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VOCC Minutes
2004-2005 Season
April 13, 2005
B>The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 10:30 A.M. with President Jim Hayden presiding. About 11 members attended and donated their $1.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as published on the conference list. One correction: HTM should be HTML….it was corrected on the web site.
Treasurer and Movie Director Judi Dario gave treasurer's report. We have $1200 in the bank.
This week will be the last meeting this season for the VOCC. Many of our members are preparing to head north.
Connie introduced Dr. Hadjazi from the Florida Keys Community College. He has to leave today at 11:30.
Dr. Hadjazi went over what we did last time. He let us know he has Microsoft Word 2003. (Note: Because of the large amount of technical content offered by Dr. Hadjazi, I was not able to get all of the information he presented, so here is my best shot. Perhaps others attending could fill in the gaps and correct errors.)
Tool Bar management--Allows us to do things quickly.
You need to know you can customize the tool bar to have the options you use, but he used the standard tool bars.
To get your Toolbar, go to View, then Toolbars, then Standard,
To get the 2nd toolbar do the above and click on Formatting
Click on top of each bar twice to get it to move to the top of the page. Slowly slide your curser across each toolbar symbol to familiarize yourself with the capabilities on each symbol on the toolbar.
As a reminder, Dr. Hadjazi went over some things he showed us last time he was here:
Hit three dashes and hit return to get the line above
Hit #sign three times for heavy line like the one above
Hit ~ three times to get the line above
Or you can go to the toolbar and select several styles of lines and change the width.
Also available under Format you can get many more lines--
Go to Borders and Shading and select the lines around the page or a section of the page.
More horizontal lines and pictures can be imported from internet and you can click on the one you like.
FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=---" How to draw a table for a brochure or newsletter:
Borders and Shading will give you set borders but you can produce your own.
Borders produces a toolbar to manage the table – go to Borders and Shading and click Show Toolbar at bottom left, then close Borders and Shading. Slowly slide your curser across the toolbar to familiarize yourself with the capabilities of the toolbar. Can click on or drag the toolbar to the top to have it below the other toolbars
Click Columns on top toolbar to establish how many columns if you want standard spacing.
On the new pallet, click on Border Color line to draw your own borders.
Venture Out
Resort
Spy in the Sky
Pencil you can draw where you want the lines. If you don't like the lines, do undo, or in toolbar there is an erasor.
Can change size of lines by going to the line in tables and borders and change the size of the line.
Type on the page by selecting letter and font style as usual. Select area to type and words will appear within that area only.
Can “change text direction” by clicking on A with lines after it on toolbar until it is facing the direction you want.
Can center the words from fourth bottom line of toolbar.
Can make color background by clicking on paint bucket
Computer pictures, put curser in cell, go to Insert, pictures and select where you want to get it from: Clip art, file, internet by searching by subject, and when received can change size, color, etc.
Can “insert table” within a table and specify the size under format
Can do border for the whole page, borders and shading, page border
Can change column width and height any time you want by dragging.
To get a picture from the internet, click on internet picture, save image as, go to save as: Gif can be animated, jpg always a still picture, save it, and go back to retrieve it and insert it on page.
Start with a blank document. To make a letter larger than 72, use control, shift, greater than sign and click until the letter is as large as you want it to the size of your page if you like, then can change the font.
If you want to make it smaller, control, shift, and less than sign, and click until it is the size you want it.
Type “Hello”, highlite, change this word, go to Format, font. You can make the word all caps with a click, small caps, shadow, double strike through….look at your different fonts….Underline can be different styles and colors.
>>>>
How to get to the second power, 102 highlite 2, and do as superscript. Under format…….
=Rand function…..(10,40) hit enter….=RAND(10,40) This is used to get text for demonstrations purposes.
To control how to highlite a group of words, click at the beginning and then go to where you want to end, and hit shift key.
Multiple locations: Knowledge management, Knowledge Management resource center:
Go to search, go to W, at top of page,
Keep finger on the control key and scroll down each area that you want to copy, then copy and paste where you want it.
Under Edit go to Paste Special and change the format under Edit.
Ask him in the future to go over the following advanced tips
Create a template where you can enter your own data.
View Toolbar, Forms, click creat, and create drop down items
Dell
IBM
Compaq
HP and add
Now go back to your sentence
Check one of the following,
DSL Under forms tool bar click “ab” the square box
You can create a document with areas for someone else to fill in on a computer. Can lock so those filling in can't change the form by clicking on the lock symbol.
User must be told to use the tab to move from one place to the next.
You can go to View, Toolbar, Drawing and change the appearance by adding lines, colors, Format Auto shape etc and lock the changes.
Mail Merge: He'll show us again next season, but gave a quick demonstration just to give us something to look forward to.
Excel as source for data.
Cover letter to a lot of people
First line:
First Name Last name ADDRESS CITY STATE
Under View mail merge
Mike Wallace showing us about Google, Advance search:
Go to Google, click advance search, and click Cheat Sheet, then print it out for future references.
Look for Presidencies of the United States, put in Advance Search
Then you can narrow down the search such as:
Presidencies ….with all the words.
