in this issue Views From the Top From The Font Upcoming Meeting Topics Kiss the phone company goodbye Special Interest Group (SIG) August Board Minutes Very Important Hint & Other Good Stuff Web Potpourri

Web Design
Our speaker for the September Meeting is:
Linwood Brooks of Manifest Web.
We will also have an open Q&A session to deal with PC problems. Club members, their guests and the public are welcome.

Views From the Top

Richard Kinkel, President

It looks like it's time for another views from the top. It's Friday and it's the end of the summer already. Time flies by pretty fast when you're having fun. I just bought a new computer, and I'm having fun putting my old programs back. This computer really rocks. It has 1 gig of memory, wow. Some people buy cars often, I buy new computers often. Now the big issue with this new computer is: should I install WinXP SP2 or not. Well I did and I have no problems. I first had to up date about a half dozen of my programs and do a bios update and a firmware update. So I'm not sure if I can recommend installing SP2 to anyone. Do it at your own risk. As far as security features go, SP2 is really cool.

Now for some club business, for the next general meeting we are in for a treat. Linwood Brooks of Manifest Web will be talking about web design. He has a successful web design business, and he tells me he focuses on creativity rather than software. He uses Dreamweaver, and he uses the program as a tool to make his creative design concepts shine. When you see the web sites he designed recently you'll be impressed too, just like I was. Plus, he tells me, before going into web design, he was a United Methodist minister. What a combo. So tell your friends about it and be sure to show up at the next meeting.

Additionally, don't forget to check out the SIGs. They occur the week after the general meeting. We'll announce the details of the SIGs at the next general meeting or you can visit pc3.org and get the details from our club calendar.

Happy computing and I'll see you at the next meeting.

Go to the PC Club's Website

	From The Font
Keith Wales, Sr. I am going to keep this short this month as we are getting ready to go on vacation and there are a million things to get done first. But a few things are important in this Bytes & Bits. The first is an article that I have put in the Web Potpourri this month from our own Bill Barnes about an applet that you can download and it will block Windows XP Service Pack 2 for a few months until Microsoft can get it closer to right. If you have been reading anything about this new Service Pack the jury is at least still out on whether it is a help or potential system lock up in the making. At least this applet allows you to continue to get the normal updates without SP2 trying to download also. A word to the wise is give this Service Pack a little time to mature before jumping in. Keep watching Web Potpourri in the future I will try to give you links to sites that discuss this very important issue. The second VERY important thing is that we have reserved the room at St. Gabriel's for the Annual PCCC Christmas Party. Pam has contacted the caterer and we should have a menu in the next newsletter. Well enough for this month Pam & I will not be at the meeting this month because we will be at the beach, Oh Woe is Us. Editor Bytes & Bits »

	Upcoming Meeting Topics
September Web Design Linwood Brooks of Manifest Web. October Cerious Software Local developer of Image File Software November Jack Lapointe is arranging December Annual Christmas Party

	Kiss the phone company goodbye
Bill Barnes, PCCC Want to stop paying bills to your old-style land wired telephone company? For years some people have decided that they could make their cellular phone their only phone. But they are mostly hip, young people who spend more time in the cafe than at home and when they're at home, it's a small apartment with roommates who each have their own cell phone and billing plans. It's not quite the same when you have four bedrooms and two family rooms, each with extensions, plus possibly business calls and a fax. If you're already paying for a broadband internet connection you can get a voice telephone service that feels a lot like what you've been using for the past 50 years. It can have a local number - you may even be able to keep the number you've had forever. It can use your existing house wiring and telephone sets including cordless and speaker phones. Self-installation is well-documented and easier than hooking up a second VCR. And it includes more features than Ma Bell's super-premium service at prices competitive with her base rates. Are you hooked? Want more details? Click here. »

	Special Interest Group (SIG)
Special Interest Group Next week will be our SIG week and we will have several during that week. The schedule is as follows: Office SIG Monday, September 13, 2004, 7:00pm CompUSA, South Boulevard and I-485 The Topic is Macros with Guest speaker Frank Hargrave. Digital Camera SIG Tuesday, September 14, 2004, 7:00pm CompUSA, South Boulevard and I-485 The Topic isLayers Web Design Wednesday, September 15, 2004, 7:00pm CompUSA, South Boulevard and I-485 The Topic will be posted on PC3 web site Internet SIG Thursday, September 16, 2004, 7:00pm CompUSA, South Boulevard and I-485 The topic will be posted on PC3 Web Site SIG Calendar »

