Last Month….

Last month Peter talked about PowerPoint.

Peter started by explaining that together with a word processor, a database a spreadsheet, a desk top publisher, and an organiser, Microsoft provides a presentation programme called PowerPoint as part of the Office suite of applications

Peter has learned about PowerPoint particularly to give this presentation, as the presentation he intended to give on Video Editing was scuppered by Vista not liking his software. As some of you are familiar with PowerPoint he hoped you will forgive any mistakes.

On loading the software a blank slide is the first screen. It is obviously intended to be a title for your presentation.

Peter started by talking about slide design accessed by selecting a button marked [GETTING STARTED] this gives a menu with a number of choices. Choosing SLIDE DESIGN you are offered a number of pre-designed templates for slides also offered are colour schemes and different types of transition effect used when slides changes.
The SLIDE LAYOUT selection gives a number of different layouts for slides. In Four categories:-

Text Layout

Gives different layouts of text boxes

Content Layout

Gives different layouts for using different content e.g. photographs, clipart, graphs, tables, and video

Text & content layout

This is a mixture of the previous two.

Other Layouts

This is a mixture of all the above.

Peter now demonstrated how to use these features by preparing a simple presentation filling in text boxes, entering and filling in tables, different types of graph that are available in a pop up window he showed how these could be altered by entering figures into a table that appears when the graph option is chosen. This was followed by charts which can also be edited by buttons on the toolbar to add boxes adjust the layout and enter text., Clipart photographs, video and sound can also be used. All these features can be selected by using the feature inside the boxes on the slide, which automatically went to the correct place to find the particular insert.

He showed a simple presentation he had prepared for the AGM of a mythical “Melton Pie & Cheese Company” he followed this with a jazzed up version. Then explained how he achieved the special transition effects by adjusting their parameters .in the custom animation feature by selecting the direction they came onto the screen, the length of time it took, and the desired effect which are all available from drop down lists.

Peter finished by explaining that the presentation can be packaged for CD this feature is in the file menu and it will write the presentation to a CD which will enable it to run on any computer even ones without PowerPoint.
We would like to take this opportunity of thanking Peter for putting together a very interesting presentation.

Black Screen of Death

We have all either heard of or experienced the Blue screen of death. Well Microsoft have now given us the Black screen of death.
Microsoft's latest security patches appears to be causing some PCs to seize up and display a black screen, rendering the computer useless.
The problem affects Microsoft products including Windows 7, Vista and XP operating systems,
Microsoft apparently made changes to the Access Control List (ACL), a list of permissions for a logged-on user. The ACL interacts with registry keys, creating visible desktop features such as a sidebar.
However, the latest patches appear to make some changes to those registry keys. The effect is that some installed applications aren't aware of the changes and don't run properly, causing a black screen.
Security applications seem to be particularly affected. Users of security products have complained about the issue, even going so far as trying to reinstall the operating system to fix it.
A company called Prevx has released software that fixes the registry to match the ACL settings, which should resolve the problem. Users could do this on their own by modifying their registry settings, but making alterations to those settings is risky since it can severely affect how the operating system runs.

On Nov. 10, Microsoft released 15 patches for vulnerabilities in Windows, Windows Server, Excel and Word.
Microsoft was trying to improve the security of the operating systems when it could have inadvertently made the error in its patches. "It's one of those things that happens from time to time when you have a dynamic operating system,"
Windows apparently has at least 10 different issues that could potentially cause a black screen.

This Month ….
We have our annual photographic competition. I hope you have all been busy with your cameras this year and we have a bumper crop of photographs for the judges.
A list of the subjects is listed below, I am sure these give you plenty of scope.

Recreation

People

Landscape/Seascape

Street Life

Melton Buildings

6. Flora & Fauna

Black Screen Update
Initially it was thought that Microsoft's own security update could have caused the problem but that has now been ruled out.
Reports suggest the problem also affects Windows Vista and XP.
In a posting on its security site, Microsoft said that it had investigated the claims and "found that our November Security Updates are not making changes to the system that reports say are responsible for these issues".
Microsoft have said that the behaviour was associated with malware, such as Daonol, and that this was probably the root cause.
"Having narrowed down a specific trigger for this condition we've done quite a bit of testing and re-testing on the recent Windows patches including KB976098 and KB915597 as referred to in our previous blog," the firm wrote on its website.
"Since more specifically narrowing down the cause we have been able to exonerate these patches from being a contributory factor."
Prevx apologised to Microsoft "for any inconvenience" its earlier claims may have caused.
The firm has issued a fix for the problem, which it says could affect "millions" of computers.
"Users have resorted to reloading Windows as a last ditch effort to fix the problem,"
Unknown problem
The firm said its fix did not work in all cases.
"There can be many causes," said Mr Kennerley.
"But if your black screen woes began in the last two weeks... or after running any security program (including Prevx) to remove malware during this time, then this fix will have a high probability of working."
Mr Kennerly said the firm had identified "at least 10 different scenarios which will trigger the same black screen conditions".
"These appear to have been around for years now," he said.
The firm reports that the problem affects editions of Windows 7, Vista, XP, NT, and Windows 2000.
Microsoft said that people who are affected by the problem should contact its customer service line.
The "black screen of death" moniker is a play on the "blue screen of death", which appears when Microsoft operating systems crash.

Christmas Meal
If you have not yet made your choice of menu for the Christmas meal can you please let Ben know as soon as possible.
The meal is booked for Wednesday 16th December at 7:30. If you have not booked a place and would like to come along then it’s not to late. If you contact Ben he should be able to arrange a last minute place for you.
If you are not coming to the meal the committee would to wish you a Merry Christmas and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.