(Image: Club Logo) HCC

HALIFAX AREA PERSONAL COMPUTER CLUB


In The September Newsletter

Feature Presentation for the September 24th general meeting

Rob MacCara - Accessing the 'A' drive

Internet - Safe and Secure on line

General Information

Newsletter Information

Meeting Schedule for the year


Feature Presentation

Welcome to the first meeting of the 00/01 season Our feature presentation will be on the Back Up Devices, CD, Tape. Rob MacCara will explain how he uses CD's to Restore Systems for DND. These are generic copies of windows with a print driver and dial up adaptor, then burned on a CD, a mirror image of the program.

Bill Marchant will have a short topic on windows and Richard McNair will have brief item on the North American Serials Interest Group, Inc., And Richard describes it in the following:

The following is taken from the NASIG Web Site along with their URL:

'Established in 1985, the North American Serials Interest Group, Inc. (NASIG) is an independent organization that promotes communication and sharing of ideas among all members of the serials information chain - anyone working with or concerned about serial publications.'

The NASIG Web Site is: www.nasig.org.

I will give a bit of background on NASIG and why I joined even though I'm not a Librarian let alone a Serials Librarian. Along with a quick overview of the conference, I plan to tell you about one of the Plenary sessions given by Robert X. Cringely www.pbs.org/cringely . He had some very interesting comments about the IT world & where it is going.

The HAPCC general meeting is on the last Sunday of each month. Please note changer from forth to last Sunday of each month. The general meeting will be Sept 24th meeting time 7:00 - 9:00 pm. For this month we have official approval to use the classroom facilities at CFB Halifax (Stad) for our regular meetings. New Place! Building S-37 room B18.

Go in the main gates of Stad on Gottigen street and either stop and ask the fellow in the gate house for directions or: Proceed straight through the gates and down the little hill and keep going straight till you come to a stop sign. Go past the stop sign and down the little hill and turn right at the bottom of the hill. The long building facing the soccer field is Numbered S-37 and the sign out front says that it is the home of the Naval Engineering School. You've reached the right place. Find a parking spot and go in the far set of doors (South doors) - Go Straight in the building and down the stairs to the next level and turn right. The classroom we'll be using is B18 and it's right next to the stairwell. The new facilities boasts a room with 25 computers as well as a projection system that we can use. See you all there at the next meeting!

In this issue


Accessing the 'A' drive

The topic of the A drive being accessed for no apparent reason came up, so I dug around and found this. I can't remember where I got this info, but here it is:

At some point, you may have told Windows to check for something on the A: drive--and never told it to stop looking. Correcting this is easy: The next time Windows accesses your floppy drive, pop a disk into the drive. Double-click the icon for drive A:. Then close the window, double-click on the C: icon, and remove the floppy disk.

Your antivirus software may be configured to scan drive A: automatically, whether there is a disk in the drive or not. To check Norton AntiVirus, for example, click the Options button. On the Scanner tab, click the Advanced button. Uncheck 'All removable drives'. Click OK twice.

Another possibility: Something on your recent documents list makes Windows check A:. Don't bother to track down the perpetrator--just wipe out everything in that folder (you won't lose any data). To do this, right-click the taskbar, select Properties, click the Start Menu Programs tab, click Clear in the 'Documents menu' box, and then click OK.

Desktop shortcuts pointing to a file or program on A: can also trigger this pointless access. The fix: Select Desktop in Windows Explorer, and select Start, Find, Files or Folders. In the Named field, enter *.lnk, *.pif. Then, for the Containing Text field, enter a: and click Find Now. Delete all of the shortcuts you find, or at least move them either off of the Explorer Desktop or out of the Start menu.

If you use Microsoft Office 97, the FindFast utility could be causing the problem. To find out, select Start, Settings, Control Panel, and then double-click the FindFast icon. Once the applet is up, see whether drive A: is on the list of indexes. If it is, highlight it and select Index, Delete Index. Click OK twice, and then close FindFast and the Control Panel

That’s all

In this issue


Safe and Secure on line Internet

Below are our Top 8 recommendations for staying safe and secure when you're online:

A. Change your password often. The quick act of changing your password can ensure your e-mail remains private. In addition, passwords that use both letters and numbers are harder to break.


