This is the third APCUG monthly newsletter "NOOZ" to update all of our member user groups as to what is going on at APCUG and believe me, there is a lot. There is a major new wrinkle in how NOOZ is functioning now and in the future. From now on, NOOZ will be asking for and expecting a two-way communication between you our member user groups and the APCUG board.

It is very important that we all realize that we are on the same team but we need to communicate more effectively, if APCUG is to grow both bigger and better. That is also why it is important to forward the NOOZ to the members of your UG. The actions that the board of directors and the board of advisors are taking are to automate as much as possible the volunteer tasks that board members are currently doing, so that we can spend more time communicating with each other.

Included in this issue are the results of the officer elections for both the Board of Directors and the Board of Advisors, including which region each advisor is assigned to. This will allow you as a user group leader or volunteer to contact your advisor directly. If you do not get a response within a reasonable amount of time, then you might consider sending the email again but this time copy the BOA chair and vice-chair. Also included is contact information for all board members.

• We are all members of a user group to share what we know and to learn what we don’t know, but we need to make sure that that information is distributed all the way to the top and all the way to the bottom. I am sure that there are many of the members in your UG that other members of APCUG would like to know about. That is why I asked for blog information for any technically oriented blog that one of your members might be writing. In addition, is your newsletter editor uploading your newsletters to SharePoint, so that they can be shared with other UGs?

1. Did you know that Microsoft will provide Free Support via a 1-866 number on a 24-7 basis, if your computer becomes infected with malware? For more information go to http://blog.mir.net/

2. Are you forwarding this email to the members in your UG?

Below is a list of the topics to be covered in this NOOZ.

• Judges Wanted For APCUG Contests From Member UGs …p 5

• Contests – UG websites, newsletters and UG members digital photography submissions – Deadline January 31, 2010 …p 6

• Phoenix Regional – APCUG Annual Convention, February 20-21, 2010 …page 6

• Linux Install Fest …p 7

• New Membership Database – PDF updates & Word document updates …p 8

• APCUG Membership Early Renewal Contest …p 8

• APCUG Election Update …p 9

• LiveMeeting training sessions …p 10

• APCUG Regional Meetings …p 10

• Events Where Jay Ferron Is Representing APCUG …p 11

• Linda’s Pearls …p 11 We are all members of a user group to share what we know and to learn what we don’t know, but we need to make sure that that information is distributed all the way to the top and all the way to the bottom. I am sure that many of the members in your UG, that other members of APCUG would like to know about. That is why I asked for blog information for any technically oriented blog that one of your members might be writing. In addition, is your newsletter uploading your newsletters to SharePoint, so that they can be shared with other UGs?

1. Did you know that Microsoft will provide free support via a 1-866 number if your computer becomes infected with malware? For more information go to http://blog.mir.net/

2. Are you forwarding this email to the members in your UG?

The deadline for renewing your membership in APCUG is February 28, 2010 and if a UG has not renewed by then, they will have until March 31, 2010 before the UG will lose their APCUG membership benefits. Below is the URL for renewing.

http://www.apcug.net/membership/renewal_application.htm

Currently, the only thing that is provided via PayPal is your name, so if a renewal email is not sent, then Birl Smith, the APCUG treasurer and I spend a lot of time trying to figure out which UG has renewed. Fortunately, this is but one of the problems, which will be solved by the new membership DB aka User Group Locator Service…which is coming soon.

If you are going to send your check via snail mail to APCUG, then please use the correct snail mail address, which is

APCUG

Membership

P O Box 671294

Dallas, Tx 75367-1294

Birl Smith, APCUG treasurer has already received several checks but we were lucky to get one of the checks. Why? Because it was sent to the Las Vegas mail forwarding address, except the mail forwarder has moved to one of LV’s suburbs. So, please make sure that all sources for APCUG’s address are updated. The correct address is also included on the membership renewal webpage URL shown above.

The deadline for receiving applications is January 31, 2010, and the winners will be announced at the 2010 Phoenix Regional Conference, February 20-21, 2010. The Rules are as follows:

• You must submit a NEW application that shows a Community Service by your user group. This can be anything that your user group did as a community service project. User Groups that have won Jerry Awards in the past are welcome to apply again but the application must be for a project that has not previously been a Jerry Award winner (First, Second or Third place). The only community service projects eligible for consideration are those projects that have not been previous winners of the Jerry Award. However, if your UG has previously submitted a project but it did not win, then you can re-submit this project. Projects may be a one-time community service project or a long-term on-going project. The project should be in the field of computer science or related technologies.

