
the picture, get rid of backgrounds, add
Aided
fancier text such as talking bubbles out
of a person’s mouth. This would include
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 and
Investment
New
Microsoft Picture It Digital Image Pro.
Price points are about $60-$100. Don’t
(CAI) SIG
Technology
forget to watch the Sunday paper ads
for discounts and rebates.
by Bob Krishfield, NOCCC
3. Advanced which are programs
By Cathy Grammer Margolin,
that allow you to do everything under
The January meeting of the CAI SIG
NOCCC
the sun, but have a larger learning curve
started off with a discussion of the past
and price, such as Adobe Photoshop 7
month’s market performance and what to
It was Photo Editing Day at NOCCC,
(the topic of our main meeting). Price
expect near term. The Santa Claus year
with Cathy Grammer-Margolin
about $600.
end rally was no more than a one day
presenting a quick overview of many
event, and had no impact since the
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0
levels of programs to use with that new
market had dwindled downward most of
digital camera you got for Christmas.
I then showed the audience
December. Since our Nov. meeting, the
Photoshop Elements new version 2. It
First off, I showed my favorite
continued on next page
February 2003
21
Meeting Reports
CAI SIG, continued from page 21
performers, looked at the criteria used
site. Spammers were then using that
market dropped 289 points which was
and the stocks passing the screens.
capability to confuse spam filters by
the opposite direction of our members’
These screens made up 4 portfolios that
making a URL look like it was going to a
consensus. A review of charts and
were updated weekly or monthly by a re-
Yahoo site, when it was going
indicators did not show any hard
run of the screen and selling stocks that
somewhere else. For example: the URL
evidence that we were heading upward in
were no longer selected and adding
http://rd.yahoo.com/dhdhdhd/*http://
2003.
newly selected stocks. These portfolios
www.whitehouse.com might look like a
The long term picture still shows a
had a cumulative return for the past 5
yahoo service, yet it actually would end
downtrend that has not been broken.
years of 300 - 350%. For the investor who
up going to a porn site (I think, I
Possibilities of a short term rally in
believes in fundamentals, this would be a
haven’t tried it yet).
January offer hope, and that could signal
good approach.
Then we looked at some screen
a good market for several months until
Comparing the 4 portfolios with the
shots of Zone Alarm Pro (ZAP) 3.1 and
mid year.
lists made using technical methods, we
went over the differences between
So where do you put your money?
found several stocks in common, which
recent versions. They have made
The benchmark returns of money mar-
would indicate that some good stocks
tremendous changes in the last few
kets average around 1.2%. Stock funds
can be found using fundamental or
months. In October, I purchased version
and market indexes for the past year
technical methods.
3.1 to get some of their new ad-blocking
show negative returns. Mutual funds
In February, we will look at
and cookie controls. A month later,
have seen positive returns in selected
MetaStock’s capabilities for stock screen-
Zone Labs came-out with an even
areas such as bond funds ranging 4 - 6%,
ing and stock evaluation as a method for
newer version that includes filtering
real estate (REITS) 2.7%, and precious
building a watch list for trading, and
capabilities.
metals 8.2% for the year. Sustained
continue discussions about Stock Inves-
Next month, we’ll be looking at some
growth for individual stocks is much
tor Pro. n
common network traffic sniffers
harder to find in this market.
(protocol analyzers) and an updated list
Stock Selection
of important online security tests.n
We continued discussing stock se-
Computer
lection this meeting. Using a ZigZag
indicator we reviewed several stocks to
security SIG
look at their good and bad periods, and
Genealogy
what would be a good trade with
By Dave Keays, NOCCC
reasonable risk/reward. One needs a
SIG
trading plan to decide when is the
In the January meeting, we went over
beginning of a good period so you can
three different issues: Palladium, a flaw
by John Johnson, NOCCC
make a buy decision, etc., and an exit
in Yahoo, and Zone Alarm.
strategy. But how do you find that list of
Palladium is a security system by
Jim Peugh led us to his web site to
stocks that have the best good periods?
