k-Byte, March/April 1999
Contents
 1 State of the Group
2 About k-Byte
3 February/March Meeting Reports
5 News From The Y2K Front
6 Y2K Financial Protection
8 Airplane Anecdotes
10 The IRS Can Be Your Friend
10 Connect faster to the Internet
11 TextBridge Pro98
12 Scary Tech Support Stories
13 IRS Scam
14 Calendar of Events
16 April/May Calendars
18 Membership Application
19 Nowhere To Hide
19 More Y2K Info
20 Shade Tree Mechanic Lingo
22 Keeping Your Windows 98 System Stable
24 FREE Internet Discussion Group
25 Keyboard Poetry
26 Imation LS120 Drive
27 Want More Disk Space?
31 FRPCUG Contacts

Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing. - Oscar Wilde

State of the Group From The President
by Rick Mattingly

Users helping users. After all, that's what FRPCUG is all about.

For those members who regularly attend the monthly General Forum meetings, you know that we always try to assist with problems through the Open Forum session. Another resources which FRPCUG offers are the Saturday sessions at Data Service Center, where members meet and are always available to assist with problems or questions. Stop by on any Saturday with your questions.

There is also the group's Internet Web Page at FRPCUG.ORG. Here you will find the online BBS Forum where you may leave your questions, as well as chat with other members.

In addition, we are planning to provide a new series of training seminars for members soon. Look for announcements here. And finally, do not forget to share your knowledge with others!

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About k-Byte
Published bi-monthly, k-Byte is the official newsletter of the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group (FRPCUG): our mailing address is 305 W. Magnolia #152, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521.
Opinions expressed in k-Byte are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the group or its members. Publication of information in k-Byte constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Use of any information found in this publication is at the sole risk of the user. Neither k-Byte, nor its officers, nor k-Byte, nor its editors or contributors assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in this publication.

Submissions

Articles, letters and short items of interest on computer-related topics are welcome and encouraged. All items submitted for publication are subject to editing. Send your contribution to the editor via the FRPCUG electronic bulletin board system (BBS) or submit on disk. The deadline for articles is listed in the Calendar of Upcoming Events in each issue of k-Byte. If you have questions about a submission, please contact the editor for information.

Copyright

k-Byte is copyrighted ã1996 by the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group. Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit users groups may reprint or quote from any articles appearing in k-Byte without prior permission, provided that proper author and publication credits are given and that a copy of the publication in which the article appears is sent at no cost to k-Byte at the above mailing address. User groups wishing to exchange newsletters with FRPCUG are invited to send a copy of their newsletter together with an exchange request.
IBM PC, OS/2, Compaq, MS-DOS, UNIX, Windows and other trademarks occasionally mentioned in k-Byte are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc., Compaq Corporation, Microsoft, Digital Research, AT&T or their owners respectively. Neither FRPCUG nor its newsletter k-Byte are connected in any way with any manufacturer or seller. We, however, gratefully acknowledge sponsorship of our group by Data Service Center, Jim Becker, owner.

Advertising

Classified advertising is free to members for non-business ads. See “Trading Post” for pricing for camera-ready display ads. Charges for ad makeup from sketches, etc., are available on request. Deadline for camera-ready and classified ads is listed in the Calendar of Upcoming Events. Deadline for ad-makeup is the same as for articles.

About FRPCUG

FRPCUG is an independent nonprofit computer society, open to anyone interested in MS-DOS, OS/2, or UNIX microcomputers. Its purpose is to provide an educational and scientific forum of mutual benefit for members of the micro-computer community. FRPCUG holds a monthly meeting and conducts various special interest groups (SIGS) and seminars. Members have voting privileges, free use of the FRPCUG and PC-SIG software libraries, subscription to k-Byte newsletter, SIGs and selected seminars and privileged access to the FRPCUG BBS. Annual dues are $25 for individual/family membership and $50 for corporate/group membership.

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Scribe's Corner
February Meeting Report
By Mike Meyer

Despite a slow initial start, 40 people ended up attending this month's meeting. During the Announcements Period, Rick Mattingly stated that our board meetings had been changed to the 2nd Wednesday of the month, due to scheduling problems with the room we were using at the Poudre Fire Authority. The time is still the same (7 PM). Rick also stated that the Rocky Mountain Internet Festival held in January had been a big success. The club's booth had experienced a lot of public interest.

Glenn York informed the membership that the club's domain location (FRPCUG.ORG) is in process of being moved to the JYMIS server from Calvin Cline's server; however, the web page will still look pretty much the same to the user as it had before. Jack Linder stated that he was in the process of producing a new club roster and would like to have everyone update their e-mail addresses.

There were many questions during the Open Forum Period covering a hard disk problem (drive light remained on constantly), Kodak imaging program problem with scanner compatibility (configuration issue?), some difficulties with small networking systems, and a USB port problem with peripherals. Rick Mattingly then discussed some of the tools available to the computer user to identify and correct some of the issues that plague us at times, such as Dr. Watson (e.g., locate conflict problems with software programs) and the use of the BOOT.LOG file.

Dennis Nimetz, Treasurer of FRPCUG, was the principal speaker for our Main Program. He gave a very timely and interesting presentation on income tax preparation, using the standard version of TurboTax by Intuit. Dennis demonstrated the program's principal features, including installation, menu selections, helpful tools (e.g., built-in calculator), tax advice features, etc. He then showed how the data, such as wages, interest, dividends, etc., was entered and how it was processed by the program.

