SLO Bytes Newsletter - January 2009 - PUSH Article Descriptions

Advanced System Care Free V3 - Improve PC Performance by Ira Wilsker (Approx 1,077 words). This is another article from Ira that can very easily be turned into a meeting. One of his most frequently asked questions on his weekly radio show has to do with improving the performance of a sluggish computer. One of the utilities he most recommended was the free version of IObit's Advanced Windows Care - Personal Edition, version 2. Recently IObit released an upgraded and updated utility renamed Advanced System Care Free V3. Another winner. (Note from Judy, I received an e-mail from a member who wanted to know where he should take his computer to get it looked at - it was running slow. I gave him contact information for a couple of local people but also sent him Ira's article and told his to try the product to see if he could save himself some $$ -- it worked.)

Broadsides by Ron Broadhurst, Space Coast PC Users Group, Florida www.scpcug.com (Approx. 532 words) Ron's ideas are compiled from years of accumulations from various magazines, books, online sites and his own personal experience. This article contains info on: How to get your Vista Recycle Bin back, printing e-mail addresses in Outlook Express, backing up your Outlook Express address book, control panel shortcuts, and creating a shortcut for a shortcut.

Build a 'Green' PC on a Budget by Rob Limbaugh, President, Danbury Area Computer Society, CT www.dacs.org (Approx. 919 words) We're constantly bombarded by the subject of energy conservations - 'green' t his and 'green' that. I think that much of our problem is our 'disposable society.' But, if you happen to be looking for another computer and you're willing to spend some spare time and effort, you can rescue good parts from a premature demise and save money at the same time. How? You'll have to read the article….

Circuit Writer, Version 6.4 by Jim Scheef, Director, Danbury Computer Society, CT www.dacs.org (Approx. 903 words). A Future in Chrome, Two Lists of Ten, and Does Search Really Work? Are all covered in Jim's article.

Cloud Computing by Sister Dorothy Robinson, Editor, The Olympia Microcomputer UG, WA www.olymug.org (Approx. 326 words) When did you first hear the term "cloud computing?" Sister Dorothy is usually the last to know anything, it seems, so he has only recently started noticing this term on the Internet. She did some research and some say it's the greatest thing since sliced bread - but others think it isn't such a hot idea.

Copying Information from Your Screen by Richard Kennon, Member of the Amador Computer Users Group, CA www.acug.net (Approx. 376 words) This is a follow-up to Dick Carricato's article about copying pictures from your computer screen. Richard is a proponent of FastStone Capture and tells us a little bit about what it does.

Freebies! by Dave Bilcik, a member of the STPCC (Southern Tier Personal Computing Club), NY (Approx. 670 words) You have technology at your fingertips so think about what is important to the special people in your life and give something meaningful to them. The best part: it doesn't have to cost much to be meaningful.

Moving on to Vista - Part 11 by Neil Stahfest, Librarian, Tacoma Area PC User Group, WA www.tapcug.org (Approx. 865 words) One of Vista's disk management systems is a dynamic disk and the ability to extend a volume. Suppose you have a volume or folder on your hard drive called Pictures for your photographs. If you run out of space on your hard drive, but you have space available on another hard drive installed on your PC, you can extend your Picture volume onto that drive to make it bigger.

Music Tagging with ID3 by Mike Moore, Editor, Bowling Green Computer Users Group, KY www.bgamug.org (Approx. 924 words) The music industry has adopted a standard, know as ID3, that provides for meta-information to be included with an MP3 file. You might think of ID3 as the wrapper that an MP3 files comes surrounded in.

Performing Better Searches by Sharon Housley, VP, NotePage Marketing for FeedForAll www.feedforall.com (Approx, 1,052 words) Performing and perfecting search engine results can save web surfers lots of time and energy. Understanding the nuances of searching allows researchers to immediately drill down and locate the information they are seeking, without having to wade through a myriad of irrelevant search results in the process.

Review - magicJack by Constance Brown, President, Canton Alliance Massillion Users Group, OH www.camug.org (Approx. 1,166 words) Several members of CAMUG have phone service using VIOP and Constance recently ordered a magicJack to see if it would work for her - she loves it.

Review - Pro Presentation Taken Apart by Gregory West, Editor for the Sarnia Computer Users' Group, Canada www.scug.ca (Approx. 558 words) There is nothing worse than a bad presentation. We have all, at one time or another, been forced to sit and watch a slide show presentation go sour and chase instead of attract potential interests. What goes wrong? The answers are on each of the 274 pages of this book.

Review - Roxio Creator 2009 by John Roy, President, The PC Users Group of CT www.tpcug-ct.org (Approx. 839 words) Roxio, a division and brand of Sonic Solutions, continues as the premier must-have CD/DVD burning suite. This product is a collection of key applications bundled into an attractive launching interface. The Roxio suite provides support applications necessary to effectively use your computer just like Microsoft Office suite provides key office software.

Review - Wacom Intous 3 Writing Tablet by Jerry Goldstein, Vice President, The PCUG of CT www.tpcug-ct.org (Approx. 1,502 words) Writing tablets, aka digitizing drawing, or graphic tablet have been around since 1888 when the Telautograph was patented. They have come a long way since then with one manufacturer carving out its own market nice. That manufacturer is Wacom. Jerry finds the tablet a must-have

Surviving the Switch to Digital TV by Andy Marken, Marken Communications, www.markencom.com (Approx. 1,136 words) At the stroke of midnight on February 17, 2009, the analog transmissions that have beamed free television over the air in the United States for over half a century will disappear for good. They will be replaced by digital signals, many of which are already broadcasting, in what will be the most significant change to television since the introduction of color.

Why security precautions Are Necessary by Bob de Violini, a member of the Channel Islands PCUG, CA www.cipcug.org (Approx. 1,077 words) ID theft, malware, hacking WPA encryption, scare of the month and patches galore are included in Bob's article.

Windows 7 Is Coming by Sandy Berger, CompuKISS www.compukiss.com (Approx. 615 words) If you ask 100 people their impressions of the Vista operating system, 95 of them will tell you that Vista is no good, even if they have never seen or used it. It is obvious that public opinion of Vista is in the mud and it's a fact that Microsoft cannot afford another misstep.

XP SP3-Access Denied by Bob Elgines, President & Editor, Colorado River Computer Club, AZ www.crccaz.org (Approx. 278 words) Have you tried to install the Windows XP SP3 upgrade and it hasn't worked? Maybe Bob's solution will work for you.

Iwilsker (at) apcug.net
Ringram728 (at) earhtlink.net
Relimbaugh (at) dacs.org
Jscheef (at) yahoo.com
Newsletter (at) olymug.org
Drtfdguy (at) volcano.net
Dibilcik (at) yahoo.com
Ncstahfest (at) msn.com
ml.moore (at) insightbb.com
Sharon (at) notepage.com
Constance (at) mystepco.com
Prospector16 (at) gmail.com
Johnroy1 (at) Comcast.net
Jerryg (at) attygoldstein.com
Andy (at) markencom.com
Rjddev (at) gmail.com
Sandy (at) compukiss.com
Elginesaz (at) rraz.net

These articles have been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).