May 3 HIGH POWER 2005.pdf · May 3 HIGH POWER Electronics, Inc. May 10 Computing 101 May 17 ATI Technologies, Inc. May 24 Ulead professional looking items at home or May 31

May 3 HIGH POWER Electronics, Inc.

May 10 Computing 101

May 17 ATI Technologies, Inc.

May 24 Ulead

May 31 eBay with Charlotte Semple

INSIDE

Check Out These Meetings! ... 1 SIG Information/Schedule ...... 4 Marian’s Memos .................... 5 The End of an Era .................. 6 Search Engine........................ 7 Cables ................................. 10 VoIP ................................... 12 Service Pack 2 ..................... 14 Memorex Thumb Drive ........ 15 Dona’s Computer Capers...... 16

May 2005 V o l u m e 1 2 N o . 5

May 3 HIGH POWER Electronics, Inc. In an industry that is changing rapidly, HIGH POWER will maintain its stead-fast commitment to Service, Quality and Innovation. We are welcoming another vendor who is visiting TUGNET for the first time. Mr. Calvin Wang, representing HIGH POWER Electronics, Inc., who will be telling us the advantages of their prod-ucts: · Comprehensive Protection Fea-

tures · Compliance with Safety Standards · Advanced Passive PFC Circuit

Design · Super-Low Acoustic Noise · Excellent Compatibility · S-ATA Solution Automatic Fan Speed Control (AFC) feature is standard on all models The power supply fan speed is regu-lated in reference to its internal tem-perature sensor. Our special low-friction fan turns slowly at low tem-peratures, reducing power consumption and greatly reducing fan noise. Con-versely, the fan is allowed to spin up its speed in response to temperature in-crease. The fan speed ranges roughly from 700 RPM to a full speed of 2800 RPM.

The AFC feature, in general, extends fan life, cuts down energy consump-tion, and reduces the chance of over-heating. AFC is one step above the basic low friction “Noise Killer” fan deployment. This will be a most interesting evening and I’m sure most of us will learn what makes a power supply “tick,” and others may be surprised to find some-thing they didn’t know before this presentation. May 10 Pixiefun with the Lalickers Computing 101 This was announced last month, then postponed when a rep from Corel con-tacted us about his availability, as you probably realize by now. So we’ll have something new for you at this Computing 101 meeting. Conrad and Kay Lalicker will be showing you at least one product that was available during the APCUG Vendor Fair in January. “Pixiefun, Digital Creations for Everyone” is a great way to make professional looking items at home or in the office. Great designs can be

(Continued on page 3)

Check Out These Meet ings!

M E E T I N G SCHEDULE

A Monthly Publication of The Users’ Group Network

www.tugnet.org Price $1.75 T

UG

NE

T

Meeting Site Map on Back Page

May 2005 Page 2

DOOR PRIZE POLICY Only members are eligible to win a door prize. Members must also attend the full presentation in order to qualify for that night’s drawing. This is the arrangement that the vendors who donate the door prizes expect and that is the policy we will follow for all meetings. To reduce the distraction of the seated audience and the presenter, registration and the distribution of name badges will cease at the start of the presentation. Those members not yet registered, but who are present at the start of the presentation will be registered and given their badges during the break. Members arriving more than ten minutes after the presentation began have not met the attendance requirement and will not be eligible for the drawing.

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

President (2 yr) Programs

Marian Radcliffe [email protected] 818-249-1629

Vice President (1 yr) SIG Coordinator

A.J. Camou [email protected] 818-367-9264

Secretary (2 yr) Newsletter Distr./Monthly CD

Sue Kennedy [email protected] 818-503-8973

Treasurer (1 yr) Deuk Perrin [email protected] 805-578-9236

Director (2 yr) Larry Nye [email protected]

Director (1 yr) Refreshments

Susan Phelps [email protected] 818-848-9810

Director (1 yr)

Lorrie Stelzer [email protected] 818-716-1935

Director (1 yr) Publicity

Nina Van Leeuwen [email protected] 818-784-6144

COORDINATORS, ETC.

APCUG Rep. Maury Whitaker [email protected]

Membership Chairman Committee Greeters Member Services

Nancy Cook Daisy Kuhn Nina Van Leeuwen Barbara Henricks

[email protected] 818-349-1542

Lorrie Stelzer

Equipment Administrator

Eric Sjolander

[email protected]

Special Offers Mara Martin [email protected]

Tuesday Room Set-Up

A.J. Camou

Coffee

George Boyd Mel Ader Susan Phelps Loy Wissmath

Soda Pop: A.J. Camou

Computer Shows Chris Christopher (818) 843-5463

Webmaster Kat Koch [email protected]

Computer Magazines

Roger Bilyeu [email protected]

Director (2 yr) Special Events

Roger Poverny [email protected] 818-888-7564

TUGNET is a non-profit computer users group. TUGNET’s mailing address for membership information, submissions to the TUGNET Newsletter, or other club-related material, is TUGNET, 3926 Community, La Crescenta, CA 91214. We welcome your submissions, including technical questions or letters to the editor, on PC disk (in a popular word processing format), or by e-mail, [email protected]. Hardcopy alone will no longer be accepted!! All submissions must be presented on disk or e-mail as described above!! The number one rule when writing for us is: Do not attempt to format your article, except for bolding and italicizing. Instead, focus on writing a clear, organized, grammatically correct article. We’ll take care of the rest. We reserve the right to edit as necessary for space considerations. Other non-profit user groups may reprint articles (except for those copyrighted) without prior permission, provided proper author, title and publication credits are given. Newsletter produced using Microsoft Publisher. Membership database is in Microsoft Access.

NEWSLETTER STAFF

Editor Kay Winnert

Product Review Editor Ed Smith [email protected]

Contributing Writers Marian Radcliffe, Timothy Everingham

Proofreader Eric Sjolander Mailing Committee

Roger Poverny, Chairman Jim Burton, Allan Lahr, Ed Peschke

Neither The Users’ Group Network, its Board of Directors, officers, nor members make any express or implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. Opinions provided by newsletter articles, or by speakers, members or guests who address TUGNET meetings are individual opinions only, and do not represent the opinions of the organization, its board, officers, or members. All opinions and information should be carefully considered and neither The Users’ Group Network, its directors, officers, nor members shall be liable for any incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising from the furnishing or use of any information or opinions. Brands and products referenced herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Cover Design: Jeff Marcus Graphic Design

All Meetings Start at 7:00 p.m. For More Information Call: 818-249-1629 or 818-884-9441

www.tugnet.org

$3.00 non-member fee for the Tuesday meetings. Everyone welcome at SIG (Special Interest Group) meetings

