 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group PC (President's Comments) George Skarbek gskarbek@melbpc.org.au |
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Do you live in the North East suburbs? Thanks to the efforts of several volunteers and especially Nigel Harris, a new SIG has been formed. The North East SIG will meet in Ivanhoe. The inaugural meeting is being held Tuesday 24 April at 7.30 pm. For more details contact the office or convener Nigel Harris.
Swap-Meets
Do you ever go to the Town Hall swap-meets? If not, then consider attending one near you. You will
find low cost new and second-hand equipment. Not just computers but accessories, cables, books,
blank recordable CDs, ink-jet refills, networking gear and lots more.
At these venues Melb PC has a table staffed by volunteers who are on duty usually for about three
hours. Due to events such as holidays and sickness sometimes we can be short-staffed. More
volunteers would be appreciated and would help the Group assist other computer users with their
questions. "What's in it for me?" you ask. Mainly the satisfaction of helping others, and
perhaps learning a bit more yourself. As well as free admission, if you sign up a new Melb PC
member you will receive one month free membership. Yes, sign up a new member each month and pay no
subs all year. If you feel that you can volunteer, even for an occasional meet, e-mail David King
theking@melbpc.org.au or phone the office on 9699
6222.
New Internet Administration Team Member
The Internet admin. team has a new member, Don Gingrich. On the administration team we need
users with good, existing skills. We are too small to provide training and as most of the work on
our computers is performed from home, on the job training is virtually impossible.
Don has the required skills. He is completing a Master's degree in computing and the topic of his
thesis is: A Critical Analysis of Computer Based Training for Unix System Administrators. He
has worked for two years as System Administrator for Ericsson, worked at RMIT IT Services (DNS,
Mail, Apache, Majordomo, etc), worked with other companies in both software and hardware support as
well as three years LAN Server Administrator. Other experience includes six years using and
administrating Linux and some experience with NT and 95/98 rollout and administration. Don also
assists on dial help. We are very fortunate to have someone of Don's experience volunteer his
services. He has been a Melb PC member for ten years and is very familiar with the group.
Better Internet Help
Following up on the work done by Stan Johnstone with some recent help from Richard John there are
some new pages amongst the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions). As these are constantly being updated
I recommend members check them regularly. They deal with manual configuration of e-mail and news
programs and are useful if members have another ISP. They are particularly useful for checking your
own settings against the correct Melb PC configuration. If you use only the Melb PC Internet
service then our kit will do the entire configuration for you. You can view these new pages at:
http://www.melbpc.org.au/faq/mailbags.htm
Virus Protection
There are still many members who do not update their anti-virus software, or don't do it often
enough. With many new viruses appearing each week you should be updating weekly. How do I know that
some members don't have adequate anti-virus software? Because they get infected with a virus that
has been around for a long time and then they infect others. Many viruses propagate by sending a
copy of itself to all recipients in your address book.
If you cannot afford to purchase or upgrade the commercial software then you should consider a
free alternative. There is a good article on software scanning and links to good and free virus
scanning software at:
http://www.melbpc.org.au/faq/antivirus.htm. Please practice safe computing and prevent the
spread of viruses.
Next Monthly Meeting
On 2 May at the Pharmacy College there will be the following presentations:
Microsoft will demonstrate the new Office suite, XP. It has extra features that will assist
those using Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.
Vinyl to CD. Many members have extensive LP music collections but do not use the old
turntables. Anthony Payne will show us how to put them all onto CD - and how to do it
correctly!
Act 2000, arguably the world's most popular contact manager, will be demonstrated.
Reprinted from the May 2001 issue of PC Update,
the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
