Official Newsletter SouthEastern Michigan Computer Organization, Inc. Volume 26 December 2001 Number 12 IN THIS ISSUE MEETINGS SCHEDULE ............................................................................... 3 NOMINATIONS and ELECTION NOTICES .................................................. 3 SEMCO President’s Column, by Gary DeNise .......................................... 3 HOLIDAY SEASON GIVING ......................................................................... 4 Deals Column, by Bob (the Cheapskate) Click ......................................... 4 A DSL Saga, by Judy Lococo ..................................................................... 8 Browser Fun and Games, by Steve Bass ................................................ 11 The Hard Facts…of Hard Drives, by Bruce Pechman ............................ 12 You Need a New Video Card, by Bruce Pechman ................................... 14 The Need for Speed Continues—Correction, by Harold Balmer ........... 17 Board Meeting Minutes, by Carol Sanzi ................................................... 17 SIGs MAC, IBM, IBM Intermediate, Advanced, & Novice IBM Group ... 18 & 19 Cartoon ....................................................................................................... 19 DATA BUS Deadline (10th day after meeting) ................................................................ 19 Other Groups Calendar ............................................................................. 20 Tax Deductible Donations & Resource Persons ..................................... 21 SEMCO CALENDAR OF EVENTS ............................................................. 22 MAP, OAKLAND UNIVERSITY, ROCHESTER .......................................... 23
SEMCO OFFICERSPresident Gary DeNise (248) 634-7514Vice President Phil “Vic” Charns (248) 398-4465Secretary Carol Sanzi (810) 739-7256Treasurer Roger Gay (248) 641-7799
NEWSLETTER STAFFPublications Committee Chair Bob Clyne (810) 387-3101Interim Editor Bob Clyne (810) 387-3101Editorial Assistant Bob Clyne (810) 387-3101Publisher Phil “Vic” Charns (248) 398-4465Calendar—Other Groups Chair needed
SIG (SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP) CHAIRPERSONSSIG-IBM: CoChairman Tom Callow (248) 642-1920 (9-5)
CoChairman Warner Mach (313) 326-0733SIG-IBM INTERMEDIATE Position OpenNOVICE-IBM GROUP Rotating Hosts
SIG-ADVANCED Franz Breidenich (248) 398-3359APPLE: SIG-MAC: Position Open (248) 682-2335
The SouthEastern Michigan Computer Organization, Inc. (SEMCO) is a non-profit,501(c)(3), group dedicated to providing information, education and a forum to computerusers (professional and amateur) and other interested individuals. Membership inSEMCO is open to all individuals 18 years or older. Persons under 18 years may becomemembers through the sponsorship of a parent or guardian. Dues of $30/year includemonthly DATA BUS, access to SEMCO’s Message Service, and free personal ads.
All SEMCO correspondence should be addressed toSEMCO - P.O. Box 707 - Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303-0707
SEMCO does not condone in any way the illegal copying of copyrighted computerprograms and will not tolerate such practice at any club function.
Your mailing label and membership cards list the month and year your membershipexpires. A DUES DUE message may appear on the newsletter back cover page twomonths before your subscription expires. Newsletters will not be sent after the month ofexpiration. Back issues may not be available. Renew your membership as early aspossible to avoid missing any newsletters.
This publication was created using Adobe PageMaker 6.5 Plus, donatedby Adobe Systems, Inc.
Please take notice that under theBylaws of the SouthEastern
Michigan ComputerOrganization, Inc., nominations
for officerswill be taken at the
December general meetingto be held
Sunday December 9, 2001at 1:30 P.M. with the election of
officers to be held at theJanuary general meeting.
The following officeswill be open for nominations:
1) President2) Vice President
3) Secretary4) Treasurer
5) Such Members at Large, up toa maximum of two (2) as shall be
determined by the Board ofDirectors prior to the December
general meeting.
SEMCO MEETINGSSunday,
DECEMBER 11, 2001Board Meeting 12:00pmGeneral Meeting 1:30pmSIG-IBM Meeting 1:45pmSIG-MAC Meeting 1:45pmSocial Period 3:15pmIBM Novice Group 3:45pmSIG-IBM Intermediate 3:45pm
NOTICE OF ANNUALMEETING AND
ELECTIONThe annual meeting of the
members of theSouthEastern Michigan
Computer Organization, Inc.will be held Sunday,
January 13, 2002 at 1:30 P.M. inRoom 172, of the Science andEngineering Building, OaklandUniversity, Rochester Michigan.The election of officers and anyMembers at Large of the Boardof Directors of the Corporation
will take place at the annualmeeting.
Gary DeNiseSEMCO President
On November 11th, I received an e-mail from Harold Balmer informingSEMCO that as of November 12th, hewould be resigning from the SIG-MACChairmanship. This is due to health andmedical problems. We have toappreciate this has to be his greatestconcern at the present time. We hopethat Harold receives the best of care andhis recovery is speedy.
Harold’s absence from the SIG-MAC Chairmanship will be felt by all.He deserves a very big “THANKS” forhis time and leadership on behalf of theSEMCO membership.
We could definitely use a Volunteerfrom the membership to fill the SIG-MAC Chair.
Nominations for SEMCO officerswill take place in December, so lets allgive it some deep thought between nowand then. To avoid USER GROUPBURNOUT we should step forward and
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HOLIDAY SEAWhile you are thinking about
giving, please consider a gift, cashUniversity has notified us that ththe use of the projectors in our money available in the budget to cthe options available to us but whwe will incur significant additioexpenses everywhere it could wmembers and just managed to baincrease revenue if we are to survcan. Any contributions will be uSEMCO and to make it better.
The IRS has ruled that SEMcharitable or educational organizthe Internal Revenue Code so other persons will now be dedpurposes, by persons who itemizextent as donations to any otherpaid for membership in SEMCOas charitable contributions.
lend a helping hand if possible. Giveback what we receive from UserGroups; the sharing of help, knowledge,wisdom and friendship. √√√√√
SON GIVINGyour holiday season, end of year, or check, to SEMCO. Oaklandey intend to charge us a fee formeeting rooms and there is noover this. The Board is exploringatever happens, it appears thatnal expense. SEMCO has cutithout cutting services to thelance the budget. We must nowive. Please give as much as yoused to further the purposes of
CO qualifies as a non-profitation under Section 501(c)(3) of
contributions by members anductible for federal income taxe their deductions, to the same charitable organization. Dues
generally are not tax deductible
DEALS COLUMNfrom the Deals Guy
Greater Orlando Computer UGby Bob “The Cheapskate” Click
My ThoughtsSome asked if I would have anythingto say about the Sept. 11 tragedy. Justabout everything has already been said,but here are some disturbingobservations.
At least three local people werearrested at various times and thrownin jail with intense questioning, thentransported to Washington, DC forfurther questioning by the FBI. Afterthree weeks of humiliating jail andquestioning, all three were releasedbecause they had done nothingwrong. One was a doctor whose com-puters were also seized and his officeshut down, putting his staff out of
work. The FBI’s questions for thesemen were justifiable, but the answerswere simple enough that I thought itcould have been handled differently.All said they understood and werenot resentful. What else can profiledpeople say?
