By Helen Hesketh
WEEKLY
LABORATORY TIME OFFERED BY SENIORNET
Get your questions answered and problems solved! SeniorNet of Puget Sound is offering a weekly Laboratory time where present and past students can come to the classroom and get assistance (often one-on-one) with questions relating to their computer programs, the operating systems [Win 95, Win98, Win ME, or Win XP] or application programs [Microsoft WORD or other classes that we teach]). There is no charge for these sessions.
The first of these Laboratory sessions was held on Friday January 24 and was an overwhelming success. At times all the computers were occupied with others waiting to be assisted. All attendees had their questions answered by the instructors present.
These sessions will continue on Fridays 10:00 - 2:00 on January 31, February 7, and 14th in our classroom at Phantom Lake School in Bellevue.
KAFFEE KLATCH: Drop in out of the rain and clouds and experience
some fun, friends, food and fashionable conversation that might include trips,
computers and catch up on how and what our Senior volunteers are doing.
Participate in the SeniorNet Kaffee
Klatch on Tuesday, February 4, at 11:30
am, held at the Crossroads Mall Food Circus, where you will find much of this happening. Come on out and
experience some of the most knowledgeable folks on this earth. Shop for your
Valentine while at the mall.
FEBRUARY MEMBERSHIP
MEETING: SeniorNet will meet Tuesday,
February 18, at 10 am in the Crossroads Mall Community Room. Bring your
questions written down and turn in as you arrive. Ken Crandall will moderate a panel of our "experts" on
your questions about software. Ken has stated, "the panel will give
practical answers without becoming "Too Techie". He further stated,
"that the questions be relative to software issues, but hardware questions
will be accepted as well unless they are too technical. I will bring a laptop
computer with some software loaded on it plus a projector so some of the
answers can demonstrate."
TIME TO GET YOUR
COMPUTER UP AND RUNNING AGAIN
Now that the holidays of
December are past, decorations put away until next year, it is time to dust off
the computer and put it to work. Remember hand addressing all of those holiday
cards? The Database Class which will be offered beginning March 3 through April
7 will teach you how to put your addresses into a database and then print
labels. You can even personalize them with a little clip art. Project Design
with Publisher, offered April 25 through May 25, will help you create flyers,
invitations, calendars and many other projects. Learn how to use E-Bay
discussing the methods of both buying and selling on this great internet tool.
Dates for this class are May 5 thru May 19.
Delores Davis will again be offering her Life Stories class February 28 through April
11. Your family will enjoy reading
your life story and that of your family. Delores has the knowledge and skills
to put together this treasure for your family.
Several workshops are also
being offered this Spring - the cost for these is only $10.00 for members.
America On-Line, Outlook Express, Greeting Cards and a new class, Fun with
Recipes.
Call the voice mail
206-232-5892 to request further information.
FREE CLASS SPECIAL OFFER CONTINUED
Win a gift certificate
for a free class of your choice. SeniorNet of Puget Sound is offering - again -
this special offer to all enrolled students.
It's as simple as ABC!
· A - Introduce a friend (one who has never taken a
SeniorNet class) to classes at SeniorNet of Puget Sound.
· B - For information about classes available have your
future student call our voice mail 206-232-5892
or email senior@seniornetps.org and request a Catalog.
· C - Complete an orange coupon, found in the
classroom, give it to your friend and request that they attach the coupon to
their membership application and registration form. This entitles you to a
future class at no cost. A gift certificate will be sent to you.
If you have any questions about this, Just call the
voice mail - 206-232-5892
CROWS A
PROBLEM?
Joann Tuttle has a way to
get rid of some of those pesky CD's that Internet Providers so generously send
us every time we turn around.
There's also a way to get rid of those pesky crows who love to
inhabit our garden and eat those tender little seeds every time we turn
around. Oh well at least in the spring planting season.
Joann says, "Last spring I strung a rope across my garden
about 3-4 feet above the ground, then at intervals tied CD's at varying heights
and distances along the rope. The crows did not seem to like the idea and
appeared to stay out of the garden. I did see smaller birds roaming
around on the ground after bugs but crows sat on fence and squawked and I
didn't have to replant the corn."
She further states, "My son works at a computer store and has
brought me a more than adequate supply so if anyone wants to try them and is
not buried in Internet CD's of their own, I will bring some and leave them in
the classroom for our gardeners."
The lady who told Joann about this used them to hang from her
patio to frighten the birds off. Use your imagination.
DO YOU HATE SPAM! I hate Spam therefore I was pleased to find an
improved Spam filter to use with my e-mail program. Many Anti-Spam filters have you guess at words, or other
data that appear in Spam messages, to sort out potential Spam. This improved Spam filter uses
statistical information to sort out potential Spam. This program maybe a little "techie" for some
people, but there is a web site (http://popfile.sourceforge.net/)
with detailed instructions on installing and using this program. Read this information to see if it will
work for you. This program works
for all Email programs using the industry standard POP3 protocol (sorry AOL
users, it will not work for you).
The detailed instructions
include specific instructions for working with the Outlook, Outlook Express,
Eudora, and Pegasus Email programs and cover the use with firewalls.
