SPAUG Newsletter November 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Notes from the Prez
by Jim Dinkey
From the computers that come into the Clinic, the SPAUG members are miles ahead of the general home populace in the area of general maintenance and malware control.
Further, the penetration of the usage of FireFox of about 50% in the SPAUG membership portends a much more sophisticated approach to computers than the about 15% penetration by the general populace.
When a SPAUG computer comes in there often is in place the Antiviral, Adaware, Spybot, and often additional support programs. It is invariably in better shape.
The "outside" computers often have been used but not maintained and often they are an inoperable mess. Often the reinstallation of SP2 is required to get them going again after the malware has had its way-else a total reinstall is in order. Hanging onto the data and getting access to the data is always a priority. Usually a new hard drive is purchased so the old drive can be accessed for the data. When all is over, the old drive is used for a backup, often its first.
Even though your computer is probably in good repair, it can be brought to its knees by updating your computer with software that is not ready for the marketplace or that is just plain buggy.
The current item of questionable software is Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7.0.
The saga behind that product is that, while it has been through some beta testing, Microsoft has released IE7 on a lottery basis, to be presented and installed as "critical" software—yet it is clearly not ready for such distribution.
To summarize: It is my recommendation that you NOT install nor allow IE7 to install onto your computer. Rather than having just a few problems over a room full of computers, ALL of the computers seem to have some problems - some of them critical. BE SURE TO TURN OFF AUTO UPDATE!
First of all, it is NOT critical. Microsoft would like you to think so, but you can do just fine with Internet Explorer 6.2 and have done so for years.
Internet Explorer 7.0 has engendered a few lawsuits because the IE7 has turned computers into software junk which has to be cleaned up.
Officially getting rid of IE7 is as simple as going to CONTROL PANEL/ADD REMOVE and deleting IE7. The problem is that any special adjustments that you made insside IE7 will be reverted back onto IE6 which often is not what you intended. It is true that getting rid of IE7 will uncover a saved copy of IE6 and most of the personalizations will be reverted. Interesting that Microsoft knew that they might have problems to provide such a capability. I don't know of any other program handled in this manner.
Also keep in mind that update problems are a no-charge warranty item with Microsoft and thus support should not cost you anything but time.
Reinstalling SP2 is also an option.
I can understand the Microsoft decision to allow the loading of IE7 on a random basis if for no other reason than to spread the load on the servers and also the load on the personnel that are needed to support large numbers of computers. You can't tell me that Microsoft didn't know from its early testing that there were lots of configurations and interactions from non-Microsoft products that were known to give problems.
The interaction failures are turning out to not be a small percentage of. of the total population of computers, but it doesn't change the fact that these are the very computers that are being trooped into Hank's computer fixit shop. Because some of them are having problems, they ALL are brought to Hank for repair and the result is that he sees a tremendous glut out of a growing percentage of corrupted computers.
As one IT professional for a 500 computer company said, "I would rather clean up three out of 500 computers rather than not have Automatic Update on and have to handle 497 additional update calls. This seemed to be true before, but now you have to watch the approaching rushing train!"
Your assignment, should you accept it, is to report to me how YOUR computer did and your experiences with larger groups of computers.
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by Stan Hutchings
Administrivia
- Elections took place. The current slate stood for re-election. A motion was made and seconded to accept the slate by acclamation, and there was no dissent. The current Board will serve for another year.
• Presiden - Jim Dinkey;
• Treasurer - Nat Landes;
• Membership - Bev Altman;
• Vice President and Mail - John Sleeman;
• PrintScreen editing and publication - Susan Mueller and John Buck;
• Setup and refreshments - Joan Wheelwright;
• Webmaster WebSIG leader - Stan Hutchings;
• Recording Secretary and DISIG - Maury Green;
• Publicity - Gene Duncan (taking over from Richard Sweet, who is resigning).
- Stan Hutchings, John Buck and John Sleeman were awarded honorariums by the Old Crows for work they did on the Crows' website.
CrossTalk/Random Access
- Jim recommends everyone use Belarc Advisor to record their computer's information. This makes recovery and troubleshooting much easier.
- Jim suggested it is a good idea to run disk cleanup periodically, especially before doing a backup, bucause it is mostly data you don't need any more. From My Computer, right-click on a drive, click Properties, and click the Disk Cleanup button. First the drive is examined to find what can be gotten rid of, Then it proposes which files can go. You can check or uncheck the boxes to your preference, but Jim recommends unchecking the indexing option. Then you go, and confirm.