May 2005 Page 3 www.tugnet.org

created by adding your own logos or digital images with this low cost easy-to-use software. This will be a fun pres-entation we’ll enjoy seeing from our own members. It is also a fitting presen-tation for our Computer 101 category since anyone can handle this. Consignment Table If there is something related to your computer that you are no longer using, but you feel might have some value to another TUGNET person, you can bring it to the Consignment Table at this meeting. Bring it in after the break and see how many grab it! Ink Dot Lady Cynthia expects to be at this month’s meeting. Be thinking about what you might need for her to bring. If you want to be sure an item is here, give her a call: 800-203-1938. Hardware Lab If you are having a problem with your computer, chances are one of our “techies” can get you going. This is the time to bring it in. Please let us know ahead of time so we can plan accordingly. May 17 ATI Technologies, Inc. You know this name from the out-standing video cards many of us have in our computers. ATI is a world leader in the design and manufacture of innova-tive 3D graphics and digital media sili-con solutions. The presentation will offer insight into ATI's offerings for multimedia computing and digital video solutions. With the E3 show being in full swing the next day, we learned that an ATI spokesperson from the desktop graphics team is available for this speaking op-portunity. We are really thrilled to wel-come Patricia Mikula, the public rela-tions manager for desktop products at ATI, to our TUGNET meeting. Since ATI is located in Toronto, Canada, we are most fortunate that

Ms. Mikula is able to include us in her busy schedule. Don’t miss this exciting presentation. May 24 Ulead It has been a very long time since we’ve been able to book a presentation show-ing us Ulead’s outstanding products. The company has changed somewhat since we last saw them, so this will be a most interesting evening. Ulead is a leading developer of innova-tive video, imaging and DVD authoring software for many platforms. Their mis-sion is to impact the digital lifestyle of users of all levels. We understand that creating and managing digital content, and sharing it with others is an integral part of our every day lives. We are ex-cited to be able to demonstrate two titles that we feel will be a perfect fit for your digital lifestyle. Ulead PhotoImpact 10 is a complete image editing suite for digital photogra-phers, graphic artists & Web designers who want professional results without a steep learning curve. Basic Mode offers new users a streamlined interface for common editing tasks. Advanced users can take advantage of a complete set of high-end tools for retouching, montages, painting, drawing and Web graphics. PhotoImpact 10 makes it easy to achieve professional results with your photos. Ulead CD & DVD PictureShow™ 3 Deluxe is a complete digital camera software suite. Easily create engaging slideshows and presentations on CD or DVD. Add music, captions, narration, and impressive motion menus. Photo Explorer 8.5 included with this suite makes it easy to import and organize all your digital photo, video and audio files. This will be a most interesting presenta-tion for all of us. Don’t miss it! May 31 eBay with Charlotte Semple There’s all that stuff you would like to sell but don’t know how!

Charlotte Semple has learned a lot sell-ing dolls and doll’s clothing and will share her expertise and experience, along with tips and tricks she has learned selling on eBay, to help you avoid “beginners problems.” Charlotte is President of the Los Ange-les Computer Society so is fully aware of what user group members want to know. We are delighted that she is will-ing to share her knowledge with us.

(Continued from page 1) Check Out These Meetings!

Rockin’ AirFest 2005 Sunday May 15, 2005

9 a.m. — 4 p.m.

Live Rockin’ Bands

Awesome Aircraft Displays

including the Legendary B17 and B-24 Bombers

F-16 Falcon and P51 Mus-

tang Formation Flyover Exhibits

Ground Attractions

Prize Drawings

For Event and Parking Informa-tion, Call 869-3976 or visit www.lawa.org/vny

May 2005 Page 4

Special Interest Groups Specializing in the unique interests of our members

Novices and experts are welcome

Check with SIG leaders or website to confirm SIG meeting locations

Investments SIG Second Monday @7:00 p.m. May 9 — Open Forum Discussion — On the What, Where, and How of Financial Investments. Topics range from how to search the Internet for information on stocks, bonds, mutual funds to investment strategies, economic indicators, mergers & spin-offs, trading, charting, asset allocation, and whatever subjects are of interest to you. Meets at Baker’s Square, 17921 Chatsworth at Zelzah. Seating is limited, so please RSVP your plans to attend. Marcie Green (818) 594-1272 [email protected]

Imaging SIG Second Wednesday @ 7:30 p.m. May 11 — Open discussion, questions and answers on Imaging topics. Meets at Granada Pavilion, Upstairs. Susan Phelps [email protected] Web Design SIG Third Wednesday @ p.m. May 18 —

NEW MEMBERS Borden, Evelyn Zank, Gloria

RENEWALS Feldmann, Hank Geist, Bill Green, Marcie Kerrigan, Les Miri, Jay Murachanian, Tamarr (NL) Speck, George Sullivent, Belva Wendt, David


S OUPLANTATION EVENT I’m delighted to report that this is considered to be very successful.

It will be awhile before the $ amount can be reported, but it will surely help our treasury. I want to thank Daisy Kuhn, in particu-lar, for taking care of all the details that needed attention to arrange our dinner at this location. And thanks to all of you who supported the effort. It was just wonderful to see so many family mem-bers and friends joining us. YARD SALE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, MAY 21-22 Are you saving those things that you don’t really need and aren’t using, but are taking up precious space, for our Second Annual Yard Sale at Nancy Cook’s? This was such a big success last fall, I wonder if we can do even better this spring. She is accepting items at every Tuesday meeting, or you can call her to arrange a dropping off time. You’ll find her e-mail address and telephone number on page 2. We also have a sign-up sheet for helpers for each day. It is a fun time to work together so don’t hesitate to volunteer an hour or more. You’ll notice we added Sunday this time since there was plenty left to sell when closing time came Sat-urday, and people were still interested in coming the next day. DRAGON NATURALLY-SPEAKING CLASS Those attending the Dragon Naturally-Speaking class will be able to use this program far more efficiently after the time spent with their instructor, Rich

Blumenthal. They all felt it was very worthwhile. FROM O’REILLY We’re Looking for Amazon Reviewers Would you or your members be inter-ested in writing reviews for Amazon? We’re always looking for avid readers who can help us out by posting their thoughts. You can keep the books you review! Please pass this info along to folks who might be interested. Let me know if you need more info! Marsee Henon [email protected]. DIGITAL FINGERPRINTING: ONE TOUCH SAYS IT ALL Here’s a great new security offering that makes life easier for those of us who travel widely on the Web: digital fingerprinting. This fascinating James Bond-esque tech-nology is now a practical possibility that can save you the trouble of remembering and entering multiple user IDs and pass-words for your various computer tasks. With literally the touch of a finger, you can use the Microsoft Fingerprint Reader to log directly on to your favor-ite sites without having to look up and enter your passwords and user IDs. Tired of Passwords? Replace them with your fingerprint. If you’re like most people, you have more than a dozen passwords and user names to remember. Whether you're checking your e-mail for new messages, catching up on the news, posting to a Web discussion group, or playing games on the Web, you have to sign in all the time. Have you ever sat there, staring at your screen, wondering which password you

set? Was it your dog's name? Your birthday backwards? Your best friend's nickname? Wonder no more. Microsoft has devel-oped a convenient solution for replacing all those passwords with something you don't have to worry about forgetting: your fingerprint. Integrated into some of Microsoft’s latest keyboard and mouse products and also sold separately, the Microsoft® Fingerprint Reader lets you log on to your favorite Web sites with-out scrambling for passwords—just touch the fingerprint reader with a regis-tered fingerprint whenever a password or user name is required, and you're in. Just like that. QUICK SETUP FOR EASY SIGN IN AND FAST USER SWITCHING Easy-to-use software makes replacing passwords with your fingerprint a snap. First, the Registration Wizard opens and helps you register your fingerprints. Then, when you visit a site that requires a password, just touch the Fingerprint Reader with any registered finger, enter your data, and then click OK—it's the last time you need to enter that informa-tion. Now, you can browse to the Web site, and then log in with a swipe of the finger or log in with a click of the mouse via Quick Links. If you turn on Fast User Switching in Windows XP, you can use the Finger-print Reader to switch between user accounts without actually logging off from the computer. With a touch of a finger, you can quickly switch between users without closing programs and files—and each user’s personal content stays personal.


