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SENIORNET COMPUTER LEARNING CENTER NEWS
April 1, 2001; Vol. 2;
Issue #16; Mail Address:PMB 44,
12819 SE 38th St., Bellevue, WA 98006-1326
Voice Mail: 206-232-5892;
Classroom: Phantom Lake Elementary School, Bellevue
For Detailed
Information, Class Schedules:www.seniornetps.org
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ANOTHER GREAT YEAR OF GROWTH: With a growing membership of 500 computer enthusiasts, and expanding enrollments by really active seniors wanting to expand their knowledge and abilities working on computers, the March 20th annual meeting marked the highlight of the year. The session held at the large meeting room at the Bellevue Regional Library, attracted 50 members and guests. Vice Pres. Bill Bumpas presided at the crowded session in the absence of Pres. Helen Hesketh, and presented her annual report of ongoing progress. Others presenting reports included: Treas. Bob Swenson; Facilities Coordinator Ken Crandall; Curriculum Coordinator John Wise; Registration Coordinator Louise Flora; Volunteer and RSVP Coordinator Delores Davis; and Granpals Coordinator Pat Herzog. Full details of the meeting are being drawn up by Secy Dave Lewis.
LET'S HAVE A CUPPA CAWFEE: Our monthly reminder, not that you would forget, of our monthly Kaffee Klatch Tuesday, April 3rd at 11 a.m., at the Crossroads Mall Food Circus, at 156th Ave. NE. As always, a time for some socializing, exchange of ideas, computer talk and a chance to meet socially, away from the blistering pace of the classroom.
SENIORNET DISPLAY SCORES BIG AT FAIR: Confirming the realization that more and more seniors are either very curious about computers, or are actually learning and working on the fascinating machines was the heavy attendance at our working display at the March 19th Active Senior Fair in Bellevue. Joe Pontecorvo was in charge of the SeniorNet participation, working closely with Clif Wuesthoff and other volunteers at the heavily attended annual event held at the Bellevue Inn. Clif created the impressive settings, signs etc. and aided by Joe and Marilyn Emerson, set them up, and at closing time, removed signs describing our all-volunteer computer learning center. Joe brought in the computer and printer, which intrigued visitors with its Special Days program. When a birth date, or anniversary date (for those not wishing to really, actually give their birth date), was punched into the computer, it printed out the highlights of that special day. The printout with the SeniorNet message and phone number was given to the visitor. It was a near moment of panic when Joe's printer at the start of the fair refused to operate. Thanks to Clif who came through-again-in the emergency, dashing home to pick up another printer. Joe emailed his thanks later in the day to the many volunteers helping during the day, which also included Louise Flora, Betty Block, Anne Scheinholz, Bob Swenson, Bill Flick and Phil Scheier.
AND THE WINNER IS: In addition, visitors filled out a form for the prize of a free class of their choosing, and in addition to their phone number, were asked if they wished to receive our Online Newsletter. Almost 50 signed up for the newsletter. And the winner of the free class is Ben Sheppard. The drawing took place at the following week's Annual Meeting at the Bellevue Library. When this writer the following week met an East Side YMCA staffer who worked at the Y's exhibit at the Senior Fair, she said she was curious at the constant crowds around the SeniorNet display, and because of the crush most of the time, didn't make it across the room before closing.
ANOTHER FAIR NOTE: When a visitor stopped at the SeniorNet exhibit at the Senior Fair, he was asked, as were all visitors, whether he had any questions. He shook his head. Do you have a computer? He nodded. Do you handle email, access the Internet? With a smile, he pulled out a card, showing he is a web programmer, a high state of the art guy. Louise Flora working at the display, and never missing a beat, smiled, and said, "Fine, we're always looking for more experienced volunteer instructors, people just like you.” A startled look on his face, then a smile and a nod, "Maybe. Could be." Louise handed him our brochure with the phone number, address etc. "Let's hear from you," she called after him as he walked away.
