Jan. 2008

vol. 26 no. 1 / january 2008
award winning monthly newsletter for orcopug members
christmas fundraising raffle
winners and prizes
www.orcopug.org/
members/2007results.pdf
january program
smartcomputing
in a box
plus
evernote
cut & paste database
presented by mike lyons
program notes 2
your favorite shot 3
why not wimax? 4
open office 2.3 6
strange stuff in maps 9
ask computer tutor 10
news updates 11
new, best, worst 12
members’ q&a 14
photoshop plugins 15
readers’ views 17
can’t delete files 18
test your antivirus 19
pclinux os 20
member information 21
user group deals 22
orcopug information 23
PROGRAM NOTES
smartcomputing and evernote
both to be presented at meeting, both loaded with features
by Mike Lyons
W
e’re going to kick off the New Year with a
dual program. The first presentation will
feature Smart Computing, a long time
supporter of user groups. Smart Computing publishes
several PC/Tech related magazines aimed at different
computer skill levels written in easy-to-understand
plain English.
Smart Computing is more than a monthly
magazine. As a subscriber, you get web access to
all four of their magazines. You can print any of
their articles, or if you prefer, you can tag and store
your favorite articles for easy access on the website.
Subscribers have a forum to ask questions and other
subscribers will answer them. And, you get a 800
number that provides free tech support for problems
that their archives and forums are unable to answer.
All in all, it’s a good deal for less than $2.50 a month.
We will show you how to subscribe so that the club
benefits. With every five members that subscribe, the
club receives a free subscription (which usually ends
up in our raffle). In fact, we will raffle off one free
subscription at our January 8th meeting.
The second half of the evening will be a demo of
a little program I came across called Evernote. I have
been using this program for a couple of weeks, and
because I’m an information junkie, it is something I
use every day.
2
With Evernote I can capture anything— web page,
pdf file, email, etc. and easily drop it into Evernote with
a click of button on my browser, or drag the object into
Evernote, or by good old fashioned cut-and-paste.
Everything gets dropped into a single database. It
doesn’t matter if it is a document, a picture, a video
clip, etc. they all can be put into the same database—
even Excel spreadsheets and Word documents. So far,
I haven’t found anything that I can’t bring into the
database.
You assign a category tag (or tags) which can be
as vague or as definitive as you desire. The program
indexes the object as it is put into the database. It has
a search feature that will highlight your search term
everywhere it appears, even a handwritten version or a
picture of a sign with words in it.
The other feature I really like is that when I do
web clipping, the program automatically puts the web
source page URL into the document. Double-click on
“EverNote is a genius piece of
software that collects and stores all
of your digital data, indexing them
and making them searchable.”
— Michael Calore, Wired
the link in the database and it takes you right to the
web source.
Evernote’s website includes six videos to take you
through the basics to get you up to speed in a hurry.
The site has templates to create to-do lists, bulleted
lists, and free-form notes.
I’d say I’ve found the perfect program for an
information junkie.
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
SO YOU LIKE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
your favoriteshot
T
he stained glass “Christmas scene”
was taken at the Spaghetti Factory
near the Mission Inn in Riverside in
December 2007. It was taken with a Canon
40D, handheld, with an IS lens.
photo by Hank Dart
S
elf portrait through the bathroom mirror.
Easy to do, just bounce your strobe light
off the ceiling. Same camera.
photo by Hank Dart
E
verybody has a photo that they like a lot. Send us your favorite photo as a low resolution 3” x 4” or 4” x 3”
JPG to [email protected] Provide a short description of the photo or the photo trick that you used to
get it. Photo subjects can be whatever you choose.
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
3
HOW IT WORKS
wimax:
what is it and how does it work?
by Jim Harty, HHICC
A
t the present time you probably access the internet
in one of three different ways:
• Broadband access—using Hargray or Time
Warner
• WiFi access—if you have a WiFi router. You can
also find WiFi hot spots in restaurants, hotels, coffee
shops and libraries.
• Dial-up access—If you are still using one of the
many dial-up resources available .
The main problems with broadband access is it’s
4
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
expensive and it doesn’t reach many areas of the
country. The main problem with WiFi access is that
hot spots are very small, so coverage is sparse (inside
of the bulding).
What if there were a new technology that solved
all of these problems? This new technology would
provide:
• The high speed of broadband service
• Wireless rather than wired access, so it would
Turn to next page
HOW IT WORKS
be a lot less expensive than cable or
DSL and much easier to extend to
suburban and rural areas
• Broad coverage like the cell
phone network instead of small WiFi
hotspots.
This system is actually coming
into being right now, and it is
called WiMAX. WiMAX is short
for Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access, and it also goes
by the IEEE name 802.16. It has the
potential to do to broadband Internet
access what cell phones have done
to phone access. In the same way
that many people have given up their
“land lines” in favor of cell phones,
WiMAX could replace cable and DSL
services, providing universal Internet
access just about anywhere you go.
WiMAX will also be as painless as
WiFi — turning your computer on
will automatically connect you to the
closest available WiMAX antenna.
WiMAX would operate similar
to WiFi but at higher speeds, over
greater distances and for a greater
number of users. WiMAX could
potentially erase the suburban and
rural blackout areas that currently
have no broadband Internet access
because phone and cable companies
have not yet run the necessary wires to
those remote locations.
A WiMAX system consists of two
parts:
• A WiMAX tower, similar in
concept to a cell-phone tower — A
single WiMAX tower can provide
coverage to a very large area — as big
as 3,000 square miles
• A WiMAX receiver — The
receiver and antenna could be a small
box or PCMCIA card, or they could
be built into a laptop the way WiFi
access is today.
A WiMAX tower station can
connect directly to the Internet using
a high-bandwidth, wired connection
(for example, a T3 line). It can also
connect to another WiMAX tower
using a line-of-sight, microwave link.
This connection to a second tower
(often referred to as a backhaul), along
with the ability of a single tower to
cover up to 3,000 square miles, is what
allows WiMAX to provide coverage to
remote rural areas.
What this points out is that
WiMAX actually can provide two
forms of wireless service:
• There is the non-line-of-sight,
WiFi sort of service, where a small
antenna on your computer connects
to the tower. In this mode, WiMAX
uses a lower frequency range -- 2
GHz to 11 GHz (similar to WiFi).
