September 2003
Volume 21, Issue 9
Kokomo PC
Users Group
President’s Message:
Welcome to another hot month of PC computing. Yard work and fix-up projects seem to consume almost all the time I have for recreation these days. At least school has started up and the kids are back on some sort of routine. I can even do a little Web surfing while they do their homework.
We have tried several times to move to an E-mail newsletter to save on expenses. I believe there is substantial interest in this idea. It would make it easy to keep all your back issues on-line so you can search through them. One of the roadblocks is that I use MS Publisher to construct the newsletter. I will try to convert from MS Publisher to MS Word over the course of the next few months. Please be patient because I may have a few false starts and bugs.
We continue to offer warm hospitality and engaging meetings. Please take a moment to invite a friend (or enemy for that matter) to one of our regular meetings. We offer first class presentations, good fellowship and an informative question and answer period. If they join our group they will also receive our wonderful newsletter, mailed directly to their home or office. A good users Group is the most important accessory you can buy for your computer.
If you have any tips or tricks for improving our enjoyment of our PCs, please write them up in a sort article for the newsletter. We would love to hear how clever you are and would like to learn your secrets. This is a great way to provide a service to the club. You can also earn User Bux for each full page of original text.
If you have a computer passion you would like to share with the Group, we would love to have you present it at one of our regular meetings. Some of our best presentations come from our own Group members talking about the programs and hardware they love. Just let one of the officers know that you would like to present and what topic you will be presenting. This is a great way to provide a service to the club. You can also earn User Bux for providing this service to the Group.
If you feel that you would like to become involved in the leadership of the group, please volunteer to be an officer. We are looking for warm bodies … I mean visionary leaders to participate in the leadership of the Group. Just contact one of the current officers and we will put you to work changing the destiny of the Group.
Mark Pendergast
Da Prez
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Microsoft License Blues
My son is in Middle School and will soon be moving up to High School. More and more he is being required to develop PowerPoint presentations for school assignments. It has become quite a logistical nightmare to ship clip art back and forth to school on floppy disks and keep everything straight.
To make life easier for him I went out and purchased the Student Edition of MS Office. I figured he should be able to do his work at home, and not have to rush around at school to get access to a computer. I figured his sister would soon be asked to make the same type of presentations so I could kill two birds with one stone. (Boy, was I in for a surprise.)
I finally got around to loading the software last weekend. As I was reading the End User License Agreement (EULA), I was surprised to see that the software was not licensed to the computer, or even to me and my family. It was licensed to my son personally on this single computer. I was shocked. I seriously thought about taking the software back to the store.
I know Microsoft is looking to earn additional revenue from a pretty stable base of customers, but I had no idea they were going this far. In the past you licensed software for a computer (CPU). The whole family could use it and it was not big deal. Now Microsoft is trying to get more money out of me via creative licensing. Per the terms of the EULA, I will have to buy a second license of MS Office for my daughter when she needs it.
I guess I should have seen this coming when I purchased a license of MS Visual Basic to teach my son how computers work on the inside. The license agreement was for an individual, but it allowed use on any computer. (I guess this is designed to optimize a corporate environment with hundreds of computers - At least it makes some sense to me.) In fact, I actually bought a second copy of MS Visual basic for my computer to comply with the EULA. It fit my mental model of two licenses for two computers - so I was OK with it.
I wonder what Microsoft is cooking up for me next. Will this policy apply to family based software like MS Works? Will I need eight licenses of MS Works so my family of four can run MS Works on both of my computers? Will I need to buy a separate license of Windows for each family member on each computer as well?
I believe that Microsoft is well on the way to pricing themselves out of the market. If they think they can make up for slow growth due to market saturation by milking more money out of the existing user base with these license restrictions, they are probably right, but I am not sure I can afford to be around while they do it. When the Linux hordes show up to try to take over the desktop, I may just jump on the band wagon.
Let the revolution begin ….
Mark Pendergast
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Recognition of Great Achievement
A letter from Ed Dantley:
Hello fellow ROA members in the Dept of Indiana;
Your web master was honored at the 2003 ROA National Convention in New Orleans, LA on 26 June 2003.Our Dept Website was selected as the best ROA Department or Chapter website.In my behalf, as I was not able to attend, COL Bill Willis accepted the award.
The award reads:
"BG David Sarnoff Award in recognition of your superior efforts in advancing ROA’s Electronic Communications Program through your outstanding website presentation" presented 26 June 2003.
