HUG Computer Events

Below are the scheduled event dates for Fall 2011. Be sure to update your 2011 appointment calendar for October, November, and December.

MarketPro Computer Shows & Sales -

Computer Shows are held by MarketPro Shows. George and I frequently carpool to these shows. If you want to join us then send us an email. As of the publication date of this HUG UpDate one show is scheduled for mid-October. However, additional shows may be scheduled for November and/or December as those months get nearer. It depends on vendor interest and building availability. So check the MarketProShows.com website on a regular basis if you are interested and be sure to print out the admission discount coupon.

HUG Meetings & Workshops -

Change - The date for our Weekday Meetings & Workshops has been changed to the Third Thursday of each Month, effective October 2011. Hopefully, this change will accommodate members who had conflicts with our previous "second Thursday" date. Let me know your opinion.

No Change - The time of our (Third Thursday) Weekday Meetings & Workshops is unchanged -- 6:30 PM until 9:00 PM. Both the date and time of our Third Sunday Weekend Meetings & Workshops remains unchanged and is still 2:00 PM until 4:00 PM.

All meeting ending times are, of course, dependent upon the number and complexity of the computer problems brought to the workshop. We can always stay later if we need to.

Location - Our meeting location is at LifePoint Church off Allentown Blvd., near Route 39, in the downstairs, multi-purpose room. An advantage of meeting in the downstairs multi-purpose room is that members can back their cars right up to the door to unload/load equipment. Another advantage is that we have a nearly limitless amount of worktables and space. Both wired and wireless Internet access are available.

Detailed directions and a map to the meeting location are available on the church's web site home page at LifePoint.org.

So, if you have a computer question or problem, bring it to our workshop to receive individual assistance. This service is free to all members in good standing.

HUG News

UPS Battery Replacement -

During the Second-Quarter 2011 we have continued to repair members' computers at our semi-monthly workshops.

In July, we disassembled a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) that no longer worked properly - when the AC power from PPL when out so did the computer that was plugged into the UPS. This is usually an indication the internal battery may be worn out. But sometimes there could be defective electronic components inside the UPS. After trouble-shooting, however, we determined that all that was wrong was the battery and the electronics were fine.

This particular UPS was manufactured by APC (American Power Conversion) in Rhode Island (not China), in 1993. It was originally purchased to run a PC with an Intel 286-10 MHz processor, a modem, and dial-up BBS (bulletin board system) software for the American Statistical Associantion's local chapter.

(Do you remember using dial-up BBS's before the Internet? HUG had a BBS that was named "Dino" and it was operated by former member Tom Wagner from Middletown.)

Anyway, this UPS continued to power all the mumerous subsequent replacement computers for the next 18 years and had worked through countless power outages and power spikes over that time. So we figured "why spend money for a new UPS when we know that the old one works flawlessly - except for the dead battery.

Therefore, we replaced the bad battery with a new replacement that cost $25. The replacement battery was obtained from the Battery Warehouse on Jonestown Road, near Ollie's.

We then reassembled and tested the UPS by powering a working computer from it and then pulling the power cord out of the wall outlet. The "No AC Power" alarm went off inside the UPS with a shrieking "b-e-e-e-e-p!" but the computer continued operating. After about 15 minutes we were satisfied with our work and plugged the power cord back into the wall outlet - the beeping stopped and the computer never even blinked. Good as new.

By replacing the bad battery in an otherwise perfectly working UPS we saved at least $100 over the cost of a complete new UPS.

Go to the Battery Warehouse web site and check out the long list of battery applications they cover at their Dauphin County locations. They carry CMOS batteries for all computers as well as power batteries for laptop computers, cameras, cellular telephones, and for many other electronic devices.

Their knowledgeable technicians can also provide technical advice. This is a good local business to know because they can save you money and the hassle of locating a specific battery. The technicians can also replace your battery for you if you need them to.

A New Hard Drive -

Jim (left) and Hazen (background) watch as George (right) installs a new hard drive in Hazen's computer. George explains what he is doing and why he is doing it with each step. Afterward, the new drive is set up to dual-boot Linux Mint and Windows. A HUG Workshop is always a learning experience for everyone who attends.

Two-Part Demonstration On MP3 Audio Files - In August we had a two-part demonstration on MP3 files - part 1 on Tuesday 11th and part 2 on Sunday 21st.

At the first (Tuesday 11th) session we had a demonstration on the process of copying WAV (Waveform Audio File Format) files from a typical audio or music CD (Compact Disk Digital Audio) onto a computer hard drive while simultaneously converting the files into MP3 (Moving Picture Experts Group - Standard 2, Audio Layer III) files - a process commonly referred to as "ripping" CDs.