The standard program costs about $35, and a deluxe version on CD-ROM costs about $45, including S & H. For beginners and those with relatively simple tax returns, the program leads them through the return preparation, using a feature called "EasyStep". It is a rather simple interview process, with the data entered as indicated at each point in the process. For those who are more experienced and/or have more difficult returns, they can select and go directly to the appropriate tax forms and enter their data. No matter which method is used, at the end of the process the tax return is automatically checked for errors and also compared with typical taxpayer data (e.g., charitable contributions) to flag the return for the likelihood of an audit concern.

Dennis was ably assisted by Mary McQuaid Peck, who is an Enrolled
Agent with the local Tax & Accounting firm of Wells, Matonis, Peck, and Wurst, LLC. Dennis handled some questions regarding the features and operation of the program, while Mary answered a number of specific tax questions from individuals.


March Meeting Report
By Mike Meyer

39 people attended this month's meeting. During the Announcements Period, Rick Mattingly reminded the membership that our board meetings were changed to the 2nd Wednesday of the month, but are still being held at the PFA offices at 7 p.m. Doug Boicourt informed the members that the HTML SIG meeting will be held at the same place on Monday night, March 8th.

Once again, there were many questions during the Open Forum Period, some of which involved Windows 98. The latter included a problem with volume control for musical CD's, the program shut-off switch on the task bar, and unwanted page ejections with some printers during the initial startup process. Other issues involved error messages ("Illegal Operations") with some lap top computers running Internet programs (possible trash files in the Windows Temp directory?), difficulties encountered with new systems supplied by dealers using customized CD installation disks, and some Y2K concerns (e.g., evaluation of BIOS suitability). Some members discussed the possibility of having a special session dealing with Y2K issues in the reasonably near future.

Our own Glenn York was the principal speaker for the Main Program, which dealt with new printer technology. He stepped in when he was notified that the scheduled speaker, who was to speak on the LEXMARK products, had canceled out. He did a masterful job, which likely was as good or better than would have been the case with the scheduled speaker. Glenn is very familiar with the LEXMARK printers, and he had their literature available to hand out to interested parties (he has sold their products for 3 years).

He mentioned that the old standby dot-matrix printers are still in vogue, because they will reliably handle the multi-part forms. LEXMARK is the second largest supplier of commercial printers. They were formed as a result of a spin-off from IBM in 1991. All
Albertson's Pharmacies use their products. The company is comprised of four divisions: Consumer Printers, Business Printers, Imaging Solutions, and Customer Service. They produce a series of Ink Jet printers which range in price from about $100 to $400.

Two of the upper end printers have a resolution of 1200 dpi. The sale of both black and color cartridges, including photo quality, provides much of their profitability, rather than sale of the printers themselves. LEXMARK also supplies the larger industrial printers, including the network types, which have very high color quality and good speed. Glenn demonstrated several different printers, two of the higher quality Ink Jet printers and a network printer. He showed the features and versatility of the latter, which were most impressive. The LEXMARK printers have been on sale recently at places like Best Buy for those members who may be interested in acquiring one of these printers.

Last, but certainly not least, Glenn and Will Horton provided some great door prizes this month, including several "Beanie Baby" tigers that were picked up quickly by the winners.

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News from the Y2K Front
By Al Massey of HAL-PC

Y2KINDERGARTEN: A retired schoolteacher in Echallens, Switzerland, has been ordered to attend elementary school. The unnamed 105-year-old man was included in a roundup of 5-year-olds identified by the town's computerized census of residents because his birth year was recorded using only two digits. “We have changed the computer program in question,” the town hall secretary said. Those who do not remember school are doomed to repeat it.

In a recent report the U.S. Small Business Administration said it is worried about the capability of small business, those with sales of less than $50 million a year, to keep on top of the Y2K problem. The agency was prompted to issue a special warning after a recent Gallup Poll survey indicated 82% of small businesses are at risk from the so-called Year 2000, or millennium, bug. Worse, 75% of small-business owners have taken no steps to make sure their computers won't mistake the year 2000 for the year 1900. The agency warns that 330,000 of the estimated 23 million small businesses are at risk of closing down as a result of Y2K, and another 370,000 could be temporarily or permanently hobbled. All this is expected to lead to service shutdowns, shipment problems and job losses.

Finally, taking cue from the Commander in Chief, the Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) has admitted it lied. No, wait, I'm sorry. It didn't admit to telling lies, the agency only “acknowledges falsifying readiness reports,” on the Y2K computer problem.

The DSWA claimed that three of five so-called “mission critical” computer systems, essential to conducting its most primary duties, were fully prepared to face the computer crisis despite never conducting necessary testing, according to a recent Defense Department Inspector General's Report.

Al Massey is a HAL-PC member who can be reached at almas@hal-pc.org.
January HAL-PC Magazine


News Release: February, 1999

Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates, announced today that the release of
Windows 2000 would be delayed until 1901.

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Y2K Financial Protection
What Should I Do To Protect My Finances?

October 21, 1998 ZDY2K.com
By Mitch Ratcliffe - ZDY2K

Q: What should I do to protect my finances from Y2K problems?

A: Use paper, get receipts and discontinue automatic deposit and withdrawal programs that do not provide written confirmation of transactions.

The fact is, when you have a dispute with a financial institution, it's your records against theirs. If Year 2000 problems threaten to damage electronic records, your paper records are the most reliable proof that you've paid bills, kept up your mortgage or made a bank deposit. If you already balance a paper checkbook each month, you're probably better off than most people in any financial dispute; with Y2K coming, you've got a distinct edge over even the largest firms, which do not have the manpower to track every transaction on paper.

Before you jump to the conclusion from the statements above that bank or mortgage companies will lose track of your accounts because they don't maintain records on paper, think about what would normally happen in a dispute. A bank doesn't need to resort to backtracking through its records until a discrepancy is identified -- usually by a customer or company with which the firm does business. In most circumstances, the bank simply audits its books on a regular basis to ensure its books balance with its accounts. Banks do keep copious records, backing up files every day. They will not lose your money or the true balance owed on a loan. A Y2K error would merely cause an error that, once audited and compared to back-up records, can be corrected.

