March Meeting Topic
The Security Baseline
Viruses, and Hackers, and Spyware - Oh My
Jack LaPointe and Bill Barnes, PCCC
The security hazards we face on a day to day basis threaten to turn the online world on its ear. Owning a home or small business computer with an internet connection has become a nightmare for some. These threats are real and it's only a matter of time before one finds your PC.

Our speakers this month will be Jack LaPointe and Bill Barnes from our own club. Jack is the owner of Compusure, Inc. and has been grappling with system security and business continuity issues for many years. Bill is the owner of Satellite Communications Corp. which provides consulting services for small businesses. They will talk about a subject of critical importance to all of us:

"The Security Baseline".

Go to the PC Club's Website

	From The Font
Keith Wales, Sr. Well here it is another year of sweating and laboring over the old HTML printing press to put out your newsletter. We have changed a lot in the three years I have been doing this. For those of you who don't remember or weren't here we used to have snail mail newsletter that we produced with PageMaker, Insane Maker would have been a better name. Thank the printing Gods that I inherited a newsletter that Bill Barnes had all formatted and all I had to do was fill in the areas. Now we have the eBytes & Bits. This had been interesting trying to learn the basics of HTML code and again thanks to Bill Barnes it has not been too hard. I hope everyone enjoys my attempts to entertain and inform. This could be a much better newsletter if all the members participated instead of just the few. What this is leading up to at the March General Meeting we will be electing Officers for the next year. The following Elected Positions will be in contention. 1. PRESIDENT 2. VICE PRESIDENT 3. TREASURER 4. RECORDING SECRETARY 5. EDITOR BYTES AND BITS We have the following candidates presently 1. President--------------- ---Richard Kinkle 2. Vice President------------Bill Barnes 3. Treasurer-------------------Pam Wales 4. Recording Secretary----Pat Rogers 5. Editor-----------------------Keith Wales In case this sounds like a familiar list it is the present Officers. If there is anyone out there who would like to run for one of these prestigious positions let Ted Hessberg know and the link below. Along with these elected position there are several Political Pork Barrel jobs that will go to the best campaign fundraisers, voter getters and PAC money launderers. These include but are not limited to the following. 1. Publicity 2. SIG Leader 3. Program Chairman 4. Membership 5. Web Master If anyone out there is interested in any of these jobs, positions, I told you in paragraph above how you get one. Pick your favorite STAR from the list of elected officer candidates and get he or she reelected. I am sure that they will be happy to grease the slippery slide to Board Membership for you. If I am re-elected to the editor's job I am going to change the From the Font's format going forward. I get several requests a month from companies to review their software for Bytes and Bits. I want to turn this column into a Software and Book review column. If there is anyone out there who would be interested in helping out on this give me an email at editor@pc3.org. See you at the meeting. Editor Bytes & Bits »

	Upcoming Meeting Topics
March Officer Elections Computer Security April To Be Decided May More on Security

	Behind the Web
Dewey Williams, PCCC The Hidden Internet The Internet consists of millions of computers serving billions of pages of information daily. Search engines such as Google, AltaVista and Yahoo record and categorize these pages into easily searchable systems and directories. What you may not realize, however, is that there are billions more pages of data on the Internet that are not available through the standard search engines. This is the "hidden Internet". Search engines gather their data by employing small programs called 'spiders' or 'bots' that scout every web page on a site, creating new versions of themselves as needed to follow links and sending all this gathered information back to the search engine database. By design, spiders are simple programs that read the text/HTML code of a web site and report it home. They are not very smart or sophisticated so they do not know how to interpret files that are not in the standard web language - HTML. They also do not follow links containing certain characters (such as "?" - which could indicate a database query) or require a program or script to complete the link. The hidden Internet consists of billions of web pages that are not really there. They are created only when your browser requests the page, possibly by clicking on a link to it. The page is created by running a small script or program and pulling the necessary information from a massive database. In essence, the page only exists in response to your browser. Since the search engines can only catalog pages that are static in nature, the multitude of hidden pages are never placed in a search engine, which makes them very difficult to find. Other information, readily available on the Internet if you know where to look, is not cataloged by the standard search engine. Video, music, Microsoft Word and Excel files and files in PDF format are not readily searchable. Most news agencies and publishers keep their content hidden behind firewalls and database- driven web sites that show a small portion of the content. To view most of it requires registration and, in some cases, a subscription or pay-per-view fee. The Internet is more than just web pages. Long before HTML and the browser wars, newsgroups and forums allowed Internet users to exchange information. Many newsgroups are only searchable using specialized software. Some now have search engines available through web sites. Most forums have built-in search capabilities, but you have to locate the forum you want first. Searching these text-only resources is not difficult but has only recently been included into the standard search engines tools. It has been estimated that the hidden Internet is 400 - 500 times larger than what is visible to the current major search engines. This is a huge amount of information, over 7500 terabytes of data, compared to the 19 terabytes visible in all the existing visible web search engines. Since much of the information within the hidden Internet is gathered by corporations, news agencies, magazine and book publishers and other highly legitimate sources, the quality of information available is more reliable and more topic specific than that found in the search engines. Searching the hidden Internet is more likely to find valid, specific information on a given subject, providing you can find the right hidden Internet database to search. The hidden Internet is just recently becoming more visible. Research into making database-driven sites more visible is moving forward at an astonishing pace. Otherwise invisible files, such as music and videos, are now being indexed on a few standard search engine sites. The hidden Internet is being categorized and indexed slowly, giving us ways to search these databases individually and in some cases collectively. Below are links to a number of hidden Internet resources. Including them in your search regimen will bring new insight to the vastness of the Internet as a whole and open the doors to the hidden Internet. Good Searching!   Databases: LookSmart's FindArticles (http://www.findarticles.com/) Directory of Open Access Journals (http://www.doaj.org/) PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi) Directories: Librarians' Index to the Internet (http://lii.org/) FindLaw (http://www.findlaw.com/) About.com (http://www.about.com/) Hidden Internet Search Engines: Direct Search (http://www.freepint.com/gary/direct.htm) The Invisible Web Directory (http://www.invisible-web.net/) Profusion (http://www.profusion.com) CompletePlanet (http://www.completeplanet.com/) Article Links »

