With our Annual General Meeting and Elections completed, we now have a new Management Committee and have begun planning for 2006. Let me share with you some current topics.

Management Committee Elections

The Returning Officer's report on our Annual Election process shows the effective changes to our Committee are as follows:

• George Skarbek replaces Bill Ford as Treasurer (Bill having retired after 10 years of Committee service),

• Lyn Goodall becomes Vice President, with Ash Nallawalla continuing as a Committee Member

• Margaret Brown, Shelagh Black and John Bade are new additions, following retirements from Diana Allen and John Hall.

On behalf of all Melb PC Members, I thank Diana, Bill and John for their contributions to the Management team; we will still see them as they continue to support the Group in other roles. Similarly, I thank Doug Brooke for his work as Returning Officer - keeping election matters separate from existing Committees.

User Group Funds

At the AGM, there was a question about any plans for our "unused" funds, and a wider explanation is now appropriate.

Originally those funds were accumulated for a possible building purchase, but with Chadstone being available only on a rental basis, retaining the fund provides an interest income offsetting part of the rental cost. As well, part of the funds are earmarked for broadband services, once our investigations find an economically viable solution.

Membership Survey

A key part of planning is knowing requirements, relevance and satisfaction. To assist us for next year, we are seeking anonymous feedback from all members by 15 January via a Web-based survey, taking about 10 minutes to complete.

Please let us know your thoughts via the URL http://www.pcupdate.org/survey/index.php?sid=1 . Alternatively for those without Internet Access, please contact the Office for a printed copy.

Membership Promotion

We are currently running some pilot radio advertising on Magic 693 mainly in morning slots and spoken by Charles Wright. Part of that campaign is a Gift voucher, bundling a year's membership with a Training course. Maybe this can be a ideal gift solution for one of your Christmas friends.

Computer Choice Survey

Every two years, Computer Choice conducts a survey amongst its readers seeking views on their satisfaction with various Internet Service Providers (ISPs), including Melb PC.

Back in 2001, our service rated Number two in Australia (marginally below an Adelaide ISP) and in 2003, we edged ahead to the top position. The results of the 2005 survey have just been released -and this time we are clear leaders ranking 95°0, with the 2nd place for the Dial-Up ISPs being a long way back at 82%. This result is particularly pleasing, considering that our services are provided by volunteers. It is great to see their work recognized, and I congratulate the Internet Admin and Internet Help teams for their ongoing efforts.

The survey also rated ADSL providers - and Westnet topped the poll with 90% satisfaction. This is very heartening and vindicates our decision 18 months ago when we found it uneconomic to provide our own ADSL services; instead, we arranged for members to use Wcstnet via an agency arrangement.

Yet Another "Melb PC" Spam

Another e-mail Spain message purporting to be "officially" from Melb PC is doing the rounds. This time it says "We must check that your Melbpc.org.au ID was registered by real people" It then includes a very long URL supposedly to a Melb PC Web page, but instead it appears to be a hidden link to some other (probably malicious) Web site.

This is NOT a Melb PC email, and the advice on the MOTD (Message of The Day) is very appropriate.

"It is a strong recommendation that you do not click on Web links or open attachments in e-mail unless the contents are separately verified. This applies both to forged e-mail reportedly from financial institutions or forged "official" e-mail from Melb PC" .

December Meeting

Our last Monthly meeting for 2005 will be on Wednesday 7th December, when we have two very interesting topics: NAVMAN, a pocket PC system for car navigation, and GENP, a genealogy tool developed over the past 10 years by one of our members, Peter Evans.
7.00 pen, Lecture Theatre 1, Building 1, Deakin University, Burwood

Reprinted from the December 2005 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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