BPMUG - The Computer User Group Serving Central Connecticut Since 1982

June 21, 2010

The ABC's of Selling on eBay!

By Mark Fortin & Susan Sullivan of Jenmar Auctions

Summertime is the perfect time to sell all of our goodies -- and what better way to do so than to sell on eBay? It been a long time since we've had a demonstration on how to sell your treasures on eBay. In June, our previous speaker has offered to come back for a refresher seminar on how to sell our treasures through eBay's huge on-line auction service. Mark Fortin of Jenmar Auctions (www.jenmarauctions.com) and his helper Susan Sullivan will enlighten us with details on how to sell anything we desire on eBay.

May 17, 2010

On-Line Banking

By Rosalie Grippo, Bank of America

Are you still writing out checks, stuffing envelopes and buying stamps? Well say goodbye to all of that. On-line banking has changed all of this. Many banks now offer free on-line banking so you can easily pay your bills on-line and let the bank send out those payments. You can automate payments for things like your utilities. You can even schedule payments for a future date!

For our May 17th meeting BPMUG has invited Rosalie Grippo from Bank of America to join us to share with us all the new features of on-line banking. You will learn how to save time and money while securely making your payments the modern way!

April 19, 2010

The Basics of PC File Management

By Kevin Andle of Kandle Consulting

Did you think that file management was just for papers stuffed in file folders in file cabinets? Did you think that all computer files just land in the My Documents part of your computer by magic? Just like paper files, it is important to keep your computer files organized and up to date. The goal is to ensure that you can find what you are looking for even if a long time has passed.

Your computer has an extensive structure in which your data is kept. On April 19th at 7pm BPMUG has lined up Kevin Andle of KAndle Consulting (www.kandleconsulting.com) to show us how to do basic file management. The file system for Windows 7 has major changes from prior versions of Windows so in addition to discussing XP file management, Kevin will address the differences between XP and Windows 7 files.

March 15, 2010

Quarterly "Members Helping Members" Meeting

Presented by Paul Silversmith & Jim Smith

Every quarter we are now providing a meeting in which some of our members share something amazing and fun on a computer-related topic. At our March 15th meeting we are lucky to have BPMUG member Paul Silversmith demonstrate something our members have been asking about. Paul will show us the new Google Chrome browser, which is free, installs quickly and available for XP, Vista, and Win 7. It is built for speed and convenience and is competing with Firefox as a viable option to Internet Explorer. Paul will talk about where to find it, how easy it is to install it, and some of the cool features of it.

The second presentation is by BPMUG President, Jim Smith. Jim will introduce Hulu, a website that allows us to watch TV programs on our computer. It is supported by commercials and is funded by big names such as NBC, FOX, & ABC. Why Hulu instead of just watching TV? If you thought you recorded a show but the timing was off or the cable went out, Jim will show you how to find it on Hulu or other sites and watch it on your computer. Many of the TV series are available and snippets of shows are a mouse-click away.

February 15, 2010

Windows 7 - Hype or Delight?

Presented by Capital Community College Professor, Michael Ligon

After Microsoft rolled out Windows Vista to much fanfare, users started complaining about performance problems, memory issues, and more. It was a great glittering hope that fizzled under the light of day. Now Microsoft has spent much time working out many of the bugs while incorporating many of the good features about Vista and rolled it all into the newest operating system, Windows 7. Now Microsoft has the arduous task of convincing the public that, unlike past track record, this operating system is solid. Is it? Can they convince people to upgrade after the problems with Vista?

Come to our February 15th meeting where we will have Michael Ligon from Capital Community College review all that Microsoft has to offer in this new operating system. We will learn about the good and the bad in this new package. We will find out whether it makes sense to upgrade our current computer to the latest or to stay with what we have. You won't want to miss this informative meeting. Networking and refreshments will be available at the end of the meeting.

January 18, 2010

The "Wii" Generation

Presentation by Dan & Dot Doll, BPMUG members

Maybe we've gained a few pounds from all that tempting food during the holidays. Let BPMUG introduce you to a fun game called Wii by Nintendo. Wii (pronounced "we") is a seventh generation console with distinguishing features such as wireless controller, a pointing device and the ability to detect movement in 3 dimensions. Not to be dismissed as another kid's toy, this is being embraced by a cross-section of people such as urban apartment-dwellers, country folks, grandparents, parents with their children and more.

