2009 – October 9th. Minutes
Opened: 19:04
Chair: John Feltham
Minutes: Cheryl Robertson
Apologies: Nikki Bowler
Present: John Feltham, Cheryl Robertson, Peter Neuhaus, Ray Mead, Lorna Mead, Barry Bamford, Judy Leong, Joe Leong, Chris Griggs, Bill O’Donnell, Les Hyland, Betty McLellan Pam Keir, Rod Aisthorpe, Penny Vastianos,
Visitors – Jo Roebuck, Gail Mitchell
Round Table:
Les Hyland
His ancient laptop has died and he now needs to purchase a new one, but no other problems.
Ray Mead
No queries.
Lorna Mead
Since upgrading to Snow Leopard problems with her printer which she blamed on the device until she rang Brother and was informed that it was her new OS which was not functioning with printer. She needs software from Apple and Brother to rectify the problem.
• Bill O’Donnell explained that when a new OS is imminent, companies that provide peripheral devices and third party software are warned of the coming changes. Not all of them write updates to accommodate the new OS software and so there is a time lag during which there can be issues of this type.
Since upgrading to SL she is also having trouble trying to convert old powerpoint files. Does not seem to be working.
• Bill explained that Powerpoint is a MS application which has not been updated by MS, and she should try opening her old PP files in Keynote.
Currently uses Entourage for her emails but has heard that Entourage will disappear soon – is it true?
• Bill – Yes. Consider changing to “Mail” which interacts with “Calendar” and “Address Book”. Can also change to using Google Mail [GMail].
• Bill also explained how Google stores ALL your mail FOREVER on their web servers, so you can never lose any messages even if you have deleted it from your email client on your hard drive and/or your gmail account. You can do a search and find old messages.
• Bill also explained ‘cloud technology’ and how that is used by MobileME. If you put an item into any device in your system, it goes to the ‘clouds’ and from there it is distributed to all your other devices. Recently MS had a disaster when they bought up a company which operated a cloud system. They discovered that the company’s computers were not MS and ordered a changeover, which was not managed well. They did not back up all the clients’ data, and in the changeover all the data was lost irretrievably.
Judy Leong
Recently bought a new battery for her laptop and she wonders if she should ‘calibrate’ it – that is let it run out completely before recharging.
• Bill explained that the batteries record the number of complete recharge cycles a battery has and that if you have a problem with the battery at some time, the techies will be able to see how many cycles it has had. If it has only had one or two, they are likely to give you a replacement.
Joe Leong
Has been working with a library of more than 15,000 in iPhoto. The system crashed which was not a problem as he had an external back up and restored them to EVENTS in iPhoto. However, he then found he had 30,000 images and could not delete the duplicates. Also when clicking on an image, the iPhoto screen went black – why.
• Bill explained that there are not really duplicates. The images you see are thumbnails, and no matter how many Albums, Events etc you have a copy of the image in, there is always only ONE master file of that image stored in the Library.
• Without seeing the black screen described, Bill can’t comment on what is happening.
Betty McLellan
Betty has been hearing about “Snow Leopard” and was not sure what it is.
• Bill explained how OS versions/updates work as to designation/level and names. Apple uses ‘cats’ to name the systems, e.g. Panther, Tiger, Leopard. As the latest change is not really a large change, they chose to give it another leopard name this time.
What program should be used to create documents to send as email attachments?
• Bill explained that it does not matter which program a document is created in; just save/copy it as a PDF and then it will send to anyone and open for them no matter what computer system they use (as anyone can have Adobe reader).
How to change the name of a page in Dream Weaver?
• Bill explained that you don’t change the name of the page as that will break any links which rely on that page address. Instead go to “Properties” to change the name. DW will ask if you want to also change the links. Say ‘yes’ and the links will be changed for you. Then when you check that you have the new version working you can delete the one with the old name.
Peter Neuhaus
Wants to know how to get ‘GMail’ and the answer is to go to Google and set up a free account. He recently changed ISP to AAPT, the cheapest he could get, and discovered he was not getting all his mail. He phoned AAPT, which was difficult as their customer service is poor, and was told that his inbox was full and when that happens they empty it! This means that mail is lost. AAPT plan only provides a very small storage and does not archive.
