Founder & Editor-in-Chief Steve Hewitt - steve@ccmag.com VP of Operations Michael Hewitt - mike@ccmag.com Contributing Editors Dr. J.D.

Doc Watson, Terry Wilhite, Yvon Prehn, Nick Nicholaou, Walt Wilson, Jim Vanduzer Kevin A. Purcell, Donald Stratton, Ben Woelk Copy Editor Gene Pearson Corporate Home Office
Mailing address: PO Box 319 Belton MO 64012 Delivery address: 311 Manor Dr. Belton, MO 64012 Phone: (816) 331-8142 FAX: 800-456-1868

Applying Tomorrows Technology to Todays Ministry Volume 19

COVER STORY - Page 11

February 2007

No 2

by Steve Hewitt SPECIAL FEATURE - Page 20

Copyright 2007 by Christian Computing, Inc. All Rights Reserved Christian Computing is a registered trademark of Christian Computing, Inc. Written materials submitted to Christian Computing Magazine become the property of Christian Computing, Inc. upon receipt and may not necessarily be returned. Christian Computing Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials submitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes. The content of this publication may not be copied in any way, shape or form without the express permission of Christian Computing, Inc. Views expressed in the articles and reviews printed within are not necessarily the views of the editor, publisher, or employees of Christian Computing Magazine, or Christian Computing, Inc.

Bible Softwares Best Kept Secret

by Rob Suggs EDITORIAL Your Anti-Virus Software is Failing You PRESS RELEASES FINDING GOD IN TODAYS TECHNOLOGY Warnings From God When You Begin To Stray INSIDE THE BOX How big of a benefit is faster DDR2 memory? CCMAG NEWSBRIEF NICK AT CHURCH Microsoft Vista TECH TALK InstaVerse: Scripture at your Fingertips Page 3 by Steve Hewitt Page 8 Page 10 by Steve Hewitt Page 15 by Donald Stratton Page 16 Page 22 by Nick Nicholaou Page 24 by Dr. J.D. Doc Watson Page 27 by Yvon Prehn Page 31 by Kevin Purcell Page 34 by Terry Wilhite Page 37 by Ben Woelk Page 39 by Jim Vanduzer February 2007

MINISTRY COMMUNICATIONS Why you need to do your communications yourself HIGHER POWER WITH KEVIN Doing Good Digital Exegesis MUSIC & MULTIMEDIA Turning Mp3s Into Podcasts INFORMATION SECURITY Containing Spam HAND HELD DEVICES How Synced Are You? 2

Christian Computing Magazine

Editorial
Steve Hewitt - steve@ccmag.com

Your Anti-Virus Software Is Failing You

efore you read too far, let me start by stating that you should certainly have anti-virus software on your computer. You can choose from several great products, and I am sure that most of our readers use one of the top three. However, these programs simply are not doing the job and other solutions must soon be implemented or our present virus, worm, Trojan-horse, and malware problems are going to get much worse. Frankly, few people realize just how bad this problem is.
According to a study reported in Business Week (January 22, 2007), The biggest companies that provide anti-virus protection include leading AV vendors Symantec, McAfee, and Trend Micro, in that order, and a study shows that they fail to prevent 80% of new virus outbreaks. I want to explain to you how anti-virus software works, why it works that way, and why it will no longer work to keep the bad guys from getting into your computer. First, hackers created viruses in the past to vandalize your computer for fame and bragging rights. When you had a virus, you would soon notice a problem, either files were deleted, or your computer would randomly reboot, or funny messages would begin to appear on your screen. Anti-virus software was invented to scan for these known viruses whenever you installed a new program, downloaded a new file, or opened an attachment. It soon became clear that you needed to update your anti-virus program on a regular basis. Because of the Internet, an e-mail virus (remember the I Love You?) could be released on the other side of the world, and in a few hours cause havoc on computers in the USA. However, once a new virus was identified, the anti-virus software programs would add the code to their list of bad files, and you were protected. It has probably been awhile since you heard of a virus attack that would delete your hard drive, but do not think that viruses have gone away. They are more prevalent now than ever before, and a large percent of computers are presently infected. Christian Computing Magazine February 2007 Because of the nature of viruses and other malware, no one knows how many computers are infected. Experts do know that there are around 20 different illegal organizations that have set up botnets. These botnets are used to spread spam, enable phishing attacks, steal identities, and recently, one was used to try to bring down the Internet (see the story in this months CCMag NewsBrief column.) Each of these botnets have somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 computers controlled like zombies, ready to do whatever the viruses have prepared them to do. So why doesnt anti-virus software protect us from this new invasion of malware? (By the way, I am defining malware as any of these programs that have secretly invaded other computers, using viruses, worms or Trojan horse technology.) To answer my question, I want to you think outside the box. In fact, I want you to think way outside the box of your computer, and 3

think of a much bigger box, your house. Imagine that five years ago we were plagued by a series of criminals that were breaking into homes to vandalize and steal. You would come home and discover your front door had been kicked in, your television gone, and profanity spray-painted on your walls. You would obviously call the police. Now lets pretend that the police always got their man and these criminals were always caught. With this scenario, antivirus software is like a person selling security software. Their pitch is that they have a database of all known criminals who have ever burglarized or vandalized a home. They will install cameras at all of your doors and not allow anyone to enter if their face matches one in their database. In addition, if a home is broken into anywhere else in the world, within hours the face of the burglar will be included in the database. Now tell me, would you depend on such a system to protect your house? Of course not! You lock your doors and ONLY allow people that you know into your home. The problem with this type of home security system is that it wouldnt stop those that seek to do you harm but have never been caught. In fact, lets imagine that a new breed of criminals have started a crime spree a few years ago. They are experts at picking your lock. When they break in, they do not vandalize, but instead install hidden cameras and listening devices, and when they leave, the lock up after themselves. How many people that have been victimized by these new criminals have called the police? None, because they dont know they have even been attacked. This is the nature of malware today. It does not want you to know it is on your computer .As a result, anti-virus software does not even know what string of code it is looking for in order to stop the malware from getting on your computer! So if these programs on your computer are not destroying your data, whats the problem? The problem is very large, and very dangerous. Over 4 February 2007 Christian Computing Magazine

the last several years, I have reported both here in CCMag and on my weekly radio segment on PrimeTime America (Moody Broadcasting) that this problem is becoming an epidemic with catastrophic potential results. As I already pointed out, someone tried to use a botnet to shut down the entire Internet a few weeks ago. Authoritative voices from both MasterCard and VISA have reported that the problem of ID theft and credit fraud is out of control with no end in sight. We are all paying for this aspect of the crime. The cost in ID theft has reached billions for the American public. In fact, the cost for cyber crime is now higher for the American public than the criminal distribution of drugs. Some experts believe that 85% of all of our spam is coming from botnets linked together using zombie computers in our homes and small businesses (churches are one of the top three small businesses in America.) Remember Will Milors article in our April 2006 issue, Its Official, We Cant Beat Them! where he reported that a senior Microsoft office admitted that you could not be assured that malware is completely removed from your computer unless you re-image or reformat your hard drives. In June 2006, Microsoft revealed the results of a 15-month test of its Malicious Software Removal Tool on home PCs and small-business PCs. The utility had been used to scan and clean 5.7 million personal computers. It found programs that let hackers gain entry on about 62% of them. During the 15-month period, 20% of PCs that were cleaned were reinfected. Realize that the problem is much greater than this because these were only the programs that Microsoft could identify. We know from the problems we are seeing, phishing frauds, cyber crime, the billions of spam emails that go out each day (yes billions) that the problem is much greater than any anti-virus scan results can show. Virus: A program usually attached to another program, deFirst, run a current anti-virus software prosigned to affect your computer in a way that makes it opergram. You have to use at the least these proate not as designed. Can be downloaded, pushed to your grams to stop the known problems from entercomputer and attached to files. It can corrupt your operating your computer. Learn to use a firewall. ing system or damage your file system very badly. However, most firewalls are still too complicated for the average user. If you set it up to Worm: A self generating and often changing form of a virus check with you whenever anything is coming or Trojan horse that once it is in your computer can generinto or going out of your computer, most people ate itself to other computers, through email, or through netdont know if they should allow or disallow works. (Often comes in attached as a file similar to a visomething if they dont recognize what is seekrus) ing access. Make sure your anti-software and anti-spyware programs do system wide scans. Trojan Horse: Named after the classical Trojan horse in Just dont depend on them to check your e-mail that when you bring it into your computer, it may not look or because programs and hackers can now gain operate like a virus, but it affects your computer in ways it access a hundred different ways than just is not supposed to. through your e-mail. For example, did you know that Adobe has announced that any PDF files, Malware: Any type of software that can effect your comlinked from a website can be used to allow puter in ways that make it useless for you to use. Pop ups, someone to gain access to your computer and misdirected web sites, ID thefts, Phising Attacks, and other install malware? Adobe has fixed the problem problems that will slow your computer down or outright diswith their new version that has only been out able it. for about a month (version 8) but any previous PDF files could be used in a malicious way. (CCMag now uses version 8 and our PDFs are safe.) The second step in taking action is to assume you might be infected. This might mean re-imaging, restoring, or reformatting your hard drive on occasion. No one really knows for sure how often this might need to be done. I also act as though my identity or account information has been stolen. I check my bank statements online on a regular basis looking for any unauthorized withdraws. Thirdly, get a NAT firewall router (see the sidebar for more information) between you and the Internet. Fourth, STOP going to sites that are questionable. Dont go to sites that are offering free little gizmos, allow you to exchange music files, run free computer games on your computer over the net, etc. Fifth, always have your computer set for automatic updates so that whenever a problem has been reported with Windows, IE, etc., you will get the fix quickly. Sixth, stop using Outlook Express. At least use the full version and only view e-mails in the viewing window. Never open them up unless you are ready to reply or forward the e-mail, and only if it is from a source you know. If you really want to be safe, start using a program like Eudora for your e-mail. Christian Computing Magazine February 2007 5

So, what do we do?