Marian’s Memos

MARIAN’S MEMOS MARIAN’S MEMOS MARIAN’S MEMOS MARIAN’S MEMOS MARIAN’S MEMOS MARIAN’S MEMOS

May 2005 Page 6

The Fingerprint Reader should not be used for protecting sensitive data such as financial information or for accessing corporate networks. We continue to recommend that you use a strong pass-word for these types of activities. The above is quoted from Microsoft’s news. Thought you might be interested.

WINNERS: March 22 DragStrip: Nancy Cook Norton Internet Security: Arnold Giesbret Intel Flashlight: Don De Gregori, Dottie Blake, Nina Van Leeuwe and Conrad Lalicker March 29 ZipMagic: Bill Cowdin and Evelyn Borden Norton Anti-Virus: Nancy Cook and Wendell Greenlee Steve Gibson’s Passion of Technology book set: Dottie Blake Computer Training by Keith Henry: Arnold Giesbret Horseback Ride w/Jack Coe: Susan Kennedy Slideshow Preparation by Roger Pov-erny: Ed Jameson Clock by Conrad Lalicker: Larry Nye April 5 Reagan First Day Cover, matted and framed: Ed Smith Norton Anti-Virus: Arnold Giesbret

ZipMagic: Frank Dodie Smart Computing Subscription: George Boyd PlanetWare subscription: A.J. Camou Kroll OnTrack hat: Marvin Hirsch April 12 Meritline DVD Labeling Kit: Elden Rice and Kay Lalicker

(Continued from page 5) Marian’s Memos Gives

TUGNET Members Special Pricing!

Use this code number 818-488-4638 and your current membership card at the following stores. 699 Victory Blvd., Burbank 19807 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills 26250 Bouquet Canyon Rd., Santa Clarita See www.pcclub.com for driving directions.

We are all very proud of our edi-tor, Kay Winnert, for the wonder-ful job she has done for the past ten years with our TUGNET newsletter, Keywords. As you are all aware, we have an outstanding newsletter which has won awards in international com-petition at the APCUG conven-tions as well as in competition at our Southwest User Group Con-ference. And I know how much you all look forward to receiving it each month. Kay has decided to pass the edi-tor’s position on to someone else, effective after the July issue. That means we need a volunteer to continue this production. Kay has agreed to help train her successor

to ease the transition. While those are big shoes to fill, with her help I’m sure we have a number of members who are capable of put-ting the copy together each month so our members will continue to enjoy the news and views relating to computing, particularly as they concern our club. I have confi-dence that someone will step up to the plate. We are all so very grateful to Kay for the years of dedicated service as editor. The changes and im-provements she made to our newsletter over the years are re-markable. I am proud to call her a friend and have enjoyed working with her these many years.

THE END OF AN ERA Kay Winnert, Newsletter Editor to Step Down

By Marian Radcliffe, President


ARTICLE ARTICLE ARTICLE ARTICLE ARTICLE ARTICLE ARTICLE ARTICLE ARTICLE ARTICLE ARTICLE ARTICLE

Article

Search Engine Tips and Tricks

By Richard Johnson, TUGNET

P art 1: Google

I don’t have to tell you about Google, which has for many years been the search leader. Aside from the quality of its searches, a big plus is that all Google’s paid listings are clearly distin-guished, and do not even appear in the same part of the page. This is unfortu-nately not the case with other search services such as Yahoo, which inter-sperses undifferentiated paid and un-paid listings. Newbies will want to know they can initiate a Google search at www.google.com. All the services I'm recommending here, most of them from Google but a few from other sources, are entirely free.

Google Toolbar If you don't already use the Google Toolbar, you're missing a terrific navi-gational aid. Its features are really too numerous to detail here, but I find espe-cially useful its ability to readily bring up a parent Web page, search within a website, find pages similar to what you’re

looking at, find sites linking to that page, translate a page into English, browse by name (if you don’t

know the URL), highlight search terms on the page, find on the page your search terms

or any other terms (more handily than with your browser’s “Find” function),

fill forms, and block pop-ups.

(There are better pop-up blockers and form fillers, but Google’s may suit you fine.) The toolbar enables most of the stan-dard Google tasks, including some de-scribed in the next section. Not only are all these tasks easily accessible, but you won't have to re-type your search terms (for example, when you search for an image after a standard search). I strongly recommend version 3, which adds many useful tools, the best of which will allow you to spell-check what you’ve typed on a

Web form by clicking a toolbar button,

bring up a map page (using the impressive new Google Maps—see below) just by clicking on an ad-dress, and

track a delivery by clicking on its tracking number.

Since it’s still in beta, version 3 is not publicized, and won’t automatically replace your present Google Toolbar. To get it, go to www.toolbar.google.com/T3.

Other Google Goodies

Google Maps and Google Local Google has recently introduced its own map system, that's head and shoulders above the competition. It’s available as a stand-alone service at http://maps.google.com and as an adjunct to the more established Google Local, at http://local.google.com. Compared to other online maps, the area of a Google map is huge, taking up more than half the screen, and expand-

ing to fill any additional space (for ex-ample, if you move to a full-screen view). Zooming (in or out) is very quick, and re-centering is instantane-ous. A new feature brings up a birds-eye view if you click on “Satellite.” Google Maps and Google Local are now pretty much the same service: A page brought up by Google Maps has a link to “Local Search,” which provides the local data on the same page; and a page brought up by Google Local in-cludes the map (which, although smaller, can be expanded with one click). The local data includes the names, addresses, phone numbers, and websites of businesses, and, often, third-party reviews (like restaurant reviews). You can now get to Google Maps by typing a location in the standard Google search bar. And you’ll find a link to Google Local at the top of every page of Google search results. The best of the rest The following are in my experience the most useful (or most interesting) of Google’s non-standard services. You do not need the Google Toolbar to em-ploy them: Google's image search at

www.google.com/imghp, touted as the Web’s most comprehensive, indexes (according to Google) over 880 million images.

Google will give you a business

address and phone number. The easiest way is through the Re-searchBuzz! form at


May 2005 Page 8

www.researchbuzz.org/archives/001408.shtml.

Google will bring up one or more

definitions for nearly any word. In the Google search box just type “define:” (without the quotes), fol-lowed by the word of interest. This service is now multi-lingual.

Reverse phone directory. In the

search box type the area code and phone number (with a space be-tween them), and there’s a good chance you’ll bring up at the top of the results page not only the person or company name for that number, but also the address.

Google offers special searches,

limited (for example) to U.S. gov-ernment or to Microsoft. Go to www.google.com/options/specialsearches.html.