How do you ensure that your record-keeping efforts will pay off? Begin documenting your financial condition now, including your credit rating and total amounts owed on all debts, credit cards, and so forth. Also, collect paper records on your assets, especially stocks, bonds and mutual funds, and store them in a safe deposit box. Start today by doing the following:

• Request a copy of your credit report from the major credit bureaus. For more information, visit Equifax, a leading credit bureau, to learn about the process. Use this report as a baseline for Y2K records, and check the report every six months for at least the next two years to determine whether any errant credit complaints have been filed against you.

• Contact your financial planner, stockbroker or 401-K provider to request notarized verification of your current holdings. Most of these firms don't provide stock certificates unless you explicitly request they be sent to you. Store these in a safe deposit box.

• If you don't balance your checkbook, start now. Go to the bank, they'll be happy to teach you how to do it. If not, find another bank.

• Stop automatic payment programs and begin paying by check, so that you have proof of each transaction in the form of cancelled checks. This ensures that, if your bank or a creditor fail to record a payment, you'll have physical proof of the transaction.

• Pay down credit cards and other commercial credit accounts. Use plastic sparingly, in order to minimize the chances of an error. Keep your receipts.

If you are concerned about your bank deposits, visit the FDIC's web site to read its Year 2000 pamphlet for depositors. Ask your banker (not the teller, ask a vice president) if the institution has completed Y2K testing and, if they don't know, make the bank earn your trust by delivering that information by a stated deadline. If the bank doesn't comply, move your money to a bank that has completed its Y2K remediation. Today, most banks are still completing testing.

Also, ask about Y2K compliance at the following:

• Your Certified Public Accountant, if you have one (a lot of small and medium-size CPA firms still use DOS accounting programs).

• Your mortgage company.

• The billing department of your phone and utilities companies.

• Your Internet service provider or online service, especially regarding billing. Also ask about network reliability if you use online financial services.

If you can, pre-pay bills by a month, beginning in the middle of 1999. It may cost you a bit in current cash flow, but it adds 30 days to 45 days to the calendar in disputes over Y2K related-errors.

Finally, check your personal finance software for compliance. Here's a list of popular applications and the Web sites where you can find Y2K information and upgrades:

• Intuit Quicken, QuickBooks and TurboTax

• Microsoft Money

• Peachtree Accounting products

This article originally appeared as Copyright (c) 1998 by Ziff-Davis Inc. and reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without the express written permission of Ziff-Davis Inc. is prohibited.

From the Northern Neck Computer User Group newsletter.

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Airplane Anecdotes

Upon landing hard, the pilot gets on the PA system, "Sorry folks for the hard landing. It wasn't the pilot's fault, and it wasn't the plane's fault. It was the asphalt."

An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy, which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, give a smile, and a "Thanks for flying XYZ airline." He said that in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment, but no one seemed annoyed. Finally everyone had gotten off except for one little old lady walking with a cane. She approached and asked, conspiratorially, "Sonny, mind if I ask you a question?" "Why no Ma'am, what is it?" "Did we land or were we shot down?"

"Welcome aboard Southwest Flight XXX, to YYY. To operate your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seatbelt, and if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised. In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with two small chilren, decide now which you love more. Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but they'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Southwest Airlines."

United Airlines PA: "Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are all now painfully aware, our Captain has landed in Seattle. From all of us at United Airlines we'd like to thank you for flying with us today and please be very careful as you open the overhead bins as you may be killed by falling luggage that shifted during our so called "touch down."

About 5 or 6 years ago I was on an American Airlines flight into Amarillo, Texas on a particularly windy and bumpy day. I could tell during final that the Captain really had to fight it, and after an extremely hard landing, the Flight Attendant came on the PA and announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Amarillo. Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened while the Captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate!"

Thanks to Brad Kell

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The IRS Can Be Your Friend

Springtime is near, and your fancy would probably turn to thoughts of love if you had your darned taxes finished. So why not gather up your W2s and 1099s and head over to the Internal Revenue Service's tax site, which continues to improve in its efforts to make tax regulations accessible and understandable for the average taxpayer. The front end is a mailbox graphic with an invitation for you to open the IRS Digital Daily, an electronic "newspaper" that introduces tax-related news and key features of the site, such as its special area for small businesses. The search engine supports Boolean AND, OR, and NOT operators, which can vastly improve your effort to find information on deductions and liabilities.

Perhaps the greatest feature of the site is that it lets you search for IRS publications and forms and download them online. (The forms are available in several formats, including PDF. The IRS even links you to Adobe so you can download a free PDF viewer if you don't already have one.) If you think downloading and viewing a document is too much trouble, the IRS also tells you how to get them via regular mail.

http://www.irs.gov

from Dummies Daily Online via PCWorld.com, 3/11/99

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CONNECT FASTER

Here's a tip from reader Andrew H.

"If you want to connect more quickly to the Internet, there are a few simple steps you can take. Double-click My Computer, and then double-click Dial-Up Networking. Now, right-click your dialup icon and choose Properties. When the Properties dialog box opens, click the Server Types tab. Make sure that TCP/IP is the only check box selected in the Allowed Network Protocols area. Next, make sure the check box labeled Log On to Network is deselected and click OK to save your changes and close the dialog box."

Some people report a drastic speedup when they use this tip, and others report no difference at all. You have nothing to lose, and you're much better off with only TCP/IP selected. Many ISPs will instruct you to deselect any other protocols when you have problems.

