Now is the time to check out computer clubs
In January of this year, I did an article on why one should consider joining a computer club. This month, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit this recommendation.
It may come as a shock to many, that although they miss their snowbird members, most significant computer clubs continue in full swing during the summer months.
So, for those of you who have procrastinated visiting a club, I suggest that you should do so now. With reduced attendance at most meetings, you will have an extraordinary opportunity to get "up-close and personal" with professional technicians and experienced members. They are computer people who can provide meaningful computer assistance.
In fact, many computer clubs schedule special presentations of meaningful computer subjects, such as scanning, digital photography, and the Internet in order to allow more audience question and answer participation. Fewer attendees provide more opportunities for novices to ask questions.
Since my January article, there have been two significant, new computer clubs. The Alva-Lehigh and the South County Library Computer Club.
After many years of wondering why Lehigh Acres did not have a computer club, I was pleasantly surprised when Dorothy and Carl Pipping called me and asked for assistance in forming a chapter. My first meeting with the Alva-Lehigh club indicated that there was, indeed, enough local interest to help them meet the requirements necessary in becoming a SWFPCUG chapter.
Yours truly, along with two famous Lehigh Ladies, M.Y. Browser and A. Lotta Links will be working this summer with the Pippings to meet these requirements.
In case you have not been formally introduced to Browser and Links, they are the Southwest Florida's Personal Computing Journal's Internet Travel Agents. Their column appears monthly in the Journal and on our Web site www.swfpcug.org.
Monthly meetings are at 1:00 p.m. on the forth Thursday at the First Community Congregational United Methodist Church, 200 E. Leeland Heights Blvd., Lehigh Acres.
Contact Dorothy or Carl Pipping at 728-3129 for additional information.
Seminars go monthly
Since last October, I have been conducting Internet seminars on a periodic basis at the Fort Myers, Cape Coral and South County Regional libraries. It became obvious that many enthusiastic attendees wanted a regular monthly meeting.
So with the cooperation of a truly superb library administration, we have formed a chapter at the South County Regional Library. The purpose is to provide novice users monthly computer seminars to include, but not limited, to the Internet.
The meetings are at 2:00 p.m. on the fourth Friday of the month at the South County Regional Library, 21100 Three Oaks Parkway, Estero. For additional information, contact Cas Obie at 948-9423.
And do not forget the Bonita Springs and LaBelle chapters. They are growing like Topsie.
All meetings are free and open to the public without obligation to join.
So why not keep cool computing.
Here's wishing you a good boot. [index]
Computer common sense? Shut it down
The one computer question I am asked most often is whether or not it is okay to leave the computer on all the time. My answer? It is your computer, you can do what you want.
But, my recommendation is, unless you have an urgent need to leave it on, turn it off; particularly when you are not using it for any length of time. Or if it will be left unattended and unavailable for any significant length of time, turn it off.
Why? Well to begin with you are living in a locale that without notice can produce an electrical storm of magnificent magnitude. Then there are those professionals and amateurs who blunder around on their backhoes digging-up FPL's asset and forget about buried power lines.
I am sure that most of you have circuit breakers and surge protectors to protect your homes, as well as a battery backup for your computer system.
The single most common source of "computer cooking" is by way of an unprotected telephone line connected to a modem. Mother nature has a nasty habit of surreptitiously sending Jupiter with his thunderbolts to visit the computers of the unwary and uninformed. So be aware that without specific phone line protection, even unplugging your computer will not protect you from Jupiter's thunderbolts.
But what about a bit of computer common sense. A computer system is, for most, a considerable investment. And it does have a measurable life span; not the obsolescent factor hardware manufactures would like us to believe, but just the number of hours a monitor will remain bright-eyed and the number of spins a hard drive will make.
Even in "sleep mode," your monitor is on and your hard drive spinning. So why shorten their lives by leaving them on when they are not in use? I am not suggesting that you turn off your computer after each session if you are planning many sessions during the day. I am suggesting you turn it off if it is going to be left unattended or unneeded for any length of time.
For information on uninterruptible power supplies and surge protectors, I suggest www.apc.com or send your questions to me to be posted on my club's bulletin board.
Here's wishing you a good boot. [index]
A well-placed 'left click' tells you what you want to know 6/27/00
Recently, a Good Boot reader e-mailed me questioning why, after upgrading to AOL 5, did a RealPlayer icon appear on her desktop. And what was RealPlayer?
After explaining that RealPlayer is an audio and video player, I explained that AOL, like many other presumptuous programs, installed it because it wanted to.
Her question, however, encouraged me to mention to my Good Boot readers an excellent Windows feature - but one that is often overlooked: Properties.
Properties can be best explained by substituting the word "information".
Key to accessing that information is knowing which mouse buttons to click - and where and when to click them. If one wants immediate information on just about anything, a right click on the item and a left click on Properties will provide that information.
Try this: right click anywhere on your Desktop. Voila! A Windows menu opens offering you a complete recap of all your Display Properties. Everything you need to change, adjust and refine your: display background, screen saver, appearance, effects, Web and monitor settings.
Interesting? Well, try this: right click on My Computer and left click Properties. Voila, 2! A System Properties Window opens that includes: your version of Windows registration number, device Manager, hardware manager and performance (memory, system resources, etc.).
Not satisfied? Try another: right click on My Computer and left click on Explorer. Now right click on your C: drive and left click on Properties. Voila, 3! You are presented with your hard drive capacity, used space and free space. For the literate-challenged, this information is also presented as a graph.
The Tools tab will tell you when you last checked the drive for errors, backup status and the last time you defragged.
Now apropos of the icon that appeared on my inquiring Good Boot reader's Desktop, right click on any one of your Desktop icons (one that has a little curved arrow) and left click on Properties. Voila, 4! The general tab will provide a synopses of: What it is, type, location, size, MSDOS name, when created, when modified, when last accessed and its attributes. The Shortcut tab will tell you where the program is located on your hard drive.
If the shortcut is to a Web site, in addition to the general information listed above, it will present the Web site address.
Fascinating? You bet. Windows is an encyclopedia of information, provided you know where to go to get the information and if you master the left click, right click "dual finger clicking" technique supplemented by a Properties awareness.
Here's wishing you a good boot. [index]
[ Home ]
06/15/2002