A local storeowner with a thrivingbusiness was interviewed sayingpeople won’t buy from him any more.He may have to close. He’s really anAmerican citizen just trying to livethe American dream.
Worse yet, on the news recently, aman was driving down the highwaywhen all of a sudden a bullet shatteredthe rear window of his car, narrowlymissing his small child strapped intothe infant seat. His “look” apparentlyprofiled him for somebody. He is alsojust an American citizen living andworking in Orlando.
Nationally, since the tragedy, over550 people have been arrested (ordetained), hate mail has increaseddramatically, even to profiled peopleactually born in USA. I read that atleast 500 incidents have been reportedagainst profiled people. Three wereshot dead while others were stabbed,beaten and assaulted. Certain schools,mosques and businesses have beenattacked, or received bomb threats.
I know some walk among us thathate Americans, but shouldn’t we givea profiled person the benefit of thedoubt first. Keep a sharp eye peeledfor sure, but be careful how you judgepeople. Hate shouldn’t corrupt “us”as it has our enemies. During WorldWar II, my family was of Germanheritage, but fortunately, we werenever threatened, and the neighborsall remained good friends.
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In Keeping With The Rise InPatriotismI included this item because it pro-motes buy-American. Their Web site isalso pro-union, so if you dislike tradeunions, please keep an open mind orskip it. In some states, the terms Ameri-can- and Union- “made” are somewhattaken for granted. In other states, suchas Florida, many flaunt that term. I, forone, am all for making “American”jobs, especially “union” jobs. To assistin finding American-made products, anew Web site is up and running. Checkout <http://www.buyunionnow.com>for a guide on some products. Since itis new, there are only 500 items in 23product categories. They can use helpfor finding more American-made prod-ucts to feature. Some large productsmay be a problem with shipping di-rectly to the consumer, but they areworking on all that. I assume, at thispoint, that price is not the factor, justAmerican-made, but I hope to see thisWeb site grow. Its getting harder andharder to buy “American” with so manycompanies deserting the USA lookingfor very cheap labor. [Actually, the pur-pose of the site listed above is to pro-mote U.S. labor unions and any “BuyAmerican” or more correctly “BuyU.S.” effect is secondary. They wouldnot list U.S. made products that weremade with non-union labor. Ed.]Icon See It NowAha-Soft’s “ArtIcons Pro 3.0” is called“graphics editing” software. Here istheir description: “Use this powerfulutility to find and extract, edit, importand export icons and manage icon li-braries. ArtIcons contains a variety ofpaint tools to let you create and editicons with image formats in either stan-dard or custom sizes, in color depths
up to 32-bit True Color. You can importicons from image, cursor and libraryfiles, and even from executables.ArtIcons allows you to arrange iconsinto libraries. It is the first such soft-ware to support Windows XP icon for-mat.” <http://www.aha-soft.com>.
PC User Group members can regis-ter ArtIcons Pro for $19.95 instead of$29.95 and save $10 ($14.95 extra fora CD). Here is a link to register: <http:// w w w . r e g s o f t . n e t /purchase.php3?productid=41421&pc=6U47X>. Password is “PCGROUP.”Ashampoo Isn’t What You Think It Is
Actually, Ashampoo sells a varietyof products listed here (nothing to dowith your hair), but please visit <http://www.ashampoo.com/products> for allthe info since this month’s column islengthy. Here’s the lineup:Ashampoo MP3 Studio Deluxe–$29.95Ashampoo CD Recording Studio2.0–19.95Audio CD MP3 Studio 2000–$19.95Ashampoo MP3 Check&Convert–$9.95Ashampoo WinOptimizer 2000–$19.95Ashampoo Powerup Deluxe 2000–$19.95Ashampoo Uninstaller 2000–$19.95Ashampoo Power Encrypt Deluxe–$19.95
A DealsGuy discount runs fromnow until December 31, 2001 and alluser group members entering thevoucher code “gcc156786” (typed inthe “coupon” field) will receive 15%discount on all Ashampoo products intheir new Element 5 shop! Go to <http://www.ashampoo.com/products> to buyAshampoo products. Thanks to BillWilkinson of Keowee Computer Clubfor sending this one, originally an offerfor their group.
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Interested In New Web DevelopmentSoftware?I asked about discount for my readerswhen this came in from Olson Soft-ware. Here’s their description forHyperText Studio: “WYSIWYG Website authoring tool. The WYSIWYGand HTML Code editors work togetherto ease page creation. Frame,ImageMap, and Cascading Style Sheeteditors help you create attractive, func-tional sites. Site and link managementtools let you manage projects of anysize effectively. Integrated site man-agement and editor features make cre-ating your content as simple as dragand drop. Use Topic Styles for consis-tency. Tutorials help you learn quickly.”
Prices are as follows:Standard Edition (MSRP–$99)—Includes everything you need to createstunning Web sites.Professional Edition (MSRP–$199)—In addition to Standard Editionfunctionality, build HTML Help,WinHelp, and printed documentation.Enterprise Edition (MSRP–$499)—Inaddition to Professional Editionfunctionality, lets multiple users worktogether on a single Web site orHelp file.
DealsGuy readers get 10% dis-count. There are three ways to orderrequiring this code: “hts:bc159.”1: Directly within the product. If youhave downloaded the product, you canclick the Purchase button on the startupdialog to be led through a wizard tosecurely purchase on-line. Enter thecode in the “Comments and feed-back” field.2: Via their Web site, <http://www.olsonsoft.com/purchase.htm>.The code is added in the “Comments toVendor” field.
3: Via fax/mail - make sure the code isadded to the order form at <http://www.olsonsoft.com/orderform.htm>,and that it is faxed to 1-646-359-3962.If you have a problem, call them at1-646-359-1408.Links:Web site URL: <http://www.olsonsoft.com>E-mail: <[email protected]>Download: <http://www.olsonsoft.com/downloads/htsstd40.exe>.Just In From APCUG, Act Fast!RoadWired, a maker of computer casesand travel accessories for portable elec-tronics, has become a sponsor for theAPCUG fall Comdex event. An an-nouncement was sent to all user groups,but I’m reminding my readers to checkthis deal. Visit <http://www.roadwired.com> for more information.
