Welcome to the October edition of the HAL-PC monthly member eBulletin. If you wish to stop receiving these bulletins, send an email to [email protected]. This month: In Memoriam, Protect Your PC, Events, Clear Lake, SIG News, Movie Night, Class Listing, Volunteer of the Month, Magazine.

IN MEMORIAM

SAMUEL JEFFREY (JEFF) HUPP
age 49, of Houston, Texas, died on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 as a result of complications from liver cancer. Jeff is survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Rebecca and Monte Montcrief, his life partner, Anne Sipes and a host of friends and business associates.

Jeff was one of the original staff members of HALNet Internet Services, was instrumental in its creation and development and served as network administrator from its inception until his death. He was a brilliant Network Designer and Systems Programmer and he will be sorely missed.

The family requests donations be made in his memory to The American Diabetes Association. You are encouraged to view and sign an online guestbook for the family here.

PROTECT YOUR PC

REPORTING SPAM THAT GETS THROUGH POSTINI FILTERS
Spammers are constantly developing new tricks to slip through even the best of spam filters. If you are a HALNet Postini Filter System user and receive a spam message that has slipped through the filters, forward it, intact and without comment, to spam@postini. You will be doing your part to help keep spam out of your own and your fellow users' mail boxes! (Note: this only applies if you are a current Postini Spam Filter user)

Have questions about SPAM? HALNet's Frequently Asked Questions About SPAM page may give you answers! Check it out.

UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS

Saturday, October 7 -- 1:00 pm: VHS to DVD Conversion for Everyone

Friday, October 27 -- 6:30 pm: HAL-PC Movie Night - Cartoons and Young Frankenstein with Gene Wilder, Terri Garr, Peter Boyle & Marty Feldman.

COMING AT CLEAR LAKE

Friday, October 6 -- 1:00 pm: Computer Investing SIG - 'Using the Roster of Quality Stocks'

Saturday October 7 -- 9:30 pm: Camcorder & Video SIG - 'Using Your Camcorder to Make a Video'

Saturday, October 21 -- 9:30 am: Digital Photography SIG - 'Using ArcSoft Photo Expressions'

Saturday, October 28 -- 9:30 am General Meeting - 'Reinstalling Your Windows Operating System'

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

MULTIMEDIA: Saturday, OCTOBER 7 -- 10:00 am: A look at digital photography effects including "Corel's KPT Collection", "Wild Photo Effects" from OnHand Software, "Prof. Franklin's Instant Photo Artist", and the "buzz Simplifier" Photoshop compatible filter.

DATABASE & GUI DESIGN SIG: Saturday, October 14 -- 9:00 am: The October Database and GUI Design SIG will continue delving into stored procedures and SQL Server 2005. Remember to bring your laptop so you can follow along on your own machine and get some hands-on during the SIG.

FOXPRO: Tuesday, October 10 -- 7:00 pm: Come see one of Microsoft's best kept secrets, Visual FoxPro. Don't be a foolish owner or programmer that only has high priced inefficient solutions, learn about the database program that can make developers and programmers more dollars and save the end customers huge amounts of money. Come to the FoxPro SIG and find out about it and see several presentations: Ed Hardin: BMW Win; Ed will demonstrate his bulk mail software and how to use it. Answering questions about it's development and Sales Rich Monroe, Leader of the Advanced SIG: Debugging Part II: Rich will add more to his presentation on Debugging and how to use in VFP.

C#: Tuesday, October 17 -- 7:00 pm (Beginners - 6:00 pm) Claudio Lassala will present "Introduction to Windows Presentation Foundation." Claudio is a frequent speaker in the Microsoft .NET world, a Microsoft C# MVP, and a Senior Developer at EPS Software.

DIGITAL IMAGING: Saturday, October 21 -- 9:00 am Scanning negatives and slides. In the scanning area, we are also going to show a couple of techniques for scanning multiple photos at a time for saving time when you have a lot of them to do. We are also going to cover some techniques you can use with Photoshop. If you have a notebook with Photoshop, bring it in so you can try as we go. The SIG is being revamped and we are trying to be more educational. This is one of the few months that you will not need your cameras.

WEB DESIGN: Tuesday, October 24 -- 7:00 pm: At our monthly meeting on October 24, we will discuss how to make sure your website is working for you by taking a look at web analytics. You spent a great deal of time building an accessible and pleasing website, but without analyzing your web site traffic, it�s difficult to improve your website marketing. How are people getting to you website, what search terms do they use and which pages interest your audience the most? Web analytics provides answers to these questions and more. Join us and learn about the terms, technology and tools available and how you can use web analytics to help you make the proper strategic decisions for your website marketing efforts.

HAL-PC MOVIE NIGHT

Join us for a special Halloween edition of HAL-PC monthly Movie Night, Friday, October 28 at 6:30 pm. We'll have special cartoons and the hilarious Mel Brooks classic, Young Frankenstein, starring Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Terri Garr, Cloris Leachman and Marty Feldman on the big screen. "Dr. Frankenstein's grandson, after years of living down the family reputation, inherits granddad's castle and repeats the experiments with wildly comic results." Exclusively for members. Door prize! Popcorn, candy and soft drinks will be sold as fundraiser.

Upcoming Classes - HAL-PC Headquarters

Starting October 3
Working with Windows
Instructor: Bear Jones

Starting October 4
Basic Computer Use
Instructor: Rick Archibald

October 5
Intro to Microsoft Office
Instructor: Bear Jones

Getting More From MS Word: Business Writing
Instructor: Bear Jones

October 9
Web Surfing for Cowards
Instructor: Bear Jones

Starting October 12
Getting More From Word - Creative Writing
Instructor: Bear Jones

Starting October 17
Working with Windows
Instructor: Bear Jones

Starting October 19
MS Word, Level 1
Instructor: Bear Jones

Getting More From Word - Business Writing
Instructor: Bear Jones

Starting October 23
Web Surfing for Cowards
Instructor: Bear Jones

Starting October 26
Getting More From Word - Creative Writing
Instructor: Bear Jones

Starting October 31
Working with Windows
Instructor: Bear Jones

Check the Class Calendar for the latest additions to the schedule

VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH

HAL-PC Volunteer of the Month for October is Carla Cawlfield. Carla is a past President and Vice-president for Communications who continues to offer much of her time and talent to HAL-PC. She has been the chair of the HAL election committee for several years and is always instrumental in putting together our wonderful Volunteer Appreciation parties. Her decorating skills make our lobby festive during the holiday season, her gallery of magazine covers graces the headquarters hallway and her insightful articles and editing skills add tremendiously to our Magazine. Thanks, Carla - you're one in a million!!!

THIS MONTH'S MAGAZINE

Look for the HAL-PC Magazine online