HORIZONS
The Official Journal of the Computer Users of Erie
Volume 28 Number 4
April 2010
“News and Information to expand your computing Horizons”
Founded 1982
In This Issue
Next Meeting
April 15, 2010
CUE Elections
April is CUE Elections, and our
nominating committee will present its slate
of nominees this month. As always, you
may nominate another member for any
position, to get them on the ballot. Be sure
to come and vote for those that will guide
CUE for the following year.
3
Membership News
4
CUE Calendar
5
Secretary’s Report
6
Leopard Tip - Saving a Flash
7
Navigating through Legacy
8
MailWasher Pro
9
Book Review
10 Backing Up and Restoring Files
After the elections, Bill Ellis will give a
presentation on the latest version of Legacy, as the Genealogy SIG holds its monthly meeting as part of
the night’s activities.
12 This and That
14 CUE Marketplace
REMINDER: Be sure to watch the CUE Email for any last minute changes or weather cancellations.
7 pm, Holy Rosary School
For the latest CUE Information, visit our
website at www.cuerie.com
OR
Call the CUE Information Line:
814-746-4784
CUE is a member of
2
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
Computer Users of Erie
Officers
President
814-734-1019
Lee Williams
[email protected]
Vice President
814-694-2008
Olen Seidler
[email protected]
Secretary
814-898-2447
Scarlett Skarupski
[email protected]
Treasurer
814-746-9165
Tom Kuklinski
[email protected]
Board of Directors
Lou Cioccio
[email protected]
814-868-1320
[email protected]
814-474-3055
[email protected]
814-825-4206
[email protected]
814-461-8289
[email protected]
814-866-1580
John Fair
Sam Fletcher
Don Grim
Gene Meeks
Horizons
Horizons is published monthly by the Computer Users of Erie (CUE), an independent,
non-profit computer user group, dedicated to the education and support of our
members. The opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors or the
editor, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CUE.
This publication is Copyright © 2009 by the Computer Users of Erie, all rights reserved. Permission to reprint is hereby granted to any Non-Profit Organization, as
long as proper credit is given, or not restricted by the original author or source.
Advertising: Advertising is welcome from both our members and commercial sources.
For current advertising rates, please send an email to the Editor requesting a copy of
the Ad Rates file (Adobe Acrobat format).
Newsletter Exchange: CUE welcomes newsletters from other user groups. If you
would like to exchange newsletters, either by US Mail or via electronic (Internet)
delivery, please send your newsletter to the address listed below. We will add your
name to our mailing list and send you our newsletter in return.
Address Changes: Any recipient of Horizons is urged to submit a change of address
notification to the Editor, either via US Mail to the address shown below, or (preferably)
via email, so we may keep our records accurate.
Submissions: Submissions are always welcome from our members or outside
sources. Submissions may be articles, images, cartoons, etc. For first-time authors,
please request a copy of our Submissions Guidelines from the Editor, prior to
submitting any items. This will help to eliminate publication delays.
Correspondence: General correspondence to CUE may be sent via US Mil to:
Computer Users of Erie
PO Box 8941
Erie, PA 16505-0941 USA
Email: [email protected]
SIGs
Beginner’s User Group
Digital Photo
Genealogy
814-866-7308
Macintosh
Tom Kuklinski
Lou Cioccio
Dave Howell
[email protected]
Lou Cioccio
Other Resources
CUE Historian
DOS Information
Librarian
814-449-4938
Webmaster
Tom Kuklinski
Don Grim
Tanya Mattson
[email protected]
Tom Kuklinski
CUE INFORMATION LINE:
814-746-4784
For fastest results, direct your email correspondence to the desired individual. (If no
personal email address is found, direct your message to the CUE email address, and it
will be forwarded. Please indicate the desired recipient).
Editor
Mark Mattson
[email protected]
Contributors
Lou Cioccio
Bill Ellis
John Fair
Dave Howell
APCUG
Cover Photo © 2007 Lou Cioccio Used by permission
CUE Disclaimer
The Computer Users of Erie (CUE), a non-profit affiliate of APCUG, is not connected with, nor does it represent the interests of such organizations as IBM, Apple, Texas
Instruments, Microsoft, or any other manufacturer or vendor, nor can it assume responsibility for the accuracy or misrepresentation of materials or statements found in advertisements, articles, announcements, or presentations appearing in its newsletter or at CUE-sponsored meetings.
The members of the CUE Board of Directors, committees and SIGs are volunteers giving of their time and energy to assist CUE members through education. CUE shall
not be held liable in name or performance for the outcome of activities or agreements to provide services offered by any person in the name of CUE.
CUE welcomes comments, letters, original articles and programs for its newsletter "Horizons". Such materials may be submitted to: OnCUE Editor, P.O. Box 8941, Erie,
PA, 16505-0941. Permission is hereby granted to other non-profit computer user groups to reprint articles appearing herein, unless specifically restricted, provided credit is
given to both its author, if known, and its original source.
3
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
About CUE
Founded in March 1982, Computer Users of Erie has
undergone many changes over the years to keep pace
with the ever-changing world of computing.