Lower-wavelength transmissions are
not as easily disrupted by physical
obstructions -- they are better able to
diffract, or bend, around obstacles.
• There is line-of-sight service,
where a fixed dish antenna points
straight at the WiMAX tower from
a rooftop or pole. The line-of-sight
connection is stronger and more
stable, so it’s able to send a lot of
data with fewer errors. Line-of-sight
transmissions use higher frequencies,
with ranges reaching a possible 66
GHz. At higher frequencies, there
is less interference and lots more
bandwidth.
WiFi-style access will be limited to
a 4-to-6 mile radius (perhaps 25 square
miles or 65 square km of coverage,
which is similar in range to a cellphone zone). Through the stronger
line-of-sight antennas, the WiMAX
transmitting station would send data
to WiMAX-enabled computers or
routers set up within the transmitter’s
30-mile radius (2,800 square miles or
9,300 square km of coverage). This
is what allows WiMAX to achieve its
maximum range.
WiMax is currently being offered
for $14.99 a month by a firm founded
by Craig O. McGraw, the pioneer of
the cell phone.
Used with permission. Reprinted from the
December 2007 issue of Island Computing,
Hilton Head Island Computer Club.
Clearwire, founded in October 2003
by telecom pioneer Craig O. McCaw,
is a provider of simple, fast, portable
and reliable wireless high-speed Internet service. Clearwire customers connect to the Internet using licensed spectrum, thus eliminating
the confines of traditional cable or phone
lines. Headquartered in Kirkland, Washington,
the company launched its first market in August 2004
and now offers service in 16 states across the U.S. as well as
in Europe and Mexico. http://www.clearwire.com/
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
5
INTERNET
REVIEW
open office 2.3 – popular free office suite
by Ira Wilsker
E
very school day I work with
college students who have a
need for a full featured office
suite on their computers, but who
also lack the fiscal resources it takes
to purchase the ubiquitous market
leader, Microsoft Office. I also have
first hand knowledge of local small
business owners who have a similar
need for a comprehensive office suite,
but lack the budgetary capacity to
put a licensed version of Microsoft
office on each of their computers. I
have worked with low income single
parents, struggling to properly educate
their kids, who have a need for a
6
quality office program, but simply
cannot afford to purchase Microsoft
office from one of the local “big
box” stores. These people, and many
others, have a valid need for a full
featured office suite, and can either
not afford to purchase one, or desire
to use a “freeware” product instead
of the monopolistic market leader.
Fortunately for these people, and
everyone else for that matter, there is a
free alternative: Open Office.
Open Office version 2.3 was
recently released. Open Office
is a free, comprehensive suite of
office software that is feature rich,
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
compatible with the market leader
(Microsoft Office), and uses a
similar interface requiring a near
zero learning curve for those already
familiar with office software products.
Open Office consists of six
integrated modules that allow the
user to easily accomplish virtually any
traditional office task. The modules
are the word processor “Writer;” an
equation and formula writing utility
“Math;” a powerful graphics package
“Draw;” a full featured spreadsheet
“Calc;” a comprehensive database
utility “Base;” and a presentation
utility “Impress.”
Arguably, the most widely
utilized office software utility is a
word processor, and Open Office
provides a great one with Writer.
Writer is not just a full featured word
processor that is a direct competitor
of Microsoft’s popular Word, it also
incorporates many of the desktop
publishing capabilities competitive
with Publisher. Many common
tasks are automated by the use of a
“Wizard” which provides templates
Turn to next page
REVIEW
for letters, faxes, agendas, minutes,
mail merge, and other routine tasks.
An “AutoCorrect Dictionary” can
check and correct spelling as words
are being typed. For those who need
to export documents to the web,
Writer can save documents in the
universal HTML format, allowing
for rapid uploading to a web server.
Publishing needs such as a table of
contents, bibliography, and an index
can be easily created with Writer.
Documents can be saved in the
universal standard Open Document
format (XML), or in the common
“portable document format” also
known as PDF, without the need for
an external PDF writer. For those who
have a commercial office suite at work
and Open Office at home, and for
those who collaborate and exchange
documents in Microsoft’s Word (doc)
format, Open Office can read and
write the doc format. Writer is a very
capable word processor that can satisfy
almost every writing need, and best of
all it is free.
Possibly the second
most utilized office
software product is the
spreadsheet, and Open
Office obliges with its
Calc software. Calc
can do whatever most
other spreadsheets can
do, including number
crunching, charts, and
tables. The interface and
menus will be familiar to
anyone who has used a
major competing product
such as Excel. Formulas
can be entered similarly
to other spreadsheets, but
an added feature is the
ability to use common terms instead
of formulas and cell numbers; one
example is to simply type “quantity
* price” to get a sales amount,
rather than typing geekish terms like
“=B4*C4”. Open Office spreadsheet
documents can be saved in the
universal open document format
(XML) or in PDF format. Calc can
also read and write Microsoft Excel’s
XLS format allowing for the easy
exchange of files between products.
Many of us do presentations, and
Microsoft’s PowerPoint has become
the de facto standard for presentation
software. Open Office can accept the
PowerPoint challenge with its Impress
software. Virtually anything that can
be done in PowerPoint can be done
with Impress, and the intuitive and
familiar interface that many of us are
already accustomed to is substantially
preserved with Impress. Impress
offers animations and special effects
to rival PowerPoint. Like other Open
Office components, Impress can save
its files in the open document format,
or as a “Flash” presentation in the
SWF format. Not to be outdone by
its competition, Impress can read
and write in the PowerPoint PPT
format allowing PowerPoint files to
be opened and edited in Impress, and
played on any PowerPoint equipped
computer.
Open Office is not just a Windows
product; there are versions for Mac
OS-X, Linux, Solaris, and Free BSD.
Open Office is also not just available
in English, but also in dozens of other
languages ranging from Albanian and
Afrikaans to Vietnamese and Welsh.
Open Office is truly a universal office
application that can easily serve in
a domestic application or with the
largest multinational corporations.
What is especially nice about Open
Office is its price; it is free. Open
Office can be downloaded from
openoffice.org. It is a large download,
Turn to next page
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
7
REVIEW
in excess of 120 megs, depending on version desired, but it
is free. For those who may want to distribute Open Office
on a CD, such as to employees or students, an image file
for a CD can be downloaded and burned to as many discs
as desired for distribution.