Microsoft that is due out in a couple of
look at the very large PDF file he has
The most potential? This makes the case
years (about 2004 or 2005 according to
put up for his family tree that dates back
for having a good method for stock
Microsoft). It is unique because it
to at least 600 B.C. This is an extremely
selection. The timing of your trades is
requires special hardware. This has
large file that requires a high speed
secondary to selection.
caused some people to claim it is an
connection. It took a few minutes to
I presented The Stock Investor
attempt by Microsoft to ignore industry
download the file. The web address is
Professional from AAII which is a stock
standards and help monopolize the
Peugh.com/docs/wales2.pdf.
selection system that includes a data-
industry. Microsoft makes claims that it
We also tried looking up some
base of more than 8500 stocks updated
will allow people to control data even
Native American heritage. One of the
weekly and tracks over 2500 fields of data
after it has left the computer. Both
problems that may be encountered is
for each company in the database. Using
claims sounds a little over done to me,
the aversion some people had to being
a fundamental approach that looks at a
so I plan to wait until the dust settles
listed. There was a fear of being
company’s profits, sales, debt, market
before I make any decisions.
confined to a certain area.
statistics, etc., AAII has developed over
There is a flaw in Yahoo that
Next month, I will be talking about
40 screens that represent stock picking
spammers have started using
Family Tree Maker Version 10.
strategies of prominent investors and
(abusing?) to get around spam filters
The meeting ended at 4:00 p.m.
popular investment approaches, and
and parental controls. Basically, they
Please bring your questions to next
publishes their performance on the AAII
allowed others to use the Yahoo site to
month’s meeting.
website. We picked 4 of the top
redirect Internet traffic to another web
22
Orange Bytes
Meeting Reports
same key each time the Outlook
contain account numbers, and sort by
Office Suites Contacts are imported to the
company name .
application. First, unhook the
We will convert the Select query to
relationship between the Customer and
an Append query and create a table of
By John Heenan, NOCCC
Order tables. Then open the Customer
Customers suitable for the application.
jc_heenan@a-wares.com
table in design mode and change the
With a Product table and a Customer
type of the Customer ID from
table, we can now create our first
GETTING PICTURES INTO
Autonumber to Text and resize the field
order.n
POWERPOINT SLIDES
to suit the size of the Contact Account
We started the meeting discussing
Number. Likewise, open the Order table
the first item in January’s issue of the
and change the Customer ID from
AutoCAD
Office Tip Sheet. The topic was
Number to Text. Re-link the Customer
probably most appropriate for those
and Order tables in the Relationships
who may have received a digital camera
diagram and in the Edit Relationships
Special
for Christmas. It included Visual Basic
dialog check the “Enforce Referential
macro that would automatically insert
Integrity” and set the Join Type to “1”
Interest
JPG pictures from an assigned folder
Now, we are ready to add records to out
into separate slides in a PowerPoint
Customer table.
presentation. The code can be changed
Group
SELECT QUERIES
for differences in the location of the
With the Contacts and the Customer
folder containing your pictures, or in
by Joe Mizer. NOCCC
tables open we can see the information
the file type(extension), or of the size of
that we have in the Contacts table and
This group is focused on the use of
the incoming picture. The OTS article
what information we need to fill the
Autodesk drawing products which
described how to copy the VB code into
Customer table. Switch to the Database
include AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD
the VB Editor and how to run it. If you
window and select Queries, and New,
Mechanical Desktop 5.3 or 6.0 and
did not get a copy of OTS, you might
and Design View. Select Contacts in the
Inventor 5. Everyone is welcome to
find it at www.a-wares.com/ots/tips.htm.
Show Tables list. From our review of
attend and sit through our
Search for the above topic and click the
the Customer table, we need the
presentations or ask specific questions
hyperlink attached to the issue number
following fields from the Contacts:
on matters you are having trouble with.
4.01.
