Dvpc2002oct.pub

Diablo Blue
October, 2002
The Monthly Newsletter of the Diablo Valley PC User’s Group October 3, 2002 Meeting Announcement
Ask Dr. Tech and HP
Do you have problems with your computer? Your software? Your hardware? Don’t know which? Do you wonder how you can get those problems solved? Well, Ask Dr. Tech may be the right choice for solving your problems. William Lam, president of Ask Dr. Tech Inc.(www.askdrtech.com), will tell us about the subscription support services his company provides for home and business users at our October meeting. Computer Help & Support for your PC or Mac. Unlimited live support all year round. Friendly help without the techno-jargon. Worldwide support access 24-hrs a day. Solve hardware & software problems. Over 40 tools & service benefits included. Join Ask Dr. Tech and get fast, friendly, expert help and technical support for your computer. Ask Dr. Tech has three home plans and a business plan. The basic Home Plan includes 24x7 phone and on-line support for PC and Mac hardware and software. And you get automated diagnostic tools, system maintenance tools, online virus scan, average response time of less than 7 minutes, and support for up to 5 computers. If you select Home Plan Plus you will also be able to use their Depot Repair Service for problems that can't be solved on line or over the phone, on-line data backup, and priority response time that averages less than 3 minutes. Home Plan Premier adds next business day on-site repair service and free failed parts replacement coverage — even including your monitor — to the Home Plan Plus benefits. The Business Plan adds the support of a dedicated account rep, business software support, support for handheld computers, and support for up to 50 computers to the features of the Home Plan Premier. HP, the company that is the result of the merger between Hewlett-Packard and Compaq, has announced a brand new line of printers and scanners. We’ll see a presentation on their new black and white and color laser printers, color inkjet printers, and multi-function printers that also act as copiers, scanners, and fax machines. HP has always been the leading printer manufacturer, and is also one of the top scanner manufacturers. Their new color scanner models range from economy scanners for home use, photo scanners for digitizing your photographs, and high-end page scanners that have high resolution, high speed, and can also scan transparencies including 35mm slides. The HP and Compaq product lines were merged, and these new scanner models are the result. This should be a very interesting presentation! DVPC meetings are held in the lobby conference room in Building B at the Bank of America Technology Center What’s Inside
President’s Corner
Diablo Blue Switching to Web-Only Version Ron Ogg Page The End of an Era
For Inveterate XP Tweakers Carl Siechert Remember when people talked about computers leading us to the paperless society? Well, you have DVPC Web Site is Moving Ron Ogg arrived! For those of you clutching the current issue DVPC Board Meeting Minutes Tom Krauss Page of Diablo Blue in your hands, this issue represents the end of an era. The October issue is the last printed and mailed issue of the DVPC newsletter. Go Find Something on the Web Malcolm Mailey Simple economics have led to the conclusion that Using Google to Search Microsoft Dan Meckfessel printing and mailing a hardcopy newsletter every month is no longer financially feasible. Worry not; all the columns you have grown to love will still be pub- lished! Our newsletter is just morphing itself to a Computer Crossword Craig Peterson 100% on-line publication. Those of you who need or want a printed copy can still print out your very own hardcopy from the DVPC web site and read it in all Directions and Map to DVPC Meetings those places where you don’t have a computer! You can even choose your own shade of blue for the Knoppix — A Software Review George Griffin Page 2 Diablo Blue October, 2002
Meeting Announcement.
office complex in Concord, located near the northeast corner of Clayton Road at Galindo (see the Map to Monthly Meetings on page 15). Please use the entrance that’s on the east side near the southeast corner of the building. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. The New Users SIG holds its meetings at 6:30 p.m. prior to the regular DVPC monthly meeting on the first Thursday of each month at Bank of America building B. We discuss whatever is confusing or puzzling new PC users. If you are a new user of PCs who would like to meet with other new users — and some experienced users who can answer your questions as well — then join us at the New Users SIG meetings at 6:30 p.m. prior to each DVPC monthly meeting. We'll also have the Networking Table from 6:30 to 7:00; if you have something to sell or trade, need technical help, or just want to exchange views, visit the Networking Table. We will have one of our pre-meeting games, with a great prize for the winner! Also, as usual, we'll have library disks and those great DVPC mugs (version 2) for sale, SIG news, and some of our usual great door prizes. Diablo Blue Switching to Web-Only Version by Ron Ogg, DVPC
If you’ve read Alan Mildwurm’s President’s Corner column on page 1 of this issue, you learned about some of
the changes to Diablo Blue. We were one of the first user groups to publish their newsletter on the Internet,
starting with the June, 1996 issue. The first two issues were in html format, published as zip files, and didn’t
have the same format as the printed newsletter. The August, 1996 issue wasn’t a zip file, but again had a
different format than the printed version. There was no web version in September, 1996, but starting with
the October, 1996 issue the on-line version looked like the printed version. We added an Adobe Acrobat pdf
version of the newsletter starting with the September, 1998 issue so members could read the entire issue
using Adobe Acrobat Reader. We’ve published the Web version more-or-less continuously, though we did have
to skip a few issues here and there when we ran into problems either with Microsoft Publisher or Adobe Acro-
bat. We use Microsoft Publisher to layout the newsletter, and use many of its advanced features like linking
frames, rotating text, inserting objects like Excel spreadsheets and our crossword puzzle, and automatic
“Continued on page x”/“Continued from page y” references. These are features that are either missing or
difficult to use in other reasonably priced desktop publishing packages.