B. Don't share your password. Most e-mail administrators will not ask for your password. Do not be duped by malicious e-mails asking you for your password. This is a well-known, although not-too-common trick designed to fool you into sharing your password. As a rule, never share it with anyone.


C. Never open attachments from unknown sources. They may contain what are known as 'letterbombs' or 'viruses', which can damage your PC.


D. Always remember to sign out when you are done. It's quick, easy and may save your account from unwanted trespassers. If you are using a public terminal, at an internet cafe for example, it is advised that you close the browser you were using when you are ready to end your Internet session.


E. Don't reply to unsolicited messages ('spam') mail, or other harassing or offensive mail. By responding, you only confirm that you are a person with an active e-mail address who can be plagued with constant unwanted e-mail solicitations. Instead, forward the unsolicited message to the customer service department of the source's e-mail (usually of a form similar to abuse@[implicateddomain].com). To help control spam, Hotmail provides members with 'filters' for incoming mail. These can easily be set up to send certain messages (such as those that include certain words) directly to your online trash can.


F. Make sure that you are using the most up-to-date Internet software (e.g. browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator). More recent versions often offer enhanced security protection.


G. Always use a secure network. Most corporate networks and Internet service providers are protected by administrators who watch for potential security problems and act to protect users from 'hackers' (malicious users) who may try to steal personal information that is transferred through the network. Although the risk is small, use caution when on any unfamiliar network. Use stations maintained by sources you trust, or ask if the Internet terminal you are using is protected against security break-ins.


H. Use common sense when you're on the Internet and maintain a healthy dose of skepticism. Use caution when revealing personal information, such as your physical address, to anyone you meet in cyberspace; even if they claim to be someone of authority.


Didn't anyone ever tell you that Beta is Latin for "it doesn't work yet?" (Image: smiley face)

In this issue

General Information

Executive:

Chairperson David Potter
Vice-Chair Bill Marchant
Treasurer Rob MacCara
Web Librarian Thayne MacLean
Newsletter Editor Diane Smith
Membership Promotion Pat Conen

and the following members who assist in planning our monthly meetings: Norman DeForest, Henry Hill, Ken Gilmour,and Colin Stuart.

A message from the Vice Chairman

The HAPCC has two kinds of meetings. Firstly the regular Sunday night meeting which most members attend regularly, secondly the monthly (approximately) planning meeting which organizes the business of the Club, including what happens on the Sundays. The planning meeting is held on Monday, a week after the regular meeting in which all members of the Club are urged to attend. At the planning meeting, we discuss feature speakers for regular meetings, finances, membership, training, and other computer related subjects.

....Bill Marchant

In this issue

Newsletter Information

Newsletter Articles.... We are almost always in need of good articles. If anyone has something that they feel would make a good article, an interesting story to tell, or even a good meeting topic, please don't hesitate to pass it on. Articles can be submitted in almost any format, ASCII text, AMI Pro, MS Word, Windows Write, WordStar and of course WordPerfect.

The news letter is mailed to all paid up members and to anyone who has attended a meeting within the past three months. Yearly membership dues are $15.00.

Club Mailing Address -
P.O. Box 29008, Halifax N.S., B3L 4T8.

In this issue

Future meeting dates

We decide the meeting dates for the upcoming year at the last planning meeting of the season. The dates for these are listed below. As in previous years, the December meeting is moved to the early part of January due to Christmas Eve being near the fourth Sunday of the month. 
The planning meetings are normally held on the second Monday (8 days) after the general meeting. They are currently held at a members home and the address is announced at the meeting prior to the planning meeting. Anyone is welcome to assist in the planning of future meetings or events.

Dates for the meetings starting in September are based on the LAST Sunday in each month. Note that this is a change from previously, when we met on the fourth Sunday.

Meeting dates for the 2000/01 season:

September 24,    October 29,    November 26,    January 7,    January 28,    February 25,    March 25,    April 29,    May 27,    June 24.

Note:    There is no meeting in December. Remember also, we are now using the LAST SUNDAY of the month, except for the exceptions as noted above.

Any changes to the scheduled dates will be announced where possible at the regular monthly meetings and/or in this newsletter.



Forward to: October 2000 Newsletter

Back to: April 2000 Newsletter

Go to the: Newsletter Archive


Home