• Bill explained that if he gets a GMail account he willl not have that problem as Google provides a huge storage for the inbox and also archives all messages forever.
Do I have to upgrade to Snow Leopard?
• Bill, not if you don’t want to and if your OS is still meeting your needs. However at some future time you may acquire some new application which may not have been written to function in the older OS.
His computer continues to get hot. Recently on a hot day, the fans did not run and the computer got hotter and hotter to touch. He had to turn it off and place some domestic fans on it to cool it down. Yet next day on quite a cool morning the fans started running almost as soon as he turned it on; why? He has had the computer to the techies and they say nothing is wrong with it.
• Bill explained that there are thermal sensors keeping tabs on the processor/drives and the fans are programmed to come on if they go over the set temperature. This can happen sometimes if there is dust/fluff blocking them.
BREAK FOR CUPPA
Gail Mitchell – Visitor
Gail has been in Townsville for 15 months and teaches at Grammar Junior School. She has Macs at School although still has PC at home. She suggested we might like to use her computer lab at the school as she has Wireless and a room full of Macs.
Bill O’Donnell
Reports another great deal on Macs at The Good Guys. For example a 20” iMac (RRP $1999) is now $1880. Also if you go there, and ask for Troy or Sam(antha) and say you are from the NQMUG, they will do very good deals on other items. Mention that Bill and John sent you.
Jo Roebuck
Her daughter uses Macs at school where Gail works and has converted her. When she needed to replace her PC a few weeks ago she bought a MacBookPro and is enjoying learning to use it.
Note: Joe Leong explained that as there are only 2 months of the year left, they can come to them as free guests, but if they want to become members, they can pay and he will credit it for next year.
Rod Aisthorpe
No queries.
Barry Bamford
He has downloaded a PDF and wants to print it but it has tiny print. Can that be enlarged?
• Open it on the screen and blow it up on the screen selecting the part/s wanted, then do a screen grab using Command/Shift/4. Then print the enlarged screengrab.
He has received more spam, recently some purporting to be from Telstra Share Registry and it looks very real. He rang Telstra about it. How do you know if they are real and what happens if you open them and click on links.
• No point contacting Telstra as they did not send them. These are sent by scammers out to get your money and/or ID details. DO NOT OPEN THE MESSAGE, DO NOT REPLY, DO NOT CLICK ON LINKS. SIMPLY DELETE THEM.
What if it is a real message?
• You can ring the person or company and ask them if they have sent anything and if they did ask them to send it again. If a spam message appears to have come from a friend or address you know, you can check the full email message header: Go to Preferences/Viewing/Show Header Detail. Change that to “Full”. The default heading is the short version – the “Full” version will expand the header to show the whole path with the real sender address. The fake sender address in the short version might look like the real one, but the full version will show you that it comes from an address (and usually country) that has nothing to do with the real person or company whose name the scammers are using.
Read IRIS – he has a scanner program which he has used successfully before but is now having difficulties. The program can straighten crooked documents and does text recognition and convert it so that you can edit it in text software but he finds he can’t get it to do it. Could we have someone give a presentation on Read Iris?
• Bill explained that this is something which needs to be done at a workshop perhaps as he would need to have it all set up.
• Scan the document and save as a PDF. You can get a thirdparty program off the internet, called PDF Pen Pro. This allows you to edit PDF documents.
Penny Vastianos
Wants to know how to set up an email receipt in Mail. This is something that would be best done in a workshop when she has her computer with her. C Robertson mentioned that she has not been able to find a way to make Mail provide receipts.
Pam Keir
Can she buy a HUB so that she can use multiple USB devices? Yes. Best to buy one with its own power source. There are numerous designs. Belkin is a good brand. Check at The Good Guys. Jo mentioned that she bought one, without a power supply, and then discovered that her MAC keyboard has USB ports. Bill advised to be careful with those as they don’t support some uses.
MEETING CLOSED AT 21:00hrs.