Seven, stop opening e-mails with cute videos, HTML code, etc. Do ME a favor and never send me a copy of one of these chain e-mails with hundreds of peoples e-mail addresses in the cc list. Eight, take responsibility for your computers safety. If you are using a computer for work, only install software that is business related and try to pick up a cheaper computer for accessing the Internet and e-mail. Even then, if you really want to be safe, turn off scripting in IE, used trusted sites, and set your e-mail browser to text only. Now, I know someone is going to be chomping at the bit to tell me that if I just owned a Mac, there would be no problem. Please dont bother. I have nothing against a Mac, and I would agree that security problems are greatly reduced on a Mac. However, there is reason why 97% of our readers use a Windows machine. I wont argue the point, but I live with reality. If I had plenty of money, I would buy a Mac with an Intel processor and run both OSs and always use the Mac side for my Internet access. However, there are simply too many other programs I would miss if I went totally Mac. Just last month I received e-mails from frustrated Mac users who read the review of the 3-D CD of the Holy Land because there is not a Mac version. Life comes with trade-offs. Finally, what do we need to help solve this problem? We need a type of firewall/trap program that will somehow explain in easy to understand terminology, what is going in and what is going out of my computer. There has to be a way to know if you have an undetected and undisclosed malware program on your computer allowing someone else to use your computer to send out 10,000 spam e-mails while you are sleeping. The good news is that there are several solutions in the works. Again, read in this months CCMag NewsBrief about a new detection program to tell if a worm is operating on your computer. I also read reports about how the antivito develop solutions that will not just search for the known problems, but in6 February 2007 Christian Computing Magazine

stead will seek to detect the nature of malware if it is working on your computer. Unfortunately, the fact is we are not there yet, the problem is more than out of hand, and at least on an individual basis, we need to start taking responsibility for our own computers. Ahhh, there, I feel better. However, let me warn you that next month I have another rant I need to get off my chest. It will be on a different subject, but it concerns a national situation in the area of technology that needs to be amended. Maybe between you and I, we will be able to make a difference! Together We Serve Him

NAT Firewall router:

You have seen this term before but may not have recognized why this term is good for you or what it even means. NAT stands for Native Address Translation. When you connect to your Internet Provider, you connect using an IP number. (IP stands for Internet Protocol.) This is a number assigned by the operators of the Internet so e-mail and other things can be directed your way. Very often your number changes periodically over time. However this can also allow others to track you to your computer, and in some cases have been used to ping or disable the IP number by using a Denial of service Attack. A router will use NAT to interpret the number your Internet provider assigns to you to translate or interpret the data so it can be accepted by your router and sent to your computer.

Steve Hewitt Editor-in-Chief

Router:
This is the device you usually install between your cable modem, DSL modem, or even a dialup modem to allow more than one computer to be attached to your internet connection. What a router does is take the connection that is coming in from your Internet Provider and divides it up among the computers you have attached to it. To do this it routes or assigns numbers (IP numbers) to each computer in the network. The standard home network numbers begin 192.168.*.*. The NAT Router translates this home network assigned number into the number provided by your Internet Provider.

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Firewall:
A firewall acts just like a firewall does in a building. It prevents a fire from going from building to building. A firewall on a router does almost the same thing using the NAT capabilities to prevent people from the outside getting information on your system on the inside of the Router. Many if not most of the big name routers (Dlink, Linksys, Belkin, and others) contain a NAT Firewall which will protect your system from malicious attacks. Even if you are the only computer on your cable modem/DSL modem, a NAT Firewall can act as an extra layer of protection, protecting your system from outside mischief and problems. by Stewart A. Marshall

Order online at www.ccel.org or contact Nyna Sykes at nsykes@calvin.edu or 616-526-8845

Christian Computing Magazine

February 2007

Press Releases
Manage Your Entire Volunteer Ministry Online with Access ACS
Volunteer Workflow Shifted from Church Staff to Lay Leaders and Members do so, the system will create a connection to be made by the contact person for that opening. The leader will easily be able to see who has volunteered and will contact them to help. Adding volunteer management to Access ACS is the latest enhancement following the small group management enhancement, website communication features and other tools vital to church ministry. Everyday were committed to developing the ministry tools churches need online that are easy to use and powerful in effectiveness Steve Cumbia, Executive Director, Research & Development, Just wait till you see what great enhancements are coming next. For more information on all ACS Technologies products, visit http://www.acstechnologies.com or call 1800-736-7425 today.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of any church; thats why its critical to have measures in place to manage open positions, spiritual gifts, talents and personality traits, in addition to volunteer qualifications such as background checks, special licenses and clearances. In the past, church staff members were the only ones with access to valuable volunteer data. With todays announcement of new enhancements to Access ACS (www.acstechnologies.com/ products/accessacs) by ACS Technologies (www.acstechnologies.com) , the entire volunteer process has been streamlined to give lay leaders and members the ability to set up volunteer positions, search for Shelby Systems User Conference Evolves places to serve and sign up online. with International Focus We have transformed the entire volunteer management process by reorganizing and shifting parts of the proFor 16 years, Shelby Systems, Inc., a well-known decess to the right hands! says Cindy Streett, product manveloper of church management software, has held an anagement for Access ACS. The process of finding and nual gathering of its users an event aptly named National managing volunteers is now simple for everyone to do User Group Meeting (NUGM). Things will be different in thanks to the online capabilities weve added into Access 2007. With the acknowledgement of a geographically diACS. Every client I talk to about these new features anticipates that their volunteer ministry will be run more effi- verse customer base, the event will now be titled International Shelby Conference ISC 2007. ciently. The purpose of the meeting remains the same as in Access ACS now provides an easy-to-use section for previous years with an emphasis on training, one-on-one churches to manage their volunteer needs online. Based sessions, showcasing new software features, focusing on on their security level, users can: future goals, networking, entertainment, and fun. But, as Set up the attributes and qualifications used in their described by Karen Bishop, events manager for Shelby, church. Create volunteer positions and assign the appropriate at- the company wants to acknowledge - and emphasize the international profile of the Shelby family of users. tributes and qualifications to those positions. Hopefully, this titling will not only encourage the atten Allow members and attendees to select the attributes dance of our international organizations but will also make and qualifications that describe themselves. the whole group of users want to enjoy this expanding cus Create volunteer needs or openings and let people search for the ones that interest them and do an online re- tomer group. Over 8,700 customers in more than 40 countries use quest to fulfill those needs. Shelby software on a daily basis. In fact, users from Guam Allow staff and leaders with permissions to assign voland Canada have participated regularly in the yearly gathunteers to fulfill the available needs. ering. Tim Williams of Northview Community Church in Churches can put a link on their website that lists all the openings that the church currently needs to fill. People British Columbia said, I just loved the Conference. The training sessions were awesome and it was so much fun can easily search to find the areas in which they are best networking with peers that have walked a mile in my suited to serve. Once an opportunity is selected, people will be able to sign up online to fill the opening. When they shoes. Shelby is like a family. I felt loved, supported, and 8 February 2007 Christian Computing Magazine

encouraged. I came back home equipped to serve the Lord and His people with excellence. The meeting focuses on continuing education for attendees and provides Certified Professional Education (CPE) units. Participants choose from over 80 sessions related to improving skills using Shelby products, increasing knowledge of office production software, and understanding the value of products that integrate with Shelby software to manage mail, automate telephone calls, streamline data entry, and more. With the participation of over 20 business partners, Shelby users easily learn of services and tools that improve ministry. And the news of the meetings success is spreading. The number of Shelby users in The Bahamas has increased recently. Clement Horton of Evangelistic Temple is already making plans for 2007. He is well aware of the various kinds of support and training offered by Shelby to its customers. In particular, Ive heard excellent comments about the annual meeting, and we want to add our countrys presence to the gathering in San Antonio. For details on getting your church involved in ISC 2007, visit http://isc.shelbyinc.com.

Artbeats to Debut Dozens of New Titles and Solo Clips at NAB 2007
High-quality, Royalty-free Footage of Various Subject Matter; Available in High Definition Artbeats, the industrys leading provider of high-quality royalty-free stock footage, today announced it will debut a wide variety of new collections and solo clips during the 2007 National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB). New collections scheduled for release during NAB include: Burning House; Catholics; Code Rage; Lightning Storms; Mayhem HD; Misc. Fire; Protestants; Storm Clouds 2; Texas Aerial Solo Clips; Timelapse Flowers 3; Timelapse Landscapes 4; Worshippers; and Grow! (these are working titles). Artbeats will showcase these and many other titles on the companys massive HD plasma display wall at NAB 2007. Artbeats is world renowned for its extensive library of royalty-free footage, which encompasses thousands of broadcast-quality clips that are available in NTSC, PAL and HD versions. The library offers an endless number of options for creative professionals seeking the perfect imagery for a variety of applications, including broadcast, feature film, commercial, concerts, live events, game development, independent production, multimedia and more. Pricing and Availability Artbeats footage is available in HD-1920x1080, D1 NTSC-720 x 486 or D1 PAL-720 x 576 resolutions. Pricing for Artbeats HD collections range from USD $799-$899; SD collections range from USD $399-$699. Individual HD clips start at $300, and NTSC/PAL clips start at $199. Artbeats Solo clips, which are sold separately and are not part of an existing collection, start at $300 for HD and $199 for NTSC/PAL. Christian Computing Magazine February 2007 9

finding god in todays technology

Steve Hewitt - steve@ccmag.com

Warnings From God When You Begin To Stray From The Straight and Narrow
Matthew 7:14 Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. I Thess 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober

issan has announced that it will begin to use a system that will warn drivers if they are beginning to doze off and stray from their highway lane. The system, Valeos Lane Departure Warning System employs technology that uses a miniature video sensor using proprietary software algorithms to monitor the lane markings in front of the car. If a driver begins to drift out of his lane without first using a turn signal, the car will issue a warning, assuming the driver is getting drowsy and might be drifting into danger. The system has already been in use with over-the-road trucking companies, and is now becoming available in automobiles. Presently, the system can be set up to issue a loud beeping sound if you begin to stray into the wrong lane without properly signaling.
Wouldnt it be wonderful if every time we might find ourselves drifting out of the straight and narrow way that God intends for us to travel, we would be receive some sort of loud beeping sound? Actually, God has set up a warning system to let us know when we have left the path he has lain out before us. He does not just leave us out there to wonder which way to go. Christ tells us He IS the Way, and when you come to Him, He will provide you instructions. He is the good shepherd, and tells us that His sheep hear His voice and know it. Whenever we trust Christ and begin to follow Him, we receive the Holy Spirit which convicts us of sin whenever we begin to stray from Gods way. Learning how to hear Christ and follow the conviction of the Holy Spirit is part of what it means to be a Christian. We learn to do both by studying His Word, attending church in order to hear Gods word 10 February 2007 preached and sung, and by joining others in ministry and missions. We are to learn how to watch for Gods leading, and if we seek to follow Him, we will discover that we can hear His voice and find his guidance. So, if you ever find yourself becoming a bit drowsy as you travel the straight and narrow, listen for his warning beeper and heed the instructions in Thessalonians to stay awake, watch and be sober!

