 |
The Bug Report |
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
The Bug Report |
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
THE BUG REPORT
A monthly publication of
GS-BUG Inc. (c) copyright 1996.
Reproduction of any material herein by any
means is expressly prohibited unless written permission is granted. Exception:
Articles may be reprinted by other users groups in unaltered form if credit
is given to the author and the original publication.
STAFF
Editor - Kay Burton
 |
PERSPECTIVES
By Dr. John Hanson |
Topics for July
1. Going Wireless
2. Used Notebook Source
3. Large Monitors for Cheap
4. Multimedia Group
5. Photoshop helps poor focus
6. Ink Jet T-shirt Transfers
7. Digital Images in Power Point
8. Keychain Memory Prices Down
9. Lithium Ion Batteries
10. Free Money at Frys
11. WalMart’s $300 Computer
12. Video Professor TV Ads
13. Overclocking your Computer
14. Printing Problems
1. Going Wireless: I don’t know
how reliable it is so far but I tend to be skeptical of new technologies
that are not standardized but Carl Warner is getting amazing results.
The wired version of a network is so easy and so reliable why go wireless.
One disadvantage of going wireless is that it is very easy for anyone to
steal your identity with a few hundred dollars of equipment. All
they need to do is drive down your street until their computer beeps indicating
they have locked on to a wireless network. Then they can observe
and record everything you do on your computer such as name, address, phone,
date of birth, credit card numbers, bank account and possibly even your
social security number. Imagine what might happen with the theft
of your identity. You probably know that when someone steals your
identity you are powerless. Even if you track down who they are and
where they live and tell the police they still won’t do anything.
It was the same when I had drug dealers as tenants. The cops not
only didn’t help but then threatened to arrest me if I didn’t evict them.
Imagine trying to evict gun toting drug dealers. Government seems
to have no control over gangs. No wonder there are so many home invasions.
2. Used Notebook Source: I discovered
a new vendor I hadn’t seen before and would you believe they are right
in Torrance so you can try out any of their notebooks in comfort.
I was impressed with what they had to offer. Imagine an IBM P200
with a CDrom drive and a floppy for only $250 even if the screen is only
12 inches. Whenever possible, avoid Gateway, HP, and Compaq notebooks.
Be sure to test it thoroly when you get home with Burn In or a similar
program in System Suite. The warranty is only 30 days but the costs
are so low the risk is worthwhile if you are knowledgeable. As I
have mentioned before the weak spot in notebooks is the battery so test
it before you leave the store as it is sold As Is. In addition, they
have a repair facility if your notebook develops a problem later.
The name of the company is Simora Trading and their phone is 310-328-1999.
Their address is 2808 Oregon Ct. Suite L10 in Torrance but call first to
make an appointment as it’s a warehouse. Ask for Juan Fernandez or
Mark and mention you heard about them in the GSBug Newsletter. When possible
get a Lithium Ion battery as these are the best. Check out their web site
at SimoraTrading.com. You may remember another good place is Connect
Comp in Anaheim. Ask for Jose or Ray at 714-632-5585 and mention
my name. I bought two identical Dell Latitudes there about two years
ago and they still work fine. When possible be sure to get a TFT
screen of at least 14 inches. See ConnectComp.com
3. Large Monitors for Cheap: In
the May issue I suggested that Jen Len Monitors in Santa Fe Springs was
a good place to get a large monitor for almost nothing. Not only
is it guaranteed for a long time (3 months) the lady owner, Jen, is a very
nice person to deal with. Somehow I goofed on the area code but if
you tried you probably figured out that 561 was really 562 for that area.
The correct number is 562-483-1194. Tell her you saw her number in
GSBug Newsletter. If you are heavy into Photoshop you get the best
colors with a CRT monitor like the ones she has. These were very
expensive when made so it is unlikely any corners were cut.
4. Multimedia Group: At a computer
show I met a fascinating, lovely teacher representing the Orange County
Multimedia Group. It might be worthwhile for you at least once if
you are into multimedia and want to make a CD or DVD with music and video,
etc. Call Renee Levine at 949-654-1996 and ask for a free guest pass.
They meet every 3rd Tuesday of the month starting at 6:00 with refreshments.
The meeting is near the civic center in Anaheim. Check out her web
site at
OCMMA.org
5. Photoshop Helps Poor Focus:
In the June 2003 issue of Exploring Digital Photography on page 5 is an
informative article on how to salvage blurry images with advanced sharpening
techniques. All the members of the Photoshop SIG probably already
know this but for the others here in a nutshell is the gist of the article.
You first remove the color information with Lab Color which is in
Image, Mode, Lab Color and open the Channels in Window, Show Channels.