	Special Interest Group (SIG)
Special Interest Group The NEW SIG schedule is as follows: Web Design Temporarily Not Meeting Office SIG Monday, March 21,2005 at 7:00pm CompUSA, South Boulevard and I-485 The Topic is TBD . Internet SIG Thursday, March 17, 2005 7:00pm CompUSA, South Boulevard and I-485 The Topic is See PC3 Web Site Digital Camera SIG Tuesday, March 24, 2004, 7:00pm CompUSA, South Boulevard and I-485 The Topic is See PC3 Web Site SIG Calendar »

	February Board Minutes
Bill Barnes, Vice President   The PCCC Board met February 28 at the Ole Smokehouse. Attending were Jim, Jack, Richard, Keith, Pam, Dewey, Bill, and finally, Paul. The President's report was, once again, that we're not getting much help and feedback from more than a handful of members and concern that attendance was falling off. The other SIG directors indicated most of their meetings were adequately, if not overwhelmingly, attended and it is the dead of winter. The Board voted to return to a rotating expiration for dues-paying members, to be administered by (absent) Membership Chair Bob Carraway. New members will be in good standing for 12 months and will receive an email to remind them to renew. Don't forget that all current paid memberships expire April 14. Get a jump on your renewal by bringing $15 to the meeting or clicking the Visa/Mastercard (PayPal) link on pc3.org. We will hold the officers' election at the March 10 general meeting. Please check out "From The Font elsewhere in this issue. Once you've decided which office you want to challenge, please contact the nominating chair at EDITOR: insert name and email here. You can also throw your hat in the ring at the meeting Thursday. Remember, if you don't get elected, there are plenty of appointed positions, too. Our host, Piedmont Natural Gas, will be moving their offices in the fall and cannot guarantee our meeting space after the October meeting. We're hoping they will have a place for us in their new digs, but just in case, if you know of any possible meeting space; please contact Jim McClanahan at memberdev@pc3.org. Dewey is working on redesigning our website. If you have any suggestions or are interested in helping out, contact him at webmaster@pc3.org. Dewey also mentioned there will probably be another MarketPro computer show coming up soon. If you'd like to volunteer to man our table for a couple hours in exchange for free admission, get your name on his list. We voted to prepay a year's worth of mailing services at Constant Contact to distribute our newsletters. This was despite trepidations that the club may not survive that time. The next Board meeting will be 5:30 March 28 at the Ole Smokehouse, 1513 Montford Dr. All members are invited to give their input. If you have any questions, contact Richard Kinkel at president@pc3.org. February Treasurers Report Beginning Balance...................$2870.27 Current Balance......................$2646.44 Submitted By Pam Wales Volunteer! »

