Diablo Blue

The Newsletter of the Diablo Valley PC Users Group

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OCTOBER 2, 2008 MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

Adobe Premier Elements Version 7
Presenter: Barry Brown, DVPC

Adobe is in the process of releasing new versions of most of their flagship software. This includes Premier Elements, released as version 7. DVPC's Barry Brown expects his copy to be shipped prior to our October 2 meeting, and if it arrives he will give us a demonstration of its features, highlighting what's new. Premier Elements is an easy to use yet powerful video editing program. With Premier Elements you can:

• Create movies in minutes
• Edit to the beat of the music
• Add narration to your movie
• Add titles and animated text
• See examples of titles and animated text
• Add effects and transitions
• See examples of effects and transitions
• Create a picture-in-picture effect
• Add animations to your movies

For those who already have Premier Elements, or have been waiting for new features, this will be a very interesting demonstration.

If Barry's copy doesn't arrive in time, he will give a demonstration using Premier Elements version 4 and show how he converted a TV commercial into a web movie.

Note that version 4 is the immediately prior version of Premier Elements. Adobe skipped ahead to version 7 to bring it in line with Photoshop Elements which is being upgraded from version 6 to version 7.

This month's meeting will be interesting, and informative. We'll see you on Thursday, October 2, at Diablo Valley College.

NOTE: Diablo Valley College has parking permit dispensers that take dollar bills as well as nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar coins, and will at some time in the future take credit cards. No longer do you have to have a collection of eight quarters to buy your parking permit! Note that these parking permit dispensers do not make change.

Where and When We Meet

DVPC monthly meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at Diablo Valley College In Pleasant Hill, California, on the Main Campus located at 321 Golf Club Road. We meet in room H109 in the Humanities Building. See the campus map on the About DVPC page for driving directions, parking information, and how to get to room H109. Remember: there's a $2.00 parking fee, payable at the ticket machines in each lot. These ticket machines take dollar bills and quarters, but do not give change so be sure to bring correct bills and/or quarters to buy your parking ticket. Place the ticket face up on the driver's side of your dashboard.

We have a Networking Table from 6:30 to 7:00; if you have something to sell or trade, need technical help, or just want to exchange views, visit the Networking Table. The regular monthly meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with Random Access where you can ask questions or report on technical problems, followed by a presentation by our guest speaker. Also, as usual, we'll have SIG news and some of our usual great door prizes.

Driving Directions:
680 Northbound:
Exit at Willow Pass Road
At the end of the exit ramp turn left onto Willow Pass Road
Continue on Willow Pass Road to the second signal and
turn right onto Contra Costa Blvd.

680 Southbound:
Exit at Concord Ave.
At the end of the exit ramp turn left on Contra Costa Blvd.

Direction into the Campus:
Continue on Contra Costa Blvd. to the signal at Golf Club Road and turn into Golf Club Road. At the second entrance into the campus turn left then immediately right to parking lot 7. Turn left into lot 7. Park (but don't use parking spaces that are reserved for faculty and staff only), then purchase a parking permit (see Parking Fees below) and put it on your dashboard. Click on this link (www.dvpc.org/about.html) to see:
> a detailed DVC map showing parking and our meeting room
> a map for driving to DVC
> an aerial view of the DVC campus

Parking fees:
On the Pleasant Hill campus parking permits are $2.00 per day. You can purchase permits at the parking permit machines marked with a red star on the maps on the DVPC website. Parking permit machines take nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar coins. Note that these parking permit dispensers do not make change. DVC parking permits are required Monday through Friday at all times that classes are in session. That includes the times that DVPC meetings are held! Do not park in metered or faculty/staff spaces.

You need to purchase a parking permit and place it face up on your dashboard so it is clearly visible through the windshield. If you attend classes at DVC and have a campus parking permit, you can use it when you attend DVPC meetings.

Some members park (for free) in the College Park High School lot across Viking Drive from the DVC campus. Do so at your own risk!

Parking violations:
Be sure to purchase a parking permit! Fines range from $35 for parking in a regular space without a permit, to over $275 for illegally parking in a space reserved for the handicapped.

Parking alternatives:
Some members carpool and share the parking fee; they park at Sun Valley Mall, have dinner at one of the many restaurants in the mall, then take one car to the meeting. Some members park in the lots in front of College Park High School, which is across Viking Drive from DVC. Remember: if you decide to use any of these parking alternatives, you do so at your own risk!

Diablo Blue Password Access
by Ron Ogg, DVPC

You will need the monthly password to access the current issue of the newsletter. If you are a paid-up member of DVPC you'll receive an email message, usually on the Weekend prior to the meeting, with the password.

As each month's issue is uploaded, it's placed in a password protected folder on dvpc.org. When you click on the link to go to the newsletter, a dialog box will be displayed asking for the password from the email message. The password is case-sensitive; either copy it from the email message or make sure you type it correctly.