Now when one of my students commiserates that
he cannot afford a full-featured office suite, I will refer
him to the free Open Office. Since it can read and write
Microsoft Office file formats, there should be minimal
problems moving files between home and school. For
those who desire to do first class presentations, Impress
will do an impressive job. Writer can write with the best
of them. Calc can calculate and hold its own with the best
competitive spreadsheets. Draw can read almost all popular
graphics formats and compose its own popular graphics,
and also output in SWF “Flash” format. The Base database
program can read and write almost all database formats,
and easily create reports. There is not much missing
in Open Office, and it has definitely gained attention.
According to the Open Office website (Market Share
Analysis), over 100 million copies have been downloaded
worldwide, and countless more distributed on disc.
To quote a popular phase from the old “Mikey” TV
commercial, “Try it – you’ll like it.” I tried it and I liked
it. You can too. There is nothing to lose, other than some
download time. Go ahead and download Open Office 2.3.
You may not need another office program after you do.
(NOTE: Screenshots from OpenOffice.org website)
websites:
http://www.openoffice.org
http://download.openoffice.org/2.3.0/index.
html — FREE Download
http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/
iso_downoad.html — FREE CD Image
Impress (left) and Calc (below)
8
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
INTERNET
E
ver since Google first let
people scour the planet
from the comfort of their
computers through the Google Earth
software program, fans have been
on a virtual scavenger hunt from the
North Pole to the South Pole looking
for anything interesting, unusual, or
unexplained. From shipwrecks to crop
circles, from ads big enough to be
read from space to a giant pink bunny
nearly the size of a football field,
here’s a collection of just a few of the
odd and spectacular sights, http://
tinyurl.com/2ldzr4.
You can see the same images in
Google Maps by clicking the links
that are provided—but you’ll get a
better view by copying the coordinates
in parentheses after each link and
pasting them into Google Earth’s ‘Fly
To’ box. Enjoy the trip!
strange,
interesting images
found in google maps
O
nly from the sky—Dubbed “The Badlands Guardian” by locals, this geological marvel (Google Earth coordinates
50.010083,-110.113006) in Alberta, Canada, bears an uncanny resemblance to a human head wearing a full Native American headdress—and earphones, to boot. Of course, “The Guardian” was produced naturally.
M
icrosoft Headquarters — Are they so obsessed
with Direct X that they designed their buildings
in the same design as the logo?
G
oogle’s satellites sometimes catch the
Earth’s inhabitants on the move, like these
ten African elephants (Google Earth coordinates
10.903497,19.93229).
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
9
COMPUTER HELP
ask
computer
tutor
Q
UESTION:I am using
Windows Vista and I would
like show the “Sidebar” on my
desktop. How is this done?
ANSWER: Follow the steps below to
keep the “Sidebar” on your desktop
with the features that interest you.
Click on the START button, which in
Windows Vista, is an ORB.
1. Click on ALL PROGRAMS.
2. Click on ACCESSORIES.
3. Select the WINDOWS SIDEBAR.
The SIDEBAR will appear on your
desktop allowing you to choose
features like: News Headlines,
Stock Quotes, Weather, Calendar,
Picture Slideshow and much more.
QUESTION: In Windows XP how
can I arrange my programs on the
Start Menu in Alphabetical order?
ANSWER: Outlook Express has been
changed to WINDOWS MAIL and
comes free with the Vista operating
system. It is similar to Outlook Express
but has some advanced features that
you will find useful.
ANSWER: To arrange programs by
name, follow the steps below:
1. Click Start
2. Click All Programs
3. Right-click on any folder or icon
4. Choose “Sort by Name”
Your programs will now be
arranged in alphabetical order.
QUESTION: Where is Outlook
Express in Windows Vista?
10
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
QUESTION: How can I access my
keyboard, if it malfunctions? I am
using Windows XP.
ANSWER: An on–screen keyboard
is built into Windows XP. It can
be useful if you have mobility
impairments, if you are using a
tablet PC, or if your keyboard goes
down.
1. To access the keyboard:
2. Click on Start
3. Click Run, and type osk.
The onscreen keyboard opens on
your desktop, featuring three typing
modes you can use to type data:
• Clicking mode, you click the
on–screen keys.
• Scanning mode, you press a hot
key or use a switch–input device to
type highlighted characters.
• Hovering mode, you use a mouse
or joystick to point to a key, which is
then typed.
Turn to next page
REVIEaom
interW
COMPUTER HELP / NEWS
UPDATES
TO MAKE AN ON-SCREEN
KEYBOARD SHORTCUT ICON on
your “Quick Launch Bar”
1. Right–click the desktop.
2. Point to New, and then click
Shortcut.
3. Type osk, click Next.
4. Type a name for the shortcut, and
then click Finish.
5. Drag the shortcut onto your “Quick
Launch Bar” after unlocking the
Taskbar.
Remember to Lock the Taskbar again
to prevent it from moving. When you
need it, the shortcut to the on–screen
keyboard utility is one click away.
P
amela Tabak
welcomes your
computer-related
questions. She has a
convenient online form at
http://tinyurl.com/34qzke
to fill out and submit to
her for help.
She generally answers
questions within 24
hours. Please tell her
you read her column in
Nibbles & Bits.
presidential campaign contributors
by Dave Lee
D
id you ever wonder which of your neighbors are making
contributions to presidential campaigns, to whom they are
contributing and how much? Visit the New York Times at http://tinyurl.
com/3yxghg to view contributions of $200 or more to presidential
candidates through September 30, 2007, as reported to the Federal
Election Commission. Type in your zip code and there are the
contributors by name, amount given and to whom it was given.
windows xp outshines vista
A
ccording to News.com at CNET < http://tinyurl.com/2gfswo > on
November 27, “New tests revealed that Windows XP with the beta
Service Pack 3 (SP3) has twice the performance of Vista, even with its
long-awaited SP1.
“Vista’s first service pack, to be released early next year, is intended
to boost the operating system’s performance. However, when Vista
with the Service Pack 1 (SP1) beta was put through benchmark testing
by researchers at Florida-based software development company Devil
Mountain Software, the improvement was not overwhelming, leaving the
latest Windows iteration outshined by its predecessor.
