With at least 600 million computers going to the dumps in the next four years, there is a need for a huge recycling program to expand quickly.
Actually, the picture is a bit more complicated because when you take into account all of the CRTs being replaced before their time by LCD panels, the replacement rate may be even higher and all of that solder with lead in it is quite a problem. The tin solders are just now getting going.
And then there are the tons of non-computer-related devices that also have viewers and electronics also such as mundane things like electric razors.
And not much of it all is being recycled. What a waste.
When I get a computer that is ready for recycling, I remove all the screws, recover anything that might be used again–such as hard drives and memory–and finally separate electronics from metal.
For years I have offered the back of my truck as a place to drop off things. I then take a trip to the Palo Alto Recycle Center where I can separate the metals from the electronics.
There also are places that generally do what I do, but do it officially–such as Green Citizen: www.greencitizen.com. At least the above two suggestions keep the stuff out of the trash bins.
Did you know that SPAUG is drawing near to its 25th anniversary? Some of the founders are still involved in computers and some are still around. We are planning some sort of celebration for the event, but the plans are not yet advanced enough. If you are interested in furthering the plans, talk to Bev Altman.
The Microsoft program Windows Live OneCare is a one-shot review of your computer that will scan your computer for viruses, junk on your hard disk, and do a general cleanup of old unneeded files. I have been favorably impressed about the number of viruses that OneCare has found that the other manufacturers missed.
Google search: WINDOWS LIVE SAFETY CENTER and press "I'm Feeling Lucky". Do the full scan. Report by email to me how your computer survived the scan.
Hank Skawinski will be our September speaker, and he certainly is qualified to address all of your problems. In addition to maintaining over 1,000 computers in the business world, he produces computers for those same clients and will make one for you if you so desire. In addition, he supports the units he sells, complete with warranty, and if a complete reload is necessary, that can be accomplished in just a few minutes. He is the most knowledgeable person I know and has been keeping computers going for over 20 years. He is articulate about a wide range of subjects with a specialization in networking because of the environments in which he deals. Bring lots of friends to hear this dynamic speaker.
A significant advantage to doing business with Micro Center is their support area which is open to all computer users. It is somewhat like the Clinic. I could not get my dual-layer DVD to write successfully and so I took it to Micro center where, right on the spot, their technician tried to redo what I could not do - and the computer worked perfectly. I had tried Acronis, Nero and Easy DVD Creator - all to no avail. He went after Acronis and the unit performed flawlessly. The moral is: buy the house brand of the local vendors.
Recently we have had a bunch of really old (circa 1996) software dumped at the meeting. If you bring anything and it is not adopted by the end of the evening, you are obligated to take it with you at the end of the evening.
Did you know that the SPAUG website (www.pa-spaug.org) has the audio portion of the General Meeting business/Administrivia/CrossTalk/etc. before the break & presentation? This service through the courtesy and efforts of Stan Hutchings. Go to the website and see all of the other services Stan is providing.
Q: I get a Low on Memory error - using Windows Me.
A: Jim recommends go to Windows XP; Me has a known issue. If you don't upgrade, you'll have to open just one or two applications at a time.
Comment: Microsoft has issued some very critical security updates. At least one has the potential to wreak havoc on your computer and the Internet. Download, install, and reboot your computer. All nine appear in Custom and Express updates. Follow the advice to reboot after download and installation.
Q: I recently switched to Firefox; now Adobe Reader is causing crashes.
A: Current version of the Adobe Reader (14 Aug 2006) is 7.0.8 (get the current version here). Get the most recent version and re-install it.
Q: WinXP on new hard drive, BIOS recognizes it, Partition Magic to create a new partition, use Acronis True Image to load the image, but hard drive will not boot. A continuous series of beeps occurs. Another hard drive successfully works.
A: It's time to return the hard drive, unless the jumper settings were not set as Primary, or the partition was not identified as a bootable partition, or the partition was not in the right location on the drive. You could try installing it as a slave, use Admin Tools to investigate if there are any problems.
Some hardware was made available for anyone who wants it.
Comment: Windows 98 has been declared unsupported. Windows 2000 is still supported, for a while anyway; however only SP2 and later is supported. Also WinXP prior to SP2 is unsupported. The moral: make a disk image of your correctly working system, because if you have to re-install from the original CD, you may have a problem getting all the updates.
