Opening:	

  After a long trip around the USA, Alf McMicken returned, and was
promptly guided into the Group Leader's chair to conduct the meeting.
As his memory had been re-formatted while on holiday, he asked that
each speaker precede his/her question/comment with their name.  (This
would not be a bad idea for each meeting if a name badge is not worn -
Ed.).
There were three new members, Barry, Trevor and Bill, with a total
attendance of 35.
Alf's brief report advised of the cheap petrol in the US, and that
hardware was about the same price as here but that software was
cheaper.

Announcements:

* Gloria received an e-mail from Greg O'Regan in Scotland, soon to
leave for Ireland..

* Jim advised that Kryn Versteeg was in John James Hospital, Garran
Ward, Room 56, and is recovering so well after a spinal fuse operation
that he will be returning home on Friday.

Discussions and Problems:

* (Treasurer) Wolf presented the financial report showing a healthy
balance.  It was proposed, and accepted that we should have a group
Melbourne Cup luncheon at the PCUG Centre, if agreed, and that our
group funds could subsidise the catering.  Partners will be invited,
but Wolf will develop the idea further, and report next meeting.  As
he will be calling for an estimate of numbers then, C & C'ers should
consider the proposal in the meantime, AND CONSULT WITH THEIR
PARTNERS.
With a smile, Jim apologised for his anticipated non-attendance as he
will be in Melbourne on the day ... and at the Flemington Racecourse
too.     So he will have to wait till next year!

* Wolf passed around a leaflet explaining ACTEW's Broadband
Communications Network for Canberra (TransAct), but we were wondering
how much progress had been made on the project.

* John sought information on HP printer maintenance, but no one
admitted to having pulled one apart.  Suggestions on cleaning methods
were offered, including one using "Sandpaper", which is NOT the type
used by carpenters, but a proprietary line for printers.  The need for
the correct storage of paper to maintain proper moisture content was
stressed.

* John also had a problem merging transaction files in Quicken and
Trevor gave some suggestions, but it was agreed that financial
programs can often be tricky unless proper accountancy practises were
used.  The relative merits of the various financial packages were
discussed, and it was generally agreed that Quicken was superior to
Money, partly because it was more 'international', although
accountants frequently preferred MYOB.  A few members said that a
training course would be quite useful, and it was then learned that
David Schwabe has been considering whether there would be much
interest in such a course.  So we may hear more about this soon.

The discussion on accounting practises drew out a very recent story
from Jim about how his bank had made a significant error in his
accounts, and when it was pointed out to them, they admitted it and
then corrected it in accordance with their usual procedures.
Unfortunately, their method of correction cost Jim $150 in FID and BAD
taxes.  There will probably be further discussions with the bank on
this matter, but Jim's advice was to keep a close watch on your own
bank for similar operational errors.

* Elizabeth wanted to know ways to remove the headers from Eudora for
printing, but when told that the excised version could not be printed
directly from the clipboard, it was suggested that the best way was to
export the e-mail to a word processor for editing, and then printing.

* Bob raised the subject of cookies, which is always good for some
'enthusiastic' discussion.  Some sites overload you with their cookies
from which they can learn your habits relating to their site material,
and may even get to know what software you have, and its legal status.
Some however, give you a cookie (if you accept it) so that on your
next visit, they will give you a different presentation etc.

* Gavin is a subscriber to four list servers, but has not received any
mailing lists for the past week, although he is receiving e-mail OK.
Allan explained some of the problems and intricacies with list
servers, and various suggestions were made to resolve the problem.
These included ascertaining if his subscription was still current, or
unsubscribing then resubscribing. As unsubscribing is not as
straightforward as one would think, it was recommended that the
original e-mail from the list server should be preserved as it gives
the correct mode and address for this action.

* Peter is having a problem with Microsoft Front Page, but no one was
able to provide a solution.

* Keith thanked Emil for his help with his tax return, but advised
that the ATO said that they were unable to pay the refund into the
nominated bank account, so were sending a cheque instead.  After
checks confirmed the accuracy of account details, the ATO said it was
the computer's fault.  This response seemed sufficiently familiar to
draw "...the cheque's in the mail" type comments, and mirth.

* Jim offered a solution to the problem which can arise when a user
subscribes to two ISPs.  The program "NetSwitcher" V 2.07 for W95 has
been successful for this, and can be acquired from Tucows, or URL
	http://www.bysnet.com/netsw.html

* Gordon brought along a fount of fonts requested by an absent member,
and drew our attention to one of the paging problems on printers which
can be caused by the difference between the international A4 paper
size and the 'American A4'!

* Barry enquired if his son could use his TIP access, and this was
confirmed as OK, but some thought it may be quite courageous to
provide a login ID and password to a teenager.

* Owen wanted to talk to somebody who knew something about
Macintosh's.  Either they didn't know, or didn't wish to talk about
them, except for a few unflattering comments.

* Alf closed the meeting with this week's words of wisdom:

   " We can't solve everything, but we can talk about it "


----------------------------------------         ___
nevander@pcug.org.au                          >(o|o)<
Neville Anderson, PCUG (ACT)            ----oOO--(_)--OOo----
Canberra,   ACT   Australia.
Tel: +61 2 6258 2332

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