As we add the current month's newsletter, the password on the prior month's newsletter will be removed so anyone coming to the DVPC website can access older issues of Diablo Blue.

If you have any problems accessing a password protected newsletter, please email webbie@dvpc.org.

Watch for Updates!
by Ron Ogg, DVPC

With our new method of producing and publishing the monthly Diablo Blue newsletter, we can easily add updates to each month's issue. If an article is updated,the word Updated will be added in red

When we add a new article "mid-month" the entire entry will be shown in red in the Table of Contents.

DVPC Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
by Tom Krauss, DVPC, with tongue firmly planted in cheek...

We began the meeting with a discussion of old age, something the Board members are learning about through trial and error these days. It seemed we all knew someone older than ourselves. That is a good sign: it means there is a good chance we still have a few more years left ourselves. Many of these older acquaintances were at least as sharp and healthy as we are. Mel won the competition with a gentleman who I believe she said was 98 years old and going strong. In the photo she produced he looked almost life-like.

Our ruminations were interrupted by a phone call from the manager of the pizza company. He stated apologetically that there would be a delay of at least 30 minutes in our delivery. Their driver had left with four or five orders and disappeared. He called the pizzeria about fifteen minutes later to say he was holding the pizzas for ransom. He refused to give his location and presented a list of three demands.

First, he wanted a promotion to cook: he was tired of driving all the time. Second, despite his first demand, he wanted to keep the magnetic signs on his car because he thought they were cool. Finally, he wanted one free pizza each day, with the toppings of his choice. If these demands were not met, he would eat one slice of the hostage pizzas every 15 minutes until none were left.

The manager assured us that the police were on their way to resolve the situation. It seems the delivery guy had neglected to turn off his company-provided GPS, so they knew where he was hiding. A police negotiator from San Francisco was also on his way and so was the SWAT team. Unfortunately, the entire San Ramon Valley High School varsity football team was speeding there as well, having learned of the pizza-napping on You-Tube and hoping to beat the crap out of the driver and eat the hostages themselves..

Nick whipped out his combination cell phone/pager/video camera/garage door opener/flashlight with the built in inflatable raft and surfed You-Tube. When he announced the address where our pizzas were being held hostage, it turned out to be just a couple of miles away. Ruth volunteered to run over there and do her own negotiating to free our pizza. As a teacher and as the monthly hostess to our Board meetings she has vast experience dealing with people with the IQ of a ground squirrel and she was confident she would be back in twenty minutes tops with our dinner. So off she went.

Sure enough, eighteen minutes later Ruth returned with the pizza and we were able to continue our meeting. She had persuaded the pizza-napper not only to give her our pizzas, but to leave the others there for the police to retrieve and to come home with her to help serve our dinner. She introduced Francosendo, who apologized to us for the inconvenience, and then went into the kitchen to mix the salad. Ruth quietly assured us that Francosendo was really a good boy at heart. His problem was that he had grown up without a computer, so she was going to teach him how to use one of the Mildwurm’s older ones and send it home with him. Once he learned about the internet he would never have time to get into trouble again.

The rest of the meeting was pretty tame by comparison, and at nine o’clock our caregivers helped us to our cars and drove us each home.

Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft
by Marjie Tucker, Editor, Mountain Computer User Group

We've had several programs and articles that mentioned Identity Theft, but I thought it might help us all to have one document with a checklist of symptoms and solutions for this horrific problem. Make certain that you're not a victim.

What is Identity Theft?
Identity theft is an act of impersonation. Someone gains the ability to use your personally identifying information to commit fraud or some other crime. The item stolen may be as simple as your name, address, phone number, or date of birth. Or, it can be
an actual number or document such as your social security number, mother's maiden name, bank account information, credit card number, driver's license number, signature or passwords. The thieves may rent an apartment, open a new credit card, or open a
cell phone account in your name. You may not even know about the theft until you review your credit report or are contacted by a debt collector. Some victims spend hundreds of dollars and many, many hours repairing damage to their good names and credit records. People have been denied mortgages and car loans, lost out on job opportunities, and even been arrested for crimes they didn't commit because of identity theft.

How Do Thieves Steal an Identity?
Basically identity thieves are looking for an opportunity to steal your social security number, credit card number, or other financial account information. They may use a variety of methods to get hold of your information including the following:

1. Dumpster Diving - They actually go through trash bins and dumpsters looking for discarded credit card bills, bank statements, and items containing your social security number. Your best defense is to shred any trash that contains sensitive information.
2. Skimming - Store clerks and restaurant workers can use a special device that records your credit card number while it is being processed. Always peruse your credit card bills carefully to look for unauthorized charges. If any are found, notify your credit card company immediately.
3. Phishing - These attacks are sent to you as email messages, supposedly from your bank, the IRS, PayPal, or another company that might have your information on file. They usually send you to a web page that looks legitimate, but actually sends your username and password to a server owned by the thieves. Never respond to a website that has been emailed to you. If you think the email is legitimate, go directly to the company's website before you login.
4. Changing your Address - Identity thieves can obtain your credit card and bank information by completing a change of address form at the post office. This way they are personally delivered your bank and credit card statements. If you stop receiving your mail go to the post office and make an inquiry.