Domain…File format ….check both
Only in Microsoft word, English
Somewhere in the text of the page
Only in gov
First 20 results
Then you can select the one you are interested in after the search is complete, and select how you want it to open such in Word
Also try Advance Image Search
Plants of the Florida Keys….do advance search
The meeting adjourned at around noon. Thank you, Dr. Hadjazi for an interesting program; thank you Mike for the advance info on Google; and thanks to Connie Hill for arranging for our speakers!
Jo Cryder for Joan Brill, Secretary
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can't receive them via the internet. Spread the word! They can also be found online at www.voresort.org. Respectfully submitted,
Respectfully submitted,
Jo Cryder for Joan Brill, secretary
Joan Brill
April 6,2005
March 30, 2005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, March 30, 2005, at 10:30 A.M. with President Jim Hayden presiding. About 14 members attended and donated their $1.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as published on the conference list.
Treasurer and Movie Director Judi Dario was in NJ for a medical emergency, so there was no treasurer's report. The next movie on Saturday, April 2, will be “Ladder 49” with John Travolta. Since Judi is away, Connie Hill will make sure that we have the DVD and Jim Rhinehart will run the projector. (Paul Burry is also away for a medical emergency.)
Our reporter in paradise, Ken Retallick has a fractured vertebrae and has been in the hospital in Key West. Today (Thursday) he has been moved to the convalescent center, and is asking for his computer; so he must feel better!
Dr. Hadjazi from the Florida Keys Community College has offered to come back to present more programs for us. However, we felt that it wouldn't be fair to ask him to come when attendance is so low. We decided to ask him how HE feels about that. We will surely try to have him again, either this year or next January 2006.
Jim Hayden said that he is still working on our Wi-Fi setup. I am receiving a strong Wi-Fi signal right now, at 1:30 P.M. on Thursday.
Jim Rhinehart handed out a list of Windows Keyboard Shortcuts. It looks very useful. Call him for a copy if you didn't receive one. Perhaps he can send it on the conference list.
Jo Cryder has created a slide show on the Internet that we can access. She did not write down how to get to that show. Jo I'd appreciate your sending the URL to the VOCC. Thanks!
The program was introduced by Program Chairman Connie Hill.
Subject: CREATING A WEB SITE. The program was presented by Warren Beaumont who is the webmaster for our Venture Out web site and also created a web site for Long Beach Island, NJ, where he resides when not at VO.
First of all, you must register a domain name. It costs from $15 to $35 per year.
The VO Web Site is hosted by www.e-government.com. In order to use, create and maintain most sites, you must learn HTML. Your browser translates the HTML into the web page as you see it on your screen. It looked impossibly difficult to me.
.
On the other hand, the VO Resort site was created by using a program called e-Government which allows you to create great websites without any knowledge of HTML. Our Vice President Mike Wallace now manages certain pages on the VO Resort. In most cases he simply uses COPY and PASTE from a Word document to insert information instead of having to write HTML.source code.
Warren showed us the front page for today's New York Times and then showed us this same page in HTML. (Go to http://nyt.com. Click on VIEW - Page Source to see the pages of source code needed to create the site.
e-Government allows you to create a web site without HTML. I may try to do that, to promote my new CD, More Piano Encores by Joan, that should be arriving here on April 20.
Warren also showed us a panoramic photo that is posted on the VO web site, http://www.voresort.org . You take several overlapping photos in an arc to cover the area of interest and a program will make it a continuous panoramic photo of the scene you covered. Picasa2 is one program that will create panoramic photos.
Warren also demonstrated a program that allows you to create 3D pictures with your digital camera. To learn about the program go to http://www.photo3-d.com/ . You need those old “Red Blue” that used to watch those horror movies in 3D to see the pictures in 3D. These can be purchased at the web sites.
Warren also mentioned a fine web-based university that provides excellent courses on computer related subjects. You can learn more about The Virtual University at http://www.vu.org/
The final demo was of the MS Flight Simulator 2004, A Century of Flight. This is a program that you can buy for a reasonable price, but you should also have a joy stick. It enables you to learn to fly a plane. It shows the cockpit instruments, the view, the airport (you can pick which one), and progress of the plane as it takes off, flies and lands, etc. This was really amazing!
We plan to meet again next week or until attendance declines too much.
The meeting adjourned at around 12:20 p.m.
Joan Brill, secretary
********************************************************************************
VENTURE OUT COMPUTER CLUB Handout by Jo Cryder
MARCH 23 2005
BASICS OF A DIGITAL CAMERA – CANON POWER SHOT A40
POINT AND SHOOT!!!
Batteries – alkaline versus nickel metal hydride (NiMH) which are rechargeable ( 2 or 3 sets)
CF CARD (Compact Flash) – 8 MB with camera up to 64 MB
Viewfinder versus LCD (“Liquid Crystal Display”)Monitor versus SLR
Ring on front for Lenses and Filters – check out what you can add to
your camera, such as telephoto lenses, UV and Polarizing filters
CAMERA USER GUIDE – Go to it and look up:
Resolution – set on “S” (small) for sending images electronically which will be about 640x480 pixels
Compression – set on “Normal” if you want to fit more images on a CF card. It will be adequate quality for standard shots.