Christian Computing Magazine

Whats the Buzz?

Steve Hewitt talks to Group about their new Church Management Solution

bout six months ago Yvon Prehn, one of our contributing editors, told me that there was a rumor that Group, a leading publisher of VBS programs, ministry magazines, Sunday school curriculum, and other church resources was going to soon be entering the church management software business. The rumor was true and Group is now introducing Buzz Central. I interviewed Groups CEO, Thom Schultz, to get the buzz on Buzz. Heres what he had to say.
Church Volunteer Central association. Thousands of churches belong to CVC and were growing daily. The next major initiative was Buzz Central. Were not new to the software development process here at Group, nor are we a new company. Churches want to entrust their sensitive data to a company thats stable, that they know will be around. Weve got 30 years of serving the church under our belt. Steve: How does Buzz Central serve the church? Thom: We started by designing the software with the understanding that churches are often staffed by volunteers, not IT pros. Few ministry leaders have IT training. So the software is easy to learn and use, and comfortable 11

Steve: Why would a Christian publishing company like Group enter the church management software business? Thom: Well, first of all, Group doesnt define itself as a publishing company. We create experiences that equip church leaders to bring children, youth and adults into a closer relationship with Jesus. Sometimes those experiences take the form of books. Sometimes theyre camps or conferences. And sometimes theyre software. In our discussions with ministry leaders weve long heard that communication throughout the church needs to improve. And these church leaders are asking for new communication tools, not just a database. We developed Buzz Central to meet the real needs of real churcheschurches of all sizes. Steve: Still, church management software is a new initiative for you... Thom: Some time ago Group created a Church Management Solutions business unit. The first initiative of that unit was creating our Christian Computing Magazine February 2007

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February 2007

Christian Computing Magazine

to navigate. You dont need a training class to use Buzz Central. Its turnkey. And since most church management products are essentially a member database and financial tools, we integrated those functionsalong with a complete website for the church, calendar management, and database-driven desktop publishing. Churches that buy separate products or modules to accomplish those functions usually discover getting the applications to exchange data is a nightmare. Buzz solves that problem. Centralized church information is easier to manage and communicate. For example, once you set up a calendar event in Buzz Central you can e-mail it to people in your member database, post it on your church website, and drop it into bulletins and newsletters by clicking a few checkboxes. Steve: Sounds great for the office staff, but what about ministry leaders who dont work in the office? Thom: We provide a password-protected login on the church website where group leaders can access a webbased client to add or remove members to their groups, schedule events to go on the church calendar, or communicate by e-mail with their group members. Steve: So help me understand: is Buzz Central a web-based application or a PC application? Thom: We took a hybrid approach. When you deploy Buzz Central, it comes with PC client software to install on computers in your church office. Your main data entry is done on those computers, and a PC application is faster and more flexible than a web-based application for data entry and search functions. The PC clients synchronize data with the Buzz Central server, which is hosted at a commercial-grade server facility. With this architecture, churches dont have to invest in in-house servers or deal with local area networking. Data is encrypted and synchronized between clients automatically through a broadband Internet connection. The Buzz Central server hosts the churchs website, which drives the online calendar, announcements, photo albums, and password-protected member directories. MemChristian Computing Magazine

bers can log in to the church website to update their contact information, opt in to e-mail communications, or communicate with their small group members. Data entered from the web client is pushed down to all PC clients during the next synch. And heres a plus: because we host the website, a subscriber church can drop paying for a separate company to host the website. Thats a significant savings. Steve: Earlier, you mentioned database-driven desktop publishing. Can you talk more about that? Thom: Our primary goal for Buzz Central is to empower church communications, and much of that communication happens on paper. Since Buzz keeps track of announcements, events, and other data, we automated ways to drop that data into publications like bulletins, event flyers, and mailings. The Publication Wizard has over 200 professionally designed templates that include mail-merge fields for selected information. Users just choose the current data items from a list, and Buzz will drop them into a preformatted Word or Publisher document for further editing. Tweaks and modifications are easywhich lets churches develop a unique look and brand. Steve: Church websites can be a challenge. Whats the process to update a churchs website? Thom: Using the PC client software, churches can choose from a set of pre-defined website templates with various layouts and color options. Each home page includes a set of user-defined content boxes that can be set to cycle through current announcements, events, links to ministries, photo albums, staff members, or the current sermon series. Buzz Central provides a website wizard to walk through all the steps to create or modify the church website. Theres no HTML programming required. Churches can rename pages or show only the pages they want. Steve: And theres no training needed to use Buzz Central? Thom: Many church management providers base 13

February 2007

their business models on charging big bucks for training and support. Were not one of those. Buzz provides free online training videos, and there are no hidden fees for support contracts or consulting services. Users get an extensive reference manual and free tech support by phone or e-mail. If youre familiar with Microsoft Office, youll find navigating Buzz Central is a breeze. You can access all of the functional areasPeople, Calendar, Announcements, Contributions, and Resourcesfrom a simple control panel. Launching the Website Wizard or Publication Wizard can be done from the toolbar at the top of the interface. Steve: What are your plans for the future of Buzz Central? Thom: Weve only just launched the service, so were depending on our initial customers and beta sites to give us feedback about which features are most important. We built the system with smart update technology, so as we learn how our church partners are using Buzz, well rapidly deploy new improvements. Were providing a service with Buzznot a static product. Well keep making improvements for subscribers as we go along. Steve: Where can readers get more information? Thom: Please visit our website at www.group.com/buzz or call our Buzz Central hotline at 1-800-7471565.

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Christian Computing Magazine

inside the box

Donald Stratton - Donald@PowerNotebooks.com

How big of a benefit is faster DDR2 memory?

f you sat in front of two identical computers, one configured with DDR2 533MHz memory and the other with DDR2 667MHz memory, you would not be able to tell the difference without the use of benchmarks.
In fact, even with benchmarks that make the difference look as big as possible, there is never any more than a 20% difference between the two which would be barely noticeable. With the average system application, the difference is less than 3%, which is below the threshold of being noticeable. Latency and bandwidth work hand in hand for memory performance. Faster memory can be crippled by high latency. Memory timings are usually in sets of 3 or 4. CL4 (Clock Latency 4) might look like 4-4-4 or 4-4-4-12. The first number is most important, and when you see CLx the x is the first number. The lower the number, the faster the memory can react to new data. Typically DDR2 533MHz memory has a latency of CL4 or lower while DDR2 667MHz memory has a latency of nothing lower than CL5 (5-5-5-15) In conclusion, there is no real performance difference between DDR2 533MHz and DDR2 667MHz, nor will there be when DDR2 800MHz makes it to laptops. The amount of memory and speed of the CPU are much more important factors in overall system performance than the memory clock speed. Read More http://www.madshrimps.be ?action=getarticle&number=2&artpage=1963&articID=472 (note that benchmarks on Madshrimps are % difference from DDR400) http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2800&p=2

Christian Computing Magazine

February 2007

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NOW you can listen to the CCMag NewsBriefs directly from the CCMag Website (www.ccmag.com) Daylight Saving Time Might Not Compute This Year
A few years ago, someone decided to change the dates that we spring forward for Daylight Saving Time. So this year, when we move our clocks forward, some computer programs might not make the leap with us. Software programs created before 2005 will plan to advance the clock on the first Sunday in April. However, the law now says we are to do so on the second Sunday in March (2:00 a.m. March 4). Since the date that Daylight Saving Time goes into effect has been constant for so long, many programs have set themselves up to do this for you automatically, and we have grown accustomed to this automation. In some cases, people might think to move their calendaring programs forward and some might not. This means that if you use such programs to confirm and set appointments with others, you will want to do a bit of extra communication to ensure you are both on the same time, at least for the three weeks before the older April date comes around. For more information, visit http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/ 16692170.htm

An Attack On The Internet Fails, Were You A Participant Of The Attack?

This last week the Net received a deliberate attack, attempting to crash the system. Hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million computers, were infected with a malware program which caused them to all ping three of the thirteen core computers that route Internet traffic. While it was the worst attack in four years, the good news is that the system handled it so well that few noticed any delays. Who could organize so many computers to ping the servers at the same time? It was done through the installation of malware that set up a botnet that used home computers without their owners even knowing what was taking place. In this attack, many of the attackers came from South Korea, where there is a higher amount of users using high-speed broadband (more than in the USA.) This weeks attack took place at the same time as a national conference on cyberspace security in San Francisco. For more information, visit http:// www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070210.winternet10/BNStory/Technology/home

Researchers from Penn State Create New Anti-Worm Software

A new tool may soon help to stop worms from spreading malware across the Internet. Worms differ from a virus in that it is a stand alone program that reproduces itself. They normally do this very quickly, and worms are used to spread spam, Denial of Service attacks, etc. The new technology from Penn is designed to recognize the way worms begin to work in milliseconds and stop it before it does its damage. Present anti-virus and worm software look for patterns of code to identify malware. This new technology would look at the way a program is acting to determine the threat. However, some warn that this technology might find such constant access applications such as IM a problem and shut it down. Others warn that worms will simply change the way they perform. For more information, visit http:// www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2007-02-14-worm-research_x.htm

The Future Will Be Movie Downloads

Renting movies at a store developed into going online and choosing movies to be mailed to your house. Now there is another sign that the future will involve downloading the movies directly to your computer for viewing, or to have the movie beam to your TV in the other room. TiVo and Amazon.com have announced that they have jumped into the digital movie download business, and will offer Amazon Unbox on TiVo. You log into the service, pick a movie you wish to view, download it to your computer, and then send it wirelessly to the UnBox attached to your TV. It seems that everyone is getting into the downloadable movie business. Even Wal-Mart announced a new online service. However, the disadvantage of these services is that you must watch the movie on your computer. With the new Amazon UnBox on TiVo, you will be able to watch movies on your television. Apple TV is expected to offer a similar service later this year, but users will have to purchase a box for $300 to make the service work with your TV. There is already a large TiVo user 16 February 2007 Christian Computing Magazine

