*CyberCoyote - November 30, 2006*

NEWS, NOTES and NOTICES

*PDF (universal) files*
Here are links to the free PDF file creators that George Jester mentioned today, and also a link to Adobe. You can open an print any PDF file on any computer using Adobe Reader.
http://www.cutepdf.com/   http://www.primopdf.com/
http://www.exp-systems.com/   http://www.adobe.com/

*Meeting times for "Second Thursdays" of the Month*
Our meetings that fall on Second Thursdays will now start at 3:00 PM -- beginning next week. The time for all other weeks will remain the same. :-)
http://cybercoyote.org/links/calendar.html -- HTCC Calendar

That shift resolves our time conflict with HTCA Board meetings, which start at 1:00. Now you can attend the Board Meetings, and then get some ice cream and come to ours. :-) You might want to bring a seat cushion too. :-)

*AZacc Presentation*
There are times when sharing exactly what you see on your screen is the quickest and clearest way to communicate. Kathy Jacobs, author and Phoenix PC User Group Vice President, is coming to our meeting next week to help us learn how to do screen shots the easy way -- using TechSmith's SnagIt. SnagIt has all the screen capture and editing functionality you'll ever need, in one simply powerful program.
http://www.azacc.org/Speakers/2006_12%20Speaker.htm

*The latest Smart Computing Newsletter is online*
The club gets bonus subscriptions to award as prizes if you subscribe to the magazine through the Smart Computing user group program.
http://cybercoyote.org/articles/smart.shtml -- the newsletter
http://cybercoyote.org/club/smart.shtml -- subscribe

*November Business*
The minutes of our last business meeting -- straight from the keyboard of Steve Gray -- are now online.
http://cybercoyote.org/club/min-061116.shtml -- November minutes

TIPS, TOPICS and TWEAKS

*Consider these factors when buying a GPS | USATODAY.com*
"Driving cross-country or across town has never been easier. Once rare luxury items, navigational systems that use the Global Positioning System, or GPS, are increasingly affordable. But do your homework before buying."
http://cybercoyote.org/url/206.html

*If you love Google... *
I use several of the Google services -- Gmail, Blogger, Calendar, Maps, Search, etc. The GUtil! extension for Firefox puts their most popular services together under a new "GUtil" menu on your Firefox menu bar. Sweet!
http://labs.gridpulse.com/gutil/ -- description
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3755/ -- download

*Troubles with IE7*
If you installed IE7 and are having trouble, "Internet Explorer 7 and opening hyperlinks" may help. (It's useful for other problems as well.) The article describes how to "Reset Internet Explorer Settings." If that cures the problem, you can then begin re-enabling things until you run into the problem again.
http://www.pcdoctor-guide.com/wordpress/?p=3689

This may help too: I like to "troubleshoot by halves". For example, I would re-enable the first half of the plug-ins. If that's OK, I'd try the first half of the second half [i.e., the 3rd quarter]. If that's OK I'd know the trouble lies in the 4th quarter. At that point, I might start trying things one at a time. Troubleshooting by halves works well when a problem has many possible causes.

SECURITY

*Don't call me, I'll call You*
Remember, it's not the victim that initiates a swindle. This compelling phone scam has been around before, but evidently it's spreading again. [tip from Randy Fabian]
http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp -- jury duty scam
http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/report-200611.html -- scam checklist

*Pro-active Online Security*
Antivirus and antispyware are reactive defense measures for the most part. They won't protect you in many situations. Link Scanner Pro alerts you when you a link would take you to a malicious or compromised website. LSP is part of my own pro-active security setup.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2062311,00.asp -- article
http://www.squidoo.com/security2/ -- my setup

ECLECTIC

*Last Minute Special*
Clearance before the new Vista computers come in. :-)
http://cybercoyote.org/links/002.html

*Sling Shot*
Your job in this game is to save your world. You may need to watch the intro/instructions more than once, but when you catch on, you're hooked. :-) [This particular game is online. Be careful before you actually download games from the site though.]
http://sling.ezone.com/game.php -- the game
http://www.siteadvisor.com/ -- site ratings

*Microsoft Organization Chart*
Turn on your GPS so you won't get lost, then click on the image to enlarge it. :-)
http://cybercoyote.org/url/232.html

*Weighty matters*
How much does the water in a puffy cloud weigh? How about a big dark cloud?
http://cybercoyote.org/url/209.html
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/nws/images/big/wea00308.jpg -- wet vac :-)

*Worlds largest arachnid* [best with broadband]
This video is fascinating if you aren't too squeamish.
http://cybercoyote.org/url/231.html