April Magazine Articles
May eBulletin
Past eBulletins

NEW HAL-PC MERCHANDISE
Support your User Group in style with HAL-PC merchandise. We have limited quantities of logo lunch bags, shoulder bags, golf shirts, cotton oxford shirts and LED flashlights for sale at Headquarters. Buy a lunch bag or LED flashlight and get $$ off other logo merchandise! See the Merchandise Page for photos, descriptions and size availability. For more merchandise (including mugs, mousepads and tshirts for the whole family!) visit our online store at Cafe Press.

It's HOT; don't leave those expensive CD's in the truck! Put 5 hrs quality music on one CD, for that long drive into West Texas.

UPCOMING CLASSES AT HAL-PC
See the Class Calendar for scheduled classes and check the Classes Information Page for a list of course offerings and registration information. To register for any of our class offerings, e-mail classes@hal-pc.org. You may also call 713-341-8102 between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. All classes held at HAL-PC headquarters unless otherwise specified.

HANDOUTS FROM PAST PRESENTATIONS
Preventing, Recognizing and Recovering From Identity Theft
as presented Saturday, January 26, 2008
Instructor's PowerPoint Presentation and List of resources

Creating a PowerPoint Presentation
as presented Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Instructor's handout and Handout on PowerPoint with Music

Home Networking for Everyone
as presented Saturday, July 15, 2006
Instructor's PowerPoint Presentation and Course Handout from this event. Win2k PowerPoint viewer available on Microsoft website.

NEW FTP SETTINGS FOR HALNet HOME PAGES
Have you put your ow1n personal home page on HALNet? In the coming weeks, HALNet will be moving all its user accounts to a new web server. IF YOU HAVE YOUR OWN WEB PAGE ON THE HALNet SERVER, your personal web page URL will remain the same (http://www.hal-pc.org/~username), but the ftp server address will change. To prepare for this move, we ask you to please change the settings in your FTP program (i.e., WS-FTP, Cute FTP, LeapFTP, FrontPage, Dreamweaver) from www.hal-pc.org to users.hal-pc.org. If you do not have a HALNet based personal web page, you don't need to change anything. Thank you for your cooperation!!

ONLINE IT CERTIFICATION COURSES
Starting at $29.95
HAL-PC announces great IT training service for HAL-PC members, their friends and family: End-User topics for just $29.95. Technical topics for just $59.95. Or, buy a suite of courses covering dozens of topics starting as low as $89.95. And with the "Instant Mentoring" feature it's like having a live instructor on call 24x7. Check out this outstanding curriculum and you take a FREE TRIAL.

PROTECT YOUR DATA WITH BOOMERANG
HAL-PC is offering a service to help protect your computer from the harmful effects of viruses and worms. The Boomerang card takes a 'snapshot' of your data, monitors changes made to your hard drive and eliminates unwanted changes with just a reboot. You can purchase the card from HAL, and our upgrade SIG will clean your computer of viruses, worms and spyware and install the card, all for one low price. See the Boomerang page for detailed information and look for a review of the card in the December HAL-PC magazine.

MAY VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH
May's HAL-PC Volunteer of the Month is Beverly Rosenbaum. Beverly is a long-time dedicated member of HAL-PC who works primarily on the magazine. She takes your email questions, researches them and publishes the answers in her 'Email Bag' column to help us all. Her editing talents are a gift to the magazine staff. And on a personal note, Beverly was the first HAL-PC member I met in 1994 when I wandered into the software library at the old offices on Post Oak. She was warm, gracious and helpful then and she continues to be now. Thank you, Beverly, for being such an asset to HAL-PC!

CONTACTING HAL-PC
You can reach HAL-PC information at 713-993-3300 during regular business hours (9:00 am - 9:00 pm Mon-Fri, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Sat.). General information is available 24 hrs a day via automated voice menus. Questions and comments regarding the website may be directed to the webmaster. HALNet account information is accessible online - see User Support. For other HALNet questions, please contact the appropriate staff member.

