The July 21st HCC meeting attracted an interested group of members looking forward to the presentation by Paul Natanson. Lon Hosford, President of HCC, opened the meeting by welcoming all the members. He thanked those members who work hard each month with club duties; in particular, Paul Glattstein, who maintained the club’s web site for the past four years; Ilene Snope, for handling the 50/50 each month; John Gbur, for our public relations; Eleanor and John Warsinski, Treasurer, for taking care of our finances and for meeting bulletins; Jim Aller, Secretary of the club, for taking care of our membership list and name tags; Don Columbo, for coordinating our programs, and Barbara and Mike Middleton for obtaining and setting up the refreshments at each meeting.
Lon introduced Janet Zink, who was a visitor at this meeting.
Presentation this month:Â Compare Office 2007 with Older Versions by Paul Natanson
See more about this after the Q&A section.
Paul asked that members of our club drop a note to the club on what presentations you might like to hear in the future. Based on the requests, he would be willing to come back in the future to speak to us again.
Presentation scheduled for next month: Skype, VOI, John Gbur, Presenter
Q&A
Q. A member asked how can he get rid of Earthlink software from his computer so he can use Embarq? When he talked to Embarq, they asked what operating system he was using.
A. DSL service is provided by Embarq. Try to use the uninstall tool to delete Earthlink. John Warsinski suggested not getting rid of Earthlink at all. Just establish a new connection to another provider. Set it up with your Internet Service Provider and then use any Internet browser you wish.
Or go to your original set up disk and uninstall because there may be something there that is required for use with other software.
Enbarq wanted to know what OS you were using so they would be able to answer your questions as to where to click to correct the problem.
Q. Member is using a Dell computer running Vista. She was asked to turn off McAfee before installing a Virus Checker, FireWall and Spyware.
A. In the systems tray at the bottom of your computer screen, right click on the McAfee icon and click Exit to shut down McAfee.
Q. The Run button is not visible by default. How can I get it back?
A.  On the Task Bar, right click on the icon to open. It may come back when the computer is rebooted or go to Programs and click to restart.
Q. Can McAfee interfere with itself? On a new Vista machine, McAfee is expired, but on an old machine, there is still 1 ½ months left on the subscription.
A. There are actually two licenses on these computers for McAfee. Each one has a different expiration date. Check the license number to determine which has expired.
Suggest using the free AVG virus software. Can be found through the Internet by going to “free.Grisoft.comâ€. You need to scroll down to find the free version. Or go to Google and type in “AVG free†to find the latest free version.
Q. When an email is received, can you rely on the email program’s virus software?
A. It is best not to rely on it. It is better to use your own virus checker that will scan the entire machine, not just the email received. Need to run AdAware to eliminate pop-ups. Can also download Google’s tool bar and use its icon to stop pop-ups. AVG Root Kit can be run on your machine to check software that is hidden and can’t be seen
Q. Want to use voice over the Internet. Was using Sun Rocket but they went out of business.
A. Skypes has a free version. Or there is a plan for $30 a year for unlimited calls for a year. The telephone is hooked up through a device hooked into the wall. Electrical storms will cut service. When the Internet is down, there is no telephone service.
Presentation:Â Compare Office 2007 with Older Versions by Paul Natanson
The club welcomed Paul Natanson who has given many presentations to various computer clubs in the area. He also has a web site, http://excelvbaprogramming.homestead.com/index.html , that describes the services he provides. On his web site under the New Programs section he provides downloadable handouts and materials from some of his training courses and presentations.
For this meeting Paul spoke about the positives and negatives of Excel 2007 compared to earlier versions of Excel. The new version is geared toward novice users, not to power users. The menus, toolbars and drop down menus are gone. They have been replaced with a “ribbon†of groups of functions. In sevem clicks, you can find all the items you need. For Excel users accustomed to the older versions, there will be a bit of relearning involved since the organization and location of the commands are different. While there are many benefits to the new 2007 version, there are some disadvantages also, such as not being able to see an entire formula on the formula line. By default, only the first line of the formula appears.
For a draft document of the comparisons between the new and older versions of Excel and Word, go to Paul’s web site at the link given above and click on “Free Coursesâ€, then scroll down the page and click on the link for the comparison or simply click on the link given here, http://excelvbaprogramming.homestead.com/CompareOffice2007WithOlderVersion.doc
Many thanks to Paul for an outstanding presentation. He has made us aware of the highlights and pit falls awaiting us when switching to the new Office 2007 software.