We are fortunate to have BPMUG members, Dan and Dot Doll, share their experiences with us. They will show that it is not just a fun way to lose weight but a great way to stay limber. The program offers many apps such as dancing, bowling, and tennis.

December 21, 2009

Annual Holiday Party

It is time for our annual holiday party! We will start the meeting with a couple of brief tips to satisfy our computer-user crowd. Then a quick election of officers for the upcoming year followed by a holiday party. Bring your favorite appetizer!

November 16, 2009

ABC's Of Printers and Printing

Presentation by John Yearsley, Staples Office Supplies

So many printer questions! Inkjet or Laser? Or what about a multifunction printer with a scanner and fax capability? What about other options? What are the differences in all these choices? With over 4000 varieties of printers to choose from in this world how can you decide?

And what about ink? Since the ink will cost much more over the life of a printer than the printer itself, what ink should be used? Is it safe to use less expensive generic brand cartridges? Is it ok to save some money by refilling cartridges?

And what should you do when you spent a long time typing up an important document and you go to print and nothing comes out! Or a blank sheet of paper comes out! Or worst, pages of gibberish are spit out. With the cost of ink and how many pages you can get out of a cartridge of ink, what is the true cost to run these various printers?

We've all had these questions and more. For our Nov. 16th meeting John Yearsley from Staples will come with his "Easy Button" to answer out questions about printers. Come and enjoy this informative presentation.

October 19, 2009

Safely Using On-line Pharmacies

Presentation by John Gadea, Director of Drug Control for CT

In this tough economy we are all trying to save a buck. For many, purchasing prescription drugs consumes a significant part of our monthly expenses. We try to balance our budgets to include our prescriptions. When this becomes a daunting task, we look to the Internet and see tempting offers with big savings. We are also enticed by the convenience of not driving anywhere. We are bombarded with emails promising low prices and safe prescriptions. On-line pharmacies seem to be the answer to those ever-tightening budgets.

If we Google "online pharmacies", there are over 30 million listings! The options are overwhelming. Yet if we Google "online pharmacies complaints", there are over a million listings for complaints. What are we to do?

There are many legitimate pharmacies out there with the appropriate authority and approval. Meet John Gadea, Director of Drug Control Division for the Department of Consumer Protection for the State of Connecticut. He will sift through the myths and point us in the right direction where we can save some money while safely filling our on-line prescriptions.

September 21, 2009

Clean-up & Speed-up Your PC

Presentation by Jim Smith, Blarneystone Internet Services

Summer vacations are winding down and it is time to crank up our PC's for a long winter of computing. BPMUG computer user group will sponsor a free demonstration on how to tune-up, clean out, and gain control of your computer. We will demonstrate a bunch of ways that you can speed it up and clean out some of the clutter that is slowing it down. We will even pass out some "cheat sheets" so you can follow along and see how we do it. At the end of the evening, you'll be able to take the sheets home and put some life back into your own PC.

Click here to view or print extra copies of the handout.

August 2009

Vacation! No meeting in August.

July 20, 2009

Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

Presentation by John Voice, The Identity Theft Awareness Group

Identity theft is when someone uses your personally identifying info such as your emails, your Social Security number or a credit card, without permission and with the intention of committing fraud or crimes. Identity theft may be used to facilitate crimes including illegal immigration, terrorism, and espionage. It is estimated that 9 million Americans encounter this each year. Identity theft can take place in many forms including your phone calls or your computer if left unprotected.

For our July 20th meeting, we will have John Voice from the Identity Theft Awareness Group™ (iTAG) to talk about what to look for and how to protect ourselves. John is a specialist in the area and has much experience talking to groups. Identity thieves keep finding innovative new ways to steal, and are becoming more sophisticated and skilled at their craft so come to this free presentation and learn how to protect yourself.

June 15, 2009

Social Networking - Why The World Is All Atwitter.

