Scanning Documents

This is just a quick note about scanning documents.

In recent day this has come up several times.

It seems that it would be easy and natural to take a written document into a computer and then add to or change some of the text.

I have people come in and want me to scan a written document and put it on a disk so that they can make changes in Word.

However, when a document is scanned it becomes an image, just like a photo.

It is not a live document.

One could attach it to an e-mail and send it to someone just as they would a photo.

The recipient could read it and even reply to it.

However, if he wants to open it in a word processor and make changes, it has to be converted to a “live” document.

This is done with OCR (optical character recognition) software, which has to look at the image and figure out how to change it into text.

This is not as easy as it sounds because there are many different font types, font sizes and page formats which have to be recognized.

OCR software has come a long way and is amazingly accurate, but the document would still have to be read carefully for errors because there likely will be some.

Therefore, always remember that a scanner creates an image.

In order to make the image into “live” text it will have to first be manipulated by an OCR program.

WTC Presidential Search Process

The WTC presidential search is under way with one interview completed.

I have had several people ask about the interview process.

The board conducted its own search.

We advertised in the major junior college trade journals and on relevant Internet sites.

We sent a letter to all junior colleges in the state.

We received around 35 resumes.

We read each of these, discussed them and narrowed it down to eleven candidates.

We then sent each of these a questionnaire specifically relating to WTC.

We wanted to see how much they had researched the college and to get a little better idea of what direction they would lead WTC.

After reviewing the questionnaires, we selected five candidates to interview in person.

No matter how great the resume, one can only get a real feel for the person by looking him/her in the eye and interacting.

Each board member submits questions he/she wants to ask the candidate.

These are narrowed down to a set of basic questions which will be asked of each candidate.

Of course, during the flow of the interview we are free to bring up anything we feel appropriate.

The actual interview is only the culmination of a whole day of evaluation both for the candidate and for the college.

The purpose of the process is for the entire college, including faculty, staff, clerical and students to meet and interact with the candidate and for him to evaluate WTC.

We want him to be very comfortable with the situation in which he will be working and with the community into which he will be entering.

Also we feel it is important for the spouse to see the town and the college and for us to be able to meet her.

Thus, the candidate spends the entire day evaluating and being evaluated.

Picking a college president is a scary process, but by getting as much input from as many sources as possible it hopefully will help us get the right fit for the college and the community.

Below is the official schedule for Presidential Candidates:

9:00 am
Visitor Center: Mike Thornton, Dean of College Advancement, will greet candidate

9:15 am – 10:00 am
Meet Faculty Association officers and available faculty members

10:15 am – 10:45 am
Meet Classified Personnel officers and available classified personnel and professional staff members

11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Campus tour – Deborah Baremore, recruiter (will end tour at 11:45 am to visit with students in the Student Center)

12:00 pm – 1:30 am
Pruitt Community Room: Lunch with Administrative Staff

1:45 pm – 3:30 pm
Admin Building: Tour of College Residence with Patricia Claxton, Chief Financial Officer

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Candidate’s choice

4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Open

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Visitor Center: Dinner with Board members and their spouses

7:00 pm
Board Room: Interview with Board of Trustees

7:00 pm
Visitor Center: The Visitor Center is available for Board member’s spouses and applicant’s spouse/guest (if applicable) for visitation time

Board of Trustees:
Mr. Lee Presswood, President
Ms. Carolyn Barbee, Vice President
Mr. Drew Bullard, Secretary
Dr. Jay Kidd
Mr. Eddie Peterson
Mr. Scott Richburg
Mr. Mike McWilliams

Administrative Staff:
Dr. Jim Palmer, Interim President
Mr. Britt Canada, Dean of Institutional Research and Technology
Mr. Mike Thornton, Dean of College Advancement
Mr. Ralph Ramon, Dean of Student Services
Ms. Patricia Claxton, Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Melanie Schwertner, Administrative Assistant

Faculty Association Officers:
Mr. N.C. Smith, Assistant Professor, History/Govt/Economics – president
Mr. Shawn Fonville, Instructor, Social Science – vice president
Donny Brown, Assistant Professor, Mass Communications/English - secretary

Classified Personnel Officers:
Ms. Tami Linebarger, counseling secretary - president
Ms. Zelma Irons, supervisor of public services - secretary

Free Internet Site for Non Profit Groups

More on Windows Vista

If you are going to run Windows Vista, I would recommend buying a separate video card with at least 256 megs of ram.

