MAY 2002 - Vol 18 - Issue 05

Newsletter - Internet Edition

The Latest Maintenance And Protection Tools Safeguard Your Data

Since it will be a while before I learn how to get my graphic printouts to line up correctly on pre-perforated paper, I decided to simply save money on mistakes and take matters into my own hands. So, for the Feb. graphics SIG, I briefly demonstrated how I make business cards, greeting cards, and photo prints without the perforated paper that I can't always figure out how to line up.

For now, I use Epson Matte Heavyweight paper (52-lb) for everything. It makes a thin but acceptable bus. card, and it doesn't stick to glass photo frames. As shown at the meeting, it yields rich, dark colors too.

For business card software, I use Print Artist and can get it to print TWELVE cards per 8? x11 sheet with hairline crop marks that get split in two and don't show. The pre-perforated bus. card sheets I've seen yield only ten and thus leave wasted paper.

For bus. cards, greeting cards, and photos alike, I use the following equipment. I place an 11x15 Good Cook Flexible Cutting Board (about $2.95) from H-E-B's cooking utensils section down on my table surface. Yes, it gets cut marks in it, but that's what its for! I heard at the meeting that a fabric store has more costly cutting mats that 'heal' after you cut into them thus preventing the knife from following a previous groove. To cut, I use an Exacto knife (from Hobby Lobby) and keep it covered with its plastic cap when not in use. For the projects without crop marks like photos, I use 2 sharp pencil marks to determine where to cut.

I place the knife on the mark first, then slide a cork-backed metal ruler (available cheap at Office Depot) against the knife at my first point. Then, holding the ruler down with my finger out of the pensive. Measure the frame's inside dimensions for white border (cutting purposes) and from the front of the frame measure for printing purposes but be sure no white will show after framing. Better to think this all out and practice on Crayola-colored notebook paper than mess up a print. 'Measure twice'

One thing I didn't cover at the meeting was folding greeting cards. I place two pencil marks down the center of where I need to fold Then I put the ruler edge over the marks and use a pizza cutter roller to crease neatly the fold I need. Care is needed to avoid rolling away from the ruler's edge. The resulting fold looks professional!

About the Author: Bruce Switalla is a member of the Coastal Area Users Group (CAUG). His E-mail address is bswit@usa.net. There is no restriction against any non-profit group using the article as long as it is kept in context, with proper credit given to the author. This article is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an International organization. Please let Bruce know if you use his article.

Years ago, when I decided it was time for a new PC, I built my own. In those days it was possible to save hundreds of dollars with a “home brew.” When you successfully booted up for the very first time, “The Thrill of Victory” took on a meaning all its own. Things changed, time passed and one day it no longer made economic sense to build your own machine. Except for dedicated hobbyists, no one builds their own automobile anymore and the PC went down that same congested highway.

You’re most likely not going to build a PC from scratch, but maybe you will buy that brand new digital doodad. All the PC magazines have published rave reviews about it and all your friends are wondering how they ever managed to survive without it. You're all ready to rip the packaging to shreds and install it. Stop! Cease! Desist! Halt!

Before you do anything else, rein in your enthusiasm and do some groundwork. You want your installation smooth and as trouble free as possible. Surgeons carefully prepare before surgery and you need to prepare for your upgrade. Follow these simple rules before rushing in where angels fear to tread, and your chances of attaining PC Nirvana will improve dramatically.

1) Always allow yourself plenty of time. If you think the job will take two hours, schedule four hours to allow for unanticipated roadblocks. Even the simplest installations can run into problems. Sometimes a straightforward expansion card installation can become enormously complicated by a stripped screw. Not only do you have to take Murphy's Law into account, but keep in mind that Murphy was an optimist.

2) Back up your system before making any changes. I don't care how simple you think the job is. Too many tears have been shed by not doing a complete system backup first. Power failures can occur at any time. Don't rule out a meteor strike.

3) Make sure pets and children are kept away from the open PC. Toddlers are insatiably curious about everything. You don't want a pet or a child cut by an exposed component with sharp edges.

4) Make sure computer and peripherals are ALL unplugged, and never touch any exposed components in your PC without "discharging". Discharging happens when you touch something metallic to remove static electricity. One accidental jolt of static electricity has been known to fry motherboards and reduce grown men to quivering blobs of jelly. Small dogs and children sometimes don't do well when jolted by static electricity. Neither might you.

5) Turn your PC off and leave it off for several hours before opening. Internal components can get very hot during operation. Allow sufficient cooling off time before starting any project that requires removing the covers from your machine.

6) Have the right tools handy. Many PC manufacturers have made the upgrade process much simpler than it used to be. If all you're doing is installing a board in a PCI slot, you may not need anything more exotic than a screwdriver. A new motherboard installation could be somewhat more complicated. At a bare minimum you need a Phillips screwdriver and a pair of needle-nosed pliers.

7) Follow all the installation instructions to the letter, since even "insignificant" steps that may seem unimportant can turn out to be essential. The manufacturer went to the trouble and expense of printing the instructions for a reason. Ignore the printed instructions at your peril.

8) Don't dither about consulting an expert if you get stuck. World-class physicians don't hesitate to ask for a second opinion. Why should you be any different?

9) Make a startup diskette. It takes only a few minutes and can save your butt.

How to avoid common problems and what to do when they happen anyway.

Summary

Many of us use e-mail on a daily basis and we use different e-mail programs depending on what we want from it. Here are a few that are available.

Free Programs...such as Juno do not require you to have an internet account with anyone. They simply let you send and receive e-mail (including attachments) without any internet surfing. This means that you have no monthly or hourly charge to worry about.