Account will become the Customer ID,
We set up two computers at each
ORDER ENTRY APPLICATION IN
Company, FirstName, LastName,
meeting to give demonstrations and for
ACCESS
BusinessStreet, BusinessCity,
practice during the meeting. The major
In past lessons, we exported
BusinessState, BusinessPostalCode,
focus will be on mastering Inventor
contacts from Outlook to an Access
BusinessCountry, BusinessPhone,
software in the future. We will give
mdb type file that is linked into our
AssistantsPhone, BusinessFax. Each of
demonstrations on how to make solid
Order entry application. We want to
these items can be added to the query
models including sheet metal and then
take the information from these Outlook
by double clicking each item or
we will turn these into finished
contacts and import them to the
dragging each item from the field list to
drawings that are ready to give to a
Customer table in our application. But
the design grid. Clicking the view
manufacturing facility for fabrication..
before we create this Append query
button, we can see the results of our
This software is extremely easy to use
that would post selected records, there
query.
and allows professional results with a
is a change that must be made to the
Then somebody said “Lunch”
minimum of effort. The next meeting is
primary key that relates the Customer
‘Til next time 2/2/03
on Ground Hog day, let’s hope for a
and Order tables.
short winter. n
We will review relationships and the
RELATIONSHIPS AND THE
making a Select Query that leads to
PRIMARY KEY
creating our Customer table. We will
The Customer table contains a
PC Q&A SIG
add a Criteria to select OL Contacts that
primary key that is Autonumber type.
This means that as each Customer is
United
by Jim Sanders, NOCCC
added to the table it gets an assigned
The intended topic for this months
number in sequence starting with “1”.
We
SIG was the quality of CD-R and DVD-R
We want to use the account number
media. That plan got a bit sidetracked
that has been assigned in Outlook as
Stand
when a number of people wanted to
the primary key. This will ensure that
Continued on page 26
the Customer will always retain the
February 2003
23
SIG List
Those who have listed an e-mail address would prefer to be contacted by e-mail rather than by phone whenever possible
SIG
Bldg .......... Room ........ Time ...... Leader ........................ E-mail
Phone
Autocad
Wilkinson ....... 111 ......... 9:00 ...... Joe Mizer .................... jmizer@earthlink.net
909-688-9848
Computer Aided Investing
Wilkinson ....... 211 ......... 9:30 ...... Bob Krishfield .............. bobkrish@socal.rr.com
714-532-3096
Computer Security
Science ......... 203 ....... 11:15 ...... Dave Keays ................ rdksoft@sbcglobal.net
714-821-4792
Games - for PC & Mac
Wilkinson ....... 221 ......... 2:30 ...... Claire Lemire .............. NOCCCGamingSIG@earthlink.net
714-740-1058
Genealogy
Irvine Hall ...... —– ......... 2:30 ...... John Johnson ............. jrosjohnson@juno.com
714-991-3314
Hardware Essentials
Science ......... 111 ......... 9:30 ...... Herbert Wong ............. ocug@singularitytechnology.com
714-968-7264
Hardware Essentials
Science ......... 109 ......... 2:30 ...... Herbert Wong ............. ocug@singularitytechnology.com
714-968-7264
Linux for Desktop Users
Wilkinson ....... 210 ......... 9:00 ...... Bob C. Ray ................. bobcray@pacbell.net
714-634-7520
Linux for Server Administrators Wilkinson ....... 210 ....... 10:00 ...... Bob C. Ray ................. bobcray@pacbell.net
714-634-7520
Linux Programming Concepts
Wilkinson ....... 210 ....... 11:15 ...... Bob C. Ray ................. bobcray@pacbell.net
714-634-7520
Macintosh
Wilkinson ....... 221 ....... 11:15 ...... John Willner ................ Willner@earthlink.net
714-838-1434
New Technolgy