Thanks for the tip, Andrew!

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TextBridge Pro98
Software Review by Don Hage

Vendor: Scansoft, Inc., a Xerox Company, 9 Centennial Drive, Peabody, Massachusetts 01960, www.textbrodge.com
Function: OCR -Optical Character Recognition software for scanners
Intended User: All PC users with scanners Street Price: $79 suggested (30 day money-back guarantee)
Contents: CD-ROM and User's Guide
Requires: 486 or Pentium compatible, Windows 95 or Win-dows NT 4.0 or higher, VGA, SVGA, or Multisync color monitor, CD-ROM, 16 megabytes RAM, hard disk with minimum of 20 MB of free space plus 1 MB for each additional language pack installed.
Summary: A highly accurate and full-featured OCR recognition package with better document and table recognition along with images.
Rating: ***** of 5 stars. The best and easiest to use OCR software package.

Installation was easy and included a scanner setup which accepted the TWAIN device interface of my relatively new scanner model. It also has the Image and Scanner Interface Standard (ISIS) drivers supporting a number of scanners. If you are on the Internet you can register electronically.

Along with TextBridge's accuracy with little editing needed was its recognition of multi-columned text, tables and scanned images. Once you identify the type of page scanned (Any Page, Any Page Fax quality, Legal Document, Magazine Page, Memo or Letter, Newspaper Article, and Spreadsheet or Table) it automatically identifies the text (in yellow) and numbers its columns, tables (in purple), and pictures (in light blue). These are zones which can be adjusted to your desires. You can retain the page layout, tables and pictures or select a different layout from a multi-column layout to a single column layout for example, it has automatic processing from a scanner or from a scanned image file. Once a page is processed it can be proofread from the TextBridge display or by opening your word processing file after it has been saved.

You also can process your scanning manually or your image file manually which is useful for complex documents. In this mode, you lead TextBridge through its previewing, zoning, and proofreading. In previewing you can check the quality of the page and adjust settings for processing, rotating the page or removing elements from the page. You can zone the page, or only part of the page. You can choose page type settings, scanner settings, processing settings (language, user dictionary, training data and zone templates) as well as page orientation (any, portrait, recognition. You also can choose your landscape) and train OCR for better final Text Document settings retaining layout, pictures and format paragraph styles.

You can specify where you want to save the file (drive, subdirectory, and type of format. You can choose Word or Word Perfect, Excel, HTML, Lotus, Quatro Pro, and Word office as well as Adobe Acrobat PDF output. I manually changed a table included in the document to an Excel .xls file showing the familiar spreadsheet. You also can start from these documents and go to TextBridge.

I was well pleased with the documents scanned in 300 dpi. There were very few errors to edit, mostly trademarks or copyright symbols and registry marks. This editing can be expected. For quick and easy OCR translation I highly recommend TextBridge.

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Scary Tech Support Stories

Submitted by Clark I. Anderson
from PC Users' Group of Colorado newsletter

The tech asked her if she was "running it under Windows." The woman then responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a windows and his is working fine."

Tech Support: "How much free space do you have on your hard drive?"
Customer: "Well, my wife likes to get up there on that Internet and she downloaded ten hours of free space. Is that enough?"

Tech Support: "OK, Bob, let's press the Control and Escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now, type the letter 'P' to bring up the Program Manager."
Customer: "I don't have a 'P'."
Tech Support: "On your keyboard, Bob."
Customer: "What do you mean?"
Tech Support: "'P' on your keyboard, Bob."
Customer: "I'm not going to do that!"

Internet Chamber of Commerce
Northern Colorado Chapter
Contact Matt Tracer at 970.484.8102 or http://www.ulltra.com/icc

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SCAM ALERT! WARNING!
PLEASE READ IMMEDIATELY!
THIS IS SERIOUS!!!

If you get an envelope from a company called the "Internal Revenue Service," DO NOT OPEN IT!

This group operates a scam around this time every year. Their letter claims that you owe them money, which they will take and use to pay for the operation of essential functions of the United States
government. This is untrue! The money the IRS collects is used to fund various inefficient and pointless social engineering projects.

This organization has ties to another shady outfit called the Social Security Administration, who claim to take money from your regular paychecks and save it for your retirement. In truth, the SSA uses the money to pay for the same misguided make-work projects the IRS helps mastermind.

These scam artists have bilked honest, hard working Americans out of billions of dollars. Don't be among them! Please copy this envelope in triplicate according to the guidelines of the "Paperwork Augmentation Act" of 1999 and then tear up all three of these envelopes a hundred pieces and send the pieces to the following address:

IRS, "FORM 1040 - NOT EZ" - Rejected Refunds Division Office 1600, Room 412, Cubicle 13, Desk 7, Filing Cabinet 6, Drawer 3, Space 62, Folder 5
Washington, DC 20000-0000

"FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHO DOESN'T WANT TO PAY TAXES"

Thanks to Brad Kell

- You really didn't think this was for real, did you?

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Calendar of Events

- IMPORTANT NOTICE -
FRPCUG meetings are held at the Fort Collins Senior Center. Check below for directions to the Senior Center.

April General Forum Meeting

We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, April 6 at 7:00 pm.

Meeting Agenda
7:00 - 7:15 Announcements
7:15 - 7:30 Election of Officers
7:30 - 7:45 Open Forum
7:45 - 8:00 Break
8:00 - 9:30 Internet Security - Glenn York will lead a revealing discussion on the issues of security and privacy in today's computerized world.

May General Forum Meeting

We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, May 4 at 7:00 pm.

