March1999

Volume 18, No. 03

In this issue

KIP

From the Editor . . . . . . . . 2Paint Shop Pro 5 . . . . . . . . 3Upcoming Meetings . . . . . 4PageMaker 6.5 . . . . . . . . . 5CleanSweep 4.1 . . . . . . . . 7Opera Browser . . . . . . . . . 9Deals Guy . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Calender . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Sig Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Meeting Review . . . . . . . 18Portrait of a Leader . . . . 20New Members . . . . . . . 20Ken’s Korner . . . . . . . . . 21LiveArt 98 . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Membership Application .23

Next meetingCOMPUTER GAMES

IUS, OGLE CENTERTuesday, March 2,6:30 p.m.

CUGw w w . k i p c u g . o r g

Monthly PublicationOf The

Kentucky IndianaPC Users Group

Public is welcome at KIPCUG�sGeneral Meeting at IUS.

Free Program Starts at 6:30 PM

PaintShop Pro

�Paint Shop Pro is one ofthe most popular

programs in the history ofthe Internet�

JASC Software

“Paint Shop Tubes” allow you to paint rather than draw a scene!

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((NNeewwsslleetttteerr bbuussiinneessss))11778866 KKlleerrnneerr LLaannee

NNeeww AAllbbaannyy,, IINN 4477115500

EEddiittoorr--IInn--CChhiieeffJohn Henderson

AAssssiissttaanntt EEddiittoorrssSharon Kinney-Romeo

Marles Henderson

RReevviieeww EEddiittoorrBonnie Zepka

This issue of I/O reflects the possitive direction of KIPCUGduring the past year! We welcome new authors MikeBacon and Steve Cox. Karen Schuler welcomes new

members on page 20. Along with the 8 KIPCUG authors and reg-ular Deals Guy, Bob Click, we welcome Ken Fermoyle and Ken’sKorner. Ken has been a member of various user groups for manyyears and his column is carried in many group’s publications.Bonnie Zepka hard work has produced 4 software reviews thismonth. A check of the directory and you see Larry Mand of IUShas joined the Board of Directors. Portrait of a Leader, on page20, will recognize one of KIPCUG’s members that has contributedin a positive manner to our organization. This month we featureJim Travelstead in a article by Charley May. We welcome nomi-nations for future issues. KIPCUG continues to grow!

Microsoft is coming back to KIPCUG. Remember theOffice2000 tour? We filled Ogle Center. Fred Sowardwill bring the Visual Studio Tour to our April meeting.

Please check www.kipcug.org and next month’s I/O for details.There will be a limited amount of free copies of Office2000 to thefirst ??? attendees.

Notice: At future meetings the membership table willclose by 7:30 PM. Registration for door prize drawingswill end at that time. The Board of Directors feels that

Karen and her crew should have time to see the main vendor pre-sentations. They will be available again at the desk after the meet-ing adjourns if you need to see them. If you arrive late you arestill welcome, come on in!

I/0 Mar ch, 1999 Page 2

From The Editor

MEMBER

I/0 is published monthly by theKentucky Indiana PersonalComputer Users Group, Inc. and isintended principally for its mem-bership. All articles in this publica-tion are copyrighted by KIPCUGunless otherwise stipulated.

Express permission is granted forqualified User Groups to copy thematerials in this publication pro-vided appropriate credit is given toKIPCUG, I/0 and the author.

Requests from individuals ororganizations other than UserGroups for permission to reprintshould be made to the editor-in-chief.

Advertising materials must besubmitted four weeks prior to pub-lication. Editorial submissionsmust be submitted three weeksprior to publication.

All editorial materials submittedto I/0 become the property ofKIPCUG, and may be used by theorganization in any way deemedappropriate by the newsletter staffand the Board of Directors ofKIPCUG.

The editors reserve the right tomake any changes deemed neces-sary to any editorial matter submit-ted or to refuse publication of anymaterial submitted.