For those who like to purchase

through the use of catalogs, Google’s catalog search is at http://catalogs.google.com.

Google will enable you to view a

page that’s been removed from the Web. Look for the “Cached” link after the description of the page in a search result. (Or click the Page Info button on the Google Toolbar.) This function will give you access to many closed-down sites not yet available via the Internet Archive. (The Internet Archive — not a Google service — is at www.archive.org.)

The Google Directory at http://

directory.google.com combines the Open Directory Project (the Web’s largest human-edited direc-tory) with Google’s proprietary ranking system. Use of the direc-tory is helpful to narrow down what might otherwise be an overly broad search. (This tool is also available from the Google Toolbar.)

Google Answers at http://

answers.google.com/answers is a paid research service—but users are

free to browse previous answers, which can be quite helpful.

Weather forecasts are easily ob-

tained,by typing in the Google search bar the word “weather” fol-lowed by the city of choice (for example, “weather canoga park.”) The forecast will speedily appear at the top of a page of search results.

Froogle, a comparison service for

online shopping whose listed ven-dors pay neither for inclusion nor placement, is at http://froogle.google.com/froogle.

Google Print gives you access to

books’ contents and lets you search within those books. Look for the “book results” entry in standard search results, accompanied by the Google Print logo.

Google Suggest, at

www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en, appears and acts like the standard Google search, except that as you start typ-ing your search request, Google types its own suggestions. These could save you time and also point you to related searches.

Google Desktop, to search files on

your own computer, can be downloaded from http://desktop.google.com. Unfortu-nately, it’s available only for users of Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Gmail, which on 3/30 started offer-

ing rich text formatting, has as of 4/1 doubled its storage capacity to a whopping 2 gigabytes. (For a full discussion of Gmail, see my Febru-ary Keywords article.) Gmail is not yet open to the public, but invita-tions can be obtained from various sources, including this writer.

Note that without re-typing you can extend your standard Web search not only to Google Local but to Google Images and Froogle (as well as to Google Groups and Google News), by clicking on links at the top of every re-sults page. Or you can skip the Google

entry page and go to Xtra Google at www.xtragoogle.com for a selection of twenty Google tools, all tied to one search box.

Google Tips Toolbar tips 1. Use Alt-G to enter search terms in

the search box. 2. For your news search, don’t enable

the separate news button, but in-stead use the Search News option in the drop-down Search the Web menu. That way you’ll be able to use the Alt-G shortcut to enter your news search query, and to use the same query for news and general Web searching, without retyping.

3. When using the word-find function, hold down the control key to find the exact whole word, and similarly use the shift key to move back-wards.

Other Google tips 1. For academically oriented results

(often the most useful), try typing site:edu either before or after your search terms. This will eliminate commercial sites, and limit results to those from educational institu-tions.

2. Although Google now implements “stemming” (automatically searches for variants of words as well as the words themselves), you can cover still more bases by using the tilde [~] symbol right before a search term (leaving no space). This will tell Google to use synonyms as search queries. For example, a search for ~food ~facts will turn up cooking information.

3. Don’t worry too much about mis-spelled words. With any search engine, a search query with a mis-spelling might get you some good results that you wouldn't see other-wise! Google will suggest a cor-rected spelling along with its search results, but if the initial search comes up empty will correct the spelling on its own and re-run the search.

4. Google will ignore some common short words (like a, on, and by) in

(Continued from page 7) Article: Search Engine Tips and Tricks



your queries. The best way around these so-called stop words in most cases is simply to enclose the phrase in quotes, which will force Google to search only for the phrase as given. (A phrase search will of course come in handy on other occasions as well.) Otherwise, you can precede a sus-pected stop word with the plus sign (for example, +on).

5. Google recognizes the OR operator, or, in its stead, the vertical line. So if you're seeking search results con-cerning cats or dogs (but not both), you could type “cats OR dogs” or “cats | dogs” [without the quotes]. Use the minus sign right before a search term for “not.” (“Animals -dogs” [without the quotes] would ignore dogs in the search.) For complicated queries, you can if necessary group search words within parentheses.

6. Instead of clicking on the main link at the top of each Google search re-sult, try clicking on the word Cached. The page that will come up will now have your search words highlighted. (Don’t use this technique if you need to see the most recent page revisions.)

7. Google supports word wild cards. That is, you can in your query use the asterisk [*] as a stand-in to represent any word. (This won’t work in Google for parts of words.)

Next month: Beyond Google. Richard Johnson is a writer and editor, and founder/administrator of FREE FOR ALL The Skills Pool, a 29-year-old mem-bership organization (http://theskillspool.org). He is a volunteer with TUGNET HelpContact for assistance with Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and Gmail. You may reach him at [email protected].

(Continued from page 8) Article: Search Engine Tips and Tricks

THINGS TO BRING TO THE MEETINGS Recyclable CDs, Floppy Disks, Cell Phones, Ink Jet cartridges and Toner Cartridges. Your checkbook if the label on the back page of this newsletter says “Your Membership has Ex-pired” so you can renew your membership. Questions for our Computer Q & A Column. Put them in the box on the Membership Table.

AN E-MAIL FROM BELVA SULLIVENT Many of you have asked about Belva Sullivent, wanting to know how she was doing since she moved up North to be close to her daughter. The following e-mail was forwarded to your editor. It is reprinted here in its entirety. Message to TUGNET from Belva Sullivent: After being up here in Redding for some time, now, I suppose I am feeling at home here, but I still miss the San Fernando Valley, my friends, and TUGNET. Redding is a small city of about 85,000, in a Northern California valley sur-rounded on three sides by snow-capped mountains and several small valley com-munities. The Sacramento River winds through the center of town, and is crossed by several bridges, the most recent, the much-publicized Sundial Bridge. Mt Shasta, to the north, over 14,000 ft, keeps its snow top all year, and Mt Las-sen and the others will keep their snow another month or so. The climate in Red-ding itself, el. 560, is much like that of the San Fernando Valley, but gets a bit hotter in summer (groan!); the city is much like the Valley used to be, but with an emphasis on tourism and outdoor activities. I did find a computer group here, with the top-heavy name of the IBM/PC Users' Group of Redding. The members were very friendly and welcoming, and it did-n't take long for me to volunteer and get active – I am now a Director, a greeter, and in charge of membership badges. At board meetings I have shared ideas from the way TUGNET has done things. They were using the same kind of badge holders we used to have, with the pin on the back – so now, another mem-ber and I have switched them over to the kind with a plastic pocket and an elas-tic neck cord – like we used at the Southwest Computer Conferences in San Diego. Also, I have found a compatible fellowship in the local First United Methodist Church, and have become useful there, too. Inevitably, it seems, I ended up on the Membership Commission! So – it looks like I am about settled in here, but I will always miss you guys – it just isn't the same, although I have been keeping up with you by way of the newsletter and Marian's weekly e-mail notices. I really admire all the things that TUGNET has been doing – you are a great group! I wish you all well, think of you often, and would welcome e-mails. Belva — [email protected]

