NetMeeting and Show & Tell

 

December 9, 2005

The Lenawee PC Users Group met Friday, December 9th, 7:30 pm at the Lenawee County Library with twenty members present.  The topic of the meeting was NetMeeting with Pat Madziar as presenter and Show & Tell with Group participation. 

President Pat Madziar started the meeting with introductions by all attendees.  He then passed out a sheet with a list of program ideas for 2006 and asked members to mark those they were interested in.  The ballots will be tallied and the results covered at the January meeting.  

The pop-up for this meeting was given by Pat Madziar on a new virus – Sober, discussed in PC Magazine under security watch.  Also Excel capabilities; importing external data such as stocks, currency, etc. 

To start the main program Pat gave the background of Windows Net Meeting.  See Pat's PowerPoint presentation here.

Background:

I.   Offered “free”, but not well advertised

–       Few users during the first 2-3 years

 II.    Launched by Microsoft in 1998

 III.  Current  users: mainly businesses, but gaining popularity for private use

 IV.  He then discussed the following:

        A.  Applications

        B.  Comparisons (Business World)    (Most Also Apply To Private Usage)

       

        D.  Main Features/Controls

        E. Set-Up/Configuration

        F. Finding Your I.P. Address

        G. Additional Set-Up/Configuration

        H.  Computer Sharing Set-Up

        I. Microsoft Office Live Meeting

       J. Other Web Meeting Providers

 

Bob Warwick demonstrated the audio and video portion – Using your microphone and video camera for NetMeeting.  The type of microphone; how to calibrate it, and the options available.  Also, how to use the audio tuning wizard for recording, playback, volume, and record volume.

 

Bob described how the pins in his laptop USB ports were worn and how an easy fix could be accomplished with a sixteen dollar adapter with two USB ports that you can purchase. 

Ken told about his keyboard synthesizer and how he uses a smart media card and a card reader to download music from the net and transfer it to his keyboard.  He treated the audience to holiday player piano music that he had downloaded.  The address for the site he used is http://members.shaw.ca/smythe/rebirth.htm. 

 Phil told about problems he has encountered with model airplane video and demonstrated a type of virtual image glasses with an LCD screen that he uses to view obstructions while some else watches the plane.  He gave his opinions on the best and worst ways to handle this, along with the type of batteries and adapters that come with the glasses.

 Pat discussed a program that teaches you to type called “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing” that he purchased at Staples.  He hopes to be able to give up the two finger style of typing before to long.  He also showed what can happen if you try to remove a label you have printed and affixed to a CD - the CD will be ruined.  Keep this in mind and get it right the first time.

Last but not least, President Pat Madziar recognized all the SIG coordinators, the Board Members and the Library Staff for their contributions to the Club.