Some items on their Web site arealready discounted 60%, but you get20% discount on everything, includingdiscounted items. Enter APCUG codenumber “1002128563” in the “cou-pons” box at checkout. This is onlygood on ONE order per member andthis offer expires 11/31/01. By the timeyou read this, it will be too late fortheir other rewards.Show Me The Way To Go HomeIt’s been a while since I’ve heard fromAndy Sturdevant at DeLorme. I assumeall users groups received this same an-nouncement. I’ll list the products below:AO-6010-101–DeLorme Topo USA 3.0(CD-ROM version)—special price—$69.95AO-6011-101–DeLorme Topo USA 3.0(DVD version)—special price—69.95AO-6429-101–Street Atlas USA Deluxe(CD-ROM)—special price—$39.95AO-5801-101–Solus Pro 3.0 (CD-ROM) (mapping for the Palm) S&H is
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$5.00 and the priority code is “4041.”If your group didn’t get the order forms,your vendor coordinator should callAndy. Ordering may work on the Website using the code. <http://www.delorme.com>.Firewall Just For The TakingI read a very good review for TinyPersonal Firewall in Virtual RAM,newsletter of the PC Rams ComputerClub, and it looked pretty good ac-cording to their testing. They say itdoesn’t host any annoying ads. Theyused “Port Detective,” which I’m notfamiliar with, to give it a good test andit passed with flying colors. The re-view author, Stephen Bigelow said thisproduct has features he really likes.TPF is free for personal use and can bedownloaded at <http://www.cnet.com>.Search for Tiny Personal Firewall.FYI: I should soon have an announce-ment for the new USB 2.0 Pockey drives(20 gig shirt pocket size), which will betrue plug-n-play. They also have a newcable, for those of us whose old Pockeydrives would not work with a Toshiba orNEC laptop. The cable is available as aretrofit. <http://www.pockeydrives.com>That’s it for this month. Meet mehere again next month if your editorpermits. This column is written to makeuser group members aware of specialoffers I have found or arranged, andmy comments should not be interpretedto encourage, or discourage, the pur-chase of products, no matter how en-thused I might sound. Bob (The Cheap-skate) Click <[email protected]>. Visit my Web site at <http://www.dealsguy.com> for past columns.Also, I keep adding interesting articles(taken from user group newsletters) tomy “Articles of Interest” page for view-ing or downloading. √√√√√
as I went in search of a broadbandconnection. There were three optionsavailable to me at that time, they camefrom a land far, far, away, and little wasknown about any of them. Baby Bellwas the first contact, as they held allthe existing telephone lines, and had todetermine when my geographical areawas available as DSL. Telocity (nowDIRECTV DSL) was the second op-tion, and they used the same telephonelines as Baby Bell. And then there wasInsight Communications, which had allthe television cable lines everywhere.How fortunate was I to have three avail-able to me, when most had none!
After trying to understand numer-ous other terms that were alien to me, Idiscovered that I was blessed in that Iwas close enough to a CO (CentralOffice) with a DSLAM (Digital Sub-scriber Line Access Multiplexer) thatmy throughput would be blindinglyfast. And, reasoning with myself thatsince Baby Bell owned the actual lines,if something happened to my service,they would be more eager to correctany problems, than if I was a Telocitycustomer, using the Baby Bell lines. SoI asked Baby Bell to establish DSLservice to me.
It was such a new technology atthat time that there were many techni-cal difficulties. For one, Baby Bell wasso rabid about not allowing any of thehome users actually using more thanone computer in a home environmentto access their DSL, that they man-dated that I had to use an internal mo-dem (more heat inside my computer). I
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couldn’t share the DSL connection withmy old computer that I had networkedwith a new one. They showed no re-morse for the fact that their DSL stormtroopers had buggered up my two-com-puter LAN to the point that I now hadto disable the network card to the oldmachine before I could even access theDSL line. And I was even using a dif-ferent protocol on my network sincethe DSL line already had a lock onTCP/IP and wouldn’t allow the homenetwork card to use that protocol. Need-less to say, trying to print a documentfrom the old machine to the printerattached to the new one, took somevery fancy maneuvering. Of course, ifI had elected to have the business DSL($$) I could do all these marvelousthings without any problem. For twocomputers, one of which started outlife as a 486 machine, this did notcompute.
The first problem I encountered waswith the telephone line filters that arenecessary if you wish to use the DSLservice. Every extension in your housemust have a filter on it, and unfortu-nately the one Baby Bell sent me forthe wall phone in the kitchen was faulty.I asked for a replacement, but theycouldn’t replace just one, as nobodyhad ever done that before! So basi-cally, I phoned and complained abouttheir line filter for the wall phone everymonth for six months before they fi-nally decided they would send me onethat did work. However, what thismeant was that my kitchen phone wasworthless for six months.
I have always had a Hayes modem,not a Hayes-compatible modem, as Iwanted top of the line error-correctingwhenever I was using the phone lines.This Baby Bell internal modem was
nothing but problems from the thirdday it was installed, and my wait on thephone to tech support was most de-pressing. Sometimes the deviceworked, and sometimes it didn’t, andwhen it didn’t, I had to re-boot mymachine and try it again. I must havehad to reboot my machine hundreds oftimes during the course of the 14months I had the Baby Bell DSL fortheir modem connection alone, and thenyou have to add to that the times thecomputer itself seized up when I didsomething blonde. I’m surprised my“control,” “alt,” and “delete” keys havenot been worn down to a nub.
Baby Bell tech support was gener-ally adequate, and they do have a reallynice feature on their answering mes-sages that give you an estimated waittime. But don’t expect them to bypassany of their routines simply becauseyou say you have already done them.They are going to assume that you arean imbecile, and work upwards fromthere. By the time the call finallyreaches a point where they can con-verse in acronyms on equal footing withyou, you’ve wasted at least a half-hour!
After fighting with the internal mo-dem for over a year, I decided to com-plain even louder about their faultyequipment when I had to call in forsome other problem. So the tech sup-port people checked my line and foundthat my modem was an iffy compo-nent, and they would be sending meanother. So I asked what it would taketo get an external modem, as what theywere sending me was basically not go-ing to help my home network agonies.They asked a supervisor to bless it, andall agreed they could get me an exter-nal modem for half-price, since I hadused their service for over a year and
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the existing modem inside the machinewas paid for. I said, “Great, let’s dothat!” The USB external modem ar-rived at one of my busier times, so it satin the box for a couple of weeks beforeI even opened it. My telephone billarrived in the meantime, so I checked itto see if the $37.50 half-price chargewas on there. Imagine my surprisewhen I discovered they had chargedme $18.50 for one of four installments,which basically said I was paying fullprice for it. Once again, Baby Bell waslying to its customers, and hiding itunder an enigma of numbers.
I phoned Baby Bell and explainedto all who would listen that I had beenwronged. It fell on really deaf ears. Nevermind that I have had outrageous monthlyphone bills for thirty years, or that I haverecently discovered that a directory ser-vice request for a new phone numberlisting is now one thin penny short of twodollars! So I told the woman on the phonethat if I couldn’t find any resolution tothe fact that they had lied to me, then Ididn’t wish to deal with them any moreexcept on a have-no-choice basis, as theyare a monopoly where my local tele-phone service is concerned. They couldtake their DSL back to Never Never Land.She said there was nothing anyonecould do, so I explained that I no longerwanted to use their DSL service. WhileI was on the phone talking to her, get-ting instructions on how to return thisexternal modem, etc., they totally dis-connected me from all Baby Bell DSLprivileges. I did not even have time topull e-mail off their server before I wasdenied access to it. I was not given timeto notify people [email protected] was no longer aviable e-mail address. Basically, I waselectronically guillotined! “How rude!”
