Welcome to the November 2007 edition of the HAL-PC/HALNet monthly eBulletin. If you wish to stop receiving these bulletins, send an email to [email protected]. This month: Postini Tips, News for HALNet Users, Upcoming Events, Clear Lake, SIG News, Class Listing, Volunteer of the Month, Ralph Roddy, Magazine.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM HAL-PC

The HAL-PC offices will close on Wednesday, November 21 at 5:00 pm for the Thanksgiving Holidays. The suite will reopen on Monday, November 26 at 9:00 am.

POSTINI TIP OF THE MONTH

One Postini account for all addresses, or one for each?
If you subscribe to our Postini spam and virus filtering all of your HALNet email addresses can be aliased into your primary username for one monthly fee. One login, one quarantine, all of your HALNet email addresses - all for $2.00 a month. There are instances when a family will opt to have multiple quarantines. One person might not want their significant other to see their spam. In this case, multiple Postini accounts can be set up for $2.00 each per month. On the opposite end of the spectrum, parents sometimes find it helpful to have one quarantine for the whole family so that they see the spam addressed to their children. In that case, their $2 a month not only filters out spam and virus from their email but it also gives them a degree of peace of mind. One quarantine for all your email addresses or a separate one for each, either way, subscribing to our Postini spam and virus filtering is a smart thing to do.

NEWS FOR HALNet USERS

Mail Servers to Require 'Authentication'
The HAL-PC/HALNet Mail servers will be requiring "Authentication" to send messages in the immediate future. Please make sure your Email Client (program) has Authentication turned on. Most email clients do, however Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express do NOT have this on by default.

To turn on Authentication in Outlook Express (and some versions of Outlook): Go to tools, accounts, mail. Find your HAL-PC HALNet account and highlight it if necessary, then click the Properties button on the right. Click the Servers tab. Look for "My Server Requires Authentication" and put a check in it. Click OK then close the accounts box, then close Outlook. See the HAL-PC User Support site for more information. If needed, call HAL-PC at 713-993-3300 9am to 9pm, Monday - Friday or 9am to 5pm, Saturdays and a volunteer will try to help you.

ADSL Line vs. Surge Protector
HALNet ADSL tech Mickey Revilla suggests that users do NOT route their telephone line from the wall jack through a surge protector then to the ADSL modem. Although this may actually protect the ADSL modem, after one big surge on the telephone line the telephone surge protector will be harmed, causing a "hummm" on the line. Once this happens, the ADSL fails or causes intermittent problems and interferes with trying to diagnose the issue. Therefore, we recommend that you run the telephone line directly from the wall jack to the ADSL modem.

UPCOMING HAL-PC SPECIAL EVENTS

BUYING A DIGITAL CAMERA FOR EVERYONE
Saturday, November 3, 1:00 pm
In the market for a new digital camera to capture the holiday moments or to give as a gift? Confused by all the choices? Want to be sure you get the best possible equipment for your money? Join Robert DuVernay for an informative afternoon and come away confident and prepared! First come, first seated - no registration fee.

VISTA SECURITY SPECIAL EVENT
Thursday, November 8, 7:00 pm
One-time presentation and demonstration of the security features of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. Covered will be such Windows standard items as Windows Update, firewall, virus detection and backups, as well as items unique to Vista, such as User Account Control, Windows Defender, BitLocker and others. We will look at what these systems do and how to tweak and monitor them. Presented by a former Security SIG leader, Philip Overman, MCSE, CCNA. Come and be safe!

HAL-PC CHRISTMAS PARTY - SAVE THE DATE!
Friday, December 14, 3:00 - 7:00 pm
Save the date for the HAL-PC Annual Christmas Party for volunteers, members and guests. A simple buffet will be provided, and as usual hot wassail, Robert's special punch and coffee will be available. Members are encouraged to bring their favorite treat to share. Plan now to join us for fun, fellowship, games and door prizes.

COMING AT CLEAR LAKE

There will be no General Computing, Digital Photography or Camcorder & Video SIG meetings this month.
Friday, November 2 - 1:00 pm - Computer Investing SIG - Steve Morehouse, HAL-PC member, "Financial Newsletters, Newspapers and Stock Market Books".
Saturday, November 17 - 9:30 am - 2nd Annual HAL-PC Clear Lake PhotoFest 2007
Saturday, November 17 - 1:00 pm - 2nd Annual HAL-PC Clear Lake VideoFest 2007
PhotoFest and VideoFest Rules
PhotoFest and VideoFest Entry Forms

SIG NEWS

The following Special Interest Groups have specific programs posted for their upcoming meetings. Please refer to the SIG Calendar for a complete listing of HAL-PC SIG meeting dates and times. If you are interested in starting a Special Interest Group that is not currently on our calendar, contact the Vice President for SIGS

COMPUTER INVESTING SIG: Fridays -- 10:00 am (NOTE NEW TIME!!!): November 2 -- Carl Meyertons - TC2005 for income and growth, Irv Myers - Market Wrap-up. See the SIG web page for up-to-the-minute program notes.

