In February CRUG is fortunate to once again have a representative from industry aas our presenter. Blain Barton from Microsoft will be with us. He will provide information Windows 7 and moving to the latest operating system.

This is sure to be an interesting presentation. I have heard Blain speak before and he can generate a great deal of enthusiasm. As I have just started using a new desktop computer with Windows 7 I look forward to hearing what he has to tell us.

Mark your calendar and be sure to tell your friends about the meeting.

Coffee and refreshments at 6:00 and a short meeting at 6:30 p.m. followed by the presentation. For directions to the Crystal Oaks Club House see the Locations page.

User Group Relations
Gene Barlow

Our friends Gene and Linda Barlow were at our January meeting. They provided us information on safeguarding our data and how to be prepared for a hard drive failure.

We saw firsthand how quick and easy it is to do an incremental backup of a data partition with True Image 2010. So there is no excuse for loosing our valuable photographs or data if our computer fails. WIth our full image backup and weekly incremental backups installing a new hard drive and restoreing the computer is easy.

Thanks to Gene and Linda for enjoying Florida's unseasonably cold winter weather!

CRUG Meeting Programs

March  2010	Tips and Tricks - Learn from CRUG’s own computer guru, Joe Tarnowski. This is sure to be a great learning experience. Joe always has an array of tips and tricks that we can use to make our computing experience more secure and enjoyable. Bring your questions as there will be time for questions and answers.
April  2010	ZoomText Express & OpenOffice - I will demonstrate how ZoomText Express can help those of us who squint at the monitor or find ourselves leaning in to read small print. See how ZoomText Express provides up to 2X magnification while maintaining text clarity, applies a soft tint to white areas of the screen and helps keep track of the pointer and cursor. While using ZoomText Express we will also take a quick look at OpenOffice, a free opensource office suite.
May 2010	Mikogo & Skype - Bob Shevlin will share his experience with us in a discussion of Mikogo and Sktpe. Mikogo is a free screen capture program that the originator sets up with someone else and the originator has the option to show either ones desktop so they cam alternately look at each others desktop Great for teaching and tech support. Using Skype at the same time allows free phone service.
June 2010	Ubuntu - Ray Seely will show us the basics of Ubuntu an open-source alternative to Windows and Office. Ubuntu is an operating system that contains all the applications you need: a web browser, office suite, media apps, instant messaging and more.

 

Focus on CRUG Education

CRUG is always striving to offer educational opportunities that interest members and other local residents. We have many interesting and informative classes and a fine group of dedicated instructors. Classes have been offered at various locations throughout the county and are currently scheduled at the Citrus Springs Community Center. For additional information on CRUG education be sure to chek out the Education and Class Schedule pages.

Current Classes 

Our President, Alfred Morton, has put his time in the dotnetnuke classes to good use. He now has a page on his site where you can fill out and submit a form to sign up for a class. To see dotnetnuke at work and sign up for a class just click the following link: http://www.dnnclass.com/morton

CRUG classes are for educational purposes and not to be used for commercial marketing. 

Photo Story 3 - Learn how to bring digital photos to life. Microsoft Photo Story 3 is a free application that allows users to create a show and tell presentation from their digital photos. Touch-up, crop, or rotate pictures with a single click. Add stunning special effects, soundtracks, and your own voice narration to your photo stories. Then, personalize them with titles and captions. The software uses the Ken Burns Effect on digital photos and allows adding narration, effects, transitions and background music to create a Windows Media Video movie file with pan and zoom. A completed photo story can be played on Windows Media Player or burned to a DVD or CD. An add-on from Sonic Solutions to burn a Video CD is available for download if needed. Small file sizes make it easy to send your photo stories in an email. Watch them on your TV, a computer, or a Windows Mobile based portable device. What a great way to save those travel pictures or special occasion to send to family and friends. Photo Story runs on both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 – This short course provides a quick look at Paint Shop Pro Photo, Corel’s image editing software. See how the Learning Center and the selection of one-click photo-fixing tools make it easy to correct common photo flaws such as red eye, color and sharpness. Make everyone look their best with makeover tools to whiten teeth, remove blemishes and paint on a tan. Get creative with artistic effects and filters to turn photos into fun projects.

Special Note: I have chosen Corel PaintShop Pro Photo as my digital image editing software and will be teaching this short class to show off PaintShop Pro Photo X2. I want to let you know that Corel has just released a new version PaintShop Pro Photo. I will explain some of the updates in X3 in the class.

Word 2007 Basics - This short course on Word 2007 looks at how to use Microsoft Word 2007 to generate documents for printing or sharing. See how to use formatting, page definition options, and art to generate attractive and informative documents. A basic understanding of the Windows Operating System is a prerequisite!

FastStone Capture and Viewer - See how this useful screen capture utility lets you easily capture and annotate anything on the screen and even record screen activities and sounds into video files. The class will also look at the viewer which has image viewing, management, comparison, editing features.  These features include red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments. Also included are a magnifier and a musical slideshow with transition effects, shadow effects and image annotation.

~ Crystal River Users Group, Inc. is a Non-Profit Racially Non-Discriminatory Corporation ~ CRUG (Crystal River Users Group) is made up of a group of people living in and around Citrus County Florida, interested in learning how to use our computers. We are volunteers dedicated to computer education. CRUG was organized in 1986. It all began when six or so people got together to try to make some gadget called a computer work. They discovered that with each other’s help they could make their computers do something useful. From that a club was organized so others might learn to use their computers. By the end of 1986 the computer club had grown to 26 members meeting in members' homes. That's how it all got started. We gather at 6:00 p.m. for social time and a meeting at 6:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month at the Crystal Oaks Club House. Our General Meetings are FREE and open to the public. We always have an interesting program featuring the latest in computer hardware and software. Come out and join us!

Crystal River Users Group is a proud member of the following organizations. APCUG (Assn. of Computer Users Groups) FACUG (Florida Assn Computer User Groups) UGN (User Group Network) Microsoft User Group Support Program