Vol. 24 number 6 June 2007 The newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group Calendar OPCUG General Meeting National Museum of Science and Technology 1867 St. Laurent Blvd. Second (*third) Wednesday of each month, 7:30pm Jun 13 BBQ "QNX - the company, its technology and applications you use every day" by Paul Leroux, Public Relations Manager and Technology Analyst, QNX Software Systems 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 13th, 2007 OPCUG Annual BBQ OPCUG Annual BBQ - Don't miss it! When: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 Time: 6:30 pm Where: Outside at the Museum of Science and Tech. This year we are doing something a little different for the OPCUG Annual BBQ in June -we are having it catered by The Lone Star! As in the past, you can bring guests, and it's free. However, unlike in the past, we need to insist that all who want to eat (members and their guests) pre-register by June 8th with their menu choices. Guests can only be pre-registered by an OPCUG member. **Members and guests who are not pre-registered will not get any food.** Please choose from the following menu for *each person attending*: 1. Beef Fajitas- tortillas with steak, grilled onions & peppers, guacamole, sour cream, shredded cheddar & pico-de- gallo, Mexican rice & beans 2. Chicken Fajitas- as above but with chicken instead of beef 3. BBQ Chicken Dinner (1/2 lb) with salad and baked potato (with chives, cheese & bacon bits) A variety of pop and water will also be available. You must register by email indicating the full names of those you are registering and the menu choice for each person. Send your email to BBQ2007@@opcug.ca (subject: BBQ 2007) by June 8th. The registration email must come from an OPCUG member. You will receive a reply by email indicating that you are registered. If you do not receive confirmation, please resend your request. And after the BBQ: Speaker: Paul Leroux, Public Relations Manager and Technology Analyst, QNX Software Systems Topic: "QNX - the company, its technology and applications you use every day" QNX Software Systems, founded in 1980 with headquarters here in Ottawa (Kanata), is the industry leader in realtime, embedded operating system technology. QNX technology has been used in almost everything from nuclear power plants to Acuras. They distribute products for network routers, medical instruments, vehicle telematics units, security and defense systems, industrial robotics, and other mission- or life-critical applications in over 100 countries and to global leaders such as Cisco, DaimlerChrysler, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Acura and Siemens. Our speaker will describe how we "use" QNX every day, making a credit card purchase, driving a car, or using the Internet. In short, how technology developed here in Ottawa has made such a large impact worldwide. Paul Leroux is a longtime employee of QNX familiar with the company's history and QNX technology, as an author or co- author of articles for technical trade publications. He currently has dual roles with QNX, as Public Relations Manager and Technology Analyst. ____________________________ June Raffle Prize The June raffle prize is a Vista Launch Kit that came courtesy of Mindshare - the group within Microsoft supporting user groups. It contains: -a book "Windows Vista Product Guide" which appears to be a not bad intro manual for Vista -a Vista mousepad -a DVD with info on 3rd party Vista solutions -an Easy Transfer Cable, which, with supplied software, makes it easy to move from a computer running XP to a computer running Vista - transferring all the settings, documents, etc. Made by Belkin -Windows Live USB key - to access all the Windows Live services -a SanDisk Cruzer Micro - a 2GB USB memory stick certified ReadyBoost capable -T-Mobile Day Pass - good for 24 continuous hours of wireless Internet access through T-Mobile (where available) -Windows Vista Magazine -a copy of Zoo Tycoon 2 (http://opcug.ca/public/Reviews/zoo_tycoon2.htm) Tickets are still only $1 for one, $2 for three, or $5 for ten. ____________________________ No Prizes in May There were no door or raffle prizes drawn at the May meeting. Mark Cayer, who brings the rolls of tickets to all the meetings, had a fender bender on his way to the museum and was unable to attend. Mark's vehicle sustained some damage, but we're glad to announce that he is OK. ____________________________ May Meeting One of our members, Micheline, has compiled an article of the May meeting with speaker Dr. Michael Geist. The article on his excellent presentation, Copyright, Culture, and the Internet, can be found on the OPCUG website at http://opcug.ca/public/Articles/geist.pdf (PDF, 444 KB) or http://opcug.ca/public/Articles/geist.htm (HTML). The article includes the URLs of the many websites he showed us. Thank you, Micheline. ____________________________ Contest for Best Newsletter Article - Vote Today! The contest winner will receive a copy of McAfee VirusScan and a Kensington universal laptop docking station (laptop computer not included) from Harley Bloom of Bloom MicroTech (http://www.bmtnet.com). The winner will be announced at the June 13th general meeting and be presented with the prize. Final list of 2006/2007 contestants and articles: Micheline Johnson, Printing from the Web, RTF, 19.8KB, September 2006 Peter Hawkins, Upgrade Envy, RTF, 27.6KB, May 2007 Find links to the articles at http://opcug.ca/public/Articles/contest2006.htm. Please show your support and vote. Voting will remain open until June 11th, 11:00PM. The winner will be announced at the June 13th general meeting and be presented