A Users Group is no stronger than its membership. And the strongest membership is one where each member contributes time and/or talents. Your attendance at the meetings is of great value to you and to the group. Perhaps you will know the answer to a question asked at Q and A. Or perhaps you will have a question, which someone else is afraid to ask. Your asking will benefit that person and probably others.

To encourage attendance at the general meetings, a record will be kept of each month’s attendance beginning with the December1999 meeting and continuing through the December 2000 meeting. All members attending ALL of these 12 meeting will be eligible to participate in a drawing for a CASH PRIZE of $100.00. Officers and Directors appearing on the EPCUG Officers list in this newsletter are not eligible for the drawing.

This prize is being donated by the Membership Director. If there are no members eligible for the drawing, the money goes to the EPCUG treasury. I personally hope there are at least 100 members in the drawing.

For those of you who were not at the last meeting, you missed the announcement that EPCUG is moving to a new meeting place. For more than 12 years, EPCUG has met at Crown International on Mishawaka Road. It has been a comfortable meeting place at a price we could afford. We could afford it because it was free!

In the last few months we have seen some steady growth and we are now averaging over 115 people per meeting. For the second time in the last few years, the meeting room has been reduced in size. Frankly, it has been standing room only at the meetings! We have simply have outgrown the room with the current configuration. With the reduced size, which will be that way for several more months, and Microsoft coming in May, we will never fit.

In 1996, 1997 and 1998 the board checked on several different sites to hold meetings. We were not able to find a suitable site. Now, the impending purchase of Crown International by Harmon has caused the board to begin the search anew.

The search committee of Jim Pressler, Pat Fawley, Doyle Ramey, and Sherry Nisly found not one but three sites from which to choose. Weighing all the factors, the High Dive Park Pavilion on Beardsley between Johnson Street and Cassopolis Street in Elkhart became the selected choice, with the others kept for reserve.

This location has several advantages. The room is larger, and we can seat over 200 easily. There is a kitchen so we can have snacks in the future if we want. We can get in as early as 5:30 and stay until 11:00 if we want. I strongly suggest that we try to get out by 9:30 at the latest for our Michigan members as that will be 10:30 for them!

With every plus there is a minus, we need some sweat equity for the meetings. We must set up the chairs and take them down again. There is also sound equipment, and video equipment to be set up and taken down each month. There are a couple months this year that we can not get this location, but we have gotten other sites and we will keep you informed of the monthly location.

With the new and possible changing locations, the use of both the EPCUG Mail List and the just beginning Announcement List becomes even more important. The ability to give up-to-date information during these changes is critical so that members do not get “lost” in the shuffle.

Now we have to come up with how to pay the $85.00 per month for our new meeting rooms. There have been articles in the newsletter about iGive before, but this time I am going to directly ask the membership to consider joining iGive today. I will give you a simple explanation of how it works and how EPCUG benefits.

To join iGive, you simply go to the EPCUG web site at www.epcug.org and click on the iGive button on the side of the page. To start with you do not need to purchase anything to do iGive. If you go to the igive.com web site every day, and click on several items, you can earn $.05 to $.20 per day for EPCUG. The $.05 if you never buy anything, or .20 every day for up to 2 months if you purchase something.

An example is Jocelyne purchased some marking pens from On-line Office Supplies for $2.50 and she got free shipping. For the next about 45 days, she got $.20 per day for clicking on the site. That is $9.00 she earned. It takes Jocelyne about 15 seconds every morning to do her clicking, and the site is book marked for easy access.

I also purchased some regular pens from the same company for about $2.30 and for that same 45 days I earned $9.00 for the period. Between the two of use we gave to EPCUG $18.00 through iGive for just a little time.

We have over 300 members in EPCUG and if only half were to do iGive and never purchase anything, the 150 people will earn an average of $1.50 each per month. That is $225.00 per month, or 2.6 times our needs per month.

If only 50 persons make the small purchases to earn the $.20 per day for an average of 30 days, then iGive will pay EPCUG $300 per month. That is 3.52 times our monthly needs.

Right now there are about 6 persons who click every day on iGive. Those six persons plus the shoppers have earned over $537.91 as of April 2nd. The shoppers have purchased Burpee seeds, a book from Amazon .com, a shirt from J.C. Penney, office supplies, etc. All the things that they purchased were for everyday use.

Jocelyne purchased a book for our niece’s birthday through Amazon.com and had it sent directly to her. Since she went through the iGive site she gets credit for the purchase and will get the $.20 per day for the next about 54 days.

I have been told by several people that they do not think that $.05 per day is worth their time. Well, if all 395 members were to click on iGive for three months, what would the total be? Just for that three-month time period, the total paid by iGive to EPCUG would be $1,777.50. Just chicken feed right. That is $842.50 more then our expenses for the entire year for the meeting room! Again that is at the $.05 rate not the higher $.20 if any purchases were made.