The computer platforms vary; we have members using
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 95/98, Mac OS,
Linux, and others.
Our members are versed in many different hardware
backgrounds. In fact, our roots go back to the days of the
old Tandy CoCo (Color Computer), which was the basis
around which our group was formed.
CUE has always welcomed members from all walks of
life, and all levels of expertise, from the novice just buying
their first system, to the professionals that work in the
computer industry as a way of life.
Visitors are always welcome to attend one or two of our
monthly meetings before joining, just to see what is happening.
Benefits our members enjoy are the newsletter, our CUE
Website, and a selection of SIG (Special Interest Groups)
to give them a chance to concentrate in-depth on subjects
that are of interest to them. CUE also has a general
Monthly meeting held on the third Thursday of each
month, where all members are welcome to come and join
in on the activities there. A demonstration or other presentation follows our business meeting, and questions are
welcome...oftentimes in a ‘Stump the Experts’ session.
Special Interest Groups
There are several SIGs operating within CUE that our
members are welcome to participate in. Current SIGs include:
•
•
•
•
Genealogy
Macintosh
Digital Photo
BUG (Beginners User Group)
There is no extra charge to join a SIG. You may join as
many as you wish, or even start one focused on a topic
not yet covered!
Why not stop at our next meeting and see what’s up?
Membership News
New Members
Walter Cyparski
Renewals Received
Greg Ames
John Fair
Gene Meeks
Olen Seidler
Renewals Due
Lee Skywark
Art Delano
Norma Smith
John Rasmussen
Vivian DeWitt
Scarlett Skarupski
Roger Scarlett
Jane McNally
Rita Kane
Remember, a CUE Membership makes a great gift!!
4
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
Upcoming CUE Events
April 2010
Sun Mo Tue We Th Fri Sat
7 Digital Photo SIG (LC)
7 pm
1
2
3
10 MAC SIG (LC)
15 CUE Monthly Meeting (HR) 7 pm
Genealogy SIG (HR) Monthly Meeting Demo
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
9:30 am
16 Newsletter Deadline
BUG SIG (TK) DATE AND TIME TO BE ANNOUNCED
M ay 2 0 1 0
Sun Mo Tue We Th Fri Sat
4 Genealogy SIG (BE)
1
5 Digital Photo SIG (LC)
7 pm
7 pm
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
8 MAC SIG (LC)
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
20 CUE Monthly Meeting (HR)
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
21 Newsletter Deadline
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
BUG SIG (TK) DATE AND TIME TO BE ANNOUNCED
30
31
9:30 am
7 pm
May 2010 Meeting Topic:
Connecting a Wi-Fi Printer
Wireless networks have become the primary way of connecting computers together in a home environment. Come watch tonight as we show you how to install and connect a wireless-capable printer
to your network. It’s not as hard as you think!
Meeting Location Finder
DH
HR
TK
LC
BE
Dave Howell • 3904 Myrtle • 866-7308 • [email protected]
Holy Rosary • 1012 E. 28th (park behind school) • Contact Lou Cioccio • 868-1320 • [email protected]
Tom Kuklinski • 3699 Dogleg Trail • 814-746-9165 • [email protected]
Lou Cioccio • 5753 Glenview Dr. • 868-1320 • [email protected]
Bill Ellis • 1502 Winslow Dr. • 868-2680 • [email protected]
All meetings begin at 7 pm, except for Mac SIG, which is 9 AM (UNLESS otherwise noted by SIG leader).
PLEASE RSVP for all SIG meetings, to allow for planning changes or meeting postponements.
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
5
Secretary’s Report
BOARD MEETING
GENERAL MEETING
March 18, 2010
Thursday
Holy Rosary School
6:30 PM
March 18, 2010
Thursday 7:00 PM
Holy Rosary School
Members in Attendance: 7 members
Lee Williams
Lou Cioccio
John Fair
Sam Fletcher
Hadley Jones for Tom Kuklinski
Gene Meeks
Don Grim
Lee called the meeting to order and reviewed the two items on
the agenda: 1. to review the state of the membership database
and 2.to review the program schedule for the general meeting.
Since CUE officer and board elections are coming up in April, a
review of the nominating committee was added to the agenda.
The nominating committee was unable to come up with a complete slate, so the board spent the remainder of the meeting
reviewing possible candidates for the open positions. Lee Williams and Olen Seidler would be nominated to continue as
president and vice president respectively. John Fair volunteered to be on the slate as either secretary or treasurer whichever was the greater need.
A number of potential candidates were discussed with an emphasis of trying to get “new blood” as at-large board members.
Lee and John would make calls to see if the members discussed would agree to being put forward for the slate of candidates.
Two items were brought forward during the meeting, which were
not on the agenda. First, it has been noted that after the business meeting not all members moved to the demo area to listen
to the presentation. Small groups formed to hold their own discussion potentially both reducing the program audience and
providing a distraction to the presentation. It was suggested
that the room be arranged so that the business meeting and
program were conducted in the same space and possibly a
smaller room be used for the meeting and program. Second,
Lee requested that the CUE Google Group list be reviewed to
make sure it is up to date before elections so that proper notification of the election can be given to all members.
