GREATER BOSTON SENIOR COMPUTER GROUP NEWSLETTER
Issue No. 38 April10, 2002
CHAIRPERSON:: Arline Ekman, AVE@alumni.unh.edu
EDITOR: Harriet Mandell, harrietd@ix.netcom.com
WEB PAGE: Garry Ziffer, http://www.ultranet.com/~gbscg
LIAISON: Eve Welts, ewelts@rcn.com
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HAIL TO THE MARKETPLACE...Log onto our Web Page listed above and discover a new service we are offering to our members. Gary Ziffer has composed a site devoted to the sale, exchange, give-away as well as requests for items. The direct site can be reached at http://www.ultranet.com/~gbscg/marketplace.htm
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HUMOR IN TAXES??...Chan Touart writes “Deep in the TurboTax’s Help file, I ran across the following gem of incisive guidance”—“enter the percentage as a whole number, using up to two decimal places” lol.
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RADIO STATION for people who cannot get enough information... 890 on the AM dial. Thanks, Otho you were first with the item.
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READING THE FINE PRINT in AT&T’s new ATTBI division which used to be MediaOne may be important to those who use this service. In order to provide a more effective e-mail service and control spam, AT&T Broadband Internet limits the number of e-mails you can send per day as well as the number of recipients to which you can send the same message. The maximum number of recipients per message is 25. There is also a limit of 100 messages per day.
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WEB SITES SUGGESTED by members as follows: http://www.learnthenet.comfrom Fred Barron; and try the online courses now being offered by elderhostel jump to http://www.elderhostel.org/programs/fathom/4701042.asp from the editor; as well as the following from Earle Barcus... http://www.TheNakedPc.com (no-nonsense computer advice from people you can trust) , http://www.neatnettricks.com (A free twice-monthly email collection of useful computer and Internet tips). Howard McGowan sends along a suggestion to http://www.cambridgeforum.org many computer subjects are covered.
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WORDPERFECT XP USERS take note...if you are concerned about compatibility you may want to download Service Pack 2 for WordPerfect Office 2002. This will supposedly enable the latest office suite with XP. Support for Microsoft Word 2002 (XP) import is also now included in this update. Download the file at the following site http://www.corel.com/support/ftpsite/pub/wordperfect/wpwin/office2002/index.html
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COPYING TEXT FROM A Web site can easily be done. Mouse click at the beginning of the type you want to select, hold down the shift key and click at the end of the selection, then hold down the Ctrl key and the letter c to copy the type. Ctrl key and letter v will paste the text where you want.
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WHAT DID YOU SAY?...Captioned Media Program (CMP) mentioned in a recent AARP Bulletin led Earle Barcus to the web site http://www.cfv.org CMP provides a free-loan media program whose mission is to provide all persons who are deaf or hard of hearing with equal access to communication and learning through the use of captioned educational media and supportive collateral materials. There are no rental, registration, or postage fees. Check this out or pass the information along to others. Computer and technology titles can be found at the following site http://www.cfv.org/topicdetail.asp?tn=5
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PLEASE GO AWAY FOR NOW...when using Word do the spelling and grammar error red and green squiggles which appear turn you off? Turn them off!! Right click the open book icon in the tool bar. There dun until you want them back.
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COMPLAINT DEPARTMENTS...Federal http://www.ifccfbi.gov how to file Internet fraud and read about complaint trends. Massachusetts consumer fraud includes internet tips http://www.ago.state.ma.us/internet.asp
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VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY...needed by local agency computer savvy help to assist or be a webmaster for their web site. Also, help with gathering database, to assess and /or assemble donated computers, training staff, clients, volunteers. Please call Liz Kirsch at the Second Step 617-965-2393.
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SELECTION FROM THE WEB PAGE: by Gary Ziffer. How to get an answer to any question. The best way that I've found to get a solution to almost any problem is to query the newsgroups. The problem may be computer related, a sick gerbil or where to buy inexpensive water colors. The trick is to put in the right keywords. Also, make Re: one of your keywords. That way you get answers to your problem instead of people with the same problem that you have. Generally it is best not to query specific newsgroups because you don't know where an answer might be coming from. If it looks like most relevant answers come from a specific or related newsgroups, you can specify that on a second scan. Anyway, the URL is: http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search Want to see an example? Go to our web page http://www.ultranet.com/~gbscg for it.
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A WAY TO AVOID SOME DISC ERRORS...some are caused by PC users who forget to shut down their systems properly using the START-SHUT DOWN METHOD. You may still have some files open when you turn off your computer and these files may become corrupted and your computer drives messy. After this happens a few times, use your ScanDisk option to fix the problem and restore order.
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WANTED: URL's of web sites; Helpful hints for Mac users, Win 95/98/ME/XP. Software reviews Desired topics for future meetings. Send these items via email to the editor. Please sign your email with your name. Other than your email address, we will not publish your name, phone number or address without your permission