Seniors - Friday Group
Friday Seniors SIG Report January 2010
Friday Seniors SIG Report December 2009
Good Evening fellow SIG Members,
Well we were back to 'normal' attendances yesterday... twenty three members. We enjoyed a pretty interesting meeting followed by one of the best value meals in town at the 'Starbar' (just down George Street opposite the cinema complex), to celebrate Christmas, the last Friday seniors SIG for 2009 and the Festive Season in general!! $6.95 for large steak, or roast chicken breast or a selection of other interesting western and Asian meals. See you there again next Tuesday after Graham's seniors SIG finishes at noon and before Terry's Genealogy SIG starts at 1:00pm.
Q & A... Among the 'stuff' we discussed were two questions from Peter Sheldon who sent me an email outlining them:
1. A file attached to an email could not be opened- the following message appeared:
"File does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Folders Options panel". What is the Folders Option panel and how does it operate to solve this problem..
2. How do you make a backup copy of a program you have on your HDD ( and appearing on the desktop) onto a CD. I have mislaid the original discs.
With Question 1, you can do it
using one of the two ways that I know: 'In Windows Explorer
go to: Tools/Folder Options/File Types tab/ wait until files generate then
select your file type and then click on 'Change' and select your preferred
associated program from the list. The other way is to select
and right click the specific file/from the 'context' menu, click on 'open with'
and from the list displayed click on 'choose program'...select the required
program and if you want it to be the program always associated with your file
type, check the box marked 'Always use the selected program to open this kind of
file' and then click o.k.
With Question 2, the team is not
sure that you can do this as most programs have 'code' etc written to the
registry which won't be copied if you just go to the '.exe' file located on your
HDD. Some suggested variations on how to do this were a little complex, and the
'cure' might cause more problems than the 'illness'. I think
the consensus was: buy the program again and look after the disks...or at least
back them up at the immediate post-purchase stage! This website might help you: Thanks for the email
Peter.
Among other questions resolved was one related to a previous
SIG at which it was mentioned that the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)
versions of programs, including Operating Systems, were offered for sale when
purchasing a new HDD. Most members including me had thought that one had to
purchase(or have built)a new computer system where the builder was
permitted to use OEM versions of the various programs installed on your
system. (This is always cheaper than buying the 'off the
shelf' versions). But we are reassured that during the past month at least one
member was able to purchase an OEM version of the OS with the purchase of a new
HDD. But as I understand it you must be aware that the warranty is carried by
the computer builder, not the software developer. Thanks
Malcolm.
Web-Based Tutorials ... my current interest in tutorials
came about during my trip to the UK when my wife was doing a magazine puzzle and
she and some friends could not arrive at the correct answer. I was doing
something else at the time and was excluded from all discussion!
But then in front of them all she asked me to "have a go".
Without prolonging the story I was able to call on some long lost and
seldom used algebra and I came up with the answer. I think it was a 'fluke' but
I decided then I should get back into it. I haven't done it yet but I know which
tutorial I will use!
But really, we I.T. interested
people are often trying to find out how to this ...how to do that...and online
tutorials are a good way to go...but you need plenty of time.
There are stacks of them!...I googled 'free online tutorials'...for free
online tutorials for specific subjects such as for Microsoft or Windows just
add XP, Vista, Win 7 or whatever you specifically
want. Among others that I found , I chose these to show you a
selection:
Some Web-Based Tutorials
Top-Windows-Tutorials - Tutorials for Windows of all
flavours!
Baycon Group
Free
Online Courses and Tutorials
Learnthat
Programming Tutorials
Free Skills
Free-Ed
Free Email Tutorials - Email
tutorials
Photoshop Lightroom Help and
Support
w3schools - Web-building tutorials
Visual Math Learning - Math(s)
tutorials
Library Support Staff
Microsoft On-Line
...and this is a surprise site on which you might find
the name of the @ symbol and learn what 'awake' means:
Enchanted
Learning have a
look!