ISO Speed – may be set on 50, but go to 200 or 400 for faster shots and less blur
MACINTOSH - Demonstrate downloading pictures from digital camera to a Macintosh “iBook”
SHOW iPHOTO AND ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
PICTURE SHOW – (ABOUT 12 MINUTES)
OKLAHOMA
CONCERT ON THE KEYS WITH CARL COLE
FASHION SHOW
PANCAKE BREAKFASTS
IRISH COFFEE
ST. PATRICKS DAY AT KEY COLONY
AQUATICS CLASS AND THANK YOU PARTY FOR CHUCK MCCORMICK
FLOWER SHOW IN KEY WEST AT WEST MARTELLO TOWER
MUSIC
OKLAHOMA – Overture – Music from the Broadway Play
KARL COLE – “Concert on the Keys”, Music: “Beauty and the Beast”
“SHALL WE DANCE?” – Music of the same name from the Motion Picture
KARL COLE – “Liebestraum”
JoCryderPhotos@Cox..net
Cell Phone: 619 804-9682
http://www.flickr.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jocryder/
http://voresort.org/photo-gallery/index.php
Action Prompt
March 23, 2005
March 16, 2005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 at 10:30 A.M. with President Jim Hayden in charge. About 35 members attended and donated their $1.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as published on the conference list.
The plans for Wi-Fi at VO will be tabled until next year.
Treasurer and Movie Director Judi Dario reported $903.19 in the treasury. $27 was collected at the last meeting. The next movie on Saturday, March 19 will be “Shall We Dance?” with Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, and Susan Sarandon.
There was no decision about putting the 60” TV in the lounge. Judy Armento, chairman of the Lounge committee, is having surgery on her knee and is out of the park. Send her a card!
The program was introduced by chairmen Connie Hill.
Dr. Sam Hijazi was the teacher today and the subject was Word 2003. Dr. Hijazi was born in Damascas and lives in Greece. He presently teaches at Florida Keys Community College and moderates their computer club that meets on the second and fourth Fridays from 7:30-9 P.M. You can join for $10-$20 a year. The club is free for seniors, and deals with all levels of computer expertise.
Also present was Julie, who helps maintain the office computers at the college. She is associated with Bob Gunderson.
Some of the features of Word 2003 do not work in Word 2002. At least they didn't work when I tried them.
The demonstration of Word 2003 was really amazing. Dr. H showed us how to use “Format”, “Tables,” how to show the toolbars using View. They duplicate the main menu (at the top of your screen), but they are more convenient. STANDARD and FORMATTING are the most important toolbars to select.
You should use “Print layout” view to see what will actually be printed.
Dr. Hijazi provided a handout that lists what he taught. If you want a copy, let me know at 745-3255. I'll post a copy in the Rec Hall.
This was a truly great demonstration and all of us were really impressed. I hope that all of us learned a great deal, although some of it seemed “easier said than done.”
Next week Jo Cryder will present a program. She is a very successful professional photographer. We expect to be away next week, so I hope that Jo will send minutes to the conference list. If not, perhaps one of you will volunteer. Let me know! Thanks!
The meeting adjourned at around 12:00 Noon.
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can't receive them via the internet. Spread the word! They can also be found online at www.voresort.org. Respectfully submitted, Joan Brill, Secretary
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Brill, secretary
www.ventureout.org (VO web site.) This web site is now combined with
www.voresort.org (web information site).
votennis-l@ventureout.org (e-mail address- Tennis Club conference list)
vocc-l@ventureout.org (eddress- VO and VOCC news conference list)
vocal-l@ventureout.org (eddress- Miscellaneous conference list)
If you wish to receive e-mail from our conference lists, send an e-mail to charlesgerber@msn.com. Send him your eddress, name, spouse's name, lot number and telephone number.
Joan Brill
March 2, 2005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 at 10:30 A.M. with President Jim Hayden in charge. About 24 members attended and donated their $1.
Jim reported the sad news that Mike Linn, formerly of lot 306, has died at the age of 68, after suffering a stroke. Judy Armento has forwarded details for contacting the family.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as published.
Treasurer and Movie Director Judi Dario reported $1,217.31 in the treasury. The last movie earned $224 from popcorn purchases.
The next movie on Saturday, March 6 will be “Ray” with Jamie Foxx. This movie was nominated for an Academy Award, and Jamie Ray won the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Ray Charles, the blind musician who recently died.
Jim Hayden, Jerry Heere and Jim Rhinehart are still working on a Wi-Fi connection for VO, but they are still having problems. If they are not successful, they may have a professional installation, but that will be costly. Jerry offered to put $100 toward it, which is much appreciated.
The warranty on the big TV in the Pavilion is about to expire and there was discussion about renewing it. Ken Retallik reported that the TV was supposed to be serviced every year, but this has been completed only once. Appointments were made, but no one showed up. The VOCC has requested that the Lounge Committee consider putting the 60 inch TV in the lounge for viewing special movies and/or videos or DVD's.
Connie Hill, program chairman, introduced Eddy Milne who presented a program on printing signs, notices, posters, tickets, and calendars. Eddy prints many of these for the park, including our monthly calendar.
The software Eddy uses is Broderbund's Printmaster Deluxe 7.0. (I have this program in Version 15.) It looks easy when Eddy does it! Eddy has a great selection of art work that can be added to the notices, posters, etc. You can also add art or photos from your own computer. The program called for different CD's to be used for the various art work. My program has only one CD. If you don't find what you want, the computer will go to the Broderbund web site to search for other art work.