EVERYBODY-UNDER THE COMPUTERS!!: And where were you when the quake hit this region last month? A SeniorNet Word processing class, being taught by George Turk, will never forget the details. And SeniorNetters displayed their typical cool during the ordeal. As Turk later reported: " It was about 10:55 a.m., on Wednesday, Feb. 28th. The class was Word Processing using MS Word97. The power went out immediately. It took a few seconds to realize that this was really an earthquake. Most of us had been in earthquakes before. We got under the tables. I guess that I wasn't thinking of anyone's age or that we might have trouble getting back out from under the tables. After about 15 seconds someone suggested that we should go outside. Having been through it before, I vetoed that and said to stay put until it settled down. After a couple of minutes I gave the word to go outside on the playfield.
Continued Turk, "At least two students, elderly themselves, expressed concern over neighbors and how they were doing - One student commented: 'They're quite elderly you know.' They, and another lady worried about her family, went to their cars to make cell phone calls - only to find that the cell phones weren't working. After a few minutes, after consultation with the school personnel, we gave the OK for everyone to go home. The power was out and not likely to be restored for hours. The power was restored about 2:00 pm. I went back up to school; turned on and checked all the machines to prepare them for the next class."
WHAT IS THIS SPYWARE? With the U.S., just evicting a number of so-called Russian diplomats at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C., as being actual spies, someone raised a question about a software program described as Spyware. Joe Pontecorvo has come up with the answer: "Spyware is ANY SOFTWARE which employs a user's Internet connection in the background (the so-called 'backchannel') without their knowledge or explicit permission. Silent background use of an Internet "backchannel" connection MUST BE PRECEDED by a complete and truthful disclosure of proposed backchannel usage, followed by the receipt of explicit, informed, consent for such use
"ANY SOFTWARE communicating across the Internet
absent these elements," Joe continued, " is
guilty of information theft
and is properly and rightfully termed: Spyware. A program called OptOut can
instantly detect any fully installed Spyware (adbots, browser parasites, etc.),
which OptOut has been designed to detect, through traces that are always left
behind in the system's registry. OptOut can be downloaded from http://.grc.com/optout.htm"
A CAMEL RIDE? THANKS, BUT NO THANKS! when Hal and Sue Mozer recently visited the Mideast, one of the trip experiences was rejected. This was a camel ride, if that is the proper term. When questioned by another SeniorNetter why he had passed up this great opportunity to try out the latest model camel in Egypt, Hal shook his head: “Sue and I opted out of the dawn camel ride near the Pyramids -- it required getting up at 5 a.m. We had ridden camels some 25 years ago in Timbuktu, so had no need for a repeat experience. We didn't get seasick, just tired butts and bruised inner-thighs from the hard wooden saddle horn." His big error 25 years earlier, he said, was wearing shorts instead of long pants.
BELLEVUE ANGRY AT HIGH-SPEED DELAY: Bellevue officials thought they had a firm agreement with AT&T Broadband some time ago when it approved its cable- franchise for high-speed Internet access. The city, according to published reports, claimed it had an agreement to connect 31 municipal sites to speed up its online computer operations. AT&T denies it signed such an agreement, saying it had a commitment to first provide services to other communities first. This leaves 47,000 Bellevue homeowners and small businesses that are AT&T cable customers eligible for this service. At this writing, it is not known how many are SeniorNet members. But this writer, who lives in Kirkland, and whose neighborhood luckily was wired, understands the frustration of those waiting, and waiting to get into DSL phone high-speed computer connections, or the AT&T cable high-speed service. Suffice to say, since switching from good, old reliable and free -but slower-Juno, to this high-speed AT&T broadband cable Internet access, computer life has become a blur of speed. My computer is linked to the cable, which also carries my TV service, and I am always online. Downloads, uploads are zip, zip and done. Graphics have a new richness of color. And also very nice is the improvement in operating Microsoft NetMeeting conferences in real-time. The video and sound come through in almost normal fashion, with close sync between seeing what the other person is saying onscreen, and the sound coming from the speakers. The nearest thing to personally meeting with family members 3,000 miles away, and without phone costs. Of course this service is more expensive, about $40 per month, than the free Juno. But it does away with the need for a second, dedicated phone line to keep the main phone line free for calls. The domain name is home.com.
