COMPUTER PROS SIG MEETING NOTES

Date of meeting: May 17, 2013 SIG leader: Harry Elver Location: El Parador Tropical Garden Restaurant

STEVE BILLHEIMER CONDUCTED THE MEETING

NETWORK DOCUMENTATION Peter Ireland showed his documentation of a medical client's network that was created with "Visio 2010". He used Google to get pictures of the devices that he cut and pasted into Visio:

A RELIABLE AND FAST EPSON SHEET-FED SCANNER Two attendees stated that they highly recommend the EPSON SHEET FED SCANNER MODEL = GT-S50

See http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?ic=16_0&Find=Find&search_query=gt-s50+epson&Find=Find&search_constraint=0 This scanner was originally recommended by David who attends the "Windows 8/Hardware SIG" meetings. The GT-S50 is sheet-fed, scans double sided, scans to .pdf, and lets you save to several picture formats.

PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES WITH CELL PHONES

Steve Billheimer said he took a photo of the serial number of a TV mounted on the wall with his phone. Since his cell phone is much thinner than his digital camera, he could get the phone behind the TV with greater ease than with his digital camera. Bernard Bell added that the built-in cameras on some phones can focus closer than a regular digital camera. Sherry said she installed a scanning app on her cellular phone that saves images of business cards or receipts in a text format. It uses optical character recognition (OCR).

"END OF EXTENDED SUPPORT" DATES FOR "WINDOWS XP" AND "WINDOWS VISTA": One attendee was unhappy because, in 2014 when it expires, many clients using Windows XP will want to go to "Windows 7" but you can't do it directly: You end up losing software application programs and data files/folders. He asked members what they thought the clients would do. Jon said they should upgrade from Windows XP to Vista because the applications will carryover, then upgrade to Windows 7 if possible. According to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/lifecycle April 8, 2014 for "Windows XP" April 11, 2017 for "Windows Vista"

"FBI RANSOMWARE" $300 VARIANT

Jon said he recently worked on a new scam, a variant of the Justice Department/FBI scam that says you have gone to prohibited sites so you have to pay a fine. The new scam wanted $300 instead of $100 fine and the virus removal tool would not work. The Power OFF button on the computer would not work and you had to unplug the computer to shut it down. Jon put his laptop on the infected computer and went to Google. When he booted up later, his laptop had caught the virus. He did have File Sharing turned on so he was on the same LAN; he was attached to the same device - the client's Gateway/Router. Francis Chao stated that some viruses/malware have wormlike behavior and travel across the network. He said he follows Steve Gibson's advice from his security podcasts and Web site: To isolate infected computers from the other computers on his home network, he uses a second router to create a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where infected computers are attached. See http://aztcs.org/meeting_notes/winhardsig/add-ons/secureWeb/secureWeb.pdf. Members asked Jon how he got rid of the client's virus. He did not find a direct fix; all of the fixes on the Internet were for the older version of the virus. He had to press F8, since Safe Mode would not work - the client was running "Windows7". Then he chose Repair Your Machine, and chose Restore to Earlier Time.

RIGHT CLICK EQUIVALENTS FOR A TOUCH SCREEN IN "WINDOWS 8" There was a discussion of how to "Right Click" on a touch screen in "Windows 8": Method 1: Using one finger, press and pull down slightly. See http://techbymak.com/how-to-right-click-on-touch-screen-laptop-tablets-windows8.html Method 2: Using one finger and start from the top bezel. Swipe down from the top bezel onto the touch screen. Method 3: Using one finger and start from the bottom bezel. Swipe up from the bottom bezel onto the touch screen. Method 4--"Press and Tap Method": Touch with one finger where you want to do a right click, then while holding this finger, touch the screen with another finger. See http://www.eightforums.com/tablet-touch/4085-windows-8-multitouch-right-click.html

COMCAST "SIMPLE MAIL TRANFER PROTOCOL" (SMTP) SERVER NO LONGER ALLOWS "PORT 25" FOR OUTGOING E-MAIL Jon said that Comcast told everyone four months ago not to use Port 25 for "Outlook Express" or "Outlook". They have a list on their Web site which shows the ports to change. It is not always the same port. Steve agreed, as he had a client that had to put his tower on one port and his laptop on another. It can also depend on what version of software you are using. See http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/email-port-25-no-longer-supported/ Danny stated that the port change moves your outgoing email from unsecured to secured.

A PLETHORA OF EXCELLENT ADVICE

Sherry says she really likes the Snipping Tool that comes with "Windows 7" and "Windows 8" for creating documentation. Paul Scott related that Toshiba tells customers "Don't send the HDD" when they return a computer for service. Peter related that, on Dell servers, they install a new HDD but will not return the old HDD unless you pay for it; it has something to do with HIPAA compliance. Attendees stated that several clients complained about the cost of the "Geek Squad", but Peter had a car dealer client that was very pleased with their work: they mounted a 42-inch monitor on a glass wall.