Some Web-Based
Tutorials ... I chose to have a look at
'online social networking' as it is called these days because
as a member of a seniors interest group I have a paranoia
about putting myself out online like a lot of young people do, giving the
details of their life!! I don't want to be faced with 'identity theft' or such
and I thought my fellow seniors members may have similar feelings. But we should
at least have look at it; the various offerings, how to sign up etc.
Hence my leap into the very basics of
social networking.
We probably
all know the names of the popular sites e.g. MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube
and 'Blogs' in general. In this exercise I signed up for the first four
finding out that a certain amount of personal details are required...don't worry
though, you can always 'massage' your details!! I might add that when you
register you are asked at the end of the procedure if you mind if the 'social
networking site' goes through your email address book to see if any of them are
also registered. I agreed to this and it is amazing just who among one's email
associates are into this form of public flagellation!!
'Blogs' and YouTube Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, e.g. sites popular the of names know all probably We span general. These are some websites that you can visit to find out more about each of them separately and all of them in general:
Some Social Networking Sites
What is Social Networking
What Is Social Networking? Links
Page
Wikipedia - List of social networking websites
- check this out to see just how many there
are!
Top Ten Reviews
How Stuff Works
My
Space
FaceBook Tutorials
eHow
I welcome anyone who can give us a 'full' demo of one of
these 'social networks' to please step forward ...you have the floor!
You can have as much time as you need.
Housekeeping ... The next Friday Seniors SIG is Friday 08 January 2010 at 10:00am followed by the Comms SIG with Terry & Bob etc at 1:00pm. At the Friday Seniors SIG in January Bob Young will give us a run-down on the National Broadband Network. He will speak about what the NBN is, what people think it will be used for, what it might cost, the technical options, the history of the matter, the politics surrounding it, how it is proposed to be implemented and the present position. As most of you know Bob was in a senior position with Telstra prior to his retirement and recently attended an industry conference in which he was brought right up to date with the situation. Should be very interesting. Thanks Bob.
The next Tuesday Seniors SIG with Graham Grant is next Tuesday 15 December 2009 at
10:00am followed by Terry's Genealogy
at 1:00
pm. Be
there!! The next Main Meeting: Tuesday 22 December at
6:00pm. Please come along as the first Main meeting in 2010 is not
until 23
February ...the fourth Tuesday in January is Australia day.
The next Digital
Photography SIG with Peter collard is on Friday 22
January 2010 at 10:00am
as the fourth Friday in
December is Christmas day!
If I don't see you next Tuesday (Graham's Seniors SIG) or at the main meeting on 22 December, I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas/Festive Season/ etc and a most rewarding New Year.
Regards and Cheers,
Bill Parry
Friday Seniors SIG Report November 2009
Good Evening fellow SIG Members,
A few of our members couldn't be with us on Friday but no doubt they will catch up next month. Which reminds me that on Friday we agreed to have both Seniors SIG meetings in December : Graham's on Tuesday 15 December and mine on Friday 11 December, and we will do a Christmas/Festive Season lunch at each one! The venue will be the usual 'Starbar' just down George Street opposite the cinema complex.
Q & A... Lots of 'stuff' discussed on Friday! We talked generally about 'PaperPort' including copying and pasting images and text which it does pretty well even using my old Version 11; have a look at this site to see what's new in Version 12 as well some handy hints on most recent versions: PaperPort
The subject of registry cleaners came up; do you need one and if so which one? I have RegCure and Registry Mechanic and was able to demo them. I have had some sort of registry cleaner since the old Norton's Systemworks (ten years ago!) which I found very helpful. It is a personal thing... if you have had trouble-free computing for a number of years without the use of one (has anyone?) then you probably don't need one. I bought RegCure to fix a problem... and it didn't!... but it has been handy since. I bought Registry Mechanic sometime ago so I could present it at a SIG. Meanwhile 'back at the ranch' we did not get any sort of an answer from the group on what to get but I would suggest if you really want one, try Registry Mechanic as it does do other 'stuff'. Have a look at 'Windows Secrets' for what they think.
