Archive for ◊ 2009 ◊

Fake Swine Flu Alert
Thursday, December 03rd, 2009 | Author:

Fake H1N1 (Swine Flu) alerts lead to malware | Zero Day | ZDNet.com

ZDNet reports a malicious email is out and about suggesting you download software for Swine Flu protection. I am impressed by the quality of much of today’s attacks on our mail and our web browsing.

So take this as another simple call to be vigilant, don’t just refuse to open email attachments easily but beware of all links in email as well.

Be safe out there!     :)

Sharedview.com Presentation Tomorrow
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 | Author:

Welcome to Microsoft SharedView | Microsoft Connect

(Click graphic or link above to visit their site)
This tool by Microsoft (Yes, can you believe I’m recommending it?) requires a Microsoft email address (Hotmail, MSN, etc.) to begin a meeting but it is not required for viewing. Install the software if you would like to be able to see the presentation tomorrow with us on your own machine whether you come to the cafe or not. (If you don’t have it already it may install MS .NET software it runs on)

If there seems to be interest we will setup a conference call for the folks not at the cafe. Call or write us ahead of time if you are interested in this tomorrow.

-=Larry Cotton=- webmaster@epcug.net

November 23, 2009 Meeting – Windows Optimizing
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 | Author:

Since there has been a fair amount of mail list discussion about speeding up Windows I thought it would be a good chance tomorrow night to go through a presentation about what can be done and some free tools to do it. This is the presentation I plan to use. If you would like to preview the show, go right ahead, bring your thoughts or questions:
Windows Xp Optimization

Google Translate Upgrade
Saturday, November 21st, 2009 | Author:


Google Translate

I happened to use Google Translate recently and realized they have changed its face since my last visit. If you don’t know about this service visit the link. When you visit a website in a language you can’t read just visit this site and put the link in the form.

If you have Google Toolbar installed it can have a button or right click link to automatically open the translated page.

I don’t use it often, but each time I am reminded how limited I am knowing only one language well. I am grateful for my family’s effort to have tried to teach me French as a child and for my father’s teaching me to understand etimology listings in Webster’s Dictionary for each definition. We red necks don’t consider how much of our American ‘English’ is based on other languages.

A Word About Facebook and Security
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 | Author:

10 Solid Tips to Safeguard Your Facebook Privacy

This link above leads to an excellent article on a topic I discuss periodically. I am not paranoid, folks are really out to get us!  :)

Aside from the time we waste on Facebook there can be a real security problem. If you write things you shouldn’t have co-workers or bosses see then you may just be foolish. But many of the more innocent things we post would pass muster if they were just not brought to the attention of these folks.

The default starting point in Facebook is for all your friends to be treated equally. Maybe this is dangerous, but its what it is. So what the linked article describes is how to create Friends Lists, and then make posts viewable just by the right lists and further how to hide information from searches.

It’s a good read. Could save some trouble down the road and still let you enjoy the benefits of using Facebook.

Enjoy!
-=Lare=-

Speeding up Windows Computers
Saturday, November 07th, 2009 | Author:

There were recently two e-mails to our list suggesting that a good topic
for an upcoming meeting might be on how to speed up computers.  I thought
the topic might come up at last weeks workshop so I didn’t respond.  As it turns out it didn’t come up so I’m going to give it my two cents worth now.

Just as an FYI, I Googled ‘speeding up computer’ and got 117,000,000 hits.
Then I Googled ‘speeding up windows computers’ and got 114,000,000 hits.  In addition to the help that’s available on the Web people within the club like
Larry, Gary, Zener, Kelly nd Eric as well as guest speakers from local techs to Microsoft have all discussed the topic nearly endlessly.  The point I’m trying to make is that in spite of all that’s been done it’s become obvious to me that there will always be new people, new computers and new problems.

In that vein I’d like to start some sort of interactive blog or topic on our
Website or something similar that can be continually referred to and
updated.  Now, I know most of you have probably already deleted this e-mail and that even those who wrote in on the topic are probably on to bigger and better things by now so I’m not going to go too far our of my way to do this and I’m going to try to keep my expectations about how interactive it might
become realistic.  And, while I’m at it, I might mention that I know, that I
can’t come close to providing the kinds of information that’s already
available and/or even come close to providing the expertise that others in
the club can and do offer.  Instead what I can do is tell you what I do and maybe, at the same time, get some suggestions on how I can do what I do
do or don’t do better.

Anyway, watch this space.  To begin with I’m going to start off by trying
to address backing up our computers.  Everyone needs a way to back up their
current installs, files, pictures, etc.

As a little bit of an aside, as I was leaving last weeks workshop, I
happened a crossed a national radio program that had something to do
computers on either one of the local stations or on one of the two public
broadcasting stations that are available in the area.  It sounded like it
might be a weekly program and these two fellows were real geeks.  It seemed
like if anyone knows about this stuff these guys probably know it too.  I’d highly suggest you look for it.