How Can You Protect Yourself?

1. Always carefully review your credit card and bank statements for discrepancies. Immediate report any suspicious activity.
2. Order reports from the credit reporting bureaus at least once a year. Review them carefully for any entries that are not legitimate.
3. Shred credit card statements, bank statements, credit card offers, and any other papers that contain your personal information.
4. Never throw away credit card receipts in a public place. Watch out for credit card receipts that may print out (particularly at gas stations) and be left for someone else to pick up.
5. Do not respond to credit card or mortgage offers from unknown sources.
6. Do not respond to emails asking you to go to a website address that is embedded into the email. Do not give your personal information over the phone unless you initiated the phone call.
7. Do not carry your social security card with you.
8. Do not post your personal information on a website.
9. Change your passwords frequently and use a secure password.

What Should You Do If Your Identity is Stolen?
First file an Identity Theft police report. This will give you specific legal rights and automatic notification to the three major credit reporting agencies. These legal rights
permanently block fraudulent information from being added to your credit report and prevent companies from collecting debts that resulted from identity theft.

You should also file a report to the FTC ID Theft Division. You can find an online form at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft  To ensure that the problem has been solved you should monitor your financial records for at least three months after you
discover the crime and order credit reports on a quarterly basis for at least one year. The best way to fight ID Theft is to remain alert. Monitor your personal information and alert your family members of the importance of security.

Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups.

This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author; email: mcug(at)dnet.net.

Going Green
by Jerry Grommes, Sandwich Computer Users Group, Illinois

There have been discussions about whether to leave your computer on verses shutting it off when not in use. I, personally, like to leave my computers run so they are kept up-to-date with auto updates and backed up with scheduled backups. These tasks are done in the early AM so my computers are fully functional when I sit down to use them.

However, others asked why not just leave them on the nights that the backup runs instead of 24/7. I didn’t think it was using much energy by running 24/7 but decided to check it out and run some tests using my “Kill-AWatt” meter. (Measures watts, amps, hours, kill a watt hours, ect.) I started with my newest computer (which is approx 2 years old and probably the most efficient). This machine is running Vista and I had the Power Options set to turn off the monitor after “20 minutes” and put computer to sleep to “never”. With these settings the computer was drawing between 110 and 140 Watts of power with a total average of 2.63 KWH (kill-a-watt hours) per day. Cost per day was $.026 ($7.87 a month) based on my most recent bill.

I then changed the Power Options to turn off the monitor after “20 minutes” and put computer to sleep “after 2 hours”.

The watts dropped from between 110 and 140 while I was using the computer to 6 while in the sleep mode and the total average of KWH dropped to 0.65 per day. Cost is now down to 6 cents a day ($1.94 a month).

With the current power options (turn off the monitor after “20 minutes” and sleep “after 2 hours”) the computer will wake up and get updates as well as run the scheduled
backups. So with a simple change to a power option, I was able to reduce power consumption by approx 76% and save $5.93 per month with out affecting my user experience.

I plan on testing my XP machine next to see what it is costing and to see if it can be reduced. Thanks go to Louise and the rest of the group for a great discussion on energy
use.

To get more info and tips on energy savings try one of Louise Dieden’s favorite links: http://www.energy.gov/forconsumers.htm Louise is a SCUG Board Member at Large.

Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups.

This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author; e-mail: ggrommes(at)indianvalley.com.

Links to Interesting Online Articles, and Other Stuff
from Various Sources

Links to Interesting Online Articles

States may tax iTunes, other digital downloads
c|net news.com (source unknown):
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10013327-38.html?tag=nl.e703

Some YouTube fun
Nicholas Chase, DVPC:
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/video-word-of-ipod/
http://fr.youtube.com/experiencewii

Some amazing pictures
Art Bonwell, DVPC:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/london_from_above_at_night

Here’s an amazing map of the Hayward fault (the dashed red line) where it runs through the U.C. Berkeley campus. The football stadium is on the right. At the left (north) side in the picture there are two dashed red lines, one above the other. Between those lines there’s a group of buildings with gray roofs; that’s the Foothill Dorm complex where hundreds of students live.
USGS, Ron Ogg, DVPC:

How the Internet began
Paul Mitchell, DVPC:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/singingman7777/Beginning.htm

And, with all of the angst about bailouts and debates, here’s something that might elicit a giggle or laugh or two. I can think of situations where I would have loved to say some of these. My favorite is #51.
Ron Ogg, DVPC:

1. I can see your point, but I still think you're full of shit.
2. I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce.
3. How about never? Is never good for you?
4. I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.
5. I'm really easy to get along with once you people learn to see it my way.
7. I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message.
8. I don't work here. I'm a consultant.
9. It sounds like English, but I can't understand a word you're saying.
11. I like you. You remind me of myself when I was young and stupid.
12. You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
14. I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth.
15. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.
16. Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of       view.
17. The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
18. Any resemblance between your reality and mine are purely coincidental.
20. I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant.
21. It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of Karma to burn off.
22. Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
23. And your cry-baby whiny-assed opinion would be?
24. Do I look like a people person to you?
25. This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.
26. I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left.
27. Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.
28. If I throw a stick, will you leave?
29. Errors have been made. Others will be blamed.
30. Whatever kind of look you were aiming for, you missed.
31. Oh I get it. Like humor, but different....
32. An office is just a mental institute without the padded walls.
33. Can I swap this job for what's behind door 1?
34. Too many freaks, not enough circuses.
35. Nice perfume (or aftershave). Must you marinate in it?
36. Chaos, panic, and disorder. My work here is done.
37. How do I set a laser printer to stun?
38. I thought I wanted a career; it turns out I just needed the money.
39. I'll try being nicer if you'll try being more intelligent.
40. Wait a minute -- I'm trying to imagine you with a personality.
41. Aren't you a black hole of need.
42. I'd like to help you out; which way did you come in?
43. Did you eat an extra bowl of stupid this morning?
44. Why don't you slip into something more comfortable? Like a coma.
45. If you have something to say raise your hand... then place it over your       mouth.
46. I'm too busy, can I ignore you some other time?
47. Don't let your mind wander, it's too small to be let out on its own.
48. Have a nice day, somewhere else.
49. You're not yourself today, I noticed the improvement straight away.
50. You are as pretty as a picture. I'd really like to hang you.
51. Don't believe everything you think.
52. Do you hear that? That's the sound of no one caring.

 

The New, the Best, AND the Worst
Collected by Pim Borman, Webmaster, SW Indiana PC Users Group

Picasa web album
In June I took a brief vacation with son Mike and cocker spaniel Bonnie, touring scenic central West Virginia. We visited the stark rock outcropping known as Seneca rocks, admired the amazing 110-meter steerable radio telescope at the green bank national radio astronomy observatory, and found carnivorous plants in their natural habitat in the cranberry glades botanic area. Together we took over 400 pictures along the way that we culled down to 60-some upon our return. It is often said that the secret of great photographers is that they take hundreds of pictures but save only the one or two best ones. Nobody ever mentions how hard it is to pick out those few winners!

I decided to try and upload the best pictures to one of the online free photo albums. I was already somewhat familiar with Flick'r, but I decided to try the Google Picasa web album instead. Picasa is an excellent simple photo editor and it gives direct access to the online web album. The album allows 1GB of storage, enough for some 4,000 pictures, and you can get even more than that for a small fee.

Since I already had a Google email account, setting up the web album was easy, using the same user name and password. On the web site you can set up separate albums (folders, really) to store pictures in separate categories. I created a new album for my vacation pictures and prepared to upload them. After some trial and error I found it easiest to first assemble the captioned pictures in a Picasa album on my pc and then to upload them all at once to the web album. Once the pictures are uploaded you can add more or delete mistakes, move them around into the desired order, and add or change captions. By default, the photos are automatically converted to the optimum size for display on a computer screen, but there are options for larger (up to 20mb) or smaller file sizes.

Once the album has been installed it is ready to be shared with the rest of the world. You may choose to make your photos public, available to anyone, or keep them private, only accessible to those you share the URL with. The view album page shows large thumbnails of the photos. They can be viewed individually or as a slide show. The view map button brings up Google maps where you can indicate where you took your pictures. The Organize and Edit captions buttons are self-explanatory. A new features link at the top of the page leads to the latest features added. It is now also possible to upload videos from Picasa to your web album. That might be preferable to using YouTube, unless you want the whole world to admire your movie.

The web album displays the URL of your album site either as the address itself or as a short paragraph of html code that you can insert on your web site. Either way, it is best to copy and paste the information since the URL tends to be lengthy and confusing. My vacation pictures are located at picasaweb.google.com/swipcug/westvirginiavacationjune2008?Authkey=kovcoyrboay.

To do your correspondents a favor you should convert the URL with SNIPURL (http://snipurl.com) or TINYURL (http://tinyurl.com) to a simpler address, such as http://snipurl.com/pimspix. If you have never done that before, you'll find it easy to do. Just go to http://snipurl.com (or the TINYURL site) and paste the URL of your album in the box. Specify an easy-to-remember nickname (such as "Pimspix," but only available in SNIPURL) and "snip it!" the shortened URL (http://snipurl.com/pimspix) will be shown and also copied to your clipboard, ready to be pasted in your message.