with the prize: Visit http://opcug.ca/public/Articles/contest2006.htm on how to register and vote. Voting Page: http://opcug.ca/ques?BestArticle ____________________________ Product Review File Encryption Revisited - TrueCrypt by Alan German I recently obtained a new laptop computer which, of course, runs Windows Vista. Now, no doubt you have heard that this is a locked-down operating system, and permission is demanded by the User Account Control system to do just about anything. Well, that might be a little overstated, but it certainly wasn't long before I hit a Vista roadblock in trying to install my old utility programs on the new machine. In particular, one program that I use quite regularly, Cryptext, my tried-and-true file encryption utility (http://opcug.ca/public/Reviews/cryptxt.htm), couldn't install itself under Vista. The installation routine was trying to unpack DLL files into the Windows' system area and Vista wasn't having any of that. No request for authorization; it just simply refused to allow the files to be copied to disk. And, that was probably only going to be the first little snag. Cryptext also hooks itself into Windows Explorer so that both the encrypt and decrypt options are available at the click of the right-mouse button for the file system being displayed. Without a doubt, Vista wouldn't have thought much of that process either - a foreign program linking itself to a system utility - I don't think so! So, it was evidently time to seek out a new encryption program, one that is compatible with Vista. A little surfing revealed reviews of a number of candidate products at PC World's web site (http://www.pcworld.com/browse/1445/topic.html?page=1). One of these - Truecrypt - was both free and open-source. Now, that's often my kind of utility program. And, the description made it seem like the ideal package for my purpose, an "encryption program that lets you place files and folders in 'safes' of any size." Basically, the program lets you create a secure "volume", actually an encrypted file, that can be almost any size (minimum of 19 KB for FAT, 2.5 MB for NTFS). TrueCrypt volumes can apparently be up to 8,589,934,592 GB but, personally, I can't count that high! Once created, the volume is "mounted" as a logical disk, with any previously unused drive letter. Files, or even whole directories, can then be dragged onto the new drive, or retrieved from the drive, with TrueCrypt encrypting or decrypting the information on-the-fly. TrueCrypt offers (to me) a bewildering array of encryption options, including the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) using 14 rounds and a 256-bit key, and Blowfish with 16 rounds and a 448-bit key. There is also a choice of the Whirlpool (512 bits), SHA-1 (160 bits), or RIPEMD-160 (160 bits) hash algorithms that are evidently part of creating master and secondary encryption keys. I have no idea what all of these are, but all those big numbers sound really good! Anyway, all I want is a password- protected data vault to hold a few files on my backup USB memory stick - just in case I lose it - so just about any degree of security is fine. And, those capabilities are precisely what Truecrypt provides. A wizard guides you through the process of creating a new volume: selecting a file and location, choosing the encryption and hash algorithms, specifying the volume size, assigning a password (with dire warnings if, like me, you choose a "short" password), and formatting the volume based on a sequence of random numbers. Then, it's simply a process of selecting an unused drive letter from a list and clicking on the Mount button. The logical drive just created shows up in Windows Explorer, and files can be dragged and dropped to and from the secure volume. Once the volume is dismounted, the result is a single encrypted file occupying the maximum disk space size assigned. A little consideration should be given, therefore, when determining the size of volume to be created. The good news is that this file can be readily copied or moved between disks so it does make a very useful container for backup of a group of "sensitive" files. Truecrypt must be running in order to re-mount the volume, and the program will prompt you for the assigned password before opening a new logical drive. So, don't forget your password, or your sensitive files will remain really secure! The basic program operation outlined here, together with a number of additional program options, is more fully described in a comprehensive, 105-page (PDF) User's Guide. The text includes information on the encryption and hash algorithms and, if you are really paranoid about security, indicates a means of completely hiding an encrypted volume inside a second encrypted volume. More information is available on the program's web site, including an extensive list of frequently asked questions (FAQ), and several discussion forums. So, if you need a file encryption utility, Truecrypt will run under Windows Vista, XP and 2000. There's even a version for Linux. Set up your encrypted volume, store your sensitive files - but, don't forget your password! Bottom Line TrueCrypt Version 4.3a (Open-source) TrueCrypt Foundation http://www.truecrypt.org/ ____________________________ Article Upgrade Envy - Part II by Peter Hawkins Continuing on from the first part (see May newsletter), I have arrived at the ultimate monitor solution. And it wasn't even going to cost me a penny. That ignores the inconvenient fact that I paid $230 for a 19 inch monitor last August, and the 17 inch one I purchased nearly 4 years ago was just languishing in my closet, brought out only once