july 2009 bearly bytes4 big bear computer club bearly bytes newsletter july, 2009 sun mo tu we th...

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Big Bear Computer Club Bearly Bytes Newsletter July, 2009

President’s Message –Rosemary Lloyd

Award Winning Bearly Bytes Newsletter Next Meeting July 14 5:30 @ The Discovery Center

Bearly Bytes

Big Bear Computer Club Volume 9

July 2009

Big Bear, California

Inside:

Powerpoint Workshop ................................. 2

Calendars ..................................................... 3

Rick Edwards .............................................. 3

Officers and Key Leaders ............................ 4

General Meeting Notes ................................ 5

Door Prize Winners ..................................... 5

About Bearly Bytes ..................................... 6

Cash Flow .................................................... 6

National Cyber Alert System ...................... 7

What is Cyber Security? .............................. 8

Word, Excel and Windows Tips .................. 9

Membership Application and Map .............. 10

Happy Summer!!!

Those of you who attended last

month’s meeting saw Jim Apple-

bury give us a sneak peek at Win-

dows 7, Microsoft’s next operat-

ing system. According to what

I’ve read recently, Windows 7 is due to be released

in the latter part of October 2009. If you are think-

ing about buying a new computer this year, it

might be worth waiting until Windows 7 (or an

upgrade to it) is available.

Have you heard about the latest iPhone from Ap-

ple? It was released on Friday, June 19, 2009.

Apparently the Apple stores were busy all week-

end with lines of people around them. It was kind

of wild.

In the last few weeks, you may have noticed that

Microsoft released a number of Security and other

important updates. This has been one of those

times when they pushed updates off schedule (due

to their importance). It is just a reminder to keep

your system updated. It is important to maintain

its “health”. Of course, the person using the com-

puter is their own best defense against malware

infection. Good habits are number one. Be care-

ful where you go and what you open.

I’ll get off of my soapbox now. Enjoy!

Rosemary Lloyd

Jaime Link

First Glimpse | Smart Computing | PC To-day

Jaime will be her at our next

meeting. Come and enjoy a

very enlightening presenta-

tion and she’ll have a maga-

zine for you I’m sure. Happy 4th of July

premiummemory_com

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MICROSOFT POWERPOINT WORKSHOP

The Big Bear Computer Club is offering a Workshop on basic knowledge of

“Microsoft Powerpoint” on Monday, July 27, 2009 from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon.

The Powerpoint Workshop will be held at the Big Bear Discovery Center located at

40971 North Shore Drive, Fawnskin, CA 92333.

Those attending the Powerpoint Workshop are asked to bring their laptops so they

can have hands on training. There is a $10.00 donation for the workshop. For more in-

formation or to sign up for the Workshop, please contact the instructor, Rosemary Lloyd

at (909) 584-9358 or [email protected] .

Anyone wanting to learn on how to get the full use of their computer should plan on

attending the Big Bear Computer Club meetings held the 2nd Tuesday of the month, 5:30

pm. The next Computer Club meeting is Tuesday, July 14, 2009. The meetings are held

at the Big Bear Discovery Center which is located at 40971 North Shore Drive in Fawn-

skin, CA. The public is welcome to attend.

Belated Wishes

Happy Father’s Day

Sorry Dad’s, I missed it!!

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Sun Mo Tu We Th Fri Sat

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

July 2009

Sun Mo Tu We Th Fri Sat

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

August 2009

14 General Meeting

27 Microsoft Powerpoint

28 Board Meeting

11 General Meeting

25 Board Meeting

BIG BEAR COMPUTER CLUB GETS RECOGNITION IN SAN DIEGO

At the 16th Annual Southwest Computer Convention Rick Edwards was awarded Second Place in the

People Category on the submission of the “Young Masai Girl” and he also received the Best of Show for

his “Lioness Watching Her Cub Yawn”.

