The Computer Club Newsletter

July 2002

By Ron Uncapher

Summer is here with a vengeance and I suspect a lot of you are spending more time indoors in your air-conditioned homes on your computers. Maybe you are surfing the net trying to find all there is to know about your favorite subject. Or, maybe you are looking for directions to an area golf course. You may already have your favorite search site book marked. If not, I have run across some sites to which you can go and find out anything.

My favorite general search sit is GOOGLE ( www.google.com ). In fact, I downloaded the Google toolbar and installed it on my Internet browser. To activate the Google toolbar, I right click on the browser toolbar and select Google. I type the subject of my search into the search box. In a fraction of a second I have more than I wanted to know about just about anything. I then right click on the tool bar and deselect Google. Google is very fast and is one of the few search engines that gives unbiased results. Results from their paid advertisers are clearly marked. Most search engines put their paid sites at the top of the results list but do not identify them as paid. Google clearly identifies their paid advertisers.

I found another good resource for answering question on Windows and other Microsoft programs. It is FREE ANSWERS ( www.freeanswers.com ). Type in a question about a feature or a problem you are having with any version of Windows, Word or any other of the listed programs, and you quickly get a selection of answers that probably tell you what you need to know. It also has answers to questions about Quicken and Adobe products.

Finally, from the Georgetown Computer Users Group, here are some very useful sites:

M-W.com  The online versions of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate dictionary and thesaurus make quick work of words.

Britannica.com  The complete encyclopedia is available online. The site also links to Web sites that are relevant to your search subject.

Bartleby.com Online versions of Strunk's "The Elements of Style," Post's "Etiquette," Gray's Anatomy, and Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.

www.hti.umich.edu/relig/ Search the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the Koran using keywords.

Pantheon.org The Encyclopedia Mythica clears up references to mythology, legends, and folklore.

dictionary.law.com Decode contracts and lawyer speak.

medical-dictionary.com Find out what the doctor means when he says you have blepharitis.

oneacross.com This is for crossword addicts: Type in clues or letter patterns, and find words that match

Don’t forget about the August meeting. The Tellico Village Computer Users Club has something for all computer users. Come join your friends and neighbors, Tuesday, August 6, 2002 at the Yacht Club. Ask questions, get answers. In the meantime, check out the Website for current info (www.tvcuc.org ).