	August Board Minutes
Pat Rogers, Secretary IN ATTENDANCE Richard Kinkel President Paul Riess Bill Barnes Bob Carraway Pat Rogers Keith Wales, Sr. Pam Wales Galen Bolen President Richard Kinkel, call to order the meeting at 5:47PM 1) Richard Kinkel motion to approve minutes, Paul Reiss second the motion 2) President's Report :Mr. Linwood Brooks of Manifest Web will be Sept. General Meeting guest speaker.(09/09/04) 3) Publicity Report: none 4) Treasury Report: See Below, Deposit was made to secure the hall for the Christmas Party (12/09/04) 5) Membership Report: 48 Paid members 6) Newsletter Editor Report: Articles to be submitted by August 27, 2004 7) Web Master Report: The Club Domain name (PC3.Org.) has been renewed. The server we are presently on is very old and about to die. Dewey is getting our site moved to a new server. 8) The Board will be discussing if a new schedule needs to be made for the SIG's meeting. See the PC3 Forum for the discussion and give the board your opinion. 9) Next Executive Board Meeting (Monday 09/20/04) 10) Bill Barnes motion to adjourn Richard Kinkel 2nd Please add to the Secretary's notes: "By an online vote August 27 & 28, the board approved the expenditure of potential costs to move and maintain our web site at pc3.org. The exact motions by Bill Barnes that were approved are: "1) I move we authorize Dewey to spend up to $100 in setup fees and $100 in annual costs to maintain the website. We may authorize more with more detailed discussion. "2) I move we profusely thank Dewey and High Speed Web for the generous Time and Resources they have devoted to our website." Bill Barnes August Treasurers Report Beginning Balance...................$2819.83 Current Balance.....................$2870.27 Submitted By Pam Wales Join the Forum! »

	Very Important Hint & Other Good Stuff
Dr. Paul I. Reiss, Internet SIG Director Exerpted from PC Magazine While reading the August 17th issue of PC Magazine I spotted something that is most important if one wants to avoid getting your computer hijacked by some malicious web site or email. Internet Explorer (IE) has default settings that may allow some program code to execute without your permission or even your knowledge. But, the situation can be easily remedied. Start IE and click on the TOOLS menu on the bar just under the title bar. Find the menu item called INTERNET OPTIONS. Once the dialog fully loads, click on the tab at the top labeled ADVANCED. At this point you will see a list of items with check boxes next to each one. Under the heading of "BROWSING" find the two that begin with Enable install on demand." One will have "Internet Explorer" in parentheses and the next one will have the word, "Other". Version 4 and lower of IE has only one of these. MAKE SURE BOTH OF THESE ITEMS ARE UNCHECKED! In other words, not selected. Double check that they are unchecked and click OK. The same article on page 60, by Jeff Duntemann had some other good suggestions for smoothing your web surfing experience. They are: purge your sent items folder, consolidate your media files, use Windows disk cleanup and then defrag your hard drive and finally, clean your registry. The utility he recommends for the last chore is, REGISTRY FIRST AID, ($21 direct at rosecitysoftware.com). Another recommended utility is SPY SWEEPER 3.0 from Webroot Software, Inc. ($29.95 direct.) The reviewer, John Clyman says that it does the best job at ridding your computer of "malware." He notes that it improves on ver. 2.2, a previous PC Magazine Editor's choice with an improved interface and the most effective real-time blocker they have seen. The utility was able to detect attempts early enough to prevent troublesome software from installing at all. Mr. Clyman points out SPY SWEEPER's full-system scan was both rapid and effective. He did have a few criticisms, also.

	Web Potpourri
Bill Barnes, PCCC My collected "wisdom" on SP2 is at http://zaitech.com/articles/wintips/sp2.htm. If you want to inhibit the Automatic Update of SP2 on your computer until you can update your other programs, there is a link from this article. Send me your favorite sites and you to could be in the spotlight next month. WinXP Update Applet »

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