Diablo Blue

The Newsletter of the Diablo Valley PC Users Group

•        DVPC Website    |
• About DVPC    |
• Map and Directions    |
• Calendar    |
• SIG News

July, 2009 MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

No July Monthly Meeting

There will be no DVPC meeting in July. The Diablo Valley College campus will be completely shut down for the break between spring and summer sessions, and there will be no access allowed to any buildings on campus. So, enjoy your long Fourth of July holiday. We'll see you on August 6!

Even though we won't have a July meeting, we have some interesting articles this month. Two are probably more appropriate for springtime since they are about cleaning your PC — technically and physically — but hey, you have a long weekend coming up so spend a couple of hours of your free time to fix-up/clean-up. We also have an article about backing up your files by our friend Gene Barlow, and lots more.

Let us know what you think about our articles. Email webmaster@dvpc.org.

Where and When We Meet

DVPC monthly meetings are usually held on the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at Diablo Valley College In Pleasant Hill, California. However, there will be no meeting in July because the campus is closed — see the announcement above.

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.

Links to Interesting Online Articles
by Ron Ogg, DVPC

Here are links to some interesting articles I've found online. Check them out!

PCWorld — Internet Explorer Tips: Inline Search, Gmail, Xmarks
Get the most from Microsoft's browser: search within pages in IE 8, access multiple Gmail accounts, and sync bookmarks...
Read more

CIO — Bizarre Bugs: 9 of the Strangest Software Glitches Ever
Writing buggy applications is a cinch--for decades, the world's software developers have been proving that with just about every program they release. Truly interesting bugs, however, are a relatively rare breed...
Read more

ComputerWorld — Domain-name wars: Rise of the cybersquatters
Trademark owners say cybersquatting on the Web has gone too far -- and they're pushing back...
Read more

PC World — Why Doesn't Anyone Want a Blu-ray Player?
Blu-ray may have won the war against HD-DVD, but a new poll shows that American consumers aren t exactly warming to the high-definition disc format...
Read more

Network World — ICANN: New domains coming in 2010
Internet policymakers are forging ahead with a controversial plan to introduce hundreds of generic top-level domains -- such as .nyc, .sport and .food -- next year...
Read more

cnet news — Microsoft sets Windows 7 pricing, upgrade programs
Microsoft on Wednesday announced retail pricing for Windows 7 that's at or below comparable Windows Vista prices, while also offering a chance for people to preorder the software at a substantial discount...
Read more

Young Gallery — Nick Brandt "On This Earth" Photographs
Art Bonwell of DVPC sent the link to this site with its fantastic monochrome photographs of some true wonders of this world...
Read more

Automatic Backups with Acronis True Image Home
by Gene Barlow, User Group Relations

Backing up your computer’s hard drive on a regular basis is the most important thing every user should be doing on their computer. The hard drive on your computer will eventually crash and when it does, you will be protected if you have a good backup. Without a backup, your computer will no longer function and all of your important files and pictures will be lost. Start doing backups today and be safe!

The best way to backup your computer is to use Acronis True Image Home 2009 and save your backups on an external hard drive. You should backup your main hard drive at least once a week including the entire hard drive and not just a few files or folders on the drive. I recommend a full backup image at the beginning of each month and then weekly incremental backup images during the month. See my article titled the Perfect Backup Approach at http://www.ugr.com/nl0804.html for more details on the best way to do your backups.

You can order the latest version of Acronis True Image Home 2009 from us at http://www.ugr.com/TrueImage.html. See the article Special Offer for DVPC for Acronis True Image Home below for details and your special user group discount code.

Many users start with a great determination to do their backups on a regular basis, but after a couple of weeks of doing backups they tend to forget to do regular backups. I have found that it is best to automate your backups, so that you don’t need to remember to do this very important task. Let the computer remember to do its own backups when they need to be done. That way, your backups will get done on the weekly basis, so that you are properly protected. The purpose of this paper is to help you set up automatic backups on your computer.

Acronis completely redesigned the end-user interface to True Image 2009 to make the product easier to use. The automatic backup function was also completely revamped. This new automatic backup function was not ready to release when the rest of the product was released in October 2008. It took Acronis a couple of extra months to complete and perfect this important function and it was then put in the product with follow-on builds of the software.