One problem with the Acrobat pdf version was that the files tended to be huge, typically 600K to 750K in size.
Recently a combination of improved features in both Microsoft Publisher and Adobe Acrobat 5 has resulted in
pdf files that are significantly smaller. For example, the September Acrobat pdf version of Diablo Blue is
289K, less than half the previous typical size. And we are doing some reformatting that we hope will make the
pdf files as much as half that size in the future. One of these changes takes effect with this October issue.
We’ve eliminated the active navigation links on each page and article; you can navigate pages using Acrobat
Reader’s Thumbnails tab. We’ve also eliminated the active links for email addresses and URLs; you can click
the T (Text) icon on the Acrobat toolbar, then copy email addresses and URLs from the issue you are viewing
and paste them into your email message or browser.
Of course, you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to be able to view and/or print the Web edition of Diablo Blue.
If you don’t have version 5, download it by going to: www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
Choose your operating system version, check the box that reads “Include option for searching Adobe PDF files
and accessibility support”, and click the Download button. Note that if you already have an earlier version of
Acrobat Reader installed, you need to uninstall it using Add/Remove Software in Control Panel before install-
ing version 5.
The current month’s issue of Diablo Blue will be password protected; you will receive an email message with
the password each month if your membership is current. Make sure that we have your current email address!
You can use the form on page 7 of this issue, or send your name and email address to nopaper@dvpc.org. October, 2002 Diablo Blue Page 3
Proud Dad Here! by Alan Mildwurm, DVPC
Remember a few months ago Chris Pirillo, host of TechTV’s CALL FOR HELP show presented to our group? What you may not know is that after the meeting my daughter, Jessica, was speaking to Chris about on-line genealogy. She must have convinced Chris she knew what she was talking about because he invited her to be a guest on his show. She appeared last Friday and was terrific. (That’s the proud dad part). The link to watch her segment is: www.techtv.com/callforhelp/features/story/0,24330,3399232,00.html. Or go to www.techtv.com, select the show, CALL FOR HELP and then click on SHOWNOTES. Jess was on the Sept. 13th show. Click on that and then on the video icon and enjoy.
It was really great to go with Jess to TechTV San Francisco studios and see the show and watch it being pro-
duced. It is shot live! I enjoyed meeting all the TV personalities from both Chris’ show and the Screen Savers.
(I didn’t ask for autographs — Jess wouldn’t let me. Even though everyone was busy, they all went out of their way to make us feel relaxed and welcome.) It is amazing to see how hard everyone works on these shows. In the days prior to the show, Jess had been in contact with the producers and they had roughed out a sequence for her segment based on info which Jess provided. All her sites were preloaded on their computers and they had prepared slides and graphics. In between segments (during the commercials) they all scramble to change the sets for the next sequence. This may include moving furniture, setting up computers, etc. The end result is a very smooth and professional show — and it looks like they are all having fun at the same time! For Inveterate XP Tweakers by Carl Siechert, Co-Author Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out
One of the fun things about Windows XP and Windows 2000 is that there is so much tweaking you can do if you want to. You don't need to do any of the things that I described at a recent Pasadena IBM User Group presen-tation, but if you like peeking under the hood and making a few adjustments so things run just the way you like, you can. Here's a little more information about some of the topics I discussed: Group Policy
Group Policy lets you make all manner of settings--everything from configuring the desktop to hiding certain drives to preventing the creation of scheduled tasks. These settings (and hundreds more) are stored in the registry, which you can edit directly. But Group Policy is much easier to use than a registry editor. A few notes before you dive in: • To use Group Policy, you must have Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000; it's not available in Win- • To use Group Policy, you must be logged on using an account that's a member of the Adminstrators group. • If your computer is not a member of a Windows 2000 Server domain, any settings you make in Group Pol- icy affect everyone who uses your computer. (There is a crude workaround that lets you set up two groups of users — those who are affected by Group Policy settings and those who are not. For details, check out pp. 1074-5 in "Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out." [Caution: this is the first of several plugs for my books.]) Ready, Set Go…
Start Group Policy by choosing Start, Run and typing "gpedit.msc". (If you end up using Group Policy very much, you'll want to make a shortcut to gpedit.msc.) The next two folders and their subfolders house the Page 4 Diablo Blue October, 2002
SIG News Compiled by Nick Chase, SIG Coordinator, DVPC, 680-4211
Advanced Developers SIG Ron Ogg, SIG Co-Leader – 415-281-0431
