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Come to Our General Meeting on Thursday November 19  at the Resource Center of the CCOKC

November General Session:
Christmas Gifts for the Geek in Your House
November 19th at 7:00 PM

Next month is December and Christmas and the yearly question of what to get the Computer Nerd in the family? That’s especially important if you are that person! If you, on the other hand, are not only technologically deprived, you have no idea what to get your kids, grandkids or great grandkids for Christmas. What do these "toys" do? How do they work? Why are they so popular? If you're asking yourself these questions, then you need to attend the General Meeting of the Computer Club of Oklahoma City on November 19 at 7:00 pm. Jeff Liles, Store Services Manager for Best Buy at 58th and North May, will be our guest speaker. He will have an assortment of goodies to show us, including - but not limited to -  Sony Reader Digital Book, Live Pulse Smart Pin, Logitech - Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote with Color Touch Screen, & Archos internet media tablet. 

The prizes for the November meeting are as follows:

For the visitors: a membership to the Club for one and a Geek Squad 8GB USB flash drive for the other;
For the members: a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR Hybrid TV Stick, which turns your computer into a TV, and a Toshiba 320GB External Hard Drive. 

I can hardly wait! 

THE FOLLOWING IS VERY IMPORTANT: In fairness to all, no one will be allowed to register for the drawing after 7:05 pm. You MUST have a current Computer Club of Oklahoma City badge with you to enter the members' prize drawing. If you forget your badge, you have lost it, or it has expired, you will not be eligible to fill out a prize drawing slip. If you need a new badge, or need to renew your membership to the Club, please see or email our Membership Chairman, Jack Milner, at least 24 hours before the General Meeting. No new or replacement badges will be printed the night of the meeting. Jack's email address is members@ccokc.org, and the phone number for the Club's Resource Center is 405-843-4300 (leave a message if there is no answer). This is a firm rule for all meetings, so please be sure you bring your badge with you each month. You are welcome to stay for the presentation without your badge, but you will not be allowed to participate in the drawing, no matter how long you've been a member of the Club. You can, of course, purchase a membership in the Club that evening, but will not be eligible for the members' drawing until the following month.

On another subject, I have plans for the next two monthly sessions and I know what I want for January but at this time it’s not firm? The rest of 2010 is very little more than some ideas in my head. Some of which won’t work in a half hour session? More about that later!

Meanwhile, I welcome your suggestions and ideas. erash@usa.net  

REPORT OF GENERAL MEETING ON OCTOBER 15TH, 2009

As advertised the general meeting for the month of October took on a different look.  Results from the recent survey contained several responses from members that a program similar to that conducted by the Senior Net group on most Thursday mornings would be welcomed by our members and the club responded with the planned October meeting. 

Doris began the meeting by asking Isaac Franklin, the Study Group leader to list those new study groups that have been initiated as a result of responses from members.  There are 5 new study groups and their names and time of meeting can be found on the monthly schedule of activities posted each month on our web site.  Officers selected by this year’s nominating committee will be announced at the November general meeting.  Those asked and agreeing to serve are named in an article currently appearing on the web site.  Voting will occur at the December general meeting. 

Mark Voyles, one of the charter members of what is now CCOKC was present and Mark led the discussion regarding questions from the floor.  One of the first comments made and followed up with several questions from the floor concerned Vista and Windows Seven.  Mark stated that it was a good practice to download a trial copy of any new software and gain personal experience with it prior to buying the package.  He also suggested the first thing anyone should do with any new operating system read the manual.  Learn all you can about the system and any add-ons that might arrive with the OS.   

A question was raised about Vista and SP2.  Difficulties have been reported when using a computer after SP2 has been downloaded.  Updates.Microsoft.com is the recommended site for obtaining any updates for programs offered by Microsoft.  The preferred method is to download and install any updates in the order in which they were generated or released by Microsoft. 

Event Viewer on WinXP will display a large amount of information about things that have occurred on your computer.  You can get there by going to START, CONTROL PANEL, ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS and selecting EVENT VIEWER.  Right clicking on an event with display details about that event.  It would probably be prudent to do a search regarding that event and learn what you can before taking any action when in the routine described above. 

If you are interested in system information on your computer, you can go to START, ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS and SYSTEM INFO.  Everything you ever wanted to know about your specific computer will be displayed. 

Secunia.com   at http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/  will perform a scan of your computer and inform you of any missing updates you might need for your computer.  This program will run when you select to do so.  To own the program you will need to buy the software. 

If your computer is not configured the way you would like for it to be set-up, select START, right click on MY COMPUTER,  MANAGE DISK MANAGEMENT.  On THE drop down, SELECT DISK MANAGEMENT and look at your disk and USB interfaces. 

Windows7 should be googled for information about the newest OS offering before purchasing a copy.  There is an article regarding the best 7 features of the software and information regarding the required features of your computer for the various offerings.

Mark said you would probably not want a copy of the basic OS, but you probably wouldn’t want to pay the price to get the top of the line either.  Don’t purchase it if your

computer configuration isn’t consistent with the system requirements given for the OS you might want.  Mark suggested Home Premium is probably the version that most users would want for their home/office application.  Those owning a computer running WinXP will probably need to uninstall that OS and make a clean install of the version of Win7 you purchased.  If you have VISTA, you can probably do an upgrade to Win7.  

Googlemaps.com has some interesting information about the world in which we live.  Mark suggested a download of Googlegold if you are into themes and social sites. 

When door prizes were drawn, Robert Murphy, a visitor, received a one year free membership to CCOKC.  Also, Gene Harrison received an 8GB flash Drive with case.  J. P. Williams was the recipient of a 500 GB USB Western Gigabit Hard Drive.  With all his Photos and other computer routines, I know he will make good use of it.  Herb Rodden received a 500 GB Seagate Hard Drive, and Martha Duerksen won a one finger keyboard. 

Here’s hoping you will make it to future general meetings, and you are also invited to attend the Senior Net and Windows Tips and Tricks meetings on Thursday mornings.

We have fun and we learn from others at these meetings. 

Troy Segler

Click Here to Join the Computer Club of OKC. See the Membership form on the Website

What is a Study Group

     The Computer Club of OKC offers many different Study Groups. They are groups of 10-50 people who meet monthly to learn about a particular subject. The format is part presentation and part facilitated discussion. These meetings are supported by our membership. There is no charge to attend these meetings.

     Come to a Study Group in our Resource Center at 3000 United Founders Blvd.!

We are located at the east end of the Center 3000 Building in Suite 201, so use Entrance One on the east side of the building.

      We are a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization of around 1200 members, with the goal of teaching each other more about using and enjoying their personal computers for business and pleasure. The sole purpose of the organization is reflected in its motto, �Computer Users Helping Computer Users.�

New Senior Combo Members (50 +) can now register for the Computer Fundamentals class at no charge.

Contact Charlene Francis 359-5675, if you have any questions regarding membership and/or registration for the class.