Back to backing up our computers, quickly, there are a lot of options.
Everyone is talking (or maybe advertising) Internet backup systems.  It may
be a good option, I don’t use one and I don’t know anything about them.  One
of the fellows on this national program made the point that if you have an
average speed Internet connection, an average speed computer and one of
these new 500 Gig hard drive’s – it could take up to 129 days to back up
your computer using one of these services.  He also pointed out that with
average use you’d be adding information faster that you’d be backing it up
so you’d never have the kind of backup that they talk about.  I guess
I should say that I think that’s what he said.  I also think he went on to
say that with a faster connection, a faster computer and less info to back
up, you could cut that down to maybe 30 days.

As I said, these Interned based backup options might be a good idea but I
like the idea of having a local current back up to work with and that is
what I’m going to be trying to discuss here in the near future.  In the mean
time, let’s try to make sure your back up systems are, up, running and ready
to go? 

Questions?

More soon,

John

Category: Software  | Leave a Comment
Online Graphics Editor – Sumo Paint – and Aviary
Saturday, September 19th, 2009 | Author:

Update: We may not be able to use the cafe’s meeting room this week, Mon the 21st, in which case this show will be done Mon the 28th. Sorry folks…

Sumo Paint :: Online Image Editor :: Home

We had a great time last week just doing problem solving, but the consensus after the meeting was to try to do the graphics demo we had planned weeks ago. So this week for sure we will watch ways to ‘tune up’ photos and just plain have fun with graphic editors online.

For years graphic editing had been the ‘Mac” thing, Mac’s had more memory than PC’s and tended to crash less so folks in the know used them and software programmers wrote for them and the best graphic programs were Mac. But as PC’s improved and programming advanced these same programs became available for PC’s. Coreldraw for vector images and Photoshop for bit images became the standard, but they are expensive.

Now there are some very good Open Source alternatives, Gimp for bit images and Inkscape for vectoring and there are versions (ports) for Windows PC’s, Mac’s and Linux operating systems. If you really want practise graphic editing I recommend these programs. (And I recommend the commercial programs if you have the money.)

The latest advancement is now ‘Online’ programs that do the functions of the editing programs from in our web browsers. No need to install a program on our hard drives and not even to store our images. Websites now offer both from any browser, any computer, wherever we are we can access our work and edit it. And this will be our demo this coming Monday using the site linked at the start of this post, Sumo Paint. Come join us and learn what is available.

If you want a look in advance visit their site and view the video and read about its Features and FAQ’s.

If you want to see other sites with similar features check these out:

Another great review of these sites is at Lifehacker.com, let me recommend it as well.

Update: I can’t believe what is available these days! Just while writing this post I rediscovered Aviary.com. I’d looked at this before and not understood it all, but on second glace today I found it to be incredibly complete. So it and its tutorial videos will be part of our show.

Note to John – remember to bring the projector, this will be a good chance to make good use of it!  :)

Hotmail now uses POP3 in Outlook Express
Tuesday, September 08th, 2009 | Author:

How to add your e-mail account to Microsoft Outlook Express – Mail and Settings – Windows Live Help

Hotmail

If you use a Hotmail or MSN.com email address and have been using Outlook Express for your mail reading you may have noticed it isn’t working any more. Microsoft has switched away from the DAV mail collection method and requires everyone to switch to POP3 settings in Outlook Express now.

Actually they seem to want you to use the web interface at Windows Live.com or download their new program, Windows Live Mail and use it instead of Outlook Express. But if you use Outlook Express, Outlook, Thunderbird, Eudora or any other normal mail program Hotmail’s change to being POP’able is a very good thing.

So if you noticed your Hotmail isn’t coming into your mail program lately you need to change your server settings. Click the link above to learn how to setup POP for Hotmail.

-=Lare=-

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Suggested Software from CPCUG
Tuesday, September 08th, 2009 | Author:

CPCUG Recommended Freeware Programs

CPCUG is the Capitol PC User Group in Washington DC, a group a bit larger than ours. They have a page/presentation of some software recommendations for Windows XP and up that I think is very good. Use the link above to see it.

If you don’t have a firewall yet, if you have a system running slow there are some good suggestions here.

Try them out and let us know what you think of the programs at any coming meeting.

-=Lare=-

Category: Software  | Leave a Comment
Want a free copy of the new Windows 7?
Thursday, August 27th, 2009 | Author:

If you have been wondering about spending $200 for the coming upgrade to Windows, Microsoft has made a method available to get a copy, FREE!

They are holding meetings in cities across the nation and Portland will have one on Oct. 14.

If you can make it just sign up and be there for your copy.

Just follow this link: http://www.microsoft.com/business/thenewefficiency/Portland/default.aspx