 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Club President's Comments Morris Tobias morrist@melbpc.org.au |
 |
We all know that when we turn our clocks backwards or forward for daylight saving we should change the battery in our smoke detector.
It's a great reminder for a very important but simple job. It's a shame we don't have a similar reminder for perhaps the most important, but often overlooked, job as far as our personal computers are concerned--updating our anti-virus software.
The recent appearance of the Melissa virus, which was activated when recipients opened an e-mail attachment, should serve as a warning to all computer users. While nobody knows how many computers around the world were infected, we do know that in addition to these, whole government departments were practically brought to a standstill.
Prevention is far better than cure, and a little common sense goes a long way:
- Update anti-virus software at least our times a year
- Scan all floppy disks, regardless of the source
- Never open unsolicited e-mail attachments from unknown recipients
- Never leave backing up you data until you have a little more time.
These rules are simple, but if you are unfortunate enough to be hit by a virus, you'll save yourself a lot of heartache.
We Survived
March is the most hectic month in Melb PC's calendar. For the first few years of our existence, the membership renewal date was 31 March regardless of date joined.
For the same reason, almost half of our Internet subscriptions are also due for renewal on that date.
Whilst the office staff coped admirably with the influx of work, I want to give special thanks to the volunteers who folded and enveloped all of those renewal notices.
Additional internet benefits
I am pleased to be able to report that the additional time allowance time between 2 am and 7 am is working
well--so well in fact that as George Skarbek informs us later in this issue, the additional time has
been extended to 8 am.
This is just another reason why I can say with all confidence that our Internet service offers the best value around.
April general meeting
At the April general meeting at the Pharmacy College, there was a unanimous vote to make Stan
Johnstone and John Swale Honorary Life Members.
If two people ever deserved this prestigious award, it is Stan and John. Congratulations from all of us.
Prizes at the March meeting
There was almost $3000 worth of prizes given away at this meeting in the raffle. They consisted of:
- 20 copies of eProtect
- 3 copies of Micrografx iGrafx Business
- Adobe Photo Deluxe
- Borland Delphi.
Reprinted from the May 1999 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