Notices for the park should be Ľ size of an 8 ˝ x11” sheet of paper. If they are bigger, they will be removed from the bulletin boards, although special events notices may be posted for a few days.
Be sure to attend the VOCC to learn all the details! (Many of our members were fishing on this beautiful day, for the fishing tournament; while we fished for computer information.)
Mike Wallace said that the Key West Library has a web site that contains over 900 images of historic Key West. They may be viewed or downloaded free at www.mile-markers.org. These photos may be used in Printmaster to enhance your notices, banners, etc. Banner paper is available. It is pre-folded.
Half of the program next week will be given by Jo Cryder, a professional digital photographer. Jo uses a MAC computer, an I-Book that is very light and tiny. Jo's eddress is jocryderphotos@cox.net. Do a search on Google for Jo Cryder, and you will find some interesting background information.
The other half of the program will be a Q and A session. Jo will give the MAC viewpoint for all the questions, too. It should be very interesting.
The meeting adjourned at around 11:50 A.M.
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can't receive them via the internet. Spread the word! They can also be found online at www.voresort.org.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Brill, secretary
www.ventureout.org (VO web site.) This web site is now being combined with
www.voresort.org (web information site).
votennis-l@ventureout.org (e-mail address- Tennis Club conference list)
vocc-l@ventureout.org (eddress- VO and VOCC news conference list)
vocal-l@ventureout.org (eddress- Miscellaneous conference list)
If you wish to receive e-mail from our conference lists, send an e-mail to charlesgerber@msn.com. Send him your eddress, name, spouse's name, lot number and telephone number.
Joan Brill
February 23, 2005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 at 10:30 A.M. with President Jim Hayden in charge. About 35 members attended and donated their $1.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as published.
Treasurer and Movie Director Judi Dario reported that we have a comfortable amount in the treasury. Call her if you'd like more info. She will also send messages about the next movie.
Jim reported more progress on setting up a Wi-Fi connection for Venture Out. There have been expenses of over $600. The system is working for computers located close to the antenna. You can receive Wi-Fi in the Computer Nook, and anywhere in the Rec Hall. Jerry Heere and his son have been working on it, but so far the signal is not strong enough to be received very far away. I thought someone said that the signal is line-of-sight, but you'll have to check on that.
If you install a Wi-Fi card, be sure to record your MAC address. This is a unique address for each wireless card that will help control spam and theft of information. Eventually we'll probably have to give a password so that only those authorized can use the system. The club computer has a D-Link Air Plus G Wireless Utility 802.11 cardbus adapter.
Connie and Charlie Hill were welcomed back to VO! Connie said that she will arrange for upcoming programs.
A reminder: For computer help, call Chip Hughes at AHH Computer Service. 305-515-2841 or e-mail him at ahhcomputer@aol.com .
Jim Rhinehart continued demonstrating Picasa2 and he supplied extra handouts for those that needed them. Jim showed us how to edit the photos; add captions; run slide shows; crop or rotate the photos; move them to different albums; etc. There is also a large help menu that will help you learn to use the program. He also explained how to save the edited photo to disk. You really had to attend the meeting to learn all the details.
The meeting adjourned at around noon.
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can't receive them via the internet. Spread the word! They can also be found online at www.voresort.org.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Brill, secretary
www.ventureout.org (VO web site.) This web site is now being combined with
www.voresort.org (web information site).
votennis-l@ventureout.org (e-mail address- Tennis Club conference list)
vocc-l@ventureout.org (eddress- VO and VOCC news conference list)
vocal-l@ventureout.org (eddress- Miscellaneous conference list)
If you wish to receive e-mail from our conference lists, send an e-mail to charlesgerber@msn.com. Send him your eddress, name, spouse's name, lot number and telephone number.
Joan Brill
February 16, 2005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, February 16, 2005 at 10:30 A.M. with President Jim Hayden in charge. About 24 members attended and donated their $1.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved as published.
Treasurer and Movie Director Judi Dario reported that we have a comfortable amount in the treasury. Call her if you’d like more info. The next movie will be on Saturday, February 19 at 7:30 P.M. The movie to be shown is “The Notebook.” It is a love story that has excellent reviews. The club voted to buy the movies from now on because that is the only way we can obtain the newer releases such as “Ray Charles,” “Shall We Dance,” etc. We’ll pay half price because someone at VO will be paying the other half and will then keep the movie. The motion was made by Paul Kallmeyer and seconded by Joan Brill, and was passed.
Jim reported more progress on setting up a Wi-Fi connection for Venture Out. We are waiting for Comcast to install cablevision in the Owners’ Lounge.
You can find out if your computer has wi-fi installed by going to Start- Run- CMD- ipconfig. If wi-fi is not already on your computer, buy the 802.11B or 802.11G card that fits in the slot of most notebook computers. You’ll also have to install a program that comes with the card.
A reminder: For computer help, call Chip Hughes at AHH Computer Service. 305-515-2841 or e-mail him at ahhcomputer@aol.com .
Jim Rhinehart presented the program on Picasa2 and he supplied handouts with many details of the program. If you want to download Picasa2, go to www.picasa.com/download/index.php .
