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SLO Bytes Newsletter - November 2007 - PUSH Article Descriptions

After Retirement, Who Are You? By Gabe Goldberg, Advisor, Region 2; columnist, CompuKISS.com (www.compukiss.com) Approx. 599 words. Retirement - even temporary job loss - can trigger discomfort with one's changed identity. Especially for those who have been strongly career oriented, the simple question, "What do you do?" can lead to fumbling for an answer. And when socializing or doing business or volunteering, it can be awkward not having the usual trappings of the grown-up world such as business cards. Enter VistaPrint.

Buying a New Vista Computer? Read This First! By Sandy Berger, Compukiss.com (www.compukiss.com) Approx. 925 words. Windows Vista is finally ready for prime time. Over the last several months, the drivers for many devices like printers and scanners have been updated to accommodate Vista. Most software has also been updated to be Vista compatible. If you are ready for a new computer you may be ready for Vista. However, you might want to do a little homework before you make your purchase.

DUFFERDOM - Tales from the Kingdom of the Ordinary User by David D. Uffer, a Member of the Chicago Computer Society (www.ccs.org) Approx. 1,281 words. Of Avery, CDs, Squaring the Circle, Selected Greek Classics and Tantalus - Plus a Resolution.

DVD Insider - DRM by Andy Marken, Marken Communications (www.markencom.com) Approx. 1,655 words. We need to note that creative people need to be paid for their work…writers, artists, animators, actors, makeup artists, best boys, post production folks, underwriters and yes even studio execs. No pay…no play! The problem is the world doesn't want content protection and consumers don't want content protection.

Fake Check Scams on the Internet Explode by Ira Wilsker, APCUG Director; Columnist, The Examiner, Beaumont, TX; Radio & TV Show Host, Approx. 1,253 words. Have you recently received an e-mail where you are a supposed winner of a drawing scam? Spam-scam crackdown nets $2 billion in fake checks and 77 arrests were made in the Netherlands, Nigeria and Canada. Have you heard that the Postal Service has declared war on the Nigerian scam? All this and more in Ira's fascinating article.

Google Search Bar and Your Telephone Number by Sandy Berger (www.Compukiss.com), Approx 668 words. If you know someone's telephone number, how hard would it be to find that person? Well, with Internet resources, it couldn't be easier. Type any telephone number into the Google search bar and you will quickly be given the name and address that relates to that number, as well as a detailed map on where they live.

How to Find Podcasts by Mike Lyons, President, ORCOPUG, CA (www.orcopug.org) Approx. 504 words. Mike gives us good directions on how to find and download podcasts.

How to use Google Street Views to see…streets, places, routes and faces! By Linda Gonse, Editor and Webmaster, ORCOPUG, CA (www.orcopug.org) Approx. 447 words. Beyond the curiosity of the new panoramic on-the-road reality shots, Google's detailed Street Views give you a feel for really being where you want to go. Although only a handful of large cities are represented in these views, it's still likely you will want to look for destinations in them occasionally.

Make Vista Work Better by Vinny La Bash, member of the Sarasota PCUG, FL (www.spcug.org) Approx. 940 words. No matter how good an OS may be, someone will complain that it could have been better. Vista is a very good OS that some people find wanting. Some people are never satisfied, but that is not the issue here. Of course, Vista should have been better, but MS has only so much time and resources to develop a system, and Vista was late to market in addition to being less than perfect.

Moving on to Vista - Part 1 by Neil Stahfest, Shareware Librarian, Tacoma Area PCUG, WA (www.tapcug.org) Approx. 702 words. I tested a pre-release version of Windows Vista last year. I thought that the eye candy was nice but there really wasn't a lot about the program to make it worth upgrading my PC to use it. Since then I've heard stories about problems with Vista that made me even reluctant to upgrade to it. But, things happen. I "needed" a new laptop to demonstrate programs for the Flight Simulator SIG <wink><wink>. Many of you will be buying new computers in the next year or so, so I'll share some of my experiences and impressions with you.

The New, the Best, and the Worst - October 2007, collected by Pim Borman, Webmaster, SW Indiana PCUG (http://swipcug.apcug.org) Approx. 1,367 words. From Mobile Supercomputers to Super Jigsaws, Amazon, Burj Dubai Babel Baggle, and Google, Pim tells it like it is.

Online Consumer Help from the Federal Government by Ira Wilsker, APCUG Director; Columnist, The Examiner, Beaumont, TX: Radio & TV show host (Approx. 1,161 words). President Bush has requested that all federal agencies make it easier for consumers (the general public) to locate the utilize information on federal websites. In some cases a variety of federal agencies have pooled their resources and information, and compiled the data in easy-to-use websites that represent several agencies in one place. Some of these integrated federal websites are consumer.gov, recalls.gov, and usa.gov. EDITORS - let your program chair know that the information in this article can be used for a program.