Direct all newsletter correspon-dence to: KIPCUG I/O, 1786Klerner Lane, New Albany, IN47150 or: jhenderson@win.net

Contributing staff writersMike Bacon Karen Schuler Fred Soward

Charley May Steve Cox David Brooks

Page 3 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

Paint Shop Pro

by Bonnie Zapka, KIPCUG

Jasc Software, better known for itsproducts than its name, is coming toKIPCUG in March. Jasc, producerof PaintShop Pro, gained the reputa-tion of having a cost-effectivegraphics and multimedia softwareand was recently named one of the500 fastest growing technologycompanies in the U.S. PaintShopPro leads the product line. Othersuccessful Jasc Software graphicsand multimedia products includeImage Robot, Illuminatus, andQuick View Plus 5.0

Jasc founded in 1991 started outby virtually giving its productsaway. The company got startedwhen the owner wrote severalgraphics tools programs and offeredthem as shareware on bulletinboards. Jasc continues to make itsproducts available on a “try beforeyou buy” trail basis via electronicbulletin boards and the web. Youcan check it out athttp://www.jasc.com/psp.html

PaintShop Pro 5.01: a graphic-editing package and the leadingproduct of Jasc. The program animage creation and manipulationprogram uses “raster” or “bitmap-ping” method of building graphics.

It is recognized for the ease of useand is used for business presenta-tions, digital photo manipulation,and web graphics design.

Some of the features of the software touted by Jasc:1.multilayers2.multihistory of undo3.good selection tools4.supports all twain devices anddirectly Kodak camera with a directinterface.5.Tablet support6.Full support for Adobe plug-ins

Illuminatus: the interactive multi-media authoring program, containseverything you need to create manydifferent types of projects frominteractive greeting cards to a multi-media development project, frompower presentation to picture port-folios, from simple slide shows tosophisticated software samplers,from web pages to educational

materials. The program gives pro-fessional results for the non-profes-sional as well as the professional.

Imagine Robot the company’s pro-fessional batch image processor isused to create and convert a varietyof image file formats. The programlets you select the files you wantand convert them in a batch processmode.

Jasc is distributor for Quick View.Quick View, a utility to view fileformats. The program supports over250 file formats. It’s a new versionof the industry-leading file viewingand information exchange utilitysoftware. You don’t even have tohave the program in order to open afile. You can view file formats thatyou do not have such as an e-mail ina different file format than the oneyou have. Paint Shop Pro 5

Paint Shop Pro 5

I/0 Mar ch, 1999 Page 4

Upcoming Meetingsby Fred Soward, KIPCUG ProgramDirector

Upcoming General Meetings -ALWAYS THE FIRST TUESDAYof the month

This month, TUESDAY, March 2 -Sort of a double-header. JASC willbe here to show off the latest editionof their very popular Paint ShopPro. If nothing else, it’s a greatgraphics conversion tool. No matterwhat the graphics format, I’vealways been able to convert it withPSP. Expect JASC to show off someof their other products as well,including an animation tool that I’vebeen playing with off and on sincereturning from COMDEX. Theirwebsite is http://www.jasc.com

Also on the list for March isEnfish. They won’t be sending arepresentative, but they have sentme additional information about theproduct, so I’ll be showing TrackerPro during Back-to-Basics. As anexample of using this product, I usu-ally save all e-mail related to a par-ticular meeting in a single folder inOutlook Express. Well, sometimes,my organization isn’t what it shouldbe, so either miss the target or don’tdo the filing I should do. WithTrackerPro, I create a “Tracker” thatkeeps tabs on where all those E-mails are located on my harddrive.Not only that, it’ll keep track of any-thing even remotely related to a par-ticular meeting if I tell it do so. Iwas giving a demo to Emcee Esseeand Ima Clueless earlier today andIma decided that it was just whattheir offices needed to keep track ofall the work and volunteer projectsthey’re both involved in right now.I’ll be letting the New User’s SIGplay with this product during the

March New User’s SIG meeting,too. Take a look athttp://www.enfish.com for moreinformation before the meeting.