Picasa2 finds ALL the photos on your computer and puts them in one program. Jim demonstrated many of the capabilities of the program. You can edit the photos; add captions; run slide shows; crop or rotate the photos; move them to different albums; etc. There is also a large help menu that will help you learn to use the program.
If you wish to learn more about Picasa2, come to the next VOCC meeting. Jim will continue the program next week. Picasa2 has so many features that Jim couldn’t cover all of them today!
The meeting adjourned at around noon .
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can’t receive them via the internet. Spread the word! They can also be found online at www.voresort.org.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Brill, secretary
February 2, 2005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, February 9, 2005 at 10:30 A.M. with President Jim Hayden in charge. About 21 members attended and donated their $1. We had competition today from the Boat Club trip to Hurricane Joe’s and the Block 6 Flea Market and Lunch!
Treasurer and Movie Director Judi Dario reported that we have a comfortable amount in the treasury. Call her if you’d like more info. The next movie will be on Saturday, February 19. Watch for announcements of the title.
Jim thanked me (Secretary) for my prompt posting of the minutes of the VOCC. They were approved as e-mailed to the VOCC conference list.
Jim reported more progress on setting up a Wi-Fi connection for Venture Out. Even older computers can use Wi-Fi by purchasing a card for a slot in the (laptop) computer. (Look on the left-hand side of the PC, and you’ll probably find that slot.) Buy the 811.G. That is the fastest Wi-Fi currently available. There’s a special price now at Office Depot in Marathon , and Office Max will probably have a special soon. The VO installation will provide users with a connection to the Internet. You can use Mozilla or Internet Explorer or Netscape, Juno or AOL, etc. Each user will have an ID MAC number by law. This helps eliminate SPAM because SPAMMERS can be identified, even if they live in Indonesia or China . We will not need routers as long as all the computers in one house have the necessary 811.G card. We may need a booster if our signal is weak.
Mike Wallace presented the program. He had a handout sheet that listed some valuable websites, and he will send those out on the VOCC conference list. He also demonstrated some of them.
www.gcflearnfree.org is a source for free learning programs. It also presents classes with quizzes at the end. If you have questions about your computer go to one of Mike’s recommended websites.
If you don’t want to stay online for the programs, cut and paste them to a document.
For troubleshooting Windows XP: www.kellys-korrner-XP.com
www.learnthat.com has many tutorials.
Next time we’ll have the program on Picasa2. Picasa finds ALL the photos on your computer and puts them in one program. I found that MANY of my albums were duplicated on my computer, in different folders. Last evening I deleted 70 duplicate folders. When I finish doing this, I’m sure my PC will run faster!
The meeting adjourned at around noon .
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can’t receive them via the internet. Spread the word! They can also be found online at www.voresort.org.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Brill, secretary
www.ventureout.org (VO web site.)
www.voresort.org (web information site)
votennis-l@ventureout.org (e-mail address- Tennis Club conference list)
vocc-l@ventureout.org (eddress- VO and VOCC news conference list)
vocal-l@ventureout.org (eddress- Miscellaneous conference list)
If you wish to receive e-mail from our conference lists, send an e-mail to charlesgerber@msn.com . Send him your eddress, name, spouse’s name, lot number and telephone number.
Joan Brill
February 2, 1005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, February 2, 2005 at 10:30 A.M. President Jim Hayden presided. About 27 members attended and donated their $1.
Treasurer and Movie Director Judi Dario reported that we have a comfortable amount in the treasury. Call her if you’d like more info. The next movie will be “Fifty First Dates” with Drew Barrymore. I researched it on the Internet, and it sounds as though it will be very entertaining.
Jim welcomed Gerry Heere back to VO. He sends out valuable tips on the conference list and has been a great guru consultant for us.
Jim reported more progress on setting up a Wi-Fi connection for Venture Out. It will be tested at the Pavilion first, before being installed at the VO Store. It sounds promising and exciting! Even older computers can use Wi-Fi by purchasing a card for a slot in the computer. (Look on the left-hand side of the PC, and you’ll find that slot.) There are “Hot Spotzz” all over the country where you can have a free connection to the Internet. KOA’s offer Wi-Fi now in all their Kampgrounds.
The VOCC is wondering what to do with the 60” TV that they purchased, with help from the Rec committee and other organizations at VO. They may try to sell it to increase our treasury.
Chip Hughs has the club computer and is updating it. Therefore, Jim Rhinehart brought his computer so that he could demonstrate “Picasa2.” Unfortunately, he could not connect with the projector; so the program had to be postponed. Many had brought their own computers.
Warren Beaumont explained that the Federal government requires a message for all conference lists so that people know how to unsubscribe and who is sending the message. This is for Spam control. That’s why there are headings on our VOCC-L messages.
The VOCC-L@ventureout.org list may be used for VO and VOCC information. Rental ads are now allowed. It may be used for COMMUNICATION. Please don’t use it for any controversial e-mails regarding religion or politics, etc. You may send ANY desired messages on the VOCAL-L@ventureout.org conference list.
Warren once again urged members to observe good Netiquette by deleting all irrelevant eddresses when forwarding email. Copy the message that you wish to send. Then create a new e-mail and paste in the message. Spammers use those forwarded eddresses to create and distribute spam.
