THE AVMUG Vol. 4,APRIL 2006 Antelope Valley Micro-computer Users Group Newsletter APRIL 2006 HAPPY EASTER **NEXT GENERAL MEETING** This meeting will be held on the 19 th of April. It will start at 7:15 P.M. Sharp. INSIDE THE MUG Meeting notice Mynee & Moe Chatter Box Presidents Corner General information Computer tips Club Application Your name for free raffle ticket Mynee & Moe s Chatter Box Mynee: Hey Moe! Moe: What Mynee? Mynee: This month we have a chance t o pick KY s Brain some more as Ky is hosting another action, information workshop for you all. Moe: Just a moment, did we not just have a work shop last month? Moe: Yes we did, but it was such a good thing they decided to do it again. How about those apples.!! Mynee: I m sure all that attend will go away with something that they did not know. Mynee: Know what else I was in Dan Kozina s Computer shop and he has redid the inside of the store. It is located at: 2330 Mall Loop Road, he is in # 110 Lancaster, Ca. (661) 729-2627 and Fax (661) 729-3638 Email is Compcare@Qnet.com. 1
Mynee: Yeah, Moe, Lots of open space to look at all the goodies that us Computer Nuts like to drool over. Moe: He has worked on my computer and his prices are very compatable with the market. Also the techs he has working for him are super and know what they are doing. That is a plus for any shop. Moe: Ok Mynee, Got to go: see you on Wednesday the 19 th of April at 7:00 P M at the Senior Center, in Lancaster, CA. The next months meeting on April 19 th 2006 PRESIDENT S CORNER Be sure to join us next Wednesday for another workshop. Ky Moffet will conduct a question and answer session on computer hardware, and Kevin Hirschbuehler will delve further into the world of digital cameras and photography. So, come and join us on Wednesday, and bring your computer and camera questions! On another note, the board members have noted that AVMUG attendance has declined seriously over the last six months. Of late, we have been averaging only 10-12 club members per month, not counting the speaker and the board members. It is unfortunately obvious that interest in the club has gone down. I would like to ask everyone to write any of the club officers, and let us know what you would like to see in the club. What subjects would you like to hear about? Where do you want the club to go? Do you want AVMUG to continue? Please e-mail and let us know what you would like. Thanks, Kevin Hirschbuehler Vice-President, AVMUG COMPUTER TIP # 1 AMANDA S COOL SITE 2
The Homepage of Spam Wait, it s not what you think! It s not e- mail/internet spam, but rather the SPAM that you eat! Who knew there was a Web page devoted to edible Hormel SPAM? There are lots of interactive features on this site. Can we find them all? Let s dive in and find out! Navigation is simple. Look below the big picture of the SPAM can and you ll find the following options: SPAM family tree, SPAM in time, eat SPAM, fan club and re: SPAM. SPAM family tree the pages in this section advertise the different types of SPAM you can get from original to oven roasted turkey SPAM. Find out about all the different varieties of SPAM here. SPAM in time - this is a neat timeline section where you can find out about SPAM from the very beginning in the 1930s and up to the 1990s. Learn about the changes it went through in the last 70 years. eat Spam here you can find out all about SPAM recipe contests and who won the previous year s contest. You can also use the recipe search to find SPAM recipes. Fan club do you love SPAM? Do you want to be a member of the SPAM fan club? Well, if you do, this is where you can take care of that wish. re: Spam - this section talks about SPAM and the Internet. They talk about Internet spam and the SPAM you eat. This site is SPAMtastic! http://www.spam.com/ ~ Amanda ~ Amanda: Taken from the worldstart computer tips by steve. (Amanda s cool site) COMPUTER TIP # 2 Q: Is there any way I can change the size of my cache? A: Yes, there is. If you have a good amount of available space on your hard drive and you surf the Internet all the time, you may want to consider increasing the size of your cache. By making your cache bigger, you will be able to access recently visited Web sites quicker. If you're interested, open up Internet Explorer and go to Tools, Internet Options. Now click on the Settings button under the Temporary Internet Files area. You can then see where your cache is presently set, so to make the amount of disk space you want your cache to use larger, use the arrow slider to move it up. When you are sliding, the little box to the right will tell you how much space you're using, in terms of MB. Once you have it set where you would like it, click OK twice. So, if you ever want to decrease the space, follow the same directions to make it smaller. Also, if you would ever like to clear your cache out, go to Tools, Internet Options and click on the Delete Files button under Temporary Internet 3