Please think closely about joining iGive.com and naming EPCUG as the organization to receive your payments. Remember that if you join via our web page it is automatically done for you. All you need to do is go to the page and click. (Not to mention that by joining thru our web page, or a current member, we receive an extra dollar for your sign up!)

Now for some directions to the new meeting place. Those coming from South Bend may want to consider taking the Toll Road to the Elkhart exit. Follow Cassopolis Street south until it ends at a Tee. Turn left and it is about 2 blocks east on Beardsley on the left hand side. Those who used to have a second meeting at Callahan’s Restaurant near the Toll Road, should see this new site as a plus to the second meeting.

From Goshen, I feel the best method is to follow US 33 Business to Prairie Street northeast. This is an angle street before you get into downtown Elkhart. Prairie crosses the railroad tracks and crosses Waterfall Drive. Prairie then turns north and joins Johnson Street just south of the DAM. As you cross the Johnson Street Bridge, get in the left hand lane as you will be turning left just over the bridge. Turn left on Beardsley and right behind the Kroger Store is High Dive Park.

Parking is both in front of the building, and in a parking lot between the Kroger Store and the park. I am asking that those who are able bodied, please park away from the doors and if possible in the adjacent parking lot.

I have installed several new, larger, or second hard disks in the computers of our household, and am now on my fourth version of Partition Magic (I started with version 2). I’m such a fan of it, when a friend asked me to install his new 8.xG drive, and roll his two smaller drives onto it, the first thing I told him was ‘Only if you get Partition Magic!’

Several new features in Parition Magic 5.0 immediately caught my attention. The ability to convert a logical partition to a primary (this was a key feature in rolling over the old to the new) or primary to logical, and the new feature of merging two partitions. And best of all, the ability to veiw the list of pending operations.

For new users, the wizards will be very inviting. PowerQuest has developed some very helpful wizards for creating partitions, redistributing free space, resizing partitions, and merging partitions. There is also the ability to hide the buttons for these wizards, for those who do not use them often or at all.

For those running more than one OS, the improved ability to convert file systems on partitions should be attractive. Seems you can go any way you choose: NTFS to FAT, NTFS to FAT32, and you can even merge FAT and FAT32 partitions!

I was glad to see some of the interface changes, made it easier to get things done, and from the graphics in the manual, I would be even more pleased if I had multiple OSes; the partitions are color-coded according to file system. Also, the help file is actually helpful now!

Of course, Partition Magic 5.0 still carries the usual FREE utilities. Boot Magic for easy dual booting. MagicMover and Drive Mapper for moving applications and remapping drives references after repartitionings.

Partion Magic 5.0 can be installed under Windows 3.x, 9x, NT, DOS, OS/2, Linux. It supports the following partition types: Extended, Extendedx, FAT, FAT16x, FAT32, FAT32x, HPFS, HPFS/386, Linux Ext2, Linux Swap, NTFS, Unformatted, and Unallocated space.

While the list of pending operations at least gives me the ability to make sure I’ve done everything I planned, it still does not allow me to change anything. It is a view-only listing. I would like to see the ability to pick & choose, or selectively remove specific operations within the listing. But, I guess they have to have something to improve for version 6!

Be sure to note the special UG prices from PowerQuest in the UGR/PQ section of The Deals Guy column elsewhere in this issue. The prices are really good if you purchase more than one of their different products, or perhaps gather together some other users and make a combined order for better pricing!

Genealogy SIG
by John Fisher/Gloria Savill
A trip to Ft. Wayne to the Allen County Library is planned for May 20 There will be no regular meeting on the 13th.

If you want to car pool or caravan, the Elkhart meeting place is the City Courthouse parking lot across from the Elkhart Library at 7am. South Bend meets at the Meijer parking lot on US 331 South at 7am. Bring money for food and the copy machines. We will need extra drivers this month as one of the vans will not be available, so if you can drive, please contact Gloria at 219-234-0159.
We will return to this area about 9:00pm. This is a long day, but worth it!

WP SIG
by Sheri Freel
The first meeting of the Elkhart PC User’s Group Word Processing Sig met on March 7th. The group was relatively small (4 including myself) but mighty! There was a request made to cover drawing tools in WordPerfect 9. However, this program was not available at the class, but because the graphic toolbars are the same in WP as in Word, the topic was still covered. How to manipulate those little dots, the size, the color, the outside lines, the - OOPS - I forgot to cover the 3-D options. Not to worry, that can be covered at our April meeting. Please phone your requests for topics to cover to me at 237-7147, or e-mail to freels@sjrmc.com.

My favorite topics to cover are styles, outline, tables, well, actually, I love to cover anything. We touched on hot keys this month too. Two pages of hot keys! Look in your help screens under “shortcut”. The Word Processing SIG meets the first Tuesday of the month (April 4) at Saint Joseph’s Regional Medical Center (used to be Saint Joseph’s Medical Center and before that it was Saint Joseph’s Hospital) on LaSalle Avenue in South Bend. Just follow the signs once you get inside the main entrance. It is well marked. The information desk is also familiar with where the meeting is at. We have secured the EMS Conference room. Be sure to use the main entrance not the Emergency Entrance. Hope to see you next month.