One member asked about the definitions of folders, files, and documents and how to delete them. Basic questions like this are welcomed at the VOCC. We are here to help our members.
Vital information: After you download and install a new program, DELETE the installation programs. They are usually VERY large. You may want to back them up first, in case you need to reinstall. I deleted 33 MB from my desktop after the meeting. I had put all those files in a folder on my desktop. Now my computer runs twice as fast!
Be sure to run Defrag in SAFE MODE. You get to SAFE MODE by tapping F8 when the computer is booting up. Defrag will run quickly if you do this. If screensaver and virus programs are running in the background, they will cause defrag to restart constantly, and it will never finish running. After you defrag, reboot in regular mode. You should run Defrag at least monthly to speed up your computer. You can click “analyze” before running defrag, and it will tell you if your PC needs defragging.
System Restore is an important tool. Come to the meetings if you want to know more about this! And don't forget to run "Disc Cleanup."
The meeting adjourned at around noon .
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can’t receive them via the internet. Spread the word! They can also be found online at http://www.voresort.org/ .
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Brill, secretary
www.ventureout.org (VO web site.)
January 26, 2005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 at 10:30 A.M. President Jim Hayden presided. About 17 members attended and paid their $1 donation.
Jim announced the sad news that June Read died during last night. Another friend gone from VO. It seems that every day brings a new loss. We send our deepest sympathy and condolences to her family. She will be truly missed.
Treasurer and Movie Director Judi Dario reported that we have a comfortable amount in the treasury. Call her if you’d like more info. The next movie will be “Fifty First Dates” with Drew Barrymore. I researched it on the Internet, and it sounded as though it were very entertaining.
Jim and Warren Beaumont thanked Paul Kallmeyer for carrying on as President of the VOCC for over two years. Now he can take a rest!
There was more discussion of updating the club computer, with the help of Chip Hughs, a professional computer guru. The RAM will be doubled or quadrupled to speed up the computer. An Ethernet card will be installed. A memory stick will be used instead of a CD-RW drive. Total cost will be about $300. We have other plans for the money in the treasury:
Jim Hayden is working on a plan to provide wireless Broadband service for everyone in the park, with help from Gerry Heere who will arrive next week. An omnidirectional antenna may be installed on the roof of the store and we’ll use a Linksys wireless router, made by Cisco. The park office may also put a cable connection in the pavilion. That would be extremely useful for the 60” TV that the park owns. Call Jim if you want more details. The club voted to proceed with the project and spend up to $500.
The program was a demonstration of computer games, and it was given by Peggy Beaumont. If you have Windows 98 or XP, you will find many games on your computer if you look for them. Just go to “all programs” and click on “games” to see what games are available. You will find Free Cell, Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, Pinball, Hearts, Minesweeper, and many others. Peggy demonstrated Free Cell and Pinball.
You can also buy software that gives you Bridge, Chess, and many other games that you can play in real time with people from around the world. You can also “go to Las Vegas ” and gamble with fake money, and learn how to play Blackjack, Poker, Canasta, and about 30 other games. The options were fascinating, complete with sound effects and people speaking to you!
Thank you Peggy for a truly entertaining demonstration.
I play Free Cell, so you can contact me for any questions or tips about that game. I have played 15,222 games so far. (I play them in numerical order.)
Paul Kallmeyer mentioned a train program he has which enables him to pretend to be an engineer and operate the train without wrecking it. He also has a program for flying a plane. (He was a solo jet pilot for 9 years.)
Next week we’ll have more demonstrations of PICASA2, a wonderful free photo program that you can download. It allows you to edit pictures. It gathers all the photos from all programs on your PC, so that you have all in one place for comparison and editing.
The meeting adjourned at around noon .
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can’t receive them via the internet. Spread the word! They can also be found online at www.voresort.org.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Brill , secretary
www.ventureout.org (VO web site.)
www.voresort.org (web information site)
votennis-l@ventureout.org (e-mail address- Tennis Club conference list)
vocc-l@ventureout.org (eddress- VO and VOCC news conference list)
vocal-l@ventureout.org (eddress- Miscellaneous conference list)
Joan Brill
January 19, 2005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, January 19, 2005. President Paul Kallmeyer presided, and if you didn't attend, you really missed a great meeting! About 22 members attended and paid their $1 donation.
Treasurer and Movie Director Judi Dario reported that we have a comfortable amount in the treasury. Call her if you'd like more info. On Saturday, January 22, the movie “Something's Gotta Give” with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton will be shown. It's a terrific movie that promises lots of fun.
January is election time for the VOCC. The officers for January 2005-January 2006 will be: President- Jim Hayden; Vice-President- Mike Wallace; Secretary- Joan Brill; Treasurer and movie chairman- Judi Dario.
The group decided to keep the same time for our meetings next year: Wednesdays from 10:30A.M.-Noon.
There was more discussion about upgrading the club computer vs. buying a new laptop. Judy Armento reported that you can buy an external diskette drive for $30; a powered USB jb with 8 connections for around $30.00. Office Max also has a LARGE memory stick at a good price. However, it may be worth it to buy a new computer with the latest technology. The prices have declined so much, and the club computer has half the speed of my computer.
