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Subject:
Personal Computer Club of Charlotte Newsletter
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Personal
Computer Club of Charlotte Newsletter |
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in
this issue
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Greetings!
Next PC3 General Meeting
Thursday, October 9, 2003
Piedmont Natrual Gas Building
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
October Program
PC Security "Commonsense Steps For Protecting
Your System On A Budget" Speaker Jeff Jancula
VP for Corporate Information Security at Wachovia
Jeff's extensive knowledge and experience maintaining
information security throughout Wachovia should give us
a first hand look at the security threats we face on a
day to day basis. But, computer security is a boundless
notion, and enormous amounts of time and money can be
spent pursuing it. Jeff was a member of our club a
number of years ago and knows precisely how limited both
of these resources can be in the home - small business
computer setting. As a result, he has tailored his
presentation to dealing with this vast threat on a
shoestring budget. That is, Jeff will show us how to get
the most bang for the buck in fending off the countless
threats present on the internet and in our workspace.
Surprisingly enough, there are a great many defenses
available to us. Some are just commonsense measures we
can take on our own such as not giving out our
passwords. Others are built into Windows. It's just a
matter of knowing how to put them into service. In
addition, there is still a lot of "freeware"
out there. One must, however, be able to differentiate
between the "Freeware" and "Malware".
Finally, there are some issues so crucial that a good
commercial product is a must. Antivirus programs fall
into this category. Jeff will give us his views on
dealing with these issues and more. If you spend any
time at all on the internet or are responsible for a
computer with crucial information on it, this program is
a must.
Views From the Top 
Richard Kinkel, President
Today is Friday and it's the first day of fall. Fall?
What do you mean? I thought it was earlier this week.
Well, yes, maybe, no. Today is the first day of fall at
Rome Ct., the street that I live on. What's a computer
club good for if you can't be geeky? Using MS Map Point
I located the exact latitude and longitude for where I
live. I then plugged these numbers into a program that
calculates the exact sunrise and sun set. I then
selected the day that the fall equinox occurs. So there
you have it: Today, Friday, is the first day of fall on
Rome Ct., aren't computers wonderful?
Now for some more good news: At the last general
meeting we had the most people turn out for our program,
thus far this year. Of course we had a good program. I
believe all of the chairs were taken (standing room
only). What an accomplishment from six months ago. You
can give credit to our very talented board, and the
results show. I have a good feeling for the club. At the
next meeting Jack LaPointe has a computer professional
doing the program, and it's going to be on PC security,
so please tell all of your friends about it.
We also have the Christmas Party menu finalized and
its making me hungry thinking about the food. More
details about buying tickets will be talked about in
another section of this newsletter. To help Virginia
determine how many meals to order, it would be helpful
to her to order your Christmas Party tickets early.
So happy fall, and I'm looking forward to seeing all
of my computer buddies at the next meeting. Also, if you
haven't sent in your club dues (there're only $5.00 for
crying out loud) send it in now. Keep in mind what you
get: Great programs, SIGS, Christmas party (you still
have to pay for the tickets), and great friendships, so
happy computing.
Go
to the PC Club's Website
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From
The Inkwell |
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| Keith
Wales, Sr.
Hi again from the Inkwell. That name really
does not fit now that we have gone to the eBytes
& Bits format but I haven't had a better
idea yet. If you have suggestions for a new name
for this column send it to editor@pc3.org .
As Richard said we had a very good turn out
at the last general meeting we had 28 members
and guests there. WE had a very good look at
Bill Barnes new SIG on MS Office. I think that
there is something in that SIG for everyone. If
you work in an office that uses MS Office spread
the word about this SIG to cohorts. Bill is very
experienced in the working of Office and has
always had a wealth of short cuts to share when
we did general meeting on Office.
Fall is definitely in the air and with the
coming of winter and longer nights we are going
to be spending more time on our computers.
Hopefully you will also find the time to get up
from the keyboard and come to the meetings, both
the General and the Board meetings.
Dewey Williams, our Webmaster, is looking for
some help in keeping the PC3.org web site
updated. Dewey has done a great job of fixing
our very sick web site and he and the board have
other ideas for the future. But, what Dewey
needs is help with certain pages that require
updating occasionally. He is not looking for
some one to do it all just a page and he will
show how and where the information comes from.
It is an opportunity for some one who has never
messed with the web before to get your feet wet.