“Vista, both with and without SP1, performed notably slower than
XP with SP3 in the test, taking over 80 seconds to complete the test,
compared to the beta SP3-enhanced XP’s 35 seconds.
“Vista’s performance with the service pack increased less than 2%
compared to performance without SP1 — much lower than XP’s SP3
improvement of 10%.”
cyberwarfare warning from mcafee
Carolyn Hunter, “McAfee Report Issues Stark Cyberwarfare Warning,” SC
magazine, 11/29/2007
M
cAfee’s annual “Virtual Criminology Report,” says the world faces
a cyber cold war over the next decade; 120 countries around the
world are conducting cyber espionage operations. The operations target
the military, political, economic, and technical arenas. The Chinese
deny allegations that it is at the forefront of an impending cyber cold war.
The report had input from the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency
(SOCA), NATO, and the FBI. Many governments targeted by cyber spies
are unaware of the threats and are vulnerable to progressively refined
cyberattacks. Read more at http://tinyurl.com/2x6p4g
Articles reprinted from ExcelNet News with permission. Copyright © 2007
Darry D Eggleston, http://DarryD.com, member of GTBPCUG.
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
11
COLUMN
The new, The best,
and the worst
by Pim Borman, SW Indiana PC Users Group, Inc.
the semantic web
In the 15 years or so of its existence,
the World Wide Web has grown like
kudzu into a monstrous collection
of documents that require powerful
search engines to retrieve information
of interest to the user. Google cannot
judge whether the information is
relevant, so it just dumps everything
it finds in the user’s lap. Even
existing databases on the Web are
incompatible and require separate
retrievals. Picasa, Flick’r and Adobe
Elements all allow
storage of tagged
photos on the Web,
but need to be
searched individually
to find specific images.
A universal way is needed to
categorize information in documents
and online databases so that a single
search can combine and retrieve all
relevant results. The Semantic Web,
an extension of the WWW, is being
developed to achieve this goal.
Initiated in 1999 by Tim BernersLee, the father of the World Wide
Web, the Semantic Web has been
taking shape under the supervision
of the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C). Early adopters have agreed
on standards that have made the
Semantic Web practical to use. Large
companies are implementing its tools
to allow one-step retrieval of crossfunctional business performance data
and scientific research results.
For now it still operates behind
the scenes. According to Scientific
American (December 2007), “We
won’t see how it helps Eli Lilly create
personalized drugs; we’ll just buy
them. We won’t know how Vodaphone
makes cool ring tones so readily
Turn to next page
The Semantic Web is being
designed to combine and
retrieve relevant search
results in a variety of
formats and sources, which
could include: documents,
images, databases, maps,
address books, pdfs, online
information, and more.
12
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
COLUMN
available, but we’ll appreciate how
easy they are to download.” It will be
some time before we can use Firefox
to create our own Semantic Web
pages.
The Semantic Web uses
a special language, Research
Description Framework (RDF) to
define information on the Web.
It assigns Universal Resource
Identifiers (URIs) to data and the
conceptual relationships between
them. Relationships such as lives
in, situated, found at, share a
concept set in that has a specific
URI. Similarly Soho, Chinatown,
Bronx share a concept NYC with
its own URI. These standard
concepts are grouped in the Web
Ontology Language (OWL) that
is part of RDF. Furthermore there
are inference engines that find new
relations based on existing ones. It
gets very complicated very quickly
and Artificial Intelligence experts are
significant contributors to the effort.
Conversion programs are available
that allow the representation of
existing database information in RDF
format. Participating organizations
now store new information directly in
RDF format. Early skepticism about
the feasibility of the Semantic Web is
being silenced by its early successes.
The Scientific American
article presents some case studies.
Biomedical research data are
published by multiple research
organizations in a variety of formats.
In overlapping areas, results reported
in one article might be applicable
to the problems in another one. At
present, a knowledgeable researcher
has to study both articles and happen
to notice the connection. As a result
much useful
information
is overlooked.
The Cincinnati
Children’s
Hospital Medical
Center, with the
help of a Semantic
Web consultant,
combined
databases with information about
genes, diseases, and genetic disorders
and translated them into RDF. By
querying the combined data they
came up with four genes implicated
in dilated cardiomyopathy, a
weakening of the heart’s pumping
ability. These genes are now being
investigated as possible targets for
new therapies.
In another case, the University
of Texas Health Science Center
at Houston uses a Semantic Webbased system, called SAPPHIRE,
for early detection of public health
problems. It combines a wide range
of data from local doctors, hospitals,
environmental protection agencies,
and scientific literature to look for
problems, such as the
spread of influenza or the
treatment of HIV cases.
Look forward to hearing
more about the Semantic
Web as it develops further
and becomes an essential
part of the Internet.
3.0 standard with
transfer speeds up
to 4.800 Kbps, 10
times faster than
USB 2.0. It will be
designed to allow
use of fiber optic
cable, as well as
copper, for even
higher speeds.
Wireless USB
(WUSB) is also being updated. The
new WUSB 1.1 will be capable of
up to 1000 Kbps speeds.that will
improve digital music and video
transmissions.,
habbo hotel robbed!
A 17 year-old
teenager in The
Netherlands was
arrested for stealing
€ 4,000 worth of
furniture from other
Habbo Hotel rooms
to add to his own. To
Turn to next page
new usb standards
PC World (December
2007) reports that Intel
and others, including
Microsoft, HP, NEC, and
Texas Instruments, are
developing a new USB
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
13
COLUMN / COMPUTER HELP
&
answers
from user group members
questions
by Hugh N. Ross, Mid-Hudson Computer User Group 5
A furnished Habbo Hotel room
understand this weird behavior (and
why I mention it here) you need to
know that Habbo Hotels only exist in
cyber space. It is a social networking
website, owned by Finnish firm
Sulake, that claims to have 80 million
registered users in 31 countries. It is
aimed at teenagers, who can assume a
virtual character that obtains a private
room where friends can visit to chat.
The rooms can be furnished with
furniture that is available for sale on
the Habbo website.
