OCTOBER 2003 - Vol 19 - Issue 10

Newsletter - Internet Edition

The election of officers went well this year, we have filled all but two positions. We have atleast one possibility for one, but still really need someone to cover the other. In a couple months, someone may be able to cover the webeditor position, but no one has expressed a desire to fill the program director position.

This is a really important position, as we must have someone to coordinate and direct the scheduling of activities and presentations of our monthly meetings.

It is one of the more difficult positions, as contacting presenters does take some time, but a retired person could very easily find the daytime hours to make phone calls and emails to get in contact with these companies.

We have some extensive information available on many companies around the country that go around to user groups making presentations, and there are often local companies that will come in to make presentations. Many of our last couple year's programs have been the 'home grown' variety, where a member with a particular skill or knowledge of a program makes the presentation. It is possible that we will find some more of those and those will be easily filled meeting agendas.

If you are interested in this position, or know of someone who might be, please contact myself or Paul Simpson. Also, if you are one of those people with a special talent or knowledge who could do a presentation, PLEASE let us schedule you to do a meeting!

The new Microsoft Office System is coming, and Microsoft is offering special previews for Mindshare User Group members. This firsthand look will provide a sneak peek at the new Microsoft Office System and you how to maximize your productivity at home and at the office, reduce spam, customize your email, and much more. Microsoft has developed a series of interactive pre-launch activities that demonstrate how the latest Microsoft Office System is loaded with features that make it better than ever. To sign up for one of the many interactive demos, webcasts, workshops, or special events planned nationwide, visit the events registration page:

http://www.officesystem2003events.com/

Did you ever lose a font? A year or so ago I made up and printed a sheet of business cards that I was happy with. Last week, I gave away my last one. (I go through about one card a month.) When I opened the business card again (in Corel Draw-7), it complained that it could not find the font Andy Bold, and asked which font to substitute.

Let me mention that I am not much of a font person. I usually couldn't care less about which font to use. I am an engineer, more interested in the meaning of the words than in how they are drawn. Arial, Courier, and Times New Roman are about all I ever use. But for my business card, I wanted something to reflect my casual insouciance, and convey the fact that I have a passion for informality, and that I am really not looking for work. Since I had put a good 10-15 minutes into the original font selection, I was somewhat concerned, and more than somewhat irritated that it was no longer available. So, I decided to hunt the critter down.

First, I looked for "Andy" in every font folder on 3 computers. (I couldn't remember which machine I had used to print the cards.) Nothing like Andy Bold anywhere. Then I remembered, Windows applications (for the most part) keep their fonts in the C:\Windows\Fonts folder, and most applications just reach into this folder to use a font. And applications rarely delete their fonts when they are uninstalled. So any font that was ever put on a computer is likely still there, unless major surgery has been done. This fact pointed to my laptop computer as the culprit, as I had recently done a clean-install of WindowsXP, whereas the other computers had been little changed over the year. Regular experimentation had caused numerous apps to be installed on the laptop, then when the new version of Windows was installed only those apps still needed were re-installed.

But which of those non-reinstalled applications came with the Andy Bold font? First a web-search on "lost font"-wow, I am not the only one who has lost a font. Over 300 web pages containing "lost font", none of which were very promising. Many of the links were inactive, and advertising overwhelmed others, and I was getting nowhere. Another search on "Andy Bold", only a few hits this time, and here was a "Bulkley Valley Christian" school web page, with a note that to appreciate the page you needed to have Andy Bold installed on your computer. And there was a link promising to let me download AndyB.ttf ! Unfortunately, it was another broken link. Most likely, someone had remembered that the fonts are copyrighted, and shouldn't be downloaded.

In frustration, I finally gave-up, and printed 2 new sheets of business cards in Balloon... or Plump or Poster Boldoni, not sure which. Of course, the new cards were not out of the printer when I had another thought-maybe someone at Microsoft had considered this problem. Sure enough they had. It is not easy to find, but once you know where to look,

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.asp has a search engine that will allow you to find which applications came with which fonts.

A quick lookup, and there was what I needed. Andy Bold is distributed with Microsoft Home Publisher, part of the never used software that had come with my laptop. A quick dig through my stack of CD-ROMs, and there it was, in the MHP\Fonts folder, an icon labeled AndyB.ttf. I drag it over to my Windows\Fonts folder, and it automatically installs, and I can now print my cards like I want them. Unfortunately, I have a 2-year supply of them done with the other font. Anyone want a card? Aw come on-please take a card.

Author: Mick Topping, Springfield, Missouri User Groups, mtopping@mchsi.com 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 of which this group is a member.

The GenSIG meeting was held Sat, Sept 13, 2003 at Greencroft Senior Center in the Conference Room at Goshen, IN at 10am to noon.

The first hour was a general discussion of problems and trying to solve these issues for the members. We also had a discussion about New York State Historical Society by two of our members. We learned that Cooperstown was a location that many ancestors came to from the Erie Canal and then migrated west.

Susan Eppich, a guest, visited us at this meeting and talked about her experiences working at the LDS Family Center. She brought up how valuable old maps are in locating your ancestors. We hope she will come back to future meetings.

The second hour we talked about using the Internet to find our ancestors. We discussed some sites that could be helpful to the members. Our next meeting will be October 11 at the Greencroft Senior Center. Anyone interested please join us.

New members may not be aware of the EPCUG e-mail list. The list is free and available to all EPCUG members.

The e-mail list can be used for a variety of purposes. It is used to send news about EPCUG events to members, such as cancelled meetings or changes in programs. But, perhaps most importantly, the list is a way for members to receive help with computer problems or get answers to questions they have about their computers. All you have to do to join is follow these easy steps:

1) Send an e-mail to myself at nisly@epcug.org telling me you would like to be on the list. Include your NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE#, AND EMAIL ADDRESS.

2) Respond to the e-mail that I send to you.

This process is necessary because the e-mail list is not open to non-members. We use this procedure to verify each person seeking to join is a member of EPCUG and to reject those who are not members. In your e-mail to me be sure to tell me whether you want to be on the immediate list which sends out each e-mail as it is posted, or the digest form which comes only once a day with all that day's e-mails contained in one message (which is generally only 1 or 2 e-mails, and many days none at all). You should also know that EPCUG does not sell its mailing lists nor does it send Spam to e-mail list members.

When you have successfully completed the sign-up process, you should receive an e-mail welcoming you to the EPCUG e-mail list with instructions on how to post messages. If you have any questions or problems joining the e-mail list, send an e-mail to me at nisly@epcug.org.