After an hour of socializing and bagels and coffee, the meeting began with Lon Hosford, President of the club, welcoming everyone. He announced that Jim Aller would no longer be handling the membership duties of the club. Jim has had this responsibility for several years and has done a great job. John Warsinski or Lon would be filling in until a replacement for Jim can be found. He thanked Barbara Middleton who was able to have an announcement about our club meetings placed on WDVR. He also thanked John Gbur who handles publicity for the club in the local newspapers.
Lon brought up the demise of Kodacolor film. Labs around the world stopped producing Kodacolor film in 2004 and the last lab in the U.S. closed in December of 2010. Kodacolor film is gone. No more chemicals, film, or processing of the film is being done. Film is dead.
If you are using Facebook, control who sees your posts and profile. Go to Facebook and edit the privacy settings that control who can view or who can reveal your profile and posts to be more selective and limit your exposure on the internet.
In the latest issue of PC World, there is an article that discusses “46 Websites You Can’t Live Without”. Among those are Dropbox, Kayak.com for travel assistance, NetFlix or TV and movies, AllRecipes for cooking, Mint.com for finances, Groupon for coupons, XMarx for bookmarks, and quite a few others. If interested in more information, get the latest issue of PC World. PC World is also available on line at http://www.pcworld.com/#new although some articles in the magazine may not be available on line.
A member commented that Dropbox software is used to send large files to others on the Internet. He suggested setting up a folder on one’s computer to save documents. These documents are saved in the “cloud” and will sync those documents on any other computer you are using, either a laptop or desktop, It allows access on any computer anywhere.
A member also commented that there is serious problem when using Google to search. There is a Google redirect virus that has infected many computers. When you click on the results after searching on Google, the redirect virus hides the Google results and sends you to advertisements, spam pages, or different links unrelated to your search. Your antivirus software most likely will not find the virus or eliminate it. There is a program, Hitman Pro 3 that will be able to remove it. Go to http://www.surfright.nl/en . There is a free version of Hitman Pro 3 on the website and it is advertised to remove the Google redirect virus.
Presentation: Windows 7, Bruce Arnold, Presenter
Windows 7 is the latest MicroSoft operating system, released in 2009. It is a simpler operating system than Vista and was intended to be more compatible with programs and hardware than Vista was when released. All Windows XP features are part of Windows 7. Some standard programs of XP and Vista are included in Windows 7, but many more are offered free for download as part of Windows Live Essentials on the MS website.
The taskbar has the biggest change with icons which highlight which applications are launched. Two open windows can be placed on the screen by just moving the title bars to the top of the screen. There is also a button on the screen called Aero Peek. Hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a look at the desktop. The Aero feature also allows thumbnail views of documents that are alive. Many other new features are included that help manage your documents on the active screen.
Windows 7 has more safety and security features built in. These features run in the background alongside any other antivirus software on the computer. It is free and available to all Windows XP, Vista and 7 users.
Windows 7 Home Premium is the best basic package. For business and corporate users, Professional and Enterprise are recommended. The W7 Product Guide can be downloaded for free to find out all the details about this software.
Do not buy software to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. The software will try to put Vista features in W7 that will complicate the computer. It is best to wait until you purchase a new computer which has Windows 7 as its operating system.
Thanks, Bruce, for an informative overview of this new operating system.