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The Bug Report |
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The only Bug that's good for your computer! |
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A Publication of the Greater South Bay PC Users Group |
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Volume 18 Number 2 |
February 2000 |
NEEDED!
Editor for
the GS-BUG Report.
If
you would like to help the club by preparing our monthly News Letter, contact:
President:
G. Sexton at:
email:
uags@aul.com or Keith Denker (Temp Editor) email:
kddd2@juno.com
Membership
News:
Please welcome
the following members who have joined the club during the past month
Glenn Peck
(Lomita), Dennis Gibbs (Man. Bch), Raymond Shinn (L.A.), Kokie Hanson
(Lakewood)
Curtis & Ann Lancon (Torr)
Our present membership is 153 members.
I would like to encourage members to wear their nametags at the General Meetings.
SIG
NOTES:
Herman proceeded to go through the process step by step, explain ing the process as he went.
He proceeded at a pace that allowed note‑taking. I noticed that most of the 15 plus people
in attendance were taking notes too The meeting then proceeded to explore various
web sites and various related topics Herman usually closes his meetings by
asking if anyone has any more questions.
I do not know anyplace else where this level of assistance
is available at any price.
Thank you Herman! Keith D
Let's give All of our SIG Leaders the thanks
and recognition they so much deserve!
SOFTWARE
LIBRARY NEWS
by
BOB HUDAK
E-Mail:
rsh532@aol.com
I want to talk about income tax preparation programs this month. I used four programs to prepare the same report to see the difference between them. I used Am-Tax, TaxAct, Turbo Tax, and TaxCut. Am-Tax is a Dos program. The others are windows programs. Now you have to know I like the Dos program, Am_Tax, best for a number of reasons. It has good code so it fits on a 3 1/2" floppy. Everyone has a 3 ˝ floppy drive but does everyone have a CD Rom drive? Being a Dos program, anyone with a older computer can use it. You can configure it to do what you want. There are about three screens of options. Like do you want to round off or use whole numbers. I like to use whole numbers and this was the only program that allowed that. The next best program for this was TurboTax. It used whole numbers on the schedules, like Schedule B, addes up all the entries and then rounded off the number that was placed in the 1040 form. The printer
setup is also the best. You have total control on what forms to print and whether to print a graph official looking form or a approved text form. That means that you can use a older dot matrix printer with a 286 computer. A laser printer works best with all the programs. You need a Dos printer with Am-Tax. There are a number of printers that have problems with Am-Tax. I will have hand out brochures at the general meeting
from Am-Tax that has all this information up front. Sad to say, this is the last year that Am-Tax will have a Dos program. Next year it will be a Windows program on a CD. The only other down side of the program is that you need to buy it mail order and the price is higher then any of the other programs. If you are doing several returns, yours and family members, it is not too bad. Last month I told you about TaxAct so will not go over the features again. TaxAct has the best looking form on screen. Looks just like the IRS form. Am-tax and Turbo Tax do not look like the forms on screen. No big deal really. TaxCut prints 1040 form that looks just like the government form. The others have slightly modified form that give you a little more room to write on. Better. TaxAct print numbers in bold which makes it really easy to read and scan. Better. TaxCut prints in the smallest and lightist font of the four programs. Am I picky or what. Enough about looks. They all do the job. Another feature I like in Am-Tax is that you can type in your information direct on the forms. The others make you enter in on information sheets. TaxCut is the worst in this regard. You can't even put your name on the form. Have to use work sheets. You have to use the interview method. A lot of hand holding going on. Some places you need to fill out a work sheet to fill out a information work sheet. I like to go direct to let say Schedule B and enter the information direct from my 1099 form. Why do you need to put this information any place else?? I use the programs with out looking at the readme help. TaxCut was the worst to figure out because of the interview and work sheets it makes you use. Really not that bad if you don't fight it. So I rate
Am-Tax #1. TaxAct #2. Turbo Tax #3 and TaxCut last. The difference is small. I used the TaxAct and Turbo Tax to do the Calif. state tax. Both worked well. TaxAct is the only program that has a free version of their program. I have this on a CD in the library. Pick up a copy and use it to prepare your tax return.
by Dixie Rasmussen, GS-BUG Inc
To begin, I will complain about what I don't like. The instructions start out with "For new users". What about the old faithfuls who keep buying upgrades? It does not tell you how to upgrade.