IMPROVING CLASSROOM SERVICES: In a move to further improve classroom services for students and members, Facilities Coordinator Crandall has installed in the back of the classroom, a Sony computer, a scanner and a color printer, the latter donated by Hal Mozer. The goal? So we can scan pictures into the computer, and then print them out. Ken linked the scanner to the classroom's LAN (Local Area Network) to make photos available to any other/or all computers in the classroom. And Ken has made the generous offer to conduct another workshop on using the LAN to transfer these scanned files between computers, if that is desired. He added an effort would be made to have a printed set of instructions on scanning photos, at the workstation.
WHY PAY FOR EXPENSIVE NEW PRINT CARTRIDGES if your ink jet printer can handle the much cheaper ink refill cartridge? There is a wide array of ink refill print cartridge systems, perhaps not all, but plenty. This writer purchased years ago-it seems-a refillable print head for his Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 400. And it just keeps on working and working. This setup uses only the small individual-use plastic containers for the black ink refills, although color refills also available. In this setup, it is merely a matter of removing the small empty plastic ink container, from the printhead, and inserting the new full container into the slot. As the new container is pressed down into the slot, a small nail punctures the container, releasing the ink-into the holder. As simple as that. There is another system where you drill a small hole into the empty original printhead with an easy-turn supplied screw. Then with the provided ink container syringe, you inject the new ink into the holder. You can check CompUSA, or Office Depot or Office Max. Or you can go online, and check the Pacific Ink website at, http://www.pacificink.com/refill.html.Just scroll all the way down to see if your printer is listed for refills. The site also contains directions for the refill.
TIPS:
If any of you are interested in a free service whereby you can access your Outlook Express email from any computer, go to www.mail2web.com. No registration is required; it's a free service. All you need to do is enter your email address and password, and your email will come up, according to one of the tip services.
HELPING KIDS LEARN ABOUT $$$$: Ziff Davis Net lists some interesting free downloads, including one to teach kids all about money in a practical way. Something to alert your married children about helping THEIR kids. Check it out at http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,000QK1,.html
AND BELOW, MORE HELPFUL TIPS FROM ED BOTT NEWSLETTER
USE WINDOWS UPDATE TO KEEP YOUR PC
SAFE AND SPEEDY- When
was the last time you installed the latest Windows patches? If you've put off
this essential task, stop what you're doing and go to Windows Update right now.
It will show you how to do it.
http://windows.about.com/library/tips/bltip196.htm
DOWNLOAD WINDOWS UPDATES AND SAVE THEM ON YOUR COMPUTER- If you have several computers to update, you might want to save security fixes and patches so you can install them without a separate download for each machine. Let me help you find Microsoft's hidden Download Center.
http://windows.about.com/library/tips/bltip197.htm
SEARCH FOR ANSWERS TO TOUGH WINDOWS QUESTIONS- Are you certain you saw a tip here but forgot to bookmark the page? The answer might be closer than you think, with this one-click search secret.
http://windows.about.com/library/tips/bltip199.htm
FROM
NEAT NET TRICKS, AN ONLINE MEDICAL REFERENCE. The Merck Manual of Medical Information is now
available as a free resource at http://www.MerckHomeEdition.com
the new version is complete with multimedia components such as videos,
animations, color photos, links, and pronunciations of medical terms. This is a
truly useful online service for those seeking explanations of various suspected
illnesses, bone problems etc., through an interactive directory. Here, you can
select subjects, clink on links which come up with specific and detailed
reports and other information. This writer tried to check on disappearing
hairlines. But no real relief seems available for that. Ah well.
AGAIN, IN CASE you have friends who are online, and may be interested in taking more classes to expand their skills, you can forward this newsletter to them by clicking Forward when this message is displayed. Then enter their address in the To box, and click Send to b26flyer@home.com. Help spread the word.
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Pres.> Helen Hesketh; Past
Pres.> Clif Wuesthoff; Vice Pres.>Bill Bumpas; Secy>Dave Lewis;
Treas.>Bob Swenson;
Registrar<Louise
Flora; Curriculum. Coordinator> John Wise; Facilities Coordinator> Ken
Crandall;
Member-at-Large>Delores Davis; Volunteers Coordinator> Delores
Davis;
Online Newsletter Editor> Phil Scheier; Publicity>Jo Hugh
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