Joy of SIGs May 2002

Joy of SIGs

By Dan Evans

Our Internet SIG visited several web sites in April. Lockergnome.com is a free technology E-mail newsletter offering tons of useful computer related information. The web site by itself is worth looking over even if you decide not to register for the newsletter. Jerry Finkelstein also took the group on a tour of Screensaver.com featuring the best screen savers and desk top themes around.

Photographs are an important element when compiling family history. It may involve saving old and sometimes damaged family pictures or generating good copies to include in genealogy programs or share with family on line. Fittingly, digital imaging was the topic for the April Genealogy Club meeting held at the Oneida County Historical Society museum. This evening Judi Boniface offered helpful hints for generating quality prints using the computer and scanner. Judi suggested start by making sure your monitor is set up properly. Go to displaymate.com/patterns.html for calibration instructions and test images. Make sure the image and the scanner bed are free of dust and fingerprints. And, scan to match your final display. That is, if it’s for the web, scan 72 -100 dpi (dots per inch), the best a monitor can show, or match the dpi of the scanner to the capability of the printer. Remember, your monitor can’t display the image with the same quality your printer produces. Software was the next consideration. Judi recommended trying the software that came with the scanner first as they often work well. Otherwise, there are many inexpensive and free downloads that will do a good job. Web site activeshare.com/US offers a 30 day trial for Adobe Photoshop Elements and a free download of Adobe ActiveShare that allows digital enhancing for displaying images on line. There are also many excellent commercial programs on the market such as Kai PhotoSoap, Corel Digital Camera Edition, Photo Deluxe to name a few. Two new items added to this groups lending library are a 90 minute video "Digital Imaging for Genealogy" with Richard S. Wilson and "The Complete Guide to Scanning and Digital Imagery" by Larry Ledden.

Our new Quicken SIG had their first meeting in April. Bo Wozniak, with the help of Bill Gorrell, started the meeting installing the program onto the club’s computer; answering questions and describing installation considerations. Bo surveyed members for an overview of their interest in the Quicken program; how they plan to use it and individual expectations. Turned out to be a 50/50 business/personal use interest. We than went through the process for setting up several different investment accounts i.e.., mutual fund, IRA or Merrill Lynch. We looked at the portfolio analyzer viewing various charts useful for tracking investment performance based on the accounts previously set up. Bo showed us how changes made to the accounts resulted in changes in performance. A question was raised using this program over a spreadsheet program. Quicken facilitates year end data input into a tax preparation program such as Turbo Tax, downloads current stock information on line, and generates several kinds of report summaries.

The Basic Training SIG reviewed a program called Evidence Eliminator. Lisa Britt obtained a 30 day trial version she was able to download and demonstrate to the group. This program "After identifying and analyzing the unwanted data hidden in your drives, destroys it with proven methods of secure disposal similar to US Department of Defense standards for destruction of classified material." In their own words. Lisa explained to the group the differences between using something like Evidence Eliminator and deleting files or formatting a disk or drive. To learn more about the program go to evidence-eliminator.com/product.shtml web site. Later in the evening we visited Computerhope.com , a great site for free computer help. We did a search for DOS Commands, finding an area loaded with information and help for Microsoft DOS. Lisa also addressed questions to do with cutting & pasting to Word Pad, saving it to a floppy and CD Rom woes.

Lets not forget the Q & A SIG that meets the last Tuesday of the month. Alas, I must confess I don’t always make it to every SIG every month. You see, there is a little church mouse that most always hangs out at St. Johns, who has been letting me know the goings & ons when I don’t make it. Seems Tom the cat was on the scene so Jerry wisely laid low. However, we do know, Tim Clinehens does a remarkable job helping us unravel the mystery in the box. This learned group knows how to get themselves into trouble but always figures how to solve their way out. No question is too simple or complex to ask. See for yourself.

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