Depending on the Vista version you have, a card is required for many features to run correctly.
In the full version, each window that you open is actually stored in video memory while it is running.

Therefore, you need a Windows Vista compatible video card or you will get error messages or things will run slowly.

If I had a business and were buying a new machine, I would stick with Windows XP for awhile until the industry get drivers for many of the devices that you will want to run on Vista.

You can always upgrade later though it will cost you a bit extra.

Many devices including printers, modems, etc. will not now run on Vista until the drivers are updated by the companies that make them.

Windows Vista

We have been working with the new Windows Vista program for about a week now and, as usual with new Microsoft products, found it frustrating.

First, Microsoft has put out at least six different versions of the program.

Their purpose is to use different pricing for different markets in order to maximize profit.

The result is confusion as to which version to buy.

Second, in order to use their highest level version, most computers, even many of those bought in the last year, will have to be upgraded in order to run right.

The video card and ram will be two of the most common upgrades.

Third, new components installed off the self will probably not run without driver upgrades or in some instances complete new versions of the component.

For Example, a modem which we have used for years, starting with Windows 95, crashed Windows Vista when it was installed.

That being said, sooner or later you will have to go to Windows Vista.

From what I have read, it is a better and more secure operating system for the Internet environment.

Ironically, it mimics many features already found in Apple computers.

However, Microsoft rules the world and you will be forced to adopt.

Nevertheless, unless you are buying a new fully equipped computer and don’t intend to add components to it right away, I would wait awhile until all the little glitches are worked out and until the software and hardware companies develop components for the new operating system.

Backing Up

We all know that valuable data must be backed up. It can be lost in an instant.

I know of many instances where customers were working away on their computer and suddenly it froze and crashed.

Or they turned it off one day and the next pushed the button to start work and nothing appeared on the screen.

All data was lost. Some of it irreplaceable.

Fortunately, there is an excellent backup solution which will serve for most users.

Flash drives.

They are small thumb sized devices which plug into the USB port of the computer.

They come in different sizes and are steadily getting larger.

The beauty of flash drives is that unlike zip disks, tapes or even floppies, they don’t require any additional device such as a zip drive or tape drive to be installed in the computer.

You can just plug the flash drive into the USB port and the computer will recognize it as a part of the computer, giving it a drive letter such as “F”.

You can then simply copy your data to the “F” drive, and you are backed up.

If something happens to your data, you can plug your flash drive back into the USB port and restore it to your computer.

Remember, you only back up the data that is important to you: Word and Excel
documents, Quickbooks files, photos, e-mail, etc.

In case of a total crash, your programs and operating system can always be restored from their
original disks.

Back up.

Eventually, you will need it.

My Computer Runs Slow

This week at Computer Solutions has been a "help my computer is running slow week." This has become a very common occurrence as more and more types of malware, spyware, popups, and viruses penetrate the defenses of your computer while it is on the Internet.

One of the main ways these pests get on the computer is when people respond to a warning that their computer has been infected with a virus and they need to click on the appropriate box to get rid it.

Or it might say, "Speed up your computer by clicking here."

These types of messages are nearly always hoaxes. When you click on the box the code downloads on your computer and bad things happen.

Also, those who download free music are candidates for attacks because they are connecting to a vast unregulated network of computers with who knows what on them.

Beware anytime you are asked to download something. Make sure you know exactly where it is coming from. That includes e-mail attachments.

After the code downloads, it hides in your computer and is difficult if not virtually impossible to search out and eradicate.

It often runs in RAM (temporary memory) and waits for some event, such as visiting a particular website, to activate.

Thus, it takes up the resources needed to run programs you actually want to use and as more and more of the offending code accumulates your computer runs slower and slower until it is almost useless.

We can try to eliminate the offenders, but many time they are so imbedded in the operating system that the only solution is a complete restore back to the way the computer was when you bought it.

This is not too big a deal if you have the restore disks, but you will need to backup all valuable data and will have to reinstall any programs that were not on your computer to begin with.

Also, you will have to reinstall printer, Internet, etc.

However, after all this is done your computer will run like new.

At least for awhile.