The Advanced Developers SIG is a learning co-op. Every month we choose a topic and let people know where they can learn about it. We then get together and go over the information. We hope that if everyone learns a little on their own, and when we get together everyone can learn a lot. If you are an advanced developer you are invited to join the ADSIG. Beginners will want to get some serious development experience before joining the SIG. See the ADSIG page on the DVPC web site at www.dvpc.org/clarion.html for meeting location, dates, and time. Advanced Users SIG Jeff and Sharon Noyer, SIG Co-Leaders – 778-4348
The Advanced Users SIG meets on the third Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at 4208 Amargosa Drive in Antioch. Directions: Go east on Highway 4 through Antioch to the Hillcrest Avenue exit. At the light at the end of the exit ramp, go right onto Hillcrest Avenue, and then stay towards your left. At the 3rd light, Hillcrest Avenue turns to the left. Go left and stay on Hillcrest. (Landmark: “The Crossings” Shopping Center is at intersection). At the 4th light, go left onto Wildhorse Drive. (Landmark: 7-Eleven on corner at intersection). At the 2nd left turn, go left onto Meadow Lake Drive. At the 4th right turn, go right onto Amargosa Drive. 4208 Amargosa Drive is the 3rd house on your right, blue and white one-story. The Advanced Users SIG is for anyone interested in discussing advanced topics such as hardware and software issues, cutting-edge technologies, networking, servers, troubleshooting, etc. Please join us to participate in this very informative and educational forum. We hope to see you at the meeting! Genealogy eSIG Peggy Johnson, SIG Leader – 676-7522
The DVPC Genealogy SIG is a group of computer genealogists who share helpful websites, databases and source information found on the internet. It's an opportunity for members seeking help to put forth a question or problem to the SIG and receive suggestions and advice. When you locate a useful website, database or visit a research facility, please email the group of the details so we also can take advantage of this information. If you wish to be included in this Genealogy SIG, please email Peggy Johnson, pegszone@aol.com. Education and Entertainment SIG Alan Mildwurm, SIG Leader – 510-770-5770
The Education & Entertainment SIG usually meets on the fourth Wednesday of each month at Montevideo School in San Ramon at 7:30 p.m. Check the DVPC web site (www.dvpc.org) for information about each month’s meeting. The E&E SIG is oriented to exploring the best in education and entertainment software for the PC. Come back in the fall when everyone is invited to attend our meetings, and bring your kids along – they’ll have a great time, too! Directions for our next meetings: Take 680 to Bollinger Canyon Road, go west to San Ramon Valley Blvd., go south to Montevideo Rd. and turn left. Proceed east on Montevideo about 3 blocks to Broadmoor and turn left The school is 1 block on the right. We meet in Room 22. Internet SIG Craig Peterson, SIG Leader – 671-7025
The Internet SIG usually meets at 7:00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at Computer Renaissance, 959 Contra Costa Blvd. in Pleasant Hill. We cover everything about the Internet, from browsing and e-mail to creating your own web site and the tools for doing so. Halloween is observed this time of year. Next to April 15th, it can be the scariest time of the year. Join us as we look at sites to help find the history and observa- tions of the “Night before All Hallow’s Day”. For more information, please call Craig Peterson at (925) 671-7025 or e-mail him at compmail@pacbell.net. .NET SIG Ted Armstrong, SIG Leader – 939-5874
The .NET SIG has its meetings on the third Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Room at Concord Police Department building (see directions in the Windows SIG announcement below). The .NET SIG is dedicated to the new Microsoft .NET development tools, the newest Microsoft standard for developing cross-platform stand-alone and web-site applications. .NET tools include Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, Microsoft Vis-ual C++ .NET, and Microsoft Visual C#. .NET developers can take advantage of a common toolbox, debugger, October, 2002 Diablo Blue Page 5
SIG News.
and task window, greatly reducing the developer learning curve and ensuring that developers can always choose the language most appropriate for their task and expertise .NET gives developers the tools for inte- grating solutions across operating systems and languages. The .NET SIG will provide an opportunity for .NET developers at all levels who live or work in the East Bay to network with fellow developers. The SIG will provide speakers on different .NET topics. If you or anyone you know could benefit from this SIG, please come to our meetings. Contact Ted Armstrong at ted1003@yahoo.com for more information. New Users SIG Bill Earl, SIG Leader – 939-5874
The New Users SIG holds its meetings at 6:30 p.m. prior to the regular DVPC monthly meeting on the first Thursday of each month at Bank of America building B. We discuss whatever is confusing or puzzling new PC users. If you are a new user of PCs who would like to meet with other new users — and some experienced users who can answer your questions as well — then join us at the New Users SIG meetings at 6:30 p.m. prior to each DVPC monthly meeting. PC 101 SIG Craig Peterson, SIG Leader – 671-7025
PC 101 (a class on how to use the computer) in on vacation until the fall. When we resume, we’ll again have
classes on the Saturday following the general meeting at 1:00 p. m. at the Community Room of the Concord
Police Station, 1350 Galindo Street, in Concord (see directions in the Windows SIG announcement below). The
classes will start at 1:00 pm and end at 3:00. Join us in the fall for some hands on, one-on-one help with the
nuts and bolts of using computers. Those in the class enjoy the extra time we can devote to each problem and
the time to answer questions.