Presentation by Mike Tierney, Audio Media Solutions

Over the years groups of people have felt the need to start social networks. For years it was tea parties. Then card parties. With the introduction of websites and E-mail, our networking became techie. Today social networking is through MySpace, Facebook and now twittering. Even some senators have been caught twittering and not paying attention. Our cell phones have made it easier than ever. This world of social networking is flying by at lightning speed with technology being developed, evolved, and dropped faster than we can keep track of it!

On June 15 at 7pm, Audio/Media guru Mike Tierney (www.audiomediasolutions.net) will talk about these networks -- what's in, what's out, and where its going. Mike knows if you are twittering or not so put down your cell phone and Blackberry and iPhone long enough to find out what all the buzz is about in plain English. Bring a friend along and learn about the latest way to network. We will provide snacks after the meeting for our own old-fashion social networking opportunity!

May 19, 2009

The Technology Behind Weather Forecasting

By Jim Smith, BPMUG President

Last month we had record high temperatures in the 90's for a few days followed by temperatures plunging into the 30's. New England weather can be a challenge to track and predict. And since weather changes affects all of our lives, we start to wonder what technology has done to improve weather forecasting.

On Monday, May 18th, Mark Dixon, meteorologist for WFSB Channel 3 will discuss how computers and the latest technology has impacted weather forecasting. Many of you have seen Mark doing the evening weather. You can also visit the Channel 3 website at www.WFSB.com and search weather. Mark works with a very dynamic team of professionals to keep us informed about the area's weather.

April 20, 2009

Wikipedia- A Great Resource Or Another Internet Gimmick?

By Jim Smith, BPMUG President

What exactly is Wikipedia? A do-it-yourself encyclopedia? How accurate can that be? Can anybody add anything or change anything? Wikipedia creates many questions and many misconceptions. At BPMUG's April 20th meeting, BPMUG President, Jim Smith, will address many of these questions and myths. The Internet encyclopedia has grown explosively since its creation a few years ago, with visitors doubling every four months. Its 5 million entries in 200 languages have been written entirely by volunteers.

Wikipedia takes fact-checking seriously but since it is staffed by volunteers, there are many radically different methods used to make sure the information is accurate.

March 16, 2009

Now It Is An Even Smaller World!

By Barry Gordon, BPMUG member

The world became much smaller when global long distance calls became affordable to everyone. With Email, writing a letter to someone on the other side of the world became instantaneous. And now with the help of a small video camera for around $50-75 and a free Skype account, you can meet virtually face-to-face with your friends and family across the world.

At BPMUG's free March 16 meeting, Barry Gordon will demonstrate how to install the Logitech Video Camera on his laptop. Then he will set up the Skype software (Skype.com) and one other that allows you to view and talk with family or fiends all over the world using the Internet. Barry will set up a video feed with his son David in New Jersey. David will explain how easily his girls were able to communicate with their classroom when they were in India in December.

David will demonstrate some of the significant ways that video cams are impacting children's lives through his Living Through Learning Foundation (www.livingthroughlearning.org). Barry and David will save plenty of time to answer questions on webcams.

February 16, 2009

Google This!

Presented by Jim Smith, Blarneystone Internet Services

Have you seen what Google has been offering lately? You may be surprised! Google has an ever growing array of both tools and toys. Most are free and some may even save you from buying some other software you now use!

If you don't like paying for Word or Excel, Google offers a free alternative with their Google Apps. Google's Gmail has very powerful spam filters, lots of storage space and a great calendar as well.

If you've pondered whether to use a blog (or just want to learn what it is), Google offers a free blog. Or a free photo editor and sharing application.

Have you used Google's maps to look up an address? Now they offer a street view so you can see the building you looked up! Want more? Let's take a peek at their Earth application... it's like their Map program on steroids!

And did you know that Google has a free directory assistance service?

At the Feb meeting, Google Adword Professional and BPMUG President, Jim Smith, demonstrates some of the cool new offerings by Google.

January 19, 2009

Music For The Computer Age

Presented by Composer Anthony Cornicello

Music is an important part of our lives. We listen to it. We have our likes and dislikes. Where does it come from? For many years, musicians wrote their own music or hired a composer to score the music by hand on paper for all the different instruments. This was a lot of tedious work to write for each instrument. Computers have changed that. Much of what you hear today is done in a digital mode using high tech computer software. Have you ever wondered how music is composed and played in the computer age?