May 2005 Page 10


W hen you are in the proc-ess of building a new

computer or upgrading one; you may just think you have to only buy the com-ponent parts such as CPU, motherboard, case, power supply, RAM, video card, hard drives, and CD/DVD player or writer. However, what a lot of people don’t think about are the cables to con-nect all of these together. Many people have gone to the computer store or swap meet and when they get to install a part they realize they don’t have the cable or adapter needed and have to take the time to go out again to buy it. Thinking through your computer purchase cabling needs before you leave home, or at least before you leave the computer store, can save you the hassle and time of making that additional trip. If you have to order from a catalog and have it shipped to you days may be lost before you can complete your installation. These days motherboards do come with a lot of cables, but are they the right ones for your application and are there enough of them? We are in a transition from the EIDE interface for hard drives and CD/DVD players and writers to the SATA interface. With EIDE cables you have up to two drives on a parallel cable that are flat ribbons or twisted into a round cable; but SATA drives are con-nected via thin serial cables that have one for each drive connecting directly to the drive controller, usually on the motherboard. If you have a floppy drive you will need a cable for that too. So far I have only been talking about data ca-bles, not power cables. SATA drives also have different power cables than EIDE drives. Also CD/DVD players

and writers some times have different power connectors than EIDE hard drives, sometimes using a floppy drive type power connector. Also, if you have a mid to high level 3D video card you may have to plug in one or two power connectors because they need more power than what they can get from the motherboard, and the power connectors for PCI Express video cards are differ-ent than those for AGP video cards (There are two different type of connec-tors for AGP cards too). Then there are the different connectors for case fans.

Also a lot of newer motherboards are connected to the power supply via a 24 pin connector instead of the more traditional 20 pin. Some 24 pin

motherboards can have you just plug in a 20 pin plug, but others do not recom-mend that. Then of course we get into the audio cables for your CD/DVD player/writer to plug into the sound card or sound circuit on the motherboard. You also may need USB or Firewire (IEEE 1394) cables for within the case to get them from the motherboard to the sockets or external ones to get them out to your devices. So how do you find out what cables you need? If possible you can look at the parts themselves or the box they come in. There is the visual of the connectors and information on the part or box about what the part needs. Be wary however on just taking it from the visuals. Some cables that have the same type of con-nectors at their ends are rated differently on speed or other factors. An example of this is EIDE data cables. Typical rat-ing for these cables is 33, 66, 100, or 133 MHz. In with EIDE components hooked together it is the slowest compo-nent that sets the data the data speed on the EIDE bus. If the EIDE drive con-troller cannot communicate with the drives at one speed because the cable is not capable of handling data transmis-sion at that speed without errors, the controller will drop the speed of the entire EIDE data bus. As such having EIDE components rated at 133 MHz and connecting them together with a cable only rated at 66 MHz greatly in-creases the risk of the drives data trans-fer operating below 133 MHz. You also get into issues of it may be the right type of cable; but has the wrong connec-tors at the ends, which you can run into with Firewire (IEEE 1394), USB, and other cables.


Article:

Cables: The Missing Part of Upgrades

By Timothy Everingham, TUGNET

[email protected]

“One thing you also should

consider is how your cables will affect airflow in your computer.”


Other sources for this information are the manufacturer’s website or those of online retailers that sell the part. You may have to look at the parts manual to find information about its power con-nectors. However, how do you get to see the manual before buying the part? Many manufacturers have the manual to their parts on their website in PDF for-mat so you can just download the man-ual. This is sometimes the only way you can easily find out whether a mother-board needs a 20 or 24 pin power con-nector or it can take either. From these same sources you can also find out what cables come with a part. You should look at the power supply you are going to use or if you can’t ex-amine it, probably because you have not bought it yet, find out the specifications. There are different ATX standards for power supplies, with ATX 12V 2.01 being the latest (For additional informa-tion read “More Performance: The New Power Supply Standard, ATX12V 2.0” at Tom’s Hardware Guide www.tomshardware.com. Look at what connectors it has and how many of each (20 or 24 pin, P4, and EPS mother-board connectors, 4 pin Molex for 5.25” format EIDE drives and some fans, floppy drive, SATA, auxiliary, and PCI Express video card. Depending on what you find and your needs you may need power splitters or adapters. Many older power supplies do not have SATA drive power connectors, but only those that are used for EIDE (Be aware that some SATA drive power adapters do not have a +3.3V connection, which is required by some drives). Only some of the

recently introduced power supplies have a PCI Express video card power connec-tor. If you have enough components in your system where your present power supply may not be able to handle the load, it might be better to get a new power supply which has the newer type of connectors you need. One thing you also should consider is how your cables will affect airflow in your computer. May people use round EIDE cables rather than flat because of this issue. The good use of cable ties can help with this problem. Especially if you live far away from a computer store, are using online retail-ers, or going to a computer swap meet that you would have to pay again to reenter it is especially important to be sure you have all the cables you need for your computer upgrade or building project. Researching what you need ahead of time can prevent wasting time and money and increasing your frustra-tion. May you have the cables you need, and not buy cables you can’t use. Timothy Everingham is CEO of Timothy Everingham Consulting in Azusa, Cali-fornia. He is also Chair of the Los An-geles Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH, the largest chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM)

(Continued from page 10) Article: Cables: The Missing Part of Upgrades!

Klassic Specialties

Check out Klassic Specialties at http://www.klassicspecialties.com/tugnet.html

TUGNET members receive a 5% discount and TUGNET receives 5% of member’s purchases.

New Ram-Jet Korean electronic giant Sam-sung recently announced that it has produced the worlds first DDR3 dynamic random access memory which it plans to launch next year. The new computer memory uses less voltage than current standards and operates 1066 megabits per second, doubling the speed of today’s DDR2 chips.

Jim Burton, TUGNET

Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques and one of Southern California's signifi-cant professional organizations within the entertainment and media industries. He is also part-time press in the areas of high technology, computers, video, au-dio, and entertainment/media and has had articles published throughout the United States and Canada plus Austra-lia, England, & Japan. He is a member of TUGNET. Further information can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~teveringham.

May 2005 Page 12

A re you using the Internet for your local and/or long distance service?

If not, then maybe you need to read this article to find out how some computer users are saving “mucho dinero” on their telephone calls. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. There are ways to use the Internet for free phone calls, low cost phone calls (2¢ per minute) or a monthly fixed rate for both local and long-distance calls. So how is it possi-ble to transmit your voice over your Internet connection? We’ll look at some of the technical aspects first. Then I can discuss some of the services that are available for you to check out further. When you use your telephone your voice is converted into electrical im-pulses and transmitted over copper wires to another phone. There it is con-verted back to sound waves. These im-pulses are transmitted via several switches in the telephone network. This system is referred to as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). As long as you are talking on the phone you have a constant circuit connection between the two phones. In the original PSTN system, all calls required a dedi-cated wire for each call. For the period of time you were on the phone you “owned” a copper wire connection be-tween your phone and the other party. In today’s PSTN, all calls are digitized and can be combined with thousands of others running over fiber optic cable between central stations. However, the connection between the two phones must remain open for the length of the call.

