Vol. 26 number 7 September 2009 The newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group Calendar OPCUG General Meeting National Museum of Science and Technology 1867 St. Laurent Blvd. Second (*first) Wednesday of each month, 7:30pm Jun 10 Pizza + Video Editing by Roger Wambolt, Corel Corp. Beginner SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. IT Pro SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. Linux SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. PIG SIG (Wing SIG West), after all the 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, 1705 St. Laurent at Innes (formerly Hooters) Please note that unless otherwise noted, SIGs meet at 9:00 p.m. (immediately following the OPCUG General Meeting). ____________________________ Coming Up this Fall... September 9th Speaker: Rick Claus, IT Pro Advisor, Microsoft Canada Topic: Microsoft Windows 7 October 14th Speaker: Rick Claus, IT Pro Advisor, Microsoft Canada Topic: Microsoft XBox 360 November 11th Speaker: TBA Topic: Music Software (tentative) December 9th Speaker: Harley Bloom of Bloom MicroTech (tentative) Topic: Christmas Goodies Coming Up in 2010... January 13th: TBA February 10th: Microsoft Hack and Defend, Bruce Cowper March 10th: TBA April 14th: Colossus and early computing, Bletchley Park May 12th: PhotoShop editing, Bert Schopf (Blackbird PCD) June 9: Pizza Night and speaker (TBA) ____________________________ September Raffle The raffle prize will be announced at the September meeting. Or check our website (http://opcug.ca) under MEETINGS for an update. ____________________________ June Prize Winners Our prize winners at the June 2009 meeting were George Monson who took home our door prize copy of Corel Painter 4 and Bob Walker who won the raffle prize... a copy of Corel Video Studio X2 software. Thanks to Corel for the prizes. ____________________________ Elections Once a year, the OPCUG holds elections for the 9-member Board of Directors. We are once again coming up to this annual event. Would you like to be the Election Chair? If so, please send an email to me at Gail.Eagen@@opcug.ca or talk to me at the September meeting. The duties of the Election Chair are to solicit and accept nominations by midnight December 31, 2009, to run an election if more than 9 nominations are submitted, and to announce the election results at the February 2010 meeting. Would you like to be involved? We encourage all OPCUG members to consider running for a board position or getting involved in some other manner in the operations of the OPCUG. If you want more information about what is involved in being a Board member, please talk to any current or past Board member. Names are listed on the back page of this newsletter and on the web site. An e-mail address for nominations will be provided in the October newsletter. Help the OPCUG continue in its role of Users Helping Users! Gail Eagen OPCUG Secretary ____________________________ Announcement Due to health reasons, Don Chiasson, our Program Chair, will be unable to continue as a board member for the remainder of the year. The board would like to thank Don for his tremendous contributions to the smooth running of the OPCUG. He has arranged for some terrific speakers and was the lead for the June PizzaQ. Don, we all wish you well and hope you have a speedy return to health. Because of Don's departure from the board of directors, the board is looking for someone interested in filling this position for the remainder of the calendar year. For those who worry that this might be an onerous job, you don't know Don! Don has already arranged for speakers for September, October and December (as well as most of the spring meetings). And he has a tentative speaker for the November meeting. So the role is largely following up with the speakers to ensure they remember about us, know when and where to show up, etc. But Don didn't stop at being Program Chair. He is also the leader for the Linux / Open Source SIG. The SIG will also now be looking for a new leader. If you are interested in helping out in the running of your user group in either capacity, please talk to anyone on the board. You can also contact me by email at chris.taylor@@opcug.ca Thanks again, Don, and we hope you are able to make it out to as many general meetings as possible. ____________________________ OPCUG PRESENTATIONS AT THE OTTAWA PUBLIC LIBRARY by Chris Taylor As was announced in the spring of 2008, rather than our traditional fall workshop, we are now giving presentations through the Ottawa Public Library. We hope this will continue to be a win-win situation, where we get to introduce people to the OPCUG and the library gets access to skilled presenters. Following are upcoming presentations currently scheduled for Fall 2009. Protecting Your Computer - Monday, September 14, 7:00 PM, Carlingwood Branch The average time it