THE SOUNDBOARD
KEEPING
PACE IN CYBERSPACE
DECEMBER 2003
Heritage Village Computer Club http://www.hvcomputerclub.org
FEBRUARY 11, 2004
General Meeting
10:00
a.m.-11:30am
Ken Pelletier will demonstrate the uses of
a Database by an organization or individual.
Examples: HVCC and Heritage
Village Ambulance Association
CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR UP-TO-DATE
MEETING INFO:
http://www.hvcomputerclub.org/news.html
EVERYONE
WELCOME, BRING A FRIEND
MICROSOFT EXTENDS
SUPPORT
In the
December Issue of the Soundboard I mentioned that Microsoft would be ending its
support of Windows 98. Microsoft has
since extended their support policy to the year 2006. Some points to note:
Key Dates:
Details:
Windows 98
and Windows 98 Second Edition support was scheduled to end on January 16,
2004. However, continual evaluation of
the Support Lifecycle policy revealed that customers in the smaller and the
emerging markets needed additional time to upgrade their product. Therefore, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second
Edition, and Windows Me will continue to be supported after January 16, 2004.
Internet
Explorer support on Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, & Windows Me
Microsoft
will provide the following level of support for Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 (or
current version) from Jan 17, 2004 through June 30, 2006:
Windows
Media Player and other Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me
Components
Microsoft
will provide the following level of support on the most current versions of
components for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me (such as
Windows Media Player 9) from January 17, 2004 through June 30, 2006:
For specific
support dates on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, Internet
Explorer, Windows Media Player, and other components,
visit the Microsoft Support Lifecycle
Web site.
THE GOVERNMENT WANTS YOUR SPAM
On December 16, 2003, President Bush
signed into law the “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and
Marketing Act of 2003” (CAN-SPAM Act), which establishes a framework of
administrative, civil, and criminal tools to help America's consumers,
businesses, and families combat unsolicited commercial e-mail, known as
spam. You can read the Federal Trade
Commission’s article online at this web page:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/inbox.htm
“Forward unwanted or deceptive e-mails to uce@ftc.gov, where federal regulators are creating a huge spam database to go after the most egregious marketers.” The Associated Press
An excerpt from the FTC site:
“What
Can I Do With the Spam in my In-Box?”
“Report it to the Federal Trade
Commission. Send a copy of unwanted or
deceptive messages to uce@ftc.gov. The FTC uses the unsolicited emails stored
in this database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send
deceptive spam email.
Let the FTC know if a "remove me"
request is not honored. If you want to
complain about a removal link that doesn't work or not being able to
unsubscribe from a list, you can fill out the FTC's online complaint form at
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01
Your complaint will be added to the FTC's
Consumer Sentinel database and made available to hundreds of law enforcement
and consumer protection agencies.
Whenever you complain about spam, it's
important to include the full email header.
The information in the header makes it possible for consumer protection
agencies to follow up on your complaint.
Send a copy of the spam to your ISP's
abuse desk. Often the email address is abuse@yourispname.com
or postmaster@yourispname.com. By doing
this, you can let the ISP know about the spam problem on their system and help
them to stop it in the future. Make
sure to include a copy of the spam, along with the full email header. At the top of the message, state that you're
complaining about being spammed.
Complain to the sender's ISP. Most ISPs want to cut off spammers who abuse
their system. Again, make sure to
include a copy of the message and header information and state that you're
complaining about spam.”
The Sender’s ISP is very often unknown because the spammers are very clever and know how to disguise this information. If you want to know how to get “Message Headers”, in Microsoft Outlook Express you can highlight the email BUT don’t open it. Right click and select “PROPERTIES” from the drop-down menu. The properties are the message headers. They can be copied and pasted. In other email applications there are often buttons to click to see these headers. Identifying the contents is not always easy.
GOOGLE EXPANDS SEARCH FEATURES
Google has added new features to its search service. Visitors can track U.S. Postal Service shipments, airline flights, identify products by UPC codes and find information on cars and trucks through Vehicle Identification Numbers. Typing an area code into the search field, for example, will produce a map of the area.
The options were added on Monday, Jan. 12th. To find a complete list of Google’s search abilities, go to this site: http://www.google.com/help/features.html#number
Or use Google’s Search Window and type in “Google site map”.
WHO BUYS MORE TECH STUFF?