Gathering CLOUDS                          
My experience with setting up a photo album "somewhere up there" is a typical example of the current trend towards "cloud" computing. Almost since the beginning of the world wide web we have been using online search engines that access indexed information stored "somewhere up there." many of us have changed from our pc-based email programs to online programs, such as Yahoo or Google Mail, that store our email correspondence on computers "somewhere up there." somewhere up there in the clouds, as it were. 

The push is now to extend cloud computing to office suites. Instead of using expensive ms office we can choose to use Google docs and conduct all our administrative activities online, with the option of sharing our work with colleagues far away if necessary. Microsoft, always ready to recognize good ideas after others first thought of them, is moving versions of its office suite online under the "live" banner. Others are jostling to join the crowd.

If this trend continues and spreads to other computer activities, our operating systems, whether windows, Mac, or Linux, will become less and less important. The functions of the operating system will be taken over by browsers. To those of us using multiple operating systems, such as windows and Linux, we already find that it makes no difference if we use Firefox in windows or Linux. Similarly, Picasa is Picasa and my new web album is the same no matter how i access it.

So far, that all sounds good. But gathering clouds threaten to bring rain. If everybody is going to use the Internet almost all the time, the current Internet infrastructure will not be able to keep up. There will be a need for millions of additional servers and drastically increased connection speeds.

The computer industry is aware of that. According to the Economist (May 24, 2008) Microsoft is building a new $500 million data center near Chicago. It will require 3 electrical substations with a total capacity of almost 200 megawatts. Google is said to have 3 dozen data centers with an estimated million individual servers. More and more these extensive data centers are being built in out-of-the-way places near sources of low-cost power, even in Iceland with cheap geothermal power. With all this power consumption computers are becoming a major source of global warming.

To increase transmission speeds the industry is eying the airwave bands that will be freed up in February 2009 when analog TV will be phased out. There are so-called white spaces between the frequency bands assigned to TV broadcasts, and tech companies want to use those buffer zones for lightning-fast data transmissions. Initial tests show that it might wipe out nearby HDTV broadcasts, but they keep working at it. (Scientific American, June 2008)

The computer revolution has just begun!

Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups.

This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author; e-mail swipcug(at)gmail.com.

The Global University
by Author, From

With new textbooks costing upwards of $100, and some publishers devising web-based content requiring the use of new texts every year, student advocates and concerned administrators have been considering ways of moderating this cost, while at the same time making textbooks available online or on electronic books such as the Amazon Kindle, and providing incentives for publishers to use creative licensing for their intellectual property.

The open source mantra that we have written about so often in these pages is now being applied to textbooks and other intellectual property in an effort to support students, control wasteful revisions and stop killing so many trees.

For the purposes of this article, we will refer to any electronic format for a textbook as an “E-text.”

Some of what I’m about to show you may surprise you, and you may wonder how it can be that these valuable multimedia materials are just lying around out there on the internet. Trust me, we are not going to be hacking any university computers, and if anything about a Google search can be said to be illegal, well, then I guess we’re all in a bit of trouble. Either that, or Google is!

For those E-texts that have gone open-source (that is, are in one way or another unencumbered by copyright), the university will usually put them on a public web site, and for those of you familiar with search engines, that makes them fair game for you and I!

I am fond of saying that Google indexes only the WorldWide Web, but in this case, the WWW is exactly where we want to go. By way of caution though, I will say that just because we find something lying around on the internet, does not mean it’s free for any use at all. The user/reader is at least partly responsible for respecting copyrights, particularly if you intend to redistribute or use that material in any other way beside your own personal enjoyment. For an excellent copyright primer that is targeted toward teens, see http://www.loc.gov/teachers/copyrightmystery/.

Even a relatively small university such as our own WKU has a truly massive web presence, and in order to filter out everything but E-texts, we need a flexible search engine that has the power to filter results based on file types.

Google more than fills the bill.

Some of you may remember a while back we hosted a presentation featuring Google’s keyword filters. For example, adding the filter filetype:pdf to your Google search will return only results in the form of Adobe’s Public Document Format, which is often the format of choice for E-texts. Conversely, if you want to look at all results except for PDF files, you can add the negative sign in front, like this: -filetype:pdf.

Since we did that presentation, Google has allowed additional file types that they never previously filtered for, such as filetype:mp3 or filetype:avi, which find, respectively, compressed music or speech and video files. These file types, along with mp4, are often what you might find on a professor’s web site containing interesting lectures or other course material.

It might seem logical to restrict your search for E-texts to scholarly sites, such as colleges and universities. We can do exactly that by using the site:.edu filter. You can even expand this to include only one particular college site by issuing, for example, site:wku.edu along with any additional keywords we want to search for. This would search the Western Kentucky University website for articles matching our keywords. The Google search returned using site:wku.edu lecture gives the following:
                                     
There is one additional search filter in Google’s bag of tricks that will help you find more E-texts and multimedia lectures than using the filetype filter alone, and that is the intitle:”index.of” filter. Intitle looks for the specified keyword after the colon, in a web page title. Looking for the keyword “index.of” allows you to hunt down information-rich index pages, which can be thought of as the best place to go for E-texts and recorded lectures on university web sites because, as the name implies, they are like a table of contents.