takes for an unprotected computer to be compromised after connecting to the Internet is under 15 minutes. Don't let it be yours. Chris Taylor, President of the Ottawa PC Users' Group will show you the simple steps you need to take to keep your computer from being hacked. Protecting Your Computer - Thursday, September 17, 7:00 PM, Sunnyside Branch The average time it takes for an unprotected computer to be compromised after connecting to the Internet is under 15 minutes. Don't let it be yours. Chris Taylor, President of the Ottawa PC Users' Group will show you the simple steps you need to take to keep your computer from being hacked. How to Buy a PC - Saturday, September 19, 2:00 PM, Greenboro Branch When buying a computer, you are faced with a lot of choices; laptop or desktop, dual or quad core processor, AMD or Intel, how big a hard drive, how big a monitor, is it better to buy a faster processor or more memory. Chris Taylor, President of the Ottawa PC Users' Group will help sort out the choices so you can buy the computer that is right for your needs. How to Buy a PC - Thursday, October 1, 6:30 PM, Alta Vista Branch When buying a computer, you are faced with a lot of choices; laptop or desktop, dual or quad core processor, AMD or Intel, how big a hard drive, how big a monitor, is it better to buy a faster processor or more memory. Chris Taylor, President of the Ottawa PC Users' Group will help sort out the choices so you can buy the computer that is right for your needs. Is Free Software Really Free - Thursday, October 15, 7:00 PM Sunnyside Branch And, if it is free, can it be any good? In this session, we will find that the answer to both questions is a resounding yes. There is lots of free software available, and many free programs are very good indeed. So, join Alan German from the Ottawa PC Users' Group to find out about some must-have - and absolutely free - software! Is Free Software Really Free - Monday, October 19, 7:00 PM, North Gloucester Branch And, if it is free, can it be any good? In this session, we will find that the answer to both questions is a resounding yes. There is lots of free software available, and many free programs are very good indeed. So, join Alan German from the Ottawa PC Users' Group to find out about some must-have - and absolutely free - software! Is Free Software Really Free - Thursday November 5, 6:30 PM, Alta Vista Branch And, if it is free, can it be any good? In this session, we will find that the answer to both questions is a resounding yes. There is lots of free software available, and many free programs are very good indeed. So, join Alan German from the Ottawa PC Users' Group to find out about some must-have - and absolutely free - software! How to Buy a Digital Camera - Saturday, November 21, 2:00 PM, Greenboro Branch When buying a digital camera, you are faced with a bewildering array of choices. Chris Taylor, Ottawa PC Users' Group President will help "focus" your search for the ideal digital camera. How to Buy a PC - Monday, November 23, 7:00 PM, Carlingwood Branch When buying a computer, you are faced with a lot of choices; laptop or desktop, dual or quad core processor, AMD or Intel, how big a hard drive, how big a monitor, is it better to buy a faster processor or more memory. Chris Taylor, President of the Ottawa PC Users' Group will help sort out the choices so you can buy the computer that is right for your needs. How to Buy a PC - Tuesday, November 24, 7:00 PM, North Gloucester Branch When buying a computer, you are faced with a lot of choices; laptop or desktop, dual or quad core processor, AMD or Intel, how big a hard drive, how big a monitor, is it better to buy a faster processor or more memory. Chris Taylor, President of the Ottawa PC Users' Group will help sort out the choices so you can buy the computer that is right for your needs. Presentations are scheduled as they are arranged with the Ottawa Public Library. This page will be updated as things change. Check the OPCUG website at http://opcug.ca under Presentations. For more information about these presentations, you can check the Ottawa Public Library web site: www.biblioottawalibrary.ca/events/todayevent_e.cfm Free registration is required. ____________________________ Product Review Burn CD's and DVD's for free - with CDBurnerXP by Alan German Do you keep shelling out more cash for new versions of one or other of the industry's leading CD/DVD creation suites? Do these packages provide vastly more features than you need to burn a few files to a disk? If so, you should give CDBurnerXP a try. This freeware program will let you burn CD's and DVD's, including Blu-Ray disks, with special features for music files and ISO images. You can also copy disks and remove all of the contents of rewritable media. The program's user interface is colourful and very straightforward. A selection menu lists