It starts out dumb as a
block of wood (since it has nothing to base it's statistical analysis on), but
it quickly learns what you consider to be Spam. Therefore it automatically tailors its response to your standards. You will have to identify at least two
categories (these are called buckets in this program) for your mail to be
sorted into (i.e. spam and normal).
You chose the names (using lowercase characters only) of these buckets
(I have four buckets named spam, langa, tourbus, and personal) but you will
select names that match your use of Email. As you use the program, you are able to indicate which
buckets your Email should be in and you can change any program miss-sorting
using the "POPfile User Interface" program that is installed as part
of POPfile program. The program
quickly learns to sort correctly.
It is better than 90% accurate for me. My receipt of some financial information helps to confuse
the difference between Spam and normal Email but the program is still very
accurate.
You can download this
program from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=63137
Be sure to download the
"Windows" version of this file.
I used version "popfile-0.17.9a-windows.zip". Yes this is a ZIP file and you will
have to be able to un-zip it to be install it. When un-zipped, it becomes a "setup.exe" file that
you can run to install the program.
(Note: I first downloaded the "Cross Platform" version of this
program and spent better than 6 hours understanding how to make it work for
me. It did have the advantage of
being able to use past Email messages to get an initial statistical database. I strongly recommend using the simpler
Windows version.)
I highly recommend this
program, but you have to be comfortable with un-zipping files, installing
downloaded programs, and being able to follow detailed step-by-step procedures
for changing your Email account setup and setting up your Email filers to use
this program. Wishing you
"Lots of Spam isolated Emailing!"
Prepared by Kenneth Crandall, Facilities
Coordinator
SAVE MONEY ON INKJET CARTRIDGES
from Ziff Davis
(publisher of computer magazines).
Are you sick of shelling out $60 every few
months when your inkjet cartridges run dry? So was PC Magazine's site producer
Lance Ulanoff. But rather than get mad, he got going -- and rounded up a
handful of sites that sell cheaper generic and refurbished cartridges. Yes,
there is a way to save money without using those messy refill kits!
http://eletters1.ziffdavis.com/cgi-bin10/flo?y=eTbY0DTEYP0HX60tVv0AM
From
Louise Flora via Ken Crandall
OUR MEMBER IN
PRINT
The book title is: Intimate Friends: An Antidote to
Loneliness. It is almost a 100 charming tales of how ordinary people can create
intimacy with one another, without waiting for "just the right
moment" or "just the right person" to make safe and nurturing
intimate contact. The stories are relevant both to people on their own and
those in a relationship. I am continually amazed at the many possibilities of
satisfying human interaction.
Jay Schlechter, author, writes, "SeniorNet has been a source of warmth,
friendship and support for me. I truly appreciate Helen Hesketh's
leadership."
Congratulations Jay on your achievement.
VOICE YOUR OPINION
Do you want to have some say in the U.S. federal regulatory
process? Now you can find pending government regulations and comment on them on
the new website at
http://www.regulations.gov
where you can participate directly in rulemaking. You can search for
regulations by keyword or agency of origin. Find regulations open for comment
and click on the link that says "Submit a Comment on this
Regulation." Then do so.
You can also use this site to find what regulations are pending in your area of
expertise and your search will make *you* the instant expert. (But only for
that instant!)
*****************************************************************************
Copyright 2003 by Richard Schenkar, Attorney, Columnist
2 Maple Lane, Mercer Island WA 98040
Phone/Fax: 206-232-2282 E-mail: <Richard_Schenkar@juno.com>
Connecting you with information you need to be effective.
******************************************************************************
RARE MILITARY VIDEOS
Are
you familiar with this source of military videos?
http://www.militaryvideo.com/store/store.cfm
Submitted
by Ross Roberts
JOIN THE TEAM: Still needed is an editor for this popular
On-Line Newsletter. If you could help
with this project, please contact Helen Hesketh at senior@seniornetps.org and mark the email "For:
Helen Online Newsletter". Most of this newsletter was an edit, cut and paste job. Thank you for the
articles that could be pasted in submitted by Louise Flora, Ken Crandall, Joann
Tuttle, Ross Roberts, Richard Schenkar, Tim Craig and Jay Schlechter.
TIM CRAIG, NEW DIRECTOR OF LEARNING CENTERS
It is a real pleasure and a privilege to be appointed to the position of
director of the SeniorNet Learning Centers. I will be working hard
to fill the shoes of Joe Walton, whom I know has done a marvelous job. As
you can well imagine, this is all new to me, but very exciting and
interesting. I hope to get to know as much about each individual center
as possible so that I can help and support you as much as possible in your
efforts to provide this valuable service to our SeniorNet members.
A bit about my background. I have twenty five years of experience
in education and training, have worked primarily at colleges and universities
as an administrator in the areas of adult and continuing education and contract
training. Over these past twenty five years I have worked in Hawaii, New
York, Connecticut, Cairo Egypt, and California. For twenty five happy
years I have been married to my wife, Carolyn who also is an educator in the
area of English.
FROM OUR MAILER: This newsletter is being
sent out under the name of Bill Jones, which was an arbitrary name that
selected for classroom use before we decided to use this account for the
newsletter transmission. So let's just think of old Bill as your kindly
newsletter forwarder. We will have a new newsletter editor soon and the
correct name will appear at the end of the newsletter.