in a while to show my really attractive and quite exceptional photos from wonderful exciting challenging hikes! I am NOT going to factor that cost into this upgrade plan at all! All that was required of me was to follow the easy to understand details regarding how to set up Primary and Secondary Monitors. I followed Microsoft's instructions to the letter, clearly identifying what I believed to be Monitor 1 (the Primary) as opposed to Monitor 2 (the Secondary). I then deftly moved my mouse to the right hand edge of my "central" monitor and it promptly stopped. Where was the easy movement from one monitor to the next? To go right, I had to go left, and vice-versa. (Sorta reminds me that to turn off my computer I have to press "Start"!) The solution was not intuitively obvious, so I undid everything and tried again. Same sorry result. Then it came to me in a flash...all I had to do was swap the cables to my monitors. Windows wouldn't care. And you know what? It worked! It just "worked". Life just couldn't be sweeter. And this leads us to the final part of my plan - month 3. Month 3 began innocently enough as this was the month I would purchase a brand new cpu, then assemble my little vest-pocket rocket, and all would be well. The first sign that this was not to be happened when I called my really very favourite computer shop to talk once again with my personal consultant. First, he didn't recognize me nor remember our upgrade plan. At all. Ever. Who was I again? Secondly, the execution of my bold plan was seriously impeded by the fact that the chip I was promised was no longer manufactured and no longer stocked. What could I do now? Was my plan to take me to the promised land forsaken? Of course not. There is always Ebay! And Ebay just happened to have a Canadian seller (in Edmonton of all places) who had listed the very chip I wanted to buy at a price I was willing to pay. However, I still do not quite understand why a Canadian seller, listing a product already in Canada, and selling to a Canadian customer, lists the asking price in US dollars? Even the cost of postage through Canada Post was presented in US dollars. The all-up cost was $100 Canadian. At this point I had spent about $250, pretty close to budget, and I was ready to install the parts. Well...not exactly ready. There was an exciting disc from Asrock that showed how simple it would be to install their quite innovative motherboard, known to one and all as the 775 DUAL-VSTA. And what wonderful properties it had to recommend it! The one that really sold me was called "Untied Overclocking" followed quite closely by another part entitled "Hybred Booster". All this promised to save me from myself, so to speak. It appeared that there would be no way I could blow-up the cpu and mobo! The installation presentation showed me that if a well- qualified technician could so easily put all the need stuff in place, my fumble-fingered attempt just might go awry. A thoughtful analysis of my personal capabilities strongly suggested that I would be better off not doing this particular job on my own. So clearly the most direct path would be to call my somewhat less-than-favourite friendly local computer shop to see what might be done. Once again, no problemo. For a mere $75 (give-or-take) for about one hour of shop time they could accomplish this simple task. I didn't budget for this. I didn't even have an unsanctioned slush fund (also known as unknown and unaccounted-for discretionary spending) that could cover this. Unsanctioned slush funds are those hidden resources some of us hold back when mentioning to our spouses the costs of doing any particular course of action. My response to these dire circumstances was to find another more-local and possibly more-friendly computer store, based solely on the criterion that the assembly of all my parts would be less than $50, that all parts would fit properly together, and that it would work! Do not, at this point, remind me that two-out-of-three ain't bad! When I picked up my "new" computer ($45), I asked quite clearly if it worked, and I was absolutely reassured that it did, and they had taken it up to the point of re- authenticating the OS with Microsoft. My responsibility was to do exactly the same thing and complete the process. I will come back to this exciting Microsoft safety feature in just a moment. But first I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine, my ever-present faithful sidekick - Murphy! As in Murphy's Law! You will just not believe how he slipped a fast one over on me, but I'm going to tell you anyway. And yes, I do realize that my small problem with "Upgrade Envy" has taken a few unforeseen twists. Filled with anticipation and excitement I hurriedly brought my new computer home so I could attach all those dangly wires hanging around the back of my computer desk, fire it up, and be astounded at the "great leap forward"! As soon as I had all the leads hooked up I powered it up. It sounded good...a few lights flashed at me, the hard drive spun up...and an innocuous little message, square in the middle of my screen informed me that I had NO VIDEO! This would never do! I unhooked everything and tried again. Same result ...you were expecting this to be "a temporary glitch" or as some engineer friends of mine call it "intermittent failure for undetermined reasons", weren't you. No such luck! This of course necessitated another call to my now-getting-more- friendly more-local computer store. They told me to bring it in and they would have a look. This I did. But I did more. I took my computer in, explained my problem, and asked them to hook it up on the