Meeting Agenda
7:00 - 7:15 Announcements
7:15 - 7:45 Open Forum
7:45 - 8:00 Break
8:00 - 9:30 Microsoft Office 2000 - Microsoft representative Margaret Croll will give a presentation on the latest release of this popular integrated application.

See you at the meetings!

Directions
The Fort Collins Senior Center is located at 1200 Raintree Drive. This site is situated at the northwest corner of the Shields and West Drake intersection, on the north side of the Raintree Shopping Center and just one-half mile east of our normal meeting location. Check the marquee at the main entrance for directions to the specific meeting room.

Up-Coming SIG's, Seminars and Meetings

Board Meeting
FRPCUG's executive board meets on the Thursday immediately following the General Forum Meeting at 7:00 p.m. All members are welcome and are encouraged to attend. These meetings are held in the Poudre Fire Authority administrative meeting room which is located in the parking garage building, at the corner of Remington and Mountain in Fort Collins.

LINUX SIG
This SIG, supporting the LINUX implementation of the UNIX operating system, meets at 7:00 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month. Participants have adopted the LINUX manual titled "RUNNING LINUX" by Matt Welsh and Lar Kaufman as their learning tool and will be reviewing a section of the manual at each meeting. Meetings are held in the basement meeting room of the Friends Church, 601 S. Whitcomb Street in Fort Collins. Coordinators: Glenn York (224-5266) and Chuck McJilton (493-2987) or e-mail at linuxsig@jymis.com.

Northern Front Range Netware Users Group
NFRNUG meets at 5:30 pm on the second Wednesday of each month at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife building, 2101 Oakridge Drive in Fort Collins. NFRNUG meetings are open to any users that are involved with Novell networking products and integration of other networking products into the Novell environment (Unix, NT, Mac, etc.). Contact Jim Stephens at 303-541-3376 or jcsteph@concentric.net or contact Chuck Kluko at 970-663-4770 or c.kluko@ix.netcom.com for further membership information. Yearly dues are $000.00 (yes, FREE) with pizza and pop served at 5:00 pm prior to meeting. Saturday labs and training sessions open to NRFNUG members only, space is limited.

Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group
Meets on the second Tuesday of 'odd' months at NCAR in Boulder. Meetings start at 7:00 pm, but members are encouraged to arrive at 6:30 pm for informal networking and refreshments. NCAR is located in Boulder at 1850 Table Mesa Drive. Contact Chuck McJilton for information (493-2987) or e-mail rmiug@rmiug.org.

Telecommuncation SIG
Telecommunication SIG meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. Topics usually discussed include modem hardware, communication software, internet resources, and solutions to any communication problems and questions brought up at the meeting. Please contact coordinator Chuck McJilton (493-2987) for confirmation of the meeting place or e-mail Telecomsig@jymis.com.

Web Design SIG
If you're an HTML author/WEB page designer, or would like to learn, contact SIG coordinator Doug Boicourt at 495-6949 or e-mail db@jymis.com for the date and location of the next SIG meeting.

RIBUG Meeting
The Regional Internet Business Users Group (RIBUG) deals with issues of business utilization of the Internet. This group meets the last Wednesday of each month. Contact Will Horton in Fort Collins at 223-0330 or e-mail whorton@jymis.com for details.

Internet Safari
Free Internet discussion group meets first Monday at Stone Lion Book Store in Fort Collins. Meetings start at 7:00 pm. Sponsored by Stone Lion and JYM Information Systems. Coordinators: Glenn York (224-5266) and Chuck McJilton (493-2987).

Upcoming FRPCUG Meetings
Along with presentations of new hardware and software, we will certainly continue to present tips, hints, solutions, as well as what is new with Public Domain and Shareware offerings. If you have ideas for presentations which you would like to see at future General Forum meetings or seminars, please let us know. We would appreciate the input and opportunity to improve your meetings.

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April 1999

4 Daylight Saving Time Begins
6 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00PM
12 HTML SIG Meeting 7:00PM
14 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00PM
NRFNUG Meeting 5:00PM
15 Telcomm SIG 7:00PM
22 LINUX SIG 7:00PM
28 RIBUG Meeting 7:00PM


May 1999

4 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00PM
9 Mother's Day
10 HTML SIG Meeting 7:00PM
12 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00PM
NRFNUG Meeting 5:00PM
20 Telcomm SIG 7:00PM
26 RIBUG Meeting 7:00PM
27 LINUX SIG 7:00PM
31 Memorial Day

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Nowhere to Hide

Visionics (www.visionics.com) has developed face-recognition software that is able to search video of large crowds in real time to determine if any of the faces match those being maintained in a database.

The system can be used in various ways to include:

- Searching crowds of shoppers for known shoplifters
- Identifying missing children
- Controlling access to restricted areas
- Searching for missing persons in crowds
- Searching for wanted persons
- Airport police searching for known terrorists

Because of the speed of the search, large crowds, such as a stadium, can quickly be searched. A warning to criminals: one Scandinavian country has cameras on every street corner in a major city running this software. The old adage about being lost as a face in the crowd may no longer hold true.

thanks to The Digital Viking newsletter, February, 1999


More Y2K Info
1-888-USA-4-Y2K

The President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion recently introduced
1-888-USA-4-Y2K, a new toll-free Y2K information line. Calling this number will give you access to free information in areas such as power, telephones, banking, government programs, and household products. Information for the line comes from primary sources--government agencies, companies, or industry groups.

Pre-recorded information, which is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day, is available on the most common topics, and information specialists supported by researchers are available to provide
additional information to callers. Information specialists will staff the line from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (EST), Monday through Friday.

TipWorld - http://www.tipworld.com
The Internet's #1 Source for Computer Tips, News, and Gossip

I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol

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Shade Tree Mechanic Lingo
Glossary of Tools

HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive car parts not far from
the object we are trying to hit.

MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on boxes containing convertible tops or tonneau covers.

ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning steel Pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age, but it also works great for drilling rollbar mounting holes in the floor of a sports car just above the brake line that goes to the rear axle.

PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.

HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.

VISE-GRIPS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available,
they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your
hand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting those stale garage cigarettes you keep hidden in the back of the Whitworth socket drawer (What wife would think to look in there?) because you can never remember to buy lighter fluid for the Zippo lighter you got from the PX at Fort Campbell.

ZIPPO LIGHTER: See oxyacetelene torch.

WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and
motorcycles, they are now used mainly for hiding six-month old Salems from
the sort of person who would throw them away for no good reason.

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against the Rolling Stones poster over the bench grinder.

WIRE WHEEL: Cleans rust off old bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint whorls and hard-earned guitar callouses in about the time it takes you to say, "Django Reinhardt".

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering a Mustang to the ground after you have installed a set of Ford Motorsports lowered road springs, trapping
the jack handle firmly under the front air dam.

EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering a car upward off a hydraulic jack.

TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters (see 2x4 above).

PHONE: Tool for calling your neighbor Chris to see if he has another hydraulic floor jack.

SNAP-ON GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for
spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog-doo off your boot.

E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool that snaps off in bolt holes and is ten times harder than any known drill bit.

TIMING LIGHT: A stroboscopic instrument for illuminating grease buildup on crankshaft pulleys.

TWO-TON HYDRAULIC ENGINE HOIST: A handy tool for testing the tensile strength of ground straps and hydraulic clutch lines you may have forgotten to disconnect.

CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large motor mount prying tool that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end without the handle.

BATTERY ELECTROLYTE TESTER: A handy tool for transferring sulfuric acid from a car battery to the inside of your toolbox after determining that your battery is dead as a doornail, just as you thought.

AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

TROUBLE LIGHT: The mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin", which is
not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, its main
purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate that
105-mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat
misleading.

PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style
paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt; can also be used, as the name implies, to round-out Phillips screw heads.

AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty suspension bolts last tightened 40 years ago by someone in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and rounds them off.

Thanks to Brad Kell

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Keeping Your Windows System Stable
By Stephen Pruitt
from Windows OnLine Magazine
http://www.microsoft.com/magazine/mar1999/stable98/stable98.htm

The Microsoft® Windows® 98 installation was designed to update your system and make it run as smooth and stable as possible. When you install Windows 98, if it has a newer version of a system file that's already installed on your PC, it will replace that file with the updated Windows 98 file. This keeps your new Windows 98-based system from starting off with any conflicts. But Windows 98 does not discard any of the replaced files. Any file that's replaced is saved in the C:\Windows\VCM folder (where C: is the letter assigned to your PC hard-drive) so you have the choice of restoring it if it's ever necessary.

If, after you upgrade, you notice that you have files saved in the VCM folder, test your applications to ensure that they all function correctly. One of your older applications may not work properly due to the updates made in the version of that file found in the VCM folder. If this happens, it's simple to use Microsoft Version Control Manager to restore the saved file and get your application running again.


To start Version Control Manager:

Run vcmui.exe, or Click Start, point to Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and click System Information. Select the Tools menu and click Version Control Manager

Version Control Manager lists the name, backup date, and backed up version of every file that was replaced during installation, as well as the current version being used. When the Version Control Manager restores one of these files, the updated version is moved to the VCM folder with the extension changed to .000. That way you can use VCM to return to the original Windows 98 installation configuration if necessary.

If you have files in your VCM folder after upgrading to Windows 98, this does not mean that you will experience any problems. The differences between the standard Windows 98 files and the files you have before upgrade may be very minor, and not mission critical to your applications. Microsoft offers tools like Version Control Manager to ensure your satisfaction with your operating system upgrade, and to ensure that you are able to customize your system as you like.

Warning: Only restore one file at a time, or the original Windows 98 files may not be saved. Read article Q184585 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base for details.

Eventually you'll probably want to remove the files from your VCM folder to save space, but it's recommended that you do not remove any files until you test all your software to ensure that all functions operate normally.

Keeping Your System Stable

As you install applications, you may encounter installation problems. Programs may replace system files with newer versions. Some applications even overwrite system files with older versions. This replacement can cause potential problems with the new application, other applications that depend on these system files, or the operating system itself.

Windows 98 addresses these problems, too, with the System File Checker. This program can scan your system for altered files, and can also be used to reinstall original files from the Windows 98 installation disk.

To start System File Checker:

Run sfc.exe, or Click Start, point to Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and click System Information. Select the Tools menu and click System File Checker.

System File Checker identifies altered files by comparing them to baseline information. The baseline is established during the Windows 98 installation, and updated the first time System File Checker is run. The baseline should be updated periodically to reflect changes you make to your system. After installing new software, run System File Checker and click Update Verification Information so that in the future, it's easier for System File Checker to recognize changes that might be causing problems.

Microsoft has introduced a number of new features in Windows 98 to help make the system more stable both during and after installation. Because some of these features are designed primarily for highly experienced or power users, they are not promoted like the more basic improvements and aren't as well known. Microsoft warns that these features should be used only by someone with advanced system knowledge or while under the direction of a technical support professional.

More ....
Before using System File Checker, read the Microsoft Knowledge Base for more information, particularly articles Q188186, Q182725, and Q189292.

Safety Features in the Windows 98 Upgrade Process Throughout the installation process, Windows 98 searches deep to make your upgraded system reliable and make sure it has the latest versions of everything. Windows 98 doesn't compare file dates to determine which version of a file is newest, because this may not be reliable. Dates may reflect when an application was installed, rather than when the files were created. Instead, Windows 98 uses the file version number, which is stored within the file and can't be changed. You can see the version number of an executable file by right-clicking it and selecting Properties, then selecting the Version tab.

