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Quote of the day:
Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day... Teach a man to fish and
he'll bore you for a lifetime - Ancient Chinese Proverb
The meeting opened at 10:00 AM with
25 members in attendance.
John Barker explained that Bernadette
wasn't able to attend the meeting due to a family medical appointment
and introduced me (John Sturges) as the substitute Recording Secretary. My
apologies for not catching the names of the members who asked many
of the following questions; I remember faces...
For now, I'll use “M.I.G.S.” =
Member in Good Standing.
Bob Young (1) was also absent as he
was on vacation, so John gave the Treasurer's Report stating that there
is a balance of $989.25 in our account.
John offered a few good jokes and then
opened the floor to questions
Name |
Q&A |
Details |
OS |
| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
System Restore won't work properly on my Toshiba laptop (any PC
can have this issue). I tried to go back 4 or 5 steps and it
wouldn't restore, any suggestions? |
ME,XP |
| Bob Young 2 |
A |
Bob suggested that
the System Restore database may be corrupted. To rebuild the
SA DB:
Go to: (Start>Programs>Accessories>System
Tools> System Restore) and click on “System Restore
Settings” in the left panel.
Check the box as shown above, reboot, uncheck the same box and
click OK. Your SA database should have been rebuilt. |
|
| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
How do I remove spyware that my Anti-spyware software can't automatically
remove? |
All |
| Bob Young 2 |
A |
Some spyware can
be extremely difficult to remove completely. First, reboot
and retest. If the problem is still there, jot down the
name of the spyware as reported by your Anti-spyware program
and search on google for a Step-by-Step manual procedure to remove
all remnants.
Google should find
links to a number of sites that specialize in “nasty” spyware
removal including a program called “Hijack This”,
which is very geeky but will list where all the bad code is on
your system. Follow the links to find a solution you feel
comfortable trying on your own and go for it.
ElfaGeek Tip: Back
up your data first, then use System Restore before making any
system changes. If you need expert help, ask for it. If
that fails, you may be forced to backup your data and do a clean
Windows install. |
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| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
Windows doesn't remember my browser's window sizes (any size smaller
than full screen). How can I fix this? |
All |
| Bob Young 2 |
A |
Windows should remember the last window size and position when
last closed by default. Sometimes though, Windows can get confused. To
force any program to always open full screen, right-click on it's
icon and choose properties. Ensure that the Run: List Box reads
“Maximized” as shown. |
|
| Al |
Q |
I use Lotus 1-2-3 and I'm thinking of moving to a more modern spreadsheet
program. How can I preserve my old spreadsheets? |
All |
| John Sturges |
A |
Most modern spreadsheets
automatically recognize and convert Lotus files to their default
internal data structure. MS-Excel ($$$) and Open Office's
Calc module (free from www.openoffice.org)
can do this. Once saved by the new program, they will have
the proper file extension for future use with the new application.
Learning a new spreadsheet
program is the real challenge, so read the built-in Help files
and go to www.mrexcel.com for lots
of tips and tricks. A google search will find many other
good tutorial sites, too. |
|
| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
When I click Start >
Programs, the programs list has 3 columns that run off my screen,
is there a way to organize it better? |
All |
| Bob & John |
A |
First, delete any
rarely or never used programs that appear in your Programs list. Go
to: Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add or Remove
Programs and delete away.
In Start > Programs,
if your list still goes off the screen, find the widest program
file or folder NAME in each column and right-click on it, choose
Rename and shorten it. For example, “Spybot – Search &
Destroy” can be renamed to “Spybot S&D”.
Another option is to
create folders to “group” programs together. Use
Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer to navigate to your Start
folder, click on the + sign to see the folders inside. You should
see a Programs folder, so double-click to open it. Once
there add a new folder and use Drag & Drop to add programs
to it.
For example, open your
start / programs folder and create a new folder called “Security”,
then drag and drop all your favourite Anti-virus/spyware programs
into the new folder. When you open Start > Programs
you should now see the new Security folder and inside you will
have all of your protection tools. |
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| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
I'm planning on buying a new XP computer soon. How do I transfer
my old data to my new PC? |
All |
| Bob & John |
|
There are a number
of options depending on your experience level:
1. You can backup all
your old data to CD/DVD using IZArc (free) or WinZip ($), then
copy from there to your new machine. But, be careful not
to copy malware as well.