For our January 19th meeting, composer Anthony Cornicello will show us some of the newest way to create music. Anthony is a faculty member at Eastern Connecticut University. He often incorporates unusual sound resources, electronics, and energy of jazz and rock idioms into his pieces. He has been composing music since 1980 and has focused on music with electronics since 2000. His music has been played throughout the US, Europe, Japan, and South America. He has been featured on concerts and festivals such as the Darmstadt Summer Festival, the Wellesley Composers Conference, and the Spark Festival of Electronic Music. His music is published by CF Peters, Inc., and can be heard on the Albany & Centaur labels.

December 15, 2008

Holiday Party & Meeting

It’s that magical time of year when we celebrate the fun of Holidays. For our December 15 meeting, we will have brief tips by one of our members. Paul Silversmith has offered to show us how to clean up those emails of >>>> marks and other tags when emails are forwarded multiple times. Also Paul will show how to only print a portion of a website without getting the entire 15 pages with it. After getting our tips (and some time for questions), we will celebrate the holidays with all the goodies brought by the members.

November 17, 2008

Routing Intruders Away From Your PC

Presentation by Computer Specialist, Lee Seidman

Routers are frequently thought of as a connector between your PC and the Internet. In fact, in June of this year we had a program by Lee Seidman on just that. Many people asked for more details on the basics of routers and how they can protect a PC from computer break-ins. So Lee has agreed to come back to simplify the use of routers and to explain how to use a router to add a layer of security. Mark your calendar for November 17 and bring a friend along for some basics on routers and to have some fun. Then stay for a while after for some networking and some free snacks provided by Wally and

October 20, 2008

Why We Like Our Digital Cameras

Presentation by a panel of BPMUG camera buffs

The world of cameras is evolving constantly and is very different from just a few years ago. We used to develop photos -- now we download them. We used to use a darkroom to enhance photos, now we use our computers with software to accomplish those results. With technology moving forward rapidly, we see all kinds of digital cameras on the market.

We will have a panel of experienced BPMUG members bring in their cameras and tell us what they like about them. This is also an opportunity to find out any short-comings of these cameras. We will get to see a nice high-end camera but mostly we will get to find out which "every-day" cameras are good and why. We will get some tips on what features to look for in a good camera and what to do to get the best results. This will be an interesting presentation with these seasoned photographers.

September 15, 2008

Speed-up, Clean-up, and Maintain Your PC

Presentation by Jim Smith, Book Author & BPMUG President

It is time to tune-up our PC’s for a long winter of computing. BPMUG computer user group will sponsor a free demonstration on how to tune-up, clean out, and gain control of your computer. We will demonstrate a bunch of ways that you can speed it up and clean out some of the clutter that might be slowing it down. We will even open the computer case and show you how to clean the insides as well as how to add memory and some other enhancements. We will even pass out some “cheat sheets” so you can follow along and see how we do it all. At the end of the evening, you’ll be able to take the sheets home and put some life back into your own PC.

August 2008

Vacation! No meeting in August.

July 21, 2008

Open Office -- An Alternative to Microsoft's Office Suite

Presentation by Jim Smith, BPMUG President

Open Office is a free alternative to Microsoft's Office Suite. With Microsoft's standard 2007 Office package retailing at $399.95, a free suite for the office sounds too good to be true. To get a free alternative to Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook is very tempting but what are the pros and cons of using Open Office? How complicated is it to install? How secure is it? Does it have spyware or bugs in it? Can Word Documents and Excel spreadsheets be used in Open Office? Come to our July 21st meeting and get all of your questions answered.

Open Office (www.openoffice.org) is both a product and an open–source project. It has been in existence for almost eight years, having its beginning with Stardivision in Germany. The mission of the project is to create a leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data. This project is sponsored by Sun Microsystems with other big-name contributors such as Novell, Redhat, Redflag, CH2000, IBM, and Google. Over 450,000 people have contributed to this office suite.

Book author and BPMUG President, Jim Smith, will demonstrate Open Office and many of its features. He will give details that will help you decide whether or not to change over to the Open Office suite. And the price of the meeting is the same as the price of Open Office - free!

June 16, 2008

Drive The Superhighway While Using No Gasoline!