I was suddenly without fast accessand back to 56K dial-up speeds. This istantamount to being mega-rich one dayand a pauper the next. If you hadn’tseen the Promised Land, you wouldn’tknow any better. So I put a panic call into DIRECTV DSL, and they very can-didly told me that their modems wereexternal, cost approximately $500, butwere included in the monthly cost oftheir service. I did have to agree to ayear’s service with them, but they didn’tcare if I had two computers networkedor not. I could only sit in front of one ata time, and the dogs have not learnedhow to surf yet. However, whenever Idiscontinued their service, I had to re-turn the modem to them. The biggestproblem was that it could take up tothree weeks for them to get the modemto me. Withdrawal pains, definitely.
However, the modem arrived justover a week after my call to DIRECTVDSL, so I figured I had a day of instal-lation ahead of me again. I had to re-move the Baby Bell internal DSL mo-dem card, so it wouldn’t conflict withthe external DIRECTV DSL modemor my home network. Besides, at thispoint, it was just taking up space insidemy PC. And, uh, geez, it also gave me achance to visit with the dust bunniespopulating the inside of my machine.Then I had to uninstall the Baby Bellsoftware—this was not something youshould try alone at home! It requiredthe resident Alpha Geek’s expertise tofigure this one out, as the uninstallationitself wanted to wipe out a few “un-used” files such as regedit.exe (amongothers) because their removal softwarereported that “I wasn’t using it anymore and really didn’t need it.” I thinkthat was the final straw when I saw thatthey wanted to inflict harm on my com-
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puter because I had chosen not to usetheir service.
Once all remnants of the Baby Bellfiasco were removed, total time to setupthe new configuration was just over anhour. For the most part, the installationwent smoothly with no major issuesalong the way. The new setup includedattaching the DIRECTV DSL modemto my telephone line and installing theirsoftware. It also included reroutingsome of the ethernet cabling in the of-fice and installing and configuring aDSL router/firewall between the mo-dem and my computers. I did have totweak my software firewall settings tomake it all work together. At this point,I called in “Alpha Geek” for assistancewith the firewall configuration.
The DIRECTV DSL modem andthe DSL router are now flashing lightsback at me (comforting to an externalmodem user) and my home network ishappy again. I can print from any ma-chine on my home network when Iwish, I can access the Net no matterwhich machine I am using, and I don’thave to pray that I remembered to dis-able the network card before I powereddown the last time. I don’t have tothreaten my friends with a visit fromLuigi if they send me a huge pictureattachment, and life is once again good!
For even more acronyms and infor-mation about DSL, check out <http://www.dslreports.com>.There is no restriction against any non-profit group using the article as long as itis kept in context, with proper creditgiven to the author. This article isbrought to you by the EditorialCommittee of the Association of PersonalComputer User Groups (APCUG), anInternational organization to which thisuser group belongs. Please e-mail theauthor if you use this article. √√√√√
Browser Fun and GamesTWEAK INTERNET EXPLORERFOR FUN AND PRODUCTIVITY
My wife says I get cranky easily.She says it’s a gene, or maybe a strandof my DNA, but I’m definitely crabby,and it happens whenever the computerstarts acting up.
See, the last time I re-installedMicrosoft’s Internet Explorer, myStandard Button Bar, Address Bar,and Links were in different spots. Tomake me feel even crabbier, when Iupgraded to a new version ofMicrosoft’s Media Player, the RadioBar appeared in the same spot myLinks Bar should have been.Going BackThe first thing I had to do was get myBars back in order. In IE, just rightmouse click on any blank area on theupper portion of the toolbar and clickthe check mark for each item you wantto see or hide.Toolbar CustomizingThe neat thing about IE’s bars is youcan drag them onto other toolbars—up, down, left, or right—move themto the very top menu bar, and easilyresize them.
I have the Pull down menus at thevery top with an add-on Browser Re-corder to the right. Below that is IE’sButton bar, one I customized to addbuttons I use often and remove rarelytouched buttons. (Do it by clicking ablank portion of the toolbar area andselecting Customize. Be very carefulyou don’t inadvertently hit the poorlyplaced Reset button in the dialog box.)
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Next down is the Link bar with but-tons linked to the spots I go to daily,followed below by IE’s standard Ad-dress bar and Google’s add-on browsertowards the right.
If you start fiddling and foul up thesize or placement of the bars, try this:From IE’s Tools menu, click InternetOptions, choose Programs, and clickthe Reset Web Settings.The Magic of the Links BarOne incredibly powerful—andunderutilized—feature in IE is theLinks bar. Mine has a button for eachof the three search engines I use regu-larly. Other single-use buttons includePC World, Yahoogroups, PIBMUG,eBay, TVGrid, and a Web-based e-mailprogram.
Three more buttons are multi-func-tion. When I click on any of them, a listof other links drops down. I use one forsites I visit almost every day, anotherfor weekly visited sites, and the thirdfor pages I’ve visited that I might wantto go to again.Link Bar Fix-Me-UpsMicrosoft has official advice for add-ing items to your Links Bar. They sayto drag the icon for the page from yourAddress bar to your Links bar or justdrag a link from a Web page. Thatworks fine for a new link. But whenyou’re ready to modify a link, you’restuck with using a click on the rightmouse. You can do it but there’s aslicker way.
Open PowerDesk or Windows Ex-plorer and go to your\Windows\Favorites directory (nowcalled Folders). With PowerDesk, openanother window pane (use Control-F3)or in Explorer, open another Explorer.
You’re going to do a few things,and you needn’t do it in this order.
• Rename the filename: Make itshorter but remember that each fileshould end in “URL..” Use F2 or theright mouse button. Doing this will giveyou room for more items on the Linksbar. For instance, Google is just “gog,”PIBMUG is “PIB,” TVGRID is “TV.”You get the idea.
• Change the Icon: Right mouse clickon the file and select Properties. ClickChange Icon and Browse. You’ll seemany files, and some will contain icons.You can go up one level to the \Win-dows folder for other icons. Just clickon any file that has an icon (you’ll seethem) and click it. That icon then rep-resents the URL.
• Add or Remove: You may have aURL you often use in your favorites.Treat it as you would any other file—drag and drop it onto the Links folder.Want a Folder on your Links Bar?Nothing to it: In Explorer, it’s File *New * Folder and then just add items(filenames ending with URL) to thefolder. In PowerDesk, just click F7.