Steve related that he was required to buy a new 16 ft. ladder and a trailer to transport it so that he could service an RV park that has their mesh-type WiFi Internet broadcast from Wireless Access Point antennas mounted on 18 ft. poles. Steve indicated that he did not like "Windows 8", but Jon said he likes it. He finally figured out what Microsoft was doing: they got rid of all the background stuff for the customers who don't want or need to understand the file structure of "Windows". Now they see only the tiles that they need on the "Start" screen. Francis agreed. He stated that the "Start" screen of "Windows 8" is much easier to teach to new computer users compared to the legacy Desktop. Sherry complained about "Windows 8's "Start" screen "Internet Explorer 10": she can't open several pages and see the tabs for all the pages she opens. She uses right click followed by a click on the "+" icon for a new tab. Francis explained that when a user clicks on a hyperlink that spawns a new tab, the new tab shows in the corner for less than a second, fail to see the momentary display of a new tab. If you Right Click anywhere on non-hyperlinked area of the displayed Web page, then all the tabs are displayed in the top app bar. Sherry prefers to setup clients in the desktop Internet Explorer 10 rather than the Internet Explorer 10 on the Start Screen. The Start Screen browser is for phone and tablet with bigger items and higher resolution on the screen. But older clients don't like the change. Sherry said to go to Internet Explorer, Internet Options, Connections. Put a check in the choice: When clicking on a link, always open a link in the desktop Internet Explorer. Jon stated that "Windows 8" can act reliably as a server that is on 24 x 7. Microsoft recommends that you not turn it off. He set it up with backup and shared HDDs and two printers. It was rock solid. All his equipment worked except that he needed a new USB KVM Switch. Peter talked about the wireless KVM switch in his Vision diagram. The doctors wanted a wireless mouse. Peter found that you had to install in this order: • turn on the machine • attach the machine to the KVM switch • attach the mouse to the KVM switch Peter also noted that he is very happy with Steve's service, as he needed an HP JetDirect card for a printer. Steve had it for half the price he found online.

Danny Hollingsworth stated that his friend with an auto repair shop just bought new diagnostic equipment and it came with Windows XP. It is wireless and connects to the internet. Danny wonders if it is upgradeable when XP is no longer supported. Sherry thinks that a lot of applications (that are not currently supported by "Windows 8") will be supported when the free upgrade to "Windows 8.1" comes out. She remembers that "Quicken" and "QuickBooks" did not work when "Windows Vista" came out but they were okay when SP1 came out for "Windows Vista". Dave Bilgray thinks it could take a long time to rewrite all the applications. He indicated that most medical offices are still running "Windows XP". Jon agreed that he knows three medical offices that are using medical software that doesn't work well on "Windows 7". Unfortunately, the medical software is owned by "Kodak", which has gone bankrupt so the outlook for updates is not good. Peter asked if "XP Mode" can be used to solve the problem. Sherry said that the antivirus software may not be updated after 2014, so using XP Mode would still be a problem. Jon believes the antivirus software will be supported; he cited "ZoneAlarm" as still being supported for "Windows 2000". Francis stated that Windows 7's "XP Mode" only runs one processor, is only 32-bit, and is the most limited of all the virtual machine programs so you will have poor performance. When asked for a better virtual machine program, he replied that you can buy "VMWare Fusion" (a software product for "OS X") from VMware, put it on the shelf and not use it and this entitles you to run "VMWare Player" in a "Windows" computer (for a business or organization). Sherry indicated that she has run the obsolete "Office 2003" on "Windows 8". Steve thinks the cost of returning printer ink and toner to manufacturers will rise. Currently, you can use the free return label and take the box to FedEx, but it isn't checked. He thinks they will have to start opening the box to check and will have to charge for that. Peter likes Cox Business Cable in Tucson. He likes the price, and it is reliable and has good customer service.

Danny stated that his customer had a lot of problems using Cox Business to host his domain for email. His internet is down about twice a month. Any email with the company name is blocked. Members thought the company was thought to be a spammer by the ISP. Peter said he likes IMAP. It synchs your sent folder from one machine to another. If two persons are checking the sent folder, they can both see whether it is sent. Francis added that deleting on any one client using IMAP will delete on all. Dana asked if wireless printers conflict. Her client has several wireless computers. Jon said those at 2.4GHz don't conflict. But the IP addresses could conflict. He recommended the use a static IP addresses. Jon said he has one printer on "Windows XP" and one on "Windows 8". He doesn't use "Windows 7" because it keeps trying to give the printer a different address. Sherry added that, on Windows 7 or 8, you shouldn't let the operating system choose the driver. For an HP multi-function device, you will need to go to HP and download the "Full" software for called "HP Solution Center" in order to having the scanning function of an HP multi-function device. Jon likes the Canon D480 laser MFD, which scans two-sided. Canon has drivers for "Windows 8" but it a shows yellow flag on its icon in "Devices and Printers" in "Windows 8" which indicates some of its functions might not work.

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