Vol. 23 number 6 June 2006 The newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group Calendar OPCUG General Meeting National Museum of Science and Technology 1867 St. Laurent Blvd. Second Wednesday of each month, 7:30pm Jun 14 BBQ, Newsletter contest, Rick Claus, Microsoft Canada Collaboration & information sharing with Office 2007 Beginner SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. IT Pro SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. PIG (or Wing?) SIG, after all the other SIGs, at 10 p.m. Chances "R", 1365 Woodroffe (at Baseline), College Square Beer BOF (Wing SIG East, after all the SIGs, at 10 p.m. Liam Maguire's, St. Laurent at Innes Rd. (formerly Hooters) Please note that unless otherwise noted, SIGs meet at 9:00 p.m. (immediately following the OPCUG General Meeting). ____________________________ Coming Up... June 14, 2006 Annual BBQ (6-7 pm). Free for OPCUG members and their guest(s). Order your food today! Contact Brigitte at brigitte.lord@@opcug.ca (subject: BBQ). Indicate how many hamburgers and/or hotdogs you (and your guests) want (see announcement next page). 7:30 pm: Speaker: Rick Claus Topic: Collaboration and information sharing with Microsoft Office 2007 (product preview: http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx) The applications most used by IT professionals and end users alike are typically components of the Office suite - Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Microsoft Office 2007 has introduced many enhancements that directly address the everyday user experience and promote collaboration and information sharing at all levels. This session provides a technical overview the new features of Microsoft Office 2007, SharePoint, and Exchange 2007 designed to make your life more productive. 9:00 pm: SIGs will meet after the general meeting. ____________________________ June Raffle At the June meeting, thanks to the generosity of Microsoft Canada, we have a copy off Microsoft Office 2003 for the raffle. This most popular of office suites will help you get through your tasks swiftly and smoothly. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/office/editions/prodinfo/default.ms px Tickets for the raffle are $1 for one, $2 for three, or $5 for ten. ____________________________ May Prize Winners The winners of our door prizes on May 10th were Keith Martinsen who won a copy of CorelDRAW X3 and Ian Reid who got a copy of the book "Mind Hacks". Thanks to Corel. And thanks to Don Chiasson for donating "Mind Hacks" following his review in the November 2005 newsletter. ____________________________ The OPCUG annual BBQ is June 14, 2006. It's FREE! June is our wrap-up meeting before we break for the summer. Continuing with tradition, we will be having our 5th annual barbeque. It will take place under the big tent near the main doors to the museum. There will be cold drinks, hamburgers, hot dogs and dessert. Make sure you let Brigitte know at brigitte.lord@@opcug.ca (subject: BBQ) how many people will be in your party and how many hamburgers and/or hotdogs you will need. If you can help out at the BBQ (bringing a grill or flipping burgs and dogs) please let her know. Those providing a grill (and fuel) for the occasion can take home a share of the leftover food. The barbeque will start at 6:00 and run until about 7:00. After that we will head into the museum for our regular meeting, which will start at 7:30. See you there! ____________________________ Contest for Best Newsletter Article - Vote Today! The contest winner will get a Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse and Microsoft's Age of Empires III. The winner will be announced at the June 14th general meeting and be presented with the prize. Final list of 2005/2006 contestants and articles: Doug Poulter: Firefox Extensions, October 2005 Doug Poulter: FoxReader vs. Adobe Reader, October 2005 Don Chiasson: Mind Hacks, November 2005 Lionel Wagner: Are you ready for Linux? Linux is ready for you, December 2005 Dunc Petrie: Beyond Making MP3's, December 2005 Dunc Petrie: To (US)B or not to (US)B, That is the Question, Part 1:January 2006, Part 2:February 2006 Gary Byron: Internet Annoyances, April 2006 Sarah Gelfand: Windows XP Personal Trainer, May 2006 Find links to all the articles at http://opcug.ca/public/Articles/contest2005.htm. Please show your support and vote. Voting will remain open until June 12th, 11:00PM. The winner will be announced at the June 14th general meeting and be presented with the prize. Voting Page: http://opcug.ca/ques?BestArticle. See the April 2006 newsletter or visit http://opcug.ca/public/Articles/contest2005.htm on how to register and vote. ____________________________ Product Review