• The application MUST document

• Name of user group

• Contact information – including phone number(s), email address(es), and physical snail mail address.

• Any pictures taken pertaining to the project submitted. Identify people in the picture and how picture pertains to project; i.e., what does the picture show about the project’s processes and procedures or how it was implemented.

• You must submit examples of the results of your project. Examples could include such items as press articles, media video, letters of commendation, and letters from the community group that your project served. The purpose of these examples is to document the effectiveness of the project in your community. This documentation must be submitted with your application.

• Applications and documentation can be emailed to Ira Wilsker at iwilsker@apcug.net.

• The deadline for receiving applications is midnight on January 31, 2010. The winners will be announced at the 2010 Phoenix Regional Conference, which will be held from February 20-21, 2010.

• Judging will be conducted by a panel of individuals with a strong commitment to community service. Submissions will be judged on these additional criteria:

• .Jerry Award Prizes:

• Winning projects will be posted on the APCUG website. The winning UGs will be allowed to post a Jerry Award graphic on their UG website.

In addition to the extension of the submittal deadline for all the contests, which includes the Jerry Awards, UG website, UG newsletter and the photography contests, APCUG board member Ira Wilsker, iwilsker@apcug.net, will be the person that you need to contact, if you have any questions.

APCUG needs at least 3 judges for each contest, so that means that we need three webmasters for the UG website contest, three newsletter editors for the newsletter contest and three UG members for the Digital Photography Contest.

All submittals will be on the SharePoint site, http://sharepoint.apcug.net/, and the judging will need to be completed between February 1 – 15, 2010. During this judging period, you will need to make your decision and then communicate with the other judges in the specific contest that you are judging to reach an agreement on the winners in the contest where you are one of the judges.

If you are willing to serve as a contest judge in any of these three contests, then please send an email to dgerber@apcug.net.

Start sprucing up those UG websites – UG newsletters and having your user group members snap those photographs. It’s that time again for the 2010 APCUG 3 big User Group Newsletter, Web and Photo Contests. Users and groups will have the opportunity to enter the contests from January to January 31, 2010. As we did in 2009 our contests will again utilize APCUG new SharePoint site: http://sharepoint.apcug.net/default.aspx.

Within the SharePoint site folders have been setup under the Shared Documents category for each contest. Complete instructions for entering the contest using SharePoint can be found on the SharePoint site. SharePoint is an exciting new technology that allows everyone to share everything. Using the site to enter the APCUG contests will give you and your members a feel of how easy it is to use. And it also will give you and your members an opportunity to browse around and see what is happening with other APCUG User Groups.

Times are tough these days. For the most part a lot of us are operating on limited resources with tight budget. SharePoint will provide you some of the resources needed to present interesting and up-to-date programs on the latest technology.

Requesting and signing up for a SharePoint User Account will open up a lot of opportunities for you and the members in your User Group.

I do hope you take the time to promote the contests within your group. Contests are loads of fun and it is also an opportunity to show your best newsletter, website and your member’s photos. With SharePoint, everyone will be able to see your clubs best. So don’t miss out, give SharePoint a spin, kick the tires and look under the hood.

Dave Gerber, chair of the APCUG Contest Committee, dgerber@apcug.net

All of the latest information on the Phoenix Regional will be posted here http://phoenix.apcug.org/ on this website, so this is your source for finding out the latest scoop on what is happening.

There will be both an end-user track and an IT Pro track. The end-user track will include lots of information on social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), genealogy, digital photography, etc. The IT Pro track will include presentations on Windows 7, Disaster Recovery, Microsoft Server 2008 R2 and Social Networking for businesses. In addition, there will also be a computer build event but the available seats are limited and there is an additional charge. So, if you have always wanted to build your own computer, now is your opportunity but you will need to register early to secure your seat.

If you are flying (or driving) in from out of town, the host hotel is the Clarion, which is just a couple of miles from the site of our meetings. The Clarion will provide transportation to and from the event site. In addition, both breakfast and dinner will be provided as part of your room fee.

The Saturday evening social is planned for Wild Horse Pass Casino, which is a high-rise hotel that just opened last week. So come join the fun and enjoy some warm weather in Phoenix.

The specifications for the computer build are posted on the website, http://phoenix.apcug.org/. You must be a paid attendee to qualify to participate and the cost to participate in the computer build is $300. The first 20 paid attendee registrants for the computer build will also get a Full copy of Windows 7 Ultimate included at no additional cost.