Rick Edwards, an associate of The Royal Photographic Society, perfected his photography skills while

living in Nairobi Kenya watching wildlife in the many parks of the region. During his last two years of his

stay in Kenya he became the official photographer for the Kenya Wildlife Service. Rick's work can be

seen in numerous brochures, magazines and books on wildlife in his beloved Kenya. Besides photogra-

phy, Rick also writes articles on wildlife to accompany his images.

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President......................................Rosemary Lloyd

584-9358 [email protected]

Vice President……………………….Yomar Cleary


Treasurer.......................................Barbara Moore


Secretary……………………..……..Mary Rowland


Reviews Editor………………..………Ron Fross

(951) 769-1225

Refreshments………………………...Gayle Richi

866-0814

Publicity.......................................... Yomar Cleary


Equipment Director..........................Don Odekirk


Technical Director................................ Jim Lloyd


Director at Large……….………..Rick Edwards


Webmaster........................................Bill Flanagan


Newsletter Editor............................Norene Lieser

626-378-8178 [email protected]

Membership Director……………....Tina Nazarian


Parliamentarian............................David Philipson


Historian..............................................Nancy Hinz


Sunshine Coordinator......................Grace Fross

(951) 769-1225 [email protected]

Officers and Key Leaders

www.techbargains.com

web site devoted to helping users find the best

technology products and the lowest price

Performance Management Software

866-566-7778

http://www.techbargains.com

http://www.halogensoftware.com/

http://www.premiummemory.com/

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General Meeting Notes– Mary Rowland

Editor, and Gail Ritchie who has the job as Refresh-

ments Coordinator.

The Southwest Computer Conference was a huge suc-

cess with Rick Edwards taking 2nd place in the Animals

category and Best in Show of the Digital Photo Contest

( with the pictures that were selected at our General

Meeting before the Conference). Summaries of the

Conference were given by Mary Ann Boone and Sandi

Ybarra. We wish to express our appreciation to Sandi

Ybarra for driving a full carload to and from the Con-

ference, as well as to recognize Don Odekirk, with a

Certificate of Appreciation, for always being available

to help whenever needed. Our own Jim Applebury

then gave a presentation on Windows 7, which in many

ways, seems to be an updated version of Vista with all

the patches included and the kinks worked out. There

were many new features, however, that were interesting

to find out about. Our question and answer session had

greater participation then there has been at recent meet-

ings, with both easy and difficult questions addressed.

In fact, a few of the questions were held over to be dis-

cussed at our July meeting. Our door prizes were then

drawn, as well as our 50/50 winner. The meeting was

then adjourned.

Our June 9, 2009 General Meeting,

was opened at the Discovery Center

by Rosemary Lloyd. Our guests and

new members were introduced, as well

as Ron Fross, our new Reviews taken

Bill Flanagan ― T Shirt

Odie Odekirk ― T Shirt

Sharon Teeter ― Corel Ulead Video Studio II

Paul Palmquist ― Cloud Computing Book

Teresa Hulett ― Windows 7 RC

Barbara Moore ― 50/50 winner 16.75

June Door Prize Winners

The Abacus Group

For All Your Computer Needs

Jim Applebury

909 584-1733

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AZTECA GRILL Open Daily

11:00 am - 9:00 pm

DINE IN

TAKE OUT

CATERING 40199 Big Bear Blvd.

Big Bear Lake

California

909 866-2350

Beginning Bank $3,576.35

Cash Received

Membership Dues $100.00

Fundraising: Equipment $35.00

Donations: 50/50 $33.50

Advertising $90.00

Other $123.00

Total Income $381.50

Cash Disbursed

Dues and Fees $44.00

Promotion $623.33

Total paid out $667.33

Ending balance in Bank $3,290.52

July Cash Flow About Bearly Bytes

Bearly Bytes, past winner of SWUGC & APCUG

Newsletter contests. is the official publication of the

Big Bear Computer Club. Views expressed in Bearly

Bytes are those of the authors and do not necessarily

reflect the opinions of Big Bear Computer Club.

Other computer user groups are welcome to reprint

our articles as long as they give credit to the author

and Bearly Bytes, Big Bear Computer Club.

