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Dec. 1, 2001; Vol. 2;
Issue #12; 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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TIME TO REGISTER FOR NEW COMPUTER CLASSES: The all-volunteer
SeniorNet Computer Learning Center in Bellevue is offering hands-on classes in
a wide variety of computer skills, with interested seniors invited to sign up
at the Thursday morning, Dec. 13th
registration at the Factoria Mall
Community Room from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Courses, where computer-savvy
seniors teach other seniors operating their individual class computers, include
basics for those without any prior experience. There is a nominal course fee
and membership is required in the national SeniorNet organization. The Factoria
Mall registration site is at the north end of the large mall, off Routes I-405
and I-90 in Bellevue, next to Petco, and opposite Red Robin Restaurant.
CLASSES ARE HELD at the Phantom Lake Elementary School in Bellevue. Here, the instructor
sitting at a special computer, illustrates each lesson, each keystroke or mouse
click via a large projection screen for ease of learning. Plus other volunteer
assistants are ready to quietly move alongside to assist a student who needs
some extra help. Among the more popular classes are Introduction to Windows 95/98/ME,
e-mail where seniors can reach out and stay in touch with family and friends
around the world in seconds. Other courses include word processing, creating a
database, using the Internet etc. A new course is Writing Your History. Louise
Flora is Registrar, with Roger
Dalton in charge of the registration program. For details, seniors may call
the voicemail line at 206-232-5892,
to have SeniorNet contact them. Those with computer access now, can reach the
SeniorNet website which has full course details, at www.seniornetps.org.
SENIORNET PROGRAMS STAR ON TV DEC. 5 & 7: The far-reaching
educational activities of our all-volunteer SeniorNet Computer Learning Center of Puget Sound will be aired in
two cable TV programs this coming week. The program on Bellevue’s “It’s Your City,” Channel 55, will be first shown Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m., and repeated Friday, Dec. 7 at 11:30 a.m., according
to SeniorNet Pres. Helen Hesketh who participated in the program. The TV shoot
described the SeniorNet computer education program for seniors by seniors, and
the widely acclaimed Granpals program where SeniorNet volunteers work with
young students to aid them in reading and other subjects. The program was taped
this past Thursday morning (Nov.
29) at the SeniorNet computer classroom at the Phantom Lake Elementary School in Bellevue Also taking part in the
program was Hal Mozer who was
instructing his regular Thursday morning computer class. Wendi Fischer produced
the program. Pres. Helen in describing the Granpals program, added:
“The camera crew and
interviewers went to the student classroom where Granpals coordinator Pat Herzog was interviewed for the Granpal
program, Betty Block was interviewed
as a Granpal, then a simulated session with some of her students, next Granpal Irene Fernandez held a session
with two of her students on the couch. Onward to the classroom where Granpal Chuck Flora was assisting in
the math class and then he was interviewed. The final interview was with the teacher, Renee Karlovich, who is very
much appreciative of the Granpals and what they bring to the students and to
the entire school. During the Granpal session, part of the TV shoot team went
back to the SeniorNet classroom to do further shooting of our students in
action. The session wrapped up with the interview with Pres. Helen who
described the operation of the volunteer SeniorNet Computer Learning Center
designed for seniors.
“It was a fun morning” said
Pres. Helen, “and my thanks to all
of our members who so generously
gave of their time to make this possible.”
MEMBERSHIP MEETING DEC. 18th. COME ON DOWN: With everyone invited to
attend, the monthly SeniorNet Membership Meeting will be held Tuesday, Dec.
18th at 10:00 am at the Phantom Lake
School in Portable 2. Pres. Hesketh announces, “We will be
having a meeting followed by a social. Come and meet our dedicated members and
have a fun time getting to know each other.” She also reported that George Turk is recuperating rapidly
from a heart attack and his bypass surgery, and Dave Lewis is hobbling around doing lots of physical therapy after
a knee replacement. “Our prayers for a quick recovery are being said for both
of our valued members,” she added.
