Chairman John welcomed the 40 present including two new members, Margo
and Jenny.  Emil put on Wolf's treasurer hat, and gave the financial
report which indicated a healthy balance.

John opened the meeting by saying that Telstra had identified a
problem in Eudora V4.01 which is liable to get a virus through
Javascript embedded in e-mail.  Peter said that this morning he had
downloaded a 4 MB fix for this as V4.02.  It was suggested that Agent
was OK, but that MS Outlook Express and Netscape were also prone to
this problem which enters through the (mime) header.  It was proposed
that a shield program would serve a very useful purpose here.

Emil reported that the C & C removable hard disk was now ready for
service, except for sound, and that he would give a "Paintshop Pro"
demo next Friday (14/8/98) if the Training Room was not in use.  He
will post a notice to this newsgroup to advise.  In future, he may
also use the C&C RHD for program demos in the last half hour of C&C
meetings.  If the training Room is free next Monday (17/8/98), a demo
may be given at the DayNet SIG meeting.

Peter said that Direct x  V6 is now available free from MS for those
running 3D cards as it may improve their performance.  John suggested
that the new version may be included in the W98 Update pack which will
become available on 18/8/98.

Peter was having trouble with his interrupts as his video capture card
wanted to use IRQ 1 but as W98 allocated it to IRQ11, and gave IRQ1 to
the keyboard, his video capture card did not work.  It was suggested
that if there were no jumpers to allow other IRQs to be selected,
there would probably be some software patch to enable this.  Ted
advised that a record of the allocation of IRQs to each appliance
should be kept, and that W98 can produce this list.  An interesting,
but technical discussion followed, and it was proposed that John
should write an article on this topic for "16 Bits".

Mike admitted that he had been volunteered to prepare notes for
training in web page construction, and would like assistance from a
co-writer with some skill in the subject.  He was having difficulty
finding out the schedule of the training room use, and it was
generally agreed that the calendar was not working properly.

MIke bought a Logitec Mouse for $50 from Harvey Norman and has found
its wheel to be very good for scrolling, and even paging through most
documents such as Word 97, but not Word 6.  He was doubtful if there
was any value in buying a MS Intellimouse (the same thing) for $100.
Darrell said kind words about his Logitec trackball as a mouse
replacement, but confessed that it needed cleaning out recently
because of an accumulation of cat fur within it.  This was considered
unusual because cats were supposed to eat mice, rather than mice
consume cats!

Mike has been using Family Tree Maker for some time and has just
acquired the latest Version 5 of which he speaks favourably.  He gave
a description of the program, and could be coaxed to demonstrate it on
the C&C RHD in the near future.  He suggested that as there is a
strong interest in genealogy within the PCUG membership, there may be
cause for a SIG or newsgroup for this topic.

Paul cannot find GIF files in his Word in Office 95, although a friend
with identical software can, but it was proposed that
Insert/Picture/File can achieve this.  It was suggested that MS
Knowledge base, although very difficult to use, may provide some help
in this regard.  Please forward any ideas to Paul.

A member had accessed a page with trigonometrical diagrams, and
although being able to save the text, was unable to save the images,
even using a right-click.  Allan said that these diagrams were
probably drawn using Javascript which is difficult to save.

John K is preparing for his VISE trip into NW NSW where he will go to
one of the most isolated properties in the country, and will work from
a school which is 50 km from the nearest property.  Being in the
"black soil" country, light rain can make travel almost impossible,
even with a 4WD vehicle.  John considers this will be a very
challenging project, and will probably write an article for '16 Bits'
on the subject of Satellite Communication in Rural Communities.

Ann finds that her Netscape 3.01, running under W3.1, sometimes hangs
and requires a re-boot to get out.  John S observed that the computers
at the Woden Library also have the same problem.  After some
discussion, it was suggested that the problem was probably caused by
this old version of Netscape which cannot handle Javascript.  Allan
pointed out there was a  difference between Java and Javascript.

Ann still had problems with using the PC User CDs as reported at a
previous meeting.  They were not reading on a friend's 8X CDROM drive,
nor on her own 2X, so they were returned to the magazine with a full
explanation of the problem, and were replaced OK.  However, they still
would not work on her own drive, but would on Gordon's.  It was
suggested that some CDs now required high speed drives, but Darrell
said he could read them on a 2X drive OK, and proposed that not all
things work with all equipment.  Tony suggested that Ann should
replace her CD drive as it is a mechanical device, and is probably out
of alignment.  However, the feeling was that it was becoming necessary
to keep updating equipment to make use of newer gear.

There was some discussion on the reliability of computers and their
peripherals, and Ted said that, with their complexity, he is happy
when the computer starts OK!  Emil told of one person who's screen
displays a prayer during start-up, and many wanted to know the words
of the prayer.

There were more reports of problems when running Nortons, particularly
with W98.  Darrell has a stable system because he has proven equipment
and uses latest drivers etc.  He advised to "keep things simple" -
running Nortons is OK, but it consumes memory .... and the more things
in memory the more potential for trouble.  It sounds so logical !

Kryn has 480 MB free on a partitioned HDD and wanted to know if he can
add W98.  It was suggested that he should instead install W98 over
W95, but utilise the uninstaller if unhappy with W98.

Allan provided information on CrossPad - a PDN (= Portable Digital
Notepad) which was not able to be introduced before the meeting
closed.  CrossPad is a device allowing handwritten notes and sketches
to be transferred to a PC.  You can scribble on the pad, including
diagrams, upload to a PC by cable to a COM port, which converts the
handwritten notes to type which can then be edited, printed,
cut-and-pasted  to other applications etc.  Further information can be
found at:		www.cross-pcg.com .

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
Once again, sorry for the late posting ...........  Neville.

>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<
Neville Anderson  -  nevander@pcug.org.au
* Keep your ambition within your reach, but beyond your grasp *
Coffee & Chat Homepage at: www.pcug.org.au/~rcook/c&c.htm
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