Exploring Linux - Part 2 by Alan German In the Part 1 of this article we took a look at using a couple of versions of a Linux-Live CD. This proved to be so easy that now we are fearless Linux explorers and are ready to take on the task of installing a full version of Linux onto our computer's hard drive. We are ready for this, aren't we? Actually, this is a big step, and a little preparation wouldn't go amiss. We will be installing Linux from the second of the two Ubuntu CD's but, before we dive into the process, we will take some time out to do a little research. What we need is a text book. Some time ago, from OPCUG's recycling table, I had rescued a boxed set of "The Complete Red Hat Linux Operating System 5.2". I actually did perform an installation of this software, struggling with things like Disk Druid to format a bunch of Linux partitions. Fortunately, modern installation routines seem to automate this process so we (probably) won't encounter any such difficulties. The good news is that Red Hat's box contained an installation manual that explains quite a bit about drive names, disk partitions - both required and desirable - and dual boot systems. However, since you are unlikely to possess (or even obtain) this book, an alternate source of Linux information might be a good idea. I would suggest borrowing a copy of "Linux for Dummies" from the local library. This suggestion has a dual purpose. Firstly, the text is a good introduction to Linux, the process of installing the operating system, and how to use various applications. Secondly, the book includes a bootable DVD containing Fedora Core 1 (the free version of the Red Hat Linux distro.) Assuming that you want to set up a dual-boot, Windows/Linux system (rather than overwriting your Windows' partition with Linux), the sage advice from the text is that you should have a free partition on the main drive of around 3 GB. Linux will run in much smaller space, but a disk of this size gives lots of expansion capability. I happened to have a copy of Partition Magic, so I could easily establish such a free partition. I opted for a 4 GB partition, just to be sure that I had lots of available space. Partition Magic also includes Boot Magic, a dual-boot utility, so I also set this up to be ready, as I initially thought, to handle booting to either the existing Windows' partition or the Linux partition once this was established. It turns out that the Linux installer provides its own dual-boot manager, called GRUB, so my preparation efforts initially seemed futile. But, later - much later - when everything went wrong, Boot Magic came to the rescue! At this point, let me say that I am no expert on Linux installations, or on dual boot systems, or on booting systems period! Furthermore, please note that, in playing around with various installations of Linux, I managed to overwrite the master boot record on my main hard drive so that it would only boot into Linux. Then, I managed to corrupt the Linux boot loader so my machine wouldn't boot into anything! So, you follow my lead at your peril! One thing I would note is that, before you do anything, you should ensure that you have a rescue disk from which you can boot your machine should anything untoward transpire. And, don't just assume that the rescue disk will work when things go south. Put the disk in the drive and boot from it! If it works when you don't really need it, chances are it will save your hide when you do. My problem actually occurred on my very first attempt at installing Linux using the Red Hat Linux Version 5.2 distro. obtained from the club's recycling table. I was a little too anxious to follow the "helpful" default responses to the screen prompts, and agreed to have the Linux boot loader installed in the master boot record, instead of selecting a dual-boot option. This, of course, completely prevented my booting into the Windows' partition. My fix for this was to boot from a Windows 95 startup disk and run Boot Magic's configuration utility to re-enable Boot Magic to load on startup and hence return the option of starting Windows. There might well have been a more elegant solution to the problem but the moral is that, like all boy scouts, you should be prepared, with rescue disks in hand. Anyway, I'm sure that you already have a number of rescue disks that have been thoroughly tested, and multiple backups of your entire system from which you have recovered both the operating system and all your data. Venturing into the great unknown holds no perils for you, so here we go... The process of installing Linux started simply enough. I put the Ubuntu install CD into the tray and booted the machine. The initial screen provided an F1 help key that