When computer data is transmitted over phone lines or cable, it is also in digital form. However, the data is sent in pack-ets and does not require a dedicated pathway to reach its destination. In fact, when a computer sends a stream of data packets, they may all arrive at their destination after traveling different routes. There are thousands of possible paths between any origin and any desti-nation. In addition, packets from other origins can use any time spaces be-tween your packets. This is a more effi-cient system, as a circuit does not need to be kept open. This system is referred to as packet switching. So if your email is being chopped up into small packets, how does the system know what to do with them? Each packet contains an address that tells the router what its final destination is. The sending computer sends the packet off to a router and then goes on to its next operation. The router selects a path to another router and sends the packet off. This process continues to the destina-tion computer. At the destination, the receiving computer assembles the pack-ets based on the information contained in each packet. So what does this have to do with Inter-net phones? Very simple. VoIP uses the packet switching technology to transmit your call. The digitization of your voice occurs either through your sound card or a device known as an analog tele-phone adapter (ATA). There are also Internet phones which connect directly to a network router and handle the con-version process. The voice packets that result from these various adapters are routed over the Internet in the same

way as data packets. When you make a phone call, there is always dead space when no one is talking. With the packet system, other data packets from other sources are being transmitted over the Internet making maximum use of its capacity. In the early days of VoIP sound quality was poor and the method of operation more like using a walkie-talkie. To-day’s equipment is vastly improved. Sound quality on many VoIP systems is the equivalent of that found in the PSTN. Depending on the system you are using, you can dial any number and your call will be routed over the Inter-net. In such a system, you and the party you called won’t see any difference in operation or sound from that of the PSTN. So why would you be interested in us-ing an Internet phone instead of your current local/long distance PSTN ser-vice? One big factor for many people is cost. The cost of Internet service ranges from free to $25/month (more in some cases) for unlimited calls. In addition, many of the VoIP services offer fea-tures that cost you extra through your local phone company. It is not unusual for a VoIP provider to include Caller ID, Call waiting, Call transfer, call for-warding, voicemail and three way call-ing as part of the basic price. Now let’s look at some of the providers and their services. Skype www.skype.com offers a free service that allows you to connect to other Skype users. The software for this can be downloaded from their website. It


Article

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)

By Brian K. Lewis, Ph.D.

Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. www.spcug.org



took just a few minutes to install it on my computer. Once you have installed it, you need to setup a call list of other users. So you have to contact people that you call frequently and have them install the Skype software. From that point on, it becomes much like instant messaging. If the person you are calling is on-line, you can connect and talk to them. Otherwise, they have no way to know that you are calling. The reverse is also true if they want to call you. The minimum hardware you need for this are speakers connected to your sound card and a microphone. You can also use a headset with a built-in micro-phone. It is also advisable that you have a broadband connection, either cable or DSL. In my testing of it, once I had a connection, the call was quite clear with no background static or other problems. So what do you do if you have Skype and want to call someone who doesn’t have Skype? You can get SkypeOut that allows you to call any phone num-ber anywhere in the world for about 2¢/minute. After you install the SkypeOut software you buy credit on their Inter-net site which you can then use for your calls. Some reviewers have had sound problems with SkypeOut. I have not tested it. There are other free services available as well. One is Free World Dialup www.freeworldialup.com. This is a quote from their website: “FWD allows you to make free phone calls using any broadband connection using devices that follow Internet standards. This can be a ‘regular’ telephone connected to a packetizer, an IP Phone or any number of free soft-phones (software for your PC or PDA).” In order to use the

system you need to download and in-stall the software. Then you obtain a phone number from FWD. The hard-ware you need is a SIP compatible ATA adapter that you connect to a net-work router that connects to your mo-dem. You can then connect any tele-phone to the jack in the ATA adapter. Now you’re ready to dial any FWD user anywhere in the world. However, you can not dial a regular PSTN phone from this system without purchasing time from another VoIP provider. The advantage of FWD over Skype is that your computer doesn’t have to be on to receive calls. Your phone will ring just as it did when connected to the PSTN phone system. There is another advantage to FWD. This system uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standard. This allows FWD users to call others who are not member of FWD but are connected by a different SIP compatible service. Other free services currently using the SIP standard are IPTEL.org and SIP-Phone.com. Skype does not adhere to the SIP standard. Now we get to the services that charge a monthly fee. These providers furnish a SIP compatible ATA adapter and in some instances the router for your tele-phone connection. This list includes companies like AT&T (CallVantage), Verizon (VoiceWing), Packet8, VoicePulse and Vonage. Of these, AT&T and Verizon are the most expen-sive. Several of these providers are pre-paring wireless units that will allow you to connect through any WiFi hotspot. Vonage has announced that they expect to have a wireless unit available by mid-summer 2005. That means you could make and receive call while you are on the road. Also, by taking your

ATA adapter with you when you travel, connections can be made through broadband data ports in many hotels and motels. Of these providers, Vonage has been in the game longer than the others and has a strong reputation as to its quality. They have two basic plans: (1) $24.99 for unlimited calling in the U.S. and Canada, (2) $14.99 for 500 long-distance minutes. They also offer vir-tual phone numbers with any area code you prefer. Dialing other numbers in your area code requires just seven dig-its. You can add a fax line for $10 per month or toll-free numbers for $5 per month. With Vonage and these other providers, you can call any PSTN num-ber or numbers on the FWD network. For more details on the specific services provided by these companies I would suggest you check their web sites. So what are the drawbacks to VoIP services? First, if your Internet provider has a service outage, then your phone service is also down. Second, if there is a power outage you lose your phone service unless your system has a battery backup to keep it running. Another dis-advantage is that most of these services can’t connect to 911. In some cases, you can call 911 after you have pro-vided the service with location informa-tion for their files. They need this infor-mation so the system will know where to direct the call. However, the 911 operator can’t see your name or address and you have to provide that informa-tion when you make the call. In spite of these disadvantages, VoIP usage is rapidly increasing. If you are interested in testing VoIP, I suggest you start with one of the free services. Try it, you may like it. There is no restrictin against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author. This article is brought to you by the Editorial Com-mittee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which TUGNET is a member.

(Continued from page 12) Article: VoIP

May 2005 Page 14

W ith more than 130 million copies of Windows XP Ser-vice Pack 2 (SP2)

downloaded, an impressive number of Windows users are already enjoying the advanced security features and other enhancements that SP2 has to offer. The vast majority of users upgrade to SP2 without a hitch, but there are some un-usual cases where users have software or hardware configurations that cause problems with starting their computers after they install SP2. In the first part of this article, we’ll take a look at how you can easily avoid those infrequent prob-lems if you haven’t yet upgraded to SP2. The second section will point you to resources that can help in the event that you’ve encountered startup prob-lems after installing the SP2 upgrade. Before You Upgrade An important way to insure a carefree upgrade is to visit the Windows Update website and install any available critical updates before attempting to install SP2. Most individuals will visit Win-dows Update to install SP2 anyway, but those who install from a CD or using the SP2 Network Installation Package might be tempted to skip this step. Don’t! Windows Update can examine your system for characteristics that can cause SP2 upgrade difficulties, and it will automatically download the appro-priate software updates to address any problems that might occur. The issues that are most likely to cause problems with computers freezing dur-ing startup after the SP2 update are:

A conflict with the T.V. Media adware program.