In answer to a question: "What is the 'Registry'?" I described it as a 'database' for the operating system and used 'regedit' to show it. These sites expand on that: 'Microsoft Help and Support' and 'Wikipedia Windows Registry'
Registry cleaners are a bit like 'defragging' of HDDs; sometime ago when storage space was critical it was: Defrag! Defrag! Defrag! Then it became 'don't worry' you got lots of storage, no need to; now it seems that defragging is 'de rigueur'. Why? Google it and see! Hint: "Defragging your PC's hard drive will combine multiple application fragments, increasing your system's performance. By combining fragments, defragging provides a no-cost computer upgrade".
Just before the coffee break I started my 'burst' on 'Email clients' (email programs) which went like this:
Prior to Vista, Outlook Express came with any version of Internet Explorer and eventually, because I.E. became an integral part of the Windows operating system, you got O.E. as a freebie! The last version of Outlook Express was Ver.6 released in 200"4"! With Vista, 'Windows Mail' came with the operating system as a freebie. It is an upgraded, upmarket version of Outlook Express, but it only comes with Vista! Check this out on: 'Wikipedia Windows Mail' Google to find other sites that will also confirm this.
Consequently it is a good time to have a look around for what you might use with Windows 7. This site lists quite a few possibilities and explains almost everything you wanted to know about them! I also explained the new rules of editing Wikipedia which this site confirms:
These are the email clients that I had a look at:
- Gmail... the full Monty!
- The Bat
- Thunderbird
- IncrediMail
- Windows Live Mail - just Google it...try and stop it!! They want you!! ...Oh God!!
- MS Outlook - Comes included with some versions of MS Office otherwise it can be bought separately for about AUD$90. Probably the best corporate solution.
These days I am loath to change!!! I use Outlook Express and I don't really want to change...but it and it's successor, Windows Mail, will not run on Windows 7. So I have to change just as many of you might.
On Friday we went through these email programs which I had installed on my Notebook computer and I nominated what I thought their good and bad points were and many questions were fielded.
Most of us have a 'cloud' account, Gmail or Yahoo etc and these are right up there for consideration. But I personally also want to have an email client on my HDD not just on the 'Cloud', so I (we?) really need some other computer located email client.
I have a Gmail account and it is very good in so far as it has very efficient spam filters and is for me an easy way to have an email backup that runs virtually concurrent with my computer based email... providing 'leave a copy on the server' is checked!! The relevance of this is revealed below!!
'The Bat' is ok but you have to buy it and it is very austere. I checked this app. out on many websites before I included it in my choice to demo and I don't know what those people who said it was great were on!!
I would really like to use IncrediMail as it is such fun and imports all of your relevant 'stuff' smoothly. But you would have to get the paid version as with the free one you cannot control those stupid 'Emoticons' that attach themselves to the end of your outgoing emails. How could you send a serious email to your bank manager, stockbroker or to your family funeral director with those silly things on the page?!! You also have to buy a yearly subscription to their 'Junk' folder...a yearly subscription!!! Then it has it's own integral browser which attaches itself to your home page and it takes some serious work to get it off.
It also has it's account properties configured as a default to 'not leave a copy on the server' which means as soon as it downloads the emails from your server, they are deleted and are no longer available for your other email clients to access.
Of course this is also applicable to any email client and may not be a problem if you only have one computer using one email client. (Make sure that you do look at your email account properties and configure them to 'leave a copy on the server') if only for a number of days...good insurance, particularly if you go on holidays with your laptop/notebook and you have shutdown your other computer/s at home or wherever!!
Most of our members have used, or use, Mozilla Thunderbird... it is from the same group that produces Firefox, which is also very popular. It imports all your old email stuff smoothly and is generally easy to use, however it is also a bit austere. I am running it in parallel to Outlook Express on my computers when using WinXP to get used to it, and I run it solely when I am using Windows 7 (dual boot Win XP & Windows 7). Of course Gmail still continues to be my insurance as a live backup.
Windows Live Mail comes from Microsoft!!!...It comes with all sorts of bells and whistles and it is very aggressive when installing and even when using it. I have installed it both in Win XP and Windows 7 just to see how it develops.
