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Volume 23	September, 2004	Issue No. 9

In case you haven't been watching TV, it's that time of year again. Yes, ELECTION TIME. Next month (Oct) we will be asking for nominations for Board Officers with elections being held at the November meeting.

As always, anybody can be nominated for any Board Officer position. At the time of this writing TWO offices will be officially vacated, Webmaster and Club Treasurer. Dennis McMurtrey has been nominated for Webmaster and Dianne White has been nominated for Treasurer.

So if you feel like you would like to be more involved in the club, feel free to volunteer for ANY office. You can enjoy all the perks an office offers and have more input to club activities.

Progressive Raffle	JackPot is up to $175.00!!
Regular Meeting	Wednesday, September 15 Caseyville Township Bldg. 10001 Bunkum Rd. Fairview Heights, IL Directions: Map:
Board Meeting	Wednesday, October 6 Ponderosa Steakhouse 5 Eastport Plaza Drive Collinsville, IL (618)345-5006 Directions: Meal starts about 6:00. Meeting starts at 7:00 Everyone is welcome

This
Meeting

Pocket PCs and/or Computer Renaissance?

Next
Meeting

Undecided

Hello From The Pres...
Mike Taphorn

See you at the meeting …

Mike

See you at the meeting!
Enjoy.....JT

The Treasurer's Report
Don Wold

TREASURER'S REPORT
Don Wold, Treasurer

Balance as of Aug 2nd, 2004: $5464.75

INCOME:

Aug Roll-Over Jackpot: $96
New Members: 80
Renewing Mbrs: -0-
Aug CD Sales: 15.
Total Income: $191

5655.75

EXPENSES:

Admin. Expense $20
(Chargeback for returned
chk for $15 plus $5 fee-
(Chk # 4753 - Bumpus)
Balance as of Sep 1, 2004: $5635.75

The Secretary's Report
Carlos Mariles

Aug. 2004 GCC Minutes

President Taphorn started the meeting at 7 PM. As usual he welcomed the new members and guests. He opened by explaining that due to a last minute situation, our normal meeting demo had to be modified. In order to continue our normal tradition of having a demo after our normal meeting, the prez. decided to show some of the more traditional DVD and CD players which can be used to back up some of your most important personal files. Mike also explained the membership about the need for volunteers for the upcoming computer show which will be held from the 27^th through the 29^th of August at the Collinsville Convention center. He also explained certain club rules that the membership should follow while at the convention. The president also announced that the club as a whole was going to be attending a baseball game at the Grizzlies ball park. Any member who would like to attend, the club will pick up the tab for hot dogs and the entrance. The game will be held on the 24^th of Aug. and the map to get to the park will be posted on the internet. The Q and A period lasted for about 30 minutes and was followed by a 10 min break The meeting was finalized by the nightly presentation given by Mr. Taphorn, which by the way, was very informative

The next meeting will be held at the same place on Sept. the 15^th at 7 PM.

The Sec.

Till then,

Carlos

Number of Members in attendance last month:
Total Membership Before last month's meeting
Number of Members renewing last meeting
Number Of Members joined last meeting
Number of members dropped
Current Total Membership
Number of Members in Good Standing
Number of Members on Probation

The Web Master
Chuck Hill

This site has a power supply calculator that tells you how big your
supply needs to be [total wattage and each rail individually]. You tell
it the brands and quantities of the various components in your PC [or the
PC you're building] and it does the rest.

http://takaman.jp/D/?english

The Editor
Chuck White

We are slowly attaching a name to some of the photos we have on file. Feel free to stop by and check out the pics to see if you recognize them. And please check your badge for a photo. If no photo, see me to have one taken or check the unnamed photo list.

By the way, we had a wonderful time at the Gateway Grizzlies game. A few photos are posted at:

http://gcc.htctech.net/grizzlies/grizzlies.htm

HOW TO DISABLE SP2'S WINDOWS SECURITY CENTER
If you are not really security conscious then you should leave this
alone.

Windows Security Center is a new SP2-delivered Control Panel that
monitors your system for three security conditions: Up-to-date and
running antivirus software, running software firewall, and whether
Microsoft's Automatic Updates feature is turned on to its most
aggressive setting. This simple tool is designed to alert you with
system-tray icons and pop-up messages when any of those three security
areas isn't up to snuff.

Windows Security Center (WSC) doesn't detect every antivirus program
and software firewall, and only detects the most recent versions of
most of them. So even though you might be fully protected, WSC may
indicate that you're not. One solution is to upgrade to the latest
version of your security programs, in most cases these upgrades are
free, and some—including the update for Symantec's Norton AntiVirus—
will come down automatically via the Internet when you run the
company's update program. (In the case of Norton AntiVirus, Automatic
LiveUpdate only updates antivirus definitions. You have to run
LiveUpdate manually in order to check for program updates.)

For more experienced users who fully understand the security situation
on their computers—and whose PCs are fully protected—there are two ways
to get rid of Windows Security Center's potentially annoying warning
messages. The first is to open the Windows Security Control Panel and
click the "Change the way Security Center alerts me" hyperlink. Remove
the checkmarks beside some or all of the alert options there.