Although the Windows computer build is limited to 20 participants because that is the number of Windows 7 software licenses that APCUG can provide, but the computer build event can be expanded to include anyone who wants to build a computer to use with Linux or another operating system of your choosing. The computer build is scheduled for 2 hours.

Following the computer build, there will also be Linux InstallFest. You can find information about the Linux InstallFest below on page 7. The Install Fest will assist you in setting up a dual boot between Windows 7 and the Linux flavor of your choosing or you may choose to only install Linux on the new computer that you have just built.

This is going to be an outstanding conference, so come join the fun.

We will assist in the installation of Linux on your computer, whether it is as the sole operating system or as a dual boot with the Microsoft Windows already installed on your system. If you are not sure what you need, we can provide advice to allow you to decide. While you can bring your own Linux install disks, we will have the latest versions of the most common ones available to use.

• Entire computer, including tower, keyboard, mouse, monitor, cables, power cord or laptop.

• Optional – Speakers to check sound and your wireless router to set up security.

• Optional – Install disk(s) for the Linux of your choice.

• Do a complete backup for safety

• If you wish to retain Windows, do a disk cleanup and defragment the hard drive(s).

• Be sure you know all of your email and online account IDs and passwords for your own use (we do not need them).

• 384 MB RAM

• Optical (CD or DVD) drive or ability to boot from USB

• 20 GB free space on hard drive

• It is possible to install Linux on very old computers, so we have not specified any particular processors or clock speeds.

• However, graphical interfaces of all kinds run very poorly on old, slow computers; so we prefer Pentium 4 and better processors.

• We may recommend special light weight versions of Linux for old systems. The same can be said for computers with less than 384 MB RAM.

Newly elected board of director’s member, Marie Vesta, is going to take over getting all of the data entered into the new membership database, which is named the User Group Locator Service. So, if your UG has not submitted the requested PDF Update form, which is now in Word format; then don’t be surprised when Marie contacts you to summit that information. Marie’s email address is mvesta@apcug.net. I have attached a copy of the PDF Update form for any UG that has not sent in their information. Please send the PDF Update form to lmoore@apcug.net.

Well, there were 73 UGs, which renewed their membership in APCUG prior to January 1, 2010. Eight of those early renewals are the lucky winners of free software. However, this software will not be able to be shipped to you until February 10. So I am going to send out an email message to the president and APCUG representative for every winning UG. Then when I know that the software has been shipped, I will send out another email to let you know that the software is on its way.

Here are the winners:

• Ollie PC UG, Fairfax, Virginia

• Exton PC Council, West Chester, PA

• Tellico Village Computer Users Club, Loudon, TN

• Southeastern Michigan Computer Organization, Bloomfield Hills, MI

• PC Club of Western Louisiana, Leesville, LA

• Prescott Computer Society, Prescott, AZ

• IBM PC Users Group of Redding, Redding, CA

• Orange County IBM PC UG, Brea, CA

The deadline for renewing your membership in APCUG is February 28, 2010 and if a UG has not renewed by then, they will have until March 31, 2010 before the UG will lose their APCUG membership benefits. Below is the URL for renewing.

http://www.apcug.net/membership/renewal_application.htm

Here are the election results:

Board of Directors (BOD) results:

• Marie Vesta was elected to the BOD – mvesta@apcug.net

• Dave Gerber was elected to the BOD – dgerber@apcug.net

• Linda Moore was re-elected to the BOD – lmoore@apcug.net

The BOD will elect their officers at their January BOD meeting. The BOD elected the following officer slate:

• Jay Ferron, President – jferron@apcug.net

• Kathy Jacobs, Vice-President – kjacobs@apcug.net

• Linda Moore, Secretary – lmoore@apcug.net

 Birl Smith, Treasurer – bsmith@apcug.net

Board of Advisors (BOA) results:

• Karen Hart – khart@apcug.net

• Jimmy Scharoun – jscharoun@apcug.net

• Jeri Steele – jsteele@apcug.net

• David Steward – dsteward@apcug.net

• Bob Vance – bvance@apcug.net

• Sam Wexler – swexler@apcug.net

• Ed Roberts (was appointed as the advisor for region 11 – Southern California by BOA chair David Steward) – eroberts@apcug.net

• Doug Spindler (was appointed as the advisor for region 10 – Northern California by BOA chair David Steward) – dspindler@apcug.net

At the January 2010 meeting of the Board of Advisors (BOA), each advisor will be assigned the region that they will be responsible for. The BOA will also elect their officers. Tat the BOA’s January 17, 2010 meeting the following officers were elected:

• Board of Advisors Chair – Mitch Garvis – mgarvis@apcug.net

• Board of Advisors Vice-Chair – Sandra Hart – shart@apcug.net

• Board of Advisors Secretary – Patty Lowry – plowry@apcug.net

Listed below is the name of the region, the states that that region covers, the advisor’s name and his-her email address.