We then copied ("burned") the new MP3 files onto a blank CD. This allowed us to have approximately 8 to 10 times more music files (150-200 songs) on a single CD for use in a personal CD player or in an automobile.

We also put the new MP3 files on a personal MP3 player by plugging the personal MP3 player into the computer and then copying the MP3 files. You can load approximately 250 songs per gigabyte of memory into an MP3 player.

At the second (Sunday 21st) session we continued to explore MP3 files. We discussed sources of interesting, and free, MP3 files that are available for downloading from the Internet. In addition, we discussed how to capture the MP3 audio file portion of music videos that you see/hear on YouTube.

Have you ever tried to save the audio portion of a file that you heard/watched on YouTube? I'm sure that many of you have tried.

      - Go to http://www.youtube.com/music
      - Type in a song title or an artist's name in the search box
      - Select and listen to the song
      - Then and try to download the embedded MP3 file - you can't

Copying/downloading the YouTube audio to your hard drive is not possible with your browser alone because the audio file is embedded in YouTube's file format. YouTube allows you to listen to a song but doesn't allow you to download it.

However, if you know how to use certain software you can download YouTube audio files as MP3 files. Then, you can listen to the downloaded files, burn them to a CD, or copy them to your Portable MP3 Player. We demonstrated how to do this.

Technical Tips

Printing Out Messy Web Pages -

Did you ever go to one of the news media's web sites to get an important news article only to find that the text (and maybe the accompanying pictures) you want are surrounded by links to other articles, advertisements, and all sorts of unwanted stuff? So when you save, or print out, your half-page article you end up with about 4 or 5 pages of printout. This is a big waste of paper, ink, and your time.

Well now there is a really neat solution that is available from the printfriendly.com web site.

The next time you encounter a messy web page that contains an article you want to print out, you can just: copy the messy web page url to your clipboard, go to printfriendly.com, paste the url into the text box, then click on "print."  Printfriendly will go to the target web page, retrieve it, reformat it so that all the junk is removed, and display a nice clean version - just like magic! And the whole process takes only a few seconds.

There is also a "No Images" option to remove the attached pictures to your article - if you don't want to include them.

You now have a "cleaned-up" version of your article. Optionally, you can click on "PDF" and turn the clean page into a pdf file if you want to - then save it or print it out. This is a great online utility for anyone who saves or sends web-sourced news articles or similar text documents. Check it out.

Note: You can add a printfriendly button to your browser's toolbar if you use it a lot.

My Browser's "Back Button" Won't Get Me Out Of This Crummy Web Site -

Did you ever visit a Website, want to back out, and find that your browser's "Back Button" is somehow disabled? You keep clicking on the "Back" arrow but you remain stuck in a web site that you don't want to be in.

Some nasty websites disable your back button to keep you hostage on their site.

The next time this happens, just right click on the "Back Button." You'll see a list of pages that you have visited pop up. Click on any other listed web page to move back out. This works for the Forward button, too.

(This Tip was provided from a member of the Pikes Peak Computer Application Society, Colorado Springs, CO)

Important Reminders

Your Old Computers - Check to see if your last, but unused, computer is taking up valuable space. If it is, then consider donating it to HUG. We need good, modern computers to refurbish and retask.

A computer that is a Pentium 4 or newer (not over 5 years old), can be reused. It doesn't matter if it is a desktop or a laptop. We will repair it, refurbish it, remove all your personal files from the hard drive, and give it, or its constituent parts, a new home.

HUG is a qualified non-profit organization. Your donation of a computer to HUG may be tax deductable on your Fereral Income Tax. We can issue you the required letter to document your donation and its value.

Meeting & Workshop Attendance - Your Attendance is always appreciated. Please arrange to attend a meeting & workshop whenever possible. You are also encouraged to bring a guest. Perhaps your guest may want to join and take advantage of the technical assistance that HUG offers. If you are coming with a broken computer, you should email or phone us in advance so that we may expect you.

Your Opinions and Suggestions Are Important - If you have a suggestion about improving our organization, please feel free to contact any of your HUG officers and discuss it.

Lou Samsel      ( lou.samsel@pa.net)
George Eckard ( georgeeckard@comcast.net)
John Reinhardt ( john.reinhardt93@yahoo.com)
Wes Samsel     ( wessamsel@comcast.net)

The HUG officers and all other members appreciate your continued support for the Harrisburg pc Users Group. We hope to see you at an upcoming meeting. Even if your computer is functioning perfectly we enjoy seeing our members show up. There is always something to learn in our meetings/workshops.

~Lou Samsel, HUG President and Newsletter Editor