Because of time constraints the two agenda items listed in Lee’s
opening statement were not addressed.
Meeting Adjourned: 7:00 PM
Respectfully Submitted,
John Fair
Lee Williams: Called the meeting to order at 7:07 PM
Reports:
The Secretary’s minutes of the February meeting were published in the February Newsletter. There were no additions or
corrections. Sam Fletcher made the motion to approve the minutes as published and Hadley Jones seconded the motion.
Hadley Jones gave the Treasurer’s report for Treasurer Tom
Kuklinski. The current balance of the club treasury as of March
11, 2010 was $2,224.26. Income during the month included the
50/50 raffle and three membership renewals. APCUG dues will
be paid later in March or in April. Sam Fletcher made a motion
the report be accepted as read and Gene Meeks seconded the
motion.
Newsletter Editor Mark Mattson was not present. Articles for the
Newsletter are always appreciated.
Special Interest Group Reports:
Genealogy SIG: No meeting was held because of the absence
of Dave Howell.
Beginners Users Group (BUG) SIG. The focus was on speeding up of computers by various methods including stripping off
unnecessary software.
Digital Photography SIG: The report described troubleshooting
a computer that would not successfully open GIF files. . The
Photoshop Elements class taught by Lou Cioccio has 13 participants registered.
Mac SIG: The meeting was postponed because Lou Cioccio
was in Pittsburgh attending an Olympus course at the Phipps
Conservatory. Presentations focused on Lighting and Macro
photography
Old Business: None
New Business: Discussion was held on the need for a larger
tripod screen so that members could better see what is being
presented, particularly when a program is being demonstrated
using the club projector. Lou Cioccio was requested to look into
cost of a new screen. Lou brought up another capability which
would add significantly to the club, software to create fill-in-theblank PDF forms that could be filled out by any recipient of the
form. A motion was made by John Fair and seconded by Sam
Fletcher and passed by voice vote directing Lou to purchase the
software which costs from $39 to $49.
50/50: A drawing was held and won by Gene Meeks. The total
was $11 with $5.50 going to CUE.
Don Grim made the motion for adjournment and Lou Cioccio
seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM to watch a
demonstration by Lou Cioccio.
Respectfully submitted,
John Fair
6
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
Leopard Tip - Saving a online Flash Movie
By Lou Cioccio, Computer Users of Erie
This is a ti I came across some tome ago. You watch a flash movie on something you want to do. Could be wood working, photography or even
golfing just the the kind of hobby or avocation that we CUE users like o do.
Since the MacOS is so much like Linux there are certain files and folders that are invisible so that we cannot screw it up.
Open a Finder window and then hit Apple (Command) plus shift then tap the number four (4) key and yo will see the pointer change to a circle on
top an oversized plus sign as I call a "gun" sight.
Type in /private/var/folders and hit the button GO.
Now a new window will open up.
You will see several folder. Detective Mode! you will have to open each up until you find a file that has the date and time that you are watching the
flash movie.
Here it is in this folder as FlashTmp0 file I had to refresh the screen till the movie completed to its final size.
I dragged it out and placed it on my desktop and open it in QuickTime Pro and then saved it as a Quicktime movie.
Even though I was not able to save it off the web site I was able to get it from my hidden temp file.
I am sure in Windows OS is something similar and I will leave that up to the Windows OS detectives to find and publish.
Remember to check the CUE Website at www.cuerie.com
for a listing of Review Software.
Contact the Editor to request a book or software title to review; test it,
write a review for the newsletter, and it’s yours to keep...for FREE!!!
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
7
Navigating through the Legacy program
By Bill Ellis, Computer Users of Erie
I’m sure you all have heard the saying, “There’s more
than one way to skin a cat.” I always thought that was
a ugly way of saying, “There’s more than one way to
accomplish the same deed.” This statement is certainly true when we work with our computer programs.
There are usually a couple of different ways to perform
the same function.. Lets use a word processor to try
this out. As a simple example, we’ll use the copy and
paste function. If you would like to use a phrase over
and over again, within your word processor or even in
another document, simply highlight the phrase, go to
the edit menu in the tool bar and select “copy”. The
will put a copy of that phrase on a clipboard. Now, go
to the area of the document, with your cursor, where
you would like to insert that phrase and click the
mouse. Go back to the edit menu in the tool bar and
this time select “paste”, The phrase is now inserted
where you would like it. Another way to skin this cat is
to highlight the phrase as you did before, but this time,
hold down the “Control key” and press the “C” key.
This will also copy the highlighted text to the clipboard.
Now, go the area of the document where you would
like to insert the phrase and hold down the “Control
key” and press the “V” key. This will paste the phrase
where you would like it to be. I do not know why we
use the “Control V” combination to paste from the clipboard. You would think we should be using “Control P”
for that operation. Unfortunately, “Control P” is already
used to activate the printing process. These key combinations to perform functions or for navigating around
a computer program are called “shortcuts”. Each program has their own key combinations (shortcuts) to
help you use that program more easily and simply. .