Presentation by Lee Seidman, Certified Computer Specialist

Are you tired of having a slow dial-up internet connection while others talk about their fast connection? Do you have DSL but want to learn about connecting it without being inundated with jargon?

BPMUG is bringing in one of our newest members -- a certified computer specialist and teacher -- Lee Seidman, to cut through the jargon for us. Lee understands that getting a router to work even after you have the DSL line put in is sometimes tricky. Lee will offer his knowledge and some easy tips on how to do this smoothly.

May 19, 2008

Genealogy – What’s New... With What's Old?

By Richard Roberts, Head of CT State Library’s History & Genealogy Unit

If we dig deep enough, we will find amazing information about our roots. We can do this in the comfort of our own home with our own computer or at our State Library in the vast History & Genealogy section.

BPMUG has invited the library head, Richard Roberts, to be our presenter for our May 19th meeting. Richard will be giving us some great references to begin or continue our search. He has agreed to share some websites where we can get started. And if you visit the State Library (www.cslib.org/handg.htm), the staff will help you devise and outline search strategies; use catalogs, indexes, and research guides to identify and locate pertinent library and archival resources; use the collections and more.

Handout from the meeting: Genealogy Resources

April 21, 2008

Digital Photography Tips

By BPMUG member, Bruce Metzger

It is time to learn more about how to use your digital camera for upcoming vacations and family gatherings! You can take plenty of great photos but then what? Who wouldn't want to share photos? But what is the best way to transfer that great image from your camera to your PC? And to resize it so it doesn't take forever to send via email. Digital photography can be fun and Bruce will show how to make it even more fun! Bruce will give a variety of photo tips and share his secrets on how to enjoy a digital camera and how to get the most out of those photos you've taken.

March 17, 2008

Computer Follies

By Dan Henry -- Dan Henry Technology Support

Professional computer consultant Dan Henry of Dan Henry Technology Support will be coming in to talk about computer follies. Dan has an easy way of explaining away computer mysteries in everyday language. This lighthearted presentation will cover everything from the reason putting your laptop with your checked luggage is a bad idea, to why H.P's off -shore support says new printers are out of warranty, and why your daily back-up job may not really help, and lots more. Dan will share stories of his 14 years of supporting homes and businesses for PC problems. His hope is to help us sidestep many common follies and avoid obvious problems.

February 18, 2008

Back To Basics -- Practicing Safe Computing

By Jim Smith, Owner of Blarneystone Internet Services

Jim Smith will cover the ABC of securing your PC and how you can easily and cheaply protect your PC from outside (and inside) invasions. Jim will unravel the mystery behind various terms such as firewall, spyware, viruses, worms, and more. Jim will discuss various ways that your PC can be compromised and ways to prevent those break-ins. Key to protecting your computer is by having strong password protection. Jim will offer tips on how to create and remember strong passwords without listing them on a post-it note on the front of your monitor. In his business, Jim is required to keep hundreds of passwords for clients and he will share some tips on how he keeps track of those passwords safely using one of the password managers, RoboForm. Jim will show how to use a program like RoboForm to also save info like credit card numbers and how to safely and easily use that information in completing on-line forms.

January 21, 2008

Radically Clean Out All of The Debris in Your PC

John Yearsley, General Manager at Staples

John Yearsley will come in to teach us how to bring our computer back to "the way it was". He will show how to wipe our hard drive (after a careful backup of course!), and how to start over with a new fresh installation of our operating system. He will show how to install all of those programs that we use regularly and how to configure it.

Why would you do this? You get rid of all those lingering temporary files. It completely defragments your hard drive. Any hidden spyware bugs are wiped away. Your registry gets cleaned of all those lost listings. It clears out all the lingering files from programs that were installed and then deleted. You are starting with a fresh new copy of your software. And that's a great feeling!

December 17, 2007

Holiday Party

For our December 17 meeting we had our December tradition -- A Holiday Party! One of our members shared a tip and then we opened the meeting to a party with Hors d'Oeuvers and desserts. For the tip, Barry Gordon demonstrated how to print labels using Word. This is very useful for your home, small business, or club. After Barry's tip, we celebrated the holiday season with door prizes and a raffle with some special give-aways!

