September, 1999
News Letter
A message from the President:
At the August meeting, we had 12 members and 1 guest. The facilities were small but adequate and we had a lively discussion about the future of this User’s Group.
It was so much trouble to find a place with analog phone lines and an LCD Projector and a Computer with a modem that I became very frustrated and expressed my desire for this group to raise its dues enough for us to afford to get on somebody’s Preferential List instead of frequently being on Stand-by status.
We can have room 132 at IVY TECH on the 2nd of September, but after that all their classrooms are full on Thursday’s. We discussed moving the meeting night to Fridays, when there are classrooms available but this idea was opposed by several. The $50 we had to pay for that one meeting was out of our normal range, at the present dues but acceptable, once. It was a problem.
Rodney Malkoff went on to make an outstanding presentation on MediaRing that was not only successful but very interesting as well. Thanks Rodney !
GOOD NEWS: Rodney Malkoff went back to our meeting place, the next morning, to retrieve some materials he left behind and casually mentioned the building being locked when we arrived at 6:30 PM Thursday evening. They had trouble believing it and were so embarrassed that they decided to refund our $50. Wow, that was great, considering that we did get into the building in time to have our meeting anyway.
BAD NEWS: Several members received Newsletters marked "(Last Issue)" and only Richard Smiley responded by paying another year’s dues. Dropping those put us down to 63 mailing labels. Three of those are Complimentary and another three are Guests, taking our membership down to 57. Four of those are getting September Newsletters marked (LAST ISSUE) and there will be another nine in October. Our membership is crumbling right out from under us and I don’t know what to do about it. Obviously my brilliant idea about member’s AREAS OF FAMILIARITY and the STATISTICS SHEET have been unsuccessful and the members didn’t know we weren’t going to have a door prize until I explained the expense of the room. No one objected, but with only 12 members present, they weren’t there for the door prize anyway.
GOOD NEWS: Talking to our new liaison at IVY TECH, DAVID HAYES, he told me that Debbie Gray is only responsible for scheduling classrooms. He told me we could use the small Computer Lab Room 104 each second Thursday for the rest of the semester. HOORAY !!!
September’s presentation will be on Genealogy and your computer. I hope to see you there.
Larry L. Thompson-President, IBM PC User’s Group
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All Roads Lead to Redmond
To view the official Windows 98 Easter Egg, open the Date/Time control panel and select the Time Zone tab. Hold Ctrl while you click in the vicinity of Cairo, Egypt; drag the cursor to Memphis, Tenn. (roughly in between the Great Lakes and Florida). Keep the Ctrl key depressed and release the mouse button, and click and drag from Me3mphis to Redmond, Wash. Release Ctrl and the mouse button, and the Windows 98 credit screen--with music--will appear. If it doesn’t start for you, keep trying. Its pretty picky about your getting the exact spot for each stop along the road.
Richard Coop Sr.
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Play Favorites with Programs
Do you have a few programs that you use far more than any others? If so, you can make those programs more quickly accessible. The improved Disk Defragmenter, click start and select Programs/Accessories/System Tools and then select Disk Defragmenter. Click on the settings button and make sure that the option labeled "Rearrange program files so my programs start faster" is selected. Click OK twice to begin defragmentation.
Richard Coop Sr.
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Non 98 Windows Update
Microsoft’s Windows Update site is great for win 98 users. But if you use another version of Windows, there’s another Microsoft download area for you, also called Windows Update. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/download/default.asp to download fixes and updates for Win 95, Win 3.1, NT Workstation, NT Server, Windows 2000 and Windows CE. The Win 95 area offers updates and service packs, along with utilities such as Power-Toys, Kernel Toys and administrative tools.
Richard Coop Sr.
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NOTEPAD SURPRISE
Think there’s not much to know about Notepad? Think again. For example, you can insert the current time and date in Notepad just by pressing F5. Or, if you want to log the date and time automatically each time you open a Notepad file, type .LOG on the first line, then save and close the file. Every time you open the file thereafter, the current date and time will be recorded in it.
Richard Coop Sr.
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SHIFTY RIGHT-CLICK
Normally, when you right-click a file in Windows Explorer, a Context Menu appears with options to open, view, cut, copy, rename files and so forth. But if you hold the Shift key while you right-click a file, you’ll see an entirely different Context menu. The Shift right-click menu allows you to alter the file view (so you can see small or large icons, details and so on), rearrange the icons, or create a new folder or file.
I hope you have some fun with the tips and keep trying to find some new ones. We need you in our club. Ask your friends to come to our next meeting.
Richard Coop Sr.
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SEND THAT FILE ON OVER
M. Hoffman writes, "I think it would be nice if you let people know that they can use the Send To command to send a file to an e-mail recipient via Outlook Express. It's a quick way of generating an e-mail with a file already attached." M. is right. The Send To command is a great way to send a file to
someone. Right-click the file you want to send, select Send To, Mail Recipient, and up pops an Outlook Express new message window. Address the message as usual (and type a message body, if desired), then click
Send to send it off.
(Note: Clicking Send will initiate the send operation automatically. In other words, the message won't go to your Outbox.)
(Note for advanced users: The application used to send the message is determined by the 'URL:MailTo Protocol' file type. In an open Explorer window, select View, Folder Options, click the File Types tab, and so
on.)