Read CCMags Review of our LogosGiving Service! CLICK HERE (for our PDF readers) or visit www.ccmag.com/0205/0205coverstory.pdf Christian Computing Magazine February 2007 17

base in place for the Amazon Unbox startup. You will be able to rent TV episodes and movies for a couple of dollars, or purchase movies for around $15. Once you purchase a movie, you do not need to keep it stored on your hard drive, but can download it again and again at no cost. The new service is being tested on a limited customer base with the expectation of a fuller release later this year. For more information, visit http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/02/07/financial/f001552S62.DTL

Apple Computer (I mean Apple Inc) In the News

A few weeks ago, Apple made the announcement they were changing their name from Apple Computers to Apple Inc. Since Apple now is in the iTunes business and sells their iPod MP3 player, they have branched away from just selling computers. This year they are moving to Apple iPhone and Apple TV. One of the leading reasons they included computer in their name was to distinguish themselves from Apple, the record company owned by the Beatles. For decades, a conflict has brewed between the two owners of the name but Apple Inc (the computer company) has announced that a final agreement has been legally reached and they own the rights to the name Apple. For more information, visit http://www.foxnews.com/story/ 0,2933,250291,00.html

Apples iPod in Trouble with Europe

Several countries have now joined together to move against Apple because songs paid for and downloaded from their Website iTunes, can only play on the iPod. The Netherlands joined in the fight this week, but the problems started about six months ago when countries such as Norway, Denmark and Sweden claimed that Apples practices violated contract and copyright laws. Germany and France joined in the protest against Apple before the Netherlands joined this week. All are beginning court action. Basically, they claim that it would be illegal to sell a music CD and make it so that it could only play on a machine made by Panasonic. They claim that Apple is doing the same thing by limiting the ability of their songs to play on other MP3 players. In addition, songs purchased from rival music download companies are not playable on an iPod. For more information, visit http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/25/business/EU-FIN-Netherlands-AppleiTunes.php

Bill Gates Internet to Revolutionize TV in Next 5 Years

TV has a problem. Actually, TV has a couple of problems. Last year, the average home had the TV on for a little over eight hours. The problem is that this was the same amount as the year before, and with young people, viewing time is decreasing. We have reported that major networks and other video content providers are making increasing efforts to push more content to Internet broadcasting and other devices that sync to them, such as the iPod. Reports are showing that the audience is not only younger, but more affluent and more attractive to advertisers (they have more money.) By providing Internet broadcasts, people can watch at work, on the road, or anywhere that WiFi is available. This means broadcasters have a way to increase their viewing time audience. For more information, visit http:// www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-01-24-net-tv-viewers_x.htm and http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/ providerarticle.aspx?feed=OBR&Date=20070127&ID=6398506 18 February 2007 Christian Computing Magazine

WORD search WORD W Powerful and user-friendly Bible Explorer is

NOW available as a FREE download!
Bible Explorer 4 [BE4], a FREE download from the WORDsearch Corporation, is one of todays leading Bible software programs. The FREE download version is not a demo with limited content, but a complete commercial program with more than 100 resources, including 18 Bible translations. Any person who uses the computer for Bible study should download and use this outstanding program. BE4 is userfriendly with an extensive library of more than 1,600 add-on books available.
BE4 is a favorite of pastors across America. Here is a small sampling of Pastors testimonies: Pastor Vernon Asper says, BE4 is one of the most incredible packages Ive ever used, and Ive used quite a few. I just cant say enough in support of this program; its an answer to prayer. Pastor John Silver wrote, I have five other major Bible programs but yours always seems to be the one I use. Pastor Princeton McKinney said, Ive pastored 38 years, and now I wonder how I ever got along without BE4. Studies that used to take me a week of Sundays to do I can now do at the snap of a finger! A Few of the Program Features Mouse over Magic when the cursor passes over a Scripture reference the entire verse or passage will pop up. Window Docking combine windows into tabbed groups. You can easily click between them, and they stay synchronized with the scripture reference. Powerful Cross Reference Tool shows all books in your library that refer to the selected verse. Color Highlighting highlight text in any Bible or book. Twelve different colors available. You can easily add or erase highlighting any time. Talking Strongs BE4 and WORDsearch 7, [BE4s big brother] are the only Bible software programs available with "Talking Strongs." Hear the program speak every word in the NT in Greek and every word in the OT in Hebrew. With a click ask your KJV or NASB text to "Show Strongs," and see every Strongs number next to each word. Mouse over a Strong's number and the definition automatically pops up, or double click a word in the Bible text to bring up the Strongs window. Language BE4s language tools provide clear, printable Greek and Hebrew fonts. When you click on any Strongs number a hot link concordance with a complete list of the word is displayed. Powerful Search Tools BE4 has the most complete search functions you can have in Bible software, with two menu buttons for searching: Search the Library allows you to enter any word or phrase and locate it immediately in any Bible or reference book. Topical Search will take any word or topic and search the indices of every book with a topical index, and show you everything in your library related to the topic. Exclusive Membership BE4 users belong to an exclusive group of serious Bible software users. With one click you can join a protected online community of BE4 users. Participants exchange sermons, Bible lessons, worship ideas, prayer requests, and have discussions with other power users. Community Library Download free books prepared by other users from the Community Library. The books become a permanent, searchable part of your personal library with pop-up Scripture references. Authoring & Publishing Tools Create your own books with the BE4 word processor with a built in spell checker. They function just like any other book in your library. With just a click, you can upload them directly from your BE4 desktop to the Community Library where they are available to the whole BE4 and WORDsearch 7 world. Just think your thoughts may help someone know the Lord or teach a lesson better. A powerful Bible study tool, a user-friendly interface, and a free library of more than fifty resources makes Bible Explorer 4 one of best Bible software programs. The Faith & Mission Software Reviewer said, I give BE4 an overall grade of A. I heartily recommend it.

Download at www.bible-explorer.com
IMPORTANT IMPORTANT NOTE: FREE books are added every month and over 1,400 other books are available!

19

February 2007

Christian Computing Magazine

Special Feature

Bible Softwares Best Kept Secret

You Bring the Content with Libronix Book Builder
By Rob Suggs

t happened sometime in the late nineties. As a Christian magazine editor, I attended a training session for a Bible study software program called Logos. Morris Proctor, our teacher, demonstrated the many pleasures of the Word Made Electronic. The only problem was that, as a publishing firm, we had an office full of Apple equipment, and Logos for the Mac was still on the drawing board.
ten seconds. Might it even be helpful to put the weekly newsletter in the Logos Library, or the pastors column from that periodical? What about the churchs textual history? You get the idea. The Libronix system already had a good notes feature, and it was possible to stow away this or that short specimen that way. But PBB allows you and me to create something very close to a proper Logos book. There are some limitations, and well get to those later. But I would imagine that any Logos user can think of great practical uses for the abilities that PBB offers. Need you be a geek to use the PBB? Not at all. If you are functional with Microsoft Word or even a simple text program, youll quickly be cataloguing your own customized Logos books. And as always, Logos offers great support documentation, including videos that show step-bystep procedures for starting your first project immediately. Lets take the example of a sermon youd like to add to your library. 1. Save the document by its name, in the format of Web document, filtered in Word (.htm). Christian Computing Magazine

However, Morris dropped a casual reference that hooked me. He mentioned, One day Logos will offer a program that will allow you to bring your own content into the library system. I grasped the implications quickly. The idea of customized content made this a whole new ball game. For example, every magazine article and devotional we printed could become part of my Logos catalogue. I could search and reference them just as quickly as any other system task. Did we use this Scripture verse last year? A quick search would tell the tale. My mind spun with the possibilities, geek that I am. The years passed, and I left the magazine world to become an independent Christian writer. As I was browsing the Logos Web site one day, I discovered that Morris had been a prophet with honor. At some point, Logos had quietly introduced the Personal Book Builder, and it was all that I dreamed it could be. Now heres the question. Am I the only one that realizes the power (and, lets face it: coolness factor) of this program? Libronix PBB is a killer app of the first order. Let me offer you the most obvious scenario: that of the pastor. (Theres no shortage of that species in the Bible software user world.)

Pastor Power
Many pastors keep a written transcript of their weekly sermons. With a relatively small flourish of keystrokes, these sermons can make their home in the pastors electronic library, where they will function happily and efficiently with his commentaries, Bible translations, and the other resources. The pastor wonders, Have I used this sermon illustration recently? Quickly he finds out. Have I gone to the well too often when it comes to the fifteenth chapter of Johns gospel? See a report in 20 February 2007

2. Retain it in the Libronix Personal Books folder. Then, open the Personal Book Builder from Libronix, give the books name, and let Libronix find and compile the document. Thats the short answer. There are other steps you can take. Its easy to add a cover, illustrations, and maps, for example. Also, your file should be broken into smaller files if its size is much more than 100MB. Ive converted several public domain classics from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (www.ccel.org), and for these larger books, its helpful to break the document down to bite-size chunks. Youll pick these things up quickly.

Always Room for Improvement

Limitations? Well, a few Libronix features dont apply to personal books. For example, I tried to use a highlighter pen and found that visual text markup wasnt available. In general, a personal book is unlikely to have the full efficiency and searchability of a resource that has been prepared by the Logos team. For example, if you want your book to be indexed by topic, such as doctrine, grace or stewardship, youll have to make a few extra moves on your own. If you want its Scripture references to be hyperlinked to your Logos PBBs Compile window is a simple and intuitive interface. Bibles, that must be done by you as well. Thankfully, the PBB user community has created some simple executable files to hyperlink your document by reference or topic. Logos should probably have pre-installed that functionality for us, but we can look forward to future versions and new features for this program. The bottom line is that your Logos book project can be as detailed and useable as you take the time to make it. I should also mention that an annual license must be purchased from Logos if you want to continue using the program after a year. This requirement tends to chase away a few thrifty shoppers. But the fee is reasonable ($25 for the Private Use edition) and seems well worth the investment, particularly if we can look forward to continued support and improvements on the product. Meanwhile, as I said before, PBB creates a whole new ball game for your Bible study program. Bits and pieces from the Web, church information, assembled Bible studies, and anything else that can be saved as electronic text is now a potential Logos book for your library. And the user community works together to share other public domain or non-copyright-licensed material available. (Only books created by the Standard The lower portion of the Compile window reviews the user files edition can be freely distributed.) that will be assembled. So again I ask: Am I the only one who realizes what a great program this is? Personal Book Builder should be a runaway software hit for Logos Research Systems. I recommend it highly, and heartily encourage Logos to continue supporting this, another industry standard program for what has become the industry standard in Bible study software. Rob Suggs is a writer and editor from Atlanta, GA. Visit his Web site at http://www.robsuggs.com

Links:
Information on Personal Book Builder: http://www.logos.com/products/details/2463 Demonstration video produced by Logos: http://www.logos.com/media/PBB_Demo.html Christian Computing Magazine February 2007 21

nick at church
Nick Nicholaou - nick@mbsinc.com

Microsoft Vista
y now nearly everyone knows that Microsoft has released their new operating system, Windows Vista. The press is excited, Microsoft is excited, and hardware manufacturers are excited. But their glee over the prospect of new revenue shouldnt yet transfer to the corporate consumer. Im sure Vista will eventually be right for the church or ministry office, but not yet.
What Vista Promises
Microsofts website says, Seeing Windows Vista for the first time may leave you searching for words. Many just say, Wow! They then list 100 reasons why here are a few: #1 It makes using your PC a breeze. #2 Because all of your music is just a remote click away. #3 Its the safest version of Windows ever. #7 Because you can freeze time. #15 Because your PC remembers to back up for you. #23 Because its like a digital candy store. render many business applications useless in Vista. No doubt these will be resolved, but adopting Vista too early may make your team unproductive. At the very least, we recommend contacting your software providers and checking to see if their applications are ready to run in Vista. There are also issues with hardware. In addition to possibly needing to upgrade many computers, many are complaining that their components and peripheral devices wont work with Vista even though Vista has native drivers for them! For this reason, testing Vista may be prudent before adopting it in your office environment.