Windows SIG Ron Ogg (415-281-0431) and Walt Parsons (934-0775), SIG Co-Leaders
The Windows SIG usually meets at the Community Room at the Concord Police Department building on the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. We discuss the latest version of Windows, demonstrate interesting shareware and freeware, and have random access sessions where we all try to answer SIG members’ ques-tions. Everyone who uses, is interested in, or is curious about Windows on their PC is invited to attend. Directions: The Concord Police Department is at 1350 Galindo Street in Concord. From the 242 Freeway take Clayton Road east to Galindo and turn right; the Police Department building is 3 blocks south on your left. From Highway 24 take Monument Blvd. east and continue on Monument Blvd. to where it changes to Galindo; the Police Department building will be on your right a short distance past the signal at Cowell Road. The DVPC Web Site is Moving by Ron Ogg, DVPC
The DVPC Web site, www.dvpc.org, has been hosted at Value Net and its successors, most recently Amerion, since its inception in 1996. We have benefited from a complementary account, a huge cost saving over the years. However, Amerion has decided that complementary accounts cannot have over 10 MB of disk file space. Our site is currently 63.6 MB, slightly over Amerion’s limit. We had three choices, either reduce our site to under 10 MB (impossible), pay Amerion $227 per year (too expensive), or find another hosting service. So, as you heard at the September meeting, we are moving our site to a new hosting service, Infosaic. It won’t be free, but it’s affordable at $120 per year. And it has a major advantage: Infosaic’s servers run on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server with IIS (instead of Unix, which Amerion’s servers run on). This means that we can use Active Server Pages and our Microsoft Access membership database for things like our Member’s Not Afraid to Be Found list, the long-discussed but unimplemented Mentor’s List, and interactive forms. We’ve uploaded the site to Infosaic, and we’re in the process of having the domain listing switched to Infosaic’s name server. It will still be www.dvpc.org, but you can expect new features coming soon! Page 6 Diablo Blue October, 2002
DVPC Board Meeting Minutes by Tom Krauss, DVPC
Before commencing with the minutes I would like to recognize Charlie Crothers’ most excellent presentation on home automation at the September meeting. Not only did he orate, but he also brought samples of the devices he was discussing and prepared a video tape so even those in the back could clearly see them. All this plus useful tips on home wiring! Thank you, Charlie, for a very informative and entertaining evening! This month’s Board Meeting was held early due to multiple schedule conflicts. Many Board members had schedule conflicts this week anyway, and despite Alan’s pleading with Ohlone College, this semester they once again scheduled the class he teaches there for Wednesday nights. Having put three sons through the California public school system, including DVC and three separate universities, I believe I can speak with au-thority and say that this was not malicious or premeditated on the College’s part. No, it was simple incompe-tence. Speaking of character flaws, as I write this, the September Board Meeting is two days in the future. I am one of those with a schedule conflict and will be out of town for the actual meeting Monday the 9th. So I am writ- ing this before the actual meeting. As most of you know from past experience, I am comfortable writing min- utes of meetings I don’t attend, and you probably won’t be able to tell the difference. Besides, I am enlisting the assistance of our esteemed Editor to fill in some of the gaps in my imagination. I know the main topic of this month’s Board meeting will be how to bolster our membership. Many good ideas will be discussed and actions planned. But let’s face it. It will take more than the efforts of the Board of Di-rectors to bring in new members. We are just a small proportion of the overall membership. And I suspect we are among the most active when it comes to recruiting new members. If the Diablo Valley PC Users’ Group is going to live on and prosper it will require commitment and effort on the part of every member to bring your friends to meetings and get them to sign up. I hope you will all do your part. Editor’s comments: The Board of Directors has initiated a publicity campaign to let potential new members in the Contra Costa County area find out about DVPC and encourage them to join. The first step will be to design a new flyer, using color, that describes DVPC and the benefits of joining. Contacts with will be made with the Contra Costa Times and local community newspapers to have information about DVPC meetings pub-lished on a regular basis. Because Alan has to teach classes on Wednesdays, the Board of Directors will meet on the Tuesday evening following the monthly DVPC meeting starting in October. It was decided that, due in part to increasing printing and mailing costs and in part to the declining number of members who receive the printed version of the Diablo Blue newsletter, that DVPC will switch to the web-based Adobe Acrobat version of the newsletter. Using the Adobe Acrobat pdf format for the newsletter will allow members to print their own copies if they wish. The October issue of Diablo Blue will be the last issue to be printed and mailed. It will also allow us to use color (not affordable with the printed version) and even expand the number of pages if we have more articles (of course, that depends on members submitting arti-cles to your Editor [hint, hint!]). It was also decided that dues will increase to $30.00 effective October 1. There hasn’t been a dues increase for a number of years, and this increase will allow the club to provide better service to all members. See Alan Mildwurm’s President’s Corner column on page 1 for more information about the change to Diablo Blue and the membership dues increase. CALIFORNIA COPY SOURCE
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October, 2002 Diablo Blue Page 7
For Inveterate XP Tweakers.