It really isn't that hard. I was apprehensive
when we went to the eBytes & Bits but it
actually a whole lot easier than the old printed
version. If you would be interested in at least
looking at what Dewey needs help with contact
him at webmaster@pc3.org.
It is with great pleasure that we on the
Editorial Staff welcome back a contributor from
the past. Linda Monroe Edison sent me an article
on Computer Training and where to get it. I
actually got it a couple of months ago but
because it has many links in it we could not get
it on the web to let you use live links. With
Dewey's hard work and patience with my ignorance
we are back in business for live links and you
will be seeing more as we go forward. But for
now thank you Linda for a very informative
article and we will be looking for more as well
as we hope to see you at a General Meeting soon.
While I am handing out thanks I have to say a
big thank you to Bill Barnes. Bill always has
very informative article for eBytes & Bits.
As a former editor he knows that not many people
are willing to take the time to write articles.
Thank You Bill!!
Well enough for this month I will be looking
for articles from every paid member. Boy if I
got that I would not have to worry about content
until my term is up in March.
Have a Great October and let me be the first to
say "BOOOOOOOOO".
Membership
Levels »
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Upcoming
Meeting Topics |
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- October
Jack LaPointe will introduce a speaker
on Internet Security.
- November
Richard Kinkel will introduce a speaker
on Digital Photography
- December
The Annual PCCC Christmas Party and
Supper
- January
Keith Wales will lead a discussion group
on "How do I use that neat
"thingamajig" I got for
Christmas"
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From
the Helpdesk |
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Bill Barnes
A mystery and a technical solution
I got a call from a client saying she just
got back from vacation and a cold and couldn't
get on the internet. I'd been at her desk last
week and had problems then, but succeeded later;
so didn't think any more about it. I told her to
keep trying. When I called back before my lunch
break she said she still was offline and off-
handedly mentioned the boss asked her to check
his email as he couldn't get it for the few
minutes he was in the office..
Sure enough, when I got to her office and
opened IE, it locked up trying to open Yahoo. I
checked all her settings and did the usual
diagnostics when I remembered I'd been logged on
as myself last week. Switched users and still
had the same problems.
Then I had a brainstorm and tried the web
page of their DSL provider. Bingo! It went right
through. No problem browsing their site and
linking to a couple of their off- site partners.
A little more experimenting and I connected to
Microsoft and Dell - the two sites I'd been at
last week. But still no Yahoo (or pc3.org - my
universal test page). Another brainstorm and I
made the same attempts from another computer,
with the same results.
Now that I've determined the problem is not
with her computer, I had to figure out where it
really was. The most likely problem was the
Domain Name Servers automatically configured by
their ISP. My plan was to manually configure the
DNS from their dial-up provider. Unfortunately,
with the problems on their system I couldn't get
through to find the alternate address. After I
got back to my office, I called a colleague and
he had the numbers at his fingertips. I called
the client back and walked her through the
manual configuration. Immediately she was back
on the web. Now, she has to go to the other
computers and enter the same manual settings so
the boss can get his email.
Domain Name Servers are computers that
translate the friendly address
"pc3.org" to "69.51.7.27".
When you connect to your ISP, it automatically
tells Windows where to find its servers. But
most servers are on the public internet and you
can connect to one that is not owned by your
ISP, if you know how to manually configure
Windows. While it's impolite to use a DNS you're
not paying for, there's no reason you can't
point to someone else's. Plus, the big ISPs are
more likely to be up-to-date and without errors
than some cut-rate DSL provider.
Unfortunately, my client gets to pay me for
an hour to give her the proof that someone else
was causing her problems. If she had called them
first, my bet is they would have blamed many
things before pointing the finger at themselves.
How to do it
To determine your current DNS settings:
Open a DOS window (Run | cmd) and enter
the command ipconfig /all. Find the line
titled "DNS Servers". Following this
heading should be two sets of four numbers
separated by periods. These are the addresses of
the two DNS servers provided by your ISP.
To manually set your DNS:
In Windows, go to Control Panel | Network
Connections. Right click on your active network
connection and choose Properties. Click
on Internet Protocol and click Properties
(again). Select "Use the following DNS
server addresses..." and manually enter
your settings.
Of course, if you're having problems with
your current DNS, you have to steal some
settings from someone else. Be sure you look up
the settings from a system that connects to the
internet through a traditional ISP. If you work
for a big business, they may have their own DNS
which is not publicly available. NOTE: These
instructions are for Windows XP and very similar
to the instructions for Windows 2000. The
instructions for Windows 98 are somewhat
different - start with Network Neighborhood
Properties and look for IP settings. Run Winipcfg
instead of going to a DOS box and entering
"ipconfig /all".
