We discussed a number of different subjects at the April meeting of the Davis Chapter. I'll go over the technical ones first, then I'll report on some very important Chapter business.
A Better Modem
Internet security is becoming more and more important to most folks, and I’m no exception. I recently took a big step in becoming more secure by setting up a separate PC just to handle my email and Web browsing. I keep it isolated from the PCs that I use for the rest of my business - it is not networked - and I don’t keep anything important or private on it. I clean the email off of it daily, I scan it for viruses frequently, and I know how to reformat its hard disk and reinstall its operating system and software quickly, if it becomes corrupted.
This separate PC has been serving me well... except for its modem. Before I set up the new PC, I used an external Diamond USB Modem on another PC. It worked pretty well while I was connected, but it had trouble connecting, and I had to be careful whenever I disconnected: if I moved the mouse at the wrong moment, the modem would crash Windows. So I was glad to ditch the USB modem and connect the new PC’s built-in modem. It is a "Lucent WinModem" integrated into the motherboard.
The WinModem connected almost every time I tried, and it never crashed on exiting. However, even though it always reported that it was connected at a nice high speed, it seemed pretty pokey compared to the other computer’s USB modem. Downloads took forever, and it often disconnected during a session.
The WinModem irritated me enough that I finally went to an office supply store and bought a name-brand external serial modem. It happens to be a ZoomModem. It was easy to set up, and it worked right off the bat. Boy, did it work! It felt about 3 times faster on downloads. It also doesn’t disconnect in midsession, and I like its external indicator lights: I can see whether the modem is online from across the office.
I’ve had the ZoomModem running for close to a month now with no major problems. I’m very satisfied with it.
Checking a Modem’s Speed Easily
I kept wondering how much faster the ZoomModem was than the other modems. There are Web sites that measure your download speed, but they give a limited snapshot of performance. I searched for shareware utilities that show the download speed continuously, but I didn’t find any good, small programs.
Then I remembered the System Monitor built into Windows 9x. I checked, and sure enough, it has the ability to continuously show download and upload speeds. I showed the folks at the April Chapter meeting how to set it up, using Ralph Reid’s built-in laptop modem; I’ll go over it here, too. These instructions are for Win98 and WinME.
First, you need to have the System Monitor installed (it might not have been installed when Windows was set up on your PC). To check, click on Start, Programs, Accessories, and System Tools and look for System Monitor. If you don’t see it, then you’ll need to install it, but that’s easy to do: Click on Start, Settings, Control Panel, and double-click the Add/ Remove Programs control; click on the Windows Setup tab, highlight System Tools in the Components list, turn on the check mark for System Monitor, and click OK. You might need your Windows CD.
Once you have System Monitor installed on your system, run it (from the Accessories menu, as described earlier). It’s a technical tool - most users never even learn of its existence - but it’s not all that hard to use it to monitor modem speed. First, click on its View menu and make sure that the Line Charts choice is checked. Next, open the Edit menu and click on Add Item. Click on Dial-Up Adapter in the Category list, then click on Bytes Received/Second in the Item list. Hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and click on Bytes Transmitted/Second so that it is also highlighted; then let go of the Ctrl key and click on the OK button. You should see a display of charts, including the two for Dial-Up Adapter: Bytes Received/Second and Bytes Transmitted/Second (you may need to resize the System Monitor dialog box to see all of its labels and lettering.) Now open the Options menu, click on Chart, set the Update interval slider to its fastest position, and click OK, to make the charts update nice and quickly. Finally, open the View menu and make sure that Always on Top is checked.
Now fire up your modem connection to your ISP, login, and browse the Web, or handle your email. You’ll see the line charts show your download and upload speeds. A good connection with a 56K modem should often give you at least 5.6 K Bytes per second downloads; they will be shown on the Bytes Received/Second chart. Uploads won’t usually be as high, because most folks download a lot more than they upload. Type a search request into Google, and you’ll see some spikes in the Bytes Transmitted/Second chart, as your PC sends your request to Google.
With the System Monitor, I am able to see how fast the nice new ZoomModem really runs... it often peaks at around 12 K Bytes per second, which is very gratifying. I keep the System Monitor running all the time; I’ve added it to the StartUp programs group, so that it starts every time Windows starts up.
Of course, I hadn’t thought of using the System Monitor before I got the new modem, so I don’t really know how slow the old WinModem was, or the even older USB modem; but I really don’t feel like resurrecting those old monsters!
Other Speedups
One of our members is using a different kind of speedup for downloading Web pages: it’s a Web service called Propel. This "Web accelerator" is a monthly subscription service that claims to work with most PCs, Macs, and ISPs to speed up your downloads, making them up to 5x faster. We didn’t get too involved with it on Ralph’s laptop PC during the meeting, because you do have to pay for it, but you can look at www.propel.com to find out more about it.
