Number 248 - January 2004

UPDATE
Beginners Notes    Beginner items cover Windows 98 and XP as well as Microsoft WORD. The lead article in the Communications section is also a "beginner" piece describing search techniques available in most search engines using Boolean operators to specify and refine your searches. Try them--you'll be amazed. Outlook Addins    If you do a lot of mailing and wish to print envelopes or labels or simply wish to sort lists using MS Outlook you will want to read about Aladdins Software Add-ins. Sometimes an application-specific piece of software is a great time and effort saver and the author seems to think highly of this one. Digi-Sharing    A hallmark of the Computer User Group is sharing, so the advent of digital photography and its growth in popularity and availability at reasonable cost--coupled with universal ease of communication with friends and family via the Internet--is a natural for the computer user. Two articles in this issue will be of interest to those who have been bitten by the digiphoto bug, although they probably are quite aware of their content. For those of you to whom Santa brought digital cameras or related software, however, they are worth reading.	Operating System Tips    As Windows XP matures more and more articles are being written about it and suggestions are made about how to improve your computer's performance when using it. Two such articles are included in this issue. The first one: Windows XP Hits & Tips by Bill Beverley covers the following topics: Firewall, Media Player, Mouse Pointer, My Documents, New User Accounts, Online Icon, Password, Performance Enhancements, Personal Folders, Power Tools, Privacy Reports, Program Installation and Removal and Reinstallation. The second XP article: New Things to Consider Regarding XP by Jean Wilcox who starts off by pointing out that downloaded files may be saved in space hogging BMP format but then suggests a work-around. She then goes on to discuss many of the good things about XP including a built-in CD slideshow generating capability.    Sandwiched between these two XP articles is Fixing Windows by Lee Reynolds. Here he discusses a problem with the order in which Windows "sorts" saved files. He also gives several steps which you can take to speed up your copy of Windows 98 and ME. Correct Sequence Printing    One feature of Windows XP that we have noticed is that, when printing a multi-page document, XP is smart enough to sort the pages of the document and print the last page first and proceed with the printing of precedent pages until completion with page one on top. Very clever.
Number 248 - January 2004