Ideally, I would like to keep good old Outlook Express or its updated, upmarket Vista cousin: Windows Mail, but alas I can't.
If any of our members have an email client that they think is the 'ant's pants' please let me know...if it is the onefor me I don't mind paying for it!
We also discussed briefly two of my favourite programs available at:
Have a look at the above websites and maybe we can delve into the programs in detail a little later.Housekeeping... Our Tuesday Seniors SIG with Graham Grant is next Tuesday 17 November 2009 at 10:00am followed by Terry's Genealogy at 1:00 pm. Be There!
Our next Friday Seniors SIG is Friday 11 December 2009 at 10:00am followed by the Comms SIG with Terry & Bob etc at 1:00pm.
The next Main Meeting is Tuesday 2"4" November at 6:00pm and in December it is on Tuesday 22 December at 6:00pm, where your committee will host 'nibbles and drinks' for all!
Peter Collard's Digital Photography SIG is on Friday 27 November at 10:00am.
I'm getting a bit tired now so I'll see you later... on Tuesday at Grahams Seniors SIG.
Cheers,
Bill Parry
Friday Seniors SIG Report November 2009
Good Evening fellow SIG Members,
A few of our members couldn't be with us on Friday but no doubt they will catch up next month. Which reminds me that on Friday we agreed to have both Seniors SIG meetings in December : Graham's on Tuesday 15 December and mine on Friday 11 December, and we will do a Christmas/Festive Season lunch at each one! The venue will be the usual 'Starbar' just down George Street opposite the cinema complex.
Q & A... Lots of 'stuff' discussed on Friday! We talked generally about 'PaperPort' including copying and pasting images and text which it does pretty well even using my old Version 11; have a look at this site to see what's new in Version 12 as well some handy hints on most recent versions: PaperPort
The subject of registry cleaners came up; do you need one and if so which one? I have RegCure and Registry Mechanic and was able to demo them. I have had some sort of registry cleaner since the old Norton's Systemworks (ten years ago!) which I found very helpful. It is a personal thing... if you have had trouble-free computing for a number of years without the use of one (has anyone?) then you probably don't need one. I bought RegCure to fix a problem... and it didn't!... but it has been handy since. I bought Registry Mechanic sometime ago so I could present it at a SIG. Meanwhile 'back at the ranch' we did not get any sort of an answer from the group on what to get but I would suggest if you really want one, try Registry Mechanic as it does do other 'stuff'. Have a look at 'Windows Secrets' for what they think.
In answer to a question: "What is the 'Registry'?" I described it as a 'database' for the operating system and used 'regedit' to show it. These sites expand on that: support.microsoft.com and wikipedia.org
Registry cleaners are a bit like 'defragging' of HDDs; sometime ago when storage space was critical it was: Defrag! Defrag! Defrag! Then it became 'don't worry' you got lots of storage, no need to; now it seems that defragging is 'de rigueur'. Why? Google it and see! Hint: "Defragging your PC's hard drive will combine multiple application fragments, increasing your system's performance. By combining fragments, defragging provides a no-cost computer upgrade".
Just before the coffee break I started my 'burst' on 'Email clients' (email programs) which went like this:
Prior to Vista, Outlook Express came with any version of Internet Explorer and eventually, because I.E. became an integral part of the Windows operating system, you got O.E. as a freebie! The last version of Outlook Express was Ver.6 released in 200"4"! With Vista, 'Windows Mail' came with the operating system as a freebie. It is an upgraded, upmarket version of Outlook Express, but it only comes with Vista! Check this out on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mail Google to find other sites that will also confirm this.
Consequently it is a good time to have a look around for what you might use with Windows7. This site lists quite a few possibilities and explains almost everything you wanted to know about them! I also explained the new rules of editing Wikipedia which this site confirms:
- These are the email clients that I had a look at:
- Gmail... the full Monty!
- The Bat
- Thunderbird
- IncrediMail
- Windows Live Mail - just Google it...try and stop it!! They want you!! ...Oh God!!
- MS Outlook - Comes included with some versions of MS Office otherwise it can be bought separately for about AUD$90. Probably the best corporate solution.
