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Tampa Bay Computer
Society Bulletin

3/29/2009
 

This document is available online.
Note:  Most hyperlinks will only
appear on the web page.

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This month, Dale Atchison talks about when and how to 'power cycle' your computer system, buying computer parts at "Big Lots", and even puts an online curse on ...

Stew Bottorf recommends several free and useful programs, there's an article on free tax filing, and an article on magicJack.

March Bits & Bytes is Online:
http://bnb.tampa-bay.org/
 

Contents

1) General Interest
      Take Action NOW!  Conficker worm becomes active on April Fool's Day

2) TBCS Classes

3) SIG Stuff

Maps to our Resource Center & General Meeting:
http://tampa-bay.org/maps.htm

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1) General Interest

Take Action NOW!  Conficker worm becomes active on April Fool's Day

The National Cyber Alert System (US-CERT) published an alert on Saturday that indicates a widespread infection of the Conficker worm (aka Downadup & Kido) is capable of stealthily infecting a Microsoft Windows system from a thumb drive, a network share, or directly across a network if the computer has NOT been updated by Microsoft (in case Automatic Updates are turned off).

Wednesday, April 1st is the date that the worm is designed to become active.  Just because your anti-virus software is showing your pc as being virus free, that MAY not be correct.  IF you have been infected, then your anti-virus software has probably been neutralized.  It may no longer be capable of protecting you.  What can you do?

The simplest thing you can do is to see if you can access the following sites:
http://www.symantec.com/norton/theme.jsp?themeid=conficker_worm
www.mcafee.com

If either of those links fail, you may be infected.  If you CAN get to both of them, you could still be infected by an earlier version of this malware.

Major anti-virus vendors and Microsoft have released several free tools that can verify the presence of a Conficker infection and remove the worm.  Instructions for manually removing the infection can be found at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007.

Here's one of the free tools that I trust from F-Secure:
ftp://ftp.f-secure.com/anti-virus/tools/beta/f-downadup.zip

Doc

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2) TBCS Classes

Phil Sullivan's Hands-On Windows XP Beginner's Classes
Four 2-hour classes on Mondays 9:30-11:30am  $40 (NO make-up)
Since these are hands-on classes, they will be limited to only 6 people.
You MUST register for these in advance (see below).  Minimum class size is 3 students.
Here's Phil's schedule for the rest of the year:

bulletMar 30, April 6, 13, & 20
bulletApril 27, May 4, 11, & 18
bulletMay 25, June 1, 8, & 15
bulletJune 22, 29, July 6, & 13
bulletSept 14, 21, 28, & Oct 5
bulletNov 30, Dec 7, 14, & 21

Phil Sullivan's Hands-On Windows Vista Beginner's Classes
Four 2-hour classes on Tuesdays 9:30-11:30am  $40 (NO make-up)
Since these are hands-on classes, they will be limited to only 6 people.
You MUST register for these in advance (see below). Minimum class size is 3 students.
Here's Phil's schedule for the rest of the year:

bulletMar 31, April 7, 14, & 21
bulletApril 28, May 5, 12, & 19
bulletMay 26, June 2, 9, & 16
bulletJune 23, 30, July 7, & 14
bulletSept 15, 22, 29, & Oct 6
bulletDec 1, 8, 15, & 22

Microsoft Movie Maker by Jan McNulty
Thursday, April 9th, 10am-noon  $10
This IS a hands on class.
You MUST register for this class.

Windows Movie Maker is a free download (for WinXP users) from Microsoft.  It's an excellent tool for editing your home movie clips together and adding in narration and music.  Jan will show how to create a movie from the very beginning.

My Favorite Computer & Internet Tips & Tricks by Doc
Friday, April 10th, 7-9pm, $10
This is NOT a hands on class.
Pre-registration is NOT required for this class.

I've been giving out most of these tips over the years, but never have I collected them in one place.  This one will NOT be broadcast.  We will collect $10 at the door.  Thanks for your support!

Microsoft Movie Maker by Jan McNulty
Thursday, April 16th, 10am-noon  $10
This IS a hands on class.
You MUST register for this class.

Windows Movie Maker is a free download (for WinXP users) from Microsoft.  It's an excellent tool for editing your home movie clips together and adding in narration and music.  Jan will show how to create a movie from the very beginning.

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Classroom Registration
All of our classes meet at our Resource Center in Clearwater.  The full class fee is due at the first session (cash or check please).  All classes come with a money-back guarantee if you're not happy with the instruction for any reason.

In order to register for any of the classes (or if you have questions), please send an email to the Club Secretary.

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3) SIG Stuff

Our SIGs (Special Interest Groups) all meet at our Resource Center
(map: http://www.tampa-bay.org/maps.htm).
All of our SIGs are free to our members.

SIGs are a great place to get more personalized attention, and get your questions answered. The following SIGs will meet this week:

Tuesday, March 31, 1-3pm
Novice SIG. Led by Bill De Lucia
Bring Bill your questions.

Tuesday, March 31, 7-9pm
Microsoft Access SIG. Led by Howard Gray

Wednesday, April 1, 10am-noon
Digital Video SIG. Led by Tom Lembke

Wednesday, April 1, 2-4pm
Genealogy SIG. Led by Howard T. Smith

Wednesday, April 1, 7-9pm
Excel SIG. Led by Motaz Ben Saoud
Formerly the Investment SIG.  Motaz is excellent at teaching Excel.  Some of his audience was coming more for the Excel tips than the investment info so he will focus on Excel in the future.

Thursday, April 2, 10am-noon
Scrapbooking SIG. Led by Jan McNulty

Thursday, April 2, 1-3pm
Hands-On Embird SIG. Led by Florence Osier

Thursday, April 2, 7-9pm
Expression Web. Led by Sam Richardson
Join Sam to learn how to use Microsoft's replacement for FrontPage.

Friday, April 3, 10am-noon   Broadcast
Doc's Place. Led by Dave Dockery
"Vista From the Ground Up" (basic Vista) AND "Windows 7"
Go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/doc%27s-place-live to view.

Friday, April 3, 1-3pm
Intermediate Computer SIG.  Led by Carol King
Dark this week.  Carol is still feeling punk.

Friday, April 3, 7-9pm   Broadcast
2600 Club.  Led by Magen Hughes

Sunday, April 5, 1-3pm   Broadcast
SBI SIG. Led by Rick Hart & Carl Hahn

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See you at the Resource Center!

Doc (Dave Dockery)
President, Tampa Bay Computer Society
www.tampa-bay.org

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