The meeting at the PCUG was chaired by JohnS; notes by RodB. 1. TerryB reported on files sizes achievable by various combinations of word processors and PDF writing software. In particular, PDF995 achieved a PDF file a minimum of 33.5% the size of the original and Fineprint a file 18.0% of the original. Different results were achieved depending on the word processor initially used. In the ensuing discussion it was clear that the results will also vary widely depending on the nature of the original file (i.e. type of graphics, fonts used). The objective of this compression is to produce files suitable for transmission via email and for storage on web sites where size may influence cost. 2. a. BrockB spoke of annoyances he was having when trying to use Outlook Express in offline mode. The recommendation of the meeting was to pay particular attention to OE options. Some of these have unexpected effects. b. He also said that he has a disk showing in Windows Explorer as W:, but that it is inaccessible and he has no equivalent physical drive or partition. A suggestion was that some programs on installation created a disk assignment of this nature and stored installation data there. If this data was deleted without removing the assignment this symptom could result. A check of disk sharing settings might find the problem. c. Brock asked whether he could pre-pay TIP access before his old subscription runs out.. Subs. may be purchased at anytime. TIP itself will warn when a set calendar period remains before expiry. Users may also set usage triggers for such warnings. There was some related discussion about payment methods. d. On his W95 system Brock is running a chain of Scanner, ZIP drive and printer on his parallel port. After every reboot a spurious page is printed. So many devices was thought to be a doubtful configuration. His printer has USB capability, but this would require either a full update of W95 to its final level or the installation of W98 or newer. Another suggestion was to add a parallel port adapter to the system. 3. GregB asked if anyone had experience of charting in Excel with dual variable axes. Several people said they had done it, but nobody could remember exactly how. 4. KenM wanted to know how to scan editable text. The meeting mentioned that there are several commercial OCR packages available one of which is usually supplied with any scanner. There are probably free or shareware alternatives available on the 'net. 5. AlK wanted to know how to ping using other than an IP address. Ping will work happily with a domain name. The meeting noted that ping will not provide a reliable estimate of communication time with a remote site, because of the inherent variability of packet routeing. Using the traceroute command can be illuminating in this respect. At this point whiteboard questions ran out. The main points covered thereafter were: TonyS wanted to know if aybody else had experienced defrag suddenly becoming very fast and how could that happen. The answers seemed to be "yes" and "don't know". There was some general discussion of the best way to compress images for 'net use with emphasis on the JPEG format. Real Player has caused people problems with their systems, but there is no alternative player for the streaming format that it handles. This was seen as a black mark for Microsoft. MobyJ reported that a new securiy update has been available for IE6 since March 28th. JohnS expressed satisfaction with Legacy 4, a genealogy program, and there was then some discussion of genealogy issues. CharlieK mentioned that Norton had picked up viruses when Etrust opened files containing them and yet had not found them. The meeting agreed that scanning with more than one virus checker was a good idea, but having them both active at the same time probably was not. The question "What is a firewall?" was asked. RodB explained that the protocols that programs use to communicate with one another work through numbered ports (e.g. Telnet - 21; HTML - 80) and that firewalls could be used to block the use of ports in either direction. They are called firewalls by analogy with their namesakes that prevent dangerous fires passing from one side of a wall to the other. ****************************************************** Coffee & Chat Page, inluding archives of past meetings http://www.pcug.org.au/pcug/candc/ ******************************************************
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