A conflict between certain com-puter BIOS revisions and the Pres-cott C-0 version of the Intel Cel-eron and Pentium 4 processors.

Both of these conflicts are now ad-dressed by Windows Update, so a visit to the site before installing XP SP2 will prevent them from affecting your com-puter.

It’s also a good idea to follow the in-struction in the article What to Know Before You Download and Install Win-dows XP Service Pack 2, http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/sp2_whattoknow.mspx and to run through the “pretests” procedure in Jodi Ballew’s Visiting a Service Center to Get Service Pack 2 Installed article http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/ballew_04sept20.mspx to insure that your drivers are up to date, and that you don’t have any advertising or spyware programs installed that could cause you additional problems. Once you’ve completed these steps, you can install SP2 with confidence; either

by turning on automatic updates, downloading SP2 using Windows Up-date, or using a Windows XP SP2 up-date CD. Troubleshooting If you started reading this article be-cause you’ve already upgraded to SP2 and you’re now experiencing lockups, here are pointers to troubleshooting procedures that should get your com-puter up and running. If your computer stops after a restart during SP2 installation and displays a blue screen with the following error message, you probably have the third-party T.V. Media advertising program installed, which can cause the installa-tion process to fail: A problem has been detected and Win-dows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer... Technical information: STOP: c0000135 {Unable To Locate Component} This application has failed to start be-cause winsrv was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem. As we mentioned before, visiting Win-dows Update and installing High Prior-ity Updates before upgrading to SP2 will address this conflict and allow SP2 to install correctly. However, if you’ve already installed SP2 and this issue is preventing you from completing the


Article:

Preventing Lockups When Upgrading to Windows XP Service Pack 2

Published: November 23, 2004 By Denny Atkin, Windows User Assistance Writer


An important way to insure a carefree upgrade is to visit the Windows Update website and install any available critical updates before attempting to install SP2.


installation, you’ll need to use the Re-covery Console to remove the partially installed SP2 update from your com-puter, and then either remove the T.V. Media application or install the Adware T.V. Media Remove Tool package http://support.microsoft.com/kb/886590. The steps for doing this are outlined in Knowledge Base article 885523. If your computer freezes with no er-ror message when starting up after installing SP2, you may be experiencing a conflict between certain computer BIOS revisions and the Prescott C-0 version of the Intel Celeron and Pentium 4 processors. (The BIOS is the built-in software that handles starting your com-puter, before Windows loads. Some older BIOS versions don’t properly sup-port that particular processor version.) Advanced users should try to find up-dated BIOS files on their computer manufacturer’s web site. If one is un-available, or if you’re not familiar with how to update a BIOS, you’ll find proce-dures in Knowledge Base article 885626 that will allow you to boot your system and apply the update that addresses the Prescott issue. If you encounter other difficulties dur-ing SP2 installation and are unable to successfully boot your computer, it’s possible to use the Automatic Recovery feature to restore your computer to its pre-SP2 installation configuration. You’ll need to locate your Windows XP installation CD and then refer to Knowl-edge Base article 875355 for full details on the commands you’ll use to uninstall SP2. After following the instructions in the article, your system should be back to the state that it was in before the up-grade. You’ll also find instructions on how to gather information that you can send to a Microsoft Product Support Service professional who can work with you to diagnose the issue so that you can successfully install SP2. Denny Atkin is a writer for the Microsoft Windows User Assistance group. He’s au-thored a number of computer tutorial and tips books, and has written about technology topics since 1987 for magazines ranging from OMNI to Computer Gaming World.

(Continued from page 14) Article Preventing Lockups with SP2

I saw Frys’ ad today for a 1 gig Memorex thumb drive and it re-

minded me that I had some comments to make about a recent article in the news-letter about a Lexar drive. I run Win ME on my desk machine and my wife has a laptop with Win 98. About a year ago I purchased a Memorex 128 Meg thumb drive to transfer quilting data files from the laptop to my machine for hard copy printing. The files were much too large for a floppy and the laptop only has a CD reader, not a writer. The Memorex drive works perfectly on 98 with the furnished driver and on ME as long as it is plugged in before ME is up. I have been using a 1 gig Sydex remov-able drive for my financial data, but it is somewhat troublesome, probably because of dirt that can get into the drive. A few months ago I saw the 1 gig Lexar drive on sale and I bought it to replace the Sy-dex drive. The Lexar drive with ME is quirky to say the least. After consultation with tech service and much experimenta-tion I have developed a procedure to make it work with my ME. The driver to make the Lexar work with 98 is not furnished, but it can be downloaded from the Web. I haven't tried it on the laptop, so I don't know how well it operates with 98. The .DLL file to use the secure feature of the Lexar is a part of Win XP. Also, an earlier version of the same .DLL is part of Win 2000. I don't know if the .DLL was copied to 98 or ME whether or not it would work. I can't see much use for a secure password protected space on a removable drive, but when connected to an XP machine the program for the se-cure space seems to work. The Lexar is sold to work with 98 and ME, but as I noted above it is very pecu-liar to use on ME. I found that if the drive is connected at computer turn on, ME decides that it is both a second fixed drive

and a removable drive, by giving it two drive letters. The first copy is drive D which then changes all the drive letters for the partitions on my primary drive. The second copy is drive M at the end of the drive and CD drive letter chain. Dis-connecting the drive removes M but not D, although then D can't then be ac-cessed. The Memorex drive is always assigned a single drive letter at the end of the chain as long as it is plugged in at start up. If either the Memorex or the Lexar or both are plugged in after start up ME recognizes them, but refuses to as-sign drive letters so that neither is acces-sible. The only way that I have found to use the Lexar drive with ME is to have the Memorex drive connected at turn on, and then connect the Lexar drive after ME is up and running. I realize that some of the problem can probably be traced to ME, but even with XP the device man-ager sees the Lexar as a fixed drive and the Memorex as a removable drive. I'm not sure how XP assigns the Lexar (or Memorex) a drive letter, since the ma-chine that I tried it on didn't have a parti-tioned C drive. I suspect that the Lexar secure area is just a hidden partition, and that the Lexar probably uses the boot sector code for a fixed drive rather than a removable drive so that the hidden partition can be set up. I haven't attempted to pursue this any further since I finally learned how to use the Lexar, and I don't want to risk mess-ing it up totally by changing the boot sector. My point of this rather long winded story is that I would recommend the Memorex 1 gig drive over the Lexar drive any day.

