Computer Info – December 18, 2002

 

Merry Christmas – Happy New Year

 

This Week’s Meeting

               Let’s discuss internet providers.  This will give everyone a chance to learn about different ones in the area – what problems we have with them, etc.  I know that this is a big topic with everyone today – because of Earthlink purchasing so many of our providers.

 

New Schedule

               Starting in February, 2003, we will begin to have our meetings on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month.  The group has been meeting for many years now and we feel that it is time for a change. 

               Also, since Christmas and New Year’s Day fall on a Wednesday, there will be no meetings over the holidays.  The next meeting will be on January 8th, 2003.

 

Another Internet  Provider

Copper.Com

               http://www.copper.net

$9.95 a month unlimited – or $99 a year

tollfree technical support

local numbers in DeBary, Deland and Sanford

no setup fees

 

 

Keep The Kids Entertained Over the Holidays

               John demonstrated many small programs that can be downloaded from his site

                                              http://www.hdprint.co.uk/ftp/fun%20%stuff

Look for the following -----

               Adventjw.ppt                         (the advent calendar template for PowerPoint)

               Atree.exe                (help decorate the Christmas tree)

               Crimbo.exe                            (A Christmas card)

               Elfbowl.exe                            (bowling game with elves as the pins)

               Lights95.exe                           (places Christmas lights on your desktop)

               Redspot                  (a small video of Rudolph arriving)

               Santasmemory

               Santa Strike                           (shoot down parachuting elves)

               Snowman                               (dress the snowman)

               Stressreducers                        (decorate your desktop while relieving your tensions)

It was suggested that you could place these programs in a folder on your desktop labeled Christmas so the children could easily locate them.  How about placing them all on a CD to save for next Christmas – or you could give them to a grandchild on a CD as a Christmas gift.

 

Margins in Word

               Ever notice sometimes that the document you have created only has one or two lines that go onto the second page.  By making an adjustment to your margins, it will all fit on one page.

               From FILE – choose PAGE SETUP.  On the MARGINS tab, you can adjust your top and bottom margin (to make them a little smaller).

               If you check the PRINT PREVIEW, you can see if your document now fits on one page – or check the status bar – notice how it tells you what page you are working on, which section, and how many pages (1/1 – means first page of one, 1/3 – means first page of three)

 

Netscape 4.7 Users

               We have encountered a few very strange problems with Netscape 4.7 while we have been helping people transfer their internet service – and here is what we have found.

               Netscape 4.7 users cannot access the web pages of two of the internet providers that we have listed.  The two are   695online  and  k2services.  No one seems to know the answer to this or the reason why it is happening.  Internet Explorer can access these sites – or Netscape 7.0 can.

               And this one was even stranger.  Our neighbor has always used Netscape 4.7 for their mail.  She used it in the morning when her email address was through  --  n-jcenter.com  --  in the afternoon after installing Earthlink (who had bought the n-jcenter.com customers), the mail would indicate that messages were coming in – but they would not show up.  Earthlink didn’t have an answer for this one – just suggested that they upgrade their version of Netscape or use Outlook Express.

               And the latest one, was with k2services.com  --  a password had to be entered when you wanted to see an email (not receive one).

 

Dual Monitors in Windows XP

               We recently had a chance to see two monitors hooked up to the same computer.  Powerpoint was running on it.  On the main screen (number 1), the program ran – but when it was time for the slideshow to start, that could be seen on the other monitor (number 2) while the main computer continued to display the program.  This isn’t something that most of us would have any use for, but it is nice to know that such things are possible.

               The person using it normally switches the output between her computer and a projector that the church congregation is watching.  By using the dual monitor system, the congregation never has to watch the setup of the presentation – only the slideshow itself.

               The two monitors were both connected to the same video card – because the video card had a standard monitor connection (analog) and also had DVI out (digital).  Since both of her monitors were analog, she had an adaptor that went from the digital connection to an analog connection.  Another method of connecting up two monitors would be the use of two video cards.

 

Calendar Wizard

               To download the calendar wizard (calendar.wiz) from John’s web site – locate it in the Fun Stuff folder  (  http://www.hdprint.co.ukftp/fun%20stuff  ).  Right click on it and choose SAVE TARGET AS – save it to your DOWNLOAD folder.  Right click on it again and choose COPY.  Now we have to determine where to paste it.

               From the START menu, choose SEARCH – FILES AND FOLDERS.  Search for  *.wiz   This should locate where other wizards are located.  It should be somewhere under PROGRAM FILES – MICROSOFT OFFICE – TEMPLATES – 1033.  Once you locate the correct folder, you can paste your wizard there.  Then when you start Word, go to FILE – NEW – you should find your calendar wizard there.