Bobcaygeon Internet Users Group

Minutes of the Meeting of October 12, 2000

Garth Scarborough called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. with the following 19 members present: Larry Andrews, Ferne Coumbs, Betty Crombie, Bruce Finlay, Evelyn Finlay, Niesje Groenendyk. Joe Groenendyk, Theresa Kelly, Steve Kyle, Lew Lewis. Paul MacCauley, Terry McCartney, Larry Muter, Bev Newman, Anne Panter, Mike Ricks, Garth Scarborough, Paul Scarborough and Walter Schneider.

Mike Ricks turned over a cheque in the amount of $4.50 from the Seniors Club. Minutes were accepted as aired on the Internet. The financial report was read by Theresa Kelly, indicating a balance of $1555.77.

Garth suggested investigating ideas for spending some of these funds for the benefit of the community. Anne Panter inquired whether Internet access is free at the library, and if not that could be a place to donate. It is free for all. Nexicom gave the club a table-top kiosk with various brochures about the Internet.

Nexicom has inquired of Garth whether this club is interested in again decorating a Christmas tree for the Festival of Trees, an occasion which benefits Kawartha Settlers' Village and the Lung Association. They are willing to increase their donation to cover the cost of the ornaments. It was agreed that it would be in the community spirit to take on this task again. We need ideas for a theme and someone to take charge of organizing the purchase of decorations. The subject will be raised again at the November meeting. Evelyn Findlay, Garth Scarborough, Bev Newman and Theresa Kelly volunteered to form a decorating committee. Evelyn's suggestion of the theme "Ice and Snow" with all silver and blue decorations was well received.

Welcome to new member Terry McCartney.

To find out how to subscribe to Kawartha-online, email Anne at apanter@nexicom.net.

Al Wright who was absent, brought the free computer papers up from Oshawa. Extra copies will be left at the libraries in Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls and to Compu-Dynamix in Fenelon Falls.

Garth said that there is a provincial program, "Connect Ontario," that has 50 x $1,000,000 grants available. Nexicom is heading up the application process for Peterborough County, although none of the grant money would come to Nexicom. Both Peterborough and Victoria Counties have passed the first hurdle. If they add a geospacial component, which adds more detailed and minute data about the area, there is an extra million available.

Garth said that we will soon see cable, satellite and Intercom being bundled together, a necessary move to stave off people switching en masse from cable to discs. We in the boonies are once again in the situation of being behind the large cities. ADSL for example, Bell's high speed technology, is only available to people on modern telephone lines.

We were sad to hear that one of our fellow members, Jim Weir had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly several days ago.

After the coffee break there was lively discussion at the "round table." Subjects touched upon:

• You can get very fast answers to direct questions through www.metacrawler.com and other meta search engines such as www.google.com and http://www.inference.com/infind (inference find), especially if you are adept at use of and/or/if /not and quotation marks.
• Re-inking cartridges for bubble jet printers.
• Internet call waiting. Go to Nexicom's home page for info.
• A mouse died. A new one didn't work either. How to delete and reinstall mouse driver.
• Steve Kyle and Paul MacCauley of Compu-Dynamix in Fenelon Falls contributed a lot of answers, including a keystroke shortcut "Alt-F4" to back out of Windows. Handy if you find yourself without a mouse.
• "Illegal operation" message can result from not upgrading Windows.
• When locked down and mouse inoperative, "ctrl-alt-delete" will shut you down.
• E-post at www.canadapost.com Member sent email to post office in Australia and they delivered hard copy to addressee.
• Frequent locking down problem could result from needing more RAM or from unit over- heating. See if air is actually circulating at the fan vent. If you leave machine turned on full time, then once a year have fan replaced. As long as fan is working, no problem leaving W98 running. W95 better turn off now and then.
• Thanks to Anne Panter for all the info posted on line.
• Mail program Pegasus lets you know if your message has been received.
• Blue Mountain animated greeting cards gives you the option of being notified of receipt.
• Martindale's - The Reference Desk has the most extensive technical, scientific info links, e.g. one of its 11,500 calculators will enable you to calculate anything.
• The Kawartha Internet User Group page at www.bobcaygeon.com / community services lists all the interesting websites that have come up at meetings since 1997.
• Defragmentation. Why and how to defrag (once a month). Go to start/programs/accessories/system tools/disc defrag. Takes a few hours if full. Disable screen saver first. Go to start/settings/control panel/display/screen saver/none. Also disable blank screen power saver. On the same screen click always on/apply.
• Explanation of "cookies."
• Garth planned a demonstration of updating Windows. You must be set to accept cookies. With Internet Explorer on, go to tools/Internet options/custom level/cookies/enable. Then tools/windows update. In this instance check "always trust Microsoft." If you are asked to accept a certificate, say yes. It will scan your computer. When a list appears, do the "critical upgrades." Not necessary to do all at once. It may take time to fix the glitches. Check this regularly.

Next Meeting:

***NOTE*** any errors or omissions to minutes to be mentioned at the next meeting.

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