lead to a menu with a series of function keys that, in turn, gave information on the different ways that the installation can proceed. The simple-minded approach (which, as noted above, I invariably take) was to press the Enter key and let things rip. As with the Linux-Live CD that we used previously, the first few prompts in the installation routine set the language, country, and keyboard to which I responded English, Canada, and American-English. This is followed by a series of messages indicating that the installation routine is detecting hardware components and so forth. The first hurdle that you will probably encounter is a message to the effect that the network configuration failed. Pressing the Continue button took me to the next screen that allowed me to select "Do not configure the network at this time". Since I wasn't sure what network we were talking about, this seemed like a safe bet. Now, I had to select a host name for my Linux system - the default "ubuntu" seemed as good as any. Now things got interesting. The next prompt asked me to partition disks - with the default being - "Erase entire disk - IDE1 master (hda)". I don't think so!!! At this point you have to recall the warning on the inside cover of the two-CD envelope that "...the default installation will erase all existing software and data..." But, also recall that there is an expert installation mode that will avoid this. The "expert" mode is to choose another option from the menu - "Use the largest continuous free space". Now, the reason for creating that empty 3 (or 4) GB partition becomes apparent. A table was now displayed showing that the installation routine was going to set up a main Linux (ext 3) partition and a Linux swap partition. Since these looked OK to me (what do I know?), I was reasonably happy to say yes to the final "Write changes to disk" query. Completing the remaining installation prompts was a piece of cake. I set the time to Eastern, gave my full name, established a username and an associated password (for logging onto Linux later). Next, the GRUB boot loader detected I had Windows 2000 on another disk partition and asked if I wished to install GRUB as the master boot record. Simple-minded me took the default option of Yes, and the installer said it was now time to reboot. Having rebooted the machine, GRUB indeed loaded and provided a boot menu that included options to load the Ubuntu kernel (default), a recovery mode, a memory test and, finally, Windows 2000. And, yes, the first thing I did was to check that Windows would still load! This was successful and so, second time through GRUB, I selected Ubuntu kernel and sat back to watch Linux in action. Actually booting into Linux took forever - with lots of stuff - such as Firefox, various fonts, a game control centre, and OpenOffice being set up. One of the messages indicated that 57,707 files and directories had been processed so it's no wonder that it took a while! The good news is that this is an initial set up process. Booting into Linux a second time proved to be much faster. I have heard it said that Linux is a much more secure operating system than Windows. This seems to be the case right off the bat since the first order of business is to enter the username and password (that were set up during the installation process) in order to gain access to the Linux desktop. Yes, I know that you can do this in Windows but, be honest, have you ever used this facility? In Linux, there is no choice - no username, no password - no entry! Fortunately, I had written my username and password down (on a very secure piece of paper) and so was able to logon to my brand new Linux system without difficulty. If you tried the Ubuntu-Live CD described in Part 1, you will know exactly what my Linux desktop looked like, and will have a feel for the range of applications that were instantly available. The major difference is now that I have a real (4 GB) hard disk to work with instead of being limited to temporary space, or having to resort to removable media such as floppies or USB keys. Now, all I have to do is figure out how the Linux file system really works. Oh yes, and you remember that little problem with a network configuration. I'm not sure if this means I can't use a local area network (that I don't have), or if it means I won't be able to access the Internet. Time, and a lot more exploring Linux, will tell! In the interim, you may also recall that "Linux for Dummies" included a DVD-ROM with Fedora Core 1, a free Linux distro from Red Hat. It seems a pity to waste the opportunity to give this version of Linux a whirl. But, this will have to wait for Part 3... Bottom Line Ubuntu - Linux for human beings (Open-source