The California Coastline
Our member Hays Fisher told us about a neat Website: California Coastline. You will find more than 12,100 photographs of most of the coast of California, taken from a helicopter flying along the coast! The site lets you browse the photos in a long strip; or you can search for features by name or geographical coordinates. We searched for the Cliff House in San Francisco, and found some really excellent photos; it was easy to make out features such as the giant "camera obscura". It’s an amazing private project by a husband and wife team, using a digital camera; check it out!
Opting Out
Hays also told us about No Call, where you can pre-register to get your phone number on the official government list of numbers that telemarketers may not call. (Hurrah!) There are a few caveats: According to their FAQ page, "Most telemarketers will be covered by the registry, but federal and state law provide for some exceptions, including charities, political groups, small businesses with five employees or less, [and] companies that have an established relationship with a consumer. However, most calls are placed by professional telemarketing companies, and they are not exempt even if they are calling on behalf of an exempt company."
The list should go into effect this October. The idea sounds great, but you should read their FAQ page and their privacy statement before signing up; and you should be very careful to not accidentally go to one of the other sites that reportedly are bogus sites, collecting people’s phone numbers for purposes of spam and scan, while pretending to be the official site for getting off of the telemarketing lists!
Other Business
We explored a few other things during the meeting; as always, it was interesting and fun. We did have some official business to discuss first, however, and it is important to our members; here it is:
The End of an Era?
A motion was made, seconded, and passed to have a special vote for Davis Chapter members at our next meeting, in May. This vote will be made before the vote for Chapter officers that we usually have in May. The issue to be decided by the members will be: Shall the Davis Chapter dissolve itself, effective at the end of the May meeting?
If the vote passes, the Davis Chapter will cease to exist officially. If the vote fails, the Chapter will continue to exist; and we will immediately hold elections for the Chapter officers. Because of that possibility, we opened nominations during the April meeting; they will remain open until immediately before the elections (if held) in May, as usual. The current officers were all nominated for re-election to their present positions: Tim Feldman for President, Ralph Reid for Vice-President, and Tony Barcellos for Secretary/Treasurer.
The officers and members present spoke out in favor of disbanding the Chapter. It’s an idea that we discussed before and a number of reasons have been discussed. First, there is no perceived benefit to maintaining an official existence. Second, the tasks required of the officers, small as they may be, are somewhat of a burden on the officers. Third, the meetings have become so small and so informal in recent years, that it will actually be more comfortable to give up the last vestiges of formality and just meet as what we are: A group of friends with a common interest.
Should the Chapter dissolve, the current members plan to keep on meeting informally at the usual time and place, without formality or dues. As always, everyone will be welcome.
A Fine History
If the Chapter does end its official existence, it will not be with any shame. We have been meeting since at least 1985 – three years before we became a part of the Sacramento PC Users Group. In those years, our Chapter has had many, many fine meetings, with distinguished, informative, or entertaining guests. We’ve had big meetings, with more than 125 members and guests present; and small meetings, with less than a dozen members and guests.
We’ve had fine officers and meeting reporters; many have served as officers, editors, or volunteers in the Sacramento group. Two of our members – Tony Barcellos, who started our Chapter, and Gene Weisskopf – are well-known and respected authors in their fields. Ralph Reid, our Vice-President, has been selflessly bringing laptops, projectors, and modems to our meetings for years, saving the Chapter thousands of dollars in expenses.
We have been frugal, avoiding expenses so that we could turn our funds around and give them back to our Chapter members and our community. We’ve given out charitable gifts to local non-profit agencies; we’ve given away software, hardware, clothing, coffe cups, knick-knacks, money and books as member prizes; and we’ve served food, drinks (non-alcoholic!), and candy as refreshments.
To my best recollection, we have never missed a scheduled meeting, and have rarely – perhaps never – missed submitting a Chapter report to Sacra Blue. Our Chapter has never been in debt; has never suffered corruption or scandal; and has never indulged in acrimony, close-mindedness, or snobbery.
Our corporate speaking guests have given us high praise over the years, sending representatives across the country to visit our Chapter, and seeking and accepting our opinions, reviews, and feedback.
In short, our Chapter has had close to twenty years of fine times, with many good lessons learned, many good times enjoyed, and many good friendships formed. If it ends in May, it will be with pride.
All Chapter members are encouraged to attend the May meeting to vote on the dissolution of the Chapter. As usual, the meeting will be held on the fourth Wednesday of the month, at 7:00 p.m., at the Davis branch of the Yolo County Public Library, on East 14th Street in Davis, in the large meeting room.
—
Tim Feldman
