Dual Booting Your PC with Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC)
Kevin Lynn

Kevin Lynn will demonstrate

• How to add Windows XP or Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) to a PC that already has Windows Vista installed,
• how to add Windows Vista or Windows 7 RC to a PC that had Windows XP installed,
• how to choose which system boots up by default, and 
• how to edit the cryptic message that is displayed by Vista or Windows 7 when you want to dual-boot

by Deb Shinder, Tech Republic

We all do dumb things now and then, and computer users are no exception. Inadvertently pressing the wrong key combination or innocently clicking OK in the wrong dialog box can change important settings that alter a computer's behavior or even crash the system.

By Gene Barlow
User Group Relations
Copyrighted June 2009

(Ed. Note - In preparation for Gene Barlow's webinar at the August 12th General meeting, this article is reproduced with his permission.)

Backing up your computer’s hard drive on a regular basis is the most important thing every user should be doing on their computer. The hard drive on your computer will eventually crash and when it does, you will be protected if you have a good backup. Without a backup, your computer will no longer function and all of your important files and pictures will be lost. Start doing backups today and be safe!

Assorted Applications and Techniques for Multimedia 
Stan Hutchings 

Stan will discuss multimedia applications and techniques, such as capturing audio and video from YouTube.

In the Santa Clara MicroCenter store. Map and directions to the meeting.

Scott Kelby's Second Annual Worldwide Photo Walk

On Saturday, July 18th over 17,000 people in 1026 groups all over the world will be taking photographs in this event sponsored by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and more than a dozen contributing companies. It’s a social photography event where photographers get together, usually in a downtown area or trendy section of town, to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers. Each walk is limited to two hours.

• Choosing whether to buy or build your new computer
• The ease of building your own computer
• Deciding on the objectives for your computer
• Selection of hardware components to meet your objectives
• Choosing your operating system

The advantages of building your own system include custom components wth better reliability and longer life, lower power consumption and cooler, quieter operation compared to purchased computers.

Many people have collections of vinyl recordings which they would like to transfer to digital format. At the March 2, 2009 meeting of the Multimedia SIG Bob White presented suggestions for how to enhance the quality of these transfers by removing extraneous noise ("pops" and "clicks") from these recordings.

How to UnScrew Windows XP

In the four years since this article was last published in PrintScreen, XP has changed, the environment in which it exists has changed, the knowledge about how cleanups can be better with more specialized tools, and the software for anti-virus has changed greatly because the threats have changed and so the methods of combating them are also changed. So here are the recommendations:

What do you do if a computer is merely slowing down significantly and it just needs to be tweaked back into usefulness?

From Linux, Open Office, Firefox and GIMP to a growing list of other applications Open Source has become a popular alternative to costly commercial software. Open source software is developed by a community of programmers with peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in. (Presented by Maurice Green at the August 2008 General meeting. Additional material and links have been added.)