After a social hour of coffee and bagels, Lon Hosford, President, opened the Hunterdon Computer Club meeting. He welcomed everyone and opened the meeting for questions on computer problems.
To open the discussion, Lon wanted everyone to be aware of the instant messaging website, www.meebo.com. Meebo is a website for instant messaging from absolutely anywhere, whether at home, at work, or traveling. Hop over to Meebo.com on any computer to access all of your contacts and chat with them, no downloads or installs required and it is free. Get a Meebo account or use the other links on the website to other instant messaging software, including Aim, Yahoo, MSN, and Googletalk.
Q&A
Q: A member said he could not see the optical drives on his computer after the file CD Creator 5 was deleted. How could be get the names of the drives back on his computer?
A: Several members suggested a solution. It was suggested that he go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Device Manager, Disk Drives. At this point he should be able to see the drives. Click on the drive name and hit the delete key or click uninstall. The drive will be removed. When restarting the machine, it will automatically reinstall the drive. It was also recommended that when downloading from the Internet, it is best to save the software to the disk and then scan the file for viruses. If okay, then run the software to use it. This will prevent viruses being installed on the computer with new software.
Q: If the computer asks for recovery disks and I don’t have them, how do I get them?
A: Recovery info can be found on the D drive. But it is best to create a recovery disk when you first get your computer so it will be available when you need it in the future.
If a member has a question on the operation of his computer, the member should consider installing “Log Me In†software on his computer before the meeting. Leave your home computer on when you come to the meeting. The club members can then help you with your problem by logging in to your computer from the meeting.
Q: How can I save the music on my cassettes on a CD?
A: Nero has a wav editor file and has a utility to record. The recorder will digitize the music and convert it to an MP3 file to be saved on your computer. You can then burn a disk from the MP3 file.
Q: When logged into Skype and using the webcam with others logged in, the other person cannot see me. How can I fix that?
A: Go to Skype first. Start the webcam video when the call takes place. Go to Skype tools, Options, Videosetting, and click Start my video automatically.
Q: Is there a program that will go through the machine and look for what software updates are needed?
A: There may be freeware of this type available.
Q: Is there any freeware for FTP?
A: FTP Commander is available. FTP software may also be available on Mozilla/Firefox. You can use FileZila, which is free FTP software and is recommended.
Presentation: The Operation and Evaluation of the Nero Media Program
John Warsinski, presenter
John purchased the new Nero 7 Ultra Edition software. This software has numerous applications. Some of the applications include capturing TV programs or videos, then loading them onto the computer for editing with this software, and then burning them to a VCD or DVD to play back on your DVD player.
Nero Vision allows you to author and edit videos using video from your camera or video files already on your computer. Nero Home is a Windows XP Media Center-like application that allows you to watch TV if your computer has a TV-tuner card and control it with a wireless remote. You can also make DVDs with chapters.
Nero Scout is a media organizer that keeps track of your video and audio files, but John found it cumbersome and did not like using it. One caution was that this version of Nero was not Vista compatible and a fix had to be downloaded from the Internet. The Nero 7 Ultra Edition Enhanced version of this software is made for use with Vista.
John demonstrated files he recorded of three TV programs which he loaded onto the computer and edited to remove commercials and divided into three separate programs. From this point, he could create chapters in the programs and then burn them onto a DVD for future use using this software.