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FREE Internet Discussion Group

JYM Information Systems and the Stone Lion Book Store are sponsoring a monthly "Internet Safari" discussion group. This group meets at 7 PM in the Stone Lion the first Monday of each month. This is an open discussion and we examine current issues involving the Internet, how to use the Internet and subjects raised by those present. This group is open to the public without cost or obligation. This is a good chance learn how others are using the Internet.

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Keyboard Poetry

YESTERDAY

Yesterday,
All those backups seemed a waste of pay.
Now my database has gone away.
Oh I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly,
There's not half the files there used to be,
And there's a milestone
hanging over me
The system crashed so suddenly.

I pushed something wrong
What it was I could not say.

Now all my data's gone
and I long for yesterday-ay-ay-ay.

Yesterday,
The need for back-ups seemed so far away.
I knew my data was all here to stay,
Now I believe in yesterday.


ELEANOR RIGBY

Eleanor Rigby
Sits at the keyboard
And waits for a line on the screen
Lives in a dream
Waits for a signal
Finding some code
That will make the machine do some more.
What is it for?

All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
All the lonely users, why does it take so long?

Guru MacKenzie
Typing the lines of a program that no one will run;
Isn't it fun?
Look at him working,
Munching some chips as he waits for the code to compile;
It takes a while...

All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
All the lonely users, why does it take so long?

Eleanor Rigby
Crashes the system and loses 6 hours of work;
Feels like a jerk.
Guru MacKenzie
Wiping the crumbs off the keys as he types in the code;
Nothing will load.

All the lonely users, where do they all come from?
All the lonely users, why does it take so long?


UNIX MAN (NOWHERE MAN)

He's a real UNIX Man
Sitting in his UNIX LAN
Making all his UNIX plans
For nobody.

Knows the blocksize from dull
Cares not where /dev/null goes to
Isn't he a bit like you
And me?

UNIX Man, please listen
My lpd is missin'
UNIX Man
The wo-o-o-orld is at your command.

He's as wise as he can be
Uses lex and yacc and C
UNIX Man, can you help me
At all?

UNIX Man, don't worry

Test with time, don't hurry
UNIX Man
The new kernel boots, just like you had planned.

He's a real UNIX Man
Sitting in his UNIX LAN
Making all his UNIX plans For nobody ...
Making all his UNIX plans For nobody.

Thanks to Brad Kell

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Hardware Review
More on the Imation LS120
By Scott Wood, TCS Member

Having just read Tom Garcia's review of the Imation LS120 drive in the September 1998 TCS Journal, I felt that I had to write this follow-up.

As it was for Mr. Garcia, it was very hard for me to resist the idea of a drive that would give me the best of both worlds: a 120MB floppy and a 1.44MB floppy in the same physical unit. I do quite a bit of database work for political campaigns, and having large, removable media is a godsend. However, the temptation of the large disk is about the only thing that I have in common with Mr. Garcia's feelings about the drive.

I have to qualify my statements by saying that I have not used this drive with the original version of Windows 95. I've only used it with OSR2. Using OSR2, additional drivers were not needed. I suspect that some of Mr. Garcia's problems might have been because of the version of Windows he was using, as well as the fact that he seems to have relied on the install program to make the needed changes to his CMOS settings. I also suspect that he might have other internal problems with his drive, since he reports it making a scratching sound. I have been using my internal model for almost two months now and it is almost silent.

As for my experience with the drive, I could not be happier with it. I have set it up in a couple different configurations. First I set it up as the only floppy drive in my system, an AMD K-6 233 with 96 MB SDRAM, and had my BIOS set to make it bootable. This configuration worked very well, and I was pleased with the speed in which it handled standard 1.44MB floppies. Still having a need for a 5.25" floppy, I re-installed my dual 3.5" - 5.25" drive-one of the drives which has both floppies in one physical unit. This then forced the LS120 drive to drive letter of G.

I have no experience with using floppies formatted with third party software, so I can not comment on that, but I have had very different experiences from Mr. Garcia's when it comes to speed. Mr. Garcia reports that it took almost 40 minutes to back up 75MB of data. This seemed very slow compared to my own experience, so I conducted a couple of tests of my own. My first test was to simply copy 75MB of data to the LS120. I tried copying just a few large files as well as many smaller files. In each test, it took just over eight minutes to copy the data. I had similar results using the backup program that comes with Windows 95, backing up the same files that I had simply copied.

Mr. Garcia called the LS120 a “slowpoke" but my experiences are just the opposite. The LS120 is a very fast drive, and is about as versatile as you could hope for. With its backwards compatibility with standard 1.44MB floppies, I can see this drive become the new diskette standard.

Scott Wood has been in the computer industry for over 10 years. While serving in the United States Air Force he provided MIS support for his squadron as well as administered the squadron's Novel Network. Scott ran My Blue Heaven BBS for a number of years, and is now a co-owner of Pryde Business Systems.

[Editor's comment: For what it's worth, I'm an LS120 user myself, and my experiences are much more like Scott Wood's than Tom Garcia's. I like my drive a lot.]

From January, 1999 issue of the TCS Journal newsletter of the Tucson Computer Society

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Want more Disk Space
By Ken Dwight
From the Tulsa Computer Society PC News newsletter

What is the single area of our computers that we outgrow most quickly? For the vast majority of computer users, that area is the hard disk drive. Although the capacity of hard drives has grown exponentially over the past ten years, we just keep filling them up! No matter how large your drive is, you probably need more space.