most interesting policies, although you might want to check out the others as well. Then, in the left pane, select a subfolder of Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates or User Con-figuration\Administrative Templates. Select a useful sounding policy in the right pane, and an explanation of the policy appears. Keep poking around until you find something that interests you. To make a setting, dou-ble-click the policy name and then choose an option in the dialog box that appears. Pretty easy stuff, but you're exploring where few Windows users dare to tread. Unless you work hard to en-able policies that, for example, prevent you from logging on, the settings under Administrative Templates are pretty safe. Nonetheless, you should read the explanation carefully before you make a policy setting. Want more information? For a complete reference to Group Policy in Windows 2000, visit: www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/en-us/default.asp Look for Windows 2000 Group Policy Reference in the contents pane. Nearly all the information in this refer-ence applies to Windows XP Professional as well, although it doesn't include the policies that are available only in Windows XP. Another good resource is the Group Policy Object Settings spreadsheet, which you can download from: www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/pro/techinfo/productdoc/gpss.asp Although the spreadsheet doesn't explain the settings, it lists all Administrative Templates policies and shows which ones apply to each operating system; it also provides a convenient way to record your own settings. You'll also find more information in Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out (Chapter 34) and in our new book, Micro- Email Notification
We’re providing an Email Notification service for the current month’s Diablo Blue password, the DVPC monthly meeting, and information about SIG meetings as well. You have to be a current, paid-up member to receive this service. If you’re interested in receiving these monthly email messages, print this page, fill out the form, and mail it to the address on page 16 of this copy of Diablo Blue or bring it to the monthly meeting. Or, if you prefer, you can send an email message to nopaper@dvpc.org with your name and email address and your favorite SIGs. Send me Email notification of each monthly Diablo Blue password, the DVPC meeting, and the following SIGs: Name _______________________________________________________________________________________ Email Address: _______________________________________________________________________________ Genealogy eSIG
Page 8 Diablo Blue October, 2002
For Inveterate XP Tweakers.
soft Windows Security Inside Out for Windows XP and Windows 2000 (Chapter 19). The latter book, which should be in stores now, includes a number of specific recommendations about policies you can set to better It’s At Your Service
I also mentioned the Services snap-in, which is included in the Computer Management console. To open Com- puter Management, right-click My Computer (on the Start menu or in an Explorer window) and choose Man-age. In the left pane of Computer Management, select Computer Management (Local)\Services and Applica- tions\Services. (Tip of the day: You can open the Services snap-in within its own console. You can find a short-cut to Services in the Administrative Tools folder, or you can simply choose Start, Run and type “services.msc”.) So which services should you turn off by changing their startup type to Manual or Disable? This Web site offers some good advice: www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm. And (time for another plug) "Microsoft Windows Security Inside Out for Windows XP and Windows 2000" pro- vides a brief description of every service included with Windows XP and Windows 2000 and offers recom-mended settings. Copyright 2002 by Carl Siechert. Reproduced with permission. Article reproduction coordinated by Steve Bass, Pasadena IBM Users Group. Reaching Carl Siechert is easy — his company site is www.swdocs.com. Dis- cussions, links, tips, and other good things are at communities.msn.com/WindowsXPInsideOut and, as you'd expect, you'll find links for ordering the book online. Where to Go to Find Something on the Web by Malcolm D. Mailey, DVPC
As a member of the Internet SIG, I have found the following sites to be useful. GOOD SEARCH ENGINES
October, 2002 Diablo Blue Page 9
Where to Go to Find Something on the Web.
OTHER USEFUL SITES
This site sells CD's Some of them are free. www.cyberparent.com/nutrition/hydrogenated.htm “As Seen on TV” products at discounted prices This is for maps & satellite view (Very Cool Site) Using Google to Search Microsoft by Dan Meckfessel, DVPC
As you know, it’s often (usually?) very difficult to search for an article on Microsoft’s web site that will an-swer a specific question that you have about one of Microsoft’s products. Either you will receive a message that says “Sorry, no results were found for this search” or you will receive a long list of articles, none of which pertain to your question. For example, I entered the search string "save excel worksheet as an image" on search.microsoft.com and received no results. I entered the same search on Google and received one search result, but one that gave me a solution that, while not perfect, solved my problem. Google also has a special Microsoft search area, and it provided many more results to my question. To use it, go to www.google.com/microsoft.html. Bring a guest to a DVPC meeting, you get 10 Raffle tickets! If your guest joins at the meeting, you get 10 Raffle tickets — and your new member guest also gets 10 Raffle tickets!! Page 10 Diablo Blue October, 2002
Windows XP Tips by Ron Ogg, DVPC
Making the Start - All Programs Menu Cascade
If you don't like the single, vertical scrolling program list in Windows XP, here's how to change it to a series of cascading menus that are all displayed together. Right-click the Start button, choose Properties, and make sure the Start Menu tab is selected. Choose the Classic Start Menu choice, and click the Customize button. In the Advanced Start Menu options, scroll down the list to Scroll Programs and uncheck it. Click OK and you'll be returned to the Taskbar and Start Menu dialog box. Click the Start Menu choice, and click OK. Now your Start - All Programs menu will be displayed as cascading lists if there's not enough room to display all of the pro-grams in a single vertical list. Migrating Your Applications to a new PC
You just purchased a new PC that has Windows XP installed. You would like to migrate all of your programs from your old PC to the new one without having to reinstall each of them. Well, you're in luck. There are sev- eral programs that will let you migrate your applications from one PC to a Windows XP PC — one of which is limited and free, the other of which is more capable and reasonably priced. Microsoft Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
Windows XP includes the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard helps you move your data files and personal settings from your old computer to your new one, without having to go through much of the same configuration you did with your old computer. For example, you can take your per-sonal display properties, folder and taskbar options, and Internet browser and mail settings from your old computer and place them on the new one. The wizard will also move specific files or entire folders, such as My Documents, My Pictures, and Favorites. You can run the Wizard from Windows XP by going to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - File and Settings Transfer Wizard. You can also run the Wizard from the Windows XP CD on a PC running any of the operating systems listed below. The wizard supports the migration of files and settings from the following operating systems: The Wizard supports migration of file settings from the following applications: October, 2002 Diablo Blue Page 11
Windows XP Tips.
