Indiana County PC Users Group
http://www.icpcug.com
Meetings
3rd Tuesday of each month
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
at the
Indiana County
Technology Center
Hamill Rd., Indiana, PA
Everyone
Welcome
Meeting Minutes, Tuesday, December
19, 2006
President Chauncey Ross opened the meeting at 7:09 p.m. Members promptly
logged on to
www.papajohns.com and placed on online order for seven pizzas for the
ICPCUG Christmas party.
Minutes &
Treasurer’s Report
The members approved the minutes of the Nov. 21, 2006, meeting on a motion
by Steve Higgins seconded by Donna McConnell.
The treasurer’s report reflecting an opening balance of $432.75, income of
$30.00, expenses of $50.00 and a current balance of $412.75 was approved on
a motion by Ron McConnell seconded by Steve Higgins.
Program
The program coordinator, Steve Higgins, presented information on the new
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7 (MSIE v7), which is offered as a
“critical update” to users of the MS Windows XP operating system. In Steve’s
estimation, 60 percent of machines using MSIE v7 malfunction, 38 percent run
slow and 2 percent are OK.
He recommended that users wait six months – allowing time for MS to fix bugs
– before installing and operating MSIE v7.
Steve demonstrated through the use of Control Panel and Automatic Updates
how to download blocking software from Microsoft that prevents certain
operating systems from automatically upgrading to MSIE v7.
MSIE v7 is part of the new Vista OS.
In further exploration of cool Web sites, Larry Stadtmiller introduced the
members to
www.elfyourself.com; Ron and Donna
McConnell showed the features of
www.greenprint.com; and Steve
demonstrated Google’s video, images and maps search functions.
At 8:03 p.m., the meeting was temporarily recessed for dining and
fellowship. At 8:44 p.m., the meeting reconvened.
Steve demonstrated
www.speakeasy.net, a site that allows DSL users to test their bandwidth
for upload and download speeds.
Old business
The members took up the election of officers, which was left unfinished Nov.
21.
With no members volunteering to accept the position of secretary, Chauncey
Ross offered to accept the job because he has been compiling meeting minutes
for several months.
With no members volunteering to accept the position of program coordinator,
members Larry Stadtmiller and Linda Gibson agreed to serve on a program
committee, to be chaired by Chauncey Ross, to arrange for presentations at
the monthly meetings.
The members voted in favor of the following slate of officers:
President/Secretary/Public Relations Director/Program Committee Chairman,
Chauncey Ross; Vice President Donna McConnell; Treasurer Bob Dalecki; and
Membership Chairman Jim Crissman, on a motion by Linda Gibson seconded by
Ron McConnell.
Discussing ways to generate greater attendance and participation in ICPCUG
meetings, Larry Stadtmiller suggested that the organization ought to
formulate a list of outcomes that its participants should expect to achieve.
Such a list should be circulated to executives of major corporations in
Indiana County with the suggestion that their employees should be encouraged
(perhaps rewarded) to attend ICPCUG programs and learn skills that will make
them more valuable to their companies.
In an impromptu discussion of trouble-shooting and technical issues, members
talked about using “sleep phase” to clean a PC.
Linda Gibson, who as a volunteer has conducted weekly personal-computing
lessons and demonstrations at the Indiana Aging Services Center, requested
assistance from other members to fill in on the days she cannot conduct the
lessons. Ivan Porter and Bill Culp volunteered to assist.
New business
Continuing to brainstorm organizational growth ideas, members suggested that
the club pay $3 a month to advertise ICPCUG meetings in the Indiana Shoppers
Guide and submit meeting announcements to Comcast cable for listing on the
community service channels.
The members then voted to present a $100 Staples gift card to Steve Higgins
as a show of appreciation for his efforts as Program Coordinator for the
past two years. Officially, the members voted to reimburse $100 to Jim
Crissman, who had procured the gift card before the meeting.
At 9:08 p.m., members also discussed the worth of maintaining a Web site
that infrequently is updated and is not interactive. Suggestions included
offering a chat room, tech support and a question-and-answer e-mail list,
possibly through Yahoo Groups. It also was suggested that the group recruit
an IUP student to act as Webmaster for a class or community service project.
Close
The next meeting of Indiana County PC Users Group will be held 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007. The meeting was adjourned at 9:18