Tuesday 24 November – Main Meeting – Report

Elaine Rush

Tuesday’s Main meeting welcomed the return of David Hall from Symantec (click View Product Tour) who shared with us the details of the brand new Norton Internet Security 2010. The evening was extremely informative on the need to have internet security to guard against cybercrime.

Some of the key benefits with the new product are that it gives you a greater insight into downloaded applications and files by telling you where they came from, if they are trusted, and how they may impact your PC’s resources and performance. Stops online identity theft, viruses, spyware, bots and more, guards your PC, online activities, and your identity against all types of internet threats.

David noted that Norton 360 Version 4 beta was available to try. For those who have any questions there is also Norton Community which one can use to scan the threads for topics of interest or create your own. For fastest results, use the search feature to find related conversations.

For the evening’s raffle Symantec donated 10 copies of Norton Internet Security 2010, our thanks to David, Natalie and Symantec. Steve South kindly sent photos of the lucky recipients, unfortunately there are too many to include in the newsletter, I am sure they will be on the club’s website soon.

To the lucky winners congratulations:

Allan Matthews, Malcolm Robertson, Frank Bowman, Bruce Murrell, Ray Allum, Alan Durham, John Lucke, Joan Robertson, Antony Zaglas and Stephen South.

Tuesday 24 November – Main Meeting – 6–8 pm

Alex Zaharov-Reutt

It’s our last meeting of the year and in addition to some Christmas drinks and nibbles, our main meeting presenter is Symantec, ready to showcase Norton Internet Security 2010, which is now available – and to talk to us about Norton 360 Version 4, currently in beta.

David Hall from Symantec will be our guest presenter again and naturally there will be some copies to win!

So… come along and learn about the very latest in Internet security from the world’s security experts, share in some festive cheer and have some fun!

Tuesday 27 October – Main Meeting – Report

Clare Wagemans

At the Main Meeting a laid-back Nick Hodge from Microsoft (their “Professional Geek”) settled in for a lengthy information session on the newly released Windows 7. His presentation included the features available in the premium version, Windows 7 Ultimate. The first demonstration was of the ease with which Windows 7 will bring up the Presentation screen (Windows + P), allowing the user to interface with the overhead projector. Then Nick showed us the invaluable tool for Seniors – the screen magnifier!! He showed us how open windows reveal their contents when the mouse hovers over them. He showed how wiggling the mouse minimises all but the current open screen, and then how simple it was to arrange two open windows by selecting the screen, moving it to one side of the screen whereup it resizes to fill half the screen. The second screen is moved to the other side and there are two perfectly tiled screens in perfect view. Grabbing one screen and moving it to the top of the screen maximises it again. Feature after feature was demonstrated, the calculator, pinning programmes to the task bar, Windows XP virtual mode (to allow you to keep using older applications) & using Windows Media Center to record from a TV card.

Nick spoke about installation of Windows 7, how one can upgrade from Vista but it needs a clean install from XP. However with a clean install if the Laplink software is used existing applications can be preserved, even if you no longer have the installation disks. He stated that there were a lot of the ‘usual’ applications that did not ship with Windows 7 – no equivalent to Outlook Express, no antivirus, no Windows Messenger. However all is not lost as Windows Essentials is a free download which has all this plus movie making, photo gallery, family safety (highly recommended by Nick as it is packed with great features).

After whetting our appetites for this sumptuous offering from Microsoft, Nick did urge us, before buying, to check that our current hardware will run Windows 7. The minimum specifications are 1 GHz, 1 G Ram, and 16 GB hard drive. In order to take advantage of its graphics you will also need a graphics card with a minimum 128 mB. He directed us to the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor which will allow potential users to check compatibility with both their software and hardware.

Even if you do not wish to upgrade to Windows 7 at this stage, you might like to follow up on Nick’s tip to check out Windows Security Essentials. Many internet security programmes use a lot of CPU resources, but, like AVG, not this programme. It is a free download, and is compatible with Windows XP.