the various tasks that the program will perform. Clicking on any one of the menu items takes you to the appropriate screen from which to conduct the desired task. Data Disc and Audio Disc bring up similar screens, with a tree directory from which to select files to be burnt to disk, and an area where multiple files can be assembled as a "compilation" for burning. The Burn ISO image, Copy disc and Erase disc options produce somewhat simpler screens where the disk locations and burning options can be selected and initiated. When creating a data disk, the program automatically identifies whatever disk is in the burner and displays the relevant information in a text box at the bottom of the screen. A really nice feature is the way in which CDBurnerXP handles appendable disks. When such a disk is loaded, the program prompts "Do you want to continue the inserted disc". If you select Continue Disk, all of the files and folders already present on the disk are displayed in the compilation window. An associated bar graph indicates how much disk space is currently being used and how much space remains, so it is really easy to build a compilation of files and folders to fit onto the disk. New files may be dragged and dropped into the compilation area. Alternatively, an Add icon brings up a Windows Explorer-like directory pane from which files and folders may be selected to be included in the compilation. A Remove icon can be used to eliminate any new selections from the compilation, or to have existing files on the disk marked as being deleted (and hence inaccessible). Once the compilation has been finalized, you hit the Burn button, and the program asks how you want to burn the disk, notably "Leave disc open" (i.e. produce an appendable disk) or "Finalise disc". When burning a disk, a moving green bar display and a time-based log of events (e.g. closing disc, writing lead-out, etc.) indicates the process to completion. Finally, a message box indicates that the burning process has been successfully completed. And, that's it. Nothing more complicated for a simple file burning task. However, that's not to say that the program doesn't offer more possibilities. For example, you can choose advanced settings for a variety of burn options. A comprehensive web-based help system, available through the program's Help menu, uses screenshots and explanatory notes to describe the use of all the options. The audio disk creation process allows tracks to be placed in any desired order, and the gap between tracks selected. The program even includes an audio player so that you can listen to any individual track without having to use an external program. CDBurnerXP supports several audio file formats including WAV and MP3. Copying a disk requires only the selection of the source and target drives. If you have only one drive, the program will make a temporary copy of the source on the computer's hard disk and then copy this onto the target drive once a new CD or DVD has been inserted. The process for burning an ISO image to disk is similar in that you select the image file to be burnt and the target drive containing the blank disk. The program has a number of other features that may be of interest to some users. These include the ability to print disk covers for both CD's and DVD's, ways to create bootable disks and your very own ISO image files, and the option to delete the contents of rewritable disks. So, for the casual user, CDBurnerXP offers a simple way to burn files and folders to CD's and DVD's. But, the program also offers more advanced features to perform other tasks. It isn't the all-singing, all-dancing, media production wizard that seems to be the aim of many media "suites". But, it is space efficient, taking up just over 6MB on the hard disk, loads more-or-less instantly, has an intuitive interface - and it's free! What more could you ask for? Bottom Line CDBurnerXP (Freeware) Canneverbe Limited http://cdburnerxp.se ____________________________ On the Internet, everyone can hear you scream by Chris Taylor A few years ago, someone snuck up while I wasn't looking and turned the Web into a participatory thing. These new technologies and services are often called collaborative tools or social media and frequently carry the moniker Web 2.0. Facebook wants you to chum around with others. Flickr wants you to share your photos. Linkedin encourages you to share contact information. Millions of blogs want you to comment on the author's pontificating. Twitter lets you share your life with the world, 140 characters at a time. Is this shift, to a model where you are expected to contribute, a good thing? In the universal answer to all questions related to information technology, "That depends." On the one hand, there is certainly power to be found in hundreds, thousands, or millions of people contributing. And believe me, there is no end