The Computer Club Newsletter

June 2002

By Howard Jones

The Tellico Village Computer Users Club (TVCUC) was founded a little more than one year ago and with Bob Wilson as President, has grown to a membership of approximately 115. At its meeting on June 4^th a new slate of officers was presented and elected as the first order of business. The new officers are:

• President - Howard Jones
• Vice President - Lance Lyon
• Secretary - Dee Bowyer
• Treasurer - Chet Hokanson

Bob Wilson received a round of applause in recognition of his efforts to initiate the organization of the club and his leadership during its first year.

The format for the meeting was modified from previous meetings. After the brief business meeting a short presentation from one of the Special Interest Groups (SIG) was made by Howard Jones. Representing the Hardware SIG he presented an overview of what’s involved in "Getting Ready for Charter’s Digital Pipeline". Digital Pipeline’s high connection speeds greatly reduce the time required for the transmission of photographs and the downloading of software upgrades and other information. Approximately 24 club members signed up to participate in "Beta Site Testing" of the new Charter service before it was offered to the Tellico Village community at large. Installations began on May 29^th. As anticipated, there were a few problems. Corrections and adjustments were made quickly and on June 5^th Charter released their new service to all of Tellico Village.

The primary speaker for the June 4^th meeting was Gene Barlow who represents two software companies that publish hard drive utilities. PartitionMagic helps you organize and protect data while running multiple operating systems on the same computer. AccessData publishes a suite of hard drive and computer security products. AccessData’s SecureClean is a tool designed to clean the drive of confidential data. Gene’s presentation focused on the following topics: Organizing your Hard Drive; Managing your Operating System; Protecting your Hard Drive; and Securing your Hard Drive.

A word of caution – there are software products that perform at different levels on your computer. It is very important that each computer user clearly understand what a software product is designed to do and know how it functions to perform its advertised features. This is necessary to prevent damage to operating systems, applications on your computer and most importantly damage to your data files. Members are encouraged to bring any and all questions about diagnostic and utility software to a future meeting.

The primary speaker at the July 2^nd meeting will be Gay Bryant, an Associate Professor in Business and Computer Technology at Pellissippi State. She is currently developing and teaching a class online and in-class on the topics of Photoshop and Web Page Design. She has developed curricula in basic computing, office applications, and most recently, web site development. 

She will be presenting an overview of how the Internet is revolutionizing education. She'll discuss online courses for college credit, which are available locally. It is now possible to get an entire degree online without ever leaving your home.  The second part of her program will cover what makes up a good web site in terms of design, with pointers on how to get started with programs you already have.

Ron Uncapher will give a short "Special Interest" presentation at the July 2^nd meeting. The topic will be "How to Organize Your Files" such as creating and using folders in "My Documents" to make it easier to file and retrieve information. Members, please bring a friend. All Village residents who use a computer are encouraged to attend.