Nick’s most physically onerous task for the evening was drawing the raffle tickets. There were two copies of Windows 7 Ultimate, 3 bags containing Windows 7 T-shirts, Cap and sticker bling and two Windows 7 T-shirts.

Tuesday 27 October – Main Meeting – 6–8 pm

Alex Zaharov-Reutt

On October 22, Windows 7 finally comes to market for consumers, available to buy off the shelf in upgrade and full versions, and available to buy preloaded or bundled with new retail or whitebox PCs.

It will mark the end of the Vista era, and even as some consumers and businesses will continue to require and use Windows XP, the Windows 7 era will have finally begun in earnest.

With Microsoft still having over 90% of the desktop computer operating system market, and with Windows 7 being a genuine improvement over Vista, let alone Windows XP, it seems destined to be the true mass market success that Vista was meant to be, even though Microsoft is under competitive assault from all sides, be it from ever improving versions of Mac OS X, free Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and a host of online apps from companies like Google that don’t care which operating system or device you’re using, as long as it has a browser.

So, on Tuesday October 27, our main meeting guest is Microsoft’s “Professional Geek”, Nick Hodge, who will come to show us all the features and power of the Windows 7 operating system!

Nick has presented to the group in the past, in his capacity as a representative of Microsoft, and we’ll be taking advantage of having two speaker slots available to have Nick fill them both, for a mega-presentation on Windows 7, its features and benefits and all the activity around it, from the free Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus/anti-malware suite, to the free Windows Live Suite which includes Windows Live Mail, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery, Writer, Family Safety Software and much more.

Amongst other capabilities, Windows 7’s multi-touch capabilities will also be on display, and there will be two copies of Windows 7 Ultimate to be won on the night in the raffle, so our October main meeting promises to be jam packed, and a chance, as always, to ask questions in the Q&A, and questions of our guest presenter.

If you’ve got any friends who are interested or curious to learn more about Windows 7 from Microsoft’s “Professional Geek”… bring them along!! The more, the merrier!!

See you there…

Alex

Profile: Nick Hodge

Nick Hodge

A Professional Geek for Microsoft, Nick has over 23 years of IT industry experience in a variety of sales, technical, management, marketing and strategic roles. As a sought-after presenter, prolific social networker and a closet workaholic, Nick just loves technology. Especially software technology.

“Online” since 1987 and before the web, subsequently working with Internet technologies more years than there have been browsers, Nick has a strong belief that the current revolution of connection, collaboration and communication is going to have dramatic and unforeseen effects on the human condition. Some call this hyperconnectivity.

As a presenter of technology to all sized audiences, Nick loves to inspire people by showing them “shiny new things” that will change their life, the way they communicated, their organisation, community and business.

Currently working with Dynamic and Functional Languages for software development; and explaining to a variety of audiences what a Professional Geek from Microsoft actually does.

Web Design SIG — with Singing

Have you ever tried to have a serious technical meeting (a Special Interest Group, or SIG) with singing ?

Well, we did for the recent October 17th Saturday afternoon meeting of the Web Design SIG.

At our usual venue there are three meeting rooms on the first floor. Each is separated by a thin movable room-divider. At the tops and bottoms are visible air-gaps which make very poor acoustic shields.

We usually have Room 1, but this time we were shunted into Room 2. You can guess what was being held in Room 3!

Right – a so-called a capella singing group. They started off with 3 or 4 repeats of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot then went on to long single-notes held in a round i.e. some taking a breath then rejoining. Then came the DRUMS !

Quoting Dave Letterman, “I wouldn’t give your troubles to a monkey on a rock!”

F-Lock Key on Microsoft Keyboard

With the new computer at the Web Design SIG, using Windows Explorer, we just wanted to rename a file. We knew that the shortcut was F2 but  hitting that gave no joy.

Finally we settled for using the right mouse click to select Rename. What were we doing wrong?

Later I needed to use F3 to exit without saving in an editor I was using. Again no way.

