The Webmaster will provide links to files or sites of potential interest to SPAUG members, which are suggested by other members. Just connect to the web and click on the hyperlinks. If that does not work, copy the links into your browser URL address field and press enter.
If any of you members have suggestions, they would be more than welcome - . Share your favorite sites with other SPAUG members.
Most of us SPAUG members can appreciate the sentiments in the Parents Wish Slideshow. Some of us may want to pass it on to our children, others will find it helpful in understanding their parents.
Submitted by Anna & Wilton Atkinson, Stan Hutchings' parents
A video showing Astronaut Don Pettit playing with floating orbs of water in the International Space Station.. Turn on sound for a narrative, or turn off sound to just enjoy the show.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
An eWeek Editors Pick: Ten Search Engines You've Never Heard of (And Can't Live Without). For example, this site lets you search for song lyrics and videos. This site lets you perform a free people search (extra information can be had for a price, and you'll see several pop-ups). This site lets you search a catalog of 2.0 search tools on the Web. Some of the other seven may be useful to some - check them out.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
When you start using Windows Vista, read this article by Dr. Jesper M. Johansson of Microsoft's TechNet to better appreciate the UA: The Long-Term Impact of User Account Control. You may be tempted to disable UAC, but that might not be a good idea. A more technical discussion by is at PsExec, User Account Control and Security Boundaries by Mark Russinovich.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
Read the article, “Three cheers for portable Thunderbird” by Michael Horowitz. He says, "Thunderbird is the best e-mail program for Windows users, and the portable version is the best version of Thunderbird." By “portable” he means fully self-contained in one folder. Great for use on multiple computers, very easy to back up all you contacts, messages, configuration, account information, etc.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
In this roundup:
Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard -Acrobat still rules the portable-document world, with more PDF features than ever.
BullZip PDF Creator - Freeware PDF creator is simple enough for casual use but also suitable for corporate-style automation.
deskPDF Professional - Basic-featured PDF creation, suitable for home use and small businesses.
PDF Converter Professional 4 - This app has superior OCR and export features to Acrobat.
Read the article and comparisons at Intro to PDFs at PC Magazine
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
Got a new computer with Vista installed, but want or need WinXP? Read the Micro Center article that explains how, "In The Lab
Multi-booting - The Hard Way. (the "Hard Way" refers to Vista installed first; the "Easy Way" is if WinXP is installed first).
You can sign up here for the Micro Center Random Access, their tech e-newsletter.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
Visit the new Ziff-Davis Enterprise Knowledge Centers for Storage and Security.
The new sites focus on how-to content culled from extensive interviews with leading storage and security experts. eWeek Knowledge Center.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings
"While you're writing formulas in Excel, you can refer to cell ranges not only by hard-to-read row and column numbers and letters but by label. So instead of totaling a column using =SUM(B2:B5), you can write the formula =SUM('Widgets Cranked'). This is a nice feature in Apple's new spreadsheet application Numbers '08, and it's available in Excel as well, but may not turned on by default. To enable it, in the Tools - Options dialog, Calculation tab, check "Accept labels in formulas." Google search for Excel tips
-- Reported in lifehacker.com Excel tips and tricks roundup -- John Buck
Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors): xkcd.com. An example, a lesson on the Electromagnetic Spectrum.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings from a suggestion by the Nanotechnology Study Group
For those of you interested in astronomy, truly out-of-this-world views have been added to Google Earth's interactive map. read the article at c|net's News.com. The Users Guide to Galaxies will take you on a tour beyond the immediate planetary system to places in the Milky Way; there's also information on the phases of the Earth's moon and the life of a star, in addition to about 120 high-resolution images from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Submitted by Stan Hutchings