WHAT SENIORS LIKE MOST ABOUT COMPUTERS: Learning to search out and
stay in touch with family and friends via instant electronic mail (email) is
the number one goal for most seniors, according to initial results of a survey
being conducted by Harry Shedd aided
by members. SeniorNet
Pres. Helen Hesketh said the survey will help determine future courses that
best meet the needs and wishes of students, including beginners. Curriculum
Coordinator John Wise said the survey will continually update needed
training courses to meet the needs of seniors. And the suggestions cover a wide
range. Noting, “We are a long way from any conclusions from the survey,” Harry
reported, “We have 30 suggestions for course additions thus far. Of those age
65 and over, only 15% have internet access, while learning and using email is
their No. 1 goal.” And for those seniors who go online, 52% are between the
ages of 50-54, while 43% are between 55-59, in the slightly more mature age
group of 65-69, only 23% go online. Harry said the membership comes from the entire
Greater Seattle area as follows: from: Bellevue = 42%, Seattle = 13.5%, Mercer
Island = 11.8%, Kirkland = 8.5%.
Throughout the United States, there are almost 230 SeniorNet Computer
Learning Centers, but only 40% have their own web site. Our own Puget Sound
SeniorNet has its own website, thanks to Hal Mozer, Jay Schlechter along with
the help of others.
OUR MONTHLY NO-HOST SOCIAL TUESDAY MORNING, DEC. 4TH is set again for the Crossroads Mall fabulous Food Circus on 156th Ave. NE,
Bellevue, starting at 11 a.m. A
great way to prepare for the coming holidays later in the month. Newcomers,
everybody is welcome to grab a chair, or pull up another table and join in.
Have any special computer questions? Chances are some of the veterans can come
up with the answers.
CAN’T KEEP A GOOD MAN JUST SITTING AROUND: One of our very active
members, Bill Flick, who retired
this past year to the high desert country of central Oregon writes he eagerly
awaits his monthly SeniorNet Online Newsletter which helps him keep in touch.
And thanks to his training with SeniorNet, he isn’t just sitting around. He has
volunteered to work at the local medical center and plans to attend the grand
opening of the new expanded senior center there. His only regret, he writes, is
that he won’t be helping Roger Dalton with
the Dec. 13th registration at Factoria Mall. Bill also notes when he
walks out the front door of his home, he can see the snow-covered Cascade
Range. And, oh yes, he has already installed his traction tires. He also sends
his best wishes to all.
ONLINE NEWSLETTER STARTING THIRD YEAR:
The idea of having a free monthly SeniorNet Online Newsletter as a
regular central reference point for the 500 members of our SeniorNet Computer
Learning Center started as a gleam in the eyes of Immediate Past Pres. Clif Wuesthoff a few years ago. All he needed
was someone to actually do it. Following some discussions and arm-twisting,
this writer agreed to try it for a year, with Clif in turn, agreeing to handle
the actual online distribution. And now we’re just about starting our third
year without anyone being impeached or fired.
HEY! IT’S A WIRED WORLD OUT THERE: Just returned from a lengthy trek with wife
Sue through China, Tibet, Nepal,
India etc., Hal Mozer reports no
matter how primitive the area may be, one can usually find a way to access the
Internet to make contact with just about anyone in the world. Hal reports: ”I
just returned from a six-week trip covering Yunnan Province in Southwestern
China, Tibet, Kathmandu in Nepal, Darjeeling and the state of Sikkim in
Northern India, and Bhutan. In each of these countries and provinces I was able
to find Internet access so I could check and send email as well as surf the
Internet. In addition to these locations, on other trips I have been able to
check and send email from hotel business centers or Internet cafes in France,
Southern India, Mexico and Ecuador.
”Sometimes the business center in one's hotel can provide Internet access.