Sheri Freel
Word Processing
Phone: 237-7147
Fax: 239-4151

Others
by Mark Meidel, SIG Director

Palm/Hand SIG
There is interest in forming a new Special Interest Group. This one is for anyone interested in Palm Pilot or other hand held units. To set up date/time/location to hold a meeting contact:

Zac Wolfinger
Zac@wolfinger.net
219-876-8540

Internet SIG
We need more people to attend the Internet SIG or it might have to be canceled. If you have a conflict with the day let us know, if enough people show interest in a different day, we will see what can be done about changing it. If it is simply not enough people needing this SIG we should not continue to waste the resources being made available to us.

Our bylaws state that updating your membership must be done in person at a general meeting. Now, of course, we make exceptions, and extend time for those that have difficulties or other obligations that get in the way, but as a general rule, updating your membership, which is the listing that the newsletter mailing comes from, needs to be done by physically attending a meeting.

Neither email nor postal messages are supposed to take the place of attendance, with exceptions, as I said. What are exceptions? Well, if you are working second shift, you wouldn’t be able to make the meetings. This is solved by contacting the Membership Director personally by phone, followed by your application form (or a photocopy) filled out from the newsletter.

Another exception are those with health problems. We understand that just because someone cannot get to the meetings due to physical health reasons doesn’t mean that they do not want to know what is happening in the group.

What does all this have to do with the title of this article? Well, it has been encouraged at different times that those who cannot attend, because of work or other obligations, consider supporting the User Group by becoming Steel Sponsors or higher. This helps cover the cost of mailing their newsletter, since they do not have the same opportunity to contribute at the door like those who attend. This is not yet manditory, just a good suggestion.

In the exception cases of those with health problems, many of these persons are already saddled with extra financial expenses, and therefore a donation is not requested of them, they would fall into our community outreach considerations and we are simply glad that they can enjoy their membership with us.

We do not monitor donations, so we don’t usually know if you are giving or not, either separately or at the meetings. We simply hope that all members realize that the group cannot self support itself without the financial input from all its members. This is especially important now that we have extra expenses related to the meetings: rent, equipment, etc.

Yes, it is true - the Internet has definitely penetrated every aspect of our life. Taking a break from submitting sites to search directories and the like, I started drinking a can of Diet Dr. Pepper. The lighting in my room is not the greatest, but I noticed something different on the side of the can. I pointed it toward the light, and there it was - “Visit Our Web Site At: DrPepper.Com.” (http://www.drpepper.com)

Guess what? I visited their website. So I was bored. Maybe I thought it would make an interesting article :) What did I find?

First, I saw some information about old Dr. Pepper ad campaigns, completely with nostalgic photos. Interestingly enough, there is even a book you can purchase if you are really interested in the history of Dr. Pepper.

Next, I learned that Pepper is “a way of life” as I continued browsing the website. There are screensavers, wallpapers, and sounds (no burping, thankfully!) for Dr. Pepper. I’m now waiting for Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com) to purchase these elements and place them into a desktop theme. Well, maybe that won’t happen anytime soon, but with all of these downloads you can practically turn your desktop into a shrine to the great drink.

For those who still can not get enough, there are links and information about the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas. You can schedule a tour or take a virtual walkthrough of the museum. And yes, there’s even a trivia game to “see how much you really know about Dr Pepper.” As many cans of the stuff that I drink, I thought I would do well. Looks like I need to study - I got 19 out of 26 correct. Time to chug a few more cans.

All of that information left me rather thirsty, so I decided to visit a site that claims to have the original recipe for another type of soda, Coca-Cola. I pulled up The Soda Fountain at <http://www.sodafountain.com> and immediately headed to the recipes section. Indeed, there it was, the supposed original recipe for the soft drink consumed by so many people daily.

After examining this curious recipe, I ventured through the rest of the well laid-out site. There was plenty of history to read about soda fountains, ice cream, refrigeration, and more. The Soda Fountain hosts many interesting pages devoted to specific drinks, such as Mountain Dew, 7-Up, and ... Dr. Pepper. There are also plenty of links available for those wanting more information than the site provides. I saw names of soft drinks that I had never before known exist.

There is almost too much information to list. I’ll have to go back and visit when I have more time. Unfortunately, after reading and drinking all of this soda I need to drop by the restroom for a minute. The way things are going, I fully expect to see http://www.charmin.com on the toilet paper rolls.

EPCUG Editor’s Note: With the return of this section, returns the question, who should we interview next month? How about you? How about someone you just met at the last meeting and found interesting? How about someone you’ve seen at the meetings for a long time, but never really knew them very well? Please submit names of persons you would like to see interviewed, to Doyle or myself. These interviews are designed to give us topics for conversations and the chance to learn about each other.