I put the CD in the CD drive and the way it went all by itself. Quicken 2000 Deluxe went in right over the top of Quicken 98. I went to Help and found that the old program was deleted, but previous data was backed up to use along with the new version. Also on Help, you can find a Users Manual.
The users manual book that comes with it, isn't much. I have shopped the South Bay. The computer stores are not carrying very many books, anymore. I found two good ones at two different book stores: Quicken2000 for dummies @ $20. and Quicken - 2000 by Osborne @$25. There is an Internet site: Osborne.com. Maybe you could order it, if so desired. There are other books but I didn't think they had as much information.
About any version of Quicken can be used to keep track of household expenses and to total your check book. A Video of Quicken 98 can be borrowed at Redondo Library for three days at a time for free. This one is very good. A Video of Quicken 99 can be borrowed at Torrance Library for $1.00. I haven't seen this one. If you are new to Quicken, it would be worth your time to view one of these Videos. Also, I highly recommend enrollintg in Torrance Adult Education. I have found Quicken 2000 Deluxe for $50. Quicken Suite is $70. The difference is: Suite has Family Lawyer and Turbo Tax Deluxe included. The only requirement to load Quicken is that you have a 486 and windows 95 or 98. I wouldn't recommend you load Windows 98 0n a 486. (super slow). After loading Quicken 2000 Deluxe, four icons appear on the desk top:
Quicken Deluxe, Quick Entry, Visit Wingspan, and My Schwab Customer. Wingspan is a bank on line where you can set up an account and do all your banking transactions on line. Otherwise, you can use a bank of your choice. A list is available. There is a charge for this service but I have no idea how much. You can open an account with Schwab, if you want to trade stocks on line. I opened up "My Schwab" and found another Internet: Free World powered by Excite (browser). I was sorry I loaded it because It interfered with Juno.
I don't plan on going anyplace but when I do, all my finances will be on the computer in Quicken.
JOHN SELLERS,, Program Chmn.
E-Mail ay2861@lafn.org
MGI Software is a market leader in photo and video editing software.
Randal Whittle will present to Greater South Bay PC Users club their two most award-winning products.
These feature digital photography and digital video and they are offered at affordable prices.
With these market-leading MGI products, MGI PhotoSutte 111 and MGI VideoWave III you have unlimited options with your photos and videos.
MGI PhotoSuite ill is your complete PC photography solution and it is the fastest, easiest way to edit, enhance, and organize your photos while allowing you to use your creative freedom Turn your photos into greeting cards or incorporate them into personal calendars, web pages, family lepers, and share them with others via email or on the Internet.
MGI PhotoSuite 111 is easy and fund And with MGI VideoWave 111 you can captures edit, and produce your own videos on your PC Discover at our next user group meeting more on how MGI Software will allow you to begin to picture the world in a whole new way.
The guest presenter will be Randy Whittle, speaking on behalf of MGI Software Randy holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and works as a Marketing Strategy Consultant in helping companies identify how their business and the economy can be improved by electronic commerce, formulate better strategies and installing such changes in the firms that achieve these goals.
Randy learned very early the importance of feature-rich and easy-to-use software when, without the budget to hire outside resources, he was put in charge of personally designing brochures and marketing materials for a small startup He later became the founding Director of the Electronic Commerce Program at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business having developed an innovative graduate-level curriculum for business students the first of its kind as required course curriculum for MBA's at a major business school During his tenure at USC, Randy was quoted by Family Money Magazine
concerning the reliability of on-line information and arranged for USC to host a weeklong symposium of electronic commerce industry leaders.
Randy and his wife Vicki are the proud parents of two young children, MacLean and Brittany He uses pictures of the family extensively in his presentations to drive home how personally useful you will and the software You will come away from this meeting entertained and informed Randy will provide time for an open Q&A period and will bring valuable door prizes, informative handouts, and a special user group price for those wishing to purchase these outstanding products at the meeting See you then in Ed Note: John Should be congratulated for doing a great job as our program chairman if you have a program to presents or one that you would like to sees contact John in person or via Email.