bench to demonstrate my problem. It failed as before. Now this failure is a good failure because it didn't work in precisely the fashion I declared that it wouldn't work, and it could be seen (well not-seen) to do what I said. I considered this to be an excellent beginning because this shop could see that I knew what I was talking about, and wasn't just a "wanna-be"! The downside of this was another expenditure, again unplanned for, but necessary if I was to satisfy my current addiction. Cutting to the very end of this unpleasant episode, it turned out that the part that failed was my AGP video card, and the failure took place somewhere between the shop and my house. Who would ever believe this type of failure. Murphy, that's who! And I had just spent another unbudgeted $75, for a grand total of $370. Please don't tell the Spousal Unit about any of this. Part three (I'm really not trying to string this out) will continue with the dreaded "Activation"! ____________________________ Book Review Ubuntu Hacks by Alan German The sub-title of this book is "Tips & Tools for Exploring, Using, and Tuning Linux" which turns out to be appropriate on a number of fronts. Some of the initial "hacks", notably Hack #1 - Test-Drive Ubuntu and Hack #5 - Install Ubuntu, aren't hacks at all, but rather are straightforward instructions on getting started with (i.e. exploring and using) Ubuntu Linux. But, despite that minor quibble, the book does contain lots of good information and advice for Ubuntu users, and really does have some interesting hacks. As with all the books in the "Hacks" series from O'Reilly, there are just too many individual items between the end covers - 100 hacks in all - to be able to do justice to them in a short review article. Consequently, I will have to settle for providing an outline of the available material, and reserve my detailed comments for a few favourite tips and techniques. The book consists of ten chapters, commencing, as noted above, with tips on getting started with Ubuntu; moving rapidly to tweaking the desktop, using multi-media applications, configuring laptops and input/output devices; through package management, security issues and administrative functions; to the intricacies of running virtual machines and configuring a variety of Linux-based servers. Even users with some prior familiarity with Ubuntu shouldn't discount the initial series of hacks for "getting started". These include instructions on how to customize the Ubuntu Live CD (Hack #4), moving Windows data and settings to Ubuntu (Hack #7), and installing Ubuntu on an external USB drive (Hack #10). Hack #19 - Search Your Computer looks interesting as it describes the use of a utility program called Beagle to index and search (à la Google Desktop) for files, E-mail messages, etc. The program is said to be a huge improvement on the Find File command in the Nautilus file manager and so should be a worthwhile addition to the base Ubuntu system. Similarly, the CUPS-PDF utility (Hack #26) provides the very useful feature of being able to create a PDF file from any application with a print command. Should you need to rip tracks from an audio CD, you might find Grip (Hack #32) to be a useful tool. Did you know that you can burn CD's and DVD's using Nautilus? If not, check out Hack #33. Need to extend the time that you can run your laptop on battery power? Hack #40 will tell you how to throttle back the speed of your CPU, dim your display, and slow down your hard drive's rotation speed, all to save power. There are also lots of tips on wireless networking, keyboards, mice and touchpads, and even how to hook up multiple displays. Chapter 6 covers the gamut of software installation using package managers and should be extremely useful for new Ubuntu users. If, like me, your modus operandi is to read instructions, help files, and manuals as a last resort, it may take a while before you discover the extensive world of applications software outside of the Ubuntu CD. So, take my advice - do yourself a favour - sit down and read this section of the book. All of the neat applications described so far, and a whole raft of other software products, are available through the judicious use of a package manager. You will learn how to use apt-get on the command line or, more likely, how to download and install applications through the use of the Synaptic (under Gnome) or Adept (under KDE) graphical package managers. Another useful tip (Hack #60) shows how to add software repositories, such as universe, to the list accessed by your preferred package manager. One remarkable (to me) tip is buried as part of Hack #54 - Manage packages from the command line. While I am content to use the graphical interface provided by Synaptic for package management, the subject tip involves creating shortcuts for Linux commands by adding lines (i.e. individual commands) to ~/.bashrc. Now, the latter is not described any further, but the form of the commands listed (alias agi='sudo apt-get install') suggests that this is a means of storing a short text string that will be interpreted as the specified command. So, now all I need is a long command string that I will use frequently in a Terminal window. Information on a number of security issues is available, including the use of sudo to run commands as root, modifying user permissions, the use of Firewall Builder to define firewall functionality, file encryption utilities to keep data secure, and ClamAV to fight viruses (in files shared with Windows of course!) Some useful administrative functions covered by the book include editing configuration files, mounting filesystems (e.g. disk partitions), and synchronizing files between two folders and/or devices using the Unison utility program. My favourite technique in the whole book is Hack #45 - Make videos of your tech-support questions. This involves the use of a utility called Istanbul to record a series of actions, and their results, as a video file. The suggestion is that a new user (your "Uncle Gussy") could send such a video to a more experienced Ubuntu user (his nephew!) who would then troubleshoot a problem remotely and provide the correct operating procedure. The final two chapters of the book, on using emulators and setting up servers, are perhaps the most esoteric. Chapter 9 - Visualization and Emulation - provides tips on running Windows' applications under WINE. I wasn't sure why anyone would want to do this. It seems to me that there is an equivalent, more than adequate, open-source program for just about any Windows' software one cares to name. However, the book's author suggests that the main use may be to run Windows-based games on Linux boxes, which I suppose makes sense. Actually, there is one tip that makes the whole book really worthwhile to me personally. Hack #88 - Play Windows Games includes a section titled "Run Blasts from the Past" and details how to run DOS programs using the DOSBox utility. I happen to have a custom database program that runs under DOS, an application that I use frequently, and find that it works flawlessly under DOSBox's shell. The visualization section of the book will also help you to run Ubuntu inside Windows (hard to believe one can do so!) and to setup virtual machines. The final chapter - Small Office/Home Office Server - provides lots of advice on setting up Ubuntu-based file servers, web servers, mail servers, proxy servers, DHCP servers, and domain name servers - some of which I never knew existed! So, don't get put off by the seemingly simplistic nature of the first few "hacks" on getting started with Ubuntu. The book has great tips and techniques that should appeal to just about every Ubuntu Linux user, whatever their level of knowledge and expertise with this operating system and its applications. Bottom Line Ubuntu Hacks - Tips & Tools for Exploring, Using, and Tuning Linux (US $29.99) Jonathan Oxer, Kyle Rankin and Bill Childers First Edition June 2006 ISBN-10 0-596-52720-9 http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/ubuntuhks/ ____________________________ PUB TALK 101 FANTASTIC FREEBIES From IT World Canada comes 101 fantastic freebies that "will help you tune up your PC, keep it safe, create graphics, or back up your system with gobs of storage space. And it doesn't cost a dime." http://vip.itworldcanada.com/t?ctl=3D129D0:1D816 FIREFOX 3 Firefox 3 is on its way, and they have some ambition goals in mind, here is an idea of what you might expect from Firefox 3.0, Alpha 3: Gran Paradiso: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2109401,00.asp PATCH THE PATCH! Microsoft released an out-of-band security patch for a vulnerability on how Windows handles animated cursor files. There is a growing outcry from people who are having problems with the patch. If, upon reboot, your machine displays a message like the following, you have been hit with the bug in the patch. xxxxx.xxx - Illegal System DLL Relocation The system DLL user32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly. The relocation occurred because the DLL C:\WINDOWS\system32\ HHCTRL.OCX occupied an address range reserved for Windows system DLLs. The vendor supplying the DLL should be contacted for a new DLL. Fortunately, it does not appear to prevent your computer from running, but whatever application is identified by xxxx.xxx in the first line won't run. There is a hot-fix. Jump on over to the following link, apply the fix, and you should be good to go. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935448 TWEAKING IE7'S SECURITY SETTINGS Q. My browser default page includes a code snippet that worked fine with IE6. What do I have to modify to make it work with IE7? A. You probably need to degrade your security controls somehow to allow scripts to work. The link expands fine in IE7 once I have allowed the program to run cripts or ActiveX controls by clicking on the Information Bar - "To help protect security, Internet Explorer has restricted this web page from running scripts or ActiveX controls that could access your computer. Click here for options." - and letting the script run by allowing blocked content on a temporary basis. Q. If you figure out a permanent fix, post it to The PUB. I have a similar problem in that I can't run a local HTML page because it too runs a bunch of scripts. I know there is no danger, but how do I tell IE7 that the file is always OK? A. Take the following steps: 1. In Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options. 2. Click the Advanced tab, and then, in the Settings list, scroll down to the Security section. 3. Select the "Allow active content to run in files on My Computer" check box, and then click OK. This does nothing right away, but if you reboot your computer, the Security warning bar at the top of your browser default page goes away, and the in-line script works as it did in IE6. ____________________________ 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: Gail Eagan, gail.Eagan@@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: Harald Freise Note: We added an extra "@" to the emails to reduce spam. (c) OPCUG 2007. 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) 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). 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.