However, when it is available, the hotel charges are usually higher, sometimes
three or four times as high, as the Internet cafes. So on this trip I always
used non-hotel Internet places, sort of generically called Internet cafes even
though not all serve any food or drink. I find these places usually by asking
the guide. All of the guides I had on this trip were Internet users and would
frequently check their own email, so they knew where the places were -- they
were usually near the hotel I was staying in. And the prices were mostly very
cheap, sometimes as little as the equivalent of 75 cents per hour in local
currency. I think the most I paid was around $2/hour. One of the hotel business
centers was charging $6/hour. In China the computers had English character
keyboards, but the screens had a lot of Chinese and I had to get an attendant
to translate error messages, sometimes difficult when the attendant spoke
English poorly. Fortunately, I know the more typical dialog screens that come
up in something like a Hotmail session, so I just guessed and clicked on a
button and usually was correct. When I was connected to Hotmail or my webmail
account, everything was in English. In all the other countries, the computers
operated in English. The message here:
if you plan to travel and want to get email on the trip, it can be done
throughout the world. Arrange to have an email account that can be
accessed from any computer that can connect to the Internet. Hotmail and Yahoo
email services work well. -- BUT,
you set this up before you leave home.”
COMPUTER TIPS:
BLOCK UNWANTED PROGRAMS FROM STARTUP: Want to speed up your boot up procedure
when you snap on the computer switch by blocking unwanted programs from
loading? Joe Pontecorvo comes up with the following;
Question: Whenever I start Windows a bunch of programs load up into the System
Tray on my Taskbar. Some of them I want, some of them I don't. Is there any way
to stop these programs from loading short of uninstalling them? I actually want
to keep the programs on my PC; I just don't want them to load when I start
Windows. I've tried removing programs from Start, Programs, StartUp, but there
are still programs loading which aren't in that folder.
Answer As you've found, some programs load automatically by being
placed in the Windows\Start\menu\Programs\StartUp folder; others load more
furtively. The most effective way to stomp out these unwanted startups is to
locate the option within each program which lets you switch auto-loading on or
off. Almost all of them have one.
If that seems like too much trouble, or if you can't find an auto-launch
option in the particular culprit, you can use the System Configuration
Utility: Click Start, Run, type msconfig in the Open box and click OK. Click
the Startup tab. Take a look down the list and see what's getting loaded at
startup. If you're not sure what a particular entry refers to, it's better to
leave it alone. Otherwise, you can stop a program auto-loading by removing the
checkmark/tick beside its entry. Click OK. You'll be prompted to reboot and
when you do so, you'll be informed that Windows is using selective
startup. You can click the box to hide this message on future boot-ups.
TV PROGRAM FEATURES
PONTECORVO (JR.) FILM: A travelogue film, “Over
Alaska,” was featured on PBS KCTS, Channel 9 this past month, and
featured the photography of Joe Pontecorvo Jr., son of our own Joe and
Vi Pontecorvo. Two
photographers worked on the program, with Joe Jr. focusing on the ground
photography in Alaska, while the other photographer worked the aerial shots
from the helicopter. Joe Jr.’s work has been featured in past PBS programs.
BACK HOME FROM NEW ZEALAND: It was a busy and exciting
time for SeniorNet Pres. Helen and
spouse Joe Hesketh when they flew to
New Zealand this past month, and while there, rented an RV to roam throughout
the entire island without having to get a hotel room each night. Only recently,
they had returned from a cross-country trip to the East Coast here, but
traveled in their own RV. And to make sure they wouldn’t get too bored just
sitting around on their return from their overseas jaunt, they had the inside
of the house painted. Now it seems
that heading up the complex SeniorNet operation is a form of relaxation.
ELDERHOSTEL ENTERS THE
COMPUTER AGE:
It was only a question of time before Elderhostel, geared to serve senior
citizens with special trips and programs aimed for special interests, traveled
into the computer age, and now this well-known organization is online,
according to Geraldine Williams. She
reports the program started this past month and seniors can visit the Student
Learning Center to read articles, view exhibits or sign up for online courses.