Click on the Lightness channel and then apply Unsharp Mask. Use the
preview window to see how it looks. Later you put the color back
in. Even for simple sharpening tasks Lab Color is the way to go.
Ask any of our many Photoshop experts for details. Check out the
magazine’s web site at ElementKjournals.com
6. Ink Jet T-shirt Transfers:
On page 11 of the same issue is an excellent article on how to get good
results with ink jet transfers. I bought some ink jet transfer paper
once but never got around to using it. I didn’t realize there are
two types of such paper, one for dark shirts and one for light shirts.
Another important consideration is to use the right amount of ink and it’s
very important not to use your ironing board as it is too soft. Use
a hard, smooth surface when ironing on the transfer.
7. Digital Images in Power Point:
The magazine points out that it is essential to resize your images first
to the exact size desired. To be able to resize and use the desired
72 dpi be sure to turn on resample image and select bicubic. Naturally
you will want to constrain the proportions also.
8. Key chain Memory Prices Down:
At a recent computer show the price has come down to only 25 cents per
megabyte for a 256 mb USB device. But unless you need that tiny portability
I think the Compact Flash or Smart Media is best with a shirt pocket card
reader. But Carl Warner likes the small ones and he is very knowledgeable.
9. Lithium Ion Batteries: If you
are the curious type and know how to be careful, open up a Lithium Ion
battery case and you will be amazed at the complex circuits inside.
Don’t take an ordinary 3 volt lithium battery apart but only the rechargeable
type, which is usually 3.6 volts. A short could cause an explosion
so wear safety glasses and be extra careful. Because of that most
vendors won’t sell lithium ion batteries, except to OEM companies but you
can buy them at a swap meet. I bought some for a Nokia phone but
not for my phone as I plan to use them for other things. On mine
there was a tiny IC chip with 8 leads and a whole bunch of other tiny surface
mount parts. Way too complex to try to analyze. But once open
it is easier to test it’s various safety features and how much current
it will put out. If you bypass the safety features it will put out
much more current for short periods but don’t let it overheat. I
met a vendor at the swap meet who obviously knew much more about lithium
ion batteries than I as he uses them in his work. So now I need to
reconsider some of my beliefs and do more research. Remember to never
go above 4.200 volts per cell when charging and limit the charge current,
depending on the size of the battery. Texas Instruments and several
others now have ICs designed to charge one and two cell batteries and the
cost is under two or three dollars at Digi-Key. It’s hard to find
in their catalog so use their web site and look for battery management
ICs.
10. Free Money at Frys: Did you know
that Frys can change their prices two times a day? My son lives fairly
close so it’s easy to visit there often. He saves his receipts carefully
and when he sees a price go down he asks for a refund. He has recently
collected about $300 by being a careful shopper and being aware how Frys
adjusts its prices. In a recent issue I mentioned a good buy for
a UPS of 585 watts for only $30. Every time I have been at Frys since
then I have noticed very different prices. In my case the price was
$10 or $20 higher so if you bought one at higher price and then observed
a lower price go ask for a refund of the difference.
You are probably
aware that many stores change prices frequently, especially supermarkets.
I always carry a permanent marker to write the price in an inconspicuous
place on the can or package and complain to the manager when it is much
higher and then he gives it to me free. They don’t want other customers
to find out about this trick. Even Costco uses some of these tricks
so be careful, especially with rebates. Computers are wonderful
devices to take advantage of the unwary public. Remember the old
days when many stores were honest. The Enron mentality starts with
our universities and seems to pervade everything. Everyone can be
crooked, even judges and congressmen. I hope you attended last month’s
meeting where our talented president, Doc Sexton, pointed out with great
humor how you have to be careful in believing medical studies and has made
up a list of the most useful web sites for medical information.
11. WalMart’s $300 Computer: You are
still much better off at Advanced Computer for the same money. On
page 7 of the July Consumer Reports doesn’t think WalMart’s is worthwhile.
Consumer Reports is excellent in medical things and statistics but their
engineers have always been lacking so be very careful of positive reviews
but in this case of a negative review you can believe them.
12. Video Professor TV Ads: Have
any members tried this so called free training CD? Even tho John
Sher seems like a nice old man I am a little suspicious. Please let
me know if you have tried and let me know if you think the disks are worthwhile.
13. Overclocking your Computer: It is
potentially dangerous to speed up your computer by pushing the processor
and the mobo.
Nevertheless there is a very interesting,
long article on how to do it beginning on page 26 of the July Maximum PC.
It is interesting how the manufacturers rate their processor chip speeds
and how some vendors might erase the label and modify the label to indicate
a higher speed so they can sell it for more. When buying a computer
it might help to know which speeds to avoid for each manufacturer.