- Jim demonstrated a good way to do backups with Acronis. The procedure is simple and straightforward, and all members are encouraged to do it regularly. There are tutorials on Gene Barlow's User Group Relations website.
- Problems removing Norton AV were discussed. Sometimes after using the downloaded Norton remover, re-installing WinXP SP2 will clear up problems; otherwise, you may have to reformat and reinstall everything. AVG and Trend Micro were recommended as good reliable antivirus products instead of Norton or McAfee.
- The question of upgrading from dialup to broadband was discussed. First, investigate your options: cable, DSL, satellite, Wi-Fi, etc. Then find the best price for what you need.
- There was a discussion of an Excel file that got corrupted only when it was saved to a CD. It's a real puzzler; something will probably hae to be reloaded; the question is what.
- Maury mentioned the new Firefox is available. It has some nice features, including a tabbed window function. He also announced the SVCS upcoming meetings, and invited SPAUG members to attend.
Presentation - Gene Barlow of UGR
- Gene Barlow of User Group Relations updated us on Getting Ready for Windows Vista.
Microsoft recently released their new Windows Vista operating system. This is a major new version of Windows and the first such release in over 5 years. Hundreds of exciting new features are included in this latest release of Windows. It is possibly the most powerful and easy to use Windows system ever released by Microsoft since Windows 95 was introduced over ten years ago. The problem all of us must face is how to migrate our current Windows XP systems to Windows Vista. Important factors to consider are how to do this with the least amount of effort involved. Also, we must make sure our current running Windows XP system is not destroyed in the process.
Gene showed us the best way to start to use Windows Vista while still using and safeguarding our stable Windows XP operating system. This was not a presentation on the features of Windows Vista, but important computer hard drive approaches that will make going to Windows Vista much safer and easier. Gene is an expert on operating systems and hard drive organization approaches. An accomplished presenter, he made complex topics understood by everyone, with his crisp and down to earth presentation style. We came away with a much better understanding how to be prepared to use Windows Vista on our computer.
Since most of the presentation is online at User Group Relations Newsletters and Presentations (coming soon), the program will not be repeated here.
He offered the software for sale at the meeting, and had a couple of the programs for the door prize. By the way, if you ought Acronis, be sure to investigate the BartPE plug-in Bart Preinstallation Environment), software that allows you to boot into a Windows-like environment from a CD. Acronis True Image plug-in for BartPE is available for free for all registered customers of Acronis True Image.
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Planning Meeting Notes
by Stan Hutchings
- The meeting was held at Bev Altman's house; attendees: Jim Dinkey, John Sleeman, Bev Altman, John Buck, Stan Hutchings, Richard Sweet, . The attendees enjoyed the refreshments served.
- Membership - Bev - we're doing fine
- Review of topic vs. attendance -
Interesting topics and speakers result in better attendance. We'll continue to try to schedule topics and speakers with good draw.
Some promising topics include: Hardware, 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 advanced features of Outlook (Nat Landes has someone in mind). The club membership should be regularly polled to suggest vivacious, lively, knowledgeable speakers they know of. Perhaps instructors from the local colleges, junior colleges, adult high school programs, etc. could be invited.
- Mail - John Sleeman - two checks for Bev, but that's all.
- PrintScreen - John Buck - going OK.
- Setup/Cleanup support - no complaints, although it is a chore. It would be nice to have a little more help. A sentry by the car would be a good idea to guard the stuff until Jim gets out.
- WebSIG activities and schedules - next Tuesday 7:30 at Stan's
- Publicity - Richard Sweet - Jim got four items from Richard. Richard forwarded the info he received to our media. Palo Alto Daily News is difficult to get into, and difficult to find. Mercury News has changed; no Tech Event this past month. The transfer to Gene is slow; Richard has worked with Gene to transfer the knowledge. He still needs to do it by himself. We may need a backup, Bev suggested Ginny Marley as a co-publicity person,
- Status of SPAUG CD - we need to get it going again - Bev will send a volunteer's name to Jim. Jim is considering Bill Worthington.
- Future speakers & potential pre-meeting dinner locations:
Link to Up-coming General meetings (NOTE: subject to change)
- Clinic activities and changes - the Saturday Clinic will be offered by pre-arranged appointment only.
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