Submissions: All BBCC members are encouraged to

send letters, articles, questions, and comments to

Bearly Bytes for inclusion in future issues. Submit

as plain text in the body of an email and attach any

graphics as JPEG or GIF format. Send to Yomar

Cleary

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National Cyber Alert System

Adobe Acrobat and Reader Vulnerabilities

Systems Affected

* Adobe Reader versions 9.1.1 and earlier

* Adobe Acrobat (Standard, Professional, and 3D) versions 9.1.1 and earlier

Overview

Vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Acrobat may allow an attacker

to take control of your computer. Adobe has released Security

Bulletin APSB09-07, which describes the issues.

Solution Update

Adobe has released updates to address this issue. Users are encouraged to read Adobe Security Bulletin

APSB09-07 and update

vulnerable versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat.

Disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader and Acrobat

Disabling JavaScript may prevent some exploits from resulting in code execution. Acrobat JavaScript can be

disabled using the

Preferences menu:

* Open the Edit menu.

* Select Preferences.

* Choose JavaScript.

* Un-check Enable Acrobat JavaScript.

Disable the display of PDF documents in the web browser

Preventing PDF documents from opening inside a web browser will partially mitigate this vulnerability. This

workaround may also

mitigate future vulnerabilities.

To prevent PDF documents from automatically being opened in a web

browser, do the following:

* Open Adobe Acrobat Reader.

* Open the Edit menu.

* Choose the Preferences option.

* Choose the Internet section.

* Un-check the Display PDF in browser check box.

Do not access PDF documents from untrusted sources

Do not open unfamiliar or unexpected PDF documents, particularly

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WHAT IS CYBER SECURITY

Authors: Mindi McDowell, Allen Householder

You've heard the news stories about credit card numbers being stolen and email viruses spreading. Maybe you've even

been a victim yourself. One of the best defenses understands the risks, what some of the basic terms mean, and what you

can do to protect yourself against them.

What is cyber security?

It seems that everything relies on computers and the Internet now -- communication (email, cell phones), entertain-

ment (digital cable, mp3s), transportation (car engine systems, airplane navigation), shopping (online stores, credit

cards), medicine (equipment, medical records), and the list goes on. How much of your daily life relies on computers?

How much of your personal information is stored either on your own computer or on someone else's system? Cyber se-

curity involves protecting that information by preventing, detecting, and responding to attacks.

What are the risks?

There are many risks, some more serious than others. Among these dangers are viruses erasing your entire system,

someone breaking into your system and altering files, someone using your computer to attack others, or someone steal-

ing your credit card information and making unauthorized purchases. Unfortunately, there's no 100% guarantee that

even with the best precautions some of these things won't happen to you, but there are steps you can take to minimize the

chances.

Continued on

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What can you do?

The first step in protecting yourself is to recognize the risks and become familiar with some of the terminology

associated with them. Hacker, attacker, or intruder - These terms are applied to the people who seek to exploit weak-

nesses in software and computer systems for their own gain. Although their intentions are sometimes fairly benign and

motivated solely by curiosity, their actions are typically in violation of the intended use of the systems they are exploit-

ing. The results can range from mere mischief (creating a virus with no intentionally negative impact) to malicious activ-

ity (stealing or altering information).

Malicious code - This category includes code such as viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. Although some people

use these terms interchangeably, they have unique characteristics.

• Viruses - This type of malicious code requires you to actually do

something before it infects your computer. This action could be

opening an email attachment or going to a particular web page.

• Worms - Worms propagate without user intervention. They typically

start by exploiting a software vulnerability (a flaw that allows

the software's intended security policy to be violated), then once

the victim computer has been infected the worm will attempt to

find and infect other computers. Similar to viruses, worms can

propagate via email, web sites, or network-based software. The

automated self-propagation of worms distinguishes them from

viruses.

• Trojan horse - A Trojan horse program is software that claims to

be one thing while in fact doing something different behind the

scenes. For example, a program that claims it will speed up your

computer may actually be sending confidential information to a

remote intruder.