November 19, 2007

How To Be Safe While Doing Your Holiday Shopping On-line

Officer Rob Riccobon from the West Hartford Police department

It’s getting close to the holiday season and it’s time to think about that special someone who deserves a gift. What better way to shop than on-line with the whole world at your fingertips. No long lines. No need to park far away and fight through the crowded holiday shoppers. Just select the goodies, add them to your shopping cart, and finally pull out your credit card and complete your purchase. It’s so easy, there’s no reason to give this a second thought... right??

At our Nov. 19th meeting, Officer Rob Riccobon from the West Hartford Police department will give us some tips for a happy and safe on-line holiday shopping experience. Shopping on line can be fun if you do it safely. Officer Riccobon will give tips on how to stay safe on the Internet.

October 15, 2007

Quarter Century Celebration

BPMUG is celebrating a quarter century of our computer users helping other computer users. That’s cause for celebration! This will be a fun meeting while we take a brief look back to what life was like in 1982 with those old computers. We have invited some of our founding members to tell us all about the fun they had tinkering and different BPMUG was then vs. now. Thanks to many dedicated volunteers over the past 25 years we have thrived and now it’s time to celebrate! After our “fireside chat” with founding members, and questions from the audience, we will have our 25th anniversary party with cake and punch.

September 17, 2007

Speed-up, Clean-up, and Maintain Your PC

Presentation by Jim Smith

Summer vacations are winding down and it is time to crank up your PC for a long winter of computing. At the September 17th meeting, we will show you how to gain control of your computer. We will demonstrate a bunch of ways that you can speed it up and clean out some of the clutter that is slowing it down. We will even pass out some “cheat sheets” so you can follow along and see how we do it. Beginners are encouraged to attend this meeting. At the end of the evening, you’ll be able to take your cheat sheet home and put some life back into your own PC. This meeting will be led by the entertaining and educational past President of BPMUG, Jim Smith.

August 2007

Vacation! No meeting in August.

July 16, 2007

Make A Splash with your Summer Vacation Photos

Presentation by Dot & Dan Doll and Barry Gordon

It is Summer and time for vacations and having fun with digital photography. For those of you who have seen Dan and Dot Doll's recent digital photos, you know our July meeting will be a big splash! Dot and Dan Doll, BPMUG members and enthusiastic digital photographers, will dazzle us with wonderful underwater digital photographs they have taken. They will share techniques on how they took their photos as well as some tips on how they digitally enhanced the photos. We have paired them up with BPMUG's Photo SIG host, Barry Gordon, who will give us the highlights of Adobe Elements and give us some ideas on how to enhance our own vacation photos. Summer means fun and what better way to remember all the good times than great photos!

June 18, 2007

How Much Security is Just Right

By John Yearsley, General Manager, Staples in Mansfield, CT

We all know that the Internet -- in addition to being a wonderful and helpful tool -- has become a breeding ground for criminals, thieves, and others wishing harm to us or our data. It is estimated that in 2004, hackers bilked the computer world out of several hundred million dollars. Total related damage done to the world economy exceeds tens of billions of dollars annually.

What do we do to protect our computer from such problems? We install an antivirus program to protect us from the viruses. But we're told that's not enough. So we put a firewall on to keep the evil-doers from entering our computer or sending out data to the world. Then we are told those pesky pop-up ads are because of bugs called spyware. So we get a spyware program or two to keep the pop-up ads from slowing down our computer. Now we are starting to feel secure.

The antivirus program starts monitoring our email which slows it down to a crawl on some days. The firewall starts watching for spyware and checking up on our antivirus program. It loads updates which slows our computer down while it installs in the background. Our connection from our computer to the Internet keeps getting interrupted and someone is blaming it on our firewall. Our browser won't let us sign up to buy a book on line because it doesn't have the right security patch. The firewall keeps asking us if we are sure we want to allow programs to run. We aren't sure so we let it load its programs. We want to buy on-line so we reluctantly enable JavaScripts and Active-X on our browser. And we want to get our email without it running through a sloooow filter so, with some reluctance, we disable the filters. Our antivirus has expired and someone recommended another one so we try to install a different antivirus program. Instead of feeling secure and having a smooth operating computer, the system seems to be going slower and slower... and we are feeling less and less secure.

