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July Meeting Review

The Local Boys

by Bill Stevens

 

THE JULY general meeting of the Danbury Area Computer Society co-in-cided with the area record 102 F. that perhaps accounted for the light turnout at the Danbury Hospital auditorium. Those not deterred by the heat enjoyed a dual program presented by two of DACS' own officers. Wally David led the Surfin' Safari segment featuring Internet portals, and Jeff Setaro gave us a well-informed update on his favorite topic, virus prevention. A cool experience! Both presenters used the bright projector system, driven by Jeff's computer.

An Internet portal, we discovered from Wally, is the hot new term for a Website that points by way of electronic links to other destinations or activities. A portal is a critical entryway to the Web. It is the site you visit first, the one that organizes for you the chaos of information that is the Internet, and that customizes it in such an attractive and personal way that you feel you have become an elite member of an exclusive online community.

EL.com Screen Shot.Wally based his Surfin' Safari presentation on the informative portal page at www.el.com, a site chock full of links to a great deal of other portals and search engines. Familiar with his subject and much at home on the dais while running the program at the computer, Wally described the various features of the el.com portal, explaining how to use and customize it, and showing examples of its numerous links. With his self-deprecating humor, Wally drew the audience into his corner. Interest level was high, and members had many questions, which Wally fielded skillfully and knowledgeably, both during and at the end of his presentation.

Following Wally, Jeff Setaro gave his presentation on virus prevention. His program, created with Lotus Freelance Graphics, is available for viewing and downloading on the DACS home page. You'll need Acrobat 4.0 to acquire it (you can download this free from the Adobe Web site). Jeff knows his subject well, and it was obvious that he has given this presentation more than once. His pictorial program gave the audience a full picture of virus problems and prevention, colored with his very own style of positive ideas and opinions. Jeff first defined viruses, then described them, told us how they do their work, and advised us how to avoid infection, recommending various antivirus programs. He also told us about some of the various companies and individuals who write antivirus programs and fixes.

A comprehensive discussion followed, comparing the qualities of the programs Jeff had recommended with those of the more popular commercial products. (The whole subject of virus/antivirus is rather esoteric in the software community, and the experts involved make up a small group, seemingly well known to him.) In response to the many audience questions, Jeff gave examples of and links to the lesser-known antivirus programs.

DACS was well served by these two presentations. The group is fortunate in getting this depth of knowledge and experience from within.



Bill Stevens is a retired pilot, writing his first review for dacs.doc.


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