Let’s see what shortcut functions are included in the
Legacy program. Open the Legacy program and go to
the family view screen. We’re going to add a husband,
wife and children to this family. You’ve discovered that
the guy in your family view screen had a second marriage and you need to add another wife to his relationship. To add a wife, you could go up to the tool bar, at
the top, and click on the “Add” menu item. In the drop
down list you can select, “add a wife”. Another way to
add a wife is to click the mouse pointer on the first icon
at the bottom of the guys screen. This will open the
spouse screen for this guy and you can select to “add
a new wife”. Or, you could hold the “A” key and press
the “W” key. This will also open the spouse window
and you can select “add a new wife. For me, this is
the fastest and easiest way to accomplish this task.
The same type of shortcut is available to add a new
husband for the gal in this family view screen. Make
sure the gal is highlighted and this time, press the “A,
H” combination to add a new husband. Again, this will
open the add a spouse screen so you can add a new
husband. Now, let’s say you found some more kids
that belong our loving couple and they need to be
added to this family view. I tried using a combination
of the “A” and “K” for adding kids, and “A” and “C” for
adding children. Neither combination worked. However, the key combination “A” and “ S” for adding a son
and “A” and “D” for adding a daughter will work well.
Just make sure, if there is more than one marriage,
you are at the correct family view screen so that you
are adding the children to the correct couple.
If you would like to see a list of all the people or all the
marriages in your family file, simply go the “view” menu
in the tool bar and select either the name list or marriage list from the drop down list. Or, you could simply
press “control, I” or “control, M”. This shortcut will give
you an Index of names or a Marriage list, respectively.
If you would like to see the ages of the husband and
wife, in this family view, and how long they’ve been
married, use the “control, A” combination. This key
combination will give you a screen that will display the
couple’s exact ages in years, months and days. This
same exact time span is given for the length of their
marriage. This screen will also, among other things,
tell you the day of the week the person was born, died
and was married.
There are many more shortcut combinations in the
Legacy program, such as “Control, Z” for customizing,
“Control, P” to view your photo gallery and “Control, F”
for find a person, place or event. These shortcut combinations require a little further explanation, so we’ll
leave them for another article. However, if you’re curious go a head and try them out to see what they do.
Other shortcuts, in Legacy, can be accomplished by
using the mouse. From the family view screen, highlight the person who has siblings and place the mouse
pointer in the little area between the husband and wife
screen. By clicking either the left or right mouse button
you can rotate through all the brothers and/or sisters
for that highlighted person. If either the husband or
wife, in the family view screen, has multiple marriages
you can place the mouse pointer in the outer edge of
the screen, next to that person and left click the
mouse. This will rotate through the different spouses
for that person.
I like using these shortcuts while navigating around
the Legacy program. I think it adds a little spice to doing something that could otherwise become very boring. Isn’t it fun to learn about different ways to skin a
cat.
8
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
Self-Inflicted Errors Installing MailWasher Pro
By Dave Howell, Computer Users of Erie
One of the first things I needed to do with my new Vista
Home Premium 64-bit laptop was to set up MailWasher
Pro. I downloaded the latest version (6.51) from the publishers Firetrust at www.firetrust.com. I've experienced
many successful years using this software beginning in
my Windows 98 up to XP systems. It has proven indispensible in screening all incoming e-mails allowing me to
view their content without ever "downloading" them from
my ISP (RoadRunner). Any undesirable messages from
senders I don't want or recognize can be "bounced" back
to the sender giving the illusion that my address doesn't
exist - or words to that effect. This includes spam, potential viruses, spyware, trojans, and the like. It also remembers the addresses of the "bounced" messages and tags
any further e-mails from those senders accordingly.
After MailWasher Pro was installed, I proceeded to put
in my two RoadRunner POP and SMTP accounts. The
instructions were easy me to follow so I thought everything was fine until I put it to the test. I clicked on the MailWasher Pro desktop icon to get online instead of clicking
on Windows Mail to get my mail. The boom! This error
message came up, "Bad username or password." I
checked and rechecked the usernames and passwords,
to no avail.
I first thought first that I used the wrong passwords so I
tried other possibilities. Didn't work. It had been many
years since I installed MailWasher in my Win 98SE and
later, XP machines - perhaps I forgot what usernames
and passwords I used last.
At this point, I contacted Firetrust's customer service in
New Zealand. I was hoping that they could provide me
with the username and password I had used successfully
before. Apparently that is easier said than done! In the
meantime, they asked me to disable any active virus and
firewall programs running on my machine - which I did. I
also disabled RoadRunner's CA antivirus software and
bypassed my WiFi router - a very dangerous move on my
part given my previous reputation as the "virus king of
CUE!" None of this solved the problem.