2. If you have a router,
you can set up “File Sharing” on XP and Copy & Paste
to the Shared folder under My Computer on your new beast.
3. If you don't have
a router, but both PC's have a network interface card you can
get a “Cross-over”
ethernet cable ($10 +/-) and connect the old PC's ethernet card
to the new PC's ethernet card, then transfer your data.
4. Remove the hard drive
from your old PC and change the jumper from “Master” to “Slave” or “Cable
Select”, install in the new PC as a second (Slave) and
connect to the IDE2 cable's middle connector and copy & paste
to XP's My Documents folder.
Tips:
To learn about “File
Sharing” go to XP's Start > Help & Support and type
the phrase into the search box.
If doing a Windows upgrade
on an old PC, XP has a built-in utility that saves your data
from 95 or 98 and restores it to XP after an upgrade. It
is supposed to work well, but would you trust Uncle Bill? See
above.
Terrified? Ask
your new PC vendor or your favourite techo-weenie to do it for
you. |
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11:00 AM: Virtual Coffee Break (We
are still looking for volunteers to do the coffee thingee).
Re-convened at 11:15AM.
John Barker read a number of funny
ad-libs from the old TV show, Hollywood Squares. We also watched
a video called Summoball and a Powerpoint Presentation showing a number
of cute “Photoshopped” pictures. Remember when pictures
didn't lie?
John Sturges suggested an alternative
to Photoshop CS ($800). A free program called PhotoFiltre is
available from www.photofiltre.com that
is very easy to use. After scanning the unique features, go to
the Downloads page for the freebie. Also, go to the bottom of their
Tutorial page for a PDF file with lots of Step-by-Step How-To's.
The winner of the ELCC bi-monthly
lottery was Paul Davidson.
Peter Kennedy passed along a real
bargain for FUJI 4” X 6” photo paper (about $8) he found
in the No Frills in Sturgeon Falls. He and his wife Marion, tested
on an HP and a Canon printer and were impressed with the quality and
Fuji claims their paper products are compatible with most major brands
of Ink Jet printers.
For anyone that's been to any of
the newer No Frills, Peter hinted that the new one on Mountain Road
should look similar and is supposed to be about 40,000 square feet.
Name |
Q&A |
Details |
OS |
| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
When I try to cut & paste from a web page into Notepad I get
one long line of text. How do I get Notepad to show the text
in paragraphs? |
All |
| Bob Young 2 |
A |
In Notepad, click
on the “View”
tab and ensure that there is a check mark next to the word “Ruler”,
then click on “Options” and click on the “Rich
Text” tab. Click on the “Wrap to ruler” radio
button and set all toolbar check boxes as shown below and click
OK.
If you use Wordpad, Word or Open Office
instead of Notepad, they do all this tech stuff for you. |
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| Peter Kennedy |
Q |
Recently, I Received an Email, supposedly from Ebay, requesting
my passwords and account info, which I didn't fall for. Who
should I report this “phishing scam” to? |
All |
| Bob & John |
A |
Report the scam to
the O.P.P. at www.phonebusters.com and
look down the page for Email links to report various types of
scams.
Also, notify your bank
and maybe Ebay (you're likely one of many).
Then, go to: www.hoaxbusters.org for
more info on this and other types of web fraud.
John explained how dial-up
hijackers can be used to charge long distance calls to your phone
number. Report suspicious long distance charges to Bell
ASAP and ask them how to prevent future fraudulent charges. They
wiil only reverse the charges once. |
|
| Dan |
Q |
You showed Google Earth to us at
the last meeting. When I tried to run it on my PC, it crashes. What
is wrong? |
All |
| Bob & John |
A |
Google Earth won't
run on just any old PC. You need a high end graphics card,
broadband and lots of RAM to run it. Go to:kh.google.com/download/earth/and
look at the system hardware requirements, both minimum AND recommended.
If you aren't sure what hardware is inside
your computer use Belarc Advisor (free) from: www.belarc.com/.
Belarc Advisor scans
your PC and lists all hardware and software (as well as program
CD keys and MS-updates, neat!) it can find and display the results
in your default web browser.
Homeowner's Tip:
This is also handy for
insurance purposes, just save it as a web page and Email it to
your insurance agent with a scanned copy of the invoice. |
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