MULTIMEDIA SIG: Saturday, November 3 -- 10:00 am: Sound is a big factor in movies, sometimes being as important as the visuals. There are a lot of great tools for creating and adjusting the sound, including both music and sound effects. Join us to investigate some of these: sound effects collections, Sony's Sound Forge for digital audio editing, the Boss VT-1 Voice Transformer, and more.

SAMBA & OPEN NETWORKING STUDY GROUP: Saturday November 3 & 17 -- 2:00 pm In June we decided to expand the scope of the Samba Study Group SIG to include hybrid & open (source) networking. Currently we are working on VPN's using various gateways (aka "routers") & firewalls.

LINUX WORKSHOP: Wednesdays -- 6:00 pm Installations & hands-on problem solving every Wednesday except when HAL is closed. This is an informal meeting where knowledgable HLUG members help each other & beginners one on one. Dinner after at Biba's West Grey 9:30pm.

LINUX 101: Tuesday, November 6 -- 7:00 pmWe will be presenting our cycle information and some current news of various Linux Distributions(flavors of Linux) with an emphasis on the "user friendly versions". Examples of Linux software programs Open Office Suite, Graphic Image Editing, Search engines, etc. that are available in both Windows compatable and standard Linux format will be presented. They are all free!

DATABASE & GUI DESIGN WORKSHOP: Saturday, November 10 -- 9:00 am: This month, we are going to cover more about using Codesmith and .netTiers. We are also going to talk about using Virtual Machines for development. We will look at the Pros and the Cons. We also finally have the web site up for the group. Go to http://www.dbguidesign.com to take a look. All feedback is welcome for the site.

LINUX SIG: Saturday, November 10 -- 2:00 pm: Steve Musacchia will present on a Linux standards subject.

FOXPRO SIG: Tuesday, November 13 -- 7:00 pm:
Ed Hardin: The hidden pitfalls in the new Windows Vista User Account Control (UAC) and Directory Virtualization - Ed has had to find out how his program needs to be reconfigured to work with Windows Vista and the problems caused by Windows Vista.
John Witson: Jury Selection Programming Demo - John has written programs for political parties doing demographics for voters. He has now written software for attorneys to use in jury selection process.

DIGITAL IMAGING SIG: Saturday, November 17 -- 1:00 pm:
This month, we are going to talk more about digital scrapbooking. We will look deeper into different software options. We will also talk about creating books and some of the options there for publishing your photos. If we get some old photos coming in, we will try to do some scanning and show you how to create a digital scrap book using them.

C# SIG: Tuesday, November 20 -- 7:00 pm: Claudio Lassala will be speaking on Test Driven Development.

INTERNET SIG This SIG will not meet during November and December.

WEB DESIGN SIG This SIG will not meet during November and December.

Upcoming Classes - HAL-PC Headquarters

Check the Class Calendar for the latest additions to the schedule

NOVEMBER VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH

November's HAL-PC Volunteer of the Month is Stephen Cravey. Stephen came to HAL-PC from the Apple User Group in the mid-90's. He has served on the HAL-PC Board of Directors as a director and as VP Programs and has been a member of the HALNet staff for many years. After the tragic death of Jeff Hupp in 2007, Stephen took over the position of Network Administrator and has devoted countless volunteer hours to upgrading and maintaining all aspects of the HALNet network. Stephen holds CNNA and CISSP certifications, and HALNet's users benefit enormously from his expertise in networking and computer security. Thank you, Stephen, for keeping HALNet running smoothly for all of us!

HAL-PC FOUNDING MEMBER, RALPH RODDY

Ralph was doing so well after his stem cell transplant that his doctors discharged him from the hospital earlier than planned. He is continuing his stem cell therapy on an out patient basis. Preliminary indications are the the donor stem cells are beginning to take (this is called in-grafting). To send your get well wishes to him, email [email protected].

THIS MONTH'S MAGAZINE

Look for the following informative articles in the HAL-PC Magazine online
Carla Cawlfield on Effective Password Maintenance
Mel Babb on Excel Formula Sense
Robert Stewart's Database Corner
Robert Stewart's Digital Imaging Corner
Charles Evans reviews Parental Internet Filters and Controls

If you have not been receiving your hard-copy magazine, please check to make sure that your membership is current and that the office has your correct mailing address!