Number 277 - June 2006

UPDATE
Annual Election Results    At the June meeting the following were elected as the Tacoma Open Group Board for the coming year.       President:       Carl Tenning       VP/Program Chair:    Sandee Gimblett       Secty Treasurer:    Sandee Gimblett       Software Librarian:    Tom Stepanek       Newsletter Editor:    Bob Thomson    The board will serve from June 2006 through May 2007. Spreadsheet Comment    Before you rush to e-mail us about it, we know that OpenOffice will save a file in one of several versions of EXCEL. In conversations with Carl Tenning after writing the article Old Hands Manage Tricky Spreadsheet File Transfer he stated his preference for the EXCEL 4 format, one of the choices. So we use that instead of the CSV format described in the article. We just thoughtnewcomers to computing should know of other choices. Problem Mission    In the User Group tradition of users helping users, Carl Tenning describes a multi-facted problem he faced while helping a newcomer get his computer up and running again, after it had been subjected to multiple attacks by computer viruses, trojan horses, spam, etc. His efforts proved the worth of belonging to a Computer Group. Operating System Tricks    In Transferring Data, South Floridian Vinny LaBash discusses how to move data from an old computer to a new one without transferring all the old problems along with it.	This is followed by two articles by Victoria BC PCUG's Randy Esdon on steps you can take to Speed Up Windows XP. If you have installed any "helpful" software, some of the steps may already have been taken for you. But there are many more--so take a look. General Interest    In How I Made a Movie, the author describes his experiences with the Windows Movie Maker 2 (WMM2) software provided as part of Windows XP Service Pack 2. Basically, he is describing a slide show with the addition of music, commentary and video clips.    In Why Do we Get So Much Spam? Vinny LaBash points out that spam is supported by those who respond to it. Don't respond to it and it will lose its support and diminish--maybe even go away! Hardware    In Paranoid Computing Revisited the author describes his experiences in using a computer with the hard drive removed so that spam couldn't be written to it. A "safe" approach but somewhat limiting. He goes on to describe U3Smart Drive using a thumb drive which contains the operating system and your data, and is instantly available when plugged into a USB port--then disappears from the computer when you unplug it. Read the article--it is interesting.    In Digital Camera Tip the author suggests that it is unnecessary to use the software provided with your camera to manage your digital picture. He says that Windows XP provides all the management tools you need. He gives you a step by step guide in the article.
Number 277 - June 2006