Writing about my son’s activities is a great pleasure and a great pain. A pain, because there is so much more that I could tell you, but I only have so much room, and after all, this is a computer newsletter and his work has very little to do with them, except that we can get a little insight into what the rest of the world is doing with computers thru his eyes. I have written some stuff, and then he answered some of the questions sent in by members.

Some distinctively interesting/different things I heard Eric mention about the Thai culture include the well-known custom of leaving your shoes outside the door. He asked that if we saw him leaving without his shoes on, we should remind him that they are not outside!

A custom which we regularly, and casually do, is to cross our legs so that we’ve rested our foot upon the knee of the opposite leg. In Thailand, it is considered rude to point the bottoms of your feet toward another person. Eric found himself sitting near a man in the airport who had his foot resting on his knee. The sole of his shoe pointing directly at Eric. After only a year of working to learn things to *not do* which might offend his friends, students, and co-workers, Eric suddenly found himself struggling not to feel insulted.

In addition to some of the foods selected by Thai people not being extremely common to our tables, we do not use near the amount of hot chilies, garlic and other seasonings that Thai people do. It was also a struggle for Eric to deal with the limited amount of *fresh* vegetables and foods. He says going to the grocery store once a week, is just not the same as going to the market early in the morning, before your day begins, to gather the ingredients for the next day or two’s meals. He also complained of not getting his daily share of rice! Funny, I don’t remember him liking rice very much?

He cooked a meal for us called ‘Pad Thai’ (the d being pronounced as a mix between a T and a D, yet not quite that either), which he “toned down” considerable since I was going to eat. He did not put in near the usual amount of garlic he normally does, and left the little red chili peppers out entirely. He said if I were to order food, I would have to tell them that I wanted it “totally tasteless and bland.” We did go to lunch at a Thai restaurant in South Bend, and they had several things on the menu that I could eat. Eric conversed a bit in Thai with the waitress, and she seemed pleased that he did so. They talked a bit after we were done eating about where she was from and where he was working at. I think he probably made her homesick.

The following are some of the questions asked by members. If I missed getting your question asked, please send Eric an email, I’m sure he would love to answer it!

Thailand is 95% Buddhist.... There is a slight difference between original Buddhism and Thai Buddhists, in that Thai Buddhist have no problem with putting other things in that sound good. One of the largest religions being ‘married’ with Thai Buddhism is Chinese spirit worship.

1. How do computers figure into or relate to the religious aspects of your missionary service?

A1: There aren’t a lot of direct uses in the ministry with computers other than the normal clerical work. Where the computers really come into the picture is in the area of email and communication in order to talk with the different oversights and parties in charge of things. It is very helpful to have email and sometimes be able to use chat programs like ICQ.

2. What are some unique differences between our cultures?

A2: Food, hierarchal society and mannerisms are three very big areas of differences. Thai food is very spicy and hot. They cook most things with little peppers that are much hotter than jalapenos. Rice is the main starch replacing bread. Bread is a snack that is most of the time made sweet for a desert of some kind. The society is more of a hierarchal society meaning that people are very conscious of their status in society and how you match up against others around them for status. For example, if you meet a set of twins they immediately ask which one is older so they know who gets more respect. This is true for all ranges of people in society. You measure up against a person by their age, occupation, and income. As a teacher this put me in a very high position on the scale of receiving honor and respect. Teachers are very highly respected. Unlike the US, students there are required to submit to the teachers even outside the classroom.

3. Were there any similarities or differences that surprised you?

A3: The high level of respect for elders and just for anyone that is older than you!

4. Did you run into any extreme difficulties that were religious-based problems? Specifically, carefully avoiding doing something that was considered religiously wrong there, but acceptable to Christians, or vice versa?

A4: The only one that comes to mind right now is just that we didn’t just start out by saying that we were Christian and especially that we were missionaries. But one is related to the other in that if you are a foreigner and you are one then the other is assumed. The reason for not starting off by talking about being a Christian is that when they find out that you are one or the other of those, you immediately get put into a box and can’t get closer than arms reach! It is a relationship-based society that requires long term friendship commitment before you can begin to witness to people! It was about six months in the culture before I really felt like I was in the flow and able to relate and understand the people and get closer in relationships with the people I knew! It was more months before I really began to see some noticeable change.

5. What is the country’s attitude toward AIDS and how does that situation compare to the US?

A5: On the average, the US citizen is more educated on AIDS then the Thai so that causes some of the leprosy syndrom problems like we had here in the US 10-15 years ago. But also there is the problem of having money to take care of family members who have AIDS and for that reason are also turned away from the ones they love. There is only a certain number of days that someone with aids can stay in a hospital without being able to pay anything before being kicked out of the hospital. Then there is the religious part of the problem. Buddhists believe that there is the law of karma where everything you do, whether good or bad, is building into that. Well, if you have something really bad done to you or you get a bad disease it is basically believed that you deserved it because of something you did in this life or your last.