You may reach the Member Services Coordinator at 713-341-8102 and the Staff Accountant at mariej@hal-pc.org, 713-341-8103. You may communicate with the Officers and Board of Directors via their email addresses. PLEASE send text messages only - no HTML formatting.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE COMPUTER LITERATE?
HAL-PC and Leisure Learning's Computer Center are working together to heighten awareness of the need for true computer literacy. Visit the joint website for more information and take the brief Computer Literacy Self-Test.

ADSL TROUBLE?
If your ADSL seems sluggish, is not connecting, web pages fail to load or email fails, do the following BEFORE calling HAL-PC.

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Shut down (turn off) any routers/hubs/switches between the computer and ADSL Modem.
3. Shut down the modem (unplug the power cord if it does not have a power button).
4. Wait about 15 seconds.
5. Turn on the ADSL modem FIRST (or plug the power cord back in), wait 60 seconds.
6. Turn on any routers/hubs/switches between the PC and ADSL Modem SECOND, wait 60 seconds.
7. Turn on the computer LAST.

AVG 8.0 RELEASED
Version 8.0 of the popular AVG anti-virus software has been released. This AVG is still free for home use. According to AVG, the free version has "limited features, ... [and is] for private and non-commercial use only." The HAL help desk will provide phone support for this version, but you must purchase the full version to get tech support from AVG. Click this link to download the free version. Save the AVG_Free file to a place on your hard drive such as a "Download" Subdirectory (folder) or "My Documents" or even to "The Desktop". The downloading on a dial-up may take 90 to 120 minutes (it is a 46 meg file). On HAL-PC/HALNet ADSL, it should take about 5 minutes. Once downloaded, double-click the AVG file to install it. For Questions and Answers concerning AVG Anti-Virus see:
AVG 7.5 & AVG 8.0 Free Edition FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

POSTINI SPAM & VIRUS FILTERS
According to Postini statistics, 10 of every 12 email messages is spam, and 1 in 4 is virus-infected. Postini stops these messages before they reach (and clog) the HALNet mail server. HALNet subscribers can get a 30-day free trial of the Postini mail filtering progam by contacting the office at 713-993-3300. The $2.00 per month fee will be added to your automatic charge after the trial period. To cancel, call the office at (713) 993-3300. For more information on this service, see the Filter Question and Answer page.

HALNet NOW OFFERS HAL-PC MEMBER SUBSCRIBERS A SECURE VPN CLIENT
You've all read and heard about the dangers of transmitting your information over an insecure wireless network - now HALNet offers a solution. Take your laptop to Starbucks and access the web with confidence! Download our Windows Open VPN client today! See the Open VPN Information Page for details. HAL-PC MEMBER SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. Do you want that secure remote connection, but you're not a HAL-PC member? Join HAL-PC Now!

HOW TO REPORT SPAM THAT GETS THROUGH POSTINI FILTERS
HAL-PC/HALNet Spam and Virus Filter Service (POSTINI) Users: Spammers are constantly developing new tricks to slip through even the best of spam filters. If you are a HALNet Postini Filter System user and receive a spam message that has slipped through the filters, forward it, intact and without comment, to spam@postini.com. You will be doing your part to help keep spam out of your own and your fellow users' mail boxes! (Note: this only applies if you are a current Postini Spam Filter user)

See: Submitting Spam to Postini using MS Outlook, and for those not using Postini, see: General Questions - Junk Email Assistant. Preview the HAL-PC/HALNet (Postini) Spam and Virus Filtering.

HALNet USER SUPPORT
Your premier source of information about your HALNet account is the User Support Section! How to configure your browser or email program, check your account information, current system status, forwarding your mail, putting up a website . . . it's all there! Having connection problems? They may be modem related. See the What Modem Should I Buy page for important information.