Before you start to set up an automatic backup on your True Image 2009, you need to update your True Image 2009 software to install the latest build (#9709) which became available on January 23, 2009. To do this, you must do three things: 1) set up an account on the Acronis web site, 2) register your product serial number in this account, and 3) download and install the build from the entry on your registered product. Details on how to do this can be found on my web site at http://www.ugr.com/AcronisQuestions.html. The rest of this paper assumes that you have upgraded your system to this latest build in order to work properly.

Before we begin the detailed steps to set up your automatic backup, let me suggest a calendar change that needs to be considered. I recommend a full backup at the beginning of each month and then weekly incremental backup images at the end of each week during the month. The problem in doing this is that every month has a different number of days and begins on a different day of the week. So, setting up a rule to do exactly this schedule is not possible. A better approach is to adopt the 13-month calendar of exactly 4 weeks that many businesses use. That would give you exactly a full backup followed by 3 weekly incremental backups 13 times each year. This approach is more regular than trying to fit a regular backup schedule into our irregular monthly calendar. So, in this paper, I will be showing how to set up a 13-month approach.

First, create a folder on your external hard drive to contain your backups. Name this folder after the computer and partition that you plan to backup in this folder. If you have one computer and one main partition on it, this folder may simply be named something like My Backups. If you have two computers to backup on the same external hard drive, set up two folders and name them after each computer. For example, name them My Backups HP Computer and My Backups Dell Computer. Now we are ready to start setting up the automatic backup process with True Image 2009.

Setting up Automatic Backups with True Image 2009

Run Acronis True Image Home 2009 on your computer and on the main screen, click on the Task Management button under the What would you like to do? heading. This will take you to the area in True Image where you set up and manage your automatic backups. Now click on the Scheduled Tasks tab in the middle of the screen under the calendars. Below the tabs is an area where you will see all of the automatic scheduled tasks on your computer. At this point, you should see the indication, No items to display. Next, click on the Create Backup Task menu item near the top of the screen. This will begin the Backup Wizard which will guide you through setting up an automatic backup task on your computer.

The Backup Wizard is mostly self explanatory, but you can see a full version of this article on my web site at http://www.ugr.com/nl0609.pdf. It will contain all of the details that you need to follow. I would suggest that you go to this page and print out the PDF form of the article and then follow it step by step as you set up your automatic backup process. That will make sure that all of the steps are filled in properly to do your automatic backups with True Image 2009.

In closing, let me suggest that you periodically look at the backup image files True Image is automatically making for you on your external backup hard drive. Use Windows Explorer to do this. After a few weeks, you should see a list of files something like this:

My Backups                (folder name)
MyBackup.tib             (full backup image of first month)
MyBackup2.tib           (incremental backup image of first month)
MyBackup3.tib           (next incremental backup image of first month)
MyBackup4.tib           (last incremental backup image of first month)
MyBackup(1).tib         (full backup image of next month)
MyBackup(1)2.tib       (incremental backup image of next month)
MyBackup(1)3.tib       (next incremental image of next month)
MyBackup(1)4.tib       (last incremental image of next month)
MyBackup(2).tib         (full backup image of current month)
MyBackup(2)2.tib       (incremental image of current month)

If they do not look similar to this, then you may have set up your automatic task wrong and you need to check it and edit it so that it is set up correctly.

I hope this helps you set up True Image 2009 to run automatic backups on your computer. If you have questions about this article or have problems setting up your automatic backup tasks, send a note to support@ugr.com and I will try to assist you. With a little care, you should be able to have your backups run automatically on your system.

For questions, problems, or comments regarding this article, please send email to: support@ugr.com.

Copyright ©2009, by User Group Relations All Rights Reserved.
Reproduced in the Diablo Blue newsletter with permission of User Group Relations.

Special Offer for DVPC for Acronis True Image Home
by Gene Barlow, User Group Relations

Summer Special:

We are enjoying the lazy days of summer right now. Many of us use this quiet time to work on our computer systems. There are always projects to do on our computers that we save for a time like this. So, why not take this summer to get your computer system backed up and protected from a hard drive crash?

To help you do this, we are offering a special summer price on the best backup utility on the market, Acronis True Image Home 2009. Now through the end of August, you can purchase this excellent backup utility from us for the special price of just $25.00. Take advantage of this special offer while the sun is shining.