Then one of the guys at Firetrust asked me to first send
them, "MailWasher Pro_registry.txt" file by following their
instructions - which I did. Didn't help. Then they asked to
send them another file, "MailWasher Pro_debug.txt." That
didn't help either. Then it was suggested by our intrepid
Newsletter Editor, Mark Mattson, that I download the latest version of MailWasher Pro 6.53 which was just released. Firetrust customer service agreed that this should
be done. Again, not success - I kept getting the "Bad
username or password" error message whenever trying to
use MailWasher Pro.
By now, I had accumulated over 65 pages of "history" in
the e-mail going back and forth with the guys at Firetrust
in New Zealand. It was taking 20 - 30 seconds to send the
e-mail on my RoadRunner broadband connection! I had
to be cognizant of when to send them material since 2 PM
here in Erie time is 10 AM the day before in New Zealand!
This became crucial when they asked if I wanted them to
take control of my computer in an attempt to find the problem. Naturally, I agreed.
In order to accomplish this task, I had to be sure I was
online at an hour they would be available. Then they
asked me to access a free website service called
"Crossloop" at http://www.crossloop.com. When instructions were followed, this software provided the Firetrust
staff to take control of my system. It was weirdly fascinating watching my cursor move around my screen as the
technician looked and clicked. He and I could also "chat"
with each other using our respective keyboards. I needed
to follow his instructions when it came to typing in usernames and passwords as they came up.
In watching him work, it became aggravatingly obvious
that I had initially inputted the wrong username! I always
thought the username is the portion of my e-mail address
up to the "@" sign and not the entire e-mail address!
Turns out that the username in this case should have
been my entire e-mail address. BINGO! When the username was retyped correctly, we were back in business finally - after months of frustration!
So there you have it - from beginning to end. The staff at
Firetrust are to be commended for staying on task until
the problem was solved. The fact that I got my MailWasher back is a blessing, AND, this "cyber neophyte"
learned a helluva lot in the process!
Special Offer for CUE Members
As a special offer to CUE members and Horizons readers, Firetrust has graciously established a 50% Discount
Code for your use.
If you purchase MailWasher Pro between now and May
22, 2010, you will be eligible for this discount.
To redeem your special offer code, either use the following link:
http://www.firetrust.com/en/shopping-cart/add/mailwasher
-pro/promo/horizons
Or else go to www.firetrust.com, place MailWasher Pro
into your cart, and use the promo code “horizons" (without
the quotation marks) into the field in the cart and it will be
applied to your total...giving you the 50% discount.
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
9
Book Review: Scanning Negatives and Slides, 2nd Ed.
By Mark Mattson, Computer Users of Erie
Digital photography
has revolutionized the
way images are created
and stored, moving
away from the filmbased processes to the
digital one. The photographer of today has
many ways of accessing and manipulating his
or her images, giving
them more creativity
than ever.
The problem lies in the
archives of photographers that have been
around for many years, those that date back to the film
days. They may have an enormous library of images that
they would like to work with, but need to get digitized before they can do so.
In this revised edition of his book, author Sascha Steinhoff explores the various ways of getting your film images
into the digital realm. Within its 256 pages, one finds a
wealth of information, with many illustrations (both color
and black and white) used to explain the principles and
methods described.
This volume covers the complete range of topics required to get you moving into scanning your archives. It
explores what you need to consider before purchasing a
scanner, the options available for both hardware and software, and also explains the workflows needed for successful scanning.
For instance, the author explains why you should consider a dedicated film scanner over other methods of
scanning (such as a flatbed scanner with a transparency
adapter). Both methods will work, but the flatbed with the
glass layers between the scan sensor and the film, can
produce lower resolution scans. Thus, it would be more
practical for one to use a dedicated film scanner to
achieve the highest possible quality.
Although hardware is important in scanning, the software choice you make is also of major importance. There
are several applications available that give you much better results than the apps included with the scanner, and
these are discussed in depth as well. VueScan, and
SilverFast are two of the choices explored in the book, but
there are others available as well.
Color management and scanner profiling is also covered. These topics are important ones, as they help to
ensure your scans are as accurate as possible for color
when they are made. Doing so would help simplify your
processing steps later in your workflow.
After aiding you in purchasing your scanner and software, the author then helps you get going by describing
effective ways of setting up both the hardware and software for optimum results. Also covered is the choices
available for output file format, examining the pros and
cons of each.
When setup and configuration steps are complete, it’s
time to start importing your film images. Many examples
are given on how to scan the various types of films, from
B&W to the complexities of scanning Kodachrome transparencies. The Kodachrome information was of particular
interest, as I have a large library of those images waiting
to be scanned. Without this, it would have most likely resulted in my scans being of inferior quality. This information alone makes the book a valuable investment.
A DVD is included with the book, containing both trial
versions of the scanner software discussed in the book,
and many sample scans that the author provides as reference. Scans are included from both film scanners as well
as flatbed scanners to give you an opportunity to compare
the results from each.
There are also some sample image editors and image
database applications on the disc, and some Photoshop
plug-ins.