software) Version 5.04 for Intel x86 http://www.ubuntu.com To request free Ubuntu CD's, visit https://shipit.ubuntu.com/ Current Version: Ubuntu 5.10 Linux for Dummies Dee-Ann LeBlanc 5th Edition, Wiley, 2004 ISBN 0-7645-4310-5 (Ottawa Public Library Call No. 005.546 L445) ____________________________ SIG Talk At the Beginners' SIG by Chris Taylor Recently, on The PUB, Alan German mentioned that his 4GB boot partition (where Windows is installed) was down to 140MB free space. While trying to clean up things, he came across a bunch of files in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp and was wondering if it was safe to delete them. I presented some options in a reply and, at the May Beginners' SIG, we discussed the general issue of cleaning up hard drives to make more space for new stuff. What follows here is my original reply to Alan on The PUB (edited for coherence) with some expansion that came from the Beginners' SIG discussion. Note that the instructions below apply to Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Most will also work with earlier versions of Windows, but to try to be all-encompassing would make for too long an article. We can discuss this more at future Beginners' SIG meetings. Emptying the temp folder There are really only two categories of files that I think you will find in your temp folder that you can't or don't want to remove. The first is files currently being used by some programs. Generally you can't remove them because they are locked for exclusive use. But if you can delete them, sometimes the program using them will crash. Not a good thing. The other is recovery files created by some applications. In the event of a crash, the application can use the information in these files to recover after you restart. Unfortunately, many programs will create files in the temp folder and never remove them. They just sit there, using up valuable disk real estate. To find where your temp folder is, click on Start | Run and type in cmd. Windows 9x users should type in command. This will open a console window. Type set and hit enter. It will report the contents of all environment variables on your computer. Look for the variable temp. It will probably be set to something like C:\Docume~1\CTaylor\Locals~1\Temp. To find this folder, right-click My Computer on the desktop and choose Explore from the pop-up menu. Make sure Windows is configured to show hidden files. Click on Tools | Folder Options and click the View tab. Make sure the option Show hidden files and folders is selected and click OK. Browse using the left pane in Explorer to find your Temp folder as reported by the temp environment variable. If part of the location shows ~1, look for a folder that begins with the part of the name before the ~1. The long name for the above example is c:\Documents and Settings\CTaylor\Local Settings\Temp. Once you get to that location, right-click on the temp folder and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. Windows will report the amount of disk space being used by temporary files and folders. If that number amounts to something significant like over 10 or 20 MB, it may be worth cleaning it out. My general recommendation is to reboot to ensure all open files are closed. Then delete anything in the temp folder with a date stamp older than the reboot. I have never had a problem doing this. If you have multiple directories under Documents and Settings, each corresponds to a local user profile. Each may have junk in their local settings\temp folder. If nobody is currently logged in under these additional account names, it is safe to delete the contents of each local settings\temp folder. Run the Disk Cleanup Wizard Click on Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup. Windows will present a wizard that will step you through the process of cleaning up a drive. You will be presented with a number of optional elements that can be cleaned up. There is a brief description for each element to help you decide if you want to clean them up or not. Eliminate unneeded accounts If you have extra user accounts on the computer that you don't need, you can save space by eliminating those accounts and their associated profiles, which can consume considerable disk space. To delete user accounts, right- click on My Computer, choose Manage from the pop-up menu, and then drill down to Users under Local Users and Groups. Unless you really know what you are doing, leave any account you didn't create, as some may be required by special processes. But you can delete any accounts you created that are no longer needed. Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties. Then click the User Profiles tab. In some cases, User Profiles is found on the Advanced tab. You can see the size of different profiles that are there and you can delete any profiles not required. Remove backup files for service packs and patches If you have installed a service pack and have no intention of uninstalling the service pack, you can remove the folder $NtServicePackUninstall$ which is under the Windows folder. That is generally good for over 150MB alone. After deleting the folder, if you want to clean up Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs list, you can follow Microsoft's directions at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290402/ or you can just go to Add/Remove Programs and try to uninstall the service pack. You will get an error indicating the uninstall folder is not available and Windows will offer to remove the line from the Add/Remove list. You can do likewise with other Windows patches listed in Add/Remove Programs. Each has their own hidden folder under the Windows folder. The folder is named $NtUninstall followed by the Microsoft Knowledge Base article of the patch. The corresponding entries in Add/Remove Programs include the KB article number. On my Windows 2000 computer, backup files for service packs and patches are taking up 530MB. On my XP machine, they are taking an astounding 847MB. Uninstall programs you don't need Use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall any programs you don't need. If you have more than one drive or partition on your computer, you could also consider uninstalling programs installed in the default location (which is the partition where Windows is installed, A.K.A the boot partition) and re-installing them to a different drive or partition with more room. Consider removing Windows components you never use. In Add/Remove Programs, click Add/Remove Windows Components and you can removed things you never use. You can also remove components of other programs you have installed but never use. Any entry in Add/Remove Programs that includes a Change button is a candidate. Click the Change button and see what your options are. Slim down the browser cache Empty your browser cache and set it a maximum of 10MB if you are on a high-speed Internet connection or a maximum of 50MB if on dial-up. Some versions of Windows defaulted Internet Explorer's cache to 10% of the drive, which is way too large. The cache settings in Internet Explorer are found at Tools | Internet Options | General tab | Temporary Internet files section. In Firefox - Tools | Options | Privacy section | Cache tab. Utility programs to the rescue There are utility programs designed to help you route out bloat. If you Google for something like free disk cleanup, you will find tons of them. Reduce bloated mail files Mail programs are notorious for bloat. As you delete emails, and even remove them from your Deleted Items folder, they still exist within the mail files. Look for an option in your mail program to compress your mail files. In Outlook Express, click File | Folder | Compact All Folders. In Thunderbird, click File | Compact Folders. Slim down the recycle bin If you don't need any of the files in the recycle bin, right-click it and choose Empty Recycle Bin. Consider setting the Recycle Bin so it only uses 1% of the drive. Right-click the Recycle Bin and choose Properties. Set the slider to whatever you want for the maximum amount of space the recycle bin should use. Search for large files You can search for large files using up disk space. Click on Start | Search. Choose All files and folders and then in the What size is it section choose specify size and set it to at least and enter in KB a reasonably large number, such as 10,000. Then click on Search. Lots of large files will show up. You need to be careful about what large files you delete. Many are needed by the operating system and applications. But you may recognize some as being safe to delete. Hopefully, these tips will help you recover lots of disk space to make room for new programs, digital pictures, and more. ____________________________ 101 Fabulous Freebies (from the May 2006 issue of PC World magazine) You may want to check out the May 2006 issue of PC World magazine to see this long list of freebies. The following is just a glimpse at what is available. Utilities and System tools Foxit Reader (OPCUG review: http://opcug.ca/public/Reviews/foxreader.htm) PDF Creator CC Cleaner Online Search and Reference Services Google Desktop Copernic Desktop Search WordWeb (dictionary and thesaurus for any application) Roam Free: Collaboration and Remote-Access Tools LogMeIn WriteBoard FreeConference.com Business and productivity tools OpenOffice.org (OPCUG review: http://opcug.ca/public/Reviews/openoffice20.htm) Pegasus