By the way, the changes aredynamic—you can see themimmediately in Internet Explorer.Favorites? While We’re Here...You might as well examine all the otheritems in your Favorites folder. They’reall part of Internet Explorer’s Favor-ites—you know, the stuff you see whenyou click the Favorites button. Manyof these are poorly named, outdated, oruseless. And I’ll bet the majority ofthem could be better organized. Insteadof using IE’s Organize Favorites, usethe method above. It’s faster and sub-stantially easier.Steve Bass is a Contributing Editor withPC World and runs the Pasadena IBMUsers Group. Write to him at
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<[email protected]>. CheckPCW’s current edition at <www.pcworld.com/resource/toc/index.asp>and sign up for the Steve Bass onlinenewsletter at <www.pcworld.com/bass_letter>. √√√√√
It’s really not that hard. If you havebeen following my articles lately, youknow that every couple of months Ilike to center on a particular PC com-ponent and explain it in simple English.
There are two components insideyour PC I consider most vulnerable tofailure from a mechanical origin. Thosetwo components are your hard drive(HD) and your power supply. Transla-tion: Your computer will probably dieas a result of a hard drive malfunction,or a nondescript power supply break-down. I liken this to the human brainand heart. You can absorb other minorinjuries, but any concerning these twoand both you and your computer willresult in a blackout.
Before I explain the fundamen-tals of HDs, you should be aware thatmost computer manufacturers use in-expensive models of both these criti-cal parts. When it comes time to up-grade your HD or select your newcomputer, make sure you considerthese facts. In this article I will ex-plain how to interpret the most com-mon HD specifications.Just the facts, please. Because thisarticle is intended for home consum-ers, I will forgo any dialogue relatingto SCSI and RAID technologies, andfocus on the ubiquitous internal
3.5-inch ATA EIDE hard drives (a harddrive is also known as a hard disk).
The two acronyms you will hearmost are ATA (Advanced TechnologyAttachment) and EIDE (Enhanced In-tegrated Drive Electronics). Don’t beconfused if you also see Ultra ATA orUltra DMA (Direct Memory Access)because they all essentially refer to thesame thing: ATA EIDE interface. Andguess what? All that mumbo jumborefers to is the rate of the hard driveinterface and connection speed. Today,the most prevalent EIDE drives are theATA/66 and ATA/100. The numbersmean that an ATA/66 drive’s maximumrated speed is 66MBps. Don’t get hungup on these numbers considering thereal world performance difference be-tween ATA/66 and ATA/100 is verynegligible.
By the way, the next generation inthe ATA interface (we may see this bynext year) is what’s called Serial ATA.Serial ATA uses only two wires, to andfrom the hard drive at 1.5 Gbps. Thiswill be a vast step forward, as 1.5 Gbpsis significantly faster than ATA/100!
One last thing to note about ATAEIDE hard drives is that if yourMother Board/Controller is not ratedat the same speed as the hard drive(ATA/100 for example), it will nottake of advantage of the hard drive’speak rate anyway.Performance does matter when itcomes to the platter. The platter is arigid disk inside the hard drive that iscovered with magnetic material thatstores your data. Depending on thecapacity, there may be several plattersin your HD. A key specification thattells you about the drive’s performancequality is what’s known as “rotationalspeed”. Rotational speed (also called
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spindle speed) is measured in rpm’s(revolutions per minute), thus the 5,400or 7,200rpm specification you readabout. Normally, the higher the rpm’sthe better the performance. It’s gener-ally accepted that a 7,200rpm drive out-performs a 5,400rpm drive by 33% be-cause of its ability to read and transferdata more quickly.
The next specification to determinea drive’s performance is the “CacheBuffer.” Cache Buffer, more commonlyjust called cache, can be thought of as theHD’s temporary RAM storage. The cacheof a HD plays a very important role;hence the larger the cache buffer the bet-ter. A 2MB cache buffer would be con-sidered very adequate for a home PC.
The final indicator of a HD’s per-formance is called “Seek Time.” Inshort, the seek time is how long it takesthe hard drive to find a particular trackon the disk. Seek time is measured inms (milliseconds) and on average is 7to 13ms with the lower numbers beingpreferred.
One last tidbit—if you read any-thing about a drive’s “shock tolerance”it will be measured in G’s. This maysound crude, but this measurement re-lates to how hard a wallop it will takebefore the drive suffers damage. Theaverage is about 200 to 300G’s. Install-ing a replacement Seagate drive abouta year ago, my German Shepherdcouldn’t resist the anti-static bag thedrive was in, proudly running aroundwhile chomping down on the drive.After installing the drive and re-boot-ing, nothing happened, but I digress.
The last two points to consider arerelated to the HD’s reliability—themanufacturer’s warranty and MTBF(Mean Time Between Failure). TheMTBF is usually listed in hours and
indicates the manufacturer’s expectedlife span of the HD. A nicely perform-ing HD by today’s standards would bean ATA/100, 7200rpm, 2MB cache,40Gig, 8.5ms seek time, and offer a 3-year warranty. I personally prefer theIBM Deskstar GXP and Seagate Bar-racuda models. Happy Driving…um,make that Hard Driving! √√√√√
You Need A New Video Cardby Bruce Pechman
As most of you are well aware, twoyears of technology can practicallyleapfrog any hardware or software youmay own. This holds especially truefor the thousands of developers andpublishers in the PC entertainmentindustry vying for your greenbacks.
In this column, I will attempt toconvince you why your video card is amajor player in getting the mostperformance from your PC. I guaranteeyou will learn something you didn’tknow, so let’s get started!Telling It Like It IsUnless you are a true enthusiast likemyself (and would probably ratherspend your dough on weekendgetaways than buying a new video cardevery 6 months) you may not be awareof why the video card is so critical ingetting the most enjoyment from yourcomputer.
The fact is you definitely do need anew video card every 6 months. Yourcomputer is more than up to the task,providing it is a Pentium class runningat least 266 MHz. However, if youbought a typical new computer in thelast 3 years and it came bundled with avideo card, I am sorry to say it iswoefully inadequate for the task ofrunning newer entertainment titles.
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Why? Well I thought you’d neverask! I promise not to get too technical,but I think you will all relate to myanalogy. When you go to buy a newstereo, you pick this great receiver ratedat 150 Watts per channel with Dolby ProLogic, DSP, etc. But when it all comesdown to it, if your speakers are sub-quality cheapies, your stereo will soundpretty bad even with that fancy 150-Wattreceiver.
This is exactly the same with acomputer system (even today theGateways & Dells are just getting thismessage and are finally bundlingpremium video cards with their systems).See, computers are all about visualinformation displayed on your monitor.This is how your computer communicateswith you.Ask What Your New Video Card CanDo For YouThings have changed big time. Morefolks are purchasing digital cameras,the Internet allows us to eitherdownload or view streamingmultimedia content, and softwareentertainment developers want you tosee their games or stories exactly theway they were designed utilizing thelatest technology at the project’sinception.
Let’s put a few things into contexthere. With digital cameras or viewingWeb sites the standard can easily be 24to 32-bit color and resolutions up to1024x768. Your current video card maynot handle that and so the colors willbe off or dulled. But this is just the tipof the proverbial iceberg. Let’s talkabout video, gaming, or any form ofdigital video.
