Evergreen Computer Club

Minutes of Monthly Meetings

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From meeting of 12 December, 2011

Announcements: A review of the Club web page(s) tonight.

Treasurer's Report: Jacqueline reported we have $243 in the account plus tonight's. A donation to the GWSA will be made before the end of the year.

Program: Gord showed a Globe and Mail report about Extended Warranties on electronics and about what to consider for your money. Several had views on this. Also a presentation about printing papers for general and photo printing. Then a short page on NTFS vs. FAT32 file systems.

The website was discussed and besides modernizing it, the consensus was we:

Ken R. who is the GWSA webmaster may help us with this. * Discussion later - we may incorporate it in the main page if we can.

Problems: A few were discussed throughout the meeting. One was how to put a macro into email. Outlook is used by one for having 3-5 macros available. In other mail programs and web based mail, Doug told us he created a short page in his "drafts" folder so he can copy and paste desired phrases into his message. Good idea!

Bob's Tip of the Month: Is about hiding Win7 updates. It will be on the Club website (hints and tips) at http://www.gwsa-guelph.ca/computerclub/ in a few days, or more if updating the website.

Anyone have a speaker in mind, please make a preliminary contact. Other suggestions are welcomed too.

Ken's Website of the Month Manuals and User Guides on the Internet. Not one specific site, but they are out there. Use as much info as you can in the search criteria. (I prefer actual manufacturer's websites where possible - Gord)
Examples: Create a "Manuals" or "User Guides" folder on your desktop
You may want to get the pdf version of a guide, even if you have the hardcopy. Freerice With Freerice, you can do good by having fun. Answer one of the multiple-choice questions correctly - on topics such as English vocabulary, geography or chemistry - and the site's sponsors will donate 10 grains of rice to the U.N. World Food Programme. It doesn't sound like a major act of charity - but so many people answer so many questions that the site is responsible for the donation of hundreds of millions of grains of rice every month. That's enough to make a major difference for tens of thousands of hungry people in Haiti and other countries that need help.

Next Meeting: Monday, Jan. 09.


From meeting of 14 November, 2011

There were 15 people were present including 2 new potential members. Those of us in the executive wish we could get more people out. Changing the meeting time etc. is not a viable option with the Centre schedule. Anyone have a speaker in mind, please make a preliminary contact. Other suggestions are welcomed too.

Announcements: Just about updating your G/WSA membership and info on list circulated and the GWSA board is tasked with gaining more income. Activity groups were asked if they could raise their session fees. Those present were basically against any raise of the present $3.

Treasurer's Report: Jacqueline reported we have $150 in the account plus tonight's.

Program: Gord showed a brief synopsis of the 10000 year clock now being built. The full article is at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/profiles/engineering-the-10-000year-clock/0

Ken added how to run many Windows programs on Linux using "Wine", the acronym for Windows emulator.

Gord showed the tool to find a word(s) in IE and Firefox. Also an example of a website that would not allow pictures to print and a method to get around this. Some discussion of the methods others used too.

A reminder that if you wish to update to IE9 (Internet Explorer 9) your operating system must be Windows 7.

Doug later sent along his info about stripping unwanted email characters. EmailStripper is available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm

Stripping of ads, etc. from web pages was brought up. Some time ago, Doug told us about the site: https://www.readability.com/ also, a Firefox add-on now (Gord has it on his Firefox) at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/readability/

Problems: A few were discussed. Music format for downloading and converting these. Claude had some info how to do it.


Bob's Tip of the Month: Is about getting larger fonts displayed without a mouse wheel. It will be on the Club website at http://www.gwsa-guelph.ca/computerclub/ in a few days.


Ken's Website(s) of the Month: www.smartcomputing.com This is the online version of the Smart Computing magazine. You can view the current issue, but need to have a paid subscription if you want to view any articles from back issues. The feature articles are good, but mostly I read the tips: Readers' Tips, "Windows News, Views & Tips", Software Updates, News from the Help Desk, Web Tips, and "Find It Online".


Next Meeting: Monday, Dec. 12.

 03 October, 2011

There were 13 people were present including 1 new potential member.

Announcements:   *Just about updating your G/WSA membership and info on  list circulated.

Treasurer's Report: There is

Program: Ken showed his older acquired laptop he reformatted and loaded Linux (free) onto.He found it performed very well as per his demos on the big screen. It really gives him a complete travel system of all free software with Open Office, Email, Browser and much more. I think people are afraid of Linux but it is the basis for many IPads and other devices in common use.

Doug forwarded a website link that was shown.Everyone and those with families should view it asit shows what caveats can occur if certain cell phone camera functions are not turned off.

Go to:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vARzvWxwY

Gord gave an intro to some blogging and an example.He may do more for November.

New business: Ken introduced his new "Website of the Month" as printed below.

Problems: A few were discussed.

Tip of the Month: Bob Ellis' tip of the month is Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft introduced a feature called SmartScreen to help you avoid, phishing websites and malicious downloads. Go to the Club website *http://www.gwsa-guelph.ca/computerclub/ in a few days.


Next Meeting: Monday, Nov. 14.










Updated Jan. 2012 by G.C.