Rules for the VOCC and the VOCAL conference lists were discussed. It was decided that advertisements that concern VO will be allowed on the VOCC-L list. There are about 300 names on the VOCC-L list, and about 200 on the VOCAL-L list. Don't send e-mail to both eddresses. If you send to the VOCC-L list, everyone will receive the message.
Connie and Charlie Hill will probably not be at VO this year, so we still need a program chairman. Any volunteers? We do have some programs lined up, but it would be wonderful to have a chairman.
Some of us are having problems editing photos with Picasa. I uninstalled mine and then downloaded Picasa2. Now I'm having better luck.
We were preparing to show a parady on the Bush inauguration from www.jibjab.com. However with the dial-up connection it took too long to load, so we weren't having much luck.
A.H.H. is a very reasonable computer service based in Big Pine Key. Chip Hughes, the owner, had offered to present a program for us. He works from Marathon to Key West, doing highly technical computer work. We were surprised when he arrived at our meeting at around 10:45 A.M. He was so knowledgeable and interesting. We asked questions and learned an incredible amount.
Wi-Fi has about a 100 foot range. It must be password protected or strangers can use your connection and spy on your computer.
Mozilla Firefox is an excellent browser. Chip said that if it and MAC are used by more people, it will also be targeted by viruses. Most viruses come from overseas and can't be prosecuted. Terrorists may be behind them. The next terrorist attack may be with computer viruses. The country (e.g. the airlines) is so dependent on computers that we can be completely crippled by viruses.
Chip said to be sure to run Service Pak 2 from Microsoft. You can download it or get the disc. It may cause problems on some computers, but it is very important for the security of your computer. Be sure to run Critical Updates regularly.
Old, outdated computers are usually not useful. Sometimes you can recycle old computer parts. Do a search on Google if you are interested. We keep our old computers so that we can run old DOS programs such as our Family Ties (family tree) programs and our GPS programs. It is not usually possible to run them on XP unless you can find a newer program that can read and update the data.
XP Professional is used mostly by big corporations, and it's almost the same as Home edition. Home edition is better for games. XP Professional Edition does have the old “Backup” file which allows you to backup only files that have changed etc. It takes me 70 minutes to backup my files. With the old “Backup” program it would probably take 5 minutes. Chip said that I could get that file from someone who has Professional Edition and install it in Home Edition.
My Hibernate doesn't work, so I don't use it. I almost had a new hard drive installed. Chip said not to use hibernate or sleep. They can cause problems. Just leave the computer on all the time. The new computers use very little electricity. No screensaver is needed with today's technology. It may look beautiful, but is not necessary.
If your computer suddenly starts to dial out, it probably has a virus. Disconnect the modem.
Laptops need air underneath them to keep them cool. Heat ruins computers. You can buy a PC cooler fan for about $30. Newer laptops have a low voltage processor that creates less heat.
We discussed whether you should stay online or disconnect. If you have DSL or a cable modem, the router acts as a firewall. Bellsouth has a firewall that is very effective. Chip prefers Bellsouth over Comcast, but that's his choice.
Do you have an interesting subject for a program? If so, call Jim Hayden at 745-1115.
The meeting adjourned at around noon.
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can't receive them via the internet. Spread the word! They can also be found online at www.voresort.org.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Brill , secretary
January 12, 2005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, January 12, 2005. President Paul Kallmeyer presided, and Vice-President Mike Wallace was also present to give another program. About 24 members attended and paid their $1 donation.
Treasurer Judi Dario was not present, but the treasury is probably about the same, plus receipts from the January 8 movie. Judi will be sending out notices of the next movie which is scheduled for Saturday, January 22.
Paul Kallmeyer welcomed Warren Beaumont back to VO. He is our webmaster and one of the founders of the VOCC. Warren thanked all who have helped keep the VOCC functioning, especially Jim Rhinehart who is so active helping in the background (or foreground) at all times. Warren also thanked Paul and Joan Brill, Mike Wallace, Judi Dario, Judie Armento, and any others whom he may not have mentioned. And we should thank WARREN for all that he has done for the club to make it what it is! We are lucky to have him here at VO.
Paul reminded everyone that they can return used printer cartridges to Office Max or Office Depot and receive a free package of recycled printer paper. Recycle and keep our earth green!
A.H.H. is a computer service based in Big Pine Key. Chip Hughes, the owner, has offered to present a program for us, perhaps next week. We need a program chairman who will plan programs until Connie Hill returns to VO. Any volunteers? Warren Beaumont will give a program on January 26.
The subject today was PHISHING (as in FISHING expedition.) If you don't know what that is, you should come to the meetings! Make had a wonderful handout with all the information.
Phishing means sending an e-mail that falsely claims to be from a trustworthy particular enterprise (like your bank) and asking for sensitive financial and/or other personal information. The fisher could be in the USA or any other country; but the company that sends the e-mails most often is in a foreign country, usually China, which makes it very difficult to prosecute. Ask Mike for the handout, and learn how to recognize illegal e-mails and how to be safe from identity or credit card theft. Perhaps Mike has the information on his computer and can e-mail it to you; or give you the web site which contains information.
