*CyberCoyote - March 8, 2007*

NEWS, NOTES and NOTICES

*Backup Workshop*
Our first of 3 or 4 backup workshops is Wednesday, March 14 in the Computer Lab at 9:00-11:00. We'll cover the practical aspects of backup, including organizing your files, backup strategies, backup programs, restoring your files, backup media, etc. We'll also demonstrate drive imaging. Bring your computer if you like and $2.00/session.
http://cybercoyote.org/computer/backup.shtml -- get a head start

*Next Week*
We'll have a brief business meeting, followed by a Questions and Answers session.

TIPS, TOPICS and TWEAKS

*Make Mailing Labels with Word*
Microsoft Word, like most modern word processors can easily create a set of mailing labels from your address book, or from a spreadsheet. George Jester showed us how to do that, and his brief instructions are online.
http://cybercoyote.org/club/notes/labels.html

*Process Explorer*
Windows Task Manager on steroids: Lets you see clearly what's going on behind the scenes in Windows. Well, after you study it awhile. :-) All running processes are displayed, along with a description and how much CPU time each one is taking. The processes are nested so that you can see which parent process started each child process. You can also "kill" (end) processes with more authority than Windows Task Manager allows [free]. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx

*Outlook Express*
Carole Cole described how her Outlook Express messages got corrupted, and she want to know if there was some way to recover them. We didn't have an answer, but these Google searches might help.
http://www.google.com/search?q=backup+outlook+express
http://www.google.com/search?q=recover+outlook+express+messages

*Are Registry cleaners worthwhile?*
One of our members asked me this question at the meeting last week, and my answer was yes, but I only recommend one. Many, if not most of them are snake oil or worse. Trouble was, I couldn't remember which one. Well, it's the registry cleaner in the oddly named jv16 Power Tools suite (there are stand-alone cleaners at their website too). After bitter experience with others, I don't trust anything else. Fred Langa just wrote an answer to the question about being worthwhile. He also has links to additional detailed information about registry cleaners.
http://www.macecraft.com/ -- jv16 website
http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070301/#langa0 -- Langa's article

SECURITY

The new Norton 360 security suite gets very positive reviews. It is new as of 2007, but don't confuse it with Norton Internet Security 2007. Norton 360 costs more but is a big improvement, and I'd say worth it for a "one-stop" solution. (Not what I'd say about Microsoft OneCare though.) [Click the "print" icon to read the whole article as one page.]
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2101130,00.asp

CONSIDER THIS

*No particular place to go*
http://cybercoyote.org/links/050.html

*Shop 'till you drop*
A list of the World's largest malls. (Guess where the two largest ones are.)
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/amerst/MallsWorld.htm

*Human sling shot* [best with broadband]
I'm sure someone did a careful safety analysis first. ;-)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8959221252413764426&q