Thats Nice But

While Vista may be like digital candy, in the office environment the primary driving force should always be applications. So the question is, will you be able to do what you need to in Vista? That question has a lot of corporate IT Directors running for cover. One ministry IT Director likened Vista to the ill-received version of Windows ME, calling it ME 2. How do consumers feel about it? A journalist was reporting on the big release push that happened in the area I live, Southern California. He mentioned a few stores that went all out to make the release an event to remember. Some had live bands, buffets, and more. The crowds were reported to be only twelve at one store, thirty-six at another, and so on. Software providers are working to overcome the issues their applications have in Vista. There are issues of security and compatibility that 22 February 2007

Enhancements with Promise

Microsoft promises improved security and ease of use in this Windows version. Though their promises of better security with the release of Windows XP went largely unfulfilled, they have added some good file recovery tools that will help many. Those, along with improved search abilities and the new interface will improve the user experience. Mobile users will also like Christian Computing Magazine

some of the enhanced synchronization tools.

Hardware Requirements
The hardware requirements are different depending on which version of Vista youre considering. The four flavors of Vista are Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate. And actually there are two variants of the Business edition, Business and Enterprise. Most ministries would be best to only consider the Business edition. Microsoft recommends a minimum 1ghz processor, 512mb of RAM, and at least 15gb of available hard drive space. We recommend considering no less than 1gb RAM, and agree with our Dell rep who says that if you want to enjoy the Windows Aero experience you should have 2gb RAM and a dedicated video card. To help identify whether your computers are ready to upgrade to Vista, Microsoft offers for free the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. This program downloads from their website, installs on your computers, and does an analysis of the systems Vista capability. When I ran it on my fairly new notebook, it told me that I may want to consider a larger hard drive, that my video card wouldnt support the Windows Aero experience, and that many of my programs may not run well in Vista. Surprisingly, among the programs it cautioned me about were McAfee VirusScan and MS SQL version 8.

The Bottom Line

Vista will likely become the PC operating system of choice, though Microsoft is already working on the next version of Windows (code named Vienna) and is hoping to release it by the end of 2009. Though the greatest challenge in waiting will be the pressure felt from those who purchased it for their home system and who love it in that environment, in the church and ministry office our firm recommends waiting until Microsofts releases Vistas first service pak before considering it. Christian Computing Magazine February 2007 23

Dr. J.D. (Doc) Watson - docwatson@nctelecom.net

tech talk

InstaVerse: Scripture at your Fingertips

love free stuff. If youve been reading this column for awhile (and thanks to the many who have been), you know of my affection for little utilities that make computer life easier. Well, I recently ran into one that is among the handiest Ive ever seen, and I couldnt wait to share it with you. Its called InstaVerse (IsV), and I think youll love it too.
Main Features
Before we go any further, you might just want to click on the IsV logo in this article right now, which is actually a link that will take you right to the IsV web site so you can download and install this great little program and start using it immediately. You could then use this humble article as a quick start. Before we go any further, you might just want to go to www.instaverse.com right now to download and install this great little program and start using it immediately. easy to differentiate it from surrounding text. Notice further that the Scripture reference is actually a passage, John 8:30-32, and that IsV highlights all the verses in the passage. You can change the color of this highlighting, but well come back to program options later. A very cool feature of IsV is that when you point at a verse reference that doesnt include a book name, the program looks backward in the current paragraph to find a book name and uses the first one it finds. In the above reference, for example, if you later encountered a reference such as 14:6 in the same paragraph, IsV would use John as the book name. Again, this only works per paragraph. If 14:6 appeared in the next paragraph, IsV would not react at all. Once the Scripture appears, you not only can read it but also copy and paste it into a compatible editable destination. There are several methods of copy/paste; Figure 2 displays two of them. First select the desired text, and then right-click on the selection to display the context menu: the Copy Formatted option pastes the copied text into your document in the current format of your document and with the ScripChristian Computing Magazine

Fig. 1 Point at a verse (or passage) reference and the verse text automatically displays in InstaVerse (in this case, while working in Internet Explorer). Figure 1 makes clear what IsV is all about. It reminds me of an ancient TSR program that you can pop up when needed, but it goes one step better by working automatically. When you point at any Scripture reference, the verse text displays in the IsV window. The reference in Figure 1 is actually in Internet Explorer, but the program also works in Firefox (ver 1.5 or later), Outlook, Outlook Express, Microsoft Word, Yahoo Messenger, Trillian, and PalTalk. Note also in Figure 1 that the Scripture text is highlighted, making it 24 February 2007

ture reference, while the Copy option pastes it as it appears in the IsV window (although the font might be different). As for the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C, this copies the text like the Copy option. You can also select the text and then drag-and-drop it (although this also copies the highlighting). Figure 1 also shows the Bible Navigation Box, which contains the current verse or passage. Alternately, you can type a reference here, or navigate to a book using the list arrow at the right of the box, and then the chapter by using the triangle buttons at the right of the box. Still further to the right is the Translation Selector, which has a list arrow that enables you to select a translation. The King James Version is included in the download, but there are also other free translaFig. 2 Two of the several copy/paste options in InstaVerse tions available, as well as others that start at $9.95. A very nice feature is that IsV Bibles are in the WORDsearch CROSS format, which is the format used by WORDsearch 7, Bible Explorer 3, and LifeWays Bible Navigator. If you own Bibles that come with any of those programs, IsV will automatically detect and list them. You can either use the get more Bibles button in the IsV window or go to www.wordsearch.com and get Bibles there. But thats not all. Instead of typing the reference in your document, pointing at it to display the IsV window, and then doing a copy/paste operation, IsV goes one better. To quickly insert Scripture text, just type the reference (e.g., eph 2:8-9 or ep 2:8-9) and then press Alt+F8presto. IsV recognizes all the common book name abbreviations. You can also change this hotkey combination if Alt+F8 is already used by an application (its not, BTW, in Word, Outlook, and Outlook Express). Another cool feature is the Thumbtack at the top of window, which serves two purposes. First, it controls what happens when you move your mouse away from the IsV window; when its down (just click on it to change its orientation), the window stays on screen until you close it manually; when its up, the window closes automatically. Second, the thumbtack also controls window position; when its up and you move your mouse over a scripture reference, the IsV window pops up near your mouse; when its down, the window appears in the same position as when it last appeared. You can also display IsV manually at any time for a quick Scripture lookup by just clicking on its icon in the System Tray (see Fig. 3) or by using the hotkey Ctrl+Shift+B. By default, IsV auto- Fig. 3 The Instamatically starts in the System Tray when you install it. Well see later how to change this if you Verse icon in the System Tray. prefer.

Program Options
Figure 4 displays the InstaVerse Options dialog box, which enables you to control how IsV works in several ways. To display the dialog, either click the menu button in the IsV window and then click Options, or right-click the IsV icon in the System tray and then click Options. The most options are on the Copy/Paste Format tab (Fig. 4). Youll want to play with these options, noting the Preview box as you do so, to see which options you prefer. The General tab also contains some important settings. If you prefer not to allow IsV to load automatically at Windows startup, click the Launch InstaVerse on Windows Startup option to remove the checkmark. Use the Delay before popup over Bible ref option to control how quickly the IsV window appears when your mouse pointer is over a Bible reference. Setting a lower number will cause the window to pop up sooner. (Tip: You might want a higher number to prevent unwanted appearances of IsV as your mouse moves around in a document.) You can also 25

Fig. 4 The InstaVerse Options dialog box with the Copy/Paste Format tab displayed. Christian Computing Magazine

February 2007

set two hotkeys here. The Show Bible hotkey causes IsV to show the Bible window as if you had clicked the IsV icon in the Windows tray area. The Expand Bible ref option specifies the hotkey that inserts text after you type a reference, as mentioned earlier. To set a hotkey, click in the box and press a combination of keys that can include Shift, Alt, Ctrl and the F-keys. The Appearance tab enables you to specify the colors and text style used in the IsV window. To change a color, click on one of the color buttons to display a palette. There are also buttons to change the Bible Text Font and the Verse Number Font. The Bibles tab enables you to control what Bibles are listed when you click the list arrow beside the Bible selector in the IsV window. You might want to exclude certain translations that you dont use very often. To hide a translation, just select it in the left column, and click the Hide button. Finally, there are some other options on the IsV menu that are noteworthy. Besides the Help option, there is Disable, which prevents IsV from operating without actually exiting the program. (This option changes to Enable, of course, when you disable the program.) There is also the Add-on Bibles option and the Backup/Restore option, which enables you to make a backup of the locked Bibles on your system in case you need to reinstall IsV and/or WordSearch.

Improvements
As Ive tried to make clear, this is a great program, but a few things could be improved (IMHO)this is Version 1, so I hope theres a Version 2. For one thing, the Help system could be better. IsV should also support more applications; after all, some folks out there use WordPerfect or other word processor. Its also annoying (at least to me) that a dragand-drop copies the highlighting; I wish this could be fixed. On the same note, there could also be more copy/paste options. For example, if I type Eph. 1:6 and then press Alt+F8, the program replaces the abbreviation with the full name or simply deletes the abbreviation, depending upon which setting I specify. What if I want the abbreviated reference to stand as is? Finally, as mentioned earlier, if IsV sees a reference without a book name, it looks for a book name earlier in the paragraph. It would be nice, however, if this wasnt limited to the current paragraph but would go back to previous paragraphs if necessary.

