Minutes of C&C Meeting - 24 February 1998

Co-ordinator Alf welcomed 36 members and attendees, including visitors
Rodney, Allan and Barry.  He also welcomed Darrell back to the Group.  He
announced that next Tuesday's lunch (2 March) will be held at the Woden
Trades Union Club.  Ken sought a taker for his free pass to next week's PC
exhibition in Sydney.

Wolf reported that the Group has $757.79 in funds.  He called for
volunteers to man the PCUG stand at ACT Alive on Monday 16 March any time
between 10h and 17h.  Ring Wolf on 6258 5250 if you can contribute.

The tip.coffee-chat post of 18 February from Chess about W95 maintenance is
to be published in Sixteen Bits.  For similar advice, John recommended
Rescue 95; Mike the W95 CD.

Leigh has reinstalled W95b, then Eudora, but cannot get Netscape to bring
up a particular URL.  Darrell said a proxy setting was needed.  The list of
proxies is on Nhan Tran's TIP Web Help Pages at tip.net.au/tip/help (listed
also in Sixteen Bits on Nhan's page).  Owen suggested going to PCUG
homepage "Help", then using the search facility to look for proxies.  

Jeff is getting spurious error messages, both in IE4 and in a folder he has
created.  Darrell suggested upgrading W95, as the process will entail a
check of every file for corruption.

Trevor asked how to disable a single clip in an active desktop.  He was
advised to check the "Help" facility.

Mike reported that Zipmagic, a 30-day free program he is using, has been
called the best utility ever written.  The program changes zipfiles into
folders, which can then be manipulated like ordinary files.  Emil is also
impressed with this program, which integrates with Windows Internet
Explorer, can be turned on and off, and is easy to use.  The program costs
US$40.--.

At the last Computermart, Mike bought a joystick with a throttle and four
buttons for $20.--, which would be ample for Flight Simulator.  The 15
March Computermart will probably have more.

Mike's Netscape 4.04 is changing the name of DotExe files he is downloading
to DotZip.  Any suggestions as to what can be causing this?

Elizabeth's turquoise background colour has changed to black – what can be
done?  Advice included:  hit restart; R click desktop and select properties
to see a sample of what can be changed; save and date decisions.

Elizabeth has lost an attachment to an e-mail.  Advice was, that unless the
sender has forgotten to attach the file, the attachment will be in either
the end folder or the attachments sub-folder, identified by date.

Wolf and Emil have taken Wolf's c-drive (with only 300MB free) to Jenny
Craig.  It now has 900MB free.  How did he lose all that space in the first
place?  Originally when reinstalling, duplication took place.  In answer to
Ted, Wolf explained that he and Emil have now reformatted, then
reinstalled.  John recommended the Advanced Space Handler (ASH) program,
which monitors available space.  Mike lost space when converting from NS
bookmarks (128KB) to IE bookmarks (6MB).  Allan recommended the Columbine
Bookmark Manager.

In a discussion of W95 file deletion, John noted that the command
"uninstall" does not delete the file from the "add/remove software" list,
nor from the registry.  This operation can be performed by the Uninstaller
program.  

Leigh said that when reinstalling W95 he cannot reinstall Word 6.  A
message says he requires share.exe but he cannot install this.  Darrell
suggested making a fake share.exe.

Leigh raised the issue of Internet access via Linux.  Darrell praised
Linux.  It was developed originally for public benefit rather than profit,
but is alas not easy to use.  He uses it himself as a gateway to two other
computers and as a print server.  There is a Linux Users' Group meeting at
ANU on 26 February.

Lew raised the question of indelible ink for print cartridge refills.  Anne
quoted "Computer Market" February 1997 p. 40 which said that for a 210
Bubble Jet, superior stamp-pad ink worked perfectly.  Ted's Canon is on its
fifth refill:  he tests print indelibility by immersing samples in water. 
Some samples completely disappear.  Mike noted that for those who do not
want to mess with refills, new cartridges sell for $39.-- at computer
shows.

Anne could not get into Free Agent or Eudora using TCP Man.  Emil went
through every element for her and found she was not connected, though
procedures had been correctly followed.  She had to reinstall.  Darrell
noted the importance of proper shut-down procedures to avoid corrupting
some files.  

Jim said that if Crashguard 2 is installed, the command "end task" will
unfreeze a locked system.  Crashguard can be downloaded free from
Symantec.com.au.

Darrell raised the usefulness of PCUG's Internet starter kit.  Allan said
that the kit is needed to support basic access, which is provided as PCUG
policy:  there was no plan to get rid of basic access.  He added that the
technical aspects were being constantly revised – see Sixteen Bits for the
applicable proxy settings.

Still on the issue of the PCUG starter kit, Emil suggested the Committee
should have these antique programs with their complex documentation
upgraded.  The original idea was not that users should stay with these
programs.  Allan agreed that a one-page description was needed, and said
the Committee was discussing the starter kit.  Mike was in favour of cost
recovery.  John and Alf asked whether PCUG's policy is to provide an ISP
service; to encourage non-users to become users; or to provide a service
for enthusiasts.  Jim said that given the Group's commitment to encouraging
the Senior Citizens to master the use of Internet, it would be inconsistent
to claim that PCUG was only for experienced users.  Darrell noted the
number of Internet experts present.  He said that it was pointless for PCUG
to reinvent the wheel – the problems PCUG has in serving different users,
have already been answered by ISPs.  The PCUG should implement similar
solutions.

Discussion was still going strong when Alf brought the meeting to a close.

JL 25/2/98 995

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