to the line-up of people who will say that this is better than sliced bread! The reality is that these services have dangers and they all should be used with care. There are two main categories of dangers I see with any participatory Internet-based service. The first is the risk that your computer will be compromised with malware. The second is that content will be shared inappropriately. Bad things happen to good computers How can your computer become compromised and why are social media and other Web 2.0 services more likely to cause you problems? Sometimes the problem is an inherent characteristic of the technology and sometimes it is a matter of trust. The worst is when those two characteristics combine. For an example of how a useful service that can be used for malicious means, we need look no further than Twitter - a service that lets you communicate in small burst (called tweets) of 140 characters. With so few characters available for your message, people naturally looked for shorthand ways of expressing things. One big problem was sending a tweet with a web URL in it. The URL itself could easily surpass 140 characters! So Twitterers use services such as TinyURL or Bit.ly, which give short URLs that expand to the full URL when clicked. But there is a danger clicking on a link that goes to an unknown destination. You could easily be sent to a site that will try to compromise your computer. It gets worse. Studies have shown that when you have someone start "following" your tweets, there is a strong feeling that you should follow them in return. It is a human nature thing. So often, you end up following people (receiving their tweets) you may not know. And then the final piece of the puzzle - people are generally more trusting of those whom they are following. It's human nature. Put it all together with an attacker who will start following your tweets, you follow theirs in return and then they send a tweet such as, "This is so funny- http://bit.ly/1Dc5sA." An amazing number of people will click the link and be taken to a site that will try to exploit the latest vulnerability in Windows, Flash, or QuickTime. Last year I was at a conference and attended a session given by Roger Grimes, one of Microsoft's security people. He challenged anyone in the room to come up with a major web site in the world that had not been compromised in the previous year such that it was delivering malware to all visitors. The point was that every site can deliver malware. And most major ones have. So let's start with the assumption that there is no real concept of a safe web site any more. Then layer on the fact that we treat social media services as more trusted. The content is coming from friends rather than faceless enterprises, so our guard is not as high. If your friend's Facebook page has a link to a video they made, you might click the link without a second thought. But are you sure your friend's computer or Facebook page has not been compromised? Do you know that the site you are being sent to is "safe"? Consider how easy it may be to compromise a social media service. All non-trivial software has bugs. And those bugs can present security vulnerabilities. Most new social media services give short shrift to security in their very design. It is all about market share. In July 2009, security researcher Aviv Raff published a new Twitter security vulnerability every day, for the duration of the month - http://twitpwn.com/. Google "hack facebook" and you get almost 800,000 hits. One of the first hits is titled "How To Hack Facebook In 51 Seconds." Yikes! I told what to whom??? Social media services are all about sharing. Well, that's what I am told. I have found - for me - very little value in any of them. I have tried a couple. Facebook. Twitter. I find it too hard to separate the wheat ("End Point Security in the spotlight - the holistic approach - listen now", a tweet sent with the hashtag #itsecurity 6 days ago) from the chaff ("Listening to tunes. Going to pick up coffee before heading to the office. Beautiful day" - a tweet sent less than an hour ago). The problem is not that I received both those tweets. The problem is the last useful one I received was 6 days ago and the last useless one was less than an hour ago. The chaff drowns out the wheat, to use a mixed metaphor. I don't get why people think everyone wants to know that they are eating oatmeal for breakfast (do you want me to make dietary suggestions?), that they are bored with a song they are listening to (wouldn't it have taken less effort to just put on a different CD), or that they want to thank the BBQ guy for fixing their BBQ (I doubt the BBQ guy is watching your Facebook updates. You might want to pick up the phone and call him to thank him). But that doesn't really bother me or worry me. It takes all types, as the saying goes. But I have a fundamental