6. What unique computer-based issues did you find in your year of working in the computer department?

A6: There wasn’t a lot of intense work that I did, since I wasn’t in the main stream of the work due to the language barrier with my co-workers. So the biggest issue was language.

7. Describe some of the differences between a Thai home and ours.

A7: Thailand has grown technologically very fast! Where we have gradually grown into our understanding of things, they have just kind of quickly crammed in things to fit. Taking what is convenient with what they already have and like. For example, sewage (toilet waste) is flushed into a septic tank and hauled off but not always to a treatment plant. They use what is convenient and available mixed with what is affordable. Concrete is used more for the main building structure because wood is more expense and in the moist atmosphere and with so many things that like to eat wood it is also more logical. Human labor is more affordable than extra specialized tools so they do a lot of things using the more old fashioned ways.

Between us, my wife and I offer a catalog of the physical ills caused by long hours of working on computers: repetitive stress injury (RSI), neck pain, backaches and vision problems. Liz underwent surgery twice for carpal tunnel syndrome and still has frequent wrist and hand pain.

I have suffered from aggravated neck and back injuries. My vision has deteriorated from 20 years of staring at a monitor, although admittedly age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts have been more damaging.

The sad truth is that if we knew 15 years ago what we know now, these problems need not have occurred. Or if they had, they would have been less severe. Even sadder is that prevention of many computer-related ailments is neither difficult nor especially time-consuming.

Frequent rest breaks are vital, says my chiropractor, Kurt W. Rice, who is also my son-in-law, God bless him. (He has helped me more times in recent years with neck and back problems than I care to remember!)

The breaks needn’t be lengthy. Dr. Kurt recommends that we get up from your chairs every half-hour or so, stretch our backs and walk for a minute or two. Other experts offer different opinions about frequency and duration of breaks but all agree that they are vital.

Sitting and working at a computer creates more tension and stress on muscles, nerves, tendons and joints than most of us realize. Our bodies fight gravity every minute that we’re seated. Breaks alleviate this tension and stress.

To prevent the dread carpal tunnel syndrome, during your break let your hands go limp at the wrist and wiggle them vigorously in what some call “the clerk & typist exercise.”

Some people use voice recognition programs to cut down on their need to use the keyboard and mouse. I find that difficult; after more than 50 years of banging away at typewriter and computer keys, dictation comes hard to me. Now that voice recognition is improving and more reliable, however, I’ve resolved to use it more often. A major benefit is that you can use a microphone or headset while standing or even lying down. I plan to try dictating drafts, then to rewrite and edit as necessary from the keyboard.

Vision experts warn that we should take “eye breaks” even more frequently. Every 10 or 12 minutes, look away from the monitor at objects 10 to 12 feet away. When I’m working with a word processor or any other program that allows me to increase type size easily and temporarily, I do it. This prevents squinting and straining to see my work. It also allows me to sit up straight, not bent over the keyboard

I mentioned my neck and back injuries earlier. My neck problems began about 17 years ago. I was riding my bicycle when a large tree limb broke off and fell on me. (Fortunately I was wearing a good helmet or the freak accident might have killed me.) That caused some damage, which increased with age and was aggravated by working on computers. The pain got so bad I could not turn my head to either side more than 12 or 15 degrees. Dr. Kurt came to the rescue, with manipulation, ultra-sound and heat packs. He recommended several simple exercises, which I try to do regularly.

My back injuries were computer-related. The first came when I installed a second drive in one of our machines. I crawled under a desk to get at the computer case. After removing all the cables, I tried to lift the box and slide it out to where I could work on it, not waiting to shift to a position that would give me more leverage.

Bad move. I heard a pop and was in instant agony. It took several weeks of Dr. Kurt’s ministrations to recover from that one. I injured it again in October 1999 after conducting my monthly desktop publishing/word processing SIG. I took a computer and 17-inch monitor out of a car trunk with a high lip that made it impossible to lift them properly. I had to bend and lift with my back-and pop, there it went again! This time, recovery took more than even longer.

I mention these details to make a point. The first instance was pure accident. No way could I foresee that a brittle, rotted pepper tree branch would break off and fall just as I pedaled under it. The second injury occurred because I didn’t take time to position myself properly. The third case was avoidable too; I should never have tried to lift heavy objects out of that particular car truck. Trouble is, I forget my hard-used back is more vulnerable now than it was even 20 ago, and I think many of us who have reached senior citizen status do the same.

I just caught myself in a no-no a few minutes ago. I wanted a book from a built-in shelf high and to the right of my home office workstation. I started to reach up, twisting my back at an awkward angle. Various muscles prepared to scream in protest, so I did what I should have done in the first place. I moved my chair out of the way, got a low stool I keep folded behind the door, set it firmly in place and climbed up to find the desired book. It took a few extra minutes, but it kept me from aggravating my previously- injured back.