I feel humble to receive this, the first BG David Sarnoff Award.Our website is only as good as the information that I receive to put on the site.I want to thank those who gave me information for the site and want to urge department and chapter officers to continue to send me good items for inclusion.I maintain this website as a vehicle to keep all of our members current on what is happening in ROA and in particular what we are doing in Indiana.Please keep me informed on happenings in your local chapters or other information you would like to have posted to the website.Send information to me as an email message or as an attachment to an email message and I will do my best to add it to the website.
This award has been added to our Department website for all to see.
Check out our department website at:
www.roaind.homestead.com
LTC Edgar Danley
Webmaster
(Thanks to Wayne Dunbar for letting us in on Ed’s secret.)
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Gel Wrist Pads
I have been having some pain in my wrists lately. I suspect it has to do with too much typing on the computer and very poor posture. I started paying attention to how I was sitting and why my wrists might be sore. It became obvious that my desk at work and at home was too high and my posture too slumped. This caused my wrists to rest right on the hard edge of the desk. As I moved the mouse and typed, it was like sawing my wrists against the edge. Ouch!
I looked at getting some wrist braces, but they were expensive and I didn’t see any that I liked. I looked in several stores and they either didn’t have any or had some that didn’t look like what I needed.
I went down to CompUSA in Castleton and looked for braces, but they didn’t have any. As I was looking I noticed that they did have wrist rests for keyboards and mouse pads with built in wrist rests. They looked nice, but were very expensive. I decided to pass.
Over the weekend I went to Wal-mart and got a set of keyboard gel wrist rests and mouse pads with gel wrist rests. I got one set for work and one for home.
I have really worked on my posture and the wrist rests have helped significantly. They remind me to have proper posture and they keep me from sawing my wrists on the edge of the desk.
There are a few things I will need to get used to with the gel wrist rests. One problem is that the mouse pad is very small, so I have to keep lifting the mouse to get anywhere. This is mainly a problem when I am lazy and leave my wrist on the gel. I will just need to learn to sit up and mouse right. Another problem is that the gel is fairly tacky. Not that it is in poor taste, but that my wrists stick to it and drag as I try to shift around the keyboard. This is more difficult to solve with posture, but I will work on it.
There were several other styles of wrist rests at CompUSA. Beanbags and cloth covered foam seemed to be alternative styles. I may try them as well if the gel does not work out.
On the whole I am satisfied with the gel wrist rests. They seem to have solved the worst of my problems and were relatively inexpensive. I will keep you all informed as I continue my exploration.
Mark Pendergast
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Outlook Express 6 - Rules
I just noticed the other day that Outlook Express now has some of the same automation capabilities as regular Outlook. This is a cool way to manage your mail and get rid of SPAM.
The rules menu can be accessed from the main menu in Outlook Express. Tools > Message rules > Mail … This will bring you to a screen where you can create a rule.
Rules have three parts; a condition, an action, and an execution window. (In Outlook express the only execution window is after the message arrives.)
The condition is set by picking one or more checkboxes in the conditions window. The conditions are like: "contains these words in the subject", "contains these people in the to line" or "where the message is more than size". These conditions are then transferred to the rule box. They normally have a word or phrase in the condition underlined. For example: Where the subject line contains these words.
To create a real condition, just click on the underlined words and fill in a value. Some conditions will give you a list to choose from, others will allow you to enter text. For example: Where the subject line contains Viagra or Mortgage.
The action is set in a similar manner to the condition. Just pick one or more checkboxes in the actions window. The actions are like: "delete", "move to the selected folder" or "highlight with color". These actions are then transferred to the rule box. They normally have a word or phrase in the action underlined. For example: Move to the selected folder.
To create a real action, just click on the underlined words and fill in a value. Some actions will give you a list to choose from, others will allow you to enter text. For example: Move to the SPAM folder.
The finished rule will look like:
Apply this rule after the message arrives. Where the Subject line contains 'Viagra' or 'Mortgage'. Move it to the SPAM folder.
It will run every time you log on to Outlook Express. It will take any mail with Viagra or Mortgage in the subject and move it to the SPAM folder. If you have a lot of rules it can take a little while to run, but I have found that it is worth it.
I use these type of rules to organize my mail at work. I highlight messages from my boss and send SPAM to a SPAM folder. It is nice to know I have access to the same power at home. It is much more powerful than the previous versions of Outlook Express.
If you have any tips for freeing our mailboxes from SPAM—or even cutting down the flow a little—we would like to hear from you. Please write up a little article and mail it to me. I will be sure to get it into the newsletter.
Mark Pendergast
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