• Region 1 – CT, MA, ME,NH, NY, RI, VT – Sam Wexler, swexler@apcug.net

• Region 2 – DC, DE, MD, NJ, VA – James Scharoun, jscharoun@apcug.net

• Region 3 – OH, PA, WV – Bob Vance, bvance@apcug.net

• Region 4 – AL, GA, MS, NC, SC, TN – Jeri Steele, jsteele@apcug.net

• Region 5 – FL – Stu Silverman, ssilverman@apcug.net

• Region 7 – NE, SD, WI – Roger Tesch, rtesch@apcug.net

• Region 8 – AR, KS, LA, OK, TX – David Steward, dsteward@apcug.net

• Region 9 – AZ, CO, NM, UT – Sandra Hart, shart@apcug.net

• Region 10 – Northern California – Doug Spindler, dspindler@apcug.net

• Region 11 – Southern California – Ed Roberts, eroberts@apcug.net

• Region 12 – AK, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA, WY – Karen Hart, khart@apcug.net

• Region 13 – Canada, Mexico, International – Mitch Garvis, mgarvis@apcug.net

If you are interested in how to use Live Meeting, then here are the dates, where Don Singleton will be conducting training sessions. Please announce this to your members, so that they have the option of attending, if they are interested in learning this new technology.

APCUG is co-sponsoring the following regional meetings with a local user group for each event.

• February 20-21, 2010 – Phoenix Regional and APCUG Annual Convention The keynote speaker will be Jay Ferron, who is an acknowledged expert on security, mobility and operating systems. His presentation will be on Windows 7. Jay has the following certifications ADSI, CEH, CWSP, CISM, CISSP, MCDBA, MCITP, MCSE, MCT, MVP, NSA – IAM and his blog is located at http://blog.mir.net/.

Keep checking the APCUG webpage, http://www.apcug.net/, for details of these and other APCUG meetings.

Jay Ferron, APCUG President, will be a speaker at the following events:

• January 23, 2010 – Computer Tech 2010 Day at Northwest Florida State College, Niceville, Florida – Jay will be the keynote speaker

There were 395 registered attendees and many that did not register. Go to http://blog.mir.net/ if you want to read more about this conference.

• February 17-18, 2010 – Microsoft MVP Event at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Jay will be making a presentation about APCUG in particular and user groups in general.

• April 2010 – New Jersey -- Jay will be the keynote speaker – more info on this in February’s NOOZ.

User groups are here to encourage our members to learn and grow in whatever direction that they are interested in. Let’s keep challenging ourselves and our UG members.

Now, look around your user group and discover those hidden pearls aka as your UG members. These members are prime candidates for presenting a program or being on a panel to present a program on their area of specialization. These member presentations or panel discussions from the experts in your UG make excellent programs that you can intersperse with your vendor presentations. Now, go through your membership list and look at occupation and start getting to know all of your members, whether they attend your UG meetings or not. Many user groups have very talented members with a great deal of expertise in a specific area but maybe they don’t attend the user or they don’t attend your meetings on a regular basis. These are hidden gems out there, but you have to go search them out. They are just waiting for someone to ask them to give a presentation.

• Blogs Who in your user group writes regularly to their technology focused blog? If you or your user group has a technical content blog, then send it to BOA chair, Mitch Garvis at mgarvis@apcug.net and your blog and your user group may be featured in an upcoming NOOZ.

I hope that you found this newsletter both interesting and informative. Now, if you are interested in being involved and learning the latest technology, start by volunteering for your local user group and come join the fun.

APCUG is here for the benefit of end-users, small business owners, developers and IT Professionals.

If your user group is interested in expanding their membership base, then you might want to consider expanding to include everyone, who is interested in being on the leading edge of technology.

• By including it in your UG’s newsletter,

• posting it on your Web site, and-or

Cheers and Happy New Year,

Linda Moore

APCUG Secretary

lmoore@apcug.net