But what if you just want this thing off from your system? Not using
any system resources? There are two easy ways to accomplish that, both
of which you can reverse if you ever change your mind.

1. If you're familiar with the Windows Command Prompt, open it (choose
Start > Run > type: cmd > press Enter) type these two lines in
succession:

sc stop wscsvc
sc config wscsvc start= demand

(Note: The space after the equals sign is required.)

To reverse these steps, use these two commands entered the same way:

sc start wscsvc
sc config wscsvc start= auto

2. The second method uses a graphical process. Choose Start > Run >
type: services.msc > press Enter. That opens the Services box. On the
right side, click any name in the Name column. Type S to scroll the
list quickly. Look for the "Security Center" entry and double-click it
to open its properties page.

Toward the bottom in the "Service status" area, click the Stop button.
Just above that, open the "Startup type" dropdown menu and choose
"Manual." Click OK and close the Services window.

To reverse the steps, click the Start button and choose Automatic from
the dropdown menu.

Note: This tip was originally published in the Scot's Take column of PC
Today's November 2004 issue. The column offers several other ways to
configure and manage Windows XP Service Pack 2 that you'll want to know
about.

Living With Windows XP Service Pack 2 - PC Today:
http://www.pctoday.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/2004/t0211/03t11/03t11.asp

Later,

Miscellaneous
Things Of Interest And Importance To Someone

Kazaa Owner Cheers File-Swapping Decision

Aug 20, 9:11 AM (ET)

By MIKE CORDER

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - The distributor of file-swapping giant Kazaa on Friday welcomed a U.S. court's ruling that two of its rivals are not legally liable for the songs, movies and other copyright works shared online by their users.

Among other reasons for its landmark ruling Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc. were not responsible because they don't have central servers pointing users to copyright material.

Nikki Hemming - chief executive officer of Sharman Networks, the Sydney-based company that distributes the immensely popular Kazaa peer-to-peer, or P2P, software - hailed the ruling as "a fantastic result for the peer-to-peer community. This ruling reinforces similar decisions in other courts around the world that P2P is legal."

She called on the entertainment industry to "stop litigating and start partnering with us. Legislation is not the answer, commercialization of P2P is."

Rod Dorman, lead trial counsel for Sharman Networks in the U.S., said in a statement that Sharman would now seek a U.S. court ruling that the Kazaa software is legal.

"This is a victory for the technology industry and fans, artists and owners of entertainment content," he said.

Sharman is involved in litigation in the U.S. and Australia over whether its Kazaa software, used by millions of computer users around the world, is responsible for copyright infringement.

Dorman said the ruling also sent a message to file swappers "that they must use the software responsibly."

Dorman pointed out that the U.S. decision could not be used as precedent in Sharman's Australian copyright infringement case, because U.S. and Australian laws are slightly different.

"Regardless, the reasoning of the Ninth Circuit decision is powerful, sound and persuasive," he said. "In addition, and more importantly, we are a global community and there should be consistent doctrines governing the application of copyright law to the Internet worldwide. I expect that the Australian court will consider the reasoning of the Ninth Circuit during its deliberations."

In February, investigators from the Australian recording industry raided the Sydney offices of Sharman and Hemming's home, using rarely exercised search powers to hunt for evidence to support allegations of copyright infringements. The case is still before Australian courts.

Late last year, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that Kazaa's Netherlands division cannot be held liable for copyright infringement of music or movies swapped using its free software.

The Lighter Side
Of Computing

Computer Proverbs

1. Home is where you hang your @
2. The E-mail of the species is more deadly than the mail.
3. A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click.
4. You can't teach a new mouse old clicks.
5. Great groups from little icons grow.
6. Speak softly and carry a cellular phone.
7. C:\ is the root of all directories.
8. Don't put all your hypes in one home page.
9. Pentium wise; pen and paper foolish.
10. The modem is the message.
11. Too many clicks spoil the browse.
12. The geek shall inherit the earth.
13. A chat has nine lives.
14. Don't byte off more than you can view.
15. Fax is stranger than fiction.
16. What boots up must come down.
17. Windows will never cease.
18. In Gates we trust.
19. Virtual reality is its own reward.
20. Modulation in all things.
21. A user and his leisure time are soon parted.
22. There's no place like <http://www.home.com/>
23. Know what to expect before you connect.
24. Oh, what a tangled website we weave when first we practice.
25. Speed thrills.
26. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to use the Net and he won't bother you for weeks.
Found in: ukonline.zine.humour

*****

And a personal favorite...

This is a "DIY" virus.

I have unfortunately been very busy lately and haven't had the time to write a virus. So please take a couple of minutes to open your documents folder and randomly delete 10 or 12 files (including a minimum of 3 system files) and then send this e-mail on to everyone on your mailing list.

Thank you for your co-operation.

If you have something you want to share, just send it to me using the above mailbox
or catch me at a meeting.