Yahoo! Messenger 3.5
The Files and Settings Transfer Wizard can also transfer settings for third-party programs. Note that the wiz-
ard does not transfer or install the actual programs, it only transfers the settings for the programs. In order
for these settings to take effect on the Windows XP-based computer, the programs must be installed on the target computer before you migrate the settings. Eisenworld Alohabob PC Relocator 4.0
Once you get past the cutesy name, this is a very powerful program. Using Alohabob PC Relocator 4.0 you can selectively transfer and automatically reinstall all of your applications and games, and transfer all of your data files and preferences, from your old PC to your new PC. Alohabob PC Relocator 4.0 is simple to use. In-stall the application on both computers, connect the two computers, select which items to transfer, and Alo-habob takes care of the transfer and installations. The program's wizard interface walks you through the en-tire process, one step at a time, and requires no expert knowledge to perform a successful migration. Alo-habob PC Relocator 4.0 offers the ability to select which items you want to transfer. The Alohabob wizard interface includes a rating, which warns against the migration of any application that could cause potential conflicts with the newer operating system. Alohabob allows you to select any one of these three connection methods: a TCP/IP network connection, a USB bridge cable, or a PC-to-PC parallel transfer cable. You can optionally perform the migration in two stages with the use of removable storage, such as CD-R/RW or Zip drives. Note that you are limited to using Alohabob on a single Target PC. An Enterprise version is available for corporate use for $249.99 that allows migrations from multiple Source PCs to multiple Target PCs, but requires a Windows 2000 server to store the migration files and a Windows 2000 Pro workstation as the migra-tion console, not a typical configuration that home users would have available. If a home user needs to make multiple migrations, you would need to purchase a separate copy for each Target PC. The operating system on each PC must be a version of Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4 Workstation, 2000 Profes-sional, or XP Home or Professional. For relocation of applications, the following restrictions apply (these re-strictions do not apply if no programs are being relocated): 1. The version and release of Windows on the Target PC must be the same or higher as the version and re- 2. Windows NT4/2000/XP Professional users: The “Service Pack” level on the Target PC must be the same or higher as the Service Pack level on the Source PC. 3. Windows NT 4 Workstation is not supported as a Target operating system when relocating programs. While the Windows XP Files and Settings Transfer Wizard is included with Windows XP at no additional cost, Changing Your E-mail Address?
Tell us so you will continue receiving Diablo Blue!
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Page 12 Diablo Blue October, 2002
Windows XP Tips.
Alohabob PC Relocator 4.0 is much more powerful and flexible. A downloadable version is available on-line for $49.99 by going to www.alohabob.com/purchase.asp. A boxed version is available from computer retail- ers, including CompUSA, Best Buy, Office Depot, Staples, Sam’s Club, and others. Selectively Turn Off Windows XP’s Automated Error Reporting
Windows XP has an automated error reporting feature that sends an error report to Microsoft when an appli- cation, or Windows XP itself, crashes. This feature is designed to help Microsoft identify and repair problems in Windows XP. However, you might have an older application that crashes under certain circumstances (like when you exit from the program) but doesn’t prevent you from running the program. Windows XP lets you turn off error reporting for this program without turning off the feature for all programs. To turn error reporting off for a specific program: 1. Start Control Panel 2. Double-click the System icon 3. Click the Advanced tab 4. Click the Error Reporting button 5. Click the Choose Programs button 6. Click the Add button 7. Use the Browse button to navigate to the application’s exe file or type the path to the application 8. Click OK several times to close the various dialog boxes 9. Close 10. Restart the computer. Any error that occurs when running this program will no longer start XP's automated error reporting feature. President’s Corner.