Backing Up Your Hard Drive by Gene Barlow, User Group Relations (www.ugr.com) Approx. 2,538 words. Yes, your hard drive will fail someday: Your hard drive is a mechanical device that spins constantly and is certain to wear out. The life of a hard drive is only 2-3 years. If you are lucky, your drive may last you 4 or 5 years, but it could go out in just 6 months. It is not a question of if your hard drive will fail, but it's a question of when it will fail. All you can do is to be ready when it does fail by having a copy of all of the files on your hard drive saved away from your computer. Then you can replace the failed drive with an empty new drive and put all of the files on the new hard drive. This lets you be back up and running in a mater of minutes instead of days or weeks rebuilding your drive. This process is called backing up and restoring your hard drive and is the topic of this article.

Additional Backup Approach Comparisons by Gene Barlow, User Group Relations (www.ugr.com) Approx. 1,860 words. In another article (above), Gene highlighted four of the most common backup approaches used today and compared them to show his readers why the Perfect Backup Approach is the best wayw to do backups. As soon as he sent that article out, he received messages from users asking why I had not included other backup approaches in his article. Two additional backup approaches are included in this article.

The Phenomenon of Facebook - Part II by Courtney Jewett, a member of HAL-PC, TX and a senior English major at Baylor University who is pursuing a career in Journalism (www.alamaopc.org) Approx. 569 words. Today's college student is as familiar with Facebook as they are to types of Starbucks coffee, episodes of Grey's Anatomy, and the rising cost of their university tuition. Courtney's article lets her readers have a clearer understanding of how students are utilizing the site.

The QWERTY Keyboard and Microsoft Office 2007 by Bob Schneider, Editor, The PC Keyboard, Spring Hill Teaching Computer Club, FL (www.shtcc.net) Approx. 625 words. Back in the mid-1800s, when the first practical typewriter was built, inventor C.L.Sholes arranged the keys in the QWERTY layout for a practical reason. He had to separate the most common letters to prevent the hammers from jamming. So many people knew that although it was no longer necessary, it was maintained with the advent of electric typewriters. Since Bob started using Windows 2.0 in 1989, Microsoft advertised the strength and beauty of following the Windows format. Using its standard GUI interface, all programs would have the same look and feel. Learn one program and you could quickly learn to navigate around in any similar software. Enter Office 2007.

ru Xperienced? By Lee Reynolds, a member of the Boca Raton Computer Society, FL (www.brcs.org) Approx. 594 words. Ownership and Restrictions. If you have ever had a corrupted user profile and then had to create a new account, when you tried to access the folder or files used by the old account in order to transfer them to the new one, you might have encountered a problem: Windows won't let you. Lee walks us through the steps on how to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP.

Using a Restore Point by Larry Bothe, an associate member of CAEUG and an honorary member of the Fox Valley PC Association, IL (www.caeug.net / www.fvpca.org) Approx. 908 words. Recently, while in a big hurry to get a lot of work done before leaving on vacation, Larry's computer started up with a blank screen. No mouse, no images, no text, no error message, no nothing. Oops, he decided he should have paid attention to the warning he received from his computer security software that some program was trying to make a change to something it thought was a danger. He was in a hurry and OK'd it without reading it thoroughly. Larry walks us through setting a Restore Point to when everything was working correctly.

Using Imaging Software for Backup by Brian K. Lewis, PhD, a member of the Sarasota PCUG, FL (www.spcug.org) Approx. 1,353 words. There are many HD backup programs on the market that tell you that they can make an "image" of your HD. This allows you to restore your programs and data in case of an HD crash. They will also transfer everything on your HD to a new drive. Brian takes a look at the generic methods they use for these situations.

Vista Backup and Shadow Copy by Lynn Page, Editor, Crystal Riber Users Group, FL (www.crug.com) Approx. 954 words. Windows Vista helps easily back up computer settings, files and applications. The new Windows Backup feature provides more choices for storing backed up information. You can choose to back up to CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, an external hard disk, another internal hard disk, or to another computer or server connected to your network.

Windows XP Power Management by Lynn Page, Editor, Crystal River Users Group, FL (www.crug.com) Approx. 757 words. If you use a laptop you know the problem of running down the battery before you finish up. But configuring power management can also reduce electrical usage on your desktop computer.

Gabe Goldberg - gabe(at)gabegold.com
Sandy(at)compukiss.com
Daviduffer(at)sbcglobal.net
Andy(at)markencom.com
Iwilsker(at)apcug.net
President(at)orcopug.org
Editor(at)orcopug.org
Vlabash(at)comcast.net
Ncstahfest(at)msn.com
Swipcug(at)gmail.com
Courtney_Jewett(at)baylor.edu
Drbob1012.new(at)hotmail.com
Leetutor(at)earthlink.net
Additional Backup Approach Comparisons by Gene Barlow
Deanholste(at)sbcglobal.net
Bwsail(at)yahoo.com
Newsletter(at)crug.com
Gene(at)ugr.com

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