Then, after actually reading through all the text on the keys, I noticed the F Lock key. We hit that and the function keys then worked!

We should have noticed that something was different when all the Function keys had other text on the tops. In our defense, with the room in semi-darkness, we were touch-typing and just watching the projector image on the wall. Well, we knew where all the keys were, didn’t we?

Microsoft make many variants of their keyboards, but after a Google search, here’s one that looks similar to ours:

F-Lock key

Tuesday 22 September – Main Meeting – 6–8 pm

Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Tux

Although Windows 7 launches next month, Microsoft’s biggest competitor besides Apple is from Linux, a free and open source operating system that lets you modify it any way you like, and can genuinely serve as a complete replacement for Windows, be it XP, Vista or 7.

A couple of months ago, a Sydney PCUG member emailed me to ask if we could have a presentation on Linux. What is it, what does it look like, how does it work, how does it compare to Windows, why is it free of charge, what kind of software is available for it, how many people use Linux around the world, and why do people keep on buying Windows if Linux is as good, and is free?

These and many more questions will be answered at our Tuesday night meeting, where Linux expert, fellow iTWire journalist and major mining company CIO (Chief Information Officer) David M. Williams will be driving down from his base in Newcastle to give us an expert and entertaining look at Linux, and why you could and even should use Linux – even if you’re happy with your Windows system.

Linux is definitely exciting, and with even really old computers able to run Linux where Windows would just give up, Linux presents a great opportunity for people to learn a new skill, revitalise old computers, surf the web in an effectively virus and malware-free environment and more.

You can even learn how to run Windows and Linux at the same time, on the same computer – without needing to know anything about “virtualisation” or anything else complicated.

Linux is an operating system and even a movement you’ll hear more and more about, while at the same time, Windows 7 becomes Microsoft’s most popular ever operating system.

So, come along to the main meeting of the Sydney PC Users group and learn about the amazing world of Linux!

See you there
Alex

New desktop computer – The pictures

From the Newsletter of 23 – 29 August, 2009:

You will all be happy to know that the new computer has arrived and we will have a system using an Intel Quad Core i7 CPU, a Gigabyte M/B with the X58 chipset and six GBs of DDR3 RAM; two 1TB HDDs and an LG CD/DVD drive…all SATA; a generic black ATX case (smaller dimensions) with a 650 watt PSU and an ASUS 1GB video card. For those of you who are interested in having a look, it will be on show at the Main Meeting next Tuesday.

On behalf of the club members a big thank you to Bill Parry and those who assisted him with the specifications.

First photo, l to r,  Bob Backstrom, Bill Parry (Vice Pres) and Roger Foulds.

Photos courtesy Peter Collard (full-sized pics):

Opening the boxes

Checking the connections

Connected

Reading the manual

First power up

Waiting for downloads

Tuesday 25 August – Main Meeting – 6–8 pm

Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Joshua Carr, no relation to Bob, is the Product Manager for Retail Notebook at ASUS – and he’ll be coming to the main meeting to show us the latest in thin and light notebooks from ASUS!

Thin and light is an exciting new category in between netbooks and notebooks, offering far more power than netbooks while being thinner and lighter than traditional notebooks.

Although ASUS won’t be giving a notebook away there will be some other ASUS gear to win, with Joshua suggesting a motherboard and some other stuff which we’ll find out about on Tuesday night.

So, while netbooks remain ultra popular, the new thin and light category threatens to eclipse netbooks completely – come and learn what it’s all about!

See you there!

Alex

New desktop computer – part 4

Seven of us – Bill (Vice Pres), Bob, John L., John S., Peter, Roger and Warren (Pres) – turned up to the SIG Rooms for the 10am computer delivery. Bad news, however.

The video card we wanted wasn’t in stock. What? After some phonecalls, the suppliers agreed to an upgrade to one that they did have in stock (at no extra cost to us). They still needed time to finish the setup, but could have it ready by 1pm.