The book, by the way was Zap! How your computer can hurt you-and what you can do about it. Written by Don Sellers (edited by Stephen E. Roth) and published by Peachpit Press in 1994. It’s now out of print but Peachpit has a condensed version, 25 Steps to Safe Computing, also by Sellers, that is still available for $5.95. (Remember that Peachpit offers discounts to user group members.) Either would be a good addition to your library.

You can also check out my Website at www.zyworld.com/wordsmithken. I’ll be adding links to several computing safety sites there.

Many computer owners use various software programs and inkjet printers to create their own greeting cards. It’s fun, and people who receive them seem to appreciate the effort made to produce customized cards made especially for them.

My wife Liz and I have been designing our own greeting cards for years and look constantly for new ways to make them even more attractive and professional-looking We’ve tried various paper stocks, generally favoring card stocks in the 55- to 65-lb. range. Recently we found one from Wausau that is a real winner!

Better Surfing
The site that patches your favorite pages together into one (or more big pages). If you have a set of sites that you visit frequently, why not use Quickbrowse to stitch them together into a single page. It speeds up surfing. You can also set up several different virtual pages if you wish. This concept is a step beyond the Yahoo (and others) idea for personalized home pages. In my limited testing, Quickbrowse did have some trouble with sites that required a login and/or a password. http://www.quickbrowse.com/cgi-bin/aqb_logon.pl

Online bookmarks
Here is another one of those “why didn’t I think of that” ideas: online bookmarks. Many web surfers would be lost without their bookmark lists of favorite places. Their utility is often lost if you switch computers frequently, use a laptop and a desktop or use more than one browser. The answer to all these problems is online bookmarks. As you might expect, this idea has occurred to more than one person. You might check out the following sites. www.blink.com
www.clickmarks.com
www.hotlinks.com
www.bookmarkcity.com

Comparison Shopping
I wrote last month about shopping bots. Here is some additional information.

This site installs software on your computer that puts a “button” in your system tray. When buying online you are supposed to “click on the button” when you get ready to purchase. ClicktheButton will pop up a list of comparison prices so you can be sure you are getting a good deal. They also allow you to select a basket of items and comparison check for the best total price ű including shipping according to them. ZDNet thinks highly of this service. I think the concept is great but the execution was lacking in my very limited trials. Try it yourself and see what you think. www.clickthebutton.com

Their web site serves both as a price comparison tool and as a shopping portal, containing thousands of links to related sites, including product reviews, shop reviews, popular shops, auctions, classifieds, users’ opinions, catalogs, shopping guides, freebies and much more. In addition, they offer a downloadable application that sounds very much like the one offered by ClicktheButton. www.rusure.com

This site is similar to both of the above. For me, its current downside is that it concentrates on books, CDs movies and DVDs but not electronic and computer items. However, it may be just right for your needs. www.evenbetter.com

Online Mailing Lists
As I do more and more surfing I find myself getting on more and more e-mail lists. I now get almost daily e-mails from perhaps a dozen different web sites. The good news is that these sites make it very simple to get off their lists should I wish to do so. If you don’t get enough e-mail, you might look into this site. It provides access to some 40,000 mailing lists covering almost every topic imaginable. www.topica.com

Scanning tips
Wayne Fulton has put together one of the best sites for information about scanners and scanning that I have found on the web. The material here is appropriate for beginners but knowledgeable folks will learn much as well. For those interested Wayne has put this all in a real book which is available at the site for $21.95. www.scantips.com

Investor-Advice
If you are looking for sources of news from far-away places, this may be the place to start. There are thousands of links to newspaper, radio, T.V, magazine and other sites around the world. www.kidon.com/media-link/index.shtml

WN stands for World News and they have that. More than just news-news, you can zero in on topics like www.earthquakenews.com, www.solarpower.com, or http://www.gm1.com/ (which covers the currently-hot topic of genetically-modified foods). www.wn.com

The Tax Man is Coming
Alan G. Kalman makes this site available as a public service. Its purpose is to provide a portal for users to access tax assistance, education and resources that are available on the World Wide Web for individual and small business taxpayers. One of the nicest features of this site is the fact that Alan keeps his links up-to-date. He even posts the following statement on his home page: All links are verified at least once a month. Last test: 2/17/00. http://pages.prodigy.net/agkalman

Calling All Information Junkies
Come here to browse a slew on investment and legal newsletters, from the Buyback Letter to Investech. You can search by title or author, plus areas like finance have 16 subtopics useful in narrowing your searching. Keep in mind there is a lot of marketing going on at this site. Also available are bios and links to the letters. To buy you simply add to your cart and give them your credit card number. www.newsletters.com

This article has been brought to you by the Association of Computer User Groups (APCUG), of which this group is a member.