Two words come to mind…FrameRate. If you have a typical video card itmay have 4MB (poor) or 8MB (still
poor) of video RAM (VRAM). Guesswhat—you can hardly buy a new videocard today with less than 32MB andmore than half have 64MB of VRAM!Next month, a video card will debutwith 128MB of VRAM. That’s right—probably more than your computersentire system RAM. But don’t despair;you definitely will not need that cardanytime soon. The point is the primaryfunction of the video card is to offloadthe laborious chore of graphicsrendering from the CPU. That, myfriends, is the crux of the matter. Thiswill free your CPU to take care ofbusiness without the heavy load of thesoftware rendering process.
Remember the Frame Rate thing Ispoke of? Frame Rates are measured inframes per second, and today’sminimum standard for games or digitalmovies is 30fps (frames per second). Anew video card with 32MB of VRAMwill allow for silky smooth frame ratespassing 60fps, and, depending on whatthe screen resolution is, possibly over80fps.
In addition, your computer will berunning happy as “a pup with a plate ofvanilla ice-cream on a hot summer day”as the CPU is not overburdened whenrunning these graphic intensiveentertainment nuggets.What’s All This Talk About PCI,AGP, and 2D and 3D?Read on so I can clear this up. Allvideo cards today offer outstanding 2Dand 3D integrated support. 2D isbasically what you normally see suchas you desktop, applications and datafiles. 3D kicks in when a game,multimedia or 3D modeling apprequires it. So, a good quality videocard will provide you with enormousbenefits whether you’re working in
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Office, cruising the Web, game playing,or viewing rich multimedia content.
Keep in mind that most video cardssold today are AGP (AcceleratedGraphics Port). In addition, most newmotherboards over the last 3 yearsinclude an AGP slot. AGP commonlycomes in two speeds; 2x and on newermotherboards 4x. Even if you decideon a 4x AGP video card, but yourmotherboard is only 2x there is noproblem as the cards are designed towork flawlessly under 2x AGPconditions.
I promised not to get too technical,but it is important to know why AGP isa superior technology to the alternative,PCI (Peripheral ComponentInterconnect). 2x AGP can transfer datato the video card at a maximum rate of533 MBps (Megabytes per second). 4xAGP can transfer data to the video cardat a maximum rate of 1,067 MBps.
However, the slower standard PCIslot can transfer only a modest 133MBps. In a nutshell, the 2x or 4x AGPvideo cards are the way to go if yourmotherboard supports them becausethey can deliver data to video card atextremely fast rates.I’m Sold…But What Video Card DoI Buy?There are basically two camps battlingfor video chipset supremacy today. Thetwo contenders are 3DFX Interactive’sVooDoo 5 chipset (as in the currentlyshipping VooDoo5 5500 series) andNvidia’s GeForce2 (as in the currentlyshipping GeForce2 GTS series). [TheGeForce3 chipset is now out. Anotherhigh performance video chipset andcard manufacturer is ATI. Ed.]
Now the tricky part about vendorselection. For the Nvidia chipset, thereare about 6 mainstream video card
manufacturers with your choice oreither 32 or 64MB of VRAM on board,but they will all use a GeForce chipset.
For the 3DFX chipset, you have nochoice of manufacturers as 3DFXmakes both the chipset and the boardas a sole source. The 3DFX 5500 seriescomes only in a 64MB configuration.But, 3DFX just released a PCI versionof the 5500 series, which may be youronly option if you do not have an AGPport and want the newest card.Enough, Give Me The Bottom LineOK, I will tell you the best deal vs.performance out there in my opinion.Keep in mind all the new boards Imentioned from both Nvidia and 3DFXare about $299 (expect to shell outanother $100 if you want the 64MBversion of the Nvidia board). By theway, you really don’t want to invest inthe 64MB version from Nvidia as itonly offers marginally betterperformance than its 32MB sibling. Fordetails about the 32MB vs. 64MBargument go here: <http://www.tech-review.com/review.pl?id=160>.
My choice would be…the fact isboth cards are very close inperformance. When all the reviews aresaid and done, it’s summarized like this:Nvidia has a slight edge in faster fps,but the 3DFX chipset makes graphicslook a little better on screen as theirFull-Screen Anti-Aliasing (FSAA)technology is better than Nvidia’s.
Additionally, be aware that the priceof video cards may differ because ofwhat is called “Gaming Bundles” or“TV Out” features. This means thatsome manufacturers will bundle the fullversion of currently shipping games withthe video card. TV Out means you canhook up your TV as your monitor (notsomething I want to do anytime soon).
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Choices, ChoicesSo what I am telling you is that youcan’t go wrong with either the 3DFXVooDoo5 5500 AGP ($299) or theNvidia GeForce2 GTS ($299—I didfind this for $239 on the Web—(800)585-4080 part # S1100073). If this istoo steep for your allowance money,you can also investigate the lowerend models of both companies’products.
For 3DFX, you can look into thesoon- to-be-released VooDoo4, or theVooDoo3 series at around hundredbucks. From Nvidia, you can researchthe original GeForce 256 chipsetreleased last October, or even the newerlow cost alternative, Nvidia GeForce2MX (which should be available by thetime you read this) for around $150 aswell. Keep in mind the newer cardssupport 32-bit color as well as the latesttechnologies, and are priced veryattractively for the enjoyment they willbring to your life and PC.Final ThoughtsBelieve it or not I tried to make thisarticle readable while foregoing thetechnical jargon. The fact is, videocards in-and-of themselves areextremely complex animals. A fewyears back, there was a major clashover what API would be supportedon the cards: Glide, Open GL, D3D,RAVE, or Direct X. Thank goodnessthis has all been sorted out and mostcards today will be able to supportmost anything you throw at them.
Keep in mind to always keep yourvideo card drivers current even if youdon’t buy a new card. When I get anew card, I just assume the drivers onthe CD are old and that a newer set ofdrivers are just a click away at themanufacturer’s Web site.
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:President Gary DeNise, TreasurerRoger Gay, Secretary Carol Sanzi, SIG-Advanced Chairman Franz Breidenich,SIG-IBM Co-Chairman Tom Callow,and SIG-MAC Chairman HaroldBalmer. Also attending was SIG-IBMCo-Chairman Warner Mach. Arriving
17
late was Vice President Vic Charns. Themeeting was called to order at 12:04 pm.OLD BUSINESS: Treasurer RogerGay reported that the balance on handis $2786.09. The membership is now106 with several renewals not recorded.
The nine volunteers who workedthe Microsoft eXtreme Event onOctober 20, 2001 will receive a copyof Microsoft Windows XP during thegeneral meeting today.NEW BUSINESS: Harold Balmersubmitted a letter of resignation as ofNov. 11, 2001. He will ask the 3 or 4members of the SIG-MAC if one wouldbe willing to step forward and run nextmonth’s meeting.
Cheryl Fil has volunteered to ac-cept the position as editor of the DATABUS as of January 1, 2002, with thehelp and guidance of Bob Clyne.