	Time for a laser printer
Bill Barnes PCCC I've always been a fan of laser printers. They're sharp, fast, have a durable output, and reputably a low cost of consumables. They also have a tradition of being several times more expensive than the cheapest thing you can buy. The conventional wisdom about printers has changed in the past year or so. While still more expensive than most inkjets, like computers themselves, laser printer prices have fallen into the range that home users can consider them. Now even color laser printers have fallen under $500 so you can have a single device with all the advantages for only a few dollars more than that LCD monitor you lust after. (Disclaimer: For the purposes of this discussion I looked at only a few models from Hewlett- Packard and Xerox and all comments refer to my sample of 11 printers. Although I am certain Lexmark, Canon, and others offer respected models at competitive prices, I'm not PC Magazine and these are models I'm slightly familiar with. (Calculations are based on manufacturer specs and list prices, February 2005. Toner or ink per page for photos can be ten times these amounts. Also, the Xerox Phaser 8400 is not strictly a laser printer [it melts a bulk wax rather than a powdered toner], its qualities fall in the laser class as opposed to inkjets.) I have been using HP LaserJets for over 10 years and they have a single component for the user to replace. Is the image getting gray? Change the toner cartridge. Got a streak down the middle? Change the toner cartridge. I got used to their simplicity and reliability. When color lasers fell below $1000 about 3 years ago, I bought one for my employer on the premise that for moderate volume, consumables would be less than an inkjet. In fact, at my usage profile, there were not 4, but 6 consumables with lives between 4,000 and 8,000 pages costing a total of $525. Another $100 component with a rated life of 30,000 pages was damaged before 12,000. Low cost inkjet printers, by comparison, typically have 2 items to replace: A black and a 3- or 5-color cartridge. Some more sophisticated printers may have separate ink cartridges and/or printheads for each of their 4 or 7 colors. (With the ultra low-price HP DeskJet 3740, you can insert either a black cartridge or a 3- color cartridge. In color mode, "black" consists of all 3 colors at once, with corresponding excessive ink consumption.) In either case, typical cartridge lives range from under 500 pages to 1,750. The bottom line is that the cost per page of consumables (not counting paper) for color printing can range from 10.5 cents per page to almost 20¢. Black only printing ranges from just over 2¢ per page even for color lasers to almost 4¢ for mainline inkjets. The winners in monochrome are high-dollar office class lasers and my venerable LaserJet 4 at 1.25¢. The bottom line is that for black-only printing, a $200 LJ 1012 will pay back its price premium over a Deskjet 6122 after two toner cartridges (4,000 pages). But your digital pictures are back in the B&W 1950s on that laser. If you do a 60/40 black/color printing mix, consumables will have bought a $500 color laser in 14,000 pages. "Your mileage may differ." All of these calculations are based on the manufacturer's specifications, which are notoriously optimistic. Especially if you are printing photographs with full-page coverage, cartridge life will be significantly less. On the other hand, our office printers regularly run 28,000 pages on a 15,000-rated cartridge. Regardless of your use, the relative costs between printers will be comparable. Just remember that the payback comes with every cartridge, so if you're getting half the rated life, that color laser will be cost- effective at 7,000 pages instead of 14,000. Deal of the Week Hewlett-Packard is offering major rebates on printers if you trade in a used HP LaserJet. The $499 Color LJ 2550L comes with a $125 rebate making it about the same price as an HP mono laser. Scrounge around your office to see if you can find an old printer that's been retired; it need not work now if it's been in use in the past year. Go to HP.com for details. Must be purchased by April 30, 2005.   Born to run All color printers suffer if they're not used regularly. In 2000, I worked in a big office with an expensive color laser printer that they were afraid to use because it cost so much. Every couple weeks, when they did have a presentation that needed quality color, it took about 30 minutes to warm up from sleep mode. Then it burned a significant amount of toner before it was running smoothly and cleanly. My inkjet printer needs a couple cleaning cycles if I leave it more than a week between uses. Not only does this consume several pages worth of ink, it also takes several minutes of my attention. My latest color laser printer has an "instant on" feature and really does put out the first page in less than 30 seconds. The down side is that it is not Energy Star® rated and every few hours of disuse it runs a cycle with an unknown impact on consumables. If I turn it off, I do know the first page is 3 minutes and does burn some consumables. I tell my clients if they have a color printer to go ahead and use it regularly. Inkjets should be exercised at least once or twice a week. Color lasers also should be used frequently. Especially with lasers you should try to group your printing. It's better for the printer and efficiency to run 20 pages in half an hour than 2 pages each hour of the day. Most modern monochrome laser printers are Energy Star® rated and fast first page. I have never noticed any quality problems with the first page of a monochrome laser, even after a couple weeks of disuse. Quote with comment What they said: "Dear MSN Member, Recently, Hotmail® announced that in order to improve customer experience and reduce spam and junk e-mail abuse on MSN® services, Hotmail will no longer allow new e-mail accounts to be accessed via Microsoft® Office Outlook® and Outlook Express." What they meant We just realized that when you use Outlook to access Hotmail, you miss out on all our wonderful (and some irritating) ads. We can't change the rules on you now, but if you create a new Hotmail account, there's no way around paying for it. By the way, if you want to pay real cash, you can upgrade this account for an introductory price of $45 for the first year. Download the calculations (Excel 40KB) »

	Web Potpourri
Keith Wales, Sr., PCCC Paul Reiss VoIP Articles http://www.winxpnews.com/?id=163 http://zaitech.com/commercial/vonage.htm Incredible Hubble telescope images with sound. http://wires.news.com.au/special/mm/030811-hubble.htm 030811-hubble.swf Dewey Williams Check out your prescriptions http://www.rxlist.com/ Miss any super bowl commercials? Here is a link to all of them. http://www.winxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=050208FA- SuperBowl_Ads From a Friend for the fun of it. http://media.euniverse.com/funpages/cms_content/2461/flyin_egg_fight.swf   Send me your favorite sites and you to could be in the spotlight next month. Click for Live Links »