Over 800 million web pages are in existence. More than 20,000 domain names are being registered every week: will it ever stop? My guess is that it will only get worse. By the end of the year, there could be over 2 Billion web pages out there, so why not join in on the fun! So in this article we will talk about how anyone with Internet access can create his or her own web site!

These days, creating a simple web site is as easy as writing a letter. With most word processors, you can save the document you just created as a web page, just by clicking on file, and specifying “save as HTML”. Even multiple pages will just save as a very long home web site. This is a great way to create a web site, add some pictures and then practice uploading it to your Internet Host.

Perhaps an even easier way to create a web site is to use one of the commercial services such as Yahoo/GeoCities. These sites use simple wizards to let you have creative control over how the web site looks. They let you import documents, pictures and create the links that bind everything together. As a test, I created 2 different web sites on Yahoo/GeoCities. My first simple web site took me 20 minutes to create (I was told it should take about 10 minutes), mainly because I was plagued by long waits between the set-up screens. I then went in and created an elaborate site, with several uploaded pictures and articles that were already stored on my computer. This site took me over 6 hours, with over an hour spent just uploading documents to the web. Both sites looked very good, since the wizards guide you on where to put pictures and text.

Yahoo/GeoCities also lets you upload a pre-existing web site that you have made using other programs. This is a huge timesaver since you will not waste time uploading each individual document and using the Yahoo wizards. The downside to having a commercial site host your homepage is that they will put advertising on every page of your site.

My favorite program for creating web sites is Microsoft Publisher. With just a basic knowledge of creating documents with pictures, it is very easy to use the included Web Wizard to create a detailed web site. The same site that took 6 hours to create online took me less than 2 hours with Publisher. By using simple copy all and paste commands, along with its easy import picture commands, my web site took less than 30 minutes to set up and get the documents in place. Then I spent the next 90 minutes being picky as I aligned the text and pictures by using the “view as web page” command. As easy as it is to use, Publisher has a few drawbacks. First, it does not always accurately show exactly how the web page will look. Secondly there is no embedded File Transfer Protocol (FTP) utility that would allow it to be easily uploaded, this makes you download and learn 3rd party software.

Another Microsoft product, FrontPage is one of the most powerful consumer/professional web page creation programs out there. Unfortunately, it also has a high learning curve. It took me about 10 hours of reading the “FrontPage for Dummies” book and following along in order to start using FrontPage. I would estimate that it took about 20 more hours of experimenting with the program and consulting the book again before I was confident about my ability to create a good site. Once you do learn it though, FrontPage makes it a snap to create a web site that will look just as good on the web as it does on your computer. And since it includes its own File Transfer Protocol program, it is a snap to upload and update your pages with compatible hosting services.

Creating a Web Site is something that more and more people are doing. The last estimate that I have seen is that there are over 5 million personal web sites available on the web. I think that within 3 years, a majority of the worlds industrialized population will have their own web site. The coming incredible fusion of computers, wireless modems and the Internet will continue to make access to the Web as common as using a telephone is today. When you add in the hundreds of companies actively competing to host web sites, you should agree, there is no better time to start than today

To say all that could be said about the mouse would make this an unwieldy item. So I will cover some aspects of the mouse that should prove to be useful information for the new Windows 95 user. Of course, the mouse can be used with other operating systems but the information on this page relates to Windows 95 only.

The traditional mouse on your desktop has a small ball embedded on its underside. When you move the mouse across your desk or mouse pad, the ball rubs against electronic sensors. The sensors record the mouse’s movements and send the information to the computer through its connecting cord. As you move the mouse, an arrow (pointer) moves simultaneously across your computer’s monitor (screen). When the arrow is moved over an icon, button or file name on the monitor, you click, or press, the left mouse button with your finger. The icon, button or file name is selected by that single click. The click is not compete until you release the mouse button.

You can control virtually everything in Windows 95 by moving the arrow with the mouse and pressing and releasing the mouse button. Sometimes when you point at something on the monitor the arrow changes shape. When that happens, it’s telling you that it’s ready to perform a new, specific task. For instance, when you move the arrow to the edge or corner of a window it changes to a small double arrow. If you hold down the left mouse button and move the double arrow, it moves that edge of the window to the position where you release the mouse button. If the double arrow is at the top or bottom edge of a window, its orientation is vertical and you can make the window taller or shorter by moving the arrow up or down. If it’s at the left or right sides of the window, its orientation is horizontal and you can make the window skinnier or fatter by moving the arrow left or right. If it’s at the corner of the window, its orientation is diagonal and you can make the window larger, smaller, taller or shorter, or skinnier or fatter by moving the double arrow up, down, right, left, or diagonally. If the arrow changes to an hourglass, it means the OS is busy doing something that doesn’t require action by you. You should wait until it changes back to an arrow before using the mouse again. If the arrow changes to a small circle with a diagonal line inside the circle, it means you are trying to drag something to a place it doesn’t belong. Let go of the mouse button and start over.