Continued from Page 8

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Excel Tip By Yomar Cleary

Word Tip By Rosemary Lloyd

Windows Tip By Norene Lieser

Periodically Delete TMP

Files

As you work with Word, you may

decide to turn on the AutoSave

function, which causes Word to

save your changes periodically. In

saving these changes to disk, tem-

porary disk files are created.

(Makes sense, right?) Unfortu-

nately, it is possible for these files

to remain on the disk after you fin-

ish using Word. Once you exit out

of Word, it is OK to delete any

TMP files or ASD files that may

remain on your disk. Take a look in

your TEMP directory and in any

directories where you store Word

documents. If you find any such

files, feel free to delete them,

thereby freeing up space on your

hard drive.

Tip #133 applies to Microsoft

Word versions:

97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

More tips can be found at:

http://word.tips.net

Using a Graphic for a Background

Tip applies to Microsoft Excel ver-

sions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

In Excel you are not limited to the

plain old white or somewhat shaded

background for your worksheets. In-

stead, you can use a graphic image

for a background. The effect is much

like the backgrounds you see on Web

pages--the image used as the back-

ground is tiled (repeated) so that it

fills the entire background of the

worksheet. To use a graphic as a

worksheet background, follow these

steps:

Choose Sheet from the Format menu,

then choose Background from the

resulting submenu. Excel displays the

Sheet Background dialog box

Use the controls in the dialog box to

locate and select the graphic image

you want to use as a background.

Click on OK.

The image is imported and fills the

background of your worksheet. To

later remove a background, choose

Sheet from the Format menu, then

choose Delete Background from the

resulting submenu.

Windows Vista:

Browse folders quickly and eas-

ily

In addition to pop-up menu options

for Windows Explorer column

headings, Windows Explorer in

Windows Vista categorizes the file

path for you in the Address Bar, so

that you can easily find your way

to or from any folder on your com-

puter.

Just click the drop-down arrow

beside any folder name in the file

path to view a list of available sub-

folders.

http://word.tips.net/Pages/T000133_Periodically_Delete_TMP_Files.html

http://word.tips.net/Pages/T000133_Periodically_Delete_TMP_Files.html

http://word.tips.net

http://excel.tips.net/Pages/T002634_Using_a_Graphic_for_a_Background.html



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Bearly Bytes

Big Bear Computer

Club Newsletter

P.O. Box 645

Big Bear City, CA 92314 909 878-5822

□ New □ Renewal □ Update Information

Full Name_____________________________________________ Mailing Address________________________________________ City, State, Zip_________________________________________ Home Phone____________________ Cell Phone_____________ E-mail address_________________________________________ Family Member(s) Associates $5/year Name__________________________ E-

mail______________________ Operating System(s) □Windows/Vista □Windows/XP □Apple/MAC □LINUX □ OTHER ______________

Other Interests:________________________________________________ □ Yes, call me I would like to make new friends

DEMOGRAPHICS

□ Student

□ Working Adult

□ Business

□ Retired

Programs Beginner Intermediate Advanced Instructor

MS Office Digital Imaging Desktop Publishing Web Design

Monthly Meeting with:

Presentation and demonstra-

tion of popular hardware

and software; RAM (Q &

A) Sessions; Tech news and

Virus Alerts

Member Software Raffle

50/50 Drawing

Bearly Bytes -- Our award-

winning monthly newsletter

mailed to you first lass.

Club Website:

www.bigbearcc.org

Free software review pro-

gram

Members Help Line

Members E-mail Notifica-

tions

Members only Discounts

Special Interest Groups

(SIGs)

All this for only $25 per

year!!

Mail your application and

dues to:

BBCC Treasurer

PO Box 645

Big Bear City, CA 92314

or bring your application to

a meeting.

For information and direc-

tions phone Rosemary

Lloyd, President 584-9358

BIG BEAR COMPUTER CLUB, INC.

Membership Application

Membership Benefits

http://www.bigbearcc.org/

july 2009 bearly bytes4 big bear computer club bearly bytes newsletter july, 2009 sun mo tu we th...

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