Click here to Order Now while the price is the lowest ever! Be sure to use the order code of UGNL0609 when completing the order to get this excellent discount price.

Clean Up Your Room / Clean up Your Desktop
by Ron Hirsch, Boca Raton Computer Society, FL

So, does that line ring any bells? If you're a youngster, you've heard your elders tell you to clean up your room very often. And if you're not a youngster, then you use the line yourself on your kids or grandchildren. Well, I have no young kids around anymore, but I often use that line (with a slight change.) I'm constantly telling people to “Clean up your desktop,” with “desktop” being their computer screen after the machine has booted up, and before any programs are run.

There are some desktop differences between the different Windows versions. And, some companies such as Dell and Compaq very often install a “special” arrangement on the desktop, mostly to keep their name in front of you. Also, there are programs which generate their own desktop arrangement. But, they all generally respond to the procedures presented below. Once you become an expert in this area, you’ll have no problems with the finer points and variations.

Since most of you are using Windows XP, and since I use XP on all my machines, all the activities discussed are based on XP. I have not used Vista, but I would assume it's the same there. One thing I do remember, however, is that in Windows 95 desktop icons did not automatically line up in rows and columns. In XP, when you move an icon, it automatically snaps to the nearest position which keeps the rows and columns aligned.

The average computer user, even those who should know better, generally has disaster zones for the desktops. There are icons all over the place, not in any order and not lined up. And, there are many, that when I ask what they are, I'm told “I don't know.” And, when I ask to have Windows Explorer or Notepad opened, there's usually a lot of scrambling, to find out where the icon is located.

Many programs, when installed, will place an icon on your desktop. Sometimes they ask you during the install if you want this - and sometimes they don't ask. There is always a tendency for software companies to grab real estate so that they can prominently keep themselves in front of you. Some newer computers running Windows XP/VISTA may even start off with almost nothing on the desktop. If you want to go back to a more conventional appearing desktop, right click on the desktop, and view the various options you have. There is probably a choice to revert to an “old-fashioned” desktop, which I personally prefer. Most people keep their medications in a medicine cabinet, canned goods in the pantry, garden tools in the garage, etc. But when it comes to their computer, they are as disorganized as is humanly possible. They feel intimidated by their computers, and don't wish to antagonize it. So, the thrust of this article is to go back to real basics again, and give you some information on organizing and cleaning up your desktop. If you're already super organized, you can skip this article, accept my apologies. and move on. But 99 out of 100 of you probably don't qualify to get the gold star for desktop organization. Once you do the tasks presented, you'll probably wonder why you didn't do it sooner. It not only is much easier to work with a good functional desktop, it looks prettier also, and will impress those who see it.

WHY HAVE ICONS ON THE DESKTOP?

Most users are familiar with the primary way to run a program. Click on START>PROGRAMS, and one can navigate to all the programs that are installed on the machine. But, most users generally have several programs that they use often. Having an icon for these programs on the desktop makes it easier to access that program. Just double click on that icon, and the program opens.

WHY SHOULD I BOTHER?

Let's take an extreme analogy. How would you like to have a dictionary where the words were randomly listed, not in any order? It would take lots of time to look up a word. By organizing things, and getting important icons at your fingertips, you can make your life much easier. And, your friends will be asking you to help them, when they see your desktop. Consider the desktop as a presentation area for icons that you often use. Count the icons on your desktop that you really use, and those you don't use. Then list the icons that you use which are not readily available on the desktop and you have to do lots of clicking to reach. You will see why it's a good idea to improve things. Now let's get down to business and fix things up.

OPERATING ON ICONS

The following activities are easy to perform on icons, wherever they may be. There are a few icons that Microsoft does put in places where they take control away from you - you can't readily rename them, or move them off the desktop, although you can always reposition them on the desktop. You may discover some of these in your travels. When you do, you'll just have to skip those icons. While they can be operated on using special protocols, that's outside of the scope of activities for these lessons.

WHAT IS AN ICON

An icon is a representation of a program, or file, or just about anything you want. The icons on your desktop are usually shortcuts to running a program, be it a word processor, spreadsheet, Internet connection, etc. All icons have properties, which define the nature of the icon, and details of what it does when used. Right clicking on an icon will bring up a window with the bottom item in the list being “properties.” Left click on “properties,” and you'll get a window with lots of information about the icon. Try it, and browse around to get a feel for things. The more familiar you become with things on your computer, the more comfortable you'll feel using them.

