DREAMLAND COMPUTER CLUB
General Meeting

September 5, 2007

President, Judy Gardner, called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. There were 18 members, one new member, and three guests present.  

President Gardner announced the speaker who was supposed to be at today’s meeting, informed her he was not able to come.  And thanks to Pat Davis, from Serving Online Seniors, who agreed to fill in, we had a great meeting.  

Donna Hanson, filling in for Secretary, Kay Hawbaker, read the minutes to the June 6, 2007 meeting.   

Janet Harbaugh, Treasurer, reported we have a balance of $1,708.47 in our treasury.

NEW BUSINESS  

President Gardner announced there would be no September calendar.  Plans are being made for classes starting in October.  Janet Harbaugh has again agreed to teach a Word class.  And Kay Hawbaker will teach a Basic Computing class starting in November. 

 We are negotiating with others who may be willing to teach some classes in the future.   We would like to see some of you come forward to help or facilitate some classes at a later date.

John Highland will facilitate an open Genealogy group on September 19 at 9 a.m.  He is very helpful and can help with any questions you may have about researching and getting started in this very interesting hobby.  We have

Ancestry.com on our computers and you may feel free to do research at this time.

 The Question and Answer meetings will resume in October so do watch our October calendar for new classes and meetings.

 Next months speaker will be provided by AZAAC.  It will be about Creative Memory and how to create Digital storybooks, scrapbooks, and photo and digital organizations.  This meeting will be held at Read Hall at 9 a.m. on October 3.  Remember, all General Meetings are always held on the FIRST WEDNESDAY of each month, either at Read Hall or in winter months at Farnsworth Hall. 

 At the recent Board meeting, there was discussion about the purchase of a new Vista Computer and research is being done as to what will be purchased at some later date.

 The Fifty-fifty drawing was held.   The lucky winner was Donna Hanson who turned the $5.50 cash back to the Computer Club.  The door prize was a year’s subscription to SMART COMPUTING magazine and again Donna Hanson won it.  

Pat Davis from Saving Online Seniors gave a very interesting session about the new Vista program.  His able assistant, Dee McBain, showed us many of the new innovations of the Vista program as Pat explained them. 

 Many things of importance were stressed to us.  Do not open any attachments unless you know for sure whom they are from.  We need good anti-virus programs and also Spypware programs in order to keep our computers operating efficiently.  He recommends using AVG, which is free, rather than some, which have a fee.   

You should change your power strips about once a year as they can go bad, do not spend over $8 to $20 for them. 

 When purchasing new equipment, do not let the salespersons talk you into buying extras.  This is happening too often, so when you buy, tell the salesperson it is a gift, and you don’t want any extras added in.  And be sure to get Vista Home Premium NOT Vista Basic as it is too much like XP.  You would be disappointed in the Basic program.  

This was a very educational program and all attendants appreciated many more things of interest.

 Meeting was closed at 11 a.m.

 Respectfully submitted,

Donna Hanson