Hunterdon Computer Club

Lon Hosford, President of the HCC, opened the meeting with two items of new business.   

• Bill Smyth of Flemington, NJ, came to the club meeting to ask for support for his new proposal.  He submitted a proposal to the National Coordinator of Information Technology with a plan to use a person’s zip code to obtain that person’s emergency room hospital records from anywhere in the world.  This would greatly benefit travelers or others around the country or internationally when help is needed.  Anyone who wishes to support this effort should contact Bill at bill.smyth@patmedia.net.
• In September the club will mark its 20^th anniversary.  In celebration, club members and former members are invited to breakfast at Perkins Restaurant on Rt. 202, Flemington.  No presentation will be given after breakfast, but some activities are planned.  Please RSVP to John Warsinski at john@thecomputerfox.com.
• The facility where our meetings are held has begun blocking access to certain websites which will hamper presenters from using those websites as part of their presentations.  The club will have to investigate to find solutions to this problem.

Q&A
Q:  I thought Vista would be able to access any USB memory stick/flash drive as additional memory, but that has not worked.

A:  Ready Boost needs to be authorized in order to use it.  A Vista window will pop up with a list of options.  The Ready Boost option needs to be selected in order for Vista to use the USB memory stick/flash drive as extra memory.

Q:  While searching on Google, an ad popped up that blocked the entire screen and prevented access to any controls to close the ad or even close the computer.

A:  New features are constantly being added to browsers to block those pop up ads from appearing.  In Firefox, under “Properties/Privacy”, check off “No pop ups”.  You must have Firefox 3 for this to work.  In Internet Explorer, under “Internet Options/Security”, the security level can be adjusted for higher security to stop pop ups.

Q:  I forgot my Vista administrator password.  I had the ISO boot disk which had a utility to recover the password which saved the situation.

A:  Be sure to write down all passwords.  If you are a home user, you may want to use the same password for all sites when the password meets the criteria of the site; for example, the number of characters required or whether numbers must be included.  You may also want to consider using the same answers to all security questions too to keep things uncomplicated.

Q:  I’ve been trying to locate the address of someone in another country.  Can I do so through the Internet?

A:  On the Internet, access the local white pages in the phone book from that country.

Presentation:  Your PC on a USB –  Peter Czerwinski

Peter Czerwinski gave a great presentation on how to use something as simple and inexpensive as a USB flash drive (also called a thumb drive) when traveling to access the Internet and use your favorite software and files.  It is easy to set up and carry the USB flash drive in your pocket or purse while away from home to use on another computer. 

Most people just use their USB flash drive for storing information or pictures, but you can do a lot more than that.  The new USB flash drives are now fast enough to run programs for your computer through portable apps (portable applications).  For example, Firefox comes in a portable apps version.  When portable apps are copied to your USB flash drive, it is easy to carry it with you and plug it into an available computer and have access to all the programs you regularly use.  Nothing is left on the host computer when you close down all the programs and remove the USB flash drive from the host computer. 

If there is another version of the same software on the host computer you are using, you will have to close down the other version before you can use your portable apps version.

The input/output capability of the newest USB flash drives is fairly fast, but you are sacrificing some speed for portable convenience.  The slower speed is noticeable when first starting on the computer, but it is not noticeable when you continue working.  Your home computer does not need to be on when using portable apps and either Vista or XP can be used.

When purchasing a new USB flash drive for this purpose, buy at least a 15 mbps (megabits per second) to read and 25 mbps to write.  Make sure the drive you buy specifies USB 2.0 or higher speed.  A recommended brand is SanDisk U3.

To get the portable apps, go to www.portableapps.com   for open source apps.  Also go to www.youtube.com and search for portable apps videos for more detailed information.  More information is also available by reading the article “Carry a PC in your Pocket”, in the February, 2008, issue of PC World on the Internet at  www.pcworld.com .

In order to get the portable apps onto your USB flash drive, go to www.portableapps.com and download the suite of portable apps from the Internet onto your home computer.  When you access it on your computer, it will ask where you want to download it to.  Insert your USB flash drive into your home computer and download the portable apps onto your USB flash drive.  A variety of portable apps are available on the menu, such as an Internet browser and word processor, and more can be downloaded as needed.

After using the USB flash drive with your portable apps on another computer, be sure to shut down each program before removing the USB flash drive from the computer. 