Q: Is there a Canon ink equivalent? Caboodle replacements did not work well.
A: It's possible the platen was crudded up with dried ink. Go to Jim's "Notes from the Prez" (SPAUG Newsletter July 2005 ) where he discusses this issue. HP is good for infrequent users, but is more expensive; Epson and Canon use a microplate, and if you don't use it often enough, the ink will dry and clog the nozzles. The companies make money selling replacement ink. Sometimes a new printer costs less than a set of replacement cartridges! You can buy the ink yourself, and do the refill; but you have to use it at least monthly, weekly is better. Otherwise, a lot of cleaning will be required.
Acronis backup help is requested by Ginny, the procedure is confusing, and she needs help with the step-by-step process. [N.B.- this is a good question for our December speaker, Gene Barlow. He has some really good information, some of which was published in the Newsletter]
Q: A Win2000 server is kicking off users after a certain time.
A: Try using Win2000 and WinXP Event Viewer to see what's going on. To open Event Viewer, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Event Viewer. Click on the System tab, and review for errors (a red circle with white X inside). Click a link to find out more about the specific error message. To find out more about Event Viewer, use Windows Help and enter "event viewer" in the search field. Right-click on an error and choose Properties. This might help, and if not, when you call for support the information here will help the tech support person home in on the problem. There is very extensive reporting available. Use Experts Exchange to find out what's going on if you're outside Microsoft's free support. Jim demonstrate Event Viewer on our presenter's computer.
Q: How do you defrag a Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive.
A: Just like any other drive, find it in My Computer, right click, choose Properties, open the Tools tab, and click Defragmentation. A Buffalo drive does not need to be de-fragged, it does it automatically.
Advice from Jim: There is a free online system check, a Web service designed to help ensure the health of your computer with free scanning tools that help you get rid of unwanted software. If you Google windows live safety center you'll get to it, or click this link to safety.live.com/site/en-us. There is also a comparison chart that compares Windows Defender (Beta 2) with other antispyware and antivirus technologies. Windows Defender is also a good program to run periodically. Windows Defender was reported to cause some problems on some systems, but if it has trouble, it may be a problem with your computer that is too complex for Windows Defender.
Q: Trying to connect to Sunnyvale Metro Wi-Fi wireless network, but having problems with drop-outs.
A: One problem may be signal strength. Contact Metro Wi-Fi and report the problem; they may add a repeater to support your location.
Recommendation: buy a converter that converts automotive DC power from the cigarette lighter to 120 V AC, if you want to run your laptop from the car's power rather than the battery. You can get them from Micro Center, Fry's, or online for not much money. They will power many other low-power AC devices, too.
Presentation
Maury Green introduced Andy Marken, president of Marken Communications, who talked about Removable Media Update ... Keeping, Sharing Memories Andy discussed the current state of flash, hard disk and optical media – CD, DVD and Blue Ray technology – and the future of the technologies. He also discussed issues such as data life, media interchange and compatibility, and recommended the U3 protocol for flash drives to keep your data private and secure. Andy outlined the differences in the various DVD formats in use today and their applications. In addition, he showed some of the newest hardware/software products for saving videotape and TV shows to DVD and portable players. Among the information on his website is a PDF document Converting VHS to DVD that is suggested reading if you have VHS tapes you want to preserve. Andy re-emphasized the need to back up your photos and other digital records - hard drives crash, optical media is long-lived, but is subject to damage and gradual deterioration, and flash media is easily lost or misplaced. He made several recommendations for handling and storing media, and also recommended using "name" brands (Maxell, Verbatim, TDK, and Mama) for best burning success and storage life.
Andy suggested that any old video captured to cassette should be backed up to CD or DVD as soon as possible - the magnetic media has a 5 to 10 year life. He recommends the ADS DVD Xpress DX2 (available at Amazon.com, among others) that allows converting your VHS tapes, digital or analog camcorder video to DVD and CD media. You can capture your footage to your hard drive for further manipulation, or directly to a DVD or CD disc. When capturing to your hard drive, you can do so directly to several formats with the included CapWiz application. The Hardware Encoding chip creates the highest quality video without utilizing PC resources. The external unit connects to your PC via USB 2.0 or USB 1.1. A competing product is the Plextor Corp. PX-AV100U Digital Video Converter or Plextor PX-M402U. There were door prizes from both Verbatim and ADS Tech.
