Dave Bytes

A Periodic Newsletter for the Members of the Sarasota PC User Group and the World!!

Here's An Outlook Express Tip

Is your Address Book mysteriously getting larger?

There is an option in Outlook express that automatically adds people you reply to in your address book. All you have to do is turn this option off.
Here is how:

1. In Outlook Express, click on "Tools" and then "Options".

2. In the "Options" window, click on the "Send" tab.

3. On the "Send" page, under the "Sending" section, look for the line that says, "Automatically put people I reply to in my Address Book" Click once to remove the check mark from that line.

4. Click "OK" and you will be done.

My Hard Drive Died

By Darlene Friedman, Las Vegas PC User Group (LVPCUG) Member

I have heard stories about hard drives dying and for a year, you could hear my computer making grinding noises whenever I turned it on. It always told me that something was wrong with it. All I had to do was hit enter and it would go away except for the grinding noise.
Last time I turned it on, the message was a little different. It stated that the hard drive was bad and hitting enter did not do me any good.
I looked up the paperwork that came with my computer; it listed all the parts that were inside. I found the information I needed and wrote it down. I needed to know how much it would cost me to replace it. My laptop was working, so I was able to start looking on the internet for prices. On one internet site, I saw
a hard drive listed at $35.00. Everything I was reading regarding this one was almost the same as the one I had. At that time, a little box appeared with a message “May I help you find what you need? “ Quickly I wrote down the information and asked about that one. It told me to wait a moment and a minute later, the message stated, it would be fine. Just did not feel right about it, so I decided to wait.
Ceazar Dennis is a member of the LVPCUG and he has helped me before with my computer, so I e-mailed him and gave him the information on what I was looking for; asked his advice on that hard drive for $35.00.
He explained to me that I needed an IDE and that hard drive (on the internet) was a SCSI.
There is so much to learn. I decide to go to the computer store; there were so many different hard drives to choose from. I spoke to a salesperson and showed him what kind I needed. I explained to him that my computer was five years old and I just wanted the cheapest one he had. Found a 60GB for $70.00 and bought it. I was going to go to the next LVPCUG workshop but they had something special happening there, so I would have to wait six weeks to have someone help me to put it in.
My sweet husband told me he would buy me a new desktop computer. He reminded me of my birthday coming up soon, which I did not need to be reminded of, but hearing that made me feel very brave. My computer came with a book with pictures in it, on how to install parts.
In the morning, I was having a hard time taking off the cover to my computer tower, so I asked my husband to help me open the cover. He was watching a baseball game and told me he would help me as soon as the inning was over; I waited, “long inning…” I thought; kept trying to open the cover, finally it came
opened. I saw the hard drive and noticed there were some extra wires attached. I could still hear my husband tell me he would buy me another computer. Felt brave again with my heart pounding. Pulled the wires out and the hard drive, then I pushed in the new one and the wires; it worked. Felt so proud of myself.
Told my husband he did not have to help me, I was able to install it. He just looked at me in amazement. All I had left to do was install Windows Millennium and the upgrade to Windows XP. I soon found out installing the hard drive was the easy part. Spending several hours installing Windows Millennium with a person from Malaysia and several hours with someone from India installing Windows XP is no easy task. Make sure, if you ever decide to do this on your own, go to the restroom first and have water and something to eat. It makes it a little easier.

Got something "computer related" to sell? Looking for that rare peripheral? If it's computer related you can submit a short classified ad for exposure in Dave "Bytes". Be sure to include your name and e-mail address in the ad. You can also include a picture of the item. Now some would suggest that there be a charge for this feature but alas, since my bookkeeping skills leave much to be desired I've determined that this will be a free service to all SPCUG members in good standing. "Bytes" is currently sent to almost 1500 homes in the area. Ad requests will be included as soon as possible. I assume absolutely no responsibility as to the accuracy or completeness of supplied info. All transactions are between consulting adults which leaves me entirely off the hook. Please let me know by clicking HERE when your merchandise is sold so that I can remove it from the listing. I will try to run each ad for a month.

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Here's A Windows Tip

Having trouble with sound? Is it quiet even when your speaker is turned all the way up?

Well, one place you should check is the little speaker sitting in your system tray (it's a gray speaker for XP, everyone else has a yellow one)? Double-click it. It should open up a screen that lets you adjust your volume.

Make sure the Master is slid all the way up and that "Mute" is not checked. Same goes for all the other sliders.

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What Is A Blog

Want to expose your thoughts to the world? Share your favorite links? Shout out your political, religious, or personal beliefs? Well, a blog is the place to do it. It can be a soap box, a pulpit, a diary—whatever you want it to be. There are few rules and can be any size or shape.

Blog is taken from "Web Log" and is a web site where you can post pictures, share links, make comments, and write whatever you want. Another neat aspect of blogging is that visitors can comment on the posts creating an interactive, collaborative space. Many have RSS feeds that notify you of new posts.

Blogs made a big impact on the 2004 US presidential election. Bloggers exposed forged documents used in a news story causing the demise of a prestigious network anchorman. Some bloggers are even being recognized by the news establishment as legitimate journalists. Priests and pastors encourage and inspire with daily devotional posts.

There's a blog for every interest, and if there isn't, you can create one (see this week's download). Basic blogs can be created for free, while more involved ones might require a hosting fee.

For some lists of what's out there, check out these web sites...

http://blogcatalog.com/
http://www.blogsearchengine.com/
http://www.blogarama.com/

So explore the "blogosphere", or jump in with your own blog spot.