Come listen to John Yearsley talk to BPMUG about computer security in a new way... how much is not enough, too much, and just right. With all the protection out there, it is now time to find out how to keep our computer secure without slowing it to a crawl.

May 21, 2007

Everything You Want To Know About Backing Up Your Hard Drive

By Shane Schmidt of Pexagon Technology

Shane Schmidt is the Technical Marketing Manager for Pexagon Technology which is a manufacturer of personal storage devices. Shane will be answering many questions we have about hard drive back-ups -- and more specifically he will cover what is a back-up, why it’s important, how often, and different types. He will use statistics that speak to the failure rates of hard drives as well as bringing in some products to show us the different types of back up and back up devices available.

The bad old days of backing up to a stack of floppy disks is gone! Pexagon manufactures the Store-It™ Thumb Drive where one little tiny thumb size drive can hold well over two-thousand floppies worth of data!. These are available in 14 colors and laser engraved with 2 lines of text or a company logo. They've also got portable Store-It hard drives that fit in your pocket and those hold more data than eighty thousand floppies (160GB). Or they have their desktop Store-It ™ hard drive (up to 500GB). That can hold data from over 350,000 floppy disks which is even more floppy disks than AOL sent us over the years (and we got a LOT of those!). With the low cost of disk storage today, there should be no reason not to back up those valuable documents on your hard drive.

April 16, 2007

Viva la Vista!

Presentation by Vista guru, Carl Lyons

Forbes Magazine, in an article titled, "Microsoft Vista: Not 'People Ready'" critically says, "The new programs are phenomenally complex, with scores of buttons and pull-down menus and myriad connections among various applications." PC Magazine kindly states, "The new OS is far more than Windows XP with a pretty new face. Many aspects of Vista are substantive improve-ments: stronger security, better built-in apps, networking enhancements, parental controls, --and DirectX 10 graphics support, to name just a few." But elsewhere in the PC Magazine a review summarizes, "Vista offers a lot of improvements over Windows XP, but most of them are conveniences rather than essentials."

So what's the real story on Vista? Why not find out for yourself? Barry Pilver from CompUSA has made arrangements to have Vista guru, Carl Lyons, attend our April 16th meeting and show us a detailed overview of the product.

March 19, 2007

It Was A Starry Night In March...

Presentation by Jason Archer, Planetarium Director at the Children’s Museum in W.Hartford

As a kid, did you ever look up at the skies and wonder what was there? Were you fortunate enough to peer through a telescope and dream of unlocking some of the secrets of the universe? Now with help from computers, stargazing is easier and more fun than ever. Galileo would be astounded to see how advanced this technology has become. Come to the March 19th meeting and you can be astounded as well!

BPMUG's March meeting will be led by the enthusiastic director of the Planetarium at the Children’s Museum in West Hartford, Jason Archer. He will guide us through the skies and stars with three wonderful software programs: Starry Night, The Sky, and Celestia. Bring your wildest imagination of the universe to this meeting and prepare to be dazzled!

February 19, 2007

Jump On-Line With A Free Personal Web Page

Presentation by Jim Smith of Blarneystone Internet Services

Have you ever wanted to build your own personal web site? Something to let you share photos, links, and hobbies? Or with information about your family or friends? Long time BPMUG member, Jim Smith, will be our presenter for the February 19th meeting. Jim will discuss some of the options you have available to get you started. For example, through your Internet Service Provider, it is likely that you can get a free personal Web site with your subscription. They typically have a basic editor as well for building your site. Gone are the days when complicated programming skills or knowledge of HTML are needed to build your site.

Jim will show some of the options that are out there for you to get started. He will demonstrate a couple of the free programs being offered. He will talk about various options that you can use in your web site. Whether you want to learn what a blog is and how to set one up, or just want to share some family photos or to announce your upcoming family gathering, don't miss this meeting. There will be plenty of time at the end to answer your questions.

Jim has his own company, Blarneystone, LLC and has been designing web sites for businesses for 13 years. In 2000, he wrote a book, "How To Start a Home-Based Web Design Business" and the third edition was just shipped to book stores last month. He has agreed to stay after and sign books for aspiring web designers.

January 15, 2007