The culprit managed to hack into
other players’ accounts, allowing him
to steal their furniture and install it
in his own room. Since the furniture,
although non-existent, had been paid
for with real money, the boy’s actions
amounted to theft, according to the
website. It seems to be the first time
someone has been arrested for virtual
theft. (Various Internet sources,
including www.habbo.com)
Q
How do I completely clear
a hard drive to protect
information before selling a
machine?
A There are some free programs
available to ‘wipe’ a drive clean.
You can also use the install CD for
Windows. During the first part of the
install, change the partition definition.
The system will then do a complete
format of the partition (not just
clearing the directory). This process
will take considerable time.
Q I have a laptop machine with
Win 98. When I boot the machine, I
get a message ‘vshinit.vxp’ is missing.
A After the meeting I searched
the web and found out that the
message is complaining about a
McAfee file that has been deleted.
The following procedure will correct
the problem:
Go to Start>Run and type regedit;
Select OK, Select OK.
Double-click on HKEY_Local_
Machine.
© 2007 Willem F.H. Borman. This article
may be reproduced in its entirety only,
including this statement, by non-profit
organizations in their member publications, with mention of the author’s name
and the Southwestern Indiana PC Users
Group, Inc.
14
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
Double-click on System.
Double-click on
CurrentControlSet
Double-click on Services
Double-click on Vxd, highlight
Vshinit, right-click on it and select
Delete.
Restart the computer and you
should no longer receive the error
message.
Q The problem I described last
month still remains. My system hangs
during boot. I am using a wireless
keyboard.
A It was suggested that you
install a regular wired keyboard to do
further testing. See if the lights on
the keyboard respond when you press
NumLock or CapsLock. If the system
still does not respond, there may
be a memory problem. If you have
more than one memory strip in the
machine, try installing a different strip
in the first socket. Windows is very
sensitive to errors in the lowest part of
memory during boot.
REVIEW
the science of imaging with image trends
photoshop plug-ins
by Neil Longmuir, Winnipeg PC User Group Inc.
introduction – what is image trends inc.
I
mage Trends Inc. (ITI) is an innovative and forward-thinking group
of individuals that are advancing the science of digital imaging by
leaps and bounds. These new plug-ins are exactly what the digital
imaging world needs today. “These products are the first in a series of
cosmetic plug-ins designed to subtly enhance the beauty of people while
significantly improving the workflow of Professional Photographers by
running actions (macros) in batch mode.” It does not matter whether you
are a professional photographer, a rank amateur or a photo enthusiast,
these plug-ins will improve the look of your portrait, fashion and beauty
images.
the pearywhite plug-in – the digital teeth whitener
Figure 1, top photo: Before
Digital teeth whitening.
Figure 2, bottom photo: After
PearlyWhite plug-in was used.
Images are retouched to present people at their best. In the days of
film photography, photographers retouched either the print or the actual
negative. This was a very time-consuming process. Today, we’re shooting
with digital cameras and are using photo editing software to enhance
the makeup and the smoothness of the light on the face. Today, we also
retouch portraits to remove small blemishes and enhance the skin texture.
Retouching any photograph takes time, so any plug-in or product to
reduce that retouching time is an asset. PearlyWhites and ShineOff tackle
two of the most common problems photographers face. Teeth that are
tarnished or have yellow tint and skin that has shiny or “hot” spots.
PearlyWhites® is an Adobe® Photoshop® compatible plug-in filter
that will automatically whiten and brighten teeth without affecting other
areas of the image. The integrity of the original image is protected.
PearlyWhites may also whiten the sclera of the eyes when it is searching
for white elements surrounded by flesh tones. This is great because it saves
you, the end user, time by not having to retouch the eyes. This plug-in
does not require a user interface, it works automatically to whiten teeth.
A little known fact is digital cameras tend to add a yellow cast to teeth. In
real life there are several products to whiten your teeth, check out your
local drug store. In the digital world of photography and imaging, the
Adobe® Photoshop® plug-in PearlyWhites will automatically make those
Turn to next page
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
15
REVIEW
teeth sparkling white and bright.
Before the PearlyWhites plug-in
for Adobe Photoshop® and Adobe
Photoshop® Elements, the end user
would typically use the lasso tool and
outline the teeth. Then the end user
would reduce the saturation of the
selected area to whiten the teeth. If
the selection was good, it would be
very difficult to know that some work
had been done on the teeth. The
same procedure would be used to
whiten the sclera of the eyes. Once
again, this takes a lot of time to do
it right so that it would be difficult
to know work had been done on the
eyes. Any image editing that is done
manually takes time.
the shineoff plug-in – the
digital face powder
Not every professional or amateur
photographer has a professional
makeup artist onsite, like Vogue
magazine, for every photo shoot.
Whether that photo shoot is for
the cover of a magazine or an onlocation photo of a business executive,
photographers eventually will have to
deal with a photo where facial glare or
a facial hot spot is undesirable.
The everyday photographer that
takes pictures with either the built-in
flash or a flash unit on the hot shoe of
the camera will be guaranteed to take
a photo with facial glare and hot spots.
This is very distracting in the picture.
However, today, this is no longer
a problem, the Adobe Photoshop®
plug-in ShineOff will automatically
remove the shiny highlight areas from
the skin. The skin will have a soft
natural appearance. After running
ShineOff the skin looks soft and
natural without hiring the professional
16
makeup artist.
working with the pearlywhites
and shineoff plug-ins
“These products are the first in a
series of cosmetic plug-ins designed
to subtly enhance the beauty of
people while significantly improving
the workflow of Professional
Photographers by running the actions
in batch mode.” Photographers,
regardless of the level of expertise, will
definitely improve their images by
using either or both plug-ins.
Both these plug-ins worked
great with Adobe Photoshop CS®,
Adobe Photoshop Elements®
4.0 and Paint Shop Pro X. Adobe
Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop
Pro users will have to run the plugins separately because both product
do not support actions or a macros.
Adobe Photoshop® users have had
actions available since version 7.0. For
those users who are not Photoshop
experts and are not familiar with how
to create an action, all the instructions
for creating one are on the http://www.
ImageTrendsInc.com web site. This is
a terrific tutorial on how to create an
action. Visit Image Trends Inc. and
learn.
Shortly after receiving the plugins for review I did about 50 portraits
of the staff of a local restaurant for
a fiftieth anniversary celebration of
the restaurant at the same location.