As an example, let’s Google using these keywords:

 site:.edu intitle:”index.of” (mp3|mp4|avi) lecture

The vertical bar symbol between those file types is called the pipe symbol—it is over your backslash key, which is itself located just north of your Enter key. The pipe symbol, in this context, means to search for “index.of” entries that have either mp3, mp4, or avi in their text. This search yields the following—the first of only 48 links (image on next page).

 It’s not really that surprising that using the MP3|MP4|AVI filter only finds 48 links—after all, there is considerably more concern about copyright issues when looking at file types that might be used to contain music, movies and the like. Just for the heck of it, though, I tried this search:
                                      Intitle:”index.of” mp3 beatles

The resulting search was impressive at finding mp3 files of the Fab Four’s recordings, but the webmasters behind the pages it found were equally impressive at not letting you play the files without paying for the privilege, and since most of this music is copyrighted, that is only as it should be.

Even so, using the intitle:”index.of” filter is extremely effective at locating E-texts, particularly when combined with the site:.edu filter to only search university and college sites.

So your best bet on Google to find general E-texts is:

 intitle:”index.of” _______

And just fill in the blank with whatever subject you’re interested in. I used intitle:”index.of” caves and got 315,000 hits, the very first of which was a really cool teaching site (http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/teachers-packets/exploringcaves/pdfindex.html) about caves from the US Geological Survey.

I wish I could give you an idea of what intitle:”index.of” is actually filtering for. If you can imagine the internet functionally layered, like a Broadway production; got that picture? Okay, searching the WWW with Google using plain old normal keywords with none of the fancy filters we’ve talked about here—will lead you to find hits on what’s going on about the stage and the actor’s names and so forth. Now Intitle:”index.of” comes looking, and isn’t interested in the play, the credentials of the performers, the lighting—nothing on the stage. That little but critical filter ignores all of that stuff, but instead searches behind the scenes, finding hits at the level of the executive producer, the writer of the screen play, and where they all went to school. That analogy is reaching a bit, but suffice it to say that specialized filters yield specialized results.

Please share your E-text searching successes!

Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups.

This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author; e-mail: ml.moore(at)insightbb.com.

Using Vista’s Hidden Disk Cleanup Options
by Vinny La Bash, Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group

There are many things to like about the disk cleanup utility in Windows Vista. It’s built into the operating system, it works, and it’s free. It’s also a tool that removes many potential problems such as corrupt files that may be causing difficulties or could cause computer ills in the future. One of its minor shortcomings is that it doesn’t detect and eliminate wasteful duplicate files. This is a very insignificant quibble as Microsoft never claimed it could do that in the first place. That ability is an item on my wish list for the next version. Overall it’s a very useful tool that everyone should be familiar with.

There is more to Disk Cleanup than removing junk files and recovering gigabytes of disk space. It’s amazing how ‘temporary’ files can hang around for months in the little used crannies of a disk drive. Poorly written install and uninstall routines are largely responsible, but software glitches and power hiccups leave their own share of digital detritus laying about.

Systems with more than a terabyte of storage are becoming common, and it’s easy to lose track of even the largest files. Try locating a suitcase sized patch of land in an area with the dimensions of a football field and you’ll have an idea of what I’m talking about. Aside from taking up space, these useless files can slow down searches, bloat your backups, and make Vista’s slow defrag process even slower.

If you’re not familiar with how Disk Cleanup works, you can access a good tutorial by clicking the Start icon, and then Help and Support. In the search box type Disk Cleanup, and you will get a list of items directly and indirectly related to the subject. You want the first three or four items in the list.

Let’s access the normal version of Disk Cleanup by opening up the Computer icon on the Desktop, right-clicking the C: drive, and choosing Properties.

On the General tab locate the Disk Cleanup button just below and to the right of the disk graphic. You might want to make a note of how much used and unused disk space you have for a before and after comparison. Left-click on the Disk Cleanup button and you will get a message that Windows is doing some calculations. Eventually, you get a dialog box which displays various categories of files you can remove. Windows will let you peek at many of these files, but it’s largely a waste of time. I’ve never found anything worth examining. Make a note of how many types of files Windows can remove, and then close all the dialog boxes.

You’ve just seen the standard way to access Disk Cleanup. Let’s now ecamine Disk Cleanup with its deep cleaning options exposed. Vista’s official file name for the Disk Cleanup utility is cleanmgr. Open the Start globe again and type cleanmgr on the Start Search box at the bottom of the menu. Press Enter and The Drive Selection dialog box appears. This is a great way to eliminate mouse clicks if we want a fast way of getting to a specific drive. However, this method doesn’t display the extra functions we’re looking for so close the dialog box down.

