Minutes of the Meeting held 14 August 2001


After counting half way through I counted 37 people.

MikeD was given the mallet to control the crowd and I was deemed to be
note collater. 

1. The Australian - Emil: A World first for Australia.

The complete replica of The Australian newspaper - including
supplements and magazines - is being published in pdf format and
readable using a free program called NewsStand.  The online newspaper
is available for subscription at prices marginally higher than the
news stand prices, But it is available anywhere in the world at 4am
Australian Eastern time.

While it is a great boon to Australian expatriates the online edition
has features that will make appealing for many readers including those
with access to the printed edition, principally, you can search the
entire newspaper, extract articles and archive the newspaper for later
research.

Apparently, two leading newspapers, the New York Times and the
International Herald Tribune are due to publish similar editions in
the coming weeks.

It also appears that the economics of producing and making available
such online editions is very favourable. If the online editions are
well received by the public, it is likely that most 'serious'
newspapers in the world will take that route.


2. Inoculate IT unspecified error - Peter

Peter said that he was using the free version of InoculateIT,
regularly downloading virus signatures using the auto downloader. This
morning, for the first time, he was unable to download the signatures
but instead got an 'unspecified error' message. He asked if anyone
else had the same difficulty. Someone else at the meeting had the same
experience but was able to solve the problem by downloading the virus
signatures from the website, http://antivirus.cai.com, rather than by
using the auto downloader.

3. Connecting Canon S400 - Kryn

4. Control | Alt | Del - Kevin

MobyJim contributed the following:
Here is a contribution to item 4 which touched on the programs that
are loaded on Windows startup and unbeknown beaver away in the
background.
"The Ctrl+Alt+Del command reveals what programs are humming away in
the closet at the particular time and it is the practice of some to
close all but Explorer and Systray as a prelude to running Defrag.
There is a utility in Windows itself (at least in Windows Me) that
tells you what programs are loaded on startup and gives you the
opportunity to disable those you don't want to start up automatically.
It is the System Configuration Utility and can be accessed in two ways
I know of.

(a). From the desktop, the path is Start>Programs>Accessories>System
Information. From Tools on the system information menu, select System
Configuration Utility. From the system configuration utility menu,
select Startup. All is then revealed.

(b). From the desktop, the path is Start>Run. Type 'msconfig' and
click OK.
The system configuration utility presents itself.
Whether disabling a particular program from starting up is a good idea
or could lead to grief is another question.

Jim

5. Lotus 1,2,3 macros - Derek

6. Defrag - safe mode, clean boot Win98 SE - Charles

7. VB Course - Rick
A lot of people failed to notice that Rick had set up a computer in
the corner of the room that could switch a fan on and off via the
parallel port. This was demonstrated to some while people were still
arriving, and so Rick unconsciously hid his light/fan under a bushell
and didn't demonstrate it during the meeting.

8. Internet Explorer - Trevor. 
The question I raised was how to uninstall IE6 beta and install IE5.5
in its place. Consensus among those present appeared to be to format
C: and reinstalling the OS. 

I had tried the usual uninstall methods with Windows uninstaller but
there were dregs of IE6 there when I tried to install 5.5. The install
program came up with the dialog that there was a higher edition in
place already and didn't offer me the choice of installing the core
parts of 5.5.

Vernon sent me a message as follows:
The Silicon Kid in the Canberra Chimes on Monday had a detailed
article on uninstalling & re-installing IE - it involves downloading
and memorising a MS KB article on the subject, as I recall.

Post script: I formatted drive C: on Wed or Thu and reinstalled
software. Naturally, the computer starts more quickly than it used to
and there were no problems installing IE 5.5.

Thank you to KenM who addressed the issue of what to do, but it was
all over before I received the messages.

9. EricF addressed the problem of hearing in the environment of the
club and sent the following message afterward:

From: "EricF 
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 16:36:13 +1000

BlankHello all, 
John will you please speak to Mike about changed arrangements of rooms
for next meeting.I shall be absent but Gloria will stand in for me.

Mike I have progressed enquiries about the acoustic loop idea for the
hearing defective.
From enquires at Hoyts Cinemas it appears that all new public
auditoriums eg churches and the like by Statute are required to fit
the acoustic system.

I spoke to the builder  at the new additions to the Helenic Club who
confirmed the reqirement ,a Helenic Club Committee member in
attendance said he would put the idea to the next builders site
meeting to have a loop fitted to the new confererce rooms and that
PCUG would be welcome to have the use of the new facility.

The builder said that it is no great expense to retro-fit an existing
room with a small diameter diamerer cable which runs around the
perimeter of the room at skirting board level or at high wall level.

There are two methods of accessing the loop,
(a) by direct in put to a hearing aid with no external connections 
(b) or by the older system which is seldom used now which requires the
user to wear a pair of head phones which pick up the signal from the
loop but are not directly connected to the loop.

The following are firms who do this sort of retrofitting work,
E Taylor 16 Dundas Court Phillip
O'Donnald Griffen Fyshwick
Hay Day Fyshwick
and there others.

I have spoken with the Manager of the Irish Club who said there would
be no difficulty with PCUG either using a directional microphone wired
to their existing sound system,or if we chose,to fit an acoustic loop.

If our group would like it I will follow the matter up when I return
next week.
=============

Gavin B said the following:

The URL of the "Get that Spammer " site is
http://www.triode.net.au/~forever/gspam.html
This is a copy of a site that used to be run from Monash University
and is an comprehensive collection of methods of tracking down
spammers. on the issue:

Re hearing problems at C&C's (I had to leave before the end)-
I described the problem to one of my sons who had had many years of
experience in the provision of audiovisual facilities for meetings.
The following is a brief summary of his response.

A directional microphone connected to the room audio system will not
work (directional mikes are only useful for recording).
The best way to handle the problem is for a chairman to have a
microphone and for him to repeat the questions & comments.

General points -

1. The fewer speakers you have on, the more intelligible it will be.
Limit yourself to only one pair of speakers in the area that people
are speaking from. This is likely to be a significant improvement.

2. Increase the treble. This increases the sibilance and it tends to
cut through the reverb.

3. Use condenser microphones - They tend to have a crisper sound.

4. If the system doesn't have tweeters, put some in. This is cheap and
it will make a massive difference.
================

Thank you to all. Trevor


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