Oakland University has notifiedSEMCO that as of the first of the yearthere will be a rental fee charged forthe equipment we use each month. BobClyne and Gary DeNise will meet withOakland University’s InstructionalTechnology representative, GeorgePreisinger. They will discuss fees andthe feasibility of SEMCO remaining atOakland University.
Gary DeNise suggested that sinceSEMCO is a charitable organization,financial contributions will be accepted.These monies could help pay for theroom rentals.
Roger Gay will have tax receiptsready next month for those willing tomake a donation.
Franz Breidenich moved to reim-burse Carol Sanzi $50.50 for the CookieBouquet sent to Harold Balmer. TomCallow seconded the motion and it wascarried.
The meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm.
A few words about installing yournew video card; ah forget it – whyreinvent the wheel when you can justgo here: <http://www.gamecenter.com/Hardware/Doit/Upgradevid/>.
By the way—there is a reason Iwrote that line about the pup and theice cream. Bruce is in the doghouse rightnow as his wife stews over his choice ingetting the newest video card, and she nolonger gets the promised weekendgetaway to Hilton Head. √√√√√
Harold BalmerThe Need for Speed
Continues—DSL
CORRECTIONIn my article “The Need for Speed Con-tinues—DSL ,” I missed the fact that ifyou are thinking of DSL, Cable or Sat-ellite service, you will need an Ethernetport on your computer. I also got an e-mail from Earthlink warning you that,IF you change local dial tone phoneservice providers, your new providermay not have a contract with Earthlink,so Earthlink will not be able to recon-nect to your phone line, and you willlose your DSL service. √√√√√
missed the last meeting. Due to ongoingmedical problems, I have resigned asthe Chairman of SIG-MAC. I am notsure what the future of the SIG is.
At the meeting we looked at theIomega CD-RW 4x4x6 (write, re-write, read) external drive. This is anexternal CD that hooks to the com-puter through the USB bus and has itsown power supply. That means thatyou can use this drive with your Macand/or your PC, as long as you haveUSB. On my Apple Powerbook, Idon’t have a USB port, but I do havea PCMCIA port, into which I haveinstalled a PCMCIA to USB card. Thecost of the machine is $179 less a $30mail in rebate for an end cost of$149.00 (OfficeMAX).
One of the warnings that they giveis that IF you have problems trying towrite a disk, you may need to turn offmost of your extensions, as they mightinterfere. They also recommend (andI agree) that you need to increase theRAM buffer to as large as you can (64is Max) without increasing the amountof memory the program runs in.
You can do files/folders (data),Music, or Disk duplicate. I showed howto drag and drop files and folders intothe program, how it then told me howmuch I was trying to put on the CD disk.I showed the simulate mode, the speed
SIG-MACHarold Balmer
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test and finally writing the disk or just a“write session.” If you do a “write ses-sion,” if there is still room on the disk,you can add material to the disk. If you“write disk,” that is it, nothing can beadded later.
Write speed is critical. If you don’thave a steady data feed, the write ses-sion will fault out and you will ruin yournew CD-R disk. I found that slowerwas better, even when doing a diskcopy. Read the original disk through thenormal CD and write to the CD-RWdrive. It takes about 30 minutes to writea complete disk (700 MB) at 2X.
I showed how to look at a disk anddetermine how full the disk is and whatkind of disk you are looking at. If theerase button is grayed out, then it is aCD-R disk. But if the erase button isdark, then you are looking at a CD-RWdisk. After we were done, I passed outa sheet about Toast 5, done by TerryWhite of MacGroup Detroit. My rea-son for showing Toast 4.1 was to provethat the Iomega CD-RW package, assold, will work great.
As for next month—check theSEMCO Web site.
DECEMBER 9: To be announced. √ √ √ √ √
DECEMBER 3 (Next: JANUARY 7),Monday: Meetings held first Monday6:45pm at Troy Public Library. TOPIC:Wide ranging discussion of computersand computing. √ √ √ √ √
SIG-ADVANCEDFranz Breidenich
DECEMBER 9: Windows CE andthe Pocket PC: SIG-IBM Co-Chairman Tom Callow will discuss anddemonstrate the Pocket PC anddescribe the improvements in the latestversion, Windows CE 2002. √√√√√
SIG-IBMTom Callow
Warner Mach
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JANUARY 2002 DATA BUS DEASEMCO & SIG DATA, & MEMBERS’ ADMembers’ personal ads free. To mail, use [email protected] PLEASE send to arrive soBUSINESS ADS - Deadline: Second Friday mpayment in full made out to SEMCO, to the E
DECEMBER 9: Winamp andVisualizations: Jack Vander Schrierwill demonstrate and discuss Winampand visualizations. Winamp is a fast,flexible, high fidelity music player foryour computer. √ √ √ √ √
SIG-IBM INTERMEDIATEPosition open?
DECEMBER 9: Q&A: Member- di-rected discussion. √√√√√
NOVICE-IBM GROUPRotating Volunteer Hosts
DLINE (10th day after meeting)S - Deadline: Wed, Dec. 19, 11:59pmditor address on Page 2; e-mail address:
oner than deadline if possible.onthly. Mail unfolded camera-ready copy;
AAIICI (American Association of Individual Investors, Computerized Investors), January 26- Saturday, 10am-Noon (Meet 4th Saturday) (not December); W. Bloomfield HuntingtonBank, Orchard Lk Rd., S.of Maple Rd. Info: Jack Lockman at 313-341-8855 or <[email protected]>COMP (Computer Operators of Marysville/Port Huron) December 5 - Wednesday, 7pm (Meet 1st Wednesday): Rm 201, Clara E. Mackenzie Library-Science bldg, 323 Erie St., Port Huron. Ron Walters, 810-679-4144. Web: <http://www.bwcomp.org>. TOPIC: Christmas Party.DCOM Computer Club December 14 - Friday 6:30 - 8:30 pm (Meet 2nd Friday); Henry Ford C.C., Patterson Tech Bldg,Ford Rd/Evergreen, Rm T143, Parking Lot C. Info: Doug Piazza 313-582-2602Delta Computer Club January 31 - Thursday, 7pm (Meet last Thursday) (not Nov/Dec); Bay de Noc C. C., Escanaba.Info: Gordon Nelson, Pres. & Editor at <[email protected]> or 906-428-1014.GDOUG (Greater Detroit OS/2 Users Group) December 13 - Thursday, 6:30pm (Meet 2nd Thursday); Stardock Systems, Farmington Rd, N. ofSix Mile, Livonia; Info: Carolyn Kolaz, Pres. at <[email protected]>. Map on Web:<http://www.lookinc.com/gdoug>.MacGroup Detroit December 16 - Sunday, 3pm-5pm (Meet 3rd Sun.); Southfield Civic Center, 26000 EvergreenRd., Room 221. Info: Terry White, <[email protected]> or 313-571-9817. Web: <http://www.macgroup.org> TOPIC: Michael “Firewire Goooooood” Balas of Apple Computer Inc.MacTechnics, (MAC User Group), Coffee 9:00am, SIGs 9:30am, Main meeting 11:00am. December 15 – Saturday, 9am–1pm (Meet 3rd Saturday); U of M, Central & Medical Campus,Medical Science II building. (See map on Web: <http://www.mactechnics.org>). Info: Cassie at<[email protected]> or 313-971-8743.MCUG (Michigan Computer Users Group) December 20 - Thursday, 7pm (Meet 3rd Thursday); 35271 Rockingham Dr, Sterling Hts., MI48310-4917; Info: Jerry Zinger, Pres., <[email protected]> 810-792-3394.Michigan Apple Computer User Group Dec. 13 - Thu 7pm (Meet 2nd Thu) MAC: Troy Library, I-75 at Big Beaver; Dec. 19 - Wed 7pm(Meet 3rd Wed) IIGS, Apple II/Apple-Works, Parent/Teachers Ed, PC, Internet: St Bede School,12 & Southfield; Dec. 20 Thu 7:30pm (Meet 3rd Thu) MAC Media Arts, Programmers: St. Bede.