The Last Word

Those criticisms do not detract in the least, however, from my overall love for this wonderful tool. It truly puts the Scriptures at your fingertips. Thanks should go to the folks at WordSearch for this thoughtful gift.

ANNOUNCING - Windows Hot Tips 3

As announced last month, Windows Hot Tips 3 is now complete. It covers all the tips and other stuff presented in my column from January 2004 to January 2007 (including graphics). Order yours today. It, like its predecessors, makes a great quick reference. There are two other booklets in this Hot Tips series, Windows Hot Tips 1 and 2. A single copy of each is $6.50 (a rise in printing costs). Bulk prices are: $6.00 for 2-9 copies of the same title and $5.50 for 10 or more copies. If youd like to help with costs (not required), add 50 cents for any number of booklets you order. Docs Giant Utility Collection on CD is still postage paid at $14 (2-5 copies $13 each, and 6 or more copies $12 each). Send orders to: MicroManuals; PO Box 235; Meeker, CO; 81641. Thanks again, and God bless.

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February 2007

Christian Computing Magazine

Ministry communication
Yvon Prehn - yvonprehn@aol.com

Why you need to do your communications and marketing yourself

nce again I discovered another helpful church communications website that, though it had a few useful ideas, its main purpose was to entice you to buy continuing professional design and technology services from this group. Though I understand their need to make a living, it concerns me that many churches believe they have to continuously pay for products and services they could be producing themselves. Read on for the reasons why you need to do your communications and marketing work yourself and some ideas on how to do it.
So you dont look like every other church
In pursuit of the desire to look professional many churches purchase pre-made marketing postcards and other outreach materials. This seems to happen especially with starting churches and new church plants. It seems like a good idea and might be if only one church per urban area was allowed to pick the same design. But there are no such controls in place. What then happens is that all the outreach postcards that are sent out by these new churches look the same. I live in a town of about 100,000, not terribly large by current standards, but in the past year three or four new churches have started that have sent out the same postcard from the same company. Slick, colorful and professional, these cards tell me nothing about what makes the church distinctive, who they are trying to reach, or why someone would want to attend other than because the advertising is contemporary and upbeat. What about simply getting to know people? What about having them over to dinner? What about asking them questions? What about listening? Thats what Jesus did. He wandered around a lot, just talking to folks, asking questions. He went to a wedding and lots of parties. He hosted quite a few fish fries and picnics. In one of my seminars, a communications leader shared that they totally changed the look and approach of their communications after taking seriously the need to get to know people around the church. It started by the pastor loading the staff and volunteer leaders into a van and just driving them around the neighborhood. I had no idea who the people where right outside our door, one leader responded honestly. She and her husband had moved to the suburbs years earlier, as had many other leaders of the church. When you get to know people as people, you dont need to do a demographic 27

So you dont miss the obvious

This will make some folks rather unhappy, but if I see one more advertisement for some sort of demographic survey or census report or some similar thing to help church planters and evangelists, I will throw up. These things would be totally unnecessary if prospective church planters and evangelists would just walk the neighborhoods of the people they wanted to reach. Christian Computing Magazine February 2007

28

February 2007

Christian Computing Magazine

study on them. You can talk to them in print and on the web in a language that resembles a real conversation because you are talking to real people, youve met and shared a meal with. Its a lot harder to do that because real people dont always fit into tidy demographic groupsbut it is the best way if you want honest communication to take place.

So you can communicate the message you are called to communicate to the audience you are called to reach
One of my favorite books in the Bible is Nehemiah. In it as they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, its instructive to note that people worked on distinct sections, many of which were right next to their house (Nehemiah., chapter 3, see especially v. 27, 28). The current application that I make to our situation of building up the kingdom of God with our church communications is that every church has a distinct group they are called to reach. Usually, if you are called to reach a certain group, you are like the people that you are trying to reach. You are similar in your tastes and styles. Your publications should reflect that. Again, a personal application. I live in Southern California and in one of local seminars a Latino lady pastor showed me her church brochure. Her church was doing well, they were growing and the publication was done well, but it surprised me. The reason I was surprised is that I assumed, from secular advertisements, that a brochure targeted to a Latino audience would be bright and colorful. This was serious, somber and in muted colors. I asked her if it wouldnt be more appealing if it was done in a more upbeat, colorful manner. Oh, no, she replied. For the people in my area, that would mean we were not serious. To be colorful and gaudy would mean disrespect. This brochure is working well for us. I learned something from hershe designed her communications and marketing by first getting to know her people and what would appeal to themnot by picking out a current design in a catalog designed to appeal to generic thousands. Please dont misapply this examplethis is not to say that somber colors and serious design is what works for every Latino audience any more than saying a certain style works for every Anglo audience or any design for every age of every audience of whatever ethnic background. This is somewhat of a repeat of the previous section, but it is very important. To find out what works best for any audience youve got to get to know them. Again if you are like them and called to reach a group similar to you, what do you like? What appeals to you? It doesnt matter if what you use doesnt look like anything youve seen anywhere else. You need to be the expert on the particular flock God called you to communicate with.

So your people can grow into their spiritual giftedness

By always hiring out complete communication and marketing projects, you might be missing people in your church who could do great work if only they were given some training and encouragement. There are ways you can grow your people into professional work. Consider hiring a professional to create templates with your staff and to train your people to update them and produce them on a continuing basis instead of just having them do the whole job. Some wont want to do that, but many willask around. Be sure your people have adequate equipment: software and hardware. Its hard to do really professional work on old computers with not enough Christian Computing Magazine February 2007 29

RAM. Perhaps a professional assessment of whats needed to do professional design work would be helpful (and it doesnt have to be a MAC). You cant take advantage of many of the fantastic software and communication tools available today if your hardware doesnt support them.

Let me help you

The purpose of my ministry, my website, my consultations and seminars is to help you and the people in your church do the very best job of communication and marketing to the people God has called to reach. There is an ever-growing selection of articles and resources for free on my website; my newsletter offers free publications and samples every month; my seminars are designed to teach you and your people strategy and skills so you can do things on your own, not dependant on me. For more information on how I can help, go to www.thelionsvoice.com. My prayer is that all of you will be able to communicate powerfully and effectively the gospel of Jesus to the audience God called you to reach.

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Higher Power With Kevin Kevin A. Purcell - kevin@kevinpurcell.org Purcell

Doing Good Digital Exegesis

n the book and paper world, biblical exegesis is a time consuming, but useful task. Without it, you cannot faithfully preach the Word of God. A computer and Bible Study software will help you do high-quality, biblical exegesis in far less time than it would using stacks of books and a legal pad. And your study will be more advanced as you utilize powerful original language tools, even if you dont know Greek or Hebrew.
A Word About Faithful Bible Study
As a student of preaching, much of the preaching I have heard has been like the ice covering my churchs parking lot very wide, very shallow and quite precarious to those who venture into it. For three weeks, between my last ministry assignment and my present one, I visited some of the churches in our area hoping to hear some good, Expository Preaching. What I got instead was bible-lite. At one service the message was a rah-rah, arent we a good church rally. At another we were treated to a talk about some very biblical ideas, but few of which came from the passage the preacher quoted. A third was a great message. I enjoyed it both times I encountered it once in this sermon and in a book by David Jeremiah. After that three weeks off, I felt like Id been robbed of an opportunity to hear from the Lord. I hope that if you are a pastor or bible study leader you will seek a higher level of proclamation. With the current crop of bible programs, world-class, biblical exegesis is within the grasps of the average bible student. them. Not sure what verses to use in your lesson or sermon? Follow the periscopes (those titled sections in the bible) and work from there. If you think the verse before or the verse after goes with that section then add it. But make sure you have a good reason to do so. Then, just read that passage in as many of the translations and paraphrases as you can. Bible programs have a function for this task. Look for the word parallel. You pick your favorite translations and display them side-by-side. I use Logos Digital Library System for this. It has multiple ways to read and compare different translations. But almost all of them let you do this somehow. Keep reading and re-reading. The next step is to take note of what is there. Start recording your observations. Again Bible software is great for this. The notes feature lets you add a note to a word, verse, chapter or book. Write everything you can in the note. Be forewarned; if you switch software packages you will likely 31

What Is Good Biblical Exegesis?

The best way to study the bible is to start with the bible. That sounds rudimentary, but many preachers and teachers are so enamored by the 348 commentaries that came in the Gold Package from Joes Bible software Company, that they want to start there. Dont! The first step is to read the bible. The majority of basic level bible programs have a dozen or dozens of translations and paraphrases. Read Christian Computing Magazine February 2007

lose all your notes. So you may want to use your word processor, notepad, or something like Microsoft OneNote. However, you do it, save your notes in a digital format so you can later search them and copy them into your sermon or lesson files. After making observations, you will want to investigate the passage a little. Take note of issues you will need to investigate. For example: Who wrote this and to whom? Why did they write it? What are the meanings of the significant words (original language study) and are there any references to geographical places? Are there any important words to look up in a dictionary or in a cross reference? Go over the passage repeatedly. When you are finished writing down all the questions, answer them. Even if you dont have skills in Greek or Hebrew, you can use the tools in your Bible software package to study them. Advanced programs, let you mouse over a word and have a window popup. It might include an original Greek or Hebrew definition, parsing information and other explanations. Any cross references you find will be hyperlinked allowing you to click it or mouse over it to read the passage in a popup. If your package doesnt have popups, it might have a separate window that will change based on what you mouse over or click. For example, if you want to know the meaning of the word propitiation you can single-click it if it is hyperlinked, double-click it to show a new window with a dictionary or lexicon entry, or right-click with any number of options related to looking up in other reference works. The key is using your software to answer these questions. After that, consult other works in your library that are pertinent, like commentaries, dictionaries, Christian living books that might have information about the passage. You can find this by searching. My Preparation Work Flow Here is my work flow: 1. Delineate the beginning and ending verse by reading the greater passage repeatedly. For short books I read the whole book. But for longer books I read the chapters before and after. 2. Read the passage in parallel versions and consult Logos other passage comparison tools. 3. Look up the book my passage is in (like Ephesians or Isaiah) in a Bible Dictionary and then Handbook to understand the background. I also read the introduction in a few of my favorite commentaries. That way I know the situation of the writing. 4. Translate the passage from Greek or use the passage tool in BibleWorks that lists all the significant words and their lexicon entries. Alternatively, I will do an Exegetical Guide search in Logos. Take note of significant findings that will help enhance your understanding of the text in a word file. 5. Next I look up the key words in dictionaries or I do a topic search on that word. This will help me see how it is used in other bible passages, what other authors have said about it in reference works (encyclopedias) and any other book in my digital library. If you have a large library this list could be impossible to read through in a short time. But you will learn what the most fruitful references are and go to them first. Keep taking notes. 6. Read commentaries and record findings. 7. Now it is time to outline. I used to just copy the passage into Word and do an outline of the passage. We dont have time to go into the skill of biblical outlining here. Look at Haddon Robinsons book Biblical Preaching (see it at http://wapurl.co.uk/?Q57VK8J) or Wayne McDills 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching (found at http://wapurl.co.uk/?7X76SGC) both of which 32 February 2007 Christian Computing Magazine

