The Big Bear Computer Club is offering a Workshop on basic knowledge of “MICROSOFT VISTA” on Saturday, May 17, 2008, from 10:00 am until 2:30 pm. The VISTA Workshop will be held at Bear Coffee & More (next to the Peppercorn Restaurant) on the corner of Stone and Pine Knot in Big Bear Lake, CA.

Those attending the Vista Workshop Training are asked to bring their laptops with Microsoft Vista. For more information or to sign up for the Workshop, please contact the instructor, Rosemary Lloyd at (909) 584-9358 or email Rosemary • SugarloafPC.com

Our club now has an online forum (bulletin board). Our meetings are a month apart, but now if you've got a computer problem that needs some immediate discussion, or just want to comment or inquire about club activites, the new forum may give you a speedier response. It's a way to have the club's resources available to members on a daily basis. The forum is a good idea only if you get involved. The forum can be accessed here or from a tab in the navigation bar atop the main site pages.

If you've got an interesting/artsy/pretty digital photo of Big Bear Lake or environs and would like to see it featured on our website homepage for a while, send it to Webmaster Bill, and he'll see if it fits. The submitted photos should crop nicely to 520 pixels wide by under 300 pixels high. In other words, a landscape format. Please let Bill crop and format the picture. Just send the original jpeg file from your camera. Length of time it will be displayed depends on how many photos are submitted. Credit will be given to the photographer. Send to bill • bigbearcc.org

Did you know that if you bring a guest to a meeting that you will get an EXTRA door prize red ticket? Now, if you bring a guest and that guest signs up as a member you will get to pick a free gift from our special gift table. Also you can pick a free gift if you refer someone to the Computer Club and they join. They need to announce that they were referred by you. DON'T MISS OUT ON THE GREAT FREE GIFTS!

If you are interested in learning how to set up the audio and video at the meetings, Rosemary Lloyd will be glad to conduct training. All you need to do is come to the general meeting by 4:45 pm to assist and learn the in's and out's of the audio and video setup.

One of the great benefits of Big Bear Computer Club is FREE software, hardware (that's right, even free hardware!), and books for BBCC members. In return, all the member has to do is write a Product Review for Bearly Bytes. That's it, and the review product is theirs! How are members going to know if a product is any good unless another member tells them?

Our members are all notified of free product reviews through email press releases and our monthly newsletter. Also, at every monthly meeting two products up for review are presented and explained to all club members. Upon accepting a product for review, the review editor sends the member two documents on "How to write a Review." One is a question/answer form and the other is a guideline outlining exactly what information is needed in writing the review. You have sixty days to complete the review and return it to the review editor. That's it.

The review is then published in our monthly newsletter Bearly Bytes for other members to read. The review is also sent to the vendor who markets the product. The program is then yours. The review editor is available at all times if any member has any questions or problems with the review. Our review program is a wonderful way to receive free products and to keep other members educated.