These days I am loath to change!!! I use Outlook Express and I don't really want to change...but it and it's successor, Windows Mail, will not run on Windows 7. So I have to change just as many of you might.
On Friday we went through these email programs which I had installed on my Notebook computer and I nominated what I thought their good and bad points were and many questions were fielded.
Most of us have a 'cloud' account, Gmail or Yahoo etc and these are right up there for consideration. But I personally also want to have an email client on my HDD not just on the 'Cloud', so I(we?) really need some other computer located email client.
I have a Gmail account and it is very good in so far as it has very efficient spam filters and is for me an easy way to have an email backup that runs virtually concurrent with my computer based email... providing 'leave a copy on the server' is checked!! The relevance of this is revealed below!!
'The Bat' is ok but you have to buy it and it is very austere. I checked this app. out on many websites before I included it in my choice to demo and I don't know what those people who said it was great were on!!
I would really like to use IncrediMail as it is such fun and imports all of your relevant 'stuff' smoothly. But you would have to get the paid version as with the free one you cannot control those stupid 'Emoticons' that attach themselves to the end of your outgoing emails. How could you send a serious email to your bank manager, stockbroker or to your family funeral director with those silly things on the page?!! You also have to buy a yearly subscription to their 'Junk' folder...a yearly subscription!!! Then it has it's own integral browser which attaches itself to your home page and it takes some serious work to get it off.
It also has it's account properties configured as a default to 'not leave a copy on the server' which means as soon as it downloads the emails from your server, they are deleted and are no longer available for your other email clients to access.
Of course this is also applicable to any email client and may not be a problem if you only have one computer using one email client. (make sure that you do look at your email account properties and configure them to 'leave a copy on the server') if only for a number of days...good insurance, particularly if you go on holidays with your laptop/notebook and you have shutdown your other computer/s at home or wherever!!
Most of our members have used, or use, Mozilla Thunderbird... it is from the same group that produces Firefox, which is also very popular. It imports all your old email stuff smoothly and is generally easy to use, however it is also a bit austere. I am running it in parallel to Outlook Express on my computers when using WinXP to get used to it, and I run it solely when I am using Windows 7.(dual boot Win XP & Windows 7) Of course Gmail still continues to be my insurance as a live backup.
Windows Live Mail comes from Microsoft!!!...It comes with all sorts of bells and whistles and it is very aggressive when installing and even when using it. I have installed it both in Win XP and Windows 7 just to see how it develops.
Ideally, I would like to keep good old Outlook Express or its updated, upmarket Vista cousin: Windows Mail, but alas I can't.
If any of our members have an email client that they think is the 'ant's pants' please let me know...if it is the one for me I don't mind paying for it!
- We also discussed briefly two of my favourite programs available at: Have a look at the above websites and maybe we can delve into the programs in detail a little later.
Housekeeping... Our Tuesday Seniors SIG with Graham Grant is next Tuesday 17 November 2009 at 10:00am followed by Terry's Genealogy at 1:00 pm. Be There!
Our next Friday Seniors SIG is Friday 11 December 2009 at 10:00am followed by the Comms SIG with Terry & Bob etc at 1:00pm.
The next Main Meeting is Tuesday 2"4" November at 6:00pm and in December it is on Tuesday 22 December at 6:00pm, where your committee will host 'nibbles and drinks' for all!
Peter Collard's Digital Photography SIG is on Friday 27 November at 10:00am.
I'm getting a bit tired now so I'll see you later... on Tuesday at Grahams Seniors SIG.
Cheers,
Bill Parry
Freecom Announces First USB 3.0 External Hard Drive
The first USB 3.0 controller was just recently certified, and now there's a speedy external hard drive to go with it. Freecom has announced their "Hard Drive XS 3.0" as the first to support the new USB SuperSpeed standard. The drives will come in 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB sizes. The enclosure contains a standard 3.5 inch drive and is capable of data transfer speeds of up to 130MB/s. Not bad for a first attempt.