problem with the content many people contribute. My concern is that, if there are any rules about what should be said to the world, lots of people are ignoring them. I think a big part of the problem comes from the pace of adoption. According to the US Dept. of Commerce, radio was in existence 38 years before 50 million people tuned in. TV took 13 years to reach that benchmark. Sixteen years after the first PC kit came out, 50 million people were using one. Once it was opened to the general public, the Internet crossed the 50 million user line in four years. The increased pace of adoption means we don't have time to consider all aspects of new tools before they are in widespread use. According to Wikipedia, Twitter was created in 2006 and in March 2009, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009. Twitter had a monthly growth of 1382%. If you are looking for the decimal point, it is after the "2". A few short years ago, I almost got in deep do-do for talking to a reporter about how my office responded to a malware attack. Now? Heck, it seems like I am almost expected to broadcast that to the world myself. And forget about a tiny little segment such as those who read the Ottawa Citizen. Now I can post my opinion on YouTube about how the malware attacks were handled. Can't I? Try searching on YouTube for the name of the enterprise you work for. I tried and found dozens. Who authorised the posting of them? I doubt I could find out if I tried. Is permission required before uploading something to YouTube and tagging the video with your enterprise's name? I saw one video on YouTube (since removed) that - in my opinion - did not present my organisation in a very good light. Is this allowed? Encouraged? A disciplinary offence? The final danger I want to talk about is content that people have every right in the world to post, but shouldn't. It can be surprisingly easy for people to get more and more information until the sum of the individual pieces provides more than intended. For example, on Fickr, you might find photos from a child's birthday party. No harm in that, right? Oh, but they are captioned with things like "Sally's 5th birthday." Well, that really isn't a problem. After all, it is easy to see that the girl is about 5 years old. And the person was careful not to include a last name. Of course, they didn't really think about the fact that their brand new camera has a GPS receiver and is geo-tagging all their photos. Hmmm...all of a sudden, the hairs on the back of my neck go up. When you can place the location the photo was taken within 3 metres... And it looks like a back yard... And you have the name of a 5 year old child who lives there... And Google Maps will give you the address... And a reverse directory will give you a last name of the owner of the house and the phone number... And another directory will give you the names of all the neighbours... All of a sudden I am thinking there is too much information available. Information that could be used to trick a child into trusting someone they shouldn't. A student posted a rant on Facebook about her high school teacher. "To those select students who have had the displeasure of having Ms. Sarah Phelps, or simply knowing her and her insane antics: Here is the place to express your feelings of hatred," she wrote. She was suspended for cyber bullying. The student sued the principal because she was afraid the suspension could keep her from getting into graduate schools or landing her dream job. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/us/08cyberbully.html Israel Hyman, who runs a video podcasting service and has 1,900 people following him on Twitter, tweeted about going out of town. While away, his house was burglarized. Did it happen because he told everyone on Twitter? If the thief is caught, we might find out. Israel says the next time he goes out of town, he won't announce it on Twitter. http://www.izzyvideo.com/2009/05/30/someone-stole-my-mac- pro/ Does your teenaged son or daughter know that prospective employers actually do check Facebook? Those pictures your son posted showing him "wasted at the party last night" could be something that causes an employer to drop your son's application in the recycle bin. Your son would never even know it was these photos that meant he didn't get the job. Unfair? You bet. Get used to it. On a more humorous note, how about this article titled "Debt Collectors Using Cute Chicks On Facebook As Bait." Well, it is humorous on the surface. But would you want a debt collector knowing everything you have posted to your Facebook page? Do you even remember everything you have posted on your Facebook page? http://consumerist.com/5240196/debt-collectors-using-cute- chicks-on-facebook-as-bait By the way, have you ever read the privacy policies on the social media sites you use? Do you know that Twitter