Mail Thunderbird Communications tools and services eFax Messenger QNext SightSpeed Calendars and organizers Yahoo Calendar Ta-Da List Palm Desktop (for those who don't have a PDA) File sharing and storage services FolderSync BeInSync FolderShare Security/antispam tools, system-stabilizing utilities Spybot Search & Destroy Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal Microsoft Windows Defender ZoneAlarm Entertainment software and services Irfanview The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation) Google Earth Web-based e-mail Gmail Yahoo Mail Blogging tools Blogger WordPress.com LiveJournal RSS readers Abilon RssReader Feedreader Video sharing services Revver Putfile Vimeo The full list with product links and descriptions can be seen at PC World magazine online at http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,124883,pg,17,00 .asp Thanks to Wayne Houston for bringing this to our attention. Brigitte Lord, Editor, Ottawa PC News ____________________________ OTTAWA PC NEWS Ottawa PC News is the newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group (OPCUG), and is published monthly except in July and August. The opinions expressed in this newsletter may not necessarily represent the views of the club or its members. Member participation is encouraged! If you would like to contribute an article to Ottawa PC News, please submit it to the newsletter editor (contact info below). Deadline for submissions is three Saturdays before the General Meeting. Group meetings OPCUG normally meets on the second Wednesday in the month, except in July and August, at the National Museum of Science and Technology, 1867 St. Laurent Blvd, Ottawa. Meetings are 7:30-9:00 p.m. and Special Interest Groups go until 10 p.m. Fees: OPCUG annual membership: $25 per year. Mailing address: 3 Thatcher St., Nepean, Ontario, K2G 1S6 Web address: http://opcug.ca/ Bulletin Board - PUB II (BBS): http://opcug.ca/default.htm President and System Administrator: Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 613 727-5453 Meeting Coordinator: Bob Gowan, bob.gowan@@opcug.ca Treasurer: Alan German, alan.german@@opcug.ca Secretary: (Mr.) Jocelyn Doire, jocelyn.doire@@opcug.ca Membership Chairman: Mark Cayer, Mark.Cayer@@opcug.ca, 613 823-0354 Newsletter: Brigitte Lord, brigitte.lord@@opcug.ca Email: (Mr.)Jocelyn Doire, Jocelyn.Doire@@opcug.ca Public Relations: Morris Turpin, PR@@opcug.ca, 613 729-6955 Facilities: Bob Walker, 613 489-2084 Webmaster: Brigitte Lord, opcug-webmaster@@opcug.ca Privacy Director: Wayne Houston, privacy@@opcug.ca Director without portfolio Ted May, tamay@@rogers.com Beginners' SIG Coordinator: Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 613 727-5453 IT Pro SIG: Bob Thomas, ITProSIG@@opcug.ca Note: We added an extra "@" to the emails to reduce spam. (c) OPCUG 2006. Reprints permission is granted* to non- profit organizations, provided credits is given to the author and The Ottawa PC News. OPCUG request a copy of the newsletter in which reprints appear. *Permission is granted only for articles written by OPCUG members, and not copyrighted by the author. ____________________________ Newsletter by email: To receive the newsletter by e-mail, send a message to listserve@@opcug.ca with the plain text "subscribe NewsletterTXT" or "subscribe NewsletterPDF" (without quotes nor HTML code) in the body of the message. No subject line is required. Cancelling the Paper Newsletter: You can help the environment and save us some costs by sending an email to Mark.Cayer@@opcug.ca asking to cancel the delivery of the paper version of the newsletter (or ask him in person - Mark is usually at the back of the auditorium at General Meetings). Announcements Mailing List: To subscribe to the Announcements List send an email to listserve@@opcug.ca, leave the subject blank and in the body of the message put "subscribe announcements" (without the quotes nor HTML code). Within a couple of minutes you will receive a confirmation message from the list server. OPCUG clock/calendar/calculator and mug: Check out the clock/calendar/calculator and thermal coffee mug sporting our club logo at the back of the auditorium at General Meetings! OPCUG insulated mugs are $15 and OPCUG clocks are $20. Reuse, recycle: Bring your old computer books, software, hardware, and paraphernalia you want to GIVE AWAY to the general meetings, and leave them at the table near the auditorium's entrance. Please limit your magazines to publication dates of less than two years old. If you don't bring something, you may want to TAKE AWAY something of interest, so look in on this area. Any item left over at the end of the meeting will be sent to the... recycle bin.