Scanning Negatives and Slides, 2nd Ed. is published
by Rocky Nook, Inc. (www.rockynook.com) and distributed by O’Reilly. It has a list price of $44.95, and can be
ordered from O’Reilly at this page:
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781933952307/
You can also find it locally, or online at Amazon.com for
a 34% discount ($29.67). If you search elsewhere for it,
the ISBN is 978-1-933952-30-7 .
Scanning is NOT a difficult task. If you want to ensure
the highest quality, especially if you are marketing your
images, then this book is a valuable addition to your
library. It will give you priceless information needed to get
the most from your investments in time and materials.
This should be your first purchase before buying anything else when digitizing your memories.
10
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
BACKING UP AND RESTORING FILES
December 2009 issue, Boca Bits, the monthly magazine of The Boca Raton Computer Society, Inc.
By Ron Hirsch, Member and Contributing Editor, Boca Raton Computer Society, Florida www.brcs.org [email protected]
This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission
for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the
permission of the author (see e-mail address above).
If I had to pick a single area where most computer users are
extremely lacking, it's in the area of backing up and preserving the documents and other items that they generate during
the course of their computer activities. Most people just dismiss the subject with “Oh I don't really have anything of importance, and even if I do, I can always redo it easily.” These
people may only use their computer for the Internet and email. But, redoing your address book and bookmark listing
can be a task in itself.
And, if you use a program such as Quicken or Money, you
have lots of financial info that would be a real job to rebuild if
all your files were lost. I reminded a friend about backing up
his Quicken stuff, and he said that he really didn't have to, as
Quicken always backs things up automatically, which it does.
But it backs things up onto the same hard drive, into a different folder. So, about 6 months later when his hard drive
failed, his backup was worthless, and he was a very unhappy
person.
WHAT DOES BACKUP REALLY MEAN?
Backup is the generation of duplicate files, often onto a removable medium, for all the things that you have generated
on your machine. Generally, these are files that you have
produced, not the program files which came on the CD.
These duplicate files must be stored on something which can
be separated from your machine, and definitely separated
from your internal system hard drive.
Since most people have only one hard drive, it does not
make good sense to backup onto that same drive. And, if you
have your main drive partitioned into say a C and D drive,
you will still lose your backup if the drive fails. If however, you
have a second hard drive on your computer, you are much
safer storing your backups there.
There are online services which offer “online backup” at a
small cost, or no cost. This can offer access from another
computer, when you might need that data. But I personally
don't want my private data et al on an online computer, where
it is possibly subject to being hacked or having that operation
go out of business.
NOTE: This article is only discussing backup of your personal files and data - it is not addressing a complete backup
of your system drive, including your operating system
(probably Windows). That is a separate topic which will be
covered in another article.
The backup media should be stored in a place where they it
will not become lost, stolen, or damaged. When I was in business (many years ago), we backed up all our files every day,
with a rotating system of seven tapes. Copies were stored in
a fireproof safe, and periodically, we placed a current copy in
our safety deposit box at the bank. Just putting copies on the
shelf doesn't protect against their loss in case of a fire. Obvi-
ously, most users don't have to go to such extremes. But, for
important information, it's a good idea to periodically put a
backup copy into a secure and fireproof place, such as a
home safe, or your safety deposit box.
In order to be able to follow and use the material in this article, you must be conversant with using Windows Explorer, or
a similar file manager. Earlier this year, I presented several
articles on this activity, with several exercises on the subject.
If you are not familiar with using a file manager to copy files
and add new folders and subfolders, I would suggest that you
bone up on this subject first, and then get back to this article.
WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO FIRST
First of all, the typical user who has programs in which files
are saved, generally has no idea where they are. So, the first
thing to learn is just that. When you are in a program such as
Quicken, your files are generally saved in the same folder as
the Quicken program. Other programs may use the My Documents folder, My Files folder, the Documents and Settings
folder, or a special folder that the program has set up to store
things.
I personally set my own folders for storing things. And, fortunately, most programs allow the user to specify where things
are stored. In WordPerfect, I have a master folder set up,
name WPWIN. Under that I have about 56 subfolders for all
the categories that I have defined. There is a folder named
“BocaBits”, which holds all the articles I've written for this
publication. One of the main advantages of having your personal files organized in a master folder is that they are easier
to copy to a backup medium. Just copy the main folder, specify to include the subfolders (if that is needed), and everything
underneath will be copied. This is far easier than having to
locate many different folders, and copy from each one individually.
Remember, using subfolders is a must. Some years back,
one of my friends stored all his files for all his programs in the
same folder, with no subfolders. Finding a file to use was almost like looking for a needle in a haystack. And, name your
files using descriptive long filenames which all operating systems since Windows 95 can use. Which is easier to find
“Letter to Jack re the new building.doc” or “let2jreb.doc”?
Here are some steps that I would suggest users consider change the names to suite your desires.
1. Add a new folder on your C: drive, and call it “All My
Stuff” (without the quotes.)