Andy Marken is president of Marken Communications and has been involved in the marketing of storage technology for more than 15 years. His experience includes work with Panasonic, Verbatim, Matsushita, Plasmon, Nikon, Mitsubishi Chemical and a number of hard drive manufacturers.
Most of the presentation can be found at the Marken Communications Storage Discussions location. Stan Hutchings has an MP3 recording of Andy's presentation, if anyone is interested.
The meeting was held at Bev Altman's house; attendees: Jim Dinkey, John Sleeman, Bev Altman, John Buck, Stan Hutchings, Nat Landes, Ron Nicholas. The attendees were served refreshments.
Review of finances - Nat - we're in good shape, taking in more than is going out. Nat got $350 proceeds from the last meeting from Bev.
Membership - Bev - last meeting attendance was 49 members, 10 guests, and 2 new members joined.
Review of topic vs. attendance - Andy Marken was a big draw, and had a very interesting presentation. We'll have him back in March next year for more.
Interesting topics result in better attendance. We'll continue to try to schedule speakers with good draw. Jim will invite Nancy Blachman for January to report on Google's latest offerings. Some promising topics suggested by Jim, Nat and John Buck include Hardware (Hank may well address this next month), OpenOffice.org, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Users (if we have a significant number interested and can find an appropriate speaker), Database capabilities, Linux, Spreadsheet capabilities, Blogs and Blogging, Wi-Fi, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS). The club membership should be polled to suggest vivacious, lively, knowledgeable speakers if they know of any. Perhaps instructors from the local colleges, junior colleges, adult high school programs, etc. could be invited.
Mail - John Sleeman - nothing of interest
PrintScreen - John Buck - progressing on schedule. Jim asked about reducing "boilerplate" to allow more General and Planning Meeting notes, but most of the notes are presented, and readers are advised to visit the website for the full text if they are interested. This would have an additional benefit of encouraging members to access the website, where they have access to "hot" links to information, and they can investigate other website features.
Setup/Cleanup support - thanks, Joan. We enjoyed the coffee and cookies. Is there a way to make sign-in faster and more efficient? Bev will try to get the line started a little earlier. Perhaps two lines, one for guests and one for members; or alphabet lines (guests, A-H, I-Z or something similar). Another question is how to best allow members to choose the door prize they'd like. It might be good to hold off until the prizes are identified and described, so people can make informed choices (and have a chance to buy extra tickets, if they want).
WebSIG activities and schedules - next Tuesday 7:30 at Stan's, continueing the investigation of Audacity. John Buck has some suggestions for the website.
Publicity - Richard Sweet (by email report) - notices that were published for the Aug 9 meeting: Back Fence - www.backfence.com; Palo Alto/events posted ~Aug 3 (by Jim Dinkey); Palo Alto Master Community Calendar web site (Palo Alto Master Community Calendar web site) posted ~July 28; Palo Alto Weekly Goings On Aug 4; Los Altos Town Crier Datebook Aug 2 and Aug 9; San Jose Mercury Monday Calendar/Business/Tech Events Aug 7
Status of SPAUG CD - Ron Nicholas - SIG members are now Ron and Bill Worthington. Ron will ask Robert Mitchell to help out with the burning and label application production. Jim would like to have a disk ready by the 8 November meeting; Ron will have trouble meeting that date without help due to his out-of-town schedule in October. We'll need to get a group together soon to do the work.
Clinic activities and changes - the Saturday Clinic will be offered by pre-arranged appointment only.
Other individual reports and suggestions -
Other items that came before the Committee -
John Buck proposed a celebration of SPAUG's 25 year anniversary. Some kind of party after the elections in November to celebrate the new slate, and thank the out-going officers. Perhaps we can find some previous officers, like we did for the 20 year anniversary. Also, perhaps we could offer a special 25 year renewal special for $25, and offer new members $35 for one year, or $60 for two years. There was general agreement this would be good, although details need to be worked out.