A Web Site for Everyone - Part 2: Reserving your web site NOW!
Web site growth is on an incredible tear right now. Total web pages grew from 320 million to 830 million during the last 2 years. There are personal web sites devoted to everything from Jimmy Stewart (http://members.aol.com/JimStewAC/home.htm), to watching dancing hamsters (http://hamsterdance.com). Want to join in? It's a lot easier than you might think!
There are several ways to create your own web site, and next month, we will be discussing many of the options. But first you need to make an important decision. Where do you want to put your Web Site and what kind of web address meets your needs? Here are 4 alternatives
1. Place your web site with a commercial company that will insert advertising on all your pages. Companies like geocities, afreehome, and cybercities will give you up to 50 megabytes of space for your web site. All your visitors have to put up with is the advertising, and all you need to put up with is an address that can be up to 50 characters long.
2. Internet Service Providers (ISP's) usually provide free space to members. Offers range from 2 to 20 megabytes. There is no advertising on these pages, nor are you allowed to use the pages for advertising your own products. The address is usually just a subset of the ISP's, such as http://users.earthlink.com/<yourname>, so the address is a little bit easier to remember. Don't worry about not having enough space! I have put up several web sites for friends that chose this option. With minimal graphics, it is easy to put up a 20-page website in 2-3 megabytes of space.
3. Pay a monthly fee to have a commercial site host your web pages. This is where you can create your own web address, hopefully something easy to remember. But first you need to check to see if anyone else has already grabbed it. Be prepared to change your dream name a little, perhaps by adding a number to the name. After all, with 20,000 domain names registered every week, good names are getting scarce. This option also allows you to have email that incorporates your web site name, such as yourname@yourname.com. Many of the companies that host web sites will allow you 3-10 email names per site, this is great for family members or employee's to have personal email address's that are tied to the web address. A good site to check out this option is www.register.com. Register.com also has competitive web site hosting prices of $25.00 per month, and free sign up, for 40 megabytes of space and 10 email accounts. There is also a charge of $40.00 to $100.00 to register your web address for 2 years.
4. Pay to Register your own web address, and use it to redirect people to your free web address. This solution is a great way to start up your web site, and the one I recommend for people just beginning their web sites. Since most web sites start small and then build on the original foundation, you can go months or years without paying a monthly fee for someone to host your web site. Wait until you grow your web site over the limits of your free web space before paying to have a commercial site host your web pages. For an example of this, check out the "personal identity account" at www.domaindirect.com. For a fee of $70.00 they register your web address for 2 years, and will automatically forward anyone who types in you personal address to any other site you designate. In other words, you can have your personal domain name and use it with your free web site.
I am a great believer in registering your own web name. In a world that is increasingly faceless, it is a way to be unique, a way to say: Here I am, this is me! I also think it is important to get one right now. There are not enough good website names out there, make sure that you register your personal name before someone else gets it first. Then a small yearly fee is all it takes to retain that name into the future.
Next month we will conclude this series with several easy (and some not so easy!) ways, to create content for your website.
This article is furnished as a benefit of our membership in the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization to which this user group belongs. The author Steve Morgan, is a member of the APCUG Board of Advisors He represents Region 5, which covers AK, ID, MT, OR, WY, ND, SD and WA. Steve is also a member of the APCUG Editorial Committee He's one busy guy!
by Frank Chao
Hello. In this the ninteenth article in
the "Internet Talk" series, I would like to start by
congratulatingKeith Decker, our temporary newsletter editor for a job well done.