2. Add as many subfolders under it as you need. For example, (assuming you have these programs) add one for Word,
Quicken, Money, Excel, etc.. Then, add as many subfolders
under each of the main subfolders you've added. For example, the “Word” folder can have subfolders named “Letters”,
“Faxes”, “IRS correspondence”, etc.. (Don't use the quote
(Continued on page 11)
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
(Continued from page 10)
marks - they are used here for clarity.)
3. Then in each of those programs go into “preferences” or
“settings”, or wherever is appropriate, and set your new path
and folder name there as the place to keep stuff. In something like Quicken, it wants its files where it specifies, but
when you call for a backup in Quicken, you can specify the
path/folder. So this folder you set up will always have duplicates of Quicken's files, ready to be copied out to the removable media you choose.
4. For programs such as Outlook Express or AOL, it's a good
idea to save your address book, and your bookmarks. Finding the names of these files, and where they are located will
be a good exercise for you in using Windows Explorer, and
learning more about your browser.
NOTE: It is not absolutely necessary to do all of these previous steps if you're willing to do your backup work with all your
files where they are now. These steps are just offered to
make your job of backing up easier. If this is the case, you
can skip to the section entitled “WHAT MEDIUM SHOULD I
USE TO BACK THINGS UP.”
HOW DO I GET MY EXISTING FILES INTO THESE NEW
FOLDERS
If you don't know or can't find where the program stores the
files you create, go into the program, generate a new document, and do a save on it. When the “save” window comes
up, it may well show you the path/folder that the program
uses. So you can now go to that folder, and find all the stuff
you have done previously. While you're in the “save” window,
you can now specify your new repository for your files in this
program, assuming it will cooperate.
If this does not happen, do a search in Windows
(START>SEARCH) to find that file, and the location path will
be available there.
Rather than move the existing files, I'd copy them into the
new folder you set up. That way, if there are any
“goofs” (perish forbid), nothing has really been lost. In the
case of a program like Quicken, just open Quicken, and press
CTRL+B. This should open the backup window, and you can
type in the path/folder you've just made.
Later on, when you know that everything has been safely
copied into your new folder tree, you can safely delete the
files in their original locations if you want to do so.
When you've done this for all your important stuff, you will
now have a new “filing cabinet” with “drawers” for all your
important files.
WHAT MEDIUM SHOULD I USE TO BACK THINGS UP?
In the “olden days”, the choices were fairly limited. Floppy
disks and tapes were about it. These days, those two media
are not the ones of choice. Floppies have limited storage
space, and most people don't have a tape drive, nor should
they bother to get one these days.
The two choices that I would recommend are external USB
drives, which many people have or flash drives which many
people also may have. If you're not familiar with these de-
11
vices, you should become familiar - they are very inexpensive
now and are the perfect media for backing up purposes,
transporting, and archiving files.. Or you can use a ZIP disk, if
you have a ZIP drive, or use a CD rewritable disk.
To “burn” a CD, you must be familiar with this process. If
you have a recordable or rewriteable drive on your machine,
there should be a software utility to handle copying files. Usually this utility is on the CD that came with your hardware.
But, it's possible that the utility wasn't loaded on at the factory. Check through the manual or help files to learn more
about this.
Remember, once you get into the habit of backing things up,
you can feel more comfortable about not losing lots of time
and effort trying to reconstruct things. And, when you get a
new computer, your new machine can take the backup medium you used, and copy it all (as desired) onto the hard
drive of the new machine.
ONE FURTHER RECOMMENDATION TO SAVE YOUR
“STUFF”
One area that most users don't bother to consider, is the
use of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). These units
plug into your wall outlet, and then the computer and monitor
plug into it. Many don't feel that this is of any value to them,
but I'll bet that they've had a crash during a power blink. The
primary use of such a device is to keep your computer and
monitor running when there is a power failure, either an extended one, or momentary power blink. The purpose of a
UPS is not to allow you to keep working for an extended period when the power goes off, but to allow you to save your
work, and shut down in an orderly fashion. Or, when the
power “blinks”, your system doesn't crash, and you lose the
work that you have on screen. Even a one tenth of a second
blink can wipe out what you're working on. And, if you haven't
just saved it, you've lost it.
Furthermore, all computers should be connected via a high
end surge protector to protect against line fluctuations and
power surges. A UPS is also just about the best protection
that you can use here. And, these days, UPS units are available for not much more than the cost of a good surge protector. Check Costo for some good values here. A capacity of
300-500 VA is a reasonable range for most home computers.
Remember, as a minimum, you need to have your computer
and monitor connected via the UPS. Without a monitor, your
computer isn't good for much.
So, HAPPY backing up - try it. The day will definitely come
when you'll be glad you did. And once you get to be an expert
at it, you can impress your friends by teaching them.
If you find this material useful, you may want to download this
article in PDF format, from our web
site www.brcs.org. This allows readers
to keep the material either as a PDF
file, and/or print it out, and place it in a
looseleaf notebook for future reference.
12
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
This and That or Things that May Interest You
By Lynn Page, Editor Crystal River Users Group, Florida
www.crug.com
[email protected]
Windows 7
Shake
Minimize all windows but one whit shake, click and hold
down on the title bar and shake to maximize that windows and minimize all others. Shake again to restore
all.