The XS drives are backwards compatible with USB 2.0, meaning users can purchase them right away with the intention of upgrading to USB 3.0 when it becomes widely available. They will be on sale starting this November in Europe. The 1TB version will go for a not completely out-landish US$175. USB 3.0 clocks in at a very respectable "4".8 Gbit/s, but those patiently awaiting compatible motherboards will have to cool their heels just a bit longer following a few false starts.
Source: MAXIMUMPC Posted 09/25/09 at 08:"4"2:02 PM by Ryan Whitwam
Hello and Welcome to CushyCMS
Editing content with CushyCMS (Content Management System) is very easy. It is rather like composing an email in "Rich Text" mode where you can add text, lists, links and images without any knowledge of HTML coding. You can also copy large chunks of plain text like this - "Hello World" - and paste it into this dialogue box. It's all too easy! JohnL 23/05/09Oops. Looks like I somehow deleted all the previous comments. Sorry about that! I had actually been working with a back-up copy on a flashdrive. I had been cleaning up lots of faulty code that gets generated over time so that I can get all my pages to validate to the xhtml standard . Seems I uploaded the wrong file. Such is life.
Just to recap, this page was/is being used to trial CushyCMS as a practical method of updating text, links and images to selected pages by certain "Editors". Previously, a number of members had submitted a variety of comments, links and pictures without too much effort so that is a good sign.Please feel free to try this editor to upload your comments, favourite links and photos along with your initials to let others know about your experiences, good or bad. jl
Bob B - Mon Apr 13
Not to worry, John. Just tried validating this page (in Opera just right-click and select Validate -- very easy really), and got the following as the first of six errors:
Sorry, I accidently deleted the image while updating my "office" files. I'm a slow learner.
Thanks for that Bob.
I missed that one as it was in the php inserts folder - now fixed. One problem when validating the live web pages is that the hosting server attaches a stat file outside the html page files, always giving two errors. You can see the stat file by viewing the page source. This does not happen when validating from my page files.
By the way, when testing again, I found the Programming page could not validate because of "ascii" errors. After a lot of trial & error I discovered it was the following code causing the problem. Once removed is was OK. As far as I can see, the code was redundant.
Cheers, jl
Hi Bob,
You were too quick for me. I have just validated all nine SIG pages plus the HOME and MAIN meeting pages using the validator included in HTML-Kit. I have also been using Opera to check "style outlines" which is excellent. Thanks for the Opera validator tip which I wasn't aware of.
This time I checked for "Editors" comments before uploading and over-writing what was already there. I hope I'm learning.
Guess whose grand-daughter has the latest tricky iPhone? jl
Bob B - Wed Apr 15
The **[a name="somewhere"][/a] is usually the target of a local jump -- [a href="#somewhere"]Go To Somewhere[/a] from somewhere else. It might be needed.
Maybe they just need the other half of the link be present, to be happy. However, it caused me a good search as the "Can't Validate" message gives no clue to what the problem is. Another good learning exercise!
Very strange that your Host Site puts stuff (especially [script] and [noscript]) outside of your [body] and [html] tags. That certainly doesn't help the Validator.
I notice that in the Seniors Tuesday page you have the [ul] unordered list inside the [p] paragraph. No, no, no. End the [/p] paragraph just above it, then start a new [p] paragraph afterwards. That will help the Validator. Anything to keep the Validator happy !
- Thanks again Bob. I had done this on other pages but missed that one. I'm surprised it got past the validator.
Looks interesting ... and fairly easy to use. In about one month, cell phone nirvana will be upon us with the arrival of the Palm Pre, next-gen iPhone, and possibly the BlackBerry Storm. I just pasted some text from an email. Thats useful. WW
Bob B - Sun May 2"4"
Just trying some text in other fonts:
Arial - Bold, Italic. Not too bad either.
Verdana - Bold, Italic. Slightly larger and quite readable -- Italics also readable.
Sans-serif - Bold, Italic. Quite readable if a little compressed.
Trebuchet - Bold, Italic. Also quite readable.
All with subtle differences, with Verdana probably the best (in my opinion).
Bob B - Sat Jun 27
Note: The content above here is editable using CushyCMS only.