Info: Carl Pendracki 248-647-8871 or <[email protected]>. Web: <http://www.michiganapple.com>.Oak Park Computer Club Meets every Friday, 10:15am (except holidays) at Oak Park Library, Oak Park Blvd. at Coolidge Hwy.SHCC (Sterling Heights Computer Club) December 4 - Tuesday, 7:30pm (Meet 1st Tuesday: not July/Aug); Carpathia Club, 38000 UticaRd, Sterling Hts, Pres. Don VanSyckel at <[email protected]>, 810-731-9232 ; Web: <http://member.apcug.org/shcc>.SVCA (Saginaw Valley Computer Assoc.) December 13 - Thursday, 6:30-9:00pm (Meet 2nd Thursday); Saginaw. Info: Kay Engelhart,program chairperson at <[email protected]>.Wayne State U. Mac User Group December 8 - Saturday 10:00am-Noon (Meet 2nd Saturday); at Mich.com, 21042 Laurelwood,Farmington. Info: Lorn/JoAnn Olsen 248/478-4300 or Denny MeLampy 248-477-0190,<[email protected]> TOPIC: Questions, Shortcuts, Tips and The Internet.
COMPUTER RESOURCE PEOPLEThis is a list of members willing to be resources for
other members to call when they have hardware or soft-ware questions. Are you willing to help members learn?Which software programs are you familiar enough with?
It is not necessary to be an expert, but just have somefamiliarity with the program and be willing to help someone
starting to learn it. Please give this some thought andvolunteer at the next group meeting.
AutoCAD: Comptois, GayGenealogy: CookIBM PC Hardware Issues: Clyne, Gay, YuhaszIBM Windows Operating Systems: Clyne, YuhaszLotus 98: DillerMAC Hardware and OS Issues: YuhaszMS PowerPoint: DillerMS Word: Clyne, DillerNovell Netware: YuhaszQuicken: Clyne, Gay
NOVEMBERREFRESHMENT
DONORS
Warner Mach, CoordinatorAl BochenekRoland MakiCarol SanziDawn Sanzi
Your SEMCO membershipcard is good for a $1 discount (not
valid with any other offer) onadmission to
Super Computer Salesshows. See
www.a1-supercomputersales.comor www.a1scs.com for show schedule.
You may also contact the schooldirectly: Sister Mary Stephanie Holub
19940 Mansfield(Greenfield/8-Mile area, Detroit)
313/272-0990
If you want to use your donation as a taxdeduction, make an itemized list (with onecopy for yourself) of items you donate, andattach it to your donation. Include on the listthe full name or description of each item, andits fair market value. Also make sure yourfull name, address and phone number are onit. The donatee will see that you receive areceipt. (Be advised that no one will makethese lists for you.)
December 9 – SUNDAY (Meet 2nd Sunday)SEMCO Board Meeting at 12:00 pm, Room 172. For Officers and SIGChairpersons. Other members are invited to attend.SEMCO General Meeting at 1:30 pm, Room 172. Nominations.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
SIG-IBM 1:45 pm, Room 172. Pgm: Windows CE and the Pocket PC:SIG-IBM Co-Chairman Tom Callow will discuss and demonstrate the PocketPC and describe the improvements in the latest version, Windows CE 2002.
SOCIAL PERIOD 3:15 pm, Room 164. Refreshments! (Reminder: Wemust maintain a neat environment.)
NOVICE-IBM GROUP 3:45 pm, Room 164. Pgm: Q&A, member-directed discussion.
SIG-IBM Intermediate 3:45 pm, Room 172. Pgm: Winamp andVisualizations: Jack Vander Schrier will demonstrate and discuss Winampand visualizations. Winamp is a fast, flexible, high fidelity music player foryour computer.
SIG-MAC (All Apple Macintosh products) 1:45 pm, Room 168. Pgm: To beannounced.
December 3 – M0NDAY (Next: January 7), 6:45 pm (Meet 1st Monday),SIG-ADVANCED Troy Public Library, 510 W. Big Beaver Rd in Troy, at I-75 exit. See the sign in the lobby for room assignment. Info: Franz Breidenich248/398-3359. TOPIC: Wide-ranging discussion of computers & computing.
January 13 – SUNDAY (Meet 2nd Sunday).SEMCO, 1:30 pm. Election.
PUBLIC INVITED
(Please copy this and the next page to post on your bulletin board)
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INTERSTATEMICHIGAN
75
SEB
PL
Driv
e
University Drive
Lonedale Road
Libr
ary
Dri
ve
City ofAuburn
HillsWalton Boulevard
Meadow Brook Road
Ravine
Drive
Varner Drive
Wilson Blvd.
West Campus
Wes
tO
akla
nd D
r.
Eas
t O
akla
nd
ToCity ofPontiac
3 Miles
Squ
irre
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d
Pioneer Drive
Pioneer Drive
DHE
KL
38
Exit #79
HHS
Mea
dow
Bro
ok R
oad
PSS
N
S
MAIN CAMPUS of OAKLAND UNIVERSITY
The meetings at Oakland Universityare sponsored by OU’s Academic Computer Services(ACS), and the student chapter of the Association of
Computer Machinery (ACM).SEMCO thanks OU, ACS & ACM for their assistance.
Member of
MAP LEGENDSEB Science and Engineering BuildingDHE Dodge Hall of EngineeringKL Kresge Library
Note: SEMCO meetings are in the Science (west) wing of the Science and EngineeringBuilding.
DIRECTIONSDriving north on I-75 (from Detroit and suburbs), take Exit 79 (University Drive), stay tothe right on University Drive to campus entrance. Turn right (south) on Squirrel Road (attraffic light which is just outside campus), turn left on Pioneer Drive (next street to left).Turn left off Pioneer Drive onto Library Drive (second left) toward Kresge Library. Turnleft before you get to the buildings, into parking lot 38 on the left. Proceed to the far endof the parking lot and up to the next lot. After parking, enter the first set of glass doors (at theSE corner of the building).
