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| Volume 23 | November, 2004 | Issue No. 11 |
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ANNOUNCEMENT 1 |
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WHAT: Bluestar Super Computer Sale
WHERE: Collinsville Gateway Convention Center Directions WHEN: December 3 (12-9pm), 4 (10am-7pm), 5 (11am-5pm) WORK THE SHOW=GET IN FREE! SIGN UP TO WORK OUR BOOTH AT THIS MEETING |
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ANNOUNCEMENTS 2 |
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Didn't like the outcome of our national elections? Be at this
meeting to cast your vote! Ballot choices listed in this newsletter's Secretary's Report. Caseyville Township Hall authorized us to install internet
connections in our meeting room. WE NOW HAVE INTERNET ACCESS! Holiday party next month. Food/beverage signups this meeting.
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Progressive Raffle |
Jackpot is up to $225.00!! 28 cards left |
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Regular Meeting
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Wednesday, November 17 Caseyville Township Bldg. |
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Board |
Wednesday, December 1 5 Eastport Plaza Drive Meal starts about 6:00. Meeting starts at 7:00 Everyone is welcome |
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11-17
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Elections, swap meet & internet fun
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12-15
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Club Holiday Party!! |
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Hello From The
Pres... |
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SWAP MEET THIS MEETING
Everyone needs to make room for all of the new stuff we’re going to get at the Day-After-Thanksgiving sales, so, we’re going to have a swap meet at the November Meeting.
Please bring all the stuff you want to sell / swap to the November meeting and make some room for your new stuff. I have a few older computers that are getting donated to the club, so , please come to the meeting and take a few off of our hands. They will go cheap, cheap , cheap….
DEMONSTRATION
This month we are going to show off our newly installed Ethernet Network. At the last board meeting we climbed around the ceiling and installed an Ethernet network at the hall. We used a wireless router so the wireless folks can play, but, we also installed three hardwired ports for the normal Ethernet people. Please bring your computers and we’ll see what it can do. We’re planning on showing off a bunch of the board members favorite websites and we’ll show you how to use the internet to find the solutions to your problems during the Q&A session. The new network is really going to make our meetings more useful and fun for everyone.
ELECTIONS
It’s time for Elections:
We elect our officers every November. Most of our current board members are running for their offices again, but, we do have a few slots that are open so I’ll go over the positions and who is running for them now…
Position Nominees
President Mike Taphorn
V.P. Jim Tomlinson
Secretary Carlos Mariles
Membership Chairman J.C. Spelce
Librarian Charles Wallace (May become Treasurer)
Treasurer Dianne White & Charles Wallace
Webmaster Dennis McMurtrey
Newsletter Chuck White
If you want to run for Treasurer or Librarian or any other position, please come to the November meeting and let us know.
HOLIDAY PARTY PRIZES
I ordered the prizes and they should be here soon. Make sure you come to the Holiday Party in December to claim your Holiday Gift. It’s only for members and we’re going to have to limit everyone to one prize per family. It’s not a new car or even a new computer, but, I think you’ll like them and it is just a little something to show that we appreciate you and the fact that you are a member of the club…
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See
you at the meeting … Mike |
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The Computer
Master |
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The Treasurer's
Report |
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TREASURER'S REPORT Don Wold, Treasurer Balance as of Oct. 1, 2004: $5486.75 INCOME: Oct. Roll-Over Jackpot*: $53. 2 Mbrshp Renewals: 30. Total Income: $83.00 5569.75 EXPENSES: Bd. Mtg. Rm. Rserv.Fee: $20. (for Nov Bd. Mtg.) Total Expenses: $20.00 Balance as of Nov. 1, 2004: 5549.75 * Roll-Over Jackpot now worth $225. |
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The Secretary's Report |
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October 20, 2004 minutes (as taken by our illustrious
newsletter editor)
President Mike Taphorn opened the meeting at 7pm. He welcomed the new members and the guests. Mike outlined the schedule of tonight's meeting and explained the absence of some office members. He reiterated the fact that Don will be vacating the Treasurer office due to other responsibilities (which will remain nameless. NOT! It's his dart club). Mike then presented some magazine articles that may be of interest to our membership.
He then explained that our board members have discussed the possibility of installing an internet connection in our meeting room. He asked for membership approval to spend approximately $300 for materials to accomplish the hookup. We had overwhelming approval, 100% I think. He also asked for membership approval for approximately $500 to go to Christmas party gifts. Again approved.
Next was the acquisition of a club storage cabinet for the basement. He asked if anybody knows of a cheap or free locking cabinet.
On to board member comments. JC reported that we have 166 members in good standing and 20 on probation.