I learned that AOL has bought Netscape Navigator. Also, when a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) starts with HTTPS, you are on a SECURE website. The S stands for SECURE. That is, hackers can't obtain the information you are giving. There should also be a padlock in the right hand corner. Sometimes phishing scammers put an artificial padlock someplace on the screen.
Also remember that https can be a secure site BUT it may be a site that the "scammers" have set up. Remember the examples and that I pointed it out.
Ramey
IP stands for “internet protocol.”
Do you have an interesting subject for a program? If so, call Paul Kallmeyer at 744-4481.
The meeting adjourned at around noon.
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can't receive them via the internet. Spread the word! They can also be found online at www.voresort.org.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Brill , secretary
January 5, 2005
The VOCC met at the Pavilion on Wednesday, January 5, 2005 for the first meeting of the New Year. President Paul Kallmeyer presided, and Vice-President Mike Wallace was also present to present the program. About 20 members attended and paid dues.
A treasurer's report was given by Judie Dario. Call her for more info if you need it.
The movie this Saturday, January 8 will be “The Day After Tomorrow.” It is a new, highly acclaimed movie. The language is somewhat rough, but Judie Dario, our chairman, will be showing newer movies from now on. The next one will be ” Mystic River” Those who object to bad language are hereby warned. Swear words are difficult to avoid in the newer but fine films.
A.H.H. is a computer service based in Big Pine Key. Chip Hughes, the owner, has helped some VOCC members and he did a fine job at very reasonable cost. He is certified by Microsoft. Telephone number: 305-515-2841
Joan Brill reported on the 1 Gig Travel Drive that she is using now. It is so tiny that it comes with a lanyard that you can wear around your neck so that you don't lose it. It works just like any other hard drive but it is solid state rather than mechanical, and is great for backing up files and for keeping important files handy when you are traveling. Just plug it into the USB port of any computer. It installs itself as another drive.
Mike Wallace presented the program on Firefox, a Web browser that can be downloaded free from the internet. Bob Lewis reported that Firefox is now the preferred browser for a great percentage of internet users. Why? Because Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator are so susceptible to viruses and worms. With Firefox, it's almost like using a MAC computer, which rarely is bothered by viruses and hackers. It is also very simple to use and very fast. Firefox is more popular than Netscape, and will soon be #1, according to Bob Lewis.
If you are a beginner, you may wonder what a Browser is. Bellsouth DSL, Comcast Broadband, AOL.com, Earthlink.net and JUNO are internet service providers (ISPs). They allow you to connect to the internet. The Browser allows you to search the World Wide Web (WWW) and find web sites that interest you, such as www.ventureout.org or www.voresort.org . You can also do searches on any subject.
Once connected, a Browser provides a graphic means of surfing the World Wide Web similar to the way Windows provides a graphic means of moving easily (Surfing) around your computer. Search engines provide a means of searching the huge store of information for a specific subject
With Firefox, you can also download Thunderbird, which is its e-mail program. Firefox has no firewall or anti-virus, so it will not conflict with Norton or other programs. If you don't have Norton or MacAffee, you'll want to install them, or download a free anti-virus program.
You can set Firefox as the default browser. You can also order the Firefox disc, or download the program to a disk so that you have it available in case you need to reinstall it.
Mike supplied a handout that gives all the details about Firefox and its advantages.
The meeting adjourned at around noon .
These minutes will be posted in the Recreation Hall for those who can't receive them via the internet. Spread the word! Thanks .
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Brill , secretary
December 22, 2004
The VOCC met at the pavilion on Wednesday, December 22, 2004, for a meeting which was a continuation of a presentation given by Jim Rhinehart. Approximately 12 were in attendance. Judi Dario gave a brief Treasurers report which I believe was that we had $732 in the treasury at the present time ( I hope that I got the number correct, please forgive me if I didn't). President Paul Kallmeyer and Secretary Joan Brill were unable to attend because of respiratory infections and unexpected doctor visits. Thanks, Vice-president Mike Wallace for filling in.
Ken Retallick switched from Bell South DSL to Comcast. He received a discounted rate for 6 months after turning in his old modem. The new service is very fast and so far Ken is pleased with it.
Jim then presented a program on Ad-Aware and Spybot. These programs remove data-mining and other spyware that may be stored on your computer. The do similar things, however each program will tend to find things that may be missed by the other.
These programs are free and easily downloaded from: http://www.safernetworking.org/
http://www.download.com/ or www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Quite a number of "spies" and possibly critical troublemakers were discovered on the VOCC computer.
Spybot and AdAware quickly removed them.
If you do not already have these programs please do yourself a favor and download, install and use them as they may prove to be very useful.
Thank you to Jim for the fine presentation.
It was decided to not meet next week on Wednesday, December 29.2004 because of the holidays. The next meeting will be on Wednesday, January 5, 2005, at 10:30 a.m. in the pavilion. Bob Lewis may be able to present a program on Firefox, a new web browser available from: http://www.mozilla.org/
If Bob is not able to present the program, Mike Wallace will try to present a similar program about alternative web browsers, that are less susceptible to virus infection.
The meeting adjourned at around noon.
These minutes will be posted in the Rec. Hall for those who are not able to receive them via the Internet.
Respectfully submitted,
Mike Wallace, filling in for Joan Brill, Secretary