printout! (Try astrobright paper — it looks great!) Depending on the renewal date of your membership, we will extend your membership 1 to 4 months (1 month per quarter) to offset the slightly higher dues you paid for a printed newsletter. We will also increase dues to $30.00 per year, effective October 1st (the student price will still be $20.00). For what it’s worth, this is the first dues increase in many, many years. (Technically dues have always been $30.00 but we lowered dues some years back to $25.00 to entice members to the on-line Web edition!) Our insurance costs are going up, and there is equipment we would like to acquire for the club. This change should give us the opportunity to “grow” our treasury and expand our programs. As I write this article, we’re going to have William Lam of Dr. Tech for our October meeting. HP will also make a printer and scanner presentation at the meeting. Microsoft has confirmed for our November meeting. I plan to do my Comdex special in December, assuming that my trip to Las Vegas isn’t pre-empted. See you on October 3rd! Give a DVPC Membership Gift Certificate! October, 2002 Diablo Blue Page 13
Computer Cro “By
This will be the last Diablo Blue crossword puzzle sent out on paper format. From now on if you want to solve it away from the computer, you will need to use your own printer (the advantage is that you can print it on white paper and then print the answers on the back in case you need help). Take a look at all things paper in this month’s challenge. If you need some help [Editor: And you probably wil need help! This is probably Craig’s toughest crossword puzzle so far!], you can use Google, a good encyclopedia, or check out the answers at www.dvpc.org/solution.html. Across
23. Thin, tough opaque paper used in printing
1. Cheap paper made from wood pulp
24. Paper, used in labs, that is impregnated with chemicals
4. Sheet of paper measuring 28" x 23"
Down
6. Sheet of paper measuring 22.5" x 17.5"
2. Paper frill adorning the end of a drumstick
7. Sheet of paper measuring 25" x 20"
3. Sheet of paper measuring 23" x 18"
8. 25 sheets of paper
5. Sheet of paper measuring 34" x 26"
11. Sheet of paper measuring 17" x 13.5"
9. What should be done with all paper no longer needed
13. Wood fiber mixture
10. What paper item most people would like to use the tax forms to make
14. Crinkled tissue paper used in decorations
12. Early form of paper
17. Paper used to protect while an area is being painted
14. Paper fragments
18. Thin, edible paper used in baking
15. Stiff paper that resembles goat skin
20. Paper screen used in Japanese households
16. Sheet of paper measuring 30" x 22"
21. Identifying mark impressed faintly onto paper
17. Smooth, buff colored paper used to make files and envelopes
22. Paper of great value
19. Sheet of paper measuring 20" x 15"
Page 14 Diablo Blue October, 2002
Diablo Blue Article and Ad Information
Diablo Blue needs articles from the members of DVPC. See your name in print! Achieve fame and fortune! (Well, maybe just some limited fame in Contra Costa County.) We are particularly interested in product and book reviews and stories about your PC experiences. Send your articles or member ad copy as email attachments to the Newsletter Editor, rogg@value.net. Commercial advertising is available in Diablo Blue. Prices are $75 for a full page, $40 for a half page, and $25 for a quarter page for one insertion — or get three consecutive insertions for the price of two. For more information, call editor Ronald Ogg, at 415-281-0431 (days). Members of DVPC can submit personal classified ads that will be printed in Diablo Blue for three insertions at no charge. The rules are simple: up to 9 lines (as we format it), material must be suitable for publication (the editor is the sole judge of suitability), the member must be in good standing (current dues paid), and ad space is available on a first-come first-served space available basis only. If you want fewer than three insertions note that on your ad copy. If members want their business card reproduced, the rate is $10 for one insertion, or $25 for three insertions. The card must be horizontal and must be scanable. Send your ad copy as email attachments to the Newsletter Editor, rogg@value.net. See the deadline information in the Calendar on page 16 of each issue of Diablo Blue. DVPC on the Internet
DVPC has a Web site on the Internet — thanks to our Web Team: Ron Ogg and Stan Umlauft. You can surf your way to our own domain and home page by starting your favorite Web browser and typing the following URL; be sure to save it in your browser’s hotlist so you don’t have to type it each time: www.dvpc.org. DVPC Officers and Directors
Alan Mildwurm, President/Programs 510-770-5770 (work), awm@mildwurm.com Nicholas Chase, SIG Coordinator 680-4211 (home), nachase@yahoo.com Will Crites, Publicity 938-1291 (home), bugkiller@aol.com Charlie Crothers, At Large 829-2237 (home), ccrothers@attbi.com Dick Curry, At Large 376-5541 (home), racorinda@pacbell.net Peggy Johnson, Membership Secretary 676-7522 (home), pegszone@aol.com Tom Krauss, Secretary 689-9960 (home), tkrauss@sbcglobal.net Jessica Mildwurm, Treasurer 829-5858 (home), jess@mildwurm.com Ron Ogg, Newsletter Editor and Web Site 415-281-0431 (work), rogg@value.net Craig Peterson, Librarian 671-7025 (home), compmail@pacbell.net Stan Umlauft, Web Site 458-5560 (home), stanu@honeybee.com The Board of Directors usually meets the week following the general meeting. Check the DVPC Calendar on page 16 of each issue of Diablo Blue, or the DVPC calendar page, for the meeting date, time, and location. You can reach any of the officers and directors by talking to them at the DVPC monthly meeting, by email to bod@value.net, or by leaving a message on the DVPC voice mail system. DVPC Voice Mail System