This will be third newsletter that Keith has produced and all three have been
absolutely great! I have been an active member of various
computer users groups for the past 15 years and I can assure you that the
voluntary job of newsletter editor is the most time-consuming and challenging of
all jobs in any computer user group. If someone else does not step up to the
plate, I and John Hansen will soon have more time to "surf" the Web in
the middle of each calendar month! But I and Dr. Hansen do not really want this
to happen. So, please consider volunteering for this important job. While I am up on my soapbox, I
also wish to congratulate Herman Krouse for operating the longest running
Special Interest Group, the "Internet SIG", here at the Greater South
Bay PC Users Group. He started it about 5 years ago and it is still going
strong. Herman has helped more club members than anyone else in the club, so be
sure to tell him how much you appreciate his efforts. ALLADVANTAGE.COM: If you already have some sort of
Internet access, you can get paid to surf the Web by a company called
AllAdvantage.com To learn more about it, go to their Web site at http://www.alladvantage.com
I had this crazy notion that you could use one of the 5 free Internet Service
Providers and then run ALLAdvantage.com's advertising bar and make money while
using the Internet for free. If you are successful in pulling this off, let me
know and I will discuss your experiences in doing so in future articles. XPERTSITE: To get expert help from a real
live expert on any subject, go to http://www.xpertsite.com
Also, if you are an expert on any subject, you can volunteer to help people
on-line at this Web site. This Web site is the Internet at it's best: providing
people with the information that they need for free and letting people help
other by means of their Internet connection. It is sites like this one that make
a good Internet connection valuable to you so don't miss out on all the wonders
of the Internet. ALL TECH COMPUTER RECYCLING
CENTER: Liz Orban recommends that you
recycle instead of discarding used computers and computer parts. You can do so
by taking used computers and
computer parts to the All Tech Computer Recycling Center, 14311 Cerise
Ave. #108, Hawthorne, CA 90250 ,Voice phone: 310-978-2790. They will pay
you for your old junk!! Also, they you sell you some of their old junk if you
want to own more of the stuff. It is up to you !! SURFREE: A NEW CONCEPT FOR
INTERNET ACCESS Surfree (pronounced "surf
free") is an Internet Service Provider that offers a new concept in
low-cost Internet access. They charge you for their dial-up Internet access by
the month. However, if you run their advertising bar while you are on-line, they
start crediting your account so that if you are on-line a lot and run their
advertising bar a lot, then your per-month charges for using their dial-up
Internet service would conceivably be free. To learn more about them, go to
http://www.surfree.com For most members of the GSBUG club,
most of whom live in the "South Bay" area of the Los Angeles
metropolis, the 5 totally free Internet Service Providers are available
are probably a whole lot better of a deal than Surfree. Remember, "Worldspy"
is a totally free Internet Service Provider that does not put an advertising bar
on your computer monitor screen. To locate hyperlinks to the Web
sites of the 5 totally free Internet Service Providers, you can go to my
personal Web site at http://fchao.tripod.com
However, please keep Surfree in mind if you are trying to help someone find a
free Internet Service Provider elsewhere in this great country of ours. If your
children or grandchildren live out in Podunk, Missouri, you will have to scan
the dial up phone numbers for all of the free and low-cost Internet Service
Providers in order to find them an Internet access that does not cause them to
incur a gargantuan phone bill. MORE INTERNET MYTHS AND LORE: In the present month, I have
heard 2 totally erroneous misconceptions from otherwise intelligent people over
and over: Myth 1: If you get DSL Internet service for
your home, from a phone company , the you will get you free telephone service. The reality of the matter is that the phone companies are not
in business to lose money. Nobody will give you free phone service if you sign
up for their DSL Internet service. In the case of DSL service from phone
companies, all the phone companies are willing to do for you is to bill you for
your DSL service on your phone bill, if you tell them to do so. Myth 2: If you get cable modem Internet service
for your home, the cable TV company will give you free cable TV service. The
reality of the matter is that the cable TV companies are not in business to lose
money. Nobody will give you free cable TV service if you sign up for their DSL
Internet service. All the cable TV companies are willing to do for you is to
bill you for your cable modem Internet service on your cable TV bill, if you
tell them to do so. However, don't let the
misconceptions of a few cocktail party pundits keep you from getting a great
Internet connection for your house. The Internet is a whole lot more fun when
your connection is at DSL or cable modem speeds. Myth 3: I continue to hear people state that