Files. Click OK and your cache history will be gone. Remember that this tip is mostly for those of you who have some extra disk space and would like to access Web sites faster. If neither of those pertain to you, you may not want to even mess with your cache. That will be up to you. ~ Erin Performance Options Did you know that you can customize your settings, so your computer will run and look just the way you want it to? Well, you can and here's how. Click on Start, Control Panel and get into the Performance area. XP users need to click on Performance and Maintenance to get to this section. Once in there, look for the link that says "Adjust visual effects." Click on that and a box will pop up with the title of Performance Options. Here you can select the settings you want to use for the appearance and performance of Windows. You can do everything from animate windows when minimizing and maximizing to show shadows under your menus to smooth the edges of the screen fonts. You can also choose to use a background image for each folder type you have and use visual styles on windows and buttons. The options are endless, so go ahead and mix it up a little. You better get started on making your computer perform and look the way that pleases you the most and remember, have fun with it! ~ Erin Q: For my job, I send out a lot of e-mails that are very important for people to see right away. How can I set them as high priority, so they will view them as soon as possible? A: As you go about your daily e-mailing, you know that some of the e-mails you send out are much more important than others. For instance, e-mails you send out to clients at your business are more important than sending a joke to your best friend. (Or maybe it's the other way around for you!) Setting your e-mails as high priority, or even low priority, will help your receivers understand if the e-mail needs to be read as soon as they get it or if they can let it go for a couple hours. I'm not saying you should mark every e- mail you send as high or low priority, but sometimes it's nice to let your readers know what's going on. High priority is much more common than low priority, because it just lets everyone know how important the e-mail is. Okay, so setting your e-mail priority is very simple to do, so let's get started. In Outlook Express, create a new message just as you would for any other e-mail. Along the toolbar buttons at the top, look for the button that says Priority. Click on it once to get High Priority, click on it twice to get Low Priority or three times to have no priority. There is also a down arrow on the button, so you can click on that to choose either high, low or normal (none at all) priority as well. 4
A red exclamation point is used for high priority and a blue down arrow is used for low priority. Once you choose your priority, a message will appear at the top of the e-mail saying which status that e-mail is set to. Then just compose the e-mail like you normally would and send it off. When your receiver gets the e-mail, they will see either the exclamation point or the arrow beside their message, so they will know instantly if they need to read the e-mail right away or not. If you use Netscape mail, click on the New Message button and look for the pull down menu that says Priority. When you click on the menu, a list of priority settings ranging from lowest to highest will come up and you can select which one you want. Then just compose the e-mail like you always do and send it. For Hotmail, click on New Message and look for the little red exclamation point and the little blue down arrow. (They're small, so really keep an eye out for them). Click which priority you want and then write the e-mail and send it normally. You won't see any sign of your priority, but it will show up for your reader. I couldn't find a priority list for Yahoo! mail or AOL mail. I'm not sure if I just missed it somehow or you really can't do it with those mail providers. ~ Erin Hey you! Ya you, want to get computer tips in your mailbox 5 days a week, each one is different. Just subscribe at this address: http://www.worldstart.com/comptips.htm Board of Directors: President Michael Oke II president@avmug.av.org Vice President Kevin Hirschbuler vice-president@avmug.av.org Secretary Deana Jones secretary@avmug.av.org Treasurer Edward Groth treasurer@avmug.av.org Webmaster Ky Moffet webmaster@avmug.av.org Newsletter Editor Edward Groth editor@avmug.av.org Past President Bob Lion past-president@avmug.av.org Talent Pool: Fundraising Advisor Edward Groth Treasurer@avmug.av.org Club Photographer Ray Santana-Images by Santana Our Internet Site: http://www.avmug.av.org Our Phones: AVMUG 661-940-9680 Disclaimer: "By following any of our tips, advice, or recommendations (for software, hardware or otherwise), you agree not to hold AVMUG or any of It s MEMBERS responsible for any problems that may arise in following said advice. All of our tips, recommendations, and information are intended For you to use at your own Risk. Although all information given is proposed to be accurate at the time of publication, we make no guarantee; either expressed or implied that the Information in this newsletter is totally error free and 100% accurate". 5
To Join AVMUG, Please fill in appropriate blanks, and mail it (or bring it to a meeting) along with your check to: AVMUG, PO Box 2942, Lancaster, CA 93539-2942 Name: Membership Includes Immediate Family Names: if you would like name tags for family members please include their names. E-Mail Address: if you want to receive our newsletter. Phone #: (optional How did you hear about us? (optional) PC Computer Information Operating system: How do you connect to the WWW? Dial UP DSL Satellite Other Annual Dues are: $25.00. Please mail a check to: Antelope Valley Microcomputer Users Group P.O. Box 2942 Lancaster, CA. 93539-2942 6
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