The meeting was at the PCUG Centre; chaired by JohnS; notes by RodB. This
final version of the notes has various spelling and typing mistakes
corrected and a number of comments from members added.

Eleven items (some with with multiple parts) found their way onto the
whiteboard, but there were some preliminary discussions before the items
were addressed.

AllanM announced that the PCUG had had coffee cups made up complete with the
Group's logo. He encouraged members to purchase them (at $5 each) and use
them in public so as to tempt observers to become members. To do this
successfully, drinkers will need to use their left hands to hold the mugs.

There was a proposal that C&C should use some of its funds to acquire a
scanner with slide and negative scanning capability and make it available to
the Centre. Members present agreed that a review of available products
should be made and a recommendation be put at a future meeting. AllanM said
he would do this.

At the request of JohnS, RodB gave a short report on the TransACT
presentation at the previous evening's general meeting. He said that he had
found the presentation very useful in that it covered the design philosophy
of TransACT. TransACT had said that take up of its services had been much
higher than expected by the business plan. Indeed, the take up rate compared
very favourably indeed with that of most countries (admttedly not a very
valid comparison). MikeD added the comment that TransACT appeared to be at
least five years away from solving the problems of connecting suburbs with
underground cabling.

1a. AnneG said that she was unable to change the name of files that she
scanned in. All that happened was that a number suffix to the name went up
for each new file. This is a consequence of the software used to run the
scanner. If images are acquired directly by a user program then that program
can be used to assign the name rather than the scanner program. This is more
flexible.

1b. Anne also has an icon for a CD drive that is carrying the name of a CD
that had been mounted in it. it was recommended that the icon be deleted and
a new one created when no CD is in the drive.

1c. She also reported that Real software was always asking to be updated.
Well, yes. That is what it does unless its options are changed.

Anne corrects my report: "1c. is not quite right.  When I was on the web and
wanted to download some
software I was put onto Real Download.  In time past I had downloaded Real
Jukebox and Real saw fit to put additional icons on my desktop--Real
Player, Real Download, Real Comm,as I remember--and I just left them there
feeling if it made Real happy who was I to complain.
When I came home from the meeting I removed the unused icons and removed
any hint of those programs from the hard drive.  Problem solved I would say
as I haven't heard anything about Real Download since."


2a. TrevorF wanted to know how to remove the logoff user line in his start
menu. TweakUI was said to be the ideal tool for this.

2b. He also wanted to know how to manage the Autorun setting for his CD
drive. This can be done in Device Manager. On an individual basis Autorun
can be prevented if Shift is held down when a CD is loaded.

Trevor now reports: "Both of these suggestions worked and my system is now
fine. (I
think)..."

3. Alan? wanted to know if there was a way to set up a key so that he could
avoid always having to key a long string such as an email address. A program
called allchars.exe was recommended by TerryB. Yankee Clipper was also
mentioned. An alternative approach might be to set up a text file with much
of your commonly used input and cut and paste from it.

DerekJ comments: "I use two programs which are both suitable for this type
of task:

'Shortkeys 2000'  from Insight Solutions www.shortkeys.com which I use
extensively for addressing envelopes, entering email addresses and URLs
and
'Classic Clipboard' from www.easysoftwareuk.com which operates in a
different manner and I use it for other purposes - one is to insert chunks
of html code.

I can recommend either or both."

LanceC asks: "Anyone know how to include newlines in the AllChars.Exe
"macro" text
eg for my name and address?"

4a. JohnS mentioned that the Microsoft Valued Professional site
www.tomsterdam.com/InsideOE had a great deal of useful information and tips
about Outlook Express.

4b. John also recorded his frustration at finding that the telephone line of
one of his clients was pair gained. He said that Telstra will never tell you
if this is the case, but he had found that if the Bigpond ADSL site is
checked for availability of ADSL on the given phone number and it is not
available when expected then it is likely that the number is pair gained.

5. TedMac mentioned a very interesting article that appeared in The
Industrial Physicist about the connection of snail neurons to silicon and
thus the incorporation of biological material in a computer.

6. KenM reported extreme difficulty in formatting a new disk. It appeared
not to be recognised by his system. The meeting recommended careful checking
of jumper and CMOS settings. Ken thought he had done all this.

Ken now reports: "Rechecked and rechecked cable connections, still no joy.
Suspect the drive may be faulty."

7. JohnA noted that the computers in the open area of the Centre were
underutilised and suggested that they be used for training neophytes. While
this was recognised as being a valuable use no one was prepared to volunteer
their time as a trainer. Discussion after the meeting asked whether the
existing use justified their retention.

8a. MikeD reported (amid applause) that he had installed a virus checker at
last, but that he wasn't convinced it was working properly. It had told
him that he had received a virus from an unexpected source and that mail he
hadn't sent had been returned to him. Virus of some of the latest viruses is
very obscure and the best the meeting could say was that all defences should
be maintained at the latest possible level.

8b. Mike would like to see more emphasis at the meeting of positive matters.
For example, what have you done recently on your PC that has been successful
(dare I suggest useful)?

8c. Continuing from an earlier report of his work with capturing newspaper
pages, he showed a page captured by a digital camera. This was remarkably
good and quite legible on an A4 sheet.

9. Kevin said that there was heaps of the very latest software available in
pirated form in Kuala Lumpur. Prices were astonishingly low, but there is no
guarantee that any particular product will actually work when you get it
home.

10. Margôt told us that she had received the Microsoft Security Update virus
that has been so prevalent recently.

11a. PhilipB whether Microsoft Updates could be found anywhere after support
lapsed. The updates may still be available on Microsoft's site, but expect
no enhancements. Current updates may be availabel on CD from Microsoft.

11b. He is also experiencing annoying spyware. Use the Adaware program to
get rid of this.

11c. He also wanted to know whether Yahoo! Groups was a good way to for
people to interact with one another. JohnS said they work well enough, but
they are a
real pain to manage.



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