MOVE AN ICON

Left click on and drag an icon and you can move it manually anywhere you want on your desktop, or into another open folder. The ability to drag an icon around is tied into the choice that was made on how icons are positioned. Before you can engage in changing locations et al on your desktop, you must first check to see how things are set. Right click on the desktop and in XP you will bring up a small box with a list of items in it. The contents of this box will vary, depending upon which version of Windows you are using. The top item is “arrange icons by,” and it has a little arrowhead to the left. Click on that arrowhead, and you'll see a variety of items related to arranging icons. Some of these may be checked. The best way to learn what does what is to play around with the checking and unchecking. After a few trials, you will get a good feel for what they all do.

COPY AN ICON

Copying an icon is similar to moving an icon. As with the standard Windows protocol, do exactly as you would to move, but hold down the CTRL key while you are doing the click and drag operation. If you copy it into the same area, you'll probably see a (2) following the text in the copy. You can't have two icons in the same place, with the same name. So, Windows adds the “(2)” for you. If you move it to another folder, the “(2)” will stay, but you can edit the text as you'd like. See “Rename an Icon” below. Dragging an icon to any folder on your desktop will move the icon into that folder.

DELETE AN ICON

Click once on an icon to highlight it, and then hit the Delete key. Remember, the icons here are generally shortcut icons with the little curly arrow on the lower left corner. Deleting these does not delete anything from your system except the shortcut icon. No programs or data will be deleted, just the icon.

RENAME AN ICON

Click once an icon and then hit the F2 key. This puts you in “edit” mode, and you can type a new name by using the keyboard. If you type in a very long name, all the text you entered may not display when the icon is not selected. But, when you click once on the icon, the extra lines of text should be visible. In general, try to keep the text to a maximum of two lines under the icon. Remember the F2 key. It is the “edit” key for folder names, filenames, icons, and other elements in Windows.

Currently, there are many different Windows versions in use so the material which follows may bring up a slightly different listing of choices on your machine, when one right-clicks on the desktop. With all these varying situations, it is very difficult to present the many fine points exactly.

In general, the differences will be obvious by simple inspection. When they are not, the most direct approach is just to experiment to see what is produced when a choice is made. Generally, all such choices are reversible. In the process, you will get to better understand what is happening. To me, the aspect of experimenting is usually the best approach to understanding and learning.

Remember what I have been preaching for years in my articles. As you become more conversant with using your computer, you will gain more confidence in expanding your horizons with the most amazing machine that mankind has produced. But, it is only a “machine,” and you should be in charge of it, even though Microsoft tends to try and make it in charge of you. You are the boss, and the sooner you let your computer know that, the sooner you will stop feeling intimidated by it.

DESKTOP

In the latest Window's XP and Vista, MS has made a lot of changes, including the default desktop displayed.

I personally don't like it, but that's a matter of my taste. However, MS did leave the door open to go back to the older style of desktop, which you may prefer. If you right click on the desktop, there should be a choice to have a classic Windows desktop. Try selecting this and see which you'd rather have. You can always revert back to the new style if you choose.

ARRANGE THE ICONS

Right click on an empty space on the desktop and a menu will come up. The first item on the XP listing is “Arrange Icons by.” Put the focus on “Arrange Icons by,” and you will get a list with lots of choices on how you want them arranged.

If you have carefully positioned all your desktop icons in the various areas where you want them and you use the “Arrange” feature, they will all line up like soldiers, starting at the upper left part of your screen. Then you will have to manually reposition them to where they were before you started. Again, this is a good area in which to experiment.

AUTO ARRANGE

In the window that pops up when you click on “Arrange Icons by”, you will see an entry named “Auto Arrange.” If you check this, your icons will always stay arranged, but not in any groups that you have established.

They will all line up like soldiers and stay that way even if you move them. They will jump right back into line. I personally don’t like using this. But, you can try it to see if you’d like it. “Auto arrange” is the equivalent of constantly invoking the “Arrange” command.

ALIGN TO GRID

I personally use the “Align to Grid,” which auto aligns all icons so that rows and columns are straight. With this checked, sometimes when you move an icon, it snaps to a different point on the grid.

It will always snap to the nearest point. When this happens, just click and drag it to where you want.

