Meeting 26 Jun 2001



		Minutes of the Meeting held 10 July 2001


1. Win Explorer - AnnG
Ann said that her Windows Explorer display started at C: instead of My Computer. A suggestion was that when many folders have been created this is what happens.

2. EasyCleaner duplicate files - AnnG
Ann reported that EasyCleaner found many duplicate files. What should she do with them? Leave well alone was the response. Many programs put files in various directories and then need them when restarted. In these days of very large disks the wastage of space in duplicates is negligible.

3. Win 3.1 as an I'net system - RodB
Owen very kindly sent me the necessary files to establish the environment, but not unfortunately the old versions of Netscape and Eudora that were originally part of that set up. Does anyone still have copies of those?

4. Datevalue function in Excel 97 - RodB
I hadn't been able to get this function to behave. Among suggestions made at the meeting was to check the format of the receiving cell. This provided the clue to what after some further fiddling turned out to be the real case. The
format of the input cell needs to be 'text'. 'General' won't do, because a date in such a cell is numeric and as such inappropriate input to datevalue. The date must be entered into a cell already formatted as 'text' for it to useable by datevalue. Converting a date cell from 'general' to 'text'
surprisingly gives the numeric value, which is what I wanted all along. Ah, well!

5. Lotus Smartsuite - Any good? - Allan
Various alternatives to Microsoft Office were discussed, including the free Star Office thought to be very worthwhile. RodB has CDs for older versions of Smartsuite if needed for a trial.

6. Shareware backups - Recommendations? - Allan
Allan has devices attached via USB and FireWire, which Windows Backup sees but will not write to. I don't think the meeting had anything particular to offer.

7. a) Digital Cameras
John writes: The August edition of the PC User magazine contains articles relating to Digital Cameras. The same publishing company has now issued another pocketbook - The Digital Camera. It costs $14.95 and includes a CD.
    b) Upgrade PC book - JohnA
    c) Mice tales
John writes again: The strange coincidence regarding wooden mice and the name Robert Thompson will be written up and submitted to 16 Bits.

8. Memory mayhem - MobyJ
Jim writes: The present low prices for SDRAM sticks has made many interested in upgrading their RAM.
     A note of caution comes from an article at page 80 of the August PC User magazine and the accompanying table at page 22. It would seem from this that sticks of SDRAM can be either single-sided or double-sided and that some motherboards can only accept the single-sided variety.
    The article's message is to know the motherboard specifications (and also what is the board's maximum addressable memory) and whether the memory you are proposing to purchase is consistent with this.
    The article explains why this is so.

9. 2 Anti-virus programs - Margaret
Margaret writes: I already have Norton Anti-Virus on my computer which I cannot upgrade as it is a copy and because I received this strange email from a friend of mine thought it might contain a virus.
I saw in the previous Cand C notes that someone had mentioned this AVg6.0 Free Edition as being a good one to try.  So I downloaded it and had two programmes running at the same time.
They both worked very well at their job.
Also I could not use Enditall programme as it was blocked by my second anti-virus programme.
When I asked this question at the present meeting was told that I really should not run two anti-virus programmes at the same time.
Well I have uninstalled Avg6.0 Free Edtion from my computer.
I am quite happy using Norton products on my machine as Norton Utilities has saved me on many occasions.

10. RJ45 Net - crossover or hub? - AlK
If there are only two computers to be networked crossover is fine. Al asked if a hub could be used if all the cables connected to it were crossover.
Nobody knew, but severe doubt was expressed. There was some discussion of the merits 100 Mb Ethernet as against 10 Mb and the consequent value of a 100 Mb hub. Al also wondered about running multiple systems with only one screen and keyboard. I have been in an environment where this was done via a switch box, so that when a system needed the peripherals they could be
switched to it.

11. Update experience - MikeD
There was general discussion about the NetGear kit Mike had bought at the market. He remarked that the software supplied with it appeared to need immediate connection to the Internet on system start up. He couldn't find a way of stopping it.

12. PC User - Jeff
Jeff reported that the August issue was particulary useful and not just for its discussion of image tools. There are useful articles on memory, setting up Outlook Express and Windows management tools (supplied on the CDs).


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