Problems to consider –

• Sometimes libraries may have blocked usage of the USB port on their computers.  Solution:  Go to another library or an Internet café.
• It is not easy to sync the USB flash drive with your home computer.

Peter completed his excellent presentation by showing the club a video he made of his vacation using ProShow Gold.

The HCC meeting began with Lon Hosford, President, opening a discussion of New Club Business. The club members were concerned primarily with how well the club monitors blog commentary coming through the club’s Group’s mail box on Yahoo.

Lon said that the commentary is open, but members should not send anything political, religious, sexual, or otherwise inappropriate to the club’s email list. Monitoring can be done by having all emails going to a club monitor who will have to approve it before it is released to the club members. Monitoring of email messages will be instituted if any inappropriate emails are received in the future.

Moving on, Lon read an article on a proposed crack down on the use of broadband. In summary, it stated that Internet users may have to pay for their high use of broadband. Some Internet providers are trying to restrain usage with tier pricing. Because of individuals high use of broadband, it is slowing down the Internet. In order to restrain broadband usage, Internet providers, such as Comcast and others, are contemplating a usage payment plan.

Q&A

Q: How does the protocol work on the Internet so that the packet gets marked to show when it is forwarded to the next node?

A: Warrior of the Net web site, http://www.warriorsofthe.net , can be accessed on the Internet to explain how it is forwarded. There is a very interesting video on that site that gives a detailed explanation. Click on the link included above to see the video.

Q. How can you determine the speed of your router?

A. Broadbandreports.com, http://www.dslreports.com , can give information about the speed of the transmission of your messages. You can access this site as a free member. Click on the web site link given above, go to Tools, Speed Tests, select what part of the country you want to review, and the web site will analyze the traffic speed for you. Or, you can check the Embarq web site if you use Embarq for information. Other sites that may be helpful are Speakeasy.com, http://www.speakeasy.com , or Lookingglass.com. You can also call the provider of your Internet service to have them check your speeds.

Q. AVG did not find a virus on my computer, but another software program did. What is the problem with AVG?

A: There may be a difference in the programs. You need more than one program to catch all viruses. The AVG free version downloads updates only once a day. There may be a delay in discovering the problem or new viruses.

Q. Sometimes when opening a web site a red notice window appears that says this is a dangerous site. What is happening?

A: This may be a result of a security setting on the computer. Vista will pop up these windows, especially if it recognizes a message as part of a mass mailing.

Peter Czerwinski came across a solution that he wanted to share with the club. Peter did not want to invest in a lap top, but he wanted the ability to have access to the programs and files on his computer when he was away from home. An article in the May, 2008, issue of PC World, page 112, “Carry a Portable Computer in Your Pocket” gave him the answer. The article suggested using a high speed USB flash drive which could be used in any computer. Go to Google and type in “portable apps” to find the web site, or click www.portableapps.com, which is the link here. From this web site you can download the free portable applications software onto your flash drive. When using it on another computer, a menu will open that allows you to use your own programs. It is ready to go, using your own programs, and leaves no personal data behind on any computer you use.

Presentation: The Scope, Evaluation and Operation of the YouTube Web Site– John Gbur
Keeping in touch with family members and friends becomes even easier with the use of You Tube. You Tube allows you to share home videos with family and friends over the Internet. Although there are several steps in the process, it is simple to do and free.

• Begin by taking video with your digital camera.
• Then transfer the video from your camera to your computer or laptop by using the appropriate USB cord. When the camera is connected to the computer, go to “My Computer” on your computer menu and select “camera” and then select the “mvi” file which is your video.
• Copy the “mvi” video file to the “My Videos” file on your computer. Then disconnect your camera from the computer.
• Click on “My Videos”, select your video file and play it to be sure it has loaded correctly onto your computer.
• Go to http://www.youtube.com/ and log in.
• Upload the file from your computer to You Tube, following the directions.
• Click on “My Videos” on You Tube and your video will be processed and uploaded. You can choose to make the video available as public or private, which will restrict viewers. You can share the video with the viewers you choose by choosing individuals from your contact list.

That’s all there is to it. Although there is a limit on how large the video can be, it is a terrific way to share family videos or other informational videos you take with a large or small audience.

This was a excellent presentation, John, and gives us lots of ideas and opportunities to share with our family and friends. Thanks for a great job.