In The News

It's Finally Here! Hooray?

     After an enormous amount of hoopla, Windows 7 has finally debuted. You can get it for $119 Home Edition or $219 for the Ultimate Edition.
Wait a minute-haven't I seen brand new computers for $400 with #7 already installed?
     If you just can't resist it, # 7 reviewers say it should install on a Vista OS with little hassle. Vista is on about 20% of computers while the older XP is on about two thirds of computers.
     Installing #7on XP can be a daunting task. You must uninstall the old system and reinstall all of your old programs. Some may not work at all on #7. Your old PC may also need more memory in converting to a 64 bit system. You would also need to back up all of your old data.
     Unless you are a real geek and love anything new, you should probably just wait until you get a new computer. By that time, some of the bugs that #7 will certainly have should be fixed.

Fake Security Software

     Have you ever seen a pop-up on your monitor advising, "Warning, your computer may be in danger-click here"? If you do click, you may have put out the welcome mat for malware.
     If you have a good security suite, either one of the major boxed versions or one of the good free ones (see the October Data Byte), you should be protected. Be sure to update your virus definitions regularly. Most programs let you have auto-updates that will do that for you. You should also do periodic scans to catch some bug that slipped in before you got the new definitions.
     Symantec, McAfee and others will also do a free scan to identify problems.

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     He's a second-story man: no one ever believes his first story.
     Suburbia: Where they tear out the trees and then name streets after them.
     What's the longest word in the English language? SMILES, because there's a mile between the first and last letter.

The Data Byte is the official publication of CUGOL, the Computer Users Group of Lincolnton., Direct comments to:Charles F. Mize   4797 Asbury Church Rd. Lincolnton, NC 28092 Phone 704-735-6433 E-mail editor: charlesfrank2@gmail.com E-mail CUGOL: welcome2cugol@gmail.com Web page: www.cugol.org (CUGOL welcomes anyone with an interest in computers.)

 

Club News

     We had eighteen members at the October meeting, including two visitors who joined during the meeting (Chris Blankenship and Jim Morrison). Others in attendance were: Sue Brooks, Jack Buff, Reba Cordell, Gale Deal, Lisa Gambini, Gladys Hayward, Judy Hicswa, Russell Hull, Gerry Leonhardt, Allen Martin, Charles Mize, Linda Motz, Gloria Perkins, Sue Vance, Bob Wolf, and Pat Wolf.