Sure enough, it was then ready. Bill and Bob walked to the computer shop and saw it booted up and running with the nice black Microsoft keyboard and all the promised goodies connected. Bill carried back the heavy Computer Case and Bob juggled the keyboard and mainboard boxes under the arm.

First we booted up XP and spent some time installing Kaspersky Internet Security (getting emails for Customer ID and Activation ID) – is there no end to the carry-on ?

Next we Activated XP, downloaded IE8 and caught up with 13 Critical updates and 9 Optional updates.

Some of the group had to leave by this time, so Bob and Roger stayed to boot up the Windows 7 RC 64-bit OS to see how it runs. We didn’t want to stay online without installing Kaspersky and so decided to continue next Tuesday before the Monthly Main Meeting.

In the morning, before collecting the machine, we looked at a couple of other computer shops in the area to find an external disk enclosure for our (now) old 160 GB IDE drive.  We tried that out under Windows 7 and it worked very well, of course, so any SIG leaders who wish to retrieve any of their data can easily do so.

New desktop computer – part 3

The new computer is being assembled as we write this with delivery due next Thursday, August 20th.

Several members will be involved in the installation of a clean version of XP on one (1 TB) disk and Windows 7 64-bit RTM (Release to Manufacture) on the other. If not RTM, then we can use our copy of RC1 (Release Candidate 1).

Dual boot seems the way to go.

That’ll be just in time for the following Tuesday (Main Meeting) for the grand announcement.

New desktop computer – part 2

Amendments to wish list:

• I have been told that we already have a Webcam (the one we use at the Monthly Main Meetings). D’oh!
• For a very little extra, we can have 2 x 1 TB disks instead of 2 x 500 GB disks. Wow.
• The  top-of-the-range Intel CPU (the Intel® Core™ i7 Processor) might be within budget. Double wow.

See the Intel specs for the Core™ i7 Processor.  Quote: “They are the best desktop processors on the planet.” Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they? 

New desktop computer

The Club’s new desktop computer was approved by the Committee at the Saturday Aug 1 meeting.

It now remains for a sub-committee of one to check prices and availability in the next week or so.

The wish list: Core 2 Quad CPU, 4GB mem, 2 x 500 GB disks, DVD writer, cabled sound system including microphone or mic/headset, USB3, multi-memory-card reader, Bluetooth and Webcam.

Staying with XP for the moment – Windows 7 later.

Tuesday 28 July – Main Meeting – 6-8 pm

Alex Zaharov-Reutt

LogMeIn is probably best known for its remote control software, letting people access their home PCs from work or vice versa, but over the years, LogMeIn has grown to offer many more products and services – even letting you use your iPhone to log into and control your home PC!

While basic PC remote control capabilities are still free from several companies including LogMeIn, paid versions grow ever more sophisticated as do the options to support other users in your circle of family or friends.

Even authorised remote control of mobile phones is now possible, a feature only LogMeIn presently offers, which can be used by companies to remotely support their smartphone carrying employees and executives, or by computer tech support companies wanting to offer the same to their own customers – and even by individuals wanting to provide a remote phone support service for family members.

Seth Shaw

LogMeIn’s Asia Pacific general manager, Seth Shaw (pictured), will show us the latest in remote control capabilities, including how you can control your home PC from your iPhone 2G/3G/3GS (or even Wi-Fi connected iPod Touch) – and other devices, and show us the other ways LogMeIn’s online software can help consumers and businesses manage and support the IT side of their lives.

From LogMeIn’s website, it offers “software-as-a-service suite of solutions includes capabilities for on-demand customer support of PCs, smartphones and other devices, systems administration, remote access, remote control, file-sharing, virtual private networking, data back-up and online meeting.”

So to see where software-as-a-service, online cloud computing, smartphones and the desktop in the home and office all meet in cyberspace – come to the meeting to learn more, win some prizes in the raffle and to see LogMeIn’s latest and greatest online gizmology in action!

Cheers and best regards, Alex.