 To access the enhanced options we need to use something called the System Agent or sage in conjunction with cleanmgr. Click the Start globe again and in the Start Search box type

Cleanmgr /sageset:1

Notice the space between cleanmgr and the forward slash. Sageset is a variation of the System Agent utility, and the number 1 allows you to select different cleaning options. You can use any number you want, even zero or negative numbers.

Disk Cleanup will now be running in a special setup mode that offers more cleaning options than the standard default. In addition, the System Agent will remember whatever cleanup options you select. When you run Cleanup again you don’t have to make the same selections as long as you use the same number. That’s what the System Agent set part does.

Press Enter to run the utility and wait for the Disk Cleanup Settings dialog box to appear. Highlight the individual cleanup options and in some cases there is additional information that is missing from the default dialog box. You also have more cleanup options.

You can select any number of options from just one to all of them. For maximum cleaning, select everything. When you’re satisfied with the options you’ve selected, click the OK button and run the utility. When the job is done, go back and see how much disk space you’ve recovered. You could be in for a pleasant surprise.

We used the sageset command to set the cleanup options. The system keeps track of what you’ve done, and it will run the utility according to your specification in the future, but you can’t use the sageset command for that. You need to ignore sageset and run the sagerun command instead. From the desktop click the Start globe, and in the Search box type:

Cleanmge /sagerun:1

Press Enter and the system will automatically run in enhanced mode with the preference previously recorded. Run this command anytime you wish from now on. You can always change preferences by rerunning the sageset command with the cleanmgr utility.

Chances are good that a lot of clutter will be removed from your system, and you will see an increase in free space on your system. If you wish to automate the process, you can use the Task Schedular to run the tool automatically at your convenience.

Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups.

This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author; e-mail: vlabash(at)comcast.net.

Windows XP Expires
by Sandy Berger, CompuKISS

On June 30, 2008, Microsoft started the death march for Windows XP. As of that date, Microsoft stopped shipments of Windows XP as a stand-alone shrink-wrapped product. So after supplies are exhausted, you won’t be able to go into a store and purchase Windows XP. Microsoft also stopped most sales to PC manufacturers. So Dell, Lenovo, HP and others will not get any new copies of Windows XP to install on their mainstream computers. However, Windows XP, Microsoft’s longest-lived and best-loved operating system, isn’t going to vanish overnight. You will still see copies of the XP software and/or computers with Windows XP in stores until inventories and depleted.

Microsoft has made four important concessions that will also keep XP alive:

1. Microsoft will support Windows XP until April 2014. They will offer updates, security patches, and technical support until that time.
2. Smaller local PC makers can continue to sell PCs with Windows XP until January 2009.
3. Computers with limited hardware capabilities which are sometimes called ultra-low cost PCs (ULCPC) can sell with Windows XP Home until June 2010.
4. With the purchase of Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate, the two most expensive versions of Vista, a customer will be able to move back to Windows XP Professional via what Microsoft is calling "downgrade rights." Details on how this will be handled have not be clearly defined to the public at this time. It is even possible that different manufacturers will handle this in different ways.

To the home users, this all means very little, unless you need a new computer and are violently opposed to Windows Vista. To business users, these new policies and extensions mean that they will be able to keep their fleets of Windows XP computers running for several more years. Microsoft has announced that Windows 7, the next version of Windows, will be available in 2010 so many businesses will be able to skip Vista entirely instead to Windows 7. Intel has already announced that they will do just that.

What this means for everyone is that Microsoft, while not writing off Vista, has made it an “interim” operating system. Microsoft is still pushing Windows Vista. They recently announced that Vista now supports 77,000 printers, cameras, speakers and other devices and components. They also brag that more than 140 million copies of Windows Vista have already been sold, making it the fastest selling operating system in Microsoft history. So Windows Vista is not a flash-in-the-pan like Windows ME which was quickly replaced by Windows XP.

In my opinion, Vista is both better and safer than Windows XP and if you are already using Vista or plan to make the move, it is not a bad choice. Yet Vista has become a lame duck. Microsoft definitely has a dilemma on their hands. The only way they will come out of this is if they can get Windows 7 out quickly while making it faster, safer, and easier to use. They also need to give it a good name and get the members of the press behind it. I’m not sure if the lumbering giant can pull that off – especially if Apple and/or Linux find a way to take advantage of this Microsoft predicament!

Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups.
This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author; e-mail: sandy(at)compukiss.com.

ARE YOU READY?
by Alan Mildwurm, DVPC

Those of us who admit to watching television have probably noticed “rolls” over normal programming warning of the change in programming coming on Feb 17, 2009.