I setup my mobile studio and did
some very nice photos. I would say 90
percent of the staff wore little or no
makeup. Some of the resulting photos
did have facial glare. I wanted these
photos to be great, so I took the time
to visit http://www.ImageTrendsInc.
com and print the instructions on how
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
to create an action for both plug-ins.
The time to learn how to create the
action and have all the prints ready for
printing took less than an hour. Figure
1 shows one both the yellow cast on
the teeth and a few shiny spots on the
face from the flash. Figure 2 shows
the white teeth and there are no shiny
highlight areas on the face.
Both plug-ins worked exactly as
advertised and the resulting photos
were outstanding. In fact, the photo
lab asked me who the makeup artist
was. They were really impressed with
the quality of the final images. The
photo lab told me their job was a lot
Turn to next page
Figure 1, top photo: Before digital
face powder and teeth whitening.
Figure 2, bottom photo: After both
plug-ins were used.
REVIEW / FEEDBACK
easier because they did not have to
deal with trying to get the best possible
print when the photo had facial glare.
readers’ news and views
conclusion
Both the PearlyWhites and
ShineOff plug-ins have to be used
to really appreciate just how good
they are. Visit www.imagetrendsinc.
com and download the trial version
for yourself. This is a very impressive
innovative product that works. These
plug-ins are a must have. Each plug-in
costs $49.95 US.
PearlyWhites and ShineOff plugins should be number 1 and number
2 on the must have plug-ins for
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop
Elements or any software that supports
the Adobe plug-in model.
Image Trends Inc. (ITI) is a
terrific group of individuals who are
creating new and innovative products
for the digital image world. These are
two plug-ins I could not be without!
Start your digital toolbox with two of
the best Photoshop compatible plugins available at any price. Both plugins are available for both the MAC
and Windows platforms.
Contact: Image Trends Inc.,
512-637-7300, www.imagetrendsinc.
com
Neil’s rating: ééééé
plus a J
I
would also like to thank the
kind folks at Image Trends Inc.
for providing me the copies of
the PearlyWhites
and ShineOff plugins for review.
— Neil Longmuir
Mike Lyons
ORCOPUG president
R
egarding advertising that
“DTV4PC delivers over
1,000 TV channels to your PC!” I
listened to a podcast that said that
this program merely assembles
RSS feeds from the Internet,
something that can be done
without having to pay $30.
Neil Longmuir
WPCUGRP
H
ere’s a website for the digital
enthusiasts of your group.
www.dphotojournal.com/nikoncapture-nx-tips-and-tricks/
Not only are there tips for Nikon
Capture NX but there are some
goodies that are free.
Pim Borman
SWIPCUG
I
’m all agog about a terrific
substitute for the cumbersome
Adobe Reader version 8. It is called
Foxit and you can download it from
find.pcworld.com/59115 Steve
Bass mentioned it in his column. I
started to use it this weekend and I’m
thrilled with the speed at which it
retrieves documents. Another great
feature is that you can search ALL
the pdf files in a directory. I tried
it out on my directory with all the
newsletter pdf files since 2000 and
was amazed how quickly it found
my keywords, complete with brief
fragments and one-click access to
the exact place in the document. It
also prints pdf files, but if you want
some of the fancier features, such
as filling in forms and such, you
can, but the program leaves marks
on the documents. You have to get
the PRO version ($35) for those
extras. As you don’t need those
very often you can just fall back on
Adobe Reader for free.
Carl Westberg
ORCOPUG member
I
t might be worthy
to note in the next
newsletter that there
is a good article on
optimizing Firefox for
broadband connections
in the “Here’s How”
section on page 127 of
the January 2008 issue
of PCWorld.
Tony Lake
ORCOPUG (retired)
J
eff Han inventor of the multitouch screen that influenced
the iPhone displays his work at
http://www.technologyreview.com/
video/interface.
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
17
WINDOWS TWEAK
workaround for files or folders
that cannot be deleted on an NTFS volume
by Linda Gonse
F
ile and folder deletions are
frequently a problem for me
under Windows XP Pro and
the NTFS file system.
Clicking delete on a file or folder
will display a box preparing the item
for the recycle bin, only to be quickly
replaced with an error message,
(shown above) that it’s busy or being
used by another person or program.
But, I have no shared access, and
I have checked to be sure no other
applications are open.
Only one thing helped to solve
the problem. That was to shut down
the computer and restart it—a timeconsuming process—but it worked,
causing whatever was “stuck on” to
be disabled so I could complete a
deletion.
I checked Microsoft’s Knowledge
18
Base at http://support.
microsoft.com/kb/320081
and found several causes
and resolutions for this
problem. My error message
matched “Cause 2: The
file is being used.” You may
not be able to delete a file if the file is
being used. To resolve this
issue, determine the process
that has the open handle,
and then close that process.
Depending on how the file
is opened (for example, it
is open for exclusive access
instead of shared access),
you may not be able to
delete a file that is in use.
One suggestion was to use a tool,
such as ProcessExplorer, to help
determine the processes that have
open handles to files.
In an attempt to avoid restarts, I
followed the suggestion to use a tool to
help determine which processes had
open handles to files. I tried ProcessExplorer, but the information in it was
too involved to be of help.
With using a tool in mind, I
discovered something similar, but
easier—Windows Defender. After a
couple of experimental tries, I was
able to locate the process, end it, and
delete the file.
Here’s how.
First, I opened Windows
Defender, a free Microsoft antispyware program (download it from
http://tinyurl.com/47cus). Then, I
clicked on Tools, and on Software
Explorer. When the new window
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
opened, I found Currently Running
Programs in the dropdown list next
to Category and scrolled through
the Name and Classification list in
the left pane. I noticed there were
two Windows Explorer listings. One
said Permitted, the other said Not Yet
Classified.
I selected the Not Yet Classified
entry and clicked on End Process.
Closing Windows Defender, I
returned to the Windows Explorer
file tree, right-clicked on the folder
I wanted to delete, and left-clicked
Delete. This time, it was deleted!
Apparently, there is a bug that
allows two processes with the same
name to run. But, the invisible “bad
twin” will not release a file or folder
and blocks renaming, moving, or
deleting it.
