Vol. 27 number 10 December 2010 The newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group Calendar OPCUG General Meeting National Museum of Science and Technology 1867 St. Laurent Blvd. Second (*first) Wednesday of each month, 7:30pm Beginner SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. Linux SIG After the OPCUG General Meeting, at the Museum. Beer BOF (Wing SIG East), after all the SIGs, at 10 p.m. Liam Maguire's, 1705 St. Laurent at Innes (formerly Hooters) Please note that unless otherwise noted, SIGs meet at 9:00 p.m. (immediately following the OPCUG General Meeting). ____________________________ A big thanks for Harley Bloom For the past 11 years, for the December general meeting, Harley Bloom from Bloom Microtech (www.bmtnet.com) has generously donated his time to come out and enlighten us on what's new in the stocking stuffer department. And when not doing that, he was happy to spar with me about the value of things like personal firewalls and passwords on routers. On top of that, Harley donated tons (I would estimate 1/5, at least) of goodies for our raffle. As all members should be aware, it is the income from raffles that keeps the OPCUG using black ink for our bottom line. After 11 years, Harley has decided the time has come for him to bow out of the limelight. On behalf of the entire OPCUG, I would like to extend my thanks to Harley for his amazing support of the OPCUG. If you happen to drop by his store, please be sure to let him know how much you appreciated his presentations and generosity. Harley, thank you. Chris Taylor, President, OPCUG Inc. ____________________________ Coming Up... December 8, 2010 How can we follow 11 years of Harley coming out and entertaining us? Well, we will do our best by filling that plum December time slot with a favourite of members ... Members' Favourites Night. This is an opportunity for members who have found some piece of software or hardware to be just the "cat's meow", to do a short presentation on it to the rest of the group. While we have a few ideas already up our collective sleeves, there is always room for more. So, if you have something you think is the neatest thing since jelly was slathered onto peanut butter, why not contact the Program Chair, Andrea Wells (andrea.wells@@opcug.ca) and get yourself added to the agenda? ____________________________ December Raffle Courtesy of the Microsoft MVP program, we have a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate for the December raffle. This is the full version (not the "upgrade only" version) that can be installed on any PC. Valued at $350. If you have not yet moved to Windows 7, and you didn't win the October raffle copy, this is your chance to start using what is widely perceived to be Microsoft's best ever operating system. Tickets are, as always, a good deal at $1 for one, a great deal at $2 for three or the unbelievable bargain of $5 for ten! ____________________________ November Prize Winners Members Dan Byrne, Mark Cayer, Bob Gowan, Wayne Houston, and Andrea Wells took home free McAfee coffee mugs presented as door prizes. Frank Rogers and Bernard Lipski were the raffle winners for the evening. Each took home a copy of the McAfee Total Protection 2011 software suite. Many thanks to McAfee for the prizes. ____________________________ OTTAWA PC NEWS Ottawa PC News is the newsletter of the Ottawa PC Users' Group (OPCUG), and is published monthly except in July and August. The opinions expressed in this newsletter may not necessarily represent the views of the club or its members. Member participation is encouraged! If you would like to contribute an article to Ottawa PC News, please submit it to the newsletter editor (contact info below). Deadline for submissions is three Saturdays before the General Meeting. Group meetings OPCUG normally meets on the second Wednesday in the month, except in July and August, at the National Museum of Science and Technology, 1867 St. Laurent Blvd, Ottawa. Meetings are 7:30-9:00 p.m. and Special Interest Groups go until 10 p.m. Fees: OPCUG annual membership: $25 per year. Mailing address: 3 Thatcher St., Nepean, Ontario, K2G 1S6 Web address: http://opcug.ca/ Bulletin Board - PUB II (BBS): http://opcug.ca/default.htm President and System Administrator: Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 613 727-5453 Meeting Coordinator: Andrea Wells, andrea.wells@@opcug.ca Treasurer: Alan German, alan.german@@opcug.ca Secretary: Gail Eagan, gail.Eagan@@opcug.ca Membership Chairman: Mark Cayer, Mark.Cayer@@opcug.ca, 613 823-0354 Newsletter: Brigitte Lord, Brigittelord@@opcug.ca Email: (Mr.)Jocelyn Doire, Jocelyn.Doire@@opcug.ca Public Relations: Morris Turpin, PR@@opcug.ca, 613 729-6955 Facilities: Bob Walker, 613 489-2084 Webmaster: Brigitte Lord, opcug-webmaster2@@opcug.ca Privacy Director: Wayne Houston, privacy2@@opcug.ca Special Events Coordinator: Bob Gowan, bob.gowan@@opcug.ca Beginners' SIG Coordinator: Chris Taylor, chris.taylor@@opcug.ca, 613 727-5453 Linux / Open-Source software SIG: Andrea Wells, andrea.wells@@opcug.ca Note: We added an extra "@" to the emails to reduce spam. (c) OPCUG 2010. Reprints permission is granted* to non- profit organizations, provided credits is given to the author and The Ottawa PC News. OPCUG request a copy of the newsletter in which reprints appear. *Permission is granted only for articles written by OPCUG members, and not copyrighted by the author. ____________________________ Newsletter by email: To receive the newsletter by e-mail, send a message to listserve@@opcug.ca with the plain text "subscribe NewsletterTXT" or "subscribe NewsletterPDF" (without quotes) in the body of the message. No subject line is required. To cancel e-mailing, send a message to listserve@@opcug.ca with the plain text "unsubscribe NewsletterTXT" or "unsubscribe NewsletterPDF" (without quotes). To change your e-mail address, cancel using the old e-mail address and re-subscribe using your new e-mail address. Cancelling the Paper Newsletter: You can help the environment and save us some costs by sending an email to Mark.Cayer@@opcug.ca asking to cancel the delivery of the paper version of the newsletter (or ask him in person - Mark is usually at the back of the auditorium at General Meetings). Announcements Mailing List: To subscribe to the Announcements List send an email to listserve@@opcug.ca, leave the subject blank and in the body of the message put "subscribe announcements" (without the quotes). Within a couple of minutes you will receive a confirmation message from the list server. OPCUG clock/calendar/calculator and mug: Check out the clock/calendar/calculator and thermal coffee mug sporting our club logo at the back of the auditorium at General Meetings! OPCUG insulated mugs are $15 and OPCUG clocks are $20. Reuse, recycle: Bring your old computer books, software, hardware, and paraphernalia you want to GIVE AWAY to the general meetings, and leave them at the table near the auditorium's entrance. Please limit your magazines to publication dates of less than two years old. If you don't bring something, you may want to TAKE AWAY something of interest, so look in on this area. Please note: If you bring anything for the recycle table, you are responsible to check on your way out and if the items you brought are still there, you must take them home with you.