E-mail programs that require an Internet account... this is what most of use, be it thru providors like AOL, Prodigy, MSN or an independent internet providor such as Gower, Ballistic, Flashnet, Cox-Internet etc.. where you would use programs such as Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger, Eudora or my favorite Incredimail. http://www.incredimail.com/

Many of you have not heard of it, and I would like to take this opportunity to speak a little about it. Incredimail is provided to you free of charge...unless you choose to get the full program ($29), which basically provides support (which I have used and is pretty good) and allows you to preview your messages on the server prior to you downloading them.

It comes with a demo program of Letter Creators (you're allowed to make 1-3 letters before you have to purchase the full version at $39...or get both for the price of $49). IM offers you e-cards, letter backgrounds, sounds and animation that you can add to personalize your e-mail. It also come with an mail notifier (of your choice) which will tell you when you have new mail. You can even make your own handwritten signature to add to your mail.

The thing I like about Incredimail (IM) is that I have such a large variety of letter backgrounds to choose from that I can add to personalize my e-mails. Besides the basic ones that come standard in the program, there are many more backgrounds, e-cards, animation and sounds that can be added (all free of charge) without having to make your own...if you're not talented enough like me...by going to Incredimails's multimedia web gallery, or to one of the many IM websites where you can find a variety of all of these plus help with problems you may encounter. These sites also list other sites where you can learn how to make your own backgrounds using either Letter Creator or using a different program such as Paint Shop Pro.

One of the IM letter sites I went to (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A_S-A-F-E_Place/) offers a link to tutorial classes at http://enchanted1designs.com/abcs/about.html that have at least 2 tutorial links every week for the following subjects: psp (paint shop pro), eye candy (plug-in for psp), blade pro (plug-in for psp), sig tags, making letters for LC/Incredimail & 20/20. Classes last for 8 weeks & have a top limit of 30 "students" per class. The owners of this tutorial site, Becky & Candy, said, We have had great success with the classes so far & have high hopes of it's continuous success!" Hey... If I'm in the class, they can't be bad...right??? So check it out!!

Ok, some people (I won't mention any names Wayne) don't like me to use this program because it takes a little longer to download than a standard e-mail, but at least I don't use sound which DOES take a long time to due to the midi or wav file attachment..... All you have to remember is that the more you add to an e-mail, the longer it will take to download. If someone does not like receiving these stationary" e-mails, ask them to let you know and you can then select a no background" and they will receive a standard e-mail with a white background. Most people do not mind that it takes a little longer since there are so many neat backgrounds or sidebars (including your own pictures) that can be seen and that they can snag" or add to their own collection just by viewing yours.

One thing about e-mail programs, you **do** have a few choices... you do not have to stay with the default selection that is given you. Use your imagination... use it in color... use it with pictures...it's all up to you!!

About the Author: Sigrid Foreman is a member of the Tyler Computer Club. Her email address is sigrid@tyler.net. There is no restriction against any non-profit group using the article as long as it is kept in context, with proper credit given to the author. This article is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an International organization to which this user group belongs.

..... I want to start writing a column for the EPCUG newsletter to try to better 'get the pulse' of the members. The club size seems to have dropped from a few years when I first became a member. Looking back to those days, it was different then. Most programs fit on a floppy. A 100 meg hard drive was humongous! But technology has changed and programs are much more sophisticated. Now a new machine is 1.5 GHz Pentium 4 with 256 meg of ram. They also include a CD-RW and DVD drive. Some programs are starting to come on DVD's instead of CD's. 1 DVD holds about 5 CD's which makes it easier for the manufacturer to deliver their software and related files since they don't need to package multiple CD's.

Many of the new machines come with Microsoft Works which now includes Microsoft Word as the word processor which is much better than the previous versions. When you buy a new machine you usually get 6 to 12 months of 'free' Internet service. Many even come with a 'free' virus scan program for 90 days or so.

With these thoughts in mind, I thought it might be of value to the members to have a meeting about "I just bought a new computer with ..... on it. How can I get the most value for my investment?" Meetings could be how to organize your hard drive and store your information. As Jon Slough said at the last meeting, he had one client who had 160+ files on his desk top and even running very high resolution, he could not see them all. Also you have to be careful on how many files you put in your "root directory" since there is a limit.

Many machines come with Quicken and/or Money. These programs are great for managing and tracking your personal finances, whether they are just your check book and credit cards to your complete financial portfolio.

With these thoughts in mind, I would like to plan sessions in the future covering:

* How to organize my hard drive?

* What can I do with Microsoft Works that came with my PC?

* How should I set up my new "free" Internet and handle my email address change?

* How do I setup Quicken / Money track my finances?

* What should I do with the Norton / McAfee suite that came with my machine and how to I keep them up to date?

* How do I network my machines together and share printers?

* I have High Speed Internet available. How should I connect to it and how do I protect myself?

* What are "Easter Eggs" and what are some of them included with my computer?

* Microsoft is advertising .NET a lot lately. What is it and how does it affect a home user?

* I put together a machine from parts at the computer show. How can I be sure I have a current BIOS and drivers and where do I get updates?

These are a list of possible meeting topics. We need to do a lot of planning to get a speaker to cover the subject. If we want to get Microsoft, Norton, McAfee, etc. to speak at the meeting, we need to plan months in advance. I also understand that there is a Quicken users group in the area. They may have speakers available to demonstrate the proper way to use Quicken.

Please send me or any of the officers an email on which programs especially interest you. We will then work to try to arrange them. You can write to me at vicepres@epcug.org or W3GQJ@arrl.net. Thank you.