14. Printing Problems: Almost everyone
has printing problems at times. My inkjet Epson 880 is quite reliable
except when it likes to feed blank sheets. The HP4 and HP4+ are one
of most reliable laser printers and can easily print a tenth of a million
copies but with time the rubber on the top rollers harden and need to be
cleaned which can be difficult for most people. Emmett Ingram, Virginia
Pfiffner and I all bought HP-4’s many years ago and they still work.
We paid about $1300 and today you can buy them for about $99 plus the toner
for $26. Be sure to run a test sheet and get one with a low copy
count such as under 80,000 copies. They are widely used everywhere
because of their reliability. Then HP came out with another model
to replace the HP4 and I saw about 50 being used at a big convention and
it was a disaster. Most of them were having problems.
Do you know that
in Dos you can print a file by typing “Type filename > prn? First
do it without the prn and it comes out on the screen. Then add the
prn to have it come out on the printer. Recently I was trying to
print out a Readme file and it stopped after half way. I couldn’t
understand why so I decided to try John Haluska’s marvelous TE program
and it printed everything. He is one of our sharpest members and
programmers. My favorites of his programs are this Tiny Editor and
Directory Report, both available from Bob Hudak, the club librarian.
Editor’s Note:
John Hanson is the inventor of Tooties, a superb self-teaching
system used by millions in schools, homes, and by eye doctors around
the world to improve vision. He also invented a new form of
psychology called QET (Quick Effective Therapy) which
transforms poor students into good students, almost overnight,
usually in 5 to 15 days. He has also had
outstanding success in helping brain damaged people, even years after
their accident. Why go to therapy for years and spend lots
of money when you can improve quite fast with QET? He
uses computers to document his cases for his books so that
others may benefit and improve their vision and other
skills. Visit his web site at www.tooties.com
for more information
 |
 |
 |
INTERNET
TALK
By Frank Chao |
This is the fifty ninth newsletter that has
been created by our editor Kay Burton and this is 59th “Internet Talk”
article that has been written by yours truly.
Kay usually compiles the newsletter on the
first Saturday following the 20th of each month so let her know if you
want to contribute an article or help in some other way. Her e-mail address
is: orchidkay@earthlink.net
E-MAIL ADDRESSES
Speaking of e-mail addresses, they are totally
case-insensitive: If you send e-mail to: fchao@pacbell.net
or
FCHAO@PACBELL.NET or
fChAo@pACbELL.nEt
your e-mail message
will get to me, without any problems.
However, to keep your address box in your
e-mail system simple, I recommend that you put in all e-mail addresses
with lower case letters only, since capital letters require more human
caloric energy to type. Also, when given a choice, chose the
simplest, shortest-possible e-mail address. It is easier for people to
remember. Also, when given a choice, chose the simplest, shortest-possible
e-mail address. It is easier for people to remember
fchao@pacbell.net
than frank_william_the_third_and_junior_chao@pacbell.net.
I made the latter address up but you get the point. Longer e-mail addresses
are harder for people to remember and increase the chances that they will
type them wrong.
“ACCESS-4-FREE” INTERNET SERVICE
“Access-4-Free” is a low-cost, dial-up Internet
Service Provider. They have two phone numbers in El Segundo which should
be local phone numbers for most GSBUG members. (As usual, you should check
with the customer service folks at your local phone company to make sure
that the number that your modem dials is a local call for your phone).
Unlike the free versions of Netzero and Juno Web, dialup connections with
Access-4-Free do not have an advertising bar. Unless you enjoy seeing ads,
this is a good thing. “Access-4-Free” has two rate plans:
“Access 4 Free” and “Access 4 Free Plus - Unlimited”.
The “Access 4 Free” rate plan provides you with 10 free hours for each
calendar month.
If you are on this rate plan and you use their
service for less than 10 hours in a given calendar month, there will not
be a charge to your credit card. If use their service for more
than 10 hours in a calendar month, then they will charge you $10 for each
hour in excess of 10. The maximum that they will charge you in a given
calendar month is $10. In other words, when you start your 20th hour of
dialup Internet access, you will have been charged $10 but no additional
charges will occur. The “Access 4 Free Plus - Unlimited”
rate plan charges you $9.95 per calendar month for unlimited dial-up Internet
access. To learn more about either of their rate plans, go
to: http://www.access-4-free.com
This Internet Service Provider (ISP) might be just right for you,
if you are currently using the free versions of Netzero or Juno but max
out the 10 free hours that each of these services gives you, during each
calendar month.