Irvine Hall ...... —– ......... 9:30 ...... George Margolin ......... Inventor@pobox.com
949-645-5950
Office Suites
Science ......... 111 ....... 11:15 ...... John Heenan .............. jc_heenan@csi.com
714-998-7660
OS/2
Science ......... 203 ......... 2:30 ...... Terry Warren .............. twarren@alumni.caltech.edu
714-663-5467
PALM O/S PDA’s
Science ......... 111 ......... 2:30 ...... Vance Jochim .............. vjochim@webworks66.com
714-771-6564
PC Q&A
Irvine Hall ...... —– ....... 11:15 ...... Jim Sanders ................ jsanders@ligasmicro.com
714-636-5523
PIG SIG (Lunch)
Cafeteria ........ —– ....... 12:00 ...... N/A ............................. N/A
N/A
Understanding OS’s
Wilkinson ....... 111 ....... 11:15 ...... Charlie Moore ............. mooreca@adelphia.net
714-529-9071
Visual Programming I
Science ......... 109 ......... 8:30 ...... Anson Chapman ......... aeccrc@hotmail.com
909-860-9515
Visual Programming Ii
Science ......... 109 ......... 9:00 ...... Anson Chapman ......... aeccrc@hotmail.com
909-860-9515
Visual Programming Iii
Science ......... 109 ....... 10:00 ...... Anson Chapman ......... aeccrc@hotmail.com
909-860-9515
Visual Programming Iv
Science ......... 109 ....... 11:15 ...... Anson Chapman ......... aeccrc@hotmail.com
909-860-9515
Windows
Science ......... 111 ......... 9:00 ...... James Smith ................ jamescsmith@bigfoot.com
714-751-2922
Please report SIG changes to ......................... Linda Russell .. QBQ@UIA.NET .......... 909-949-4930
** Special 1 day class,
Basic HTML Webpages using Notepad,
Opportunity 9:30, 11:15, 2:30 Science 306
High quality Web pages at
reasonable prices
I
.=IJ images
NTERNET
W
Take a look - you be the
ORLD WIDE WEB judge
ADVERTISING
Lots of satisfied customers
HTTP://WWW.CITIVU.COM
(909) 948-5150
WEB-SALES@CITIVU.COM NOCCC Member: Jim Peugh
24
Orange Bytes
NOCCC Help Line
The Help Line is in the true spirit of NOCCC, which is to help others to learn more about
computers. The following is a list of Help Line Volunteers. The list is organized by the topic
that each volunteer is willing to help you with. Please help us to keep this list current. Call or
e-mail Ted Williams at 639-1009 or TedWilliams@alum.MIT.edu with additions, deletions, or
corrections.
AI
Ron Osborn ................ 949-888-5556
Amiga
Ron Osborn ................ 949-888-5556
Apple
Ron Osborn ................ 949-888-5556
Apple II
James C. Smith. .......... 714-751-2922 jamescsmith@bigfoot.com
Apple/Educator
Gerry Resch ............... 714-772-6667
FREE
C/C++
James C. Smith ........... 714-751-2922 jamescsmith@bigfoot.com
Computer Boards
Martin LaRocque ......... 562-697-4318 6-9 p.m.
AD SPACE
Corel Draw
Open
If you are an
Excel(IBM)
Linda Russel ............... 909-949-4930 4-9 pm QBQ@UIA.NET
NOCCC member,
Excel(Mac)
Bob Krishfield .............. 714-532-3096 7-10 p.m.
MacIntosh
Bob Krishfield .............. 714-532-3096 7-10 p.m.
and have a
MacIntosh
Ron Osborn ................ 949-888-5556
computer-related,
Memory/Interrupts
Martin LaRocque ......... 562-697-4318 6-9 p.m.
non-commercial ad
Modem Hardware
Bill Hinds ..................... 714-639-5792 24 hrs
that you would like to
Modem Software
Bill Hinds ..................... 714-639-5792 24 hrs
have placed on the
Neural Networks
Ron Osborn ................ 949-532-3096
Internet, visit the
OS/2
Rollin White ................. 562-493-1674 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
Classified Ads section
Pagemaker 6.0/6.5
Dale Blank .................. 714-774-2302
of our website at:
PC, Beginners
Ron Osborn ................ 949-888-5556
PC Hardware
Ron Osborn ............... 949-888-5556
www.noccc.org
Quicken 6.0
Jay Chaisson .............. 714-997-2707 after 6 p.m.
or contact
Quickbooks 5.0
Jay Chaisson ............. 714-997-2707 after 6 p.m.