In the early days of XP when one had temporarily booted into safe mode, and then returned to normal mode, the desktop layout was totally garbled up. Microsoft apparently improved things in recent times, the original desktop layout does return now.

ICON ARRANGING UTILITIES

There are also a variety of simple programs available free on the Internet to save and then restore your desktop layout. This can come in handy when something/someone has messed up your desktop layout. The one I used is called “iconlayout.zip” but the page for this appears to be gone now. This link appears to have a similar free program at ZDNET.

http://downloads.zdnet.com/abstract.aspx?kw=Save+desktop+icon+layout&docid=185169

What these utilities generally do is add two items into the dropdown list when you right-click on your desktop - “Save desktop icon layout” and “Restore desktop icon Layout.” Browse around for something similar, if you'd like to have this handy utility, or try this ZDNET link.

CHANGING ICONS

Except for a few Icons, of which Windows is very possessive, the icon images that display for the shortcuts on your desktop can be changed to suit your desires. When you right click on an icon, and select properties from the window which shows, a small window will come up; near the bottom right of that window is a button marked “Change Icon.” If you click on it, anther window will open, with other Windows-supplied icons which are available. The selection is somewhat limited, but there is a “Browse” button.

If you have any icon library files on your computer, click on the “browse”, and navigate around to find these libraries. When you find one, double click on it, and a whole bunch of icons will appear, find one you like, then double click on it, click OK, then when you close the window, you’ll have a new icon for that shortcut.

ICON LIBRARIES

If you’d like to get some icon libraries, one of the best places to go is www.zdnet.com. Once you get there, just navigate around to their download area, and then do a search for “icons.” You should get lots of results. These are generally free files and there are lots available, so have fun.

Google is also a good hunting ground for icons. Do a search for “icons for Windows XP”. You'll get lots of hits, most of which are free downloads.

The spacing of icons, color, and many other properties of the desktop layout can also be changed. But, that’s outside of this area for now.

STARTING PROGRAMS

Left click on the START button on the lower left of your desktop. On the menu which comes up, left click on “All Programs.” This should bring up a large window that lists all the programs installed on your computer. This is probably where you have been to run a specific program. You would move the cursor over the desired program and click; the program would then run.

Some of these items are links to start the program, and others are folders, which you must click to display the links that are within the folder. How about making copies of the startup links for the programs you use often. Doing this is simple. Put your cursor on a program shortcut, and then right click.

There should be a listed item “Create Shortcut.” Clicking on this will create another shortcut, with a (2) showing that it is a duplicate of the original shortcut. Then, drag this onto the desktop. You can now edit the name to remove the (2), or make it any name you would like.

CONCLUSION

At this point, take a break, and make sure that you are now well versed in the icon activities presented above. It would also be a good idea to play with the capabilities you have just learned, in preparation for the next venture. This will be a major step for many of you, as we'll be making new folders, adding icons to the desktop, and storing all the icons we don't need in a folder which we'll call “Icons in Storage”.

Remember, you will learn by experimenting and exploring — so don't be afraid to do so. If you find this material useful, you may want to download this article in PDF format, from our web site http://www.brcs.org. This allows readers to keep the material either as a PDF file, and/or print it out, and place it in a loose leaf notebook for future reference. If you learn a little bit each day, your new skills will make using your computer much easier.

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (ronhirsch1439 (at) comcast.com).

Cleaning Inside your PC
by Gary Bentley, Editor, SouthWest International Personal Computer Club (TX)

When I worked for GTE Lenkurt (subsequently GTE Network Systems) in El Paso 1978 – 1982 as a technologist and supervisor of electrical performance quality assurance for their telecommunications equipment produced at that location we were required to be very cognizant of the risk of damage to integrated circuits posed by static electricity. Even static charges that produce no visible spark are sufficient to destroy, or worse, cause subsequent intermittent failure of high impedance inputs on many PC’s (non catastrophic damage is more pernicious because it may permit equipment to pass performance testing and fail later in the field, also, intermittent hardware failures are difficult to troubleshoot because you have to be observing the device while it is in failure mode).

All personnel were required to wear grounded wrist straps and work on grounded conducting pads when handling integrated circuit boards. Unfortunately, the plastic tip of a household or automobile portable vacuum cleaner does not conduct electricity and so can build up a significant static electric charge when there are large volumes of air-borne dust particles swirling within and without the plastic vacuum cleaner nozzle (think of rubbing a balloon on your head and recall the immediate build up of electric charge).