Next was board member nominations as follows:
President, Mike Taphorn (Incumbent, unopposed)
Vice President, Jim Tomlinson (Incumbent, unopposed)
Secretary, Carlos Mariles (Incumbent, unopposed)
Membership Chairman, JC Spelce (Incumbent, unopposed)
Treasurer, Dianne White
Treasurer, Charles Wallace
Librarian, Charles Wallace (Incumbent)
Librarian, Bob Butz (Volunteer)
Webmaster, Dennis McMurtrey (Incumbent, unopposed)
Newsletter Editor, Chuck White (Incumbent, unopposed)
Last official business was asking for LCD monitors for meeting and computer show use.
Next was our progressive raffle. Lyle was the $25 winner but no big pot winner.
Lastly was Q & A and our Computer Renaissance demo.
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Till then, Carlos' substitute
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The Membership
Chairman |
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| 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 | |
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The Web Master |
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We now have internet access at our club meetings !!!!!
We have both wired (3 ports spread throughout the meeting rooms) and wireless (802.11g [compatible with 802.11b]). We can connect switches onto the wired ports to gain even more connections if we run out of ports. For wireless, we're still debating on an SSID and WEP key - I'll publish those we decide at the next meeting. We have a limited number of wireless laptop cards members can borrow at meetings if they do not have one and they would like to surf the web while at the meetings. Note: you must return the card at the end of the meeting, first come/first serve and demos have priority. I would like to thank all of the club members that worked hard this evening to wire everything up. I know crawling around in ceilings is not a lot of fun - but I feel internet access at club meetings will be a major boom to the club. I would also like to thank Caseyville Township Hall for letting us install everything and staying open late so we could finish.. Thanks again for all of the hard work! |
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 Assistant Keith Hurst |
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The Editor |
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Extra special thanks to all who helped with internet connections in our meeting room. As always, we still have unnamed photos for badges. Check your badge before the computer show (see announcement 1).
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Mitch's Corner |
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Important info
This is from Tech Support Newsletter http://www.geekbooks.com/blog/archives/000169.html |
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Later,
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Miscellaneous |
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Updated: 12:40 AM EDT
Google Search Tool Has Privacy Risks
By ANICK JESDANUN, AP
NEW YORK (Oct. 18) - People who use public or workplace computers for e-mail, instant messaging and Web searching have a new privacy risk to worry about: Google's free new tool that indexes a PC's contents for quickly locating data. If it's installed on computers at libraries and Internet cafes, users could unwittingly allow people who follow them on the PCs, for example, to see sensitive information in e-mails they've exchanged. That could mean revealed passwords, conversations with doctors, or viewed Web pages detailing online purchases. "It's clearly a very powerful tool for locating information on the computer,'' said Richard M. Smith, a privacy and security consultant in Cambridge, Mass. "On the flip side of things, it's a perfect spy program.'' Google Desktop Search, publicly released Thursday in a "beta'' test phase for computers running the latest Windows operating systems, automatically records e-mail you read through Outlook, Outlook Express or the Internet Explorer browser. It also saves copies of Web pages you view through IE and chat conversations using America Online Inc.'s instant-messaging software. And it finds Word, Excel and PowerPoint files stored on the computer. If you're the computer's only user, the software is helpful "as a photographic memory of everything you've seen on the computer,'' said Marissa Mayer, director of consumer Web products at Google Inc. The giant index remains on the computer and isn't shared with Google. The company can't access it remotely even if it gets a subpoena ordering it to do so, Mayer said. Where the privacy and security concerns arise is when the computer is shared. Type in "hotmail.com'' and you'll get copies, or stored caches, of messages that previous users have seen. Enter an e-mail address and you can read all the messages sent to and from that address. Type "password'' and get password reminders that were sent back via e-mail. Acknowledging the concerns, Mayer said managers of shared computers should think twice about installing the software until Google develops advanced features like password protection and multi-user support. In the meantime, users of shared PCs can look for telltale signs. A multicolored swirl in the system tray at the lower right corner of the computer desktop means the software is running. A user can right-click on that to exit the program - thereby preventing it from recording Web surfing, e-mail and chat sessions. Users can also surf on non-IE browsers like Opera and Mozilla, although the software may index Web pages already stored before the software gets installed. Managers of public access terminals can also install software or deny users administrative privileges so they can't install unauthorized programs, such as Google's. In fact, many libraries and cybercafes already do so. Herb Jones, owner of Herb's Cyber Cafe in Oblong, Ill., tried out the desktop search program on his computer and likes it - but he won't install it on his two public terminals. In fact, he's written software to prevent customers from installing programs like it. "Otherwise, they can put on their own files if they want, a worm, a virus, anything, and you're shut down,'' Jones said.
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The Lighter
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