Snap
Snap can display two windows side by side with each
filling half of the screen. With one window active press
and hold the Windows key while hitting the left or right
arrow key. The window snaps to that side. Do the same
with the other window but press the other arrow key
while holding the Windows key down.
To maximize a window with press and hold down the
Windows key while hitting the up arrow key. To restore
the window hold the Windows key and hit the down arrow button.
Snipping Tool
The snipping tool has been improved in Windows 7.
You can snip a whole window, a rectangular section of
the screen, or draw a freehand outline with your mouse
or tablet pen. You can save it as a graphic file or annotate with basic drawing tools. And you no longer have
the red snipping border.
Windows Mail
Windows Mail can handle a variety of different accounts. So you can set up a single personal email account, or add a work or other personal accounts and
even newsgroups. With multiple accounts I like to put
each account in a separate folder.
Add a User Account
In Windows Mail click Accounts in the Tools drop down
menu. Click the Add button select the type of account
to add, click Next, and then follow the instructions inputting the logon and server information for the email account.
Delete a User Account
In Windows Mail click Accounts in the Tools drop down
menu. Select the account to remove and then click Remove.
Blocked Email Attachments
To protect your computer from file attachments that are
commonly used to spread email viruses Windows Mail
blocks certain types of files, like: .exe, .pif, and .scr
files. When Windows Mail blocks an attachment, the
Information bar displays a message notifying you and
listing the attachment that was blocked.
To access blocked attachments close the message with
the attachment. Then in the Tools drop down menu select Options. Click the Security tab and clear the Do not
allow Attachments to be saved or opened that could
(Continued on page 13)
Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
(Continued from page 12)
potentially be a virus check box. Next reopen the message. Once you access the attachment it is better to
repeat the process and block the attachments again.
Junk Mail Folder
Windows Mail’s junk email filter is designed to catch
obvious spam and move them to the Junk e mail
folder. helps manage your Inbox to keep it free of unwanted email.
Change the Junk Email Protection Level
In the Tools drop down menu click Junk e mail Options
and set the protection level you want:
Move a Message from the Junk Email Folder to the Inbox
Open the Junk email folder and select the message to
move to the Inbox. In the toolbar point to Junk email
and click Mark as Not Junk in the drop down menu. The
message is moved to your Inbox.
Add Sender to the Blocked Senders List
Select a message from the sender to add to the
Blocked Senders list. On the toolbar point to Junk email
and then click Add Sender to Blocked Senders List.
This blocks all future messages from that specific
sender.
Add Sender to the Safe Senders List
Select a message from the sender to add to the Safe
Senders list. On the toolbar point to Junk email, and
then click Add Sender to Safe Senders List. This allows
all future messages from that specific sender.
Correct File Associations
If files are opening in the wrong application find one of
the files and right clip it. Then in Windows Vista, select
Open With and then Choose Default Program. From
the list of programs select the program to use. Or
Browse to add a program to the list. Click to check the
Always use the selected program to open this kind of
file box and then click OK. In Windows XP, after right
clicking the file select Open With. Then find the program to use. or Browse to find another program. Again,
check Always use the selected program to open this
kind of file and click OK.
Remove Your Phone Number from Searches
Google
Search to find your listing in Google's PhoneBook.
Then go to Google's online PhoneBook Name Removal
form and enter the information as it appeared in the
Google listing.
WhitePages.com
Find your listing on WhitePages.com. and at the bottom
of your listing click the small link that for "Is this you?
13
Remove your listing." Confirm the remove request.
Yahoo
Find your listing using Yahoo!'s People Search. Then
use the online Remove Phone Listing form and enter
your name as it appears in the listing.
Switchboard.com
Find your listing by searching Switchboard. Click the
Remove this listing link beside the listing and provide
your email address.
Office 2007
Format Painter
The Format Painter is an easy way to copy formatting
you want to duplicate on other text. Select the text to
copy the format from, click the Format Painter button
and then select the text to format. To apply the same
formatting to more than one item, select the text with
the formatting, double-click Format Painter, and then
select each word, phrase, or paragraph you want to
apply formatting to. When finished, click the Format
Painter again or press ESC. Format Painter is available
in most Office programs.
Create a Theme from a Document
Themes are a valuable asset in Word and other Office
files. A theme is a combination of theme colors, theme
fonts, and theme effects. When you have generated a
document with just the perfect formatting you may want
to use it again. So save the formatting as a custom
theme. With the document open on the Page Layout
tab, in the Themes group, click Themes. At the bottom
of the menu, click Save Current Theme. Provide a file
name and click save.
Use a Theme from another Document
If you didn’t create a theme from a document you can
still use it as a theme for a new document. Open the
document that you want to apply a different theme to
and on the Page Layout tab, in the Themes group, click
Themes. At the bottom of the menu, click Browse for
Themes. In the Choose Theme or Themed Document
dialog box, select the 2007 Office document that contains the theme to apply, and click Open.
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Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
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Computer Users of Erie • Horizons • April 2010
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