In accordance with the club constitution the election for new Officers will be conducted at the AGM on October 2, 2008. Candidates can register by contacting the president by email. Registration deadline is Sept 30.

Candidate(s) for Treasurer:

Candidate(s) for Vice-President:

Candidate(s) for President:

TPC members are offered discounts from time to time from various vendors
To recieve the current product list mail the club president. 
Please understand that this offer is only for paid members.

Regretfully, Sigi Rindler parted from our fellowship on May 19. He selfishlessly gave over a decade of his energy and knowledge to TPC. His death comes as a shock to all and he is deeply missed. Please use this thread to celebrate his gift to our club.

Thanks to all who participated.  New discussions are no longer being started as the forum will close as scheduled on the last day of August.  New suggestions can be made at a club meeting.

New officers were elected for the 2008 year at the October Annual General Meeting.

President: Terry McKenna
Vice-President: Mike Tokue
Treasurer: Tony Whitman
Corporate-Liaison: Andrew Shuttleworth

The Annual General Meeting held during the October Regular Meeting netted the following results for Officers.

President: Ken Cotton
Vice President: Mike Tokue
Treasurer: Tony Whitman

What’s happening in Region 14 ….

* The Brisbug PC User Group’s June meeting topic was All about VoIP and new ISP Plans with ACENET Internet Services. http://www.brisbug.asn.au/
* The Melbourne PCUG’s August meeting topic is How to Plant Your Family Tree. Genealogy is one of the most popular topics amongst the Melb PC members and they are going to take a good look at how to get their family tree started, and the brilliant new developments that have made research easy on the Web. Presented by their very own Bruno Dik. http://www.melbpc.org.au/
* The Perth PC Users Group June meeting topic was Photo Story3© presented by Silvia Brace and Marylou Clark. It is a free program from Microsoft that enables you to make a slide show of your photos and include music and add text, etc.  Rod Norwood is their featured presenter in August. He will demonstrate Canvas, a vector graphic drawing program. Version 8 was available on the May PC Users Australia magazine CD for free. http://www.perthpcug.org.au/
* The Tokyo PC Users Group will feature a Swap Meet at their August meeting. Open the junk drawer (or cabinet) and pull out those slightly used or incompatible PC pieces and parts you no longer need.  Bring them to the Tokyo PC Users Group annual swap meet on Thursday, August 3. Negotiate your terms as a buyer or seller with everyone at the meet.  Bring your hardware, software, books, magazines for selling or exchange. (Note that that you must take what you don’t sell back home with you—we can’t leave it for TUC to dispose of.) With the parts available and time remaining they will attempt to demonstrate some simple upgrades or even build a machine from parts. http://www.tokyopc.org

In this edition of NOOZ:

1.  Annual Conference
2.  Digital Photo Contest
3.  Jerry Awards Competition
4.  The Search is On!
5.  Local Conferences

In this edition of NOOZ:

1.  2006 Membership Drive

2.  Community Service

3.  Volunteers

4.  Program Ideas

5.  What is new for Editors on the PUSH page?

About TPC Mailing Lists and Newsgroups

Avast http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html offers it’s state of the art anti-virus software, free to home users and for non-commercial use. 

“avast! 4 Home Edition is a full-featured antivirus package designed exclusively for home users and non-commercial use. Both of these conditions should be met! Our company offers the Home Edition free of charge, since, in our opinion, it is possible to avoid global virus spreading by efficient prevention; however, many user are not able to or do not want to pay for antivirus software.”

More on the site, check it out.

NOOZ is sent to the President, APCUG Representative, Newsletter Editor, Webmaster and Program Chair of each APCUG-member User Group.  We urge you to share the information in NOOZ by including it in your newsletter, posting in on your website, or e-mailing it to members of your group.

1. Welcome to our New International APCUG Member
2. Susy Ball Resigns as APCUG Director and President
3. APCUG Board of Directors Elects New President
4. APCUG’s Annual Conference January 2 through 5, 2006
5. APCUG Board of Directors Elects New President
6. Newsletter & Web Site Contests
7. Auditing APCUG Books
8. Recruiting Younger Members into your User Group

1.  Welcome to our New International APCUG Member
We welcome our newest Associate User Group member, the Comuinidad de Integracion y Desarrollo de Sistemas (Community of
Integration and Development Systems), CIDS, from Lima Peru. Pablo Aguilar, a Systems Engineer, is the user group’s President, and may be reached at scp_sistemas@hotmail,com. Please, all, give Pablo and his small group a shout, welcome him, and encourage him to contact anyone of us if he needs assistance, or has a problem.