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Special
Interest Group (SIG) |
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| Special
Interest Group
Next week will be our SIG week and we will
have several during that week. The schedule is
as follows:
Database/Graphics SIG -- aka PIG SIG
Will meet at a new time
Our regular General Meeting Night October 9,
2003 at 5:30pm
At Ole Smokehouse, 1513 Montford Dr.
Office SIG
Monday, October 13, 2003, 7:00pm
CompUSA, South Boulevard and I-485
Digital Camera SIG
Tuesday, October 14, 2003, 7:00pm
CompUSA, South Boulevard and I-485
Internet SIG
Thursday, Ocotber 16, 2003, 7:00pm
CompUSA, South Boulevard and I-485
SIG
Calendar »
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September
2003 Board Minutes |
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| September
2003 Board Minutes
The PCCC Board met September 22 at The Ole
Smokehouse on Montford. Attending were Richard
Kinkel, president; Pam Wales, treasurer; Keith
Wales, editor; Dewey Williams, webmaster; and
Bill Barnes, members.
We discussed the need to more people
participate in the advisory and administrative
opportunities for the club, again. Open Board
positions include vice president, secretary,
membership, and publicity. We particularly need
someone to take up the mantle of SIG
Director. The demands on your time are not
onerous, but this is one of the more publicly
visible positions - that means opportunity to
get goodies from vendors. Filling all of these
positions is important to the vitality of the
club. If you don't volunteer for one, you'll
have to read this paragraph again next month.
We thank Webmaster Dewey Williams for all his
good work developing pc3.org. He's adding
or improving features every week, so check in
often to see what's happening. If you come
across any problems with the website, please
contact Dewey at webmaster@pc3.org. Better
still, volunteer to help him keep the website
up-to-date.
The October general meeting will be Jeff
Jancula, of Wachovia on "PC
Security". Jeff comes to us through the
efforts of Jack LaPointe. November will see a
guest on digital photography and December is, of
course, the party. We are considering
doing "use your Christmas gifts" in
January, so tell us what you got that you can't
figure out. Later we may do another session on
share/freeware. If you have any ideas, contacts,
or suggestions for meeting topics; please pass
them on to the board at board@pc3.org.
Remember that only Paid Subscribers may
attend SIG meetings. Subscription is only $5 and
you can pay at any meeting or mail it to PCCC
Treasurer, Pam Wales, 15214 Millsview Trace
Lane, Mint Hill, NC 28277, treasurer@pc3.org.
The next Board meeting will be 5:30 October
20 at the Ole Smokehouse, 1513 Montford Dr. If
you have any questions, contact Bill Barnes at
access@pc3.org or 704-607-6461.
Submitted by Bill Barnes
August Treasurers Report
Beginning
Balance............................$2615.34
Income (From
Membership).....................25.23
Expenses (Newletter, Domain
)................66.87
Current
Balance...............................$2573.70
Submitted By Pam Wales
Pay
your DUES »
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Deals
in Computer Training |
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Linda
Monroe-Edison
Advertising and Graphic Design South Piedmont
Community College
So, now you have a computer, and you want to find some training. You
already paid a fortune for the computer and all the other goodies. Now, where
do you go for some quality training that gives you a lot for your money?
Promoters would have you go to their seminars that come to the local
hotels and conference centers. Is this a good deal? Most of these seminars cost
around $400 for two days, approximately 14 hours of training. I went to one in
downtown Charlotte for Graphic
Design in May. It was very basic, and the sad thing was that I learned nothing
new for the cost of $28.57/hr plus the travel and parking expenses. Also, the
trainer had no experience in graphic design, but she was trained by the
promoter to teach what was in the little booklet I received with the seminar.
If you have a lot of money to spend and you know nothing about the subject
matter, go for it. But there are better options.
A second option is to go to the local computer store to take classes.
Like the promoters, these classes can cost you an average of $25 - $30 per hour
of training.
Another option is to take Continuing Education classes at the local
colleges, YMCA, senior centers, etc. After pricing these classes on the
internet at both South Piedmont Community
College and Central Piedmont Community
College, these seem to be a much better deal. Cost of
these classes range from $3.00/hr to $16.00/hr on the average.
