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Computers—From the Very

Beginning for New Users

By Charlie Paschal

Editor/Publisher, Palmetto Personal

Computer Club, Columbia, SC

Columnist, The (Columbia) State

newspaper, SC

One of the biggest “panes” about

Windows is that just about anything

can break it—such as installing a new

program or getting rid of an old one.

There’s a right way and a wrong

way to do both but even if you do

things the right way, you still can

have problems. Windows 2000 and

XP have better ways to recover than

98 but it’s still not a perfect world.

That’s where the knowledge of one

keystroke might be able to save your

skin.

One hidden setting in Windows

2000 and XP (not in 98) also could

help you, or someone from technical

support, right the Windows ship. This

one is turned off by default in those

two versions of Windows but I’m

going to tell you how to fix it.

Here are the steps:

•

Right click on My Computer,

then left click on Properties.

•

Click on the Advanced tab at the

top of the next dialog box

•

Click on Settings in the startup

and recovery section of the next

dialog box.

•

Uncheck the box next to Auto

matically restart under the Sys

tem failure section.

•

Click OK twice.

What does this do? Let me set up a

scenario for you. You install an

application that corrupts (or changes)

a file the system needs to run

correctly. If the box above is checked,

the system will automatically restart,

showing a brief “blue screen” that

doesn’t give you (or anyone else) a

chance to see what the error is before

Windows restarts again. It’s a vicious

circle.

With the above box unchecked,

although Windows still might not run,

at least it will stop on the above blue

screen, meaning you might be able to

trace down the problem, perhaps

replacing the needed file or get help

from a more experienced technical

support person who can identify the

problem and talk you through fixing

it.

This is not a total solution, but it

gives you a fighting chance. With the

above box checked, you don’t have a

chance at all, since you have no way

of identifying the problem. If you’re

using Windows XP or 2000, before

you go to bed tonight, uncheck that

box. By the way, Windows 2000 will

make you restart your computer after

hitting OK twice—XP won’t.

April

WINdows usERS

2004

CES 2004

By Terry Currier

DVDs

Dell, Hewlett Packard, Mitsubishi

Chemical/Verbatim, Philips, Ricoh,

Sony, Thomson and Yamaha,

members of the DVD+RW Alliance,

announced the feasibility to make a

dual layer DVD+R disc compatible

with the dual-layer DVD-ROM

standard (DVD9). The dual layer

DVD+R disc nearly doubles the

Continued on page 4

In This Issue

From the Very Beginning. . . 1

CES DVDs 2004 .......1

President’s Message......3

Verbatim Discs ........3

Review: Power Director . . . 7

Review: Vox Proxy .....10

General Meeting & Map . . 12

Continued on page 11

Summary of content (12 pages)

PAGE 1
WINdows usERS In This Issue From the Very Beginning. . . 1 CES DVDs 2004 . . . . . . . 1 President’s Message. . . . . . 3 Verbatim Discs . . . . . . . . 3 Review: Power Director . . . 7 Review: Vox Proxy . . . . . 10 General Meeting & Map . .
PAGE 2
Telephone Help Line BOARD OF DIRECTORS PROGRAM/SOFTWARE NAME PHONE TIME CompuServe CorelDraw 5 CorelDraw & Ventura & PhotoPaint Hardware Internet Novell, NT & Networking Quicken & Quickbooks Windows 95,98,Me,Xp Word for Windows WordPerfect Windows Cathy Grammer-Margolin George Margolin Sunny Lockie 949-645-5950 949-645-5950 949-644-0103 Jonathan Means Cathy Grammer-Margolin Jonathan Means Max Lockie Siles Bazerman Cathy Grammar-Margolin Sunny Lockie 714-542-1653 949-645-5950 714-542-1653 949-720-81
PAGE 3
Presidents Message By Steve Dela L Cheap is not always costing less By Terry Currier ast month’s general meeting proved to be a hit with Winners members as the Digital Photo Guy, Lee Otsubo, explained in simple language how to select and use digital cameras and get more out of digital photos. Lee offers three different discussions outlining how to purchase digital cameras, display digital photographs, and advance techniques of digital photography. This was the first in this series.
PAGE 4
CES 2004 Continued from page 1 storage capacity from 4.7Gb to up to 8.5Gb, while remaining compatible with existing DVD Video players and DVD-ROM drives. Final specifications and the format book are expected to be available within this year and recordable media and recorder products that will use this new dual layer technology are expected in the course of 2004.
PAGE 5
Samsung http://www.samsungusa.com Their DVD-L200 is a 10” TFT LCD portable DVD player. It is only 1” in height and widescreen format (16x9.) The batteries will last you 3 hours. Playable video include DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD. Playable Audio Formats CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3. Weight is 2.6 pounds, has S-video out. Sharp http://www.sharpusa.com DV-L80U is an portable 8" Widescreen DVD/RW video player from Sharp. It can play disc at 16:9 widescreen capability and even play DVD-RW discs.
PAGE 6
functions. Records on DVD-R and DVD-RW, and playback DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-Video, CD-DA, CD-R/RW, audio CDs, video CDs and MP3 files. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) is $800. Sony http://www.sony.com Their RDR-GX300 was created for first-time users. It includes many advanced features such as the proprietary Precision Cinema Progressive™, a DVD playback technology which incorporates Pixel-by-Pixel I/P Conversion technology to augment and balance DVD-video elements.
PAGE 7
REVIEW PowerDirector from CyberLink By Terry Currier F irst off, I don’t claim to know a lot about editing video. I have just started learning and doing these things. Maybe that is the point I want to make. I don’t know many who can open up a video editing program (sight unseen) and instantly figure out how to use it. Magazines or other ratings are done by people who do it professionally. So this review is for the non-professional.
PAGE 8
and follow the story. I found both easy to work with. In the voice area, you can add a voice background, or over others. For example you could add a voice narration of video when editing. You can actually add multiple audio tracks of music and audio into the background. The most fun part (for me) was putting in a PiP (Picture in Picture). The editor can just put in video from anything else in a small window of the video. I took a video of the band and drill team practicing for a parade.
PAGE 9
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS You can have the program divide it up equally into 8 chapters, have it search for scene changes, or do it manually.
PAGE 10
REVIEW Vox Proxy By Terry Currier V ox Proxy (version 2) is a plug-in for PowerPoint. If used properly, PowerPoint helps to make a presentation flow. Vox Proxy uses 3D animated characters to enhance and make a PowerPoint presentation more entertaining and fun. I like using PowerPoint (I really do). You just have to be careful not to overdo it. Too many effects and the audience may wonder if the presentation is for them or for the presenter to play with.
PAGE 11
VOX PROXY Continued from page 10 character just appear and say something if you want, but doing something more will take time to learn. Again, the tutorials are not just a good learning place, but they are also good to watch and get ideas. The Script Wizard helps you to have the character say, do, move, or gesture. Each character has a list of moves, commands, gestures, and facial expressions.
PAGE 12
April 10 9 a.m. to 12 noon Orange Coast College Science Building Room #149 Our presenter at the April 10 meeting will be our own Cathy Grammer-Margolin talking about eBay.com. Do you need some item or product that is difficult to get? Well, often eBay.com is a great place to get it. Cathy, who know a lot about eBay, is going to tell us how to look for the hard-to-find products without over-bidding. She will also tell us about how to sell an item on eBay.