Dreamland Computer Club

   By Mike Sorem  

If you missed the March general membership meeting of the computer club, you missed a lot--- something every one of us needs to know about--- IDENTITY THEFT.

 The March general membership meeting was held, as it always is, on the first Wednesday of the month in Farnsworth Hall with approximately 50 members and guests attending. President Tom Santoro opened the meeting about 9:00 AM and welcomed everyone.

After dispensing with the usual secretary and treasurer's reports, President Santoro continued the meeting by asking several members to give reports of items of interest to the group. John Ahrens, our representative to AZacc, the Arizona Alliance of Computer Clubs, reported on a possible new format all AZacc clubs will be using for our guest speakers in the future. AZacc, who arranges for our monthly speakers, is finding it increasingly difficult to get speakers to travel to the valley from other parts of the country because of increased costs. Web casts have been used successfully in other arenas, and they are exploring trying to do the same with our speakers. With a webcast the speaker remains in their office and presents their topic live over the Internet. The audience has the opportunity to ask questions and interact with the speaker in real time using a web camera and microphone, just like being in the same room with the speaker. Details still need to be worked out, but it appears that this procedure may begin with our April general meeting.

Next, Gaela Roberts, chairperson of our recently held potluck lunch, gave a report on the potluck. She told us that approximately 50 members attended and all enjoyed the great

program and the good food. Gaela said if you went away hungry, it was only your fault. Those at the meeting then gave Gaela a big round of applause for a "job well done". Hopefully, this will become an annual event again with the club. If you are interested in helping to make this happen, please get in touch with a board member.

 John Shideler gave a short report on the Saturday morning Question and Answer sessions. He said it is a great time to get together and try to solve questions and problems you may have been having with your computing experience. It is a fun group in a very informal setting. Come and join us Saturday mornings from 9:00 to 11:00 AM in Room 9.

 Judy Gardner reported on her Genealogy class, and said she had recently attended a Family History Conference and would be sharing information she learned at future classes. Also, Tal Hilton reported on the free software program Photo Story 3 from Microsoft.

President Santoro then introduced our guest speakers for the March meeting, Mike Prusinski and Scott Simpson from LifeLock. As vice president of communications for LifeLock, Mr. Prusinski regularly gives presentations about identity theft and how his company can help protect you from being a victim. With the help of a multimedia presentation, Mike explained what identity theft is, gave us some real examples of people becoming victims, including some from right here in Phoenix, and gave us some ideas on how we can help protect ourselves. "We still encourage people to shred their documents and check their credit reports for free several times a year; however, it's time to go a few steps further. That is where we come in." An Arizona based company, LifeLock, provides a system that "locks up" personal information and completely backs the service with a $1 million guarantee. "While all others worry about how to clean up problems from ID theft, LifeLock concentrates on stopping the crime before it can cause havoc". For more information, you can visit their web site at www.lifelock.com  At the conclusion of their presentation a drawing was held for two free subscriptions to their service.

 If you are interested in computing and meeting new people with the same interests, the computer club might be the place for you. Why not give it a try and join us? We hope to see you soon.