Chris Read thanks everyone for their vote in the recent election . . .

by Carl Farley for Chris Read . . .

Thanks to those who voted for me in the recent HAL  board of directors election.  I would appreciate feed back from our local members on how they see HAL functioning in five years and how HAL might fill the gap between free-bee stuff on the net and commercial organizations which charge fees for service.  As you may know HAL membership is declining and we need to reverse this to stay viable. 

Please invite your friends to join HAL and also HAL net.  We offer excellent service with lots of local volunteer help.  Our internet access fees are competitive with commercial alternatives but their help
numbers are not answered locally.

Thanks again for your vote!

How Do You Scan Old Slides and Negatives?

This question came up at a recent Digital Photography SIG meeting. The resulting comments are to be found in the hot link below.

 Go here for various ways to do this:

http://halpccldp.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/any-suggestions-on-scanning-slides-how-and-who/#comments

How Do You Transfer Audio Cassette Tapes to a CD?

Members ask me this question from time to time and I don’t have a good answer since I’ve never done it. Has anybody out there done this before? Please comment on this blog.

Here’s a hot link to a Google search on the subject:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=%22convert+cassette+tape+to+cd%22&spell=1 

Thanks for your interest in helping fellow members. 

Update (and, Mini-Course) on the Malware Threat - 2007

The presentation on May 26th and the mini-course on June 30th will give us all a double-dose of malware. Not exactly exciting stuff but really, really important.

So, let’s use this post to record all our collective feedback on this subject. Just add your comments below. I’ll post the hotlinks later. Thanks.

PC Troubleshooting meeting on April 28th - problems, problems!

This subject is one that we all dread but, thankfully, HAL-PC Clear Lake has a number of experts around to help us. If we can’t help you at Clear Lake, we surely can help you at headquarters up on Post Oak.

This meeting will review the troubleshooting landscape and give you ideas and confidence to fix your own computer. Then, we’ll have an open forum or roundtable where our techies will try to answer your questions. We’ll all learn!

I hope you will come to the meeting with a friend and your questions. Maybe you know of some tricks that others can use when diagnosing a problem. Remember, “members helping members” is our motto.  

All About Linux - Wayne Hammond’s presentation on March 24th

I’m looking forward to this presentation on Linux because I’ve always wondered how good and user-friendly this operating system really is.

Well, Wayne Hammond, an IT administrator for a manufacturing plant, has a lot of hands-on experience at work and at home. If you have any questions or comments before or after the meeting, just add them below and we’ll get Wayne to answer them.

See you at the meeting at 9:30 am on Saturday the 24th.  

Windows Vista - Dwight Silverman’s presentation

I’m looking forward to Dwight’s presentation on Saturday, January 20th - especially how Microsoft has improved its handling of malware. If you have any comments or questions, add a comment to this post. I hope to see you at the meeting.

We need speakers and presentations for 2007!

After our sixth year with the General Computer SIG, we need new ideas for dynamic speakers and interesting presentations for 2007. Do you know of anyone who could make a good presentation for us? Please let us know - call Carl Farley at 281-480-3558 or send an email to farleycw@hal-pc.org.

Go here for our past presentations:

http://www.hal-pc.org/~slcweb2/MonthlyPresent.html

A New Blog Just for the General Computer SIG!

Based on past useage patterns, I’ve reorganized the HAL-PC Clear Lake blogs to make them easier to use - the old one is gone. Each SIG has its own blog. Add the new URL’s below to your browser. If you’ve got anything to share relating to the General Computer SIG, put your comments below. I’ll post something new each month to keep it fresh.

o For the Digital Photography SIG, go here:

http://halpccldp.wordpress.com/

o For the Camcorder & Video SIG, go here:

http://halpcclccv.wordpress.com/