MEETING DATE: February 17, 2012

This month’s General Meeting will be the first of three Winter Webinars, where our speaker will be with us without the hassle of weather or precarious trips from other parts of town. We have been able to book Carey Holzman, who we became acquainted with after Mike Smith spoke to us last year on some exciting free applications from the Internet. Carey is known for his high-energy, fun and participatory presentation style. Using Skype, we will be able to interact with Carey while he remains in the comfort of his Arizona home. Carey tells us that there are no scripts or rehearsals and, as a result, no two presentations are ever the same. His presentation will be unique and tailored to our interests and computer needs. It will be worth our time to learn from Carey, and to have him answer our computer questions on a one-to-one basis. Perhaps you’re thinking of installing a home network, or adding some software utilities to your existing computer. Sometimes the answers can be surprising, but always useful, spoken in plain English and down to Earth.

Carey Holzman is an amazing personality. Carey spent six years as the co-host of the nation’s longest running, nationally syndicated radio talk show on technology and computers, and is the author of The Healthy PC, a book from McGraw/Hill (published in 2003) and has written for Smart Computing Magazine, Tom’s Hardware Guide and countless other tech web-sites and industry magazines. He is most proud of being the first journalist to bring media attention to the bad capacitor plague that affected many computers in the early 2000’s.  He has also taught as an instructor at Glendale Community College, in Glendale, AZ, and currently teaches making free videos available on his YouTube channel, which can be found at www.YouTube.com/CareyHolzman. His free digital broadcast (podcast), Tech-Vets (Veterans of Technology), is a unique show about the details of running a computer repair business. He is co-hosted by Mike Smith of The MikeTechShow. Between them, they have more than 50 years of PC repair experience for both residential and business use. Tech-Vets can be heard through your computer, at your convenience, at www.Tech-Vets.com.

On his website, Carey mentions that he can repair many computer problems anywhere in the world. He uses LogMeIn Rescue and TeamViewer to connect remotely with clients, and enjoys the experience of getting things working again. Carey also operates his own computer sales, upgrade and repair center in Glendale, AZ, which he started in the mid-1990’s. He lives with his wife Michelle and his three dogs – Jake, a 14-year old Belgian Malinois, Max, a 4-year old, huge German Shepherd and FlufferNutter, a 2‑year old Chow/Golden mix who was rescued from the dog pound just in the nick of time!

Jobs are made a lot easier when you have the right tools. For PC Techs, these tools are often found in software. Carey has put together a comprehensive list of all of his favorite tools. He will show us some of these – they are all free. In this way, we will learn some of the secrets of the successful computer technician.

The bulk of Carey’s presentation will be tuned to BCUG’s computer interests. If you have a question on any aspect of computing, including hardware, software, configuration, etc., Carey will answer you.

With his busy speaking schedule, we were happy to be able to get a piece of his time when he agreed to do this presentation.

We are looking forward to an exciting, different type of meeting. Although we are hoping our weather is fine that evening, we are looking forward to virtually meeting Mr. Holzman and learning more about his ideas and vast experience with computers. We may also have a few laughs along the way of learning something new.

We hope to see you at the February meeting.