Minutes of C&C Meeting 9 December 1997

Co-ordinator Ted opened the meeting by welcoming all 35 attendees,
including Roslyn Cook, Owen's youngest, who enjoys using computers and is a
member of the Internet Project.  

Jim reported that Alf is out of hospital, available in the mornings, and
sends greetings.  Jim also reported that Jeff Meriesch will be having
surgery at Woden Hospital on 11 December.

Jim also warned that Newsbytes, a US daily news summary on the Net, had
recently reported that there is now proof that viruses can be transmitted
via email (ie via the message, as opposed to via the attachment – the
latter has always been possible).  The email quoted by Newsbytes was titled
with "a well-known company name".  Mike cautioned against panic, as it
ought to be technically impossible to contract viruses this way: the file
must be executed for any virus to pass into a system.  John noted that self
execution had always been possible in some situations, eg imbedding machine
code into a text file.  He added that members should keep their virus
detection mechanisms up to date.

Peter related his less-than-ideal experience with Partition Magic.  Using
Windows 95 version A, he reduced the cluster size on his hard disks from
32KB to 4 KB to make more disk space available. In the process Partition
Magic converted his file allocation table system (FAT) to FAT 32 which is
not recognised by Windows 95 version A. Consequently when he rebooted, the
computer would not reload W95.  Though the Group suggested this conversion
to FAT32 should only have been possible using W95B, Peter said that this
operation had been  the recommended option when he ran the program. 
Fortunately his hard drives had already been backed up on tape.  He was
able to  install W95B.

Bob related the difficulties he had had when, helped by Terry, he had tried
to link to TIP after cancelling with his ISP (CyberOne).  Terry said that
following attempts to link to TIP using W95 and Internet Explorer 3, Bob
could send email (which took four days to reach its destination) but could
not receive it.  They had uninstalled and reinstalled IE3.  The Group
concluded that some residual CyberOne instructions must be hidden in the
registry, and Emil strongly suggested Bob speak to CyberOne about this: 
the company should put matters right, failing which, Bob might have grounds
to complain to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.  John suggested
Bob search for CyberOne in the registry; Jim suggested Bob check his
Regedit function, and/or take W95 off and reinstall it.

Bob, who has a phone handset with a memory, complained he got regularly
disconnected from the Internet.  Emil said that the phone's memory
refreshes itself every 20 minutes, and the computer interprets this as a
signal to disconnect.  The Group suggested:  disconnecting the handset
while using the Net; buying a handset without a memory; and getting a
second line.

Mike noted that the 1998 U3A prospectus, including computer-related
courses, was available (also on the Net at u3acanberra.org.au).  

Mike circulated folders of information on:  a new means of configuring
printer ports; and what you can do with your bios.  He described how,
having lost control of his network password, he was receiving error
messages about non-validation of his password, though he could still use
his system.  In response to the suggestion that maybe in that case
everything was all right, Alan strongly cautioned against ignoring error
messages, warning that users could end up getting their c drives formatted
if they continued regardless.

Mike is looking for more volunteers for the Woden and Belconnen Seniors'
Internet centres.

Mike showed various printouts of the same photo and regretted that users
cannot test in advance the quality of prints from a file.  Jim recommended
we consult the manual (Photoshop 4) where the use of different
papers/settings is explained.  Mike agreed photo-reproduction was
definitely an art.

Mike described the dramas of getting connected to TIP when (i) the user had
changed from another ISP to TIP; (ii) when IE4 was installed first, but
because of problems, the user uninstalled IE4 and installed IE3. 
Essentially  his advice was to start with the PCUG kit and only later try
more advanced programs.  Ron described considerable trouble installing TIP,
and Alan confirmed that a "clean machine" (ie one not previously connected
through another ISP) is best.

Mike showed the Agent Manual (for email) and recommended a $20 program for
houseplans and phonedesigns which produces autocad-compatible files that
can be used by architects.  

Wolf said that the Group's budget stands at $1338.-- which will reduce
after outlays for the Christmas lunch for 31 people.  He noted that as a
principle, he felt that when we have a function, we should be able to go
wherever we are offered the best facility and service for our money.  He
said he did not want to see politics or religion come into our little group
and spoil the atmosphere that we all cherish so much.  Nobody dissented. 
Wolf added that we now own hard cutlery (not plastic) which can be used for
in-house functions.

Alan noted that every Monday and Friday at 1 pm, TIP was re-booted.  So if
you log on just before 1 pm, you will get thrown off the system and have to
pay Telstra for another phone call after 1.01 (re-booting takes one
minute).  He still hopes to find out whether Telstra charges for the calls
users make, which do not get online (after getting through to TIP manager)
because of congestion in TIP.

Peter said that he had used  Norton Utilities to look at the details of his
operating system. It indicated that debug kernel was not operational.  He
was also getting an error message when running Vet anti-virus software
saying "Kernel 32 caused a general protection fault".  It was pointed out
that there is a Win95 system update for Kernel 32 which can be downloaded
from the Microsoft web site.  

Lew described his recent experiments with refilling his printer cartridge
with ink 5mls at a time.  He found that the recommended 20 mls was
unworkable, dripping out: 13 mls turned out to be about right.  Gordon
advised not to let inkwells run out before you top them up as the sponge
dries out.

Colin asked why when he connects his Brother laser printer to his laptop,
the printer, after producing a perfect test run, prints one line per page. 
Mike thought the driver must be the problem because the printer is old, so
the W95 disk has no compatible driver and gives the nearest rather than the
right driver.  Gordon suggested copying the driver from the other machine. 
Emil noted that companies hid information about printer-drivers in their
support pages, not in their printer pages.  Mike has been caught with an
expensive video capture card that works on 3.1 but not on W95.

Terry recommended that members who want Microhelp's Uninstall (it cleans
the registry) rush to Harvey Norman where version 4 is selling for $5.- 

Ted wished all members A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS and reminded us that the next
meeting is on 13 January, not 23 December as shown in Sixteen Bits.  Alan
reminded us that the Internet SIG will resume on 19 January.


JL 9/12/97 1204

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