collects personally identifiable information about you? Did you know they consider that to be an asset they are free to sell? Ohhh, there go the hairs on the back of my neck again. I am not really against social media. I still don't really understand them, but I am not necessarily against them. However, there are huge numbers of people who will champion their causes. They don't need my voice added. There are not so many that are saying "be careful." So I will play that role. I think it is important. So call me a luddite and dismiss me if you wish. I really don't mind. But maybe... just maybe.... one time, before you press the Enter key to send something off for the world to see, you will pause and say to yourself, "Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't do that." And that's probably a good thing. ____________________________ OPCUG Free Software Guide - Part 8 Compiled by Alan German This guide features an annotated list of free computer programs. The software mentioned has not been reviewed (except where noted) nor have any tests necessarily been conducted. Consequently, no guarantees are provided that the individual programs will perform as described. Rather the list of available software is provided for the information of our members who may find one or more of the pro- grams useful. If you try one of the listed items, you are encouraged to share your experience, good or bad, by providing a brief review of the program for a future issue of the newsletter. 7-Zip This file archiver features a high compression ratio in a new 7z format, but also supports many earlier compression schemes such as ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR. The program will also unpack files in various archive formats including ARJ, CAB, ISO, LZH, RAR, and UDF. 7-Zip is open source software and can be used by any individual or by commercial organizations. Current Release: Version 4.65 (2009-02-03) Web Site: http://7-zip.org/ KODAK EASYSHARE Software Organize your pictures with your own tags and star ratings, then search by keyword and/or rating to find your pictures easier and faster than ever before. Create stuff - like invitations, greeting cards, and announcements. Share your photos and videos with family and friends - on-line at KODAK Gallery - or YouTube. Or, display them at home on your digital picture frame. Current Release: Version 7.1 Web Site: http://www.kodak.com/eknec/Page Querier.jhtml?pq- path=9/150/130&pq-locale=en_CA Winamp A new version of Winamp provides the venerable media player with up-to-date features while retaining enough old- school functionality to make past users comfortable. The package, from Nullsoft, supports a wide range of audio and video formats, will let you synch your desktop files to your portable MP3 player, and will play streaming audio and video. The user interface is highly customizable through downloadable skins and plug-ins. Current Release: Version 5.55 Web Site: http://www.winamp.com/ The Battle for Wesnoth A turn-based strategy game with a fantasy theme, Wesnoth has many different sagas waiting to be played out. Fight to regain the throne of Wesnoth, of which you are the legit-imate heir... step into the boots of a young officer sent to guard a not-so-sleepy frontier outpost... guide a band of elvish survivors in an epic quest to find a new home. The world of Wesnoth is absolutely huge and limited only by your creativity - make your own custom units, compose your own maps, and write your own scenarios. You can also challenge up to eight friends - or strangers - and fight in epic multi-player fantasy battles. Current Release: Version 1.6.2 Web Site: http://www.wesnoth.org/ EULAlyzer When installing new software, don't just click past the license agreement, or when registering with a new web site, don't write off the privacy policy as too long and verbose to read. Drop the text into EULAlyzer, and EULAlyze it! The program will analyze the material for "interesting" words and phrases. It will "make sense of the nonsensical". The program is free for personal and educational use from Javacool Software. EULAlyzer works on Windows 2000, XP, 2003, or Vista. Current Release: Version 2.0 Web Site: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/eulalyzer.html ____________________________ 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: (vacant) 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, Brigittelord@@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-webmaster2@@opcug.ca Privacy Director: Wayne Houston, privacy@@opcug.ca Special Events Coordinator: Bob Gowan, bob.gowan@@opcug.ca Beginners' SIG Coordinator: Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 613 727-5453 Linux / Open-Source software SIG: (vacant) Note: We added an extra "@" to the emails to reduce spam. (c) OPCUG 2009. 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.