Jim Sanders at
Quicken 2000,2001
Linda Russell .............. 909-949-4930 4-9pm QBQ@UIA.NET
jsanders@ligasmicro.com
Quickbooks
Linda Russell .............. 909-949-4930 4-9 pm QBQ@UIA.NET
Quicken Home &
Club members
Business 2000, 2001
Linda Russell .............. 909-949-4930 4-9pm QBQ@UIA.NET
are also welcome
Powerpoint
Vivian Carroll .............. 714-996-1409 before 8:30p.m. vcvc@aol.com
Names and contact information for the NOCCC Help Line
to post
Realtime Control
Frank McAnninch ........ 714-846-5134 frankmac@worldnet.att.net
are available only in the printed Orange Bytes.
“Wanted”
Robotics
Frank McAnninch ........ 714-846-5134 frankmac@worldnet.att.net
Tcl/Tk
Bob DeWolf ................. 714-879-8269 bobS5@aol.com
or
Unix
Bob DeWolf ................. 714-879-8269 bobS5@aol.com
“For Sale”
Windows 9X
O. T. Stol .................... 714-521-6915 after 6
ot@stollcomputers.com
notices on the kiosk,
Windows 9X
John Heenan .............. 714-998-7660 jc_heenan@a-wares.com
but please do not tape
Windows 2000
Ted Williams ................ 714-639-1009 tedWilliams@alum.mit.edu.
them on doors,
Word
John Heenan .............. 714-998-7660 jc_heenan@a-wares.com
windows, or walls.
Word
Vivian Carroll .............. 714-996-1409 before 8:30p.m. vcvc@aol.com
WordPerfect
Ron Osborn ................ 949-888-5556
New volunteers for the Help Line would be appreciated!
Macromedia volunteers needed.
February 2003
25
Stuffit, continued from page 17
There were several responses that more or less sounded like an
be worked on.
affirmative, so I guess that is what I will do.n
My major complaint is that there should be tutorial
documentation included. If you want the capability of greater
compression the price is right. The Deluxe version, at
Aladdin’s Web page www.aladdinsys.com/store/.html, is
priced at $39.99 and for those with earlier versions of Stuffit, an
Tobi-on-the-Run
upgrade sells for $9.99. n
By Cathy Shimozono, NOCCC
PC Q&A SIG
If you like Lode Runner, you will love Tobi-on-the-Run, or
continued from page 23
so the ad reads. Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to
play Lode Runner so I can’t attest or refute this claim. I can say
discuss the Segway and my impressions of the unit that I got
I found this to be a most delightful and enjoyable game.
to take a test ride on at Comdex. Someone in the audience
asked if I knew about the 3 different models of the Segway. I
admitted that so far as I knew there was only one model. It
Tobi runs through a maze collecting donuts that resemble
turns out that the Segway website talks about two models.
gold rings. When he collects all of them, he has to get to the
One model is described as optimized for range and terrain and
‘goal’ platform to advance to the next level. Sounds easy,
the other for cargo carrying. The industrial model that he
right? Well, Tobi must keep away from the bullies (different
referred to was not found by me. The specifications for the
numbers on different levels) while collecting donuts. This gets
other two reaffirms my opinion that there is one model with an
a bit tricky but you can slow down the bullies by digging holes
option for cargo baskets. Still, a neat, fun, too expensive for
for them to fall into. It takes a few seconds for them to climb
my wallet, impressive machine for getting around on. See:
out giving Tobi time to make his get- away.
www.segway.com. A related product from Mr. Kamen is the
On some levels the bullies steal the donuts and the only
iBot 3000 wheel chair. This is another impressive device that, if
way to get them back is to make the bullies fall into a hole.
