The response from the membership on what types of training they would like to see at the Big Bear Computer Club meetings was very informative. We will do our best to cover as many subjects as we can over the next few months. Keep in mind that this is new for the computer club so it might be a little rocky to begin but like everything else, it will all work out. Keep those training topics coming so we can expand on our training. Reminder: If you have a laptop, bring it with you so you can have hands on training; if you don’t have a laptop no need to worry, you can still learn from the training.

We are always looking for members who have knowledge of a specific topic that can be a moderator of a Special Interest Group (SIG) on his/her specific expertise. Don’t be shy step up to the plate; we can use your help. It takes everyone in the club to help make these training sessions a success.

See you at our next Big Bear Computer Club Meeting on the 2nd Tuesday of the month which is January 8, 2008.

Here is wishing everyone Happy Holidays!

— Yomar Cleary

Thanks to Carole Allen for overseeing the Nomination Committee and providing us with the following nominees for 2008:

President — Yomar Cleary
Vice President — Karen Tangeman
Secretary — Rosemary Lloyd
Treasurer — Barbara Moore

Director-at-Large — Rick Edwards

It’s not necessary to have a laptop at the meetings but it would be helpful,  providing an opportunity for hands-on training.

We would like to thank everyone who filled out the survey asking for specific types of training at our meetings. We will break into small groups with a moderator to discuss a particular topic. Here is a sampling of what was requested: (more…)

Bring your empty printer cartridges to the meeting. The printer cartridge program is a BBCC fund-raiser that helps us purchase supplies and pay for Big Bear Computer Club expenses. Thank you for your participation.

Well, I thought the Holiday Party was a blast!!! I really had a good time. Good food, good learning session with Rosemary (thanks Rosemary!), good prizes, and good socializing with some great people!!! I would like to congratulate everyone who won a prize that night and the winner’s are: (more…)

You may already know how to create an envelope and add it to your document. For instance, if you are writing a letter and you create the envelope so it is saved in a file with the letter. Word allows you to quickly and easily print an envelope directly to your printer, if you so desire. You do this by following these steps: (more…)

Billy’s boss is getting a new PC, and he is responsible to get the system set up for her. Her old PC has Excel 2000, but the new system will have Excel 2007. He needs to get her old Personal.xls to the new PC, as it has all her macros in it. Billy wonders if he can just copy and paste Personal.xls from the old system to the new one.  (more…)

If you’ve got an interesting/artsy/pretty digital photo of Big Bear Lake or environs and would like to see it featured on our website homepage for a while, send it to Webmaster Bill, and he’ll see if it fits. The submitted photos should crop nicely to 520 pixels wide by under 300 pixels high. In other words, a landscape format. Please let Bill crop and format the picture. Just send the original jpeg file from your camera. Length of time it will be displayed depends on how many photos are submitted. Credit will be given to the photographer. Send one photo to wiledwill • yahoo.com

Over the years I’ve discovered that I can do most things on my computer using small free programs rather than the increasingly more expensive and complicated products put out by the big boys. I don’t run a business anymore, so the demands I make on my computer are much diminished. Mostly I maintain a few websites using PSPad (an excellent free text and code editor), I browse the web, read and send email, optimize jpegs for email or web, and I write now and then. None of these tasks require the need for fancy-schmancy software and the inevitable upgrade nuisance that comes with it. Here are two FREE programs that I use all the time for everyday stuff, and one I intend to use more. (more…)

On the Ulead website, they claim that DVD MovieFactory 6 is: “Easy-to-use disc authoring and burning software that lets you do more with your digital media. Create DVDs with studio-quality personalized menus. Use the new Edit Room to add polish to your videos, with titles, music and effects. Preserve your precious memories and share with family and friends.” (more…)

I must make a confession at this point. I am a very slow typist. The box in which this program came says you can create documents, e-mail and reports more than three times faster than typing. The comparison Nuance makes is at 40 words per minute. Since I have never typed faster than 23 words per minute I thought this would be a great program to have and I wasn’t wrong. However, it did require some work on my part. (more…)

This product is the latest incarnation of a program originally written by Macromedia to create animated content for websites. Here’s how Adobe heralds this product:

“Adobe® Flash® CS3 Professional software is the most advanced authoring environment for creating rich, interactive content for digital, web, and mobile platforms. Create interactive websites, rich media advertisements, instructional media, engaging presentations, games, and more. Designers and developers working on both Macintosh and Windows® systems depend on Flash and the ubiquitous Adobe Flash Player software to ensure their content reaches the widest possible audience.” (more…)

This book is 478 pages in length, complete with a CD-ROM comprised of 16 movie tutorials, and is, as its name implies, a complete classroom in a book. It is part of a best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks.

The fourteen (14) lessons in the book cover most of the new Photoshop CS3 features including clone source, image analysis, smart filters, align content, vanishing point, zoomify and quick selection. (more…)

Instead of listing a few review programs that are available, I would like to inform you that any program you are interested in and would like to install on your computer is probably available for review. All you have to do is ask for it and review it. The program could be on landscaping, any kind of crafts, digital photos, video, any kind of home decorating, games, office or accounting programs, gift cards, label, and printshop programs, any program you are interested in having. All you have to do is let me know which program you would like to review. I will then contact the vendor and it takes about 10 days to receive the program. Sometimes the vendor will grant the reviewer a license online and all the reviewer has to do is download the program. Reviews are not hard to write; in fact they are quite easy. You are given instructions on how to write a review plus I have many samples you can look at. Also if you need any help all you have to do is e-mail or call me. Writing a review is like telling someone about the new program you just received. You tell them what you like about the program, what you don’t like, and how the program could be better, that’s it. There’s your review. And you can review books, also.

— Karen Tangeman, Review Editor

Club President Yomar Cleary welcomed all of the members. She then introduced guests. Karen talked about the review program.

Members brought wonderful food for the holiday potluck. While we ate, there was a slideshow of photos from past meetings accompanied by Christmas music. (more…)