Most mice have two buttons, left and right. Some have three with the extra button being in the middle between the left and right button. Windows 95 recognizes which button you are clicking, whether it is a single or double click, and faithfully executes the action required by your clicks. A single left click selects the object (for example, an icon) the arrow is pointing to by highlighting it. A double left click chooses the object and initiates the action indicated by the object - to open a folder or load a program, for example. A single right click brings up a menu with a list of actions you can take by left clicking one of the actions on the list - copy to another location, for example. Refer to the item below entitled Keyboard or Mouse - The Power of the Right Click in Windows 95" for further information on the right mouse button.

If, when you double left click, nothing happens on a more or less regular basis, Windows 95 may be interpreting the clicks as two single clicks because the click interval is too widely spaced. If you are a naturally slow or especially fast clicker, you can make some adjustments that will allow Windows 95 to recognize the speed of your clicks. Do this:

• Single left click the Start menu.
• Move the arrow to Settings.
• Single left click Control Panel.
• Scroll if necessary to find the Mouse icon then double left click on it.
• The Mouse Properties sheet will appear with the Buttons tab displayed. Under this tab, in the box labeled Double-click speed”, you can adjust the speed from slow to fast by sliding the bar left or right as indicated. To the right of the slide bar is a test area with a jack-in-the-box icon. A double left click on the box that matches the speed you have set causes the jack to pop out and pop back in the box with each successive double click. Don’t hesitate to fiddle with the adjustment and test area until you’re satisfied that the double click you are using will work for you.

Also under this tab, the default Button configuration is Right-handed. If you are left handed, click on the radio button in the Right-handed circle to deselect it, then click the Left-handed circle to select it. You will note that the actions of your right and left mouse buttons are reversed. Click OK to have the changes take effect. There are other tabs on the Mouse Properties sheet that work on the same principle as the Buttons tab. Explore them and make changes if you like. You can always change them back the way they were if you later decide you don’t like the new settings. When finished click the X in the upper right corner of the Mouse Properties sheet to close it. Then close the Control Panel in the same manner.

OFF2000: How to Obtain and Install Microsoft Office 2000 Service Release 1 (SR-1) http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q245/0/25.ASP

Office 2000 Service Release 1 (SR-1) Update http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/downloadDetails/O2kSR1DDL.htm

The web page initially says: Filesize 133kb Est. Download Time @28.8 1 min. Then it notes:

The actual file size will depend on what you already have installed. The actual download time will depend on your modem speed and what needs to be installed. The file size and download time indicated on this page represent the initial time it will take for us to determine which patches need to be applied to your machine. The actual file size varies between 26-40 MB; the actual download time @28.8 is between 2-3 hours.

Warnings/Considerations listed on Microsoft’s pages about this file include:

**If you have already applied the SR-1 update and have upgraded your PC from Windows NT 4 to Windows 2000, you should apply the Microsoft Office 2000/Windows 2000 Registry Repair Utility. Please click here for more information. http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/articles/o2ksr1up.htm

**We recommend that users install the latest version of Windows Installer before installing the SR-1 update. Most Windows 2000 users do not require the Windows Installer update. Windows 98 and Windows 95 users can download Windows Installer 1.1 for Windows 98 and Windows 95 and Windows NT4.0 users can download Windows Installer 1.1 for Windows NT 4.0. If you have Microsoft Word 2000 installed as part of Microsoft Works 2000 Suite, you should also install the latest version of Windows Installer before installing the SR-1 update. Please click here for more information.

(In reading the instructions, it appears you have to install the Windows Installer twice: Step 2 and Step 6)

**You must have your original Office 2000 CDs available. As part of the updating process, the SR-1 Update reinstalls Office 2000 to ensure that your Office 2000 installation is valid. Please do NOT start the SR-1 Update process unless you have your Office 2000 CDs.

**The CD1 update requires a minimum of 33 MB of free space on your hard disk to install without rollback capability. Rollback capability (the ability to restore your computer to its pre-SR-1 update condition should a problem occur) requires a minimum of 214 MB if you have a typical installation of Office 2000 Premium Edition CD1, or 263 MB if you have a complete installation of Office 2000 Premium Edition CD1.

**The CD2 update requires a minimum of 34 MB of free space on your hard disk to install without rollback capability. Rollback capability requires a minimum of 165 MB if you have installed Office 2000 Premium Edition CD2.

**To remove: There is no uninstall feature included with this download.

Notices from Other Sources:

**W2Knews[tm] (the original NTools E-News) Electronic Newsletter nt-list-admin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com http://www.sunbelt-software.com/w2knews.cfm W2knews has reported that O2K SR-1 may interfere with Outlook, MSIE 5.01, and other problems.

**MSNBC Technology: Goofs and Glitches http://www.msnbc.com/news/387569.asp?0m=T23E&cp1=1 This article lists the top 10 possible problems that can occur with SR-1.