GREATER BOSTON SENIOR COMPUTER GROUP NEWSLETTER
Issue No. 67, January 11, 2006
CHAIRPERSON:: Charles Moir, cmoir@rcn.com
EDITOR: Harriet Mandell, harrietd@rcn.com
WEB PAGE: Garry Ziffer, http://users.rcn.com/gbscg
LIAISON: Eve Welts, ewelts@rcn.com
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BEFORE GIVING AWAY OR TRASHING A COMPUTER, there is a free program you may want to download called dban It can be obtained at dban.sourceforge.net This software will wipe a hard drive clean; make the unit reuseable; but prevent someone from accessing private information that may be on the hard drive e.g. financials, income tax records, etc. It is described as follows: "Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot floppy that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction." Please note adds, Charles Moir, "that two downloads are listed: one for generating a boot floppy, the other for making a boot CD (for computers which don't have a floppy drive). In either case it is a good idea to put the downloaded software boot (floppy or CD) away in a safe location carefully marked so that it can't be used accidentally.
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TAKE ANOTHER LOOK…FinePrint I often use FinePrint to print 2-8 pages on a single sheet of paper, which saves me ink and paper. It works great and can be found at http://www.softwarelabs.com/fp/fineprint.htm. Anne Jahares
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MENTAL GYMNASTICS can be found at http://sudoku.com/ “There's no math involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. You solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. It's fun. It's challenging. It's addictive! “ or as Garry Ziffer suggests…If you're into fiendish puzzles that will provide you with many hours of frustration, try Sudoku. It's possible to play Sudoku with pencil and paper but really not feasible. A computer takes the drudgery out of the game and allows you to concentrate on the logic. The best computer version I've found is a freebie called SIMPLE SUDOKU and available at www.angusj.com/sudoku . Using it, the daily Sudoku puzzle in the Globe becomes trivial, and puzzles orders of magnitude more difficult become solvable. Be sure to read the help file.
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IS IT TIME FOR A CHANGE…try managing your incoming emails with Mailwasher - The Reliable Free Spam Blocker; download this email checker at http://mailwasher.net . Free to try.
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PLACE TO SAVE… space can be disappearing for many reasons. Check out this one. Does your anti-virus software maintain a log file that is full to overflowing? Find it and direct the number of entries you wish it to keep. Then, delete the overflow.
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FYI…Megahertz (MHz) and gigahertz (GHz)) are most commonly used to describe processor speed. One hertz is one cycle per second. A megahertz is 1 million clock cycles per second. Megabyte (MB) is a measurement of data. One byte is comprised of eight bits. A bit of data is a single unit represented by either a one or a zero. This is the binary digit system responsible for the term “digital” in products such as digital cameras, digital cable and digital video. One megabyte is approx. 1 million bytes of data. Ram is short for random access memory. It’s the solid-state memory (chip memory) in your computer. Your operating system stores programs and data in RAM. Programs run in this short-term storage area. The amount your RAM is able to store is measured in megabytes. Without RAM, random access memory, your PC would be left in a state of confusion. The more RAM you have, the more it can store and the faster your computer will function.
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WOOD HOBBY ANYONE?? Fred Hammond suggest Cyber Woodworking Depot The Internet source for your Woodworking Tool, Power Tool and Shop Tool needs. Try http://toolcenter.com
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EDITING HYPERLINKS IN WORD…After you create a hyperlink in Word, be sure to test it. If the hyperlink doesn't work, right-click it and choose Hyperlink, Edit Hyperlink. You see the Edit Hyperlink dialog box, which offers the same options as the Insert Hyperlink dialog box. If your Hyperlink does not work because you entered a Web page address incorrectly or you linked to a document that no longer exists or was moved. Either edit your hyperlink or re-enter it. To remove a hyperlink, right-click it and choose Remove Hyperlink.
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MONITOR CLEANING…has dirt, dust, or fingerprints caused your computer screen to be difficult to read. Try cleaning with ordinary household glass cleaner. Remove power from the monitor and spray the cleaner onto a lint free-cloth and not directly onto the screen. Vacuum off any dust that has settled on top of the monitor, and make sure no books or papers have been placed on the air vents. Obstructed monitor vents can cause the monitor to overheat or even catch on fire.
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PANDORA…. http://www.pandora.com is a great free service that allows users to find music based off songs or artists you like. The service starts off by asking you for an artist or song you enjoy, it then matches similar songs from other artists that share many of the same qualities as the artist or song you entered. The songs are played over streaming audio and as you listen to the songs you can rate the songs with thumbs up or thumbs down to help refine the songs played.
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BACKING UP LARGE APPLICATIONS OR PROGRAMS might not work because programs such as Microsoft Office, install several files throughout the computer's hard disk drive; therefore, simply saving the directory which contains this program will not successfully backup the program. When purchasing Microsoft Office or any large application or program, you should have received a CD or a set of diskettes. Use them!
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WANTED: URL's of web sites; Helpful hints for Mac users, Win 95/98/ME/XP. Software reviews, desired topics for future meetings. Send these items via email to the editor. Please sign your email with your name. We will publish your email address, but not your name, phone number or address without your permission