free Internet access is "impossible". To make them happy, I will start
charging people one hundred dollars, paid in advance, to come to my house to see
me access the Internet for free, using all 5 of the totally free Internet
Service Providers that are now available in the Los Angeles area. (Just
kidding!!) AN INEXPENSIVE LEARNING
OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU: Starting in the middle of March,
I will be teaching yet another "Computer Information Systems 3" class
for El Camino College. This college class will be held at the Torrance One Stop
Career Center at 1220 Engracia Ave. in Torrance, California, U.S.A. during the
months of March, April, and May. This college class will meet for 9 sessions on
Wednesday evenings. In this class, I will use Microsoft Word 97 and Excel 97 to
introduce you to the use of a Windows 95 computer. This class is designed for
people who are totally new to computers. For information about participating as
a student or as a volunteer lab assistant, please contact me by one of the
methods listed at the end of this article. DWINDLING USER GROUP MEMBERSHIP: For the past 5 years, the
membership in computer users groups has been declining. This trend has occurred
at a time when computer ownership and Internet access has skyrocketed. One
theory is that people are too busy browsing the World Wide Web to attend users
group meetings. A somewhat-related
notion is that people are now able to get help on-line with their computer
problems so they no longer depend on computer users
groups to assistance. What do you think is happening? Let me know and I will
relate your opinions in future articles, with your permission, of course. A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO DWINDLING
MEMBERSHIP: As the membership base of
computer user groups declines, they may have to merge in order to survive. The
Los Angeles Computer Society has the same objectives as we do. They meet in
Westchester, 5 minutes north of where we live. What if we merged with them?
Maybe the whole would be greater than the sum of the parts. To learn more about
them, see http://www.lacspc.org I belong to
both groups and I think that both are absolutely wonderful organizations to
belong to. WAYS TO CONTACT ME: If you have any questions or
problems, I can be contacted by one of the following methods: 1. Leave a voice message for me at
310-768-8951. 2. Send me e-mail at: fchao@elcamino.cc.ca.us 3. Send me "snail" US Postal
Service mail to Frank Chao, PO Box 6930, Torrance, CA
90504-0030. Or sell your computer and take up golf
instead ! Questions
& Answers By
Dr. John Hanson
Editor Needed: Being
editor of the club's newsletter is
a tremendous opportunity to learn a lot quickly. Baldwin, Kevin
and Liz
have already done all the hard work in setting up the format.
All you have to do is fill in the blanks.
If you don't
have a publishing program
the club will provide you one,
maybe even a computer and a
laser printer if you don't have one.
So how can
you lose?
You don't even need to read
the articles submitted
as they are sent in a format that is best for you
and have already been spell
checked and proof read. But if you do read
them you will know things way before anyone else.
If for some reason not enough material is submitted from members
to fill the newsletter you just
make it shorter or ask Liz how to download
interesting articles from other clubs on the
Internet. I thought
the newsletter was pretty perfect as it was but
I noticed that
in the December issue Keith made a part of it even
better. Liz and others
before were very good at accepting suggestions
to make it even better such
as adding the date in the upper corner
so when a whole year or two are
bound together it makes it easy to
find things. One of these days
someone else should volunteer to
make up an index for each year so that many valuable
articles can be found easily.
How well do you know fellow
members? There is
a tremendous amount of
talent in our club but you need to dig a little to find it.
Take the time now and then
to visit some of them
and be amazed
at what
you discover. I will mention a few
here but without names so
you can have fun guessing who they are. Most
of these people have a number of
things in common such as the desire to solve problems and are
usually quite talented
with their hands.
One member
is not only an expert with computers
but is
an expert at repairing large
diesel engines such as those on tugboats and
fishing vessels.
His wife is also very good
with computers and
is an expert in special education
for schools, especially
those with low vision or blind. He
buys used monitors by the pallet
and fixes those he can for a nice extra income.
Another member assembles complex, classified computer
systems for
his work and if you were to see the computer system
he
has set up in his garage you would be completely amazed.
Not only is it
very
complex
and efficient but everything seems
to
be
on rollers or drawers so he can access the rear very easily to
make changes or troubleshoot.
He is also very good with his
computer and
especially
Photo Shop 5 which is very
difficult
for
most people
who don't use it regularly.
Naturally he is a good
pho-tographer as well and a competent musician.