explain this skill well. Both BibleWorks and Logos have great biblical outlining capabilities built in. This skill helps you see the relationship of ideas to other ideas. Often, you will see the sermon outline in this outline. For poetry and narrative this skill is less useful. But still do it so that you will have to fight with the words. If you are doing a narrative passage study, then you might want to outline the story in a narrative plot line. Summarize the introduction, the rising action, the climax, the resolution, and then the resulting situation in a sentence or two for each. If there are major statements by characters that communicate a message, outline these the way you would non-narrative passages. 8. Once you have gathered all this material and outlined the passage, it is time to determine what the main idea of the passage is. Simply state the subject and the complement. The subject is best expressed in the form of a question that the passage answers. John 3:16 might have the question, How did God show us his love for the whole world? The complement or answer is, He gave his son for the sins of the world and invites us to believe in Him. This will then help you outline your passage. This process is easier when you use a word processor. You can delete and rewrite it over and over without ruining your paper and wasting your ink. This is also a good time to get away from the passage. Save all your notes in either your bible study package or a word processor file. Take some time to let your mind rest and think. Come back later and reread your notes and try again to come up with a good idea (subject/complement). For more information on the subject and complement of a passage see Haddon Robinsons book cited above. 9. Now that youve chosen a good subject and complement (your sermons main idea). Type out your sermons purpose. Why will you preach or teach this passage? 10. Now hit the web. Search for the concepts involved in your idea. This will give you some good illustrative material and will also help you find some good ideas for ways to present your message. Search good preaching and sermons sites for ideas. But while most of the online sermon sites have some bad sermons, they often will have nugget or two that can be incorporated into your message. 11. Finally, write your message. Remember to first create a full-sentence outline. Again, see a good preaching text on writing outlines. For a great book on how to craft messages that are biblical and have contemporary appeal, see Jason Moore and Len Wilsons book Digital Story Tellers. Get it here: http:// wapurl.co.uk/?T572KQT. A great way to do this is think of popular cultural references that are similar to your idea. If you are preaching on Pauls passage about milk versus meat in 1 Corinthians, you might use the old Wendys commercial line Wheres the Beef? This makes it memorable. Your web search should help in this area. 12. Finally, present your message using lots of images, video and showing the main ideas on a screen with a projector. See our sister publication (http:// www.christianav.com) for more on this area of church technology. Also consult Wilson and Moores book referenced above. Dont use PowerPoint unless you have to. Wondering why? Read Wilson and Moore.

Conclusion
The key is to let the passage speak for itself. If you follow this format, then you will be assured of having a biblical message or lesson. Over the next few months we will look at using Bible software and the Internet to study for, prepare, and present Biblical sermons and lessons more in depth. If you would like to suggest alternatives or other ideas about this process, feel free to contact me at kevin@kevinpurcell.org. Id love to share your tips and tricks for using your computer in digital bible study and sermon prep. Christian Computing Magazine February 2007 33

music and multimedia

Terry Wilhite - ccmag@terrywilhite.com

Turning Mp3s Into Podcasts

hen we last talked about podcasting, we basically established the fact that there is really no mystery in this audio craze. Simply, a podcast is nothing more than an mp3 audio file thats parked on a web server along with a file that describes what it is. That file is called an RSS file and you can think of it as being the digital equivalent of a CD cover. Its a description of contents. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (file extension .rss) and what it does is spell out in Internet language the who, what and where of the audio show contained in your mp3. This RSS file is also like a digital card catalog entry in that it points podcasting subscription software, aptly termed a podcatcher, to the mp3s position on the Net.
The ultimate objective of podcasting is for you to build a relationship with listeners so they want to listen to every episode you produce. Once you post the Internet location (URL) of your show in podcast directories such as www.itunes.com or www.christianpodder.com, listeners can discover you and begin to build a relationship. By the way, the two most popular directories among podcasters appear to be Podcast Alley (www.podcastalley.com) and Podcast Pickle (www.podcastpickle.com). (Note that these are mainstream sites that offer the gamut of content.) Granted, many local church ministries already post sermons as audio files to a web site. What makes podcasting so cool, however, is that listeners can subscribe to their favorite content, which is usually free, and have a new episode arrive in their iTunes (or other podcatching software) automatically. Step 1 (to repeat) is creating the mp3. Step two is to fill in your ID3 tags for the mp3 file. (This information is very important, because most of your listeners mp3 players use it to display the title, artist, genre and other important information about your show.) Step three is to test (vali34 February 2007 date) your RSS code and write your ID3 tags. Step four is FTP (move) your mp3 file and RSS information to your web space and finally, step five is posting the link for your shows to your favorite podcasting directories.

Step #1: Really Simple Syndication (Rss)

To discuss syndication language (RSS), we actually have to leave the arena of audio creation and go into the World Wide Web to create the proper code to position an mp3 as a podcast. To clarify, the RSS is not actually inside the mp3. RSS and mp3 are two independent files. When it comes to creating Christian Computing Magazine

podcast code, in my opinion, were in a period reminiscent of 1994, when web design software was still in diapers. In order to make this process a no brainer, I have a dream that some day there will be a publish as a podcast feature in audio programs (such as Sound Forges Audacity, a free program or Adobe Audition, the software I use) or in Internet software such as Macromedias Dreamweaver or Adobes Go Live. Raise your hand if you remember when you had to hand code HTML to simply bold a word. Were sort of at that point in creating the RSS file, but as youll discover, some software upstarts are taking up the slack.

Rss Options
Its always nice to have options where creativity is concerned and you have six main ones when it comes to the creation of the RSS file. Option one; you could turn to a do-it-all program. For example, PodProducer (http:// www.podproducer.net) is a free program that holds your hand through every single step we just mentioned, including recording your mp3, creating the RSS feed, writing show notes and uploading files to the server. Veteran podcaster Steve Webb says show notes can be as simple or as detailed as you want them to be. I include a description of what the episode is about, the artists names I use on the show, links to their websites, scripture references I use and a link for people to download the episode in case they have not subscribed. Sometimes Ill even put a photo in my show notes, Steve says. Another software choice that accomplishes all of this is called CastBlaster, owned by Podshow (www.podshow.com). Steve just signed an exclusive contract with Podshow. This software is still in Beta, but a finished version is expected soon. Option 2, you could use a blogging site to host your mp3. Most blogs already use RSS, so theres no need to write out any mysterious language oneself. This seems to be the choice of the majority of podcasters. Anybody whos fooled around with blogging or Internet news feeds immediately recognizes RSS and XML as icons that make subscribing to content reality. So it makes common sense that creating a podcast as a blog entry is the simplest way to generate the necessary code without a lot of effort. Blogging services such as www.blogger.com or www.blogspot.com include very well done, illustrated steps that show you how to publish your podcast inside a blog, so we wont repeat this information here, but I do recommend you check these sites out. Option 3, you could upload your podcast to a dedicated podcasting service. Its widely agreed that http:// www.libsyn.com is probably the best right now, but Podshow (www.podshow.com) is about to roll out some really cool stuff for podcasters were told. To clarify, Libsyn does not have a recording application. It does offer a blog for show notes with its service, however. Option 4 is to write your own RSS code. If you choose this route, there is no fancy software needed. You can use a simple text editor like Windows Notepad. What were talking about here is just a little text file with enough code and tags to describe the file contents in Internet language that points podcasting subscription software to the files position on the server. Option 5 is to find someone elses RSS file from their podcast and modify the RSS code to make it yours. If you want to look at the RSS code of the nations first Christian podcaster and today still the leader in the field, in my opinion, check out Steve Webbs RSS file at http://www.lifespringonline.com/rss.xml. When you inspect a RSS file, youll be able to pick out the parts of this Internet mumbo jumbo that needs customizing for your own file. But Im not particularly fond of modifying somebody elses code because one character accidentally erased can make the code invalid and subsequently unusable. (Steve Webb does hand code his RSS feed.) So that leaves the sixth way to create RSS code and thats with a cute little piece of inexpensive software that Ive found called Feedforall. (There are currently only a few software options for creating RSS whether the platform is Mac or PC.) Feedforalls wizard collects the information from you to build the RSS and it can even FTP your RSS file to your server. Feedforall does not do ID3 tags.

Completing Id3 Tags

It is true, you dont have to include ID3 tags but if you want your episode information to display correctly on your listeners players, you should fill them out. There is no mystery in ID3 tags. To repeat, what were talking about is the information that displays on listeners iPod or other mp3 player. In iTunes you can input this information by going to Get Info under the File menu. Youll see the tabs for information which is where the name, artist, title, etc., of your episode go and artwork which is where you can provide a photo. To clarify, the ID3 tags are not really tags, per se, they are imbedded as meta data in the mp3 file. There are several free ID3 tag editors available for download, but the one Steve Webb and I use is included with iTunes, which is free on both PC and Mac platforms. Steve says if youd like to learn more about filling out these ID3 tags, check out http://www.podcast411.com/id3tags.html for a great tutorial. Christian Computing Magazine February 2007 35

Checking Your Code And Tags

Believe it or not, were almost done! You need to make sure your code is good. In other words, you must validate it. Simply go to the web site http://rss.scripting.com/ and type in the Internet address (path) of your RSS feed. Based on Steve Webbs file, it would be http://www.lifespringonline.com/rss.xml. If it checks out bad, you must recheck all of your entries, including your MP3 file name and URL (or path). Just as the aforementioned site validates your RSS, Steve reminds us of an excellent RSS tag checker at http://www.nobodylikesonions.com/feedcheck/. RSS can be very plain, with the most basic of information, Steve explains. Each item of detail in your RSS is called a tag. Theyre not required, but theyre helpful. Its very important to remember if you want your tags to display correctly in iTunes, you complete their special tags. This is where the nobodylikesonions site is helpful. Be careful, with shows on this site, Steve warns. Not all will be family safe. But we agree the tool is very useful.

