Computer Info – November 13, 2002

 

This Week’s Meeting

            Wes has a new program named ATC Simulator that he will be demonstrating.  It is an Air Traffic Controller simulation.  Then we will take a look at Nero 5.5 – a CD burning program.  We should still have time for questions and answers.

            Don’t forget next Wednesday (the 20th) and the following Wednesday (the 27th) – Larry Kebel will be discussing the writing of web pages – HTML – web page promoting, etc. 

 

Office XP Service Pack 2

            The Office XP Service Pack 2 includes all the released Office XP updates as well as some new enhancements that improve security, performance, and stability.  You can obtain this update ----  at

          http://office.microsoft.com/ProductUpdates/default.aspx

and under the Welcome To Office Product Updates, click GO.  The site will automatically detect which updates your PC needs.  Click the checkboxes next to the updates you want and click Start Installation. 

           

Batteries

            When your camera (or other device) uses four batteries (probably AA) -- you really shouldn’t mix two new batteries with two that are partially used.  Think of your four batteries as legs of a heavy oak table, with the tabletop being your camera.  A\If all the legs have the same load-bearing capability, then your tabletop is sturdy.  If one of the legs is made of balsa wood, then you will probably have problems.  More of the weight of the table will have to be supported by other legs or the table will collapse. 

 

Resolution

            Printers look for a file resolution of between 240 and 300 dpi – 300 dpi is a safe number that always works for printing, but with most inkjets, 240 gives the same results. 

            But, if we are scanning a slide that is 1 inch wide – then we would have to determine what to scan it at in order to produce a print that is 6 inch wide.  You would divide the 1 inch into the 6 inches and then multiply by the 300 dpi that the printer needs  (6 / 1 = 6  ------  6 * 300 = 1800) – therefore, you would have to scan the slide at 1800 dpi.

 

ATC Simulator

            This program is an authentic simulation of an ARTS-llla radar terminal used by the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Control system at TRACONS around the United States.

            There are 48 sectors (airports) in this program – with Orlando being one of them. 

            It also allow you to track your career as an Air Traffic Control Specialist.  When you first begin, you will be considered a GS-7 Air Traffic Control Trainee.  As you progress and develop your skills, your pay will increase with your measured performance.  Your ultimate goal is to become a GS-15 Air Traffic Control Branch Chief.  This is the highest pay ranking attainable as a professional Air Traffic Controller.

I Hate Spam

            Last week, Ernie mentioned a program for helping eliminate some of the email spam you are received.  He heard about it on the Clark Howard radio show.  The name of the program is I Hate Spam. 

            This program runs under Windows 98?ME/NT/2000/XP.  It gives you control over the flood of annoying and time-wasting email.   It currently supports Outlook 2000/2002 and Outlook Express version 5 or higher.

            There is no configuration or setup needed – install it and it works.  The cost is $29.95.  

            It can be purchased online or at CompUSA stores.

            One step offered during setup that is highly recommended is to add your entire address book to the program's whitelist.  Any e-mail received from anybody on this list will be accepted automatically. This helps prevent false positives from intercepting legitimate messages

 

 

Another Problem with ZoneAlarm

               A member has been having problems accessing web pages and email – and was told that they had to uninstall Zone Alarm (firewall) and was told that it was a chief culprit in corrupting files.  At that time, they had already disabled ZoneAlarm to save startup resources, but it still affected the computer.  
               After they uninstalled ZoneAlarm, they were able to use the web again.

 

Nero Burning 5.5

               Nero is a very easy to use program for creating CD’s.  You can create a DATA, AUDIO (using WAV files – if you wish to use MP3 files, you must purchase a plugin), MIXED MODE (this contains audio tracks and data on the same cd), VideoCD, CD Copy, and a bootable CD.  It also does a very good job of bringing the audio tracks over to the CD label program that is also included.