
President's Message
by Martin Hanson
January, 2012
Greetings fellow Slugo members!
The end of another great year has caused me to sit back and reflect on
all we have done. I also am looking forward to what the future will
bring. We are all able to come together and enjoy a common interest;
computers. I have enjoyed the last year learning much more than most
would, in college and researching potential presentations for the club.
Being an optimist, I am learning the value of a warranty yet again. In
the last week of December, my “backup” external drive stopped being
recognized by my computers. And yes, I tried them all, including
various operating systems. :(
I realized this shortly after most of my family went home and I was
getting ready to make another backup of my laptop. I tried all the
trouble shooting procedures recommended, and finally called Seagate
customer service. I have to say, they were very nice and helpful, even
to allow me to open up the external case to attempt data retrieval
directly from the drive.
Long story short, I did my homework, researching all I could find on
disassembly of my unit from the internet. I then gathered a few tools
and began the task of careful disassembly. After an agonizing two
hours, I had the drive torn down to where I could hook it up directly
to one of my computers, and guess what? The luck of the Irish was with
me! The drive fired up, and I was able to pull my “backup data” back
off, and delete it. I then was able to reassemble it and mail it back
to the company to exercise my warranty and get a replacement.
The bottom line is: have your important stuff in two locations. You
never know when a gremlin will get busy with your computer/ electronic
equipment! I was very lucky to get my data back, and have my drive
under warranty. :)
Last month’s meeting was busier than usual. We had the annual
elections; obviously, there was no surprise who all was re-elected. We
had a few short demos along with our holiday party. The first short
demo was by Dennis E. who showed us how we could manage our desktop
icons with a simple program called “Fences”. I liked the idea of being
able to hide all the icons when you have company. The second program
was by Derek L.. He showed us how to rename just a couple or large
batches of files. The best example he used was photos that we download
off our digital cameras. “Rename Master” can help us get better
organized so we can find a specific photo or set of photos in the
future.
We ended the meeting with a larger than usual amount of door prizes and
the message board drawing. During the meeting, there were many treats
to be sampled. Many thanks again to all who brought them in.
For January, we have a fun bunch of items planned. We will start with
the annual show and tell, or “Look what I got for Christmas!”. Trudy
will have a game to show us that she has been enjoying. We will allow
time for more Q and A as we usually have questions about new toys and
equipment. We will close the meeting with the monthly door prize
drawings. I hope I see you all there at the Sump Library next Saturday,
14 January 2012.
But, there is one last item I wish to mention. We wish update photos in
our online member directory. We ask all members who wish to update
their photo to send it to the club slugocomputergroup@juno or bring in
on an electronic media like that nice flash drive we got awhile back.
As always, come join us at the Slugo computer meeting, Omaha’s
friendliest computer club, starting a little after 0900 (that is when
they open the doors) at the Sump Memorial library, and finishing around
1200. Some of us will also go to lunch afterwards, most likely at the
“Syzzlin Skillet” in downtown Ralston. You are welcome to join us there
as well, for a great lunch and great discussions.
Martin Hanson
President,
SLUGO Computer club
If
you think you have seen a remote controlled airplane put through its
paces……nope…not ‘til you have seen Joe Smith's Friday Noon Demo 2011!!!