The steps I took were somewhat
similar to those that could be taken
with ProcessExplorer, if only the
program’s feedback would have been
more understandable. The answer I
found may not solve a similar problem
for you, but maybe it will cast some
light on places to look for help.
On the other hand, this workaround may just do the trick!
INTERNET
HOW
TO
test your
anti-virus/anti-malware
software
Your antivirus software may prevent you from saving the
file as eicar.com, which is a sign that it is working effectively.
If it doesn’t raise an alert, try scanning the folder where you
saved eicar.com. To see what happens if you try to run a
file containing a virus, double-click eicar.com to open it. If
your antivirus software does not raise any alerts at the above
mentioned file then your antivirus software is no good and
you are not safe from threats.
If the virus is detected it will display the message
“EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!” in a
DOS-window.
WHAT!? Infect my own computer? Are you crazy?
No I am not crazy :) , the above mentioned file is not a
virus, it is simply a test file, a virus wannabe. It is a standard
test file developed by the European Institute for Computer
Antivirus Research (EICAR). All antivirus products are
programmed to detect this file as if it was a real virus.
Therefore you can safely use it to test whether your antivirus
software works, without fear of infecting your computer.
get other virus self-tests from eicar
In order to facilitate various scenarios, EICAR, http://
www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm, provides four files
for download. Eicar.com, contains the ASCII string as
described above; eicar.com.txt, is a copy of this file with a
by SoftMall.com, http://tinyurl.com/2uoo3q
different filename. (Some readers reported problems when
ave you ever wondered if your antivirus software downloading the first file, which can be circumvented
is really working? Would you like to see what
when using the second version. Just download and rename
happen s when it detects a virus? Here’s a safe
the file to “eicar.com.” That will do the trick.) A third test
way to test your computer’s virus protection that doesn’t
file is inside a zip archive. A good antivirus scanner will
require you to have a real virus.
spot a ‘virus’ inside an archive. The last version is a zip
archive containing the third file. This file can be used to
see whether the virus scanner checks archives at more than
how to create your own test virus
First, open “Notepad.” Then copy and paste into it the only one level deep.
Once downloaded, run your AV scanner. It should
text on the lines below. (It should all be on one line.)
detect at least the file “eicar.com.” Good scanners will detect
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARDthe ‘virus’ in the single zip archive and may be even in the
ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
double zip archive. Once detected, the scanner might not
Then save the file and save it as eicar.com. The result
allow you any further access to the file(s). You might not
should look exactly like the screenshot below.
even be allowed by the scanner to delete these files. This is
caused when the scanner puts the file into
quarantaine. The test file will be treated just
like any other real virus infected file.
H
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
19
REVIEW
eighth in a series of reviews of the top 10 linux distros
what’s pclinux os
software repository contains other desktops, however,
and offers a great variety of desktop packages for
many common tasks. For system configuration,
PCLinuxOS has retained much of Mandriva’s
excellent Control Centre, but has replaced its
package management system with APT and
Synaptic, a graphical package management frontend.
On the negative side, PCLinuxOS lacks any form
of roadmap or release goals. Despite the growing
community involvement in the project, most
development and decision-making remains in the
hands of Texstar who tends to be on the conservative
side when judging the stability of a release. As a
result, the development process of PCLinuxOS
tends to be long and a new version is not
released until all known bugs are solved.
There are currently no plans for a 64-bit
edition of PCLinuxOS.
P
CLinuxOS was first announced in 2003 by Bill
Reynolds, better known as “Texstar.” Prior to creating
his own distribution, Texstar was already a wellknown developer in the Mandrake Linux community
of users for building up-to-date RPM packages for
the popular distribution and providing them as a free
download. In 2003 he decided to build a new distribution,
initially based on Mandrake Linux, but with several
significant usability improvements. The goals? It should
be beginner-friendly, have out-of-the box support for
proprietary kernel modules, browser plugins and media
codecs, and should function as a live CD with a simple and
intuitive graphical installer.
Several years and development releases later,
PCLinuxOS is rapidly approaching its intended state. In
terms of usability, the project offers out-of-the-box support
for many technologies most Windows-to-Linux migrants
would expect from their new operating system. On the
software side of things, PCLinuxOS is a KDE-oriented
distribution, with a customised and always up-to-date
version of the popular desktop environment. Its growing
20
• Pros: Out-of-the-box support for graphics
drivers, browser plugins and media codecs; fast boot
times; up-to-date software
• Cons: No 64-bit edition offered; no out-of-thebox support for non-English languages; lacks release
planning
• Software package management: Advanced
Package Tool (APT) using RPM packages
• Available editions: MiniMe, Junior and
BigDaddy editions for 32-bit (i586) processor
architectures
• Suggested PCLinuxOS-based alternative:
SAM Linux Desktop
Copyright © 2007 Ladislav Bodnar. Reprinted with
permission.
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
MEMBERS’ PAGE
email
Bazerman, Siles
[email protected]
Bollinger, Frank
[email protected]
Boutwell, Lloyd
[email protected]
Covington III, Gary
[email protected]
Gonse, Linda
[email protected]
Gorham, Milton
[email protected]
Jackson, Walter
[email protected]
Kaump, LeRoy
[email protected]
Klees, Larry
[email protected]
Leese, Stan
[email protected]
Loehr, Lothar
[email protected]
Lyons, Mike
[email protected]
Moore, Charlie
[email protected]
Moore, Michael
[email protected]
Musser, Dave
[email protected]
New Member
christmas raffle
prizes, winners
addresses
posted on web
Tooley, Richard D.
[email protected]
Wann, Harold
[email protected]
Westberg, Carl
[email protected]
Wirtz, Ted
[email protected]
A
pdf of the Christmas Raffle
Fundraising prize results
is posted for you at www.
orcopug.org. Click on Members’
Only.
time for your
membership renewal?
OCTOBER 1– Siles Bazerman (3 mos.)
DECEMBER 1– Donald Bickel, Dick
Tooley
jANUARY 1– Ted Wirtz
FEBRUARY 1– Charles Burgwin, Ann
Carnahan, Mike Lyons, Ron Schultz,
Darryl Swensen
MARCH 1– Frank Bollinger, Milton
Gorham
APRIL 1– Lothar Loehr, David Musser,
Bill McGraw
submitted by Charlie Moore
Or, type this URL in your
browser: http://www.orcopug.org/
members/2007results.pdf.