DVPC has a computer-based voice mail system. The phone number for the DVPC VMS is 925-556-1449. Hear up-to- date information about monthly and SIG meetings, information about DVPC for potential new members, and a message center for Board of Directors members and SIG Leaders. Diablo Blue is the monthly Web-based newsletter of the Diablo Valley PC Users’ Group. Editor: Ronald Ogg, Membership: Peggy Johnson Please submit articles and columns to the Newsletter editor by email at rogg@value.net Entire contents 1996-2002 by Diablo Valley PC Users Group. All commercial rights reserved. The Diablo Valley PC Users Group is a non-profit corporation. DVPC is a member of APCUG, the Association of PC Users Groups, www.apcug.org October, 2002 Diablo Blue Page 15
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
Print this page, fill out this form, and enclose it with your check for $30.00 for one year’s dues with access to the Internet edition of Diablo Blue ($20.00 for students who must enclose a copy of current Student ID), made payable to DVPC, and mail to: DVPC, PO Box 3244, San Ramon, CA 94583
Renewal_____ New Member_____ Referred by current member? Name___________________________
Name: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Company/School: _____________________________________ Email address: _______________________
Address: _________________________________________________________________________________
City/State/Zip: ___________________________________________________________________________
Home Phone: _______________________ Work Phone: ________________________________________
Email Address: ____________________________________________________________________________
On occasion DVPC publishes a list of members for distribution to DVPC members only. Please check how you
would like to be listed: No listing_____ List Name and Home_____ Work_____ phone number(s)
I’m also interested in these SIGs: ______________________________________________________________
Directions to Bank of America Building B in Concord
Take the Clayton Road exit off of the 242 Freeway, and go east on Clayton Road. After about 1½ miles you’ll come to Galindo, and you’ll see the Bank of America complex of four high-rise buildings. Enter the door on the east side near the southeast corner of the building. Building B is the first building on your left, at the northeast corner of Clayton and Galindo. Parking: Turn right on Grant Street (the first block past Galindo), then right into the BART parking lot at the back of the BofA complex. Or turn left on Galindo then right onto Concord Avenue to find street parking. Be sure to observe parking regulations! Concord parking officers are very efficient!
242
680
24
BANK OF AMERICA
TECHNOLOGY CENTER
2001 CLAYTON RD.
CONCORD, CA
BUILDING B
SEE MAP
ABOVE
BERKELEY
680/24
CALDECOTT
24
TUNNEL
LAFAYETTE
680
DANVILLE
DVPC October 2002 Calendar
1
2
3
4
5
DVPC Monthly Meeting
PC 101 SIG
On Summer Vacation
New User's SIG 6:15 p.m.
We'll be back in
November!
7
8
9
10
11
12
Windows SIG
DVPC Board Meeting
14
15
16
17
18
19
Genealogy eSIG
Internet SIG 7:00 p.m.
Advanced Users SIG
Advanced Developers SIG
7:00 p.m.
.NET SIG 7:30 p.m.
21
22
23
24
25
26
Education & Entertainment
SIG 7:30 p.m.
28
29
30
31
See SIG News starting on
page 4 for more
information about SIG
meeting dates, times,
topics, and locations
Knoppix – A Software Review by George Griffin, DVPC
The other day I was listening to the radio (you do remember radio?). I was on CNET (AM 910) and the subject of the day was “Windows Pro or Con”. Most of the callers were DWG [down with Gates], but one caller had a alternative, KNOPPIX, and described it as a form of Linux that was self-contained on one CD, and you did not need to touch the hard drive to operate. He said that and all you had to do was download the file, then burn a CD, and insert it in your computer, and if your BIOS was set to boot from CD first it would start up and run the Linux OS directly from the CD. So if all worked as promised, you were in. This sounded like a interesting OS [operating system] to try. I went to Google, and entered “download Knop-pix”. A whole bunch of suggested sources popped up. Since Knoppix is a German product, you will have to sort through the entries, but Google does translate the language. I finally settled on one download, Knoppix V3.1-10-9-2002b-en.iso (en is for English). This is a 700 MB file, so you better have a high speed connection or a friend that does. With my cable connection it took the better part of two hours. After you have downloaded the file, you must burn the CD as an image burn. Then if everything went right, you just put the CD in the computer and start it. It will boot with a full-blown different operating system. Knoppix really is a quite complete system, but there is a learning curve. If you just start punching buttons all kind of surprises pop up. The GUI (graphical user interface) is appealing in action and color. As I was flounder-ing around I wound up on the Internet, so I put in a couple of addresses, and they popped up like I was in MS-land. I soon discovered all kinds of programs such as graphics, e-mail and news, office, lots of help files, mul-timedia, games — this is just a quick preview, there are lots and lots of additional programs on the CD. You should use some caution though. Because you are operating from a CD, there is a program that will give you access to the files on your hard disk. This really is an open system, and it keeps telling you can copy, modify, etc., but that Knoppix is not responsible for any problems you may encounter or even make yourself. After all this, it was worth the time, and confusion. If you look into this provocative OS don’t say you weren’t informed — or warned.

Source: http://www.dvpc.org/blue/2002oct/dvpc2002oct.pdf