Did you know that Women buy 75 % of electronics sold? Women accounted for $55 billion of the $96 billion spent on electronics gear. Women bought the most cell phones, Digital cameras, desktop pc's, color printers, internet services, scanners, and electronic games. Men bought the most DVD players (17% v. 15%), portable cd players was even at 15% each,
FILE EXTENSIONS
DLL (“Dynamic Link Library”)
A .DLL file is a support file and is used by one or more programs. As an example, if several parts of a program need to perform the same action that action may be placed into a .DLL file (library) that the various program parts can all use. This saves space and makes it easier when that particular routine needs to be updated. You should never have a need to "open" a .DLL file on its own; indeed, there really is no way to do so.
Want to know about others? Check out this URL to search for the ones that interest you: http://filext.com/
MARS
ROVERS
There are pictures of the planet Mars taken by the Mars Rover at this web site:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/
In the menu bar is “Mars for Kids”, taking you to Games, Learn More, Activities, and Special Events. If you have any kids in the family, send them this link or engage them in a project during their visit to you. This is fun for adults too. Or try “Mars for Students”, “Mars for Educators”, and “Mars for Press”. Other choices to check out are: Overview, Science, Technology, The Mission, Features, Events, and Multimedia.
Just about everything you want to know about this project is here.
(“Quote the Raven,
Nevermore”)
Once upon a midnight
dreary, fingers cramped and vision bleary,
System manuals piled high and wasted paper on the floor,
Longing for the warmth of bedsheets,
Still I sat there, doing spreadsheets:
Having reached the bottom line,
I took a floppy from the drawer.
Typing with a steady hand, I then invoked the SAVE command
But got instead a reprimand: it read "Abort, Retry, Ignore".
Was this some occult
illusion? Some maniacal intrusion?
These were choices Solomon himself had never faced before.
Carefully, I weighed my options.
These three seemed to be the top ones.
Clearly, I must now adopt one -
Choose: "Abort, Retry, Ignore".
With my fingers pale
and trembling,
Slowly toward the keyboard bending,
Longing for a happy ending, hoping all would be restored,
Praying for some guarantee
Finally I pressed a key --
But on the screen what did I see?
Again: "Abort, Retry, Ignore".
I tried to catch the
chips off guard --
I pressed again, but twice as hard.
Luck was just not in the cards,
I saw what I had seen before.
Now I typed in desperation,
Trying random combinations.
Still there came the incantation -
Choose: "Abort, Retry, Ignore".
There I sat,
distraught, exhausted, by my own machine accosted;
Getting up, I turned away and paced across the office floor.
And then I saw an awful sight,
A bold and blinding flash of light,
A lightning bolt that cut the night and shook me to my very core.
The PC screen collapsed and died,
"Oh no -- my database", I cried.
I thought I heard a voice reply,
"You'll see your data-- Nevermore!"
To this day I do not
know
The place to which our data goes
Perhaps it goes to Heaven where the angels have it stored.
But as for productivity - well,
I fear it has gone straight to Hell.
And that's the tale I have to tell -
Your choice: "Abort, Retry, Ignore".
10 ...... When filling out your driver's license application you give your IP address.
9 ........ You no longer ask prospective dates what their sign is; instead your line is "Hi, what's your URL?"
8 ........ Instead of calling you to dinner, your spouse sends email.
7 ........ You're amazed to find out spam is a food.
6 ........ You "ping" people to see if they're awake, "finger" them to find out how they are, and "AYT" them to make sure they're listening to you.
5 ........ You search the Net endlessly hoping to win every silly free T-shirt contest.
4 ........ You introduce your wife as "my lady@home.wife" and refer to your children as "client applications".
3 ........ At social functions you introduce your husband as "my domain server".
2 ........ After winning the office super bowl pool you blurt out, "I feel so "colon-right parentheses!"
..And the number one sign you are an
Internet Geek:
1 ........ Two Words: "Pizza's Here!".
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD: NEW http://www.hvcomputerclub.org/officer.html
SOUNDBOARD
CONTRIBUTIONS: theweb@snet.net
CLASSES, MEETINGS, EVENTS: http://www.supercalendar.com/view.php?a=893
HELPERS
AutoCAD.......... Ken Pelletier................. 264-2310 Digital Camera.......... Joe Franzino........... 264-2922
MS Word.......... Arnold Deutchman........ 267-7355 MS Word................ Joe Franzino........... 264-2922
MS Excel........... Diana Scott................... 264-2134 Paint Shop Pro......... Ken Pelletier........... 264-2310
Publishing........... Joe Franzino................. 264-2922 Quicken................... Ken Pelletier........... 264-2310
Scanning............. Joe Franzino................. 264-2922 WordPerfect............ Jean Van Loon 267-5397