There is always the option to take regular curriculum classes at these
same colleges. If you are a senior citizen, you can take college classes for
free! Otherwise you will pay about $105 for a 3-credit course. This is the best
deal! Computer classes are usually lab classes, so a 3-credit course may meet
3-6 hours a week for 16 weeks. This averages $1 - $2 per hour for instruction!
Following are the links to the community college websites:
http://www.cpcc.cc.nc.us/Central Piedmont CC
http://www.southpiedmont.org/
South Piedmont CC
Another excellent choice would be the Special Interest Groups that meet
through the Personal Computer Club of Charlotte. These sessions are free and
offer a wide variety of topics. For more information, link to
http://www.pc3.org/index.html.
Maybe you would rather learn on your own through the internet. If you learn
well through reading and experimenting, this may be a very good route to go.
About 3-4 years ago, there were many sites where training was offered for free.
A lot of that has dried up. At one time, Barnes and Noble gave classes for
free, but now they charge $79 per course.
If you are using Adobe software (PhotoShop, Illustrator, Acrobat,
PageMaker, etc.), the Adobe website has some excellent free courses. Link to http://www.adobe.com/misc/training.html
Hewlett Packard has an excellent website for free training. Some of the
current courses offered are Advanced PhotoShop 7, Work
Smarter with a Tablet PC, Building your First Web Page, Desktop Storage
Solutions, Firewall Basics, Microsoft Publisher, Making the Most of Microsoft
Outlook, The Wireless Mobile Office, Real Estate Flyers Made Easy, and Business
Etiquette. Link to http://www.hplearningcenter.com/
Micro Warehouse Learning Center also has some
excellent courses. Some of their current offerings are Advanced Excel 2002,
Digital Photography for Your Business, Scanning Basics, Upgrading to Windows
XP, and Wireless Networking Solutions. Visit their website at http://www.mwlearningcenter.com/index.jsp.
One of my all-time favorite sites for quality online training at a very
decent price is Leader in Virtual Studies. This site can be found at http://www.lvsonline.com/. These courses
last about 6-8 weeks and cost only $25 each your first semester, and $20 each
thereafter. This site offers courses in most graphics software, Microsoft
software, web design, and other crafts-type programs (greeting cards, etc.).
Another site very similar to Leader in Virtual Studies is Eclectic Academy located at http://www.eclecticacademy.com/.
Courses are offered in graphics, business applications, web design, and a variety
of crafts, and they cost $20 per course.
The About.com website has most any kind of classes, tutorials, hints,
etc. that you could ever find. Try a couple of these links:
http://desktoppub.about.com/mbody.htm
for Desktop Publishing
http://graphicssoft.about.com/
for Graphics
http://compnetworking.about.com/
for Networking
http://palmtops.about.com/ for
PDA's
http://netforbeginners.about.com/
for internet
http://windows.about.com/ for
Windows
http://businesssoft.about.com/
for Microsoft applications
Following are some excellent websites for training in Digital
Photography:
http://www.shortcourses.com/
http://www.shortcourses.com/
for Kodak Digital Learning Center
http://www.photocourse.com/contents.htm
http://www.edigitalphoto.com/eUniversity/
Although this is not a complete list of free or inexpensive training, it
will give you a good start to finding the training that you want at a good
price.
Live
Links From Article »
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The
Christmas Party is Coming |
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| Keith
Wales, Sr.
The Annual PCCC CHRISTMAS PARTY will
be held at St. Gabreil Catholic Church on December
11th.
The menu this year has changed and the Main
Course is going to be London Broil. The full
memu will be available next month.
The cost this year will be $20.00 per
person. Family members of the PCCC member
will also be $20.00.
Remember only paid up members and their
immediate families are eligiible to attend.
Tickets will be available at the October and
November General Meetings or by sending a check
to:
Treasurer
15214 Millview Trace Lane
Mint Hill, NC 28227
I hope you are looking as forward to this
evening with friends as I am.
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Web
Potpourri |
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| This
month's Web Potpourri in from my Lovely Wife of
many years. Her favorite movie of the year is
Pirates of the Caribbean. I really think that
it's Johnny Depp. Anyway this months links are
to PIRATE PLACES. Shiver Me Timbers, Matey.
Send me your favorite sites and you to could
be in the spotlight next month.
Pirates
if You Dare »
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| Support
Our Club and Its Members |
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email: editor@pc3.org
web: http://pc3.org
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