The good news is, you probably have additional space on your hard drive that you don't know about. On most computers that have been in use more than a few weeks, there are clusters of space that are serving no useful purpose, but are not available to you for your important program or data files.

This article will give you a step-by-step procedure that you can use periodically to "clean up" your hard drive, and make space available for your use. All steps do not apply to all users, but the procedures that are applicable to your computer can give you back many megabytes of free disk space.

For best results, follow these steps in the sequence that follows:

1. Delete "Orphaned" .TMP files.

During normal use of Microsoft
Windows, whether it is Windows 3.x, Windows 95, or Windows NT, temporary files are created on your hard drive. When everything goes according to plan, these files are deleted after they have served the purpose for which they were created. In the real world, though, many of these files remain on your hard drive until you manually delete them. In one recent case, a user's machine contained over 6,000 orphaned .TMP files! Deleting these gave the user back more than 300 Megabytes of disk space.

2. Run the Scandisk utility, and then delete the .CHK files that it produces.

If you are running Windows 3.x, you will need to exit to a DOS prompt before running Scandisk; in Windows 95, Scandisk runs from the System Tools folder under Accessories. If Scandisk finds lost clusters, it saves them in the root directory, using the file name FILE0001.CHK for the first recovered cluster, then incrementing the number by one for each additional cluster it produces. Before deleting these files, you may examine them to determine what their original files contained, but there is no practical way to recover the data.

3. If you are running Windows 95, empty the Recycle Bin.

Even though Windows Explorer doesn't count the deleted items in calculating the disk space used by your files, that space is not available to you until the Recycle Bin is emptied. After all, the deleted files are still on your hard drive in case you decide you need them back.

4. If you're running Windows 3.x, adjust the size of the Swap file.

For best performance in this environment, you should be using a Permanent Swap file. The optimum size for this file depends upon the amount of RAM installed in your computer. As a rule of thumb, RAM + Swap file size should equal 24 Megabytes. So, if you have 16 Mb of RAM on your Windows 3.x system, an 8-Megabyte Permanent Swap file should be more than adequate.

5. If you're using e-mail, empty the trash folder and compress (compact) all folders.

Just as with the Recycle Bin, your e-mail trash folder doesn't get emptied until you do it manually. When you do, you may be amazed by the amount of space that becomes available to you. If you've never compacted all folders, you could be wasting hundreds of megabytes of disk space.

6. Clear your Internet disk cache.

This is only a temporary method to free up as much space as possible, if you need to install a program or make room for a large file. As your Browser reads pages from the Internet, it will re-create cache files up to the limit that is specified in your Browser Options.

7. Copy diskette images to floppy disks.

Most computers that have been sold in the past two years do not come with diskettes for the programs that were pre-installed on the computer by the manufacturer. Instead, many of these machines have diskette images on the hard disk, and include a utility program to produce diskettes from these images. If your computer uses such an arrangement and you haven't pulled off the diskette images yet, this can be an easy way to reclaim at least 20 Megabytes, and possibly much more.

8. As a final step, run the Defrag utility.

Although this shouldn't give you any more free space, it will make the most efficient use of the space that is occupied by live program and data files. And sometimes, for reasons that are not easily explained, Defrag does actually make more space available.

By following these steps, you can be sure your computer has as much free disk space as possible. And even at today's record-low prices for hard disk drives, there's no point in spending any money on a new drive as long as your old one has enough space available to meet your needs, is there?

Ken Dwight has been employed in the computer industry since 1966. He presently serves as President of The TeleProcessors, Inc., a Houston-based software and consulting firm that he founded in 1972. He may be reached by telephone at (281) 537-0252 or via e-mail at kdwight@swbell.net

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FRPCUG CONTACTS
Telephone Area Code 970

          FRPCUG Officers         Name            Work        Home      e-Mail 
          President               Rick Mattingly              223-6618  rmatt@jymis.com 
          Vice President          Don Anderson    498-3534    482-0943  dona@jymis.com
          Treasurer               Dennis Nimetz               686-2212  nimetz@ibm.net
          Secretary	          Mike Meyer      482-5600    223-0919  mmeyer@holnam.com


          k-Byte Staff
          Editor-in-Chief         Open - We need a volunteer!  Contact Rick Mattingly in interim.
          Features Editor         Open - We need a volunteer! 
          Calendar Editor         Rick Mattingly	      223-6618  rmatt@jymis.com
          Review Editor
          Advertising Coordinator Will Horton     223-0330    223-2154  whorton@will-design.com
          Team Member OS/2 Column Brad Kell	              495-1184  bkell@holly.ColoState.EDU
          Nuts & Bolts Column     Chuck McJilton  416-9286    493-2987  cdmcj@jymis.com
          On the Web Column       R. Glenn York   493-1895    224-5266  rgyork@jymis.com


          Other Contacts
          Membership Coordinator  Jack Linder                 663-2151  jelinder@aol.com
          Telecommunication SIG	
             and RMIUG	          Chuck McJilton  416-9286    493-2987  cdmcj@jymis.com  
          NRFNUG		  Chuck Kluko     663-4770 x224         c.kluko@ix.netcom.com
          Door Prize Coordinator  Will Horton     223-0330    223-2154  whorton@will-design.com
          HTML SIG		  Doug Boicourt   495-6949    495-6949  db@wwwdata.com
          Programmers SIG	    
          FRPCUG Fax Line	                  493-1408
          FRPCUG Home Page w/E-Mail               http://www.frpcug.org
          FRPCUG Officer E-Mail		          frpcug-offer@frpcug.org


          k-Byte
          Front Range PC Users Group
          305 W. Magnolia #152
          Fort Collins, CO  80521
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