There are various brands of canned dust removing gas with a form of difluoroethane gas that is static free. Combining blowing the dust away with that gas and using a cloth dampened with a dust remover will assure that you do not subject the integrated circuits of your computer to static electricity. Make sure to wipe or blow clean the openings

in the case for cooling fans (to assure your system does not overheat). Do not blow the dust remover into a fan in such a way as to spin the fan, or else hold the fan while you spray it as you may create an induced electrical current back into the motherboard (remember that a motor can be a generator).

You may get away with using a vacuum cleaner some of the time, or may think you have until you observe strange intermittent failures down the road (strange crashes, blue screen of death, corrupt files or boot failures). Such failures would require you to replace CPU, memory, motherboard, video graphics card, or power supply (and the failure of any of these components may have corrupted the hard drive and all your data) or simply junk the PC (since the cost of replacement and repair may equal the cost of a new PC tower).

If you unplug the computer prior to cleaning it, remember that the computer will no longer be grounded. So, if you are wearing a grounded wrist strap you should keep one hand on a metal portion of the PC case to maintain a ground path for static charges (or ground the case with a clip to your ground pad). Note of warning: If you still have an old CRT monitor, stay out of that monitor case as there are lethal voltages that remain in the CRT even when it is unplugged, a CRT being rather like a huge capacitor (unless you have been trained how to drain the CRT without electrocuting yourself).

If you must use a vacuum cleaner on your PC, use one specially designed for cleaning electronic devices containing static sensitive components. If folks tell you that standard vacuum cleaners, even small hand held devices, pose no actual danger to your PC, ask yourself why 3M Company, for example, sells a Service Vacuum (3M Service Vacuum and 3M Vacuum in a Tool Case) that keeps the motor portion (with high electromagnetic fields that could damage data on a hard drive) in the carrying case and permits the service technician to vacuum the inside of the PC or other electronic device with a long hose with static dissipative attachments (dusting brush, crevice nozzle, needle nose nozzle) “to prevent static buildup” for use “involving static sensitive electronic components such as circuit boards” (quoted from 3M Service Vacuum and Vacuum in a Tool Case Operating Instruction manual).

Paraphrasing Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, if you intend to use your home vacuum cleaner (portable or otherwise) inside your PC case you gotta ask yourself, “Do you feel lucky, well, do ’ya?”

Mr. Bentley studied electrical engineering at the University of Texas, began working in the electronics industry in 1978 with GTE Network Systems (Lenkurt), then software engineering with various startups in the 1980’s, designing and implementing, among other things, pre-Internet email communications systems multitasking on Intel platformsand MSDOS PC’s. 1984 - 1986. Gary now provides Information Technology consulting services in the El Paso, Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico areas. Gary has edited and contributed articles to the award-winning Southwest International Personal Computer Club monthly magazine, “Throughput”, since December, 2003.

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (bentley.gary (at) gmail.com).

O’Reilly eBook Bundles
Edited by Elsie Smith, PC Community, Hayward, CA, UG Rep to O’Reilly Media

O’Reilly’s eBook bundles include three different file formats compatible with a variety of reading systems and devices. This page provides information about the eBook program, with links to further information about each of the three formats.

On Your Device

* iPhone -- Grab the EPUB and read it in the Stanza App (http://toc.oreilly.com/2008/11/experimental-oreilly-ebook-iphone-integration-with-stanza.html) or the mobile version of Bookworm (http://m.bookworm.oreilly.com/).

* Kindle -- Get the Mobipocket file and load it onto your Kindle (http://oreilly.com/ebooks/mobi/).

* Sony Reader -- EPUBs (http://toc.oreilly.com/2008/07/sony-reader-now-supports-epub.html) work well on your Sony Reader.

* Computer -- Get either the EPUB (http://oreilly.com/ebooks/epub/) or PDF (http://oreilly.com/ebooks/pdf/).

* Other Mobile Devices -- Explore the EPUB with the mobile version of Bookworm (http://m.bookworm.oreilly.com/about/tour).

Digital Rights Management

These files (like all our PDFs currently for sale) will be released without any DRM, though we are exploring some custom watermarking options.