Basically, if you receive “over the air television” (a.k.a free television) by means of either a roof top antenna or rabbit ears on an analog television you must make some changes prior to Feb 17th to continue receiving television broadcasts.

By law, full power television stations must switch from analog to digital transmission on that date. The quick test is: if you are NOT hooked up to cable, satellite or some other pay service, you will no longer receive TV over the air from an analog TV.
         
If you are receiving analog over the air TV, you have three choices:

• buy a TV with a digital tuner
• buy a converter box that will plug into your analog TV
• connect your analog TV to cable, satellite or other TV pay service

If you are not sure what type of TV you have, go to www.dtvtransition.org.

The Federal   Government is offering U.S. households up to two $40.00 coupons to help pay the cost of certified TV converter boxes. Those boxes cost approximately $50 to $70.00. You can apply for a coupon as follows:

• Call 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009) or 1-877-530-2634 TTY
• Or go online to www.DTV2009.gov
• Or by mail: PO Box 2000, Portland, Or, 97208
• Or by fax: 1-877-DTV-4ME2 (1-877-388-4632)

It takes a few weeks to process the request. AND THE COUPONS WILL EXPIRE IF NOT USED PROMPTLY!!!!!!!!

For years I have had a small TV at my office. Since my building does not have cable I purchased an inexpensive Radio Shack antenna and was able to get a few channels- very fuzzy but good enough to watch the news. From my office in Fremont I can see Mt. Sutro in San Francisco on a spectacularly clear day.
I purchased a digital converter box (a Zenith DT901) for $20.00. ($60-40 coupon). I plugged my antenna into the box and the box into the TV (my choice was S-video or composite). The box, which comes with a remote, immediately went into setup mode and asked to scan for channels. I now get 31 ‘clear as a bell’ digital stations. Wow! In fact, I could also get high-def channels if I had a high-def TV!

If you are still using an old analog set- don’t miss out on this “free” TV!
What a concept- TV you don’t pay for....

For more info: www.ntia.doc.gov

Electronic Waste — Where to Dispose of It
by Peggy Johnson, DVPC

Here's a list of ewaste donation sites in Central Contra County County. If you know or learn of others, please let me know with the location, hours, and website URL. Be sure to check the websites to determine what they will accept. We've included sites where you can recycle single-use and rechargeable batteries

Computers and Electronics

Hauling Pros Recycling Center
www.dumpmytv.com
73A South Buchanan Circle
(on the left behind S&S Roofing)
Pacheco, CA 94553
925-682-8987
Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Rapid Recycle
www.rapidrecycle.net
110 Second Ave., South B-1
Pacheco, CA 94553
925-671-8008
Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

E-Waste Events
www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/depart/cd/recycle/options/e-waste.htm
See website for dates, times, and locations of events

Recycle for Breast Cancer
www.recycleforbreastcancer.org/dropoffanytime.htm
31 Beta Court, Suite C
San Ramon, CA 94583
800-315-9580
7 days a week excluding holidays 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
A completed donation form is requested at the time of donation; this form can be downloaded from their website

e-Recycle OnUs
www.erecycleonus.com
1271 Boulevard Way
(at back left corner past East Bay Art and CTA)
Walnut Creek, CA 94595
925-934-1515
Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Electronic Waste Management
www.noewaste.com
E-Waste recycling events at Diablo Valley College
321 Golf Club Road
(in DVC overflow parking lot across from north side of main campus)
Pleasant Hill, CA
866-335-3373
First Saturday of every month (except holidays)
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where to recycle Batteries

Single-Use Household Batteries
Longs Drugs
www.longs.com
Alamo, Blackhawk, Danville, Lafayette,
Moraga, Orinda, Walnut Creek, San Ramon
Right Aid Drugstore
www.rightaid.com
Orinda, Walnut Creek
Radio Shack
www.radioshack.com
Danville, Walnut Creek
Check websites for store hours

Rechargeable Batteries
Right Aid Drugstore
www.rightaid.com
1997 Tice Valley Boulevard
Walnut Creek, CA 94595
925-932-0568
7 days a week
Check website for store hours

Photoshop Elements SIG Meeting Program
by Peggy Johnson, DVPC

The Adobe Photoshop Elements SIG meeting will be held on Thursday, October 16, 2008 at 7 p.m. at the home of Peggy Johnson in Concord, CA.

As usual, checkout the Elements SIG pages at www.bkbrown.net for all the latest news, information and tutorials.

The Photoshop Elements SIG usually meets on the third Thursday of each month.

Please email Peggy for further information and/or directions.

Windows SIG Meeting Program
by Walt Parsons, DVPC

The Windows SIG meeting will be held on Monday, October 6, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. Ron and Walt will demonstrate some utilities, including ProduKey and Renamer — and more.

The Windows SIG meetings are held in the Community Room at the Concord Police Station. See the detailed directions on the DVPC SIG News page.

Today's Dilbert Cartoon
by Scott Adams