Tuesday Seniors SIG – the conclusion

During the lunch break (before the 2 hour afternoon session on Genealogy), we powered off the machine and unplugged all the external cables (how many are there ?). Then, unplugging the two memory cards, three PCI cards and the two hard disk ribbon cables on the main-board, we carefully blew any dust out (none was visible since there were no carpeted rooms where we used the computer).

We then reseated all the cables and reconnected everything else. Power on. One single beep. Sounds good. Success !

The morals of the story:

• Don’t think that all your computer woes are virus-related
• If it ain’t broke…

Tuesday Seniors SIG

Today we were at the usual 3rd Tuesday of the month’s Seniors SIG and hearing the usual Q & A, when someone asked about changing the BIOS settings (clock speed or boot order etc).  The modern PC user usually doesn’t need to change (or even know about) such settings, but the old DOS hands knew all about the topic.

At bootup time, some PCs  need the DEL key, others ESC or one of the function keys (often F10) to get into the BIOS.

We all had the bright idea of shutting down the club’s desktop PC that we were using and trying it so everyone could see the process on the screen at the front of the room.

All seemed normal while we looked at the CPU speed multiplier  (but did not alter it), then decided to alter the bootup sequence.  It was Hard disk | Floppy disk | CD.  We set it to CD | Floppy disk | Hard disk (I think).  Then we rebooted.

Harmless we thought.  XP came up OK to the initial splash screen and then gave us the blue screen of death.  Not once, but half a dozen times.  We tried reloading the BIOS defaults (F5).  No.  We tried setting the boot order to our original setting.  No.

Help.

The SIG Leader had his own laptop to demonstrate some Video Editing software after the coffee break, so we could finish the second hour of the morning meeting.

To be continued…

New home for Web Design SIG reports

We now have the subdirectory (/webdesignsig) under the main SPCUG site (sydneypc.com), so that our Web Design SIG reports can be published online once again.

Our previous site was out of action for a little while.

We use NetObjects Fusion Version 9 to compose our web pages.  That is the last free version offered on PC magazine cover CDs, so for our SIG members the price is right

Go to http://sydneypc.com/webdesignsig

Akismet meaning

See the meaning of Akismet at http://baheyeldin.com

Akismet

Akismet is derived from “Automattic Kismet”. The first word is the company that Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress started.

Kismet is a Turkish word that meant “fate”, “fortune” and “destiny”. It is a direct derivative from Arabic قسمة (Qismah, or Qismat) which literally means “share”. The same word is used in Urdu, Hindi, Bosnian and Serbo-Croatian.

In Islamic theology, everything is preordained. This concept was however taken to its fatalistic ends in recent centuries, making it an excuse for not acting on anything for some.

The word play here is that each comment get a kismet depending on its content.

Akismet learns about spam slowly

Apparently the WordPress anti-spam filter (Akismet*) works via heuristics.  That is, it learns by being told over many submitted comments which ones are in fact spam and which are not.

Much like email checkers.  But, but, but…

Surely there are some ground rules (apart from the weak “≤ 2 hyper-links per comment” rule) which will recognise rudimentary spam ?  Apparently not.

In a Google search on the subject the advice is if you, gentle reader, fail to see your pearls of wisdom either straight away or at least “soon”, there should be an email address displayed somewhere on the Blog so that you can inform the Admin.

What do you think ?

* Does Akismet mean Fate ?  As in the hands of the gods ?

Comments not showing up

Here’s an interesting comment from virgomonkey from over a year ago at http://en.forums.wordpress.com

And comment submission is still broken

virgomonkey
Member
May 26, 2008, 12:07 AM  Ok. I figured out the problem. These comments that aren’t going through are because they are being routed into the spam filters of those blogs we comment on. This is a recent issue. People are having problems commenting on my blog as well. I have to keep fetching them from my spam filter. They are innocuous comments. And it’s odd that the spam engine is calling these comments “spam” even though these comments don’t have any links or abusive text of any kind.I will forward this on to the support team in hopes that this issue will be resolved soon.