Minutes of C&C Meeting 15 December 1998 Co-ordinator John welcomed 39 attendees, including newcomers Chris, who was keen to hear any ideas on a good program (preferably British) for compiling family trees; and Doug, a recent computer owner interested in the Net and in bridge, who hopes to absorb some wisdom from attending C&C. Jim offered a vote of thanks to all the experts at PCUG and C&C who put in so much hard work for others during the course of a year. This was warmly and unanimously approved. Gordon said that during 1999, he would be running W95 training courses at the PCUG Centre on Tuesdays, alternating with the C&C meeting. He also announced that everyone was invited to a $5 dinner at the Labor Club to follow the Stuffing Night on Monday 21 December 1998. Wolf reported that the C&C Group was well in funds, and gave a report on expenditures over the past year. Main topics covered: 1. Report on PCUG Executive Meeting 2. On-line share trading programs 3. Colour/frame changes on monitor screen 4. Server connection problem 5. Problem reading older CD ROMs 6. How to return to previous default fonts 7. Using browsers while having multiple ISP accounts 8. How to keep your PC awake 9. Genealogy programs. 1. Report on PCUG Executive Meeting In his capacity as Liaison Officer between the PCUG Executive and C&C, Ted gave a report on the Executive's latest meeting. The Executive comprises a range of most professional people, and finances are sound. Ted warned that the PCUG Centre's CD ROM burner/scanner had contracted a virus, probably through unauthorised use. Anyone who burnt a CD ROM in the last six weeks should check for the CIH virus (this activates on the 26th of the month when it clutters the computer's memory). Theft from the Centre meant that we should protect our valuables. We asked whether the Centre should be made more secure, for example by asking people coming in to show their membership card. The Group agreed this should be put to the Executive. Anyone buying a 56K modem should enquire from PCUG which ones were compatible with the PCUG server. A list of compatible modems will soon be on the Homepage. 2. On-line share trading programs John recommended E-trade, a US share-trading system franchised in Australia. Users need to have a minimum balance of $1000 to qualify for free share tracking and other free benefits. Shares Magazine for December has a useful article on on-line trading. 3. Colour/frame changes on monitor screen Anne reported that following her grandson's use of a video game, a change to the background colour/frame size has affected all programs on her computer. Allan suggested Anne use the wheels for vertical size and positioning. John advocated squirting "Contact Renew" into the controls or twiddling all controls. Emil added that older videos cards came with a floppy, which should be checked, along with the manual, to find the test program specified for this problem. 4. Server connection problem Anne reported that her machine disconnects from TIP when, using Netscape, she tries to go back to the previous window. Discussion revealed that although the combination of Windows 3.1 or W 3.11 with Netscape 3.02 will provide reasonably stable connection, NS 3.04 is preferable. Anything older than NS 3.02 used with W 3.11 will cause connection problems. 5. Problem reading older CD ROMs Jim used an older CD ROM in a DVD reader and got a "fatal exception", while newer CD ROMs were read perfectly. Chess advised him to read the CDs on the reader/writer instead of the DVD, to see if the problem is with the DVD. Gordon noted that current CDs from magazines often won't work in older readers. 6. How to return to previous default fonts To go back to your previous default fonts, reinstall the print driver – using the W95 CD, delete printer and add a new printer. 7. Using browsers while having multiple ISP accounts Kevin, with two ISP accounts, has connection problems. John advised that the proxies need to be set manually. Because of the "browser wars" it is difficult to change the default browser. Emil will post information on how to do this successfully. 8. How to keep your PC awake The question was raised, how to enable power-saving functions without finding certain drives have died after not being used for a while. Power-saving should be enabled in c-mos then let Windows enable power-saving functions. However, it is not recommended for non-experts to fiddle with c-mos. 9. Genealogy programs. The free shareware Brother's Keeper was recommended to Chris, as well as Family Treemaker, a US program costing $20. The next meeting will be on 12 January 1999. HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND GOOD NEW YEAR TO ALL! JL 17/12/98 790 ********************************************************** Coffee & Chat Page of archives are at: http://www.pcug.org.au/pcug/candc/c&c.htm.. These Archives are searchable. ***********************************************************
Return to the Index or the Coffee and Chat Page