Recommendation by TUGNET member, George Speck

May 2005 Page 16

Article

Dona’s Computer Capers©

Always Something New and Valuable

By Dona Z. Meilach

N ew scams and ways to create them then thwart them keeps

everyone on their toes. If you haven’t heard of “pharming” you’ll learn why it’s important to know about it. Then there are new product combinations such as binoculars with a camera. For the drivers in your household, check out Roadwise software. PHISHING, PHARMING, PHOOEY By now the word phishing and all its scam connotations is pretty much in the computer/technology lexicon. According to a Gartner report published in mid-May, there have been 1.8 million re-ported scams in the United States. Over half resulted in the fraudulent use of credit cards or other financial data. More than 57 million Americans have re-ceived phishing emails, and phishing has accounted for $1.2 billion annually in credit card scams, Phishing artists hook unwary internet users one by one into compromising their personal data. But that’s small fry as phishers leave their ponds for bigger waters. The latest cyberswindle, is dubbed “pharming,” whereby the con men go after entire land masses of com-puter users. A pharmer’s plot is to redirect many, many users’ legitimate commercial web-sites they intended to visit and lead them to malicious ones that simulate real ones. The malicious ones, made without a company’s awareness or permission, will look the same as a genuine site. But when users enter their login name and password, the information is captured by

criminals. Phishers have to approach their targets one by one. Pharmers can scoop up many victims in a single pass The larger result of pharming is called DNS poisoning, DNS stands for Domain Name System which translates web and email addresses into numerical strings, acting as a sort of telephone directory for the internet. If a DNS directory is “poisoned” — altered to contain false information regarding which web ad-dress is associated with what numeric string — users can be silently shuttled to a bogus website even if they type in the correct URL. Unfortunately pharmers have honed their craft, and improved their lure. “The first pharming sites were relatively easy to spot: they were filled with typos, grammatical errors and skewed URLs,” noted Richi Jennings, leader of the anti-spam practice at Ferris Research Inc., an email market research firm. “Recently, the attacks have become more difficult to discern because the fraudulent sites closely resemble legitimate Web sites.. To keep up with the latest information on pharming, put the word in your search engine; you’ll be amazed at what turns up. And it changes daily as more scams are uncovered and reported. Pharming has so many potential branches for swindlers to travel that it almost makes it mandatory to go back to telephones and faxes for communicating. CAMERA BINOCULARS Now your binoculars can multi-task as they include a camera piggy-backed on to them. “The idea of camera-binoculars makes obvious, satisfying sense; as hy-brid gadgets go, they rank right up there

with the clock radio and the toaster oven,” says David Pogue in the New York Times. “You should be warned, though, that the majority of digital bin-oculars sold through catalogs in the $50 to $80 range are no-name models that take camera-phone-quality 640-by-480-pixel photos.”

Fortunately, better ones are now on the market from reliable manufacturers. Still the technology is young. There are the Bushnell Instant Replay and Compact Instant Replay, the Celestron VistaPix and the Meade CaptureView CV-4 — in the $160 to $425 range that do what they are advertised to do.. While the binoculars retain their high ratings, the cameras are lacking. Photo resolution is fairly low: two or three megapixels, suitable for 8-by-10 prints at best. Several digital camera features are missing, too, including optical zoom, rechargeable batteries and flash (not that a flash would be useful at 100 feet). These are fixed-focus cameras, too. Unfortunately, photo quality on some models is unacceptable because the




images are blurred or not close enough to the subject. All four models are rug-gedly built and offer 8X magnification. All four let you turn on the camera por-tion independently (the binoculars al-ways work). All four take AA or AAA batteries, and their juice is quickly used up so you always have to take extra bat-teries. You can show the pictures on a TV and transfer them to a Windows computer. Search for “camera-binoculars” to locate websites and reviews of the products. COMPUTER BASED DRIVER REACTION TEST If you have elderly parents, or other relatives, who insist on driving when their sharpness faculties diminish, here’s a software program that may help them realize that they could pose a road haz-ard to others and to themselves.

“Roadwise Review” is offered through the AAA Motor Club and it could be yours, theirs, and everyone else’s best investment in safety.

But it’s not only for the elderly; its re-markable testing system should and could, be used by everyone. The makers suggest that the test be taken every year and the results marked and compared. The tests are designed to check a per-son’s functional abilities; they have nothing to do with driving skills. They identify specific impairments that may pose a risk in many common driving situations. The results are private —

only the person taking the test needs to see the results. Some tests can be ac-complished with a partner, but it’s not essential. After loading the program on a PC from a CD ROM drive, a narrator and his wife, lead you through the program while you click on the menus to con-tinue through the tests. The tests are impressive. A visual filed test is similar to one given by an ophthalmologist to test peripheral vision. How quickly can you spot a car or truck appearing at dif-ferent places on your screen? Other tests are for leg strength, head/neck flexibility, high-contrast visual acuity, visualizing missing information, visual searching, and working memory. It will take about 30 –45 minutes to complete the test. If your results indicate an area that requires checking, the pro-gram will tell you what to look for and how to try to improve it. It will recom-mend when to see a physician about a condition. The program costs $5.00 for members, $15.00 for non-members from your AAA office or from www.aaa.com. Dona Meilach is the author of over 85 books with 10 on computers. Her latest book, just out, is TEAPOTS: MAK-ERS & COLLEC-TORS. Other com-puter organizations interested in run-ning this column should contact the au-thor. The column is also available as a free E-zine. Subscribe DCC: Contact [email protected]. Dona’s Computer Capers may also be found at http://www.smalladdictions.com/Skateboard.

(Continued from page 16) Dona’s Computer Capers

“FRIENDS” OF TUGNET

In future issues of Keywords we will provide advertising space to busi-nesses and organizations that our members patronize. These advertisements will appear in the newsletter as a reproduction of business cards and will cost the displayer $15.00 per issue. We anticipate that we will feature up to eight cards per issue. Our monthly newsletter gets distributed to approximately 500 people. When a business advertises with us, they become a FRIEND OF TUGNET which will be the title of our advertising page. Our membership will be asked, on this page, to patronize these “Friends” who are helping us raise money for our club. It’s a give and take situation; they help us — we help them. Any kind of business qualifies as a Friend: your hairdresser, mechanic, jew-elry store, Realtor, insurance agent, market, cleaner, hardware store, etc. Most of us have a family member or an acquaintance who is in business. Ask them to become FRIENDS OF TUGNET. It will only cost them $15.00/month. Any Board member can accept a check and business card. Let’s all help.

May 2005 Page 18

DOS

James Burton [email protected] 818-344-5300

Eudora Roger Poverny [email protected]

Hardware Installation

Ethan Albert [email protected] 818-886-7561

Internet—General Roger Poverny [email protected]

Microsoft Publisher

Kay Winnert [email protected] 818-884-9441

Tech Notes

Roger Radcliffe [email protected] 818-249-1629

Word Marcie Green 818-594-1272

Internet Explorer

Richard Johnson 818-240-7283

Outlook Express Richard Johnson 818-240-7283

Gmail

Richard Johnson 818-240-7283 Pagemaker

Roger Poverny [email protected]

Print Artist

Jim Burton [email protected] 818-344-5300

Quickbooks Pro5 Rich Kimmell [email protected]

Windows thru 95

Ethan Albert [email protected] 818-886-7561

Windows 98 Jim Burton [email protected]

818-344-5300 Windows ME

Jim Burton [email protected] 818-344-5300

Windows XP Jim Burton [email protected]

818-344-5300 WordPerfect

Marian Radcliffe [email protected] Marcie Green 818-594-1272

Susan Kennedy [email protected]

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Documents

May 3 HIGH POWER 2005.pdf · May 3 HIGH POWER Electronics, Inc. May 10 Computing 101 May 17 ATI Technologies, Inc. May 24 Ulead professional looking items at home or May 31