Uploading Your Files

Like the mp3 file, the RSS file will be uploaded to your server. As we mentioned, some do-it-all software handles this step for you. If youve created your own RSS code and mp3, youll have to transfer them to a server. In doing so, it is very important to remember to first upload the mp3 file, then the RSS. If a subscribers podcatcher hits your server looking for a nonexistent file, there is a good chance that the error can break the listeners subscription. Several good FTP programs are available like Cute FTP Professional, www.cuteftp.com (which is what I use) or free Coffee Cup Free FTP (which comes highly recommended). Find it at www.download.com. (FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol.)

Posting Your Podcast

Finally, you need to post your podcast link in the directories where you want to be discovered and heard. If you do a search in your favorite search engine for podcast directory, youll see that there are dozens, if not hundreds of directories, Steve explains. Adding your podcast to their list is often as easy as filling in an online form at the directorys website. Sure, theres a little learning curve here. But once youve successfully created your first podcast, the fear factor will be gone and youll be hot stuff on the World Wide Web. Most importantly, youll have a brand new path for a message the world desperately needs to hear. You can hear master podcaster Steve Webb at www.lifespringpodcast.com. And stay tuned here for Part III: Podcasting: Secrets to successful show creation and marketing. Terry Wilhite is music and multimedia editor for Christian Computing Magazine. If you are currently podcasting, hed like to hear from you about your experiences. Please write him at tfwm@terrywilhite.com.

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Information security
Ben Woelk - ben.woelk@gmail.com

Containing Spam
This is the second article in a series on the information security threats you and your family face daily. This article deals with controlling internet spamthe junk food of cyberspace!

hat is spam? Spam is like junk mail with a nasty twist (youre not harmed by opening junk mail, but spam is not nice). There are two main types of spamthose that are trying to sell you somethingmedications, fake Rolexs, etc. and those that are trying to trick you into visiting a malicious web site which will attempt to download malware (malicious software) onto your computer. This malware could do nasty things like allowing an attacker to control your computer remotely, recording all your keystrokes, and stealing your banking passwords to try to steal your identity.
How big is the problem?
Does it seem like youre getting a lot more spam than you were a year ago? You are. MessageLabs (a messaging security firm) estimates that almost 90% of all email is now spam. Spammers are also becoming more sophisticateddevising ways for spam to get past filters, whether on your home computer or at work. This article will give you information on why spam is increasing and will also give you practical recommendations on how to deal with it. may be part of bot networks (botnets) under the control of bot herders. Do you ever wonder how they got your address? There are programs on the internet that harvest email addresses for use by spammers. You know those great jokes people send you? If you look at the To: field in the mail message, youll often see dozens of other peoples addresses whove also received the joke. These harvesting programs will grab those addresses. Have you signed up for any email subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, etc? Did you read the privacy policy on the website? You may have just agreed to let them share (sell) your address with others. Have you visited MySpace or another social networking site and signed up for a free CD or video by your favorite band? There have been a number of fake offers that are there just to trick you into giving up 37

Dealing with Spam

Why do you get all of this spam? Generally, you get a lot of spam because there are millions of computers being used to send it out. Remember that attackers try to gain control of your computer. One of the main things theyll use that control for is to send out additional spam and phishing attempts. (Phishing occurs when they try to get you to enter password and account information into a website that looks just like your banks. Well talk more about phishing in another article.) Theyll turn your computer into a bot under their control. The bot will receive commands from them and will become an automated spamming machine. There are estimates that as many as 47 million computers worldwide Christian Computing Magazine February 2007

your email address. (My son signed up for what he thought was a CD from a band. The next day he had several hundred pieces of spam in his email.) Also beware of messages that tell you that you have won a contest or are eligible for a special offer for a limited time. Are you part of the problem? Is your computer part of a botnet? An estimated 80% of home computers are vulnerable to attacks and could become members of bot networks. You must protect your computer. Are you keeping your software up to date? Are you running antivirus and antispyware? Do you use a firewall? Information security people talk about defense in depth. Defense in depth is protecting your computer in multiple ways. Theres not one program or technique that will keep your computer safe by itself. (Keeping software up to date is one of the best ways to protect your computer.)

Solutions
Defending yourself against spam requires both behavioral and technical defenses. Behavioral solutions: Dont reply to spam. It just confirms that they have your email address. Just delete the spam. Be careful. Read privacy policies. Never reveal more personal information than you have to. Use alternative email addresses. Online email such as Google mail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. offer spam filtering. Some of these email programs allow you to decide how much you want filtered. You may choose to receive only mail from people in your address book. All other mail will go into your junk mail folder. Technical solutions: Desktop anti-spamthere are a number of software packages that include an anti-spam component. Anti-spam is normally bundled with other security software. CNet provides a list of software that theyve reviewed. Other spam filtersMicrosoft Outlook includes a junk mail filter. Ive found it to be of limited usefulness, but it does catch some spam. Youll want to be sure you download patches to keep it up to date. Help from your ISPa number of ISPs (Internet Service Providers) offer free security software to their customers. If you dont have another security package installed, youll want to take advantage of this offer.

Useful Links
The new face of spamIt keeps coming on, stronger than ever by William Jackson, GCN Staff (http://www.gcn.com/print/26_2/42969-1.html) CNET anti-spam reviews http://reviews.search.com/search?target=&q=antispam&tag=srch Microsoft Help keep spam out of your inbox (http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/email/fightspam.mspx) MessageLabs Intelligence 2006 Annual Security Report http://www.messagelabs.com/Threat_Watch/Intelligence_Reports/2006_Annual_Security_Report

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handheld devices
Jim Vanduzer - jimv@laridian.com

How Synced Are You?

ne of the most popular PDA/phone units right now is the Blackberry (and it has been for a while). It seems like almost everyone has one. I understand that most of Washington D.C. would come to a standstill if the Blackberry were to disappear tomorrow. So whats the attraction to these devices? Ive played with friends Blackberries and honestly I dont like the way the operating system works. Maybe thats because Ive used PocketPCs and Palms so much more.
As far as I can tell, the reason so many people like their Blackberry is because of the push mail functionality. (For those reading who dont know what push mail is, it is a system by which email is delivered immediately to the device instead of the device waiting for the user to request the email or for the mail program to periodically reach out and pull the email down from the server.) Whats the attraction of push mail? No matter where you are, you will receive your email as soon as it hits your email server. This allows you to stay in constant contact via email. For some people this is vitally important. For others, its simply an additional, more convenient way to stay in touch. Most of us dont live or die by our email. But we still like to be able to stay in constant contact should that really important email ever show up in our inbox. Those of us who dont have Blackberries can get the same sort of service. Microsoft has developed a technology called Direct Push that is available on the latest PocketPC Phone editions. They are directly targeting people who are hooked on their Blackberry (or Crackberries as Ive heard them called) by giving them the functionality that until now Blackberry had over Microsoft. But what if youre not ready to upgrade to a Motorola Q or some other PocketPC Phone edition? What if you have a Palm or older Windows Mobile Smartphone or even some other cell phone that isnt Palm Christian Computing Magazine February 2007 or PocketPC but can still handle email? There is a program available now for the rest of us that allows us to receive push email. The program is called emoze and is available (for free!) from www.emoze.com. I recently downloaded and installed this program on my desktop computer and my Windows Mobile Smartphone and PocketPC Phone edition. The setup was straightforward and simple. In fact when I installed the software on my desktop, my Smartphone was connected and the software automatically detected it and installed the client side on my Smartphone. It was simple to add another device when I connected my PocketPC Phone edition device. Since I am not running the Microsoft Exchange Server emoze connects directly to my version of Outlook (Outlook 2002) and pushes email from my Inbox to my devices. emoze runs on my desktop and con39

nects my Outlook to the emoze server. My devices are then connected to the emoze server either via my data connection or a WiFi connection. When Im connected to the emoze server all of my email is almost instantaneously synchronized to my device. If I read an email on my device it marks it as read on my desktop. If I reply to an email from my device it marks the email as having been replied to and keeps a copy of my reply in my Sent Items folder on my desktop. I have five different email addresses that are collected in Outlook. emoze allows me to select which folders in Outlook are synced. I have two addresses that I like to stay on top of all the time. These are the only two that I sync. (My only complaint so far is that when I reply from my device it attaches an ad for emoze to the bottom of the email, but this is a minor inconvenience since the service is free.) One of the things that makes me really like emoze is that it doesnt just sync email. My task list, calendar and contacts are all synced just as if I were connected through ActiveSync. I was at the doctors office the other week and entered the information for my next appointment. By the time I got home it was already in my Outlook Calendar. I dont have a secretary but if I did and was out of the office it would be easy for my secretary to keep my schedule up-to-date both on her end and mine. The same is true for my contacts and tasks. Blackberrys may do the same thing, but Ive only heard of them handling email this way. For someone who is constantly in and out of the office emoze is a great way to stay on top of organizing everything that Outlook handles. (At this point emoze does not sync Notes, but you can still keep your notes synced by plugging into your desktop and connecting to ActiveSync.) emoze lets me decide when the sync is turned on or off. So, for instance, if I dont want to hear my Youve got mail notification between 9:00PM and 6:00AM I just block out those hours. If I dont want to receive my email on Sundays I can turn off Sundays. Besides the emoze ad that is attached to my emails the only other downside that Ive noticed with emoze is that it drains my battery much more quickly. As you would expect being connected to the emoze server (either through WiFi or your cellular data connection) uses more battery life. Ive found that I need to make sure that I plug my devices in every night, which usually isnt that big a deal. emoze isnt for everyone. If you dont have access to WiFi and dont want to pay for an unlimited data connection plan, then emoze wont be very functional. But if you are regularly in a WiFi area or if you already have a data plan, then you cant beat emoze for free. For me, I love knowing that Im getting my email wherever I am and knowing that my device is always up-to-date with my desktop. Try it outhey, its free! And unlike many things that are free, emoze is extremely useful.

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February 2007

Christian Computing Magazine