SENIOR COMPUTER USERS GROUP

Issue 208, February 2010                                           Sponsored by Fox Valley Technical College

Local SIG Meetings General Meeting - Friday, February 19, 1:30-3:30 PM at  FVTC-Appleton, Room F108  (Entrance 6 is best)   Scanner/Photo SIG Monday, February 8, 2010 2:00-3:00PM, Bordini Center, Room 180 Genealogy SIG Monday, February 8, 2010, 3:30-4:30PM, Bordini Center, Room 180   Resource Sharing SIG Monday February 22, 2010, 2:00-3:00PM, Bordini Center, Room 180 Internet SIG Monday, February 22, 2010,  3:30-4:30PM, Bordini Center, Room 180

Regional SIG Meetings Waushara General Thursday, February 25, 2010, 1:30-3:30 PM at FVTC Wautoma     Genealogy SIG Thursday,  February 25, 2010,  3:30 - 5:00PM, at FVTC-Wautoma

 

General Meeting for February 19

In January, Diane Dorsch brought in several students from Neenah’s elementary and middle schools.  These students explained and demonstrated their computer projects to us.  They did fine work with graphics and sound.

Troy Zickert of Cartridge World will discuss recycling of toner and ink cartridges for printers.  He will show how toner and ink cartridges are constructed and describe the refill process as well as many cartridges that can be refilled and many that cannot.

Regional Meetings

Waushara General Meeting

In February, the Waushara group will meet on Thursday, February 25, 1:30-3:30PM, at FVTC-Wautoma. The presenter will be Mary Youmans from Aurora Health Care.  The topic will be Online Medical Records.  

 

 Resource Sharing by Jerry Sobiesczyk

The Resource Sharing Group had a number of discussions from questions asked by persons attending the SIG.  This led into the planned agenda of a number of questions and answers provided by a “Hey Bud” program.  These were questions asked in previous meetings and many were informational items obtained from the internet.  Starting with the February Meeting we hope to start a presentation on Microsoft Excel.  This is a spreadsheet program which we will be allowed to balance a checkbook, do a mortgage rate comparison, inventory CD’s and DVD’s, create an address file, and much more.  Again a reminder to bring your questions related to computers, nothing is too trivial.  If the facilitator can’t answer your question or assist in a problem possibly someone from the floor can.

Hope to see you February 22, 2010 @ 2:00 P.M. in Room 180 in the D.J. Bordini Center across from the FVTC Main Campus. 

 

Internet by John Klemm

 

Google has many options that are rarely used by most  users.  Some options expand searches and others eliminate unwanted information.  We will continue looking at these options and others which are not as directly related to web searches.  As always questions about the internet are welcomed.  The next meeting is February 22.

 

 

Photo/Scanner by Jerry Sobiesczyk

Again, excellent member participation provided a number of interesting discussions from all who were there.  This shortened the time for the completion of our Robot Lady Project.  The February Photo/Scanner Sig will surely permit the completion of this project.  But member participation takes precedent, so if you have questions or success stories you wish to share, bring yourself and a friend to the February Photo/Scanner SIG on Monday, 8 February 2010, 2:00 PM at the Bordini Center in Room 180.

 

 

Genealogy by Mary Klein

The New Year began with us meeting at the Bordini Center that will be our location for all of 2010.  All the meeting dates for the year are posted on our web site.
In January we looked at the Wisconsin Genealogical Society website because they now offer access to BadgerLink through which we can easily access resources such as Newspaper Archives and Heritage Quest.
We will head north to Canada in February.  Handouts will include Canadian sites as well as a list of 20 Canadian Libraries.  We will also learn the “7 Secrets of a Successful Genealogist.”  The next meeting date is February 8^th.

News

We received interesting information about these two groups.

Senior Learn & Seniors and Friends
There are two online communities that provide discussion opportunities for seniors.  Both groups were started by former SeniorNet leaders, have many active participants, and require no membership fees.  You can just read the discussions, or, if you want to participate, you have to join the group by signing in with a password and user name.  Your information (name, email address etc.) is not made available to other users unless you choose to share it.

      Seniors and Friends         www.seniorsandfriends.org     

This group now numbers over 500 members and has a variety of topics and activities ongoing at all times.  Click on the Help tab to find out how to register and the guidelines for the site.  Click on forums to see all the available options for participation which include but are not limited to:  sharing news, talking about pets, discussing investments, dealing with computer problems, homemaking, gardening, leisure activities, health & medical issues, playing games, and photography.

Senior Learn               www.seniorlearn.org   

This group has over 360 members who are involved in either reading books and/or learning Latin.  Click on the Help tab to learn about the site and how to register.  The Discussion Index tab will take you to the discussion groups that include:
The Library - to meet & talk about all things books
Scheduled & Proposed Book Discussions - there is always a book of the month discussion ongoing and discussions related to books being presented on PBS programs.
General Book Discussions & More - these discussion groups are by type: 

ü     Movies & Books into Movies,

ü     Fiction Old & New,

ü     Mystery Corner.

 

      Non-Fiction Books:

ü     Poetry

ü     Read around the World

ü     Science Fiction/Fantasy

ü     Story of Civilization by Durant, vol. 5

ü     Talking Heads - Op/Ed - current discussion - health care reform

ü     Literary Games

ü     SeniorLearn Classics - questions about Latin classes & classics bulletin board.

 

Windows 7

FVTC has informed us that they plan to install Windows 7 on their computers by June if all goes well.

Also the Adobe Photoshop license has been moved to the Bordini Center for our use there.  Our scanner has also been moved to the Bordini Center.

 

Help Wanted – We would like to have someone with a digital camera who would take a few pictures at our meetings.  These photos could then be added to our web pages for added interest.  If you would like to use your talents in this regard please send an email to the address srnet@srnet-foxvalley.org

 

Hints and Tips

Get your documents organized by making folders in Windows – Source: Gizmo

Lots of people know how to write documents, create spreadsheets and save pictures on their computers, but many also find that everything ends jumbled up together in their My Documents folder.

If you like to keep your files organized; making folders to put things in can be one way of organizing all the clutter.  You can make folders to store any type of file you like. Windows XP comes with some preset folders which can be found inside your My Documents.  These are called My Pictures and My Music and make a good place to store any pictures or music files you might have.  Windows will automatically look in those folders before other places.

How to make a new folder in Windows XP:

1) To make a new folder, right click on any white space inside your My Documents folder (or any folder or hard disk on your computer). You will be presented with a menu which gives you options such as View, Arrange icons by etc...

2) Put your mouse over the “New>” section and out will pop a new menu. Left click “Folder” in that pop out window.

3) Type a name for the new folder you have created and press enter.

4) Now you can drag and drop or save appropriate files into the folder you have created.

With some perseverance and logical thinking you will soon have a nicely ordered MY DOCUMENTS folder.