you need a wheelchair, is probably the ultimate unit almost
When they fall, they throw up the donut and Tobi can easily
available today. Some demo movies are available at: http://
pick it up. There are ladders to climb, poles to shinny up and
www.dynopower.freeserve.co.uk/homepages/newchair.htm, or
down, bars to cross hand-over-hand, and sometimes you must
go to the company website: http://
dig a tunnel to retrieve a trapped donut. Tobi can fall any
www.independencenow.com/ibot/index.html.
distance and he won’t be killed, but let any bully touch him
When we got back to the original plan, a number of points
and Tobi’s angel rises to heaven to the accompaniment of
were made about the quality of media. First, a recognized
Taps. That is really a funny sight.
brand name is probably going to have better quality
The sound effects and the 3D graphics are very good
consistently. Second, even a internationally known brand
although Tobi (and the nasty bullies) is a bit small. The mazes
name like Sony, doesn’t necessarily mean that the media is
get consistently harder the higher the level. There are 100
made by them. On the one hand, you don’t really care. Sony,
levels but you can download different sets of mazes for more
or any comparable company, is not real likely to put out junk
fun. What makes it even more enjoyable is that each maze is a
with their name on the label. You may get media that is just as
little different from the previous mazes. There are three skill
good as the name brand even if you have never heard of the
levels of play that make the perfect game for adults and
XYZ brand of CDs. They might be made at the same factory as
children.
the name brand. The gotcha to that train of thought is that any
By the way, if you have a Microsoft key on your keyboard,
given factory might also make several different quality grades
you have an emergency exit to Windows. This is wonderful if
of media. On the plus side, the current crop of burners seems
your boss walks in unexpectedly and while it is in down mode
to be able to deal with a much wider range of media types and
the game is paused. A simple click on the task bar will bring
grades, much more successfully than the older models. A site
back the game to the exact place you left. I feel I must give a
that I recommend going to is: http://www.cdmediaworld.com.
strong word of caution. Tobi On The Run is very addicting and
This site has a number of pages that do a pretty good job of
extremely habit forming: :o)
explaining the differences that exist between media that uses
Tobi-on-the-Run is from Mad Data and will run on Windows
the different dyes. Between the information that is on this site
95 and above. It is available for a free demo download or for
and the many links to other sites, you can probably learn more
purchase by download from www.tobi-on-the-run.com/
about the subject than you care about.
index.html. I suggest you start with the demo until you become
I enquired of those present if they had any particular topic
comfortable with the game. The demo even has an extra set of
on which they would like to have me do a presentation. After
http://www.citivu.com
mazes for download too. This game costs ($14.98) and is well
several entreaties for a response, I asked if they were OK with
worth the money. n
taking whatever struck my fancy as a topic to talk about.
web-sales@citivu.com
26
Orange Bytes
Orange Bytes is published monthly by:
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February 2003
27
Are You an NOCCC Member?
Consider all that you get with membership and Join Now
Parking Information — Chapman University’s main
l
parking lot is on the north side of the campus (enter from Walnut)
Meetings. Keep up with what’s going on in the computer
world. Hear outstanding industry representatives make pre-
and is free of charge for NOCCC’s meetings on Sunday. Please
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feel free to park in the parking lots.
l Special Interest Groups. Our 20 SIGs cover a broad spec-
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The city of Orange’s parking laws prohibit parking in front of
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onstrations they sponsor, and to share computer knowledge.
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l Get help with your current computer problems. In the
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Random Access portions of the meetings you ask your ques-
The NOCCC Information Desk, Membership Desk, Reviews
tion of the entire assemblage, and more than likely someone
Desk, Consignment Table, and most of the meeting rooms are
will have the answer.
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Orange Bytes
Dated Material - Please Expedite
Document Outline
- Presidents Message
- Membership Benefits
- Board Meeting Minutes
- Upcoming Presentations
- NOCCC Officers
- Consignment Table
- Computer Talk
- Free Games
- Google is Great
- Great Google Grabs
- AMD News
- Product Reviews
- Microsoft Money 2002 Suite
- Autodesk Inventer R5
- PC Hardware in a Nutshell
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