Bundles and Updates

When you purchase an eBook bundle (currently available on a select set of titles as part of a pilot project), you’ll get access to all three of the formats we’re currently supporting. Since we began selling PDF versions of many of our titles, we’ve offered free updates to reflect published changes in the books; the same will apply to the eBook bundle, which will replace the PDF option on those titles in the pilot program.

Formats Available

There are three file formats included in the eBook bundle:

Of our books at oreilly.com for some time now, and will include a PDF with the eBook bundle. The PDF format is a widely supported standard, and is a faithful representation of the printed book. Whenever possible, our PDFs also include navigation bookmarks and live hyperlinks. You can find more information on our PDFs on http://oreilly.com/ebooks/pdf/index.csp

* EPUB -- One way to describe EPUB is “mp3 for books.” Instead of each eBook software and device maker using their own format, the EPUB standard is meant to give readers, publishers, and device makers a single format for eBooks -- one that includes many of the same features we’re all familiar with on the web, like reflowable text and hyperlinking. You can find more information on the format and compatible software and devices (like iPhones) on http://oreilly.com/ebooks/epub/index.csp

(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/) has sparked renewed interest in eBooks, and we want to make sure oreilly.com customers with Kindles can read our eBooks. The Kindle cannot currently read EPUB files directly (though we hope that will change -- kindle-feedback@amazon.com), so the eBook bundle includes the Mobipocket file format, which can be read on the Kindle. You can find more information along with instructions for transferring a Mobipocket file onto your Kindle on http://oreilly.com/ebooks/mobi/index.csp

Feedback Welcome

If you have a question or a comment about our eBooks, please send feedback to booktech@oreilly.com or through Get Satisfaction (http://getsatisfaction.com/oreilly).

Available Titles

To view a list of all titles that are available as eBook bundles look for the eBook icon on our Complete List (http://oreilly.com/store/complete.html) page.

Titles that are currently only available in PDF format will have the PDF icon on our Complete List (http://oreilly.com/store/complete.html) page.

Note: Is your group a member of the O’Reilly User Group program? If not, ask your president to contact O’Reilly and enroll your group in the program. Members receive a 35% discount on all books + discounts on their conferences.

Sign up for a free ebook at: http://oreillynet.com/oreilly/ug/ebooks/request.csp

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (lcms(at)pacbell.net).

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

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

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.

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 Drugstores
www.rightaid.com
Orinda, Walnut Creek
Radio Shack
www.radioshack.com
Danville, Walnut Creek
Check websites for store hours

Rechargeable Batteries
Right Aid Drugstores
www.rightaid.com
Check website for store hours

Where to Dispose of Unneeded Pharmaceutical and Over-the-Counter Medications
Walnut Creek City Hall
www.walnut-creek.org
1666 North Main Street, Walnut Creek
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Look for the green Pharmaceutical Disposal bin
Please don't flush your drugs!

How and Where to Recycle or Dispose of Other Household Waste Items
Central Contra Costa Sanitary District
The CCCSD has a two-page Disposal Guide for Central Contra Costa County brochure that can be viewed online or printed. This handy guide tells how to dispose of common household waste in safe, simple, and environmentally healthy ways. Click on the link below to access the brochure.
www.centralsan.org/documents/Brochure_Disposal_Guide.pdf

This brochure requires Adobe Acrobat Reader; you can download and install the latest version of Acrobat Reader by clicking the icon below.

Photoshop Elements SIG Meeting Program
by Peggy Johnson, DVPC

The Adobe Photoshop Elements SIG meeting will be held on Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 7 p.m. at the home of Peggy Johnson in Concord, CA.

We cover and discuss the Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements software programs, along with other photo and video manipulation programs. As usual, check out the Elements SIG pages at www.bkbrown.net for all the latest news, information and tutorials.

The Photoshop Elements SIG meets on the third or fourth Thursday of each month; be sure to check Peggy's email notice for the topic and meeting date!

Please email Peggy for further information and/or directions.

Windows SIG Meeting Program
by Walt Parsons, DVPC

There will be no Windows SIG meeting in July because of the July Fourth Independence Day holiday. Our next meeting will be on Monday, August 3, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. Community Room at the Concord Police Station. See the detailed directions on the DVPC SIG News page.

The Daily Dilbert Cartoon
by Scott Adams