FREE INTERNET ACCESS STRATEGY
You might also consider using Access-4-free
for just the 10 free hours of Internet access each month. If you
then get 10 free hours from Netzero’s free version and 10 free hours
from Juno Web’s free version, you would end up with 30 free hours of Internet
access each calendar month. Your Internet access strategy might be
as follows: At the start of each calendar month, use Netzero’s
free version to make dial-up connections to the Internet, because
1) Their Internet access is probably more
reliable that Juno’s
and
2) When you use up all 10 hours, they will
not start charging you.
In some months and if you are a very light
user of the Internet, these first 10 hours might be all you need. However,
if you still need more time to connect to the Internet, you start using
the free version of Juno Web, since
1) When you use up all 10 hours, they will
not start charging you
In some months, you might be able to get by
with the 20 total free hours that Netzero’s free version and Juno’s free
version, combined together, give you. However, if you still need
more time on the Internet, you would then start using the “Access 4 Free”
version of Access-4-Free. With them, you would get 10 free hours
of dialup Internet connectivity. If you then go into the 11th free hour
with them, they would start billing your credit card for 1 dollar
for each hour. If you then used up 10 of these billable hours, they
would then stop billing you for any additional hours.
The bottom line is that you were connected
via dialup modem to the Internet for more than 30 hours, you would end
up paying 10 dollars to Access-4-Free. But, using the above scheme, you
would only do so during calendar months when you would connected via modem
for more than 30 hours.
As usual, you might think that the above is
too complicated and sign up for a cable modem or DSL connection for Internet
access at 100+ times faster than a dialup connection.
REMOVING SPYWARE
Definitions and other information about “spyware”
can be found at
http://grc.com/optout.htm
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3513_7-5023872-1.html?legacy=cnet
http://www.simplythebest.net/info/spyware.html
http://www.pchell.com/support/spyware.shtml
http://w10.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,78052,00.asp
Dozens of removal tools are now available for expunging spyware from your computer. Kostek Haussman recommends that you use one of the following detection and removal tools: Lavasoft’s “Ad-Aware” can be found at:-
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
http://beam.to/spybotsd
A donation is requested but not required for download. I have personally used both of these software utilities and highly recommend both of them. Some specific instructions for removing various items of spyware can be found at: http://www.pchell.com/support/spyware.shtml
WAYS TO CONTACT ME:
If you have any questions
or problems, I can be contacted by the following methods:
1 . Send me e-mail at:
fchao@pacbell.net
2. Leave me a
voice message at
(310)768-3896.
3. Send “snail”
U.S. Postal Service mail to
Frank Chao
PO Box 6930
Torrance, CA 90504-0030.
Or sell your computer
and take up golf instead !!
|
|
 |
SOFTWARE
LIBRARY NEWS
By BOB HUDAK |
I put a CD that has the latest copy of Adobe
Reader 6.0. A help file that is 113 pages in PDF format to answer
all the fine points about Adobe Reader 6.0. Also a copy of Internet
plorer 6.0.
Here is the background info.
The new Adobe Reader replaces Acrobat Reader. It has new features
and a new look. It is a pretty big download that you need to think
about before trying. Better to pick up one of the CDs
from the GSBUG library. It works with the Windows 98se, ME, XP, 2000
Professional with service pack 2, NT 4.0 with service pack 6 . You
also need Internet Explorer 5.01, 5.5, 6.0, or 6.1. I
tried to install on system with IE5.0, but the program looks at what you
have and tells you to come back when you upgrade to the necessary software.
It installs without a problem. Before it installs it “Recourses”
the program. Whatever that means. This takes longer than
to instal but the whole process is only five minutes or less. I did
not time it. It does a lot more then just to read PDF files.
Be one of the first on the block to have it. It reads all the older
formats, but the older Readers might not read a document put together with
the new Adobe Acrobat 6.0 program. So be prepared.
If you are using the dhere program to check
your machine for spear, you probably will find a cookie by Doubleclick
on your machine each time. There is a way to opt out of that situation.
Go to: www.doubleclick.com/us/corporate/privacy/ad-cookie/
One click at the bottom will do the trick. BUT pay attention when
it tells you whick cookie NOT to delete. I am not sure if everyone
gets the same cookie or not. Mine was:id=opt_out. Working so
far.
Last month I asked you to call me or email
me if you would like to help other members with programs you know how to
setup and run to help them with problems they encounter. I am still
waiting for the first call. I guess that was not an idea that is going
to go over. What new SIGs would you like to have? How to use
your CD-RW? How to fill printer cartridges workkshop? How to use
a scanner workshop? How to use a digital camera, from shooting, downloading,
to computer and tweaking before printing? “Who would like to be a
SIG leader for any new SIG? If you know it all, you would be a perfect
SIG leader. Talk to Gary Sexton on what day or night you would like
to have a meeting place for your new SIG. I will sign off now till
next issue of the Bug Report.
|
|