Either way, you will need to
type in your user name (first initial
and last name, lower case, no
space) and your password, which
is your member number (capital
letter and number, no space).
If you are not a member in good
standing or have trouble getting
into the password-protected site,
contact Charlie Moore, [email protected]
orcopug.org.
Please thank our generous
vendors for helping us raise money
for 2008, by buying their products
and telling everyone about them!
membership application

Renewal*

Expired members are not eligible to win raffle prizes or to access the Members’ Only web page.
Last Name
First Name
Mailing Address
Nickname
City
Home Phone ( ) Work Phone ( )
Areas of Interest/Comments
State Zip
E-mail Address
Meetings are the second Tuesday of every month. See www.orcopug.org for more details.
What a bargain! For about $2 a month you can’t beat the benefits
of belonging to our user group!
Make checks payable to: ORCOPUG - Dues are $25 per year
ORCOPUG, P.O. BOX 716, Brea, California 92822-0716
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
21
USER GROUP DEALS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
we thank you for your 2007
W
donations!
keyword/special raffles
e sincerely thank the following companies for donating prizes to our
2007 fundraising raffle: 2nd Story Software, Acoustica Software, APCUG
(Judy Taylour), Belkin, D-Link, Fuji Film, Hewlett-Packard, Iolo Technologies,
Iomega, Lexmark, Marken Communications, Microsoft, MyKeyO, No Starch
Press, Otter Box, Power Products, Prolific Publishing, Red Paw Systems, Siber
Systems, Smart Computing, Solid Documents, Stardock Systems, Symantec,
User Group Relations (Gene Barlow), and Webworking Services. (Total dollar
amount raised is on our Members’ Only page.)
bring your free items to the january meeting!
B
ring your unwanted, computer-related items to the meeting and leave
them on our free item table for anyone who wants to take them. Items can
be books, magazines, hardware, or software. Members must label their items so
other members know whom to talk to about any item. Items not claimed by the
time the original owner is ready to leave, must be taken home at the end of the
evening. We are not allowed to dump our items in the library’s wastebaskets.
get magazines at
discounts for user group members
T
hese prices are for new subscriptions and renewals. All orders must be
accompanied by a check, cash or money order. Make payable to Herb
Goodman, and mail to: Herb Goodman, 8295 Sunlake Drive, Boca Raton, FL
33496. Call or write: 561-488-4465, [email protected]*
1 2
Y
E
A
R
$12.95
—
—
$14.95
$28.95
$41.95
$16.97
$32.95
$47.95
$15.95 — —
$10.97
$19.97
$28.97
$152.95 — —
$ 9.95
$18.95
$27.95
$21.95
$39.95 —
$12.95
$23.95
$33.95
$25.97
$48.95
$68.95
$16.95 — —
$11.95
$21.95 —
$ 6.00
$12.00
$17.00
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
Carl Westberg, Charlie Moore, Darry
Eggleston, Dave Lee, Hank Dart, Herb
Goodman, Hugh N. Ross, Ira Wilsker, Jim
Harty, Ladislav Bodnar, Linda Gonse,
Mike Lyons, Neil Longmuir, Pamela Tabak,
Pim Borman, Ted Wirtz, Tim O’Reilly, Tony
Lake
Deadline for Feb.
issue is Jan. 19
O
Please allow 10 to 12 weeks for your magazines to start. You must supply an
address label from your present subscription when renewing. I carry over 300
titles at excellent prices. Just email me for a price.
22
newsletter contributors!
RCOPUG membership
entitles you to access the
Members’ Only page at www.
orcopug.org for special discounts.
User name is first initial+last name
(lower case). Password is member
letter+number.
S
Computer Games
Computer Gaming World
Computer Shopper
Dr. Dobbs Journal
Mac Addict
Mac World
Maximum PC
Microsoft System Journal
PC Gamer
PC Magazine (22 issues/year)
PC World
Videomaker
Wired
thank you
members’ only! page
*Revised June 2007
3
T
his month the secret keyword
raffle resumes. One prize still in
the pot after the November meeting
is a handheld Sudoku electronic
game. January’s prize, a 256MB USB
wristband, joins the other prize. The
secret keyword is hidden somewhere
in this newsletter or on our website.
If your name is chosen at the next
meeting, say the keyword, and take
home the prizes!
recycle ink cartridges
P
lease bring your Hewlett
Packard, Canon (BC-02,
BC-05, BC-20 or BX-3), Lexmark,
Dell, Compaq, Kodak, Samsung,
or Sharp inkjet cartridges; or any
laser cartridge to our next meeting
for our ongoing fundraising project.
GROUP INFORMATION
computer users helping
computer users
member of the association of
personal computer user groups
ORCOPUG
Post Office Box 716
Brea, California 92822-0716
714-990-0580 • www.orcopug.org
President, Mike Lyons [email protected]
Treasurer/Membership, Charlie Moore [email protected]
Editor/Webmaster, Linda Gonse [email protected]
Reviews, Terry Schiele [email protected]
Programs, Lothar Loehr [email protected]
Membership, Carl Westberg [email protected]
APCUG Rep, Siles Bazerman [email protected]
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do things that no individual ought to have
to do alone. The pioneers of the American
west got together for barn raisings, cattle
roundups, and the occasional party. The
pioneers of new technology get together for
installfests, new user training and support,
and just plain fun. Being part of a user
group is the best way to get more out of
your computer, and lets you make friends
while you’re at it.
Tim O’Reilly
President, O’Reilly & Associates
where are the meetings and when are they held?
R
egular meetings are held the second Tuesday
of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the Placentia
Library, 411 East Chapman Avenue.
Placentia, California 92870, (714) 528-1906. Call
(714) 990-0580, for information. Meetings are free
and the public is welcome!
Planning meetings are held the third Thursday of every
month at 7 p.m. at Downey Savings & Loan, one
block east of Harbor at Bastanchury in Fullerton. All
members are welcome to attend planning meetings!
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next meeting: tuesday, january 8, 6:30 p.m. placentia library, placentia
ORANGE COUNTY
IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — JANUARY 2008
ORANGE COUNTY IBM PC USERS’ GROUP — SEPTEMBER
2007
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