Ed Danley
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ALL CAP LETTERS IN MICROSOFT WORD
If you're a high-speed typist, you can type several sentences without ever looking at the screen. That's great unless you accidentally turned the Caps Lock key on. In that, um, case all the characters are
in the opposite case. Don't delete them and start all over again. Instead, select the text, then choose Format, Change Case. When the Change Case dialog box opens, select the radio button labeled tOGGLE cASE and click OK. Your text will now appear in the correct case.
Ed Danley
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PREVENTION IS THE BEST CURE FOR LOCKITUS
. There's another way to handle the Caps
Lock problem. Choose Tools, AutoCorrect. When the AutoCorrect dialog box opens, select the Correct Accidental Usage Of cAPS LOCK Key check box. Click OK to close the dialog box. Now if you accidentally toggle the Caps Lock key, Word will not only produce correct text, it will toggle off the Caps Lock key.
Ed Danley
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END TASK TO RECOVER FROM LOCK-UP
Did your system just lock up on you? Before you reboot your system entirely, there's one last hope: Try ending the current task.
Oftentimes (but not always), you can close only the program that caused the problem, and get back to work.
Assuming you just locked up, press Ctrl-Alt-Del to open the Close Program dialog box. Select the task that caused the problem (most likely, it will say Not Responding in parentheses), and click the End Task button. After a few seconds, a separate End Task dialog box will pop up, explaining that the program is not responding. Click End Task
again, and with any luck, Windows will proceed to close just that program.
(Note: If pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del does absolutely nothing; or if trying to end a task results in a total lock-up, you're flat outta luck. Time to reboot.)
Ed Danley
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DELETE A WORD IN DICTIONARY
Reader Eugene A. wants to know if there is a way to delete a word from the Microsoft Word Dictionary once a user has added it.
When you add words to the dictionary in Word, you are adding them to a separate user dictionary. So the answer is yes, you can delete incorrectly spelled words from the user dictionary.
Although you could modify the Custom dictionary file using Word 97, most people find it simpler with Notepad. To do this, run Windows Explorer and navigate to c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office
(assuming Microsoft Office is on drive C:). In this folder, you'll find Custom.dic. Double-click its icon to open the file in Notepad.
You can now add, delete, or edit words in the custom dictionary. After you're finished working with the file, choose File, Save and then File, Exit to close Notepad.
Ed Danley
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HOT SITE
http://www.scsite.com/sclabs/menu.htm
Tutorial for basic computer concepts. Must have Macromedia Shockwave to run.
Jerry Henry
LEARN THE NET
On-line tutorials teach beginners how to surf the Web, post to newsgroups, configure an
e-mail, run searches and much more.
Jerry Henry
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SPLIT DECISION
Don’t have a zip drive but would really like to store and transport some large files. Try
http://www.essi.fr/~berger/Windows/split.html
This great piece of freeware lets PC users break files into two or more data chunks, which can be copied onto multiple floppies. And, of course, Split Files also lets users reunite these chunks into a single file.
Jerry Henry
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Winders 98
From: Vicki (Red_All_Over)
It has come to our attention that a few copies of the West Virginia edition of Windows 98 may have accidentally been shipped outside WestVirginia. If you have one of the West Virginia editions you may need some help understanding the commands. The West Virginia edition may be recognized by looking at the opening screen. It reads WINDERS 98 with a background picture of General Lee superimposed on a Confederate flag. It is shipped with a Daisy Duke screen saver.
Also note:
The Recycle Bin is labeled Outhouse
My Computer is called This Infernal Contraption
Dialup Networking is called Good Ol'Boys
Control Panel is known as the Dern Dashboard
Hard Drive is referred to as Four Wheel Drive
Floppies are them little ole plastic disc thangs.
And instead of an error message, you get a winder covered with a garbage bag and duct tape.
Other features:
OK = ats aww-right
cancel = hail no
reset = awa shoot
yes = shore
no = naaaaa
find = hunt-fer it
go to = over yonder
help = hep me out here
stop = ternit off
start = crank it up
settings = sittins
programs = stuff at does stuff
documents = stuff I done done
Also note that winders 98 does not recognize capital letters or punctuation marks.
Some programs that are exclusive to WINDERS 98:
tiperiter = a word processor
colering book = a graphics program
addin mershene = calculator
scratch paper = notepad
jupe-box = CD player
inner-net = microsoft explorer
pichers = a graphics viewer
IRS = M/S accounting softwareIRS2 = M/S accounting sofware with hidden files
coon dog = American Kennel Club records
fishin = Bass Anglers Sportsman Society records
NRA = National Rifle Association
shot gun = Remington arms price list
riffel = Winchester price list
pisstel = Smith and Wesson price list
truck = Ford and Chevrolet dealers in Kentucky by zip code
house = nearest mobile home repair service by zip code
car = same as truck
cuzzins = family history (usuall a 3 meg file)
tax records = usually an empty file
shells ammunition inventory (another 3 meg file)
bud = list of Budweiser sellers by zip code
racin = NASCAR racing schedule includes a list of tv stations that carry the races
car n truck parts = nearest junk yard by zip code
doc = vetrinarians by zip code
We regret any inconvenience it may have cause if you received a copy of the West Virginia edition. You may return it to Micrsosoft for replacement version.
Jerry Henry
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Newsletter editor Jerry Henry
jhenry@netusa1.net 453-4144
Keep those articles coming in Word
Perfect, plain text, or Word.
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Ed Danley $1
R. W. Coop $1
Jerry Henry $1
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