CyberCoyote -- December 8, 2005

NOTES and NOTICES

One of our residents here at Happy Trails has written a book. He has a, "a real story to tell", but he's looking for someone to turn his draft into digits on the computer. Contact Carol Butler -- -- if you think you might like to help.

My timing chain slipped a link last week. This announcement should make more sense this week: There'll be a presentation on GPS after our business meeting next week, and Gail King will give a presentation about WiFi at the meeting on the 22nd.

Our "Build a Personal Website" class starts Monday, the 12th @ 1:00 - 3:00. We'll start with HTML, demonstrate some nice webpage editors, look into domains, hosting and servers, and build a few webpages and templates. Don Worthen, Lot 1036 has the signup sheet, but if you don't catch up with him, there will *probably* be some slots left if you show up on Monday.
http://cybercoyote.org/classes/classes.shtml

Computer Kindergarten continues @ 9:00 - 11:00 on Thursdays with Chuck Tomlinson. Mary Ann Kircus will return as your kindergarten teacher in January on the 12th. She is planning a more "hands-on" approach.

TIPS and TOPICS

What do you do when visiting Happy Trails, but without your computer in tow? You can go to the Surprise library (may need a library card) or go to Kinko's. There is one close by near Albertson's, just a little East of Happy Trails.

Would you like to have all your Windows Explorer windows show the same view? The choices are Thumbnails, tiles, icons, list and details. To make the view the same for all windows do this: First, set up a window with the view you want [In the menu, click View and then pick the view of your choice]. Then, make it the same for all windows [Tools > Folder Options... > View tab > click "Apply to All Folders.]

You might also want to put a check in front of the "Remember each folder's view settings". That way, you can change the views in some folders, and they will stay changed. For example, you might want to change the view to "Thumbnails" for folders with pictures in them. Then you can easy see which pictures you want to drag to which folders.

"The 100 Best Products of 2005," according to PC World:
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120763,pg,12,00.asp

SECURITY

All inclusive "Security Suites" are getting better. The Norton Internet Security Suite one of the better ones. You still do better with individual programs though. AOL, Earthlink and many of the other major ISPs are now screening your email for viruses so you may not even need an antivirus program. Everyone should have a firewall and an anti-spyware program though. Windows Firewall, and Microsoft AntiSpyware fill those two needs well. The first one is part of Windows XP -- just make sure it's turned on, and the second is a free download from Microsoft.
http://cybercoyote.org/security/anti-malware.shtml -- security software ratings

Microsoft has a new "live" Safety Center where you can check your computer for security. It's a free online service that can identify ANY holes you have in your defenses.
http://safety.live.com/

SOFTWARE

Looks as if Microsoft is going to get Windows Vista out in time for the holidays -- next year. It's going to have almost as many flavors as Baskin - Robbins.
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_editions.asp

Wish you had "Photoshop" image manipulation software, but can't see springing for it? "Paint.net" has similar functions and it's free. It can't do everything that Photoshop can do, but it might do what you want to do. It's also a lot easier to learn how to use it. I suspect you won't find using it works as well without a broadband connection.
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/
http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2005/11/27/1944 -- comments

DIVERSION

How do you feel about the latest popular music? Using the words of our (3 years old at the time) daughter, "I just can't like it." Rhapsody, the premier online music service, has *tons* of the good old stuff though. No scratches and pops either, except on some ancient (but priceless) stuff.

Rhapsody now has a simple browser interface -- an alternative to their very good player -- making it easy to try. You can search or browse for just what you like. Listen to 25 songs a month for free to try it. I'd need 5,000 LPs to get the same variety I get with Rhapsody. [Broadband only though. I found the faster option from Kiva works better too.]
http://rhapsody.com/

Astonishing Sidewalk Paintings:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/sidewalk.asp -- samples
http://www.google.com/search?q=%223d+sidewalk+paintings%22 -- much more