2. Susy Ball Resigns as APCUG Director and President
Susy Ball has recently resigned as president and director of APCUG. She had several crisis lines converge at the same time and felt
she could no longer effectively serve APCUG. This was a very difficult decision for her to make but she feels she needs to concentrate on her family at this point in time.  She and her husband, Mike, recently moved from their long-time home in Fresno to Napa, where he accepted a new job. They moved into an apartment and have just recently purchased a house and will need to move again, and she is coping with the loss of her father who passed away in late July. Susy has been a long-time APCUG volunteer and we thank her for her many contributions.

3. APCUG Board of Directors Elects New President
At a special Board of Directors meeting Ken Bundy was elected President of APCUG to complete Susy’s 2005 term as president.

4. APCUG’s Annual Conference - January 2 through 5, 2006
APCUG’s Annual Conference is scheduled to be held at The Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. To register for the conference go to http://www.apcug.net/register.html. Don’t forget to complete the entire form. After your registration has been received, you will be taken to the payment options page. Registration fees may be paid with a credit card through APCUG’s secure
online gateway, or with a check. Before you complete your registration, we suggest you read the APCUG Privacy Policy, and the APCUG Refund/Cancellation Policy.

Early Bird registration of $75.00 ends on October 17 and, if you pay by check, it must be received no later than October 25. If you register between October 18 and November 30, the fee is $100.00 and the check needs to be received by December 7. If you register after November 30, the fee is $150.00. The last date to register and receive your choice of T-shirt size is November 15.

To register at The Stardust, call 866-281-1034 and mention Group Code APCUG06. The negotiated conference room rates end December 2, 2005 --- so, make your reservations early!

5. Jerry Awards
Entry forms for the Jerry Award contest will be available soon. In the meantime, please go to http://apcug.net/events/conference06/Jerry_06.htm for information about the contest.

6. Web Site & Newsletter Contests
The criteria for the Web Site & Newsletter contests will also be available soon. Please check out http://apcug.net/events/conference06/website.htm, or, http://apcug.net/events/conference06/newsletter.htm, for information about the contests.

7. Auditing APCUG Books
Some user groups have been fortunate enough to find a qualified volunteer among their ranks or within the community who is
able and willing to do a complimentary audit of the group’s books.  One group even had a member who was a retired IRS auditor who did an annual informal audit of the books. APCUG needs help of that nature! If you know of anyone who is willing to audit APCUG books gratis, or just for reimbursement of expenses, please have them contact Sharon Fry, APCUG’s Administrative Assistant, at

8. Recruiting Younger Members into Your User Groups
Would you like to recruit younger members? Microsoft’s Chris Norred, who is with their “Expert Zone”, has some very interesting
things to say about the “older generation” of computer users.

During the Microsoft event at the 2005 Annual Meeting, Sherry Zorzi, Advisor of Region 8, sat at a table with Microsoft’s Chris Norred, and got acquainted with him. She later found out that, after CES, Chris wrote about the APCUG event on his blog - http://weblogs.asp.net/expertzone/archive/2005/01/07/348307.aspx

Note particularly that he saw an advantage for younger people to join a group consisting of seniors!

“An interesting thing about the user groups is the demographic makeup. There are a lot of members in their retirement years. There is a potential bonus in this for working age and younger computer enthusiasts.

Remember all those really cool home computing projects you intend to master? For me, it’s the DVD scrapbook of my son’s first years. But you can’t find time because the porch needs painting, the kids have soccer, and the boss wants another batch of paperwork by Friday.

Well, a lot of user group members, apparently, don’t have kids or bosses anymore. They have time to figure out how to use the software, or put together the PC and the home network, and they’re eager to share their information. All you have to do is go to a user group meeting and ask them.”

Chris is smart enough to see something a lot of people don’t!!! Older people can help young people. Chris is onto something that Sherry thinks makes a perfect angle for us to pitch in recruiting younger members. We need both: seniors give us numbers to keep our clubs viable; younger people give us vitality and a future.

That’s all for this NOOZ. Please let me know if you find this information useful to share with your group : it’s a benefit of your membership in APCUG. If you have anything you would like me to include in NOOZ, just let me know.