All his music is
so well organized you can find anything quickly.
He also has one of the
best
color printers whose prints are
brilliant
and
don't fade.
Manufacturers
who use radio waves in their products
need
to have
FCC approval and one member is certified to test and approve such equipment.
The FCC is very concerned about any
frequencies that
may leak out of equipment such as computers
and
interfere
with communications.
During the war he had two ships sunk
under him.
Like other members
in this category he can do almost any-thing
and has a very well equipped shop for
electronics, metal and
woodworking. He is also a camera
expert.
This member used to be in charge of the repair shop at UCLA so can run
almost any kind of machine. Many
people have table saws and some
have metal working lathes but his garage is the only one I
know of who has all these things as well as a milling
machine and a surface grinder.
I didn't look but he may have a center-less grinder as well as a complete
photo darkroom. He can do all sorts
of miracles with his computer also.
When I was interested in
becoming a medical doctor I used to
get invited
to watch surgeries and also to spend the
night in hospitals
doing the rounds. I learned that doctors in
general are very incompetent
at using tools and know very little about anything except
medicine. Salesmen are
always trying to
take advantage of
their lack of financial skills as well
as their innocence with computers. What
I saw in a number of operating
rooms is that surgeons can be quite clumsy with tools so imagine one trying
to drill a hole in one of your bones
and insert
a screw.
Nurses
are sworn not to report any of the numerous errors they
see in the operating room.
So, if you plan to have any surgery
be sure your doctor is a skilled dissectionist
and has had lots of
successful operations. Let the new
doctors practice on someone else.
Imagine mother's getting advice from pediatri-cians who know almost
nothing about normal, healthy children and
psychiatrists who know very little about psychology.
In our club we have a medical doctor who is not only very good as a
doctor but an expert on computers and electronics. You can see from
his garage that he can do almost anything and it is much better organized than
mine.
Speaking of my garage, I too have all kinds of welding
equipment, and wood and metal working machines including three
lathes and a
milling machine. I have a complete print
shop with
an offset printing press plus folders, cutters and binding equipment to
finish books. I also have
all kinds of electronic equipment
for fixing things and rejuvenating Ni Cad batteries.
In my work career
one of my jobs was not only to design missiles
and air-planes but to test and trouble shoot the disasters, such
as when a
missile fails.
I love to work on impossible problems
which others can't seem to solve and can fix almost anything.
That may be why my psychology works so well.
In addition, I used to have
a complete darkroom set up and a
number of cameras. When I
was young I used to be the chief photographer for the school so
most of the pictures in the year book were taken with my Leica camera.
Not only do I teach and use psychology to help people I can build almost
any kind of equipment
necessary. As an inventor
it is better
when you can build your own devices while they are
still fresh in your mind. I
sell my Tootie products all over the world so
have to have all this equipment to do a good job quickly.
I still favor DOS for most of my writing for procedures for schools and
parents as it is so much
faster on my 386 25mc
computer. Wordstar
was designed to be very fast on much slower machines so on this machine it is like a jet airplane.
But when I need to do very fancy things that are tedious with Wordstar then
I use Windows. One of my very
useful programs is "Labels
Unlimited for Windows".
I use it to make fancy labels to go
on my products but it drives me crazy at times as the
excel-lent
manual does not cover its advanced features
very well. If anyone else has
Labels Unlimited please let me know.
The member that started the very popular DIG SIG has also many talents.
In the war he used to repair helicopters
and learned how
to fly them.
He is a real software expert and also
quite good with cameras. He
is now starting another SIG.
A brand new member who used to do photo reconnaissance
during the war has lots of
useful information on cameras to share with
members. He is probably good at
fixing cameras as well.
In conclusion, there is a wealth of talent in our club so take the time
to get to know others better. You'll
be delighted. In a coming
issue I will write more about batteries from the techni-cal standpoint so others
may rejuvenate their NiCads safely. In
general, stay away from Nickel
Metal Hydride batteries as they are tricky to charge, more expensive and offer few
benefits. For most
of your battery equipment like radios and flashlights,
etc try to standardize on alkaline AA cells as that is where you get the most value for your money.
(February 2000 article)