The Elderhostel Senior Program Manager
Maeve Hartney announced, "Our online programs are as diverse as our
participant's interests. We are very excited about this new medium for lifelong
learning." To learn more about this new Elderhostel program, insert the
following URL (Uniform Resource Locator address) into the browser address line,
and hit Enter. http://elderhostel.cq0.net/r/default.asp?R=0000247500000fe21
EASY COPY-PASTE TIPS: No need really to
laboriously try to type out lengthy Internet URLs. The easy, fast and more
accurate method: Select/highlight the URL address by holding down the left
mouse button and passing the cursor along the address to be copied. This
highlights the address. Then hold down the CTRL key, and tap the C (for copy)
key. That address is now in the computer’s temporary memory. Then open up your
browser, whether Microsoft Internet Explorer, or Netscape, or whatever. Place
the cursor in the address space. Hold down the CTRL key again, and tap the V
(for victory) key. The full address should be in the address line. Now hit the
Enter key to access that website. This Copy and Paste procedure also works with
moving big blocks of type from one document to another.
TIPS FROM NEAT NET TRICKS
(NNT)
(As always, use at your own risk)
QUICK WORD OPEN. Microsoft Word 97 and 2000 displays the most recent documents you've
worked on with a simple click on File. You can then select the desired
file by clicking on it and opening it. OK, you knew that.
Did you know that you can increase the number of displayed files, to a maximum
of 9, by clicking on Tools|Options and the General tab and changing the number
in the "Recently used file list." An expanded list will not be
immediate but will grow as you use Word. Having done all that, the
neatest trick is to press Alt + F, and then the file number and it will
immediately open. NNT announces you can subscribe FREE with a blank email to join-neatnettricks@silver.lyris.net.
QUICK ADDRESS BAR. In Microsoft Internet
Explorer, use Alt + D to highlight the address bar. This allows you to
enter a URL without the mouse. And if you're still typing
"http", "www", and ".com" as part of the address
-- don't. It's just not necessary.
FAST PATH TO ICONS. Call up all your desktop icons without
leaving whatever applications you have currently open. Just click on
Start|Run and enter a period (.) without parenthesis, then touch Enter.
OFF-LINE PAGES. Microsoft Internet Explorer allows you to store your favorites
off line. This is a nice feature when you'd like to show someone some Web
sites without being connected to the Internet. Too, accessing a
saved page on one's hard drive is generally a lot faster than waiting for a
site to load. To store these pages off line, simply click on Favorites
and Add to Favorites as usual, and make sure to select "Make Available Off
Line." Anytime thereafter while you're on line, you can update these
pages by clicking on Tools and Synchronize
MAXIMIZING INTERNET EXPLORER. A minor nuisance with Microsoft Internet
Explorer is its tendency to open at less than full-screen size. There are
several fixes, but one of the easiest requires only creating a shortcut for IE,
then right-clicking on the shortcut to properties, and changing the
"Run" window to read "Maximized."
:NEAT NET TRICKS, as well as the
SeniorNet Online Newsletter, makes
no endorsement or warranty, expressed or implied, with regard to featured
products or services. Results may vary based on operating systems and other
variables beyond our control. For info on how to subscribe, unsubscribe, or
change your address, send a blank email to infoneatnettricks@silver.lyris.net.
CAUTION NOTE: While all computer-operating tips come from usually reliable sources,
readers are reminded they use them at their own risk. 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. We welcome your news items sent to the editor at b26flyer@home.com. If you wish to
receive this free newsletter monthly, send a brief message with your full name,
phone and email address to the above email address. And if you wish to
unsubscribe, just send a message to same email address.
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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;
Public
Relations & Online Newsletter Editor> Phil Scheier; Publicity>Jo Hugh
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