Charlotte Semple
Your APCUG Regional Advisor

I got this heart warming and wonderful email from Jerry Boisvert, Roger’s twin brother.  I’m glad he approves!

Hi, I was just going through some genealogy stuff about Roger Boisvert, my twin brother. He was heavily involved in Tokyo PC Org way back when. I came across the url for Tokyo PC, and just stopped in to see if you are still operating.

Glad to see you still going on. I remember the first time a message came from North America to Japan on the old BBS system. (I happened to send it.) Roger got so excited. He immediately called me to ask how I did you. You had a group trying to do that for 3 months. I just got lucky. Now, of course it is so easy.

Keep up the good work, helping others and one another.

Yours truly,

Jerry Boisvert

Gerald & Marilyn Boisvert

The TPC elects three officers each year in October.  This year the elections are especially important because Sako Eaton, the VP for several years is stepping down, as is your president, me, Barbara Manning.  Both of us are feeling the increased pressures of home and business life; and also recognize that any volunteer organization needs to provide opportunities for new comers to feel welcome and needed.  Tony Whitman is the TPC treasurer; and perhaps he will agree to maintain that position for another term.

So here’s your chance!  If you enjoy the meetings and the club atmosphere, then why don’t you consider running for President of Vice President of the TPC?  Getting people to speak at the meetings, opening the meetings and updating the website content is the extent of your duties and responsibilities.

Respond to this news item if you’d like to know more information.

Thanks!
Barbara Manning
TPC President

This e-mail is being sent to Association of Personal Computer User Group (APCUG) Member Groups Presidents, Editors, Program Coordinators, and APCUG Representatives. Please read below for information on the search for an Administrative Assistant for APCUG.

If you know of someone who might be interested in applying, please forward this e-mail to them.

APCUG is seeking an Administrative Assistant to replace the current Assistant, who will be retiring at the end of June.

This part-time position will support the finance and administration of APCUG, a 501(c)(3) international organization. The major duties of the position will include bookkeeping/accounting functions as well as general administration duties. A business or accounting degree with a minimum of three years of office/accounting experience is highly desired, although not required.

* Applicant must be proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access), including the modification or creation of Access queries, plus the ability and willingness to learn other software programs as necessary.

* Position requires strong bookkeeping and accounting skills with a proven working knowledge of QuickBooks and accounting processes and practice.

* Position requires a person that is flexible, motivated and able to prioritize among multiple important objectives with the ability to be a creative problem solver; willing to offer potential solutions and take initiative.

* General duties of the position may require attendance at two monthly online Board of Directors and Board of Advisor meetings, which are currently held on the 3rd and 4th Sunday at 9:00 ET.

Please refer to the attached detailed job overview for additional duties and expectations. Salary is commensurate with experience and compensation will be paid monthly via direct payment as a 1099 contract employee. No tax or other withholding shall be performed by
this organization.

The performance of the duties by the selected applicant shall be conducted at the applicant residence or other dedicated location. APCUG shall only supply or reimburse for consumable supplies and required software. It is the responsibility of the selected applicant to provide adequate computer equipment for the execution of the deliverables required by APCUG.

Cover letter and resume should be sent no later than May 21, 2005 to: or faxed to: 1-800-558-6867.

On March 5, 2005, the Tokyo PC User’s Club (TPC) announced it would reorganize its NTTP newsgroups into a mailing list fomat in line with moving the site to a hosted server. The mailing list plan includes consolidating the mailing lists into two --On-Topic and Off-Topic.  It is still undecided if or when NTTP services will be offerred again as the club lacks the administrative capability to do so.

The Kanto PC User’s Forum’s (KPC) have been created to accomodate the needs of all PC users who prefer to communicate via a web interface rather than by mailing lists. While no formal agreements have been reached, both the TPC and the KPC share a mutual bond and hope to complement each other’s service. Participation in both is encouraged.

If you are interested in participating in either service, here is what you should do:

* If you prefer to have the posts delivered to you through email then you should sign-up for the TPC offerings at http://www.tokyopc.org/.

* If you prefer to read online then you should sign up for the KPC offerings at http://groups.msn.com/KantoPCUsersForum/homepage.msnw. You will need to get an MSN passport, but that should not be so troublesome.

Keep in mind that over time some people may favor one service over the other and you should consider posting HELP requests to both services if you need an urgent reply.