*CyberCoyote - January 31, 2008*

NEWS, NOTES and NOTICES

*Next week*: Deja vu all over again. :-)
Kathy Jacobs, Microsoft MVP (expert) is a PowerPoint and OneNote consultant, trainer, and writer. Kathy will be telling us about Microsoft OneNote. She will not be selling anything during this presentation. The goal of her presentation is to introduce you to a piece of software she loves and thinks you need to see!
http://www.OnPPT.com/

*Classes*
Computer Kindergarten is full, and two Photo Enhancement classes are full. Send an email to happytrailscc@yahoo.com to get on a class wait list. (You can also join our Yahoo! group by sending a blank email to the same address with "Join the Group" as the subject.)

*Demos*
George demonstrated three interesting items today. You can buy things like this at Frys.com, Amazon.com and NewEgg.com.
1. The "PCTV HD Stick" plugs into a USB port on your computer and turns it into a HD TV set. There are a couple of dozen Phoenix digital HD stations on South Mountain, and if you skip the ones in Spanish there's over half a dozen local (national network) stations. You'd probably need a small roof antenna to pick them up, but they are all high definition.
2. Photo Shop Elements, which is a very useful subset of Photo Shop.
3. "Learn Windows Vista & Office 2007" by PC Tutor, which looks quite good. We'll have a preview session of that tutor, which will let you see if you'd be interested. They also have "tutors" for other computing products.
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Home/
http://tinyurl.com/3ckfyo  -- Photo Shop Elements
http://tinyurl.com/382u9n -- PC Tutor
TIPS, TOPICS and TWEAKS
*Windows Live Mail*
This is one of the new "Live" programs that George talked about a couple of weeks ago. It will eventually replace Outlook Express and Windows Mail (Outlook express for Vista). Vista4beginners.com has a nice overview of what to expect if you make the switch. I have tried Windows Live Mail and it worked fine for me.
http://www.vista4beginners.com/Windows-Live-Mail -- overview
http://get.live.com/ -- Windows Live

*McAfee repair tool*
If you have been unable to escape the clutches of some McAfee program, try this tool.  It's an "official" removal utility from McAfee. Even if you've already uninstalled a McAfee program, use this to help clean up the remaining debris. If you haven't already installed that McAfee program, the article may help you decide not to. :^)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141720-pg,1/article.html

*What's eating my hard drive?*
Often it's a few really big files that you don't need any more. But how do you find them quickly? Free, graphical "JDiskReport" will help you zero in on the space hogs. There are 5 ways to parse your data, and don't miss the icons at the bottom that switch graphical views. (Download the "Win" option of the latest  version. If you don't have Java installed you'll need to download and install that too.)

JDiskReport requires Java to run, so a word to the wise is in order: Java is a powerful utility that you must keep  updated if you expect your computer to be secure online. I strongly recommend that you wrap up your cleanup job by uninstalling Java if you're not going to bother keeping Java updated after you've used JDiskReport.
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html
http://www.java.com/ -- download Java

ODDS and ENDS

*Identity Theft*
http://tinyurl.com/2bgxkq -- comic strip

*Election 2008*
Do not be unduly alarmed, but do keep in mind that contestants like this will actually be allowed to vote.
http://tinyurl.com/2ec44f -- best with broadband

*That's all, folks.*

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