April 6 - Microsoft DeveloperTechnology Tour 99. KIPCUG isone of only a few User Groups stopsfor this tour. Our website atwww.kipcug.org will have the latestinformation about the visit and alink to Microsoft’s site regarding thetour: http://msdn.microsoft.com/developer/usergroup/techtour

Microsoft will be giving away thelatest Beta release of Windows 2000to the first 100 people who make itin the door!!!

May 4 - Inprise and Borland willbe showing the latest version Delphiand other programming tools. Thiswill be a nice companion meeting tothe Microsoft meeting the monthbefore. We’ll be able to see twoviewpoints for creating applicationswith visual development tools, near-ly back-to-back. How could we beso lucky, huh? <grin>

June 1 - APC UninterruptablePower Supplies, Surge Suppressors,etc. This will be extremely informa-tive and educational for all of us,even seasoned pros. This is some-thing we all need to be aware of andon top of, so make sure you attendthis meeting at all costs.

July 6 - Lernout and Hauspie willbe here to show their version of

voice dictation and navigation.There was a lot of discussion aboutthis at COMDEX and I’ve beenworking since then to bring them toKIPCUG. They’ll be showing atleast two of their products. I’ve beenworking with their Voice eXpressProfessional for a few weeks, so youwill probably see a review nextmonth. Don’t hold your breath onthat, though. <grin>

August 3 - I really don’t like this,but we’ve had to move thePowerQuest meeting - again. That’sbecause of a scheduling conflict ontheir part that has to do with productlaunches that will be happeningabout that time. I’m working toreschedule this meeting, so don’tdespair you fans of Partition Magic,they’ll be here this year, yet. What’sreally great is that they’ll also bedoing a seminar about hard drives,maintenance, and more.

September 7 - Corel WordPerfectOffice 2000 and Corel Draw.

If you haven’t heard yet, I won’tbe continuing on as the ProgramDirector past June. If you’re inter-ested in this, and there are someadvantages to being the ProgramDirector, BTW, please let me know.It would be nice to have a bit ofoverlap. We really do need to knowif if we’re on track with these meet-ings. Are we bringing in the vendorsyou want to see or are we bringingin the wrong vendors? E-mail me atfrsoward@win.net with the answer.You never know what I might do ifsomeone actually DOES send me asuggestion! <grin>

Page 5 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

PageMaker 6.5

by John Henderson, KIPCUG

I needed an ad for the I/O. SECCustom Computers send it rightover but I couldn’t open thePageMaker file with Quark - thepublishing program the last 3 edi-tors had used. The last editor hadpicked up a hard copy and had theprinter cut and paste the ad on theback page. My dad was a printer, Ihad cut and pasted a lot of imagesand text in the past, but it just didn’tseem the right method in today’sworld. A few phone calls and visitsto the web and we knew that Quarkwould not read it’s competition’sfiles. However, Adobe’sPageMaker would read Quark’s.

PageMaker 6.5 arrives in a bigbox, with a big book and a big repu-tation. Adobe promotes it as the

world leading professional page lay-out software. With PageMaker youcan produce any type or level ofpublication by designing a layout,style, and method of delivering yourfinal creation. You can use a largevariety of graphics. It works acrossWin 95/98/NT and MAC and isavailable in over 20 languages.

Please take the time to understandthe concept of what you are going tocreate and how you will usePageMaker. It is not a word pro-cessing program that you add sometext and pictures and then hit theprint button.

Pick up the 538-page book andread the first 2 chapters: Chapter 1- Basic Concepts, Chapter 2 -Tutorial. Understand the conceptthat your publication will have sec-tions of text, a few pictures and havex-number of pages. At first youmay have to sketch out your planson blank paper but as you move for-ward you will do your planning asyou develop your publications.Don’t worry about the length of thetext or the size of the pictures. Justvision where they would go if theywere the perfect size and shape.The goal of the author is to create acomplete article. Your job as an edi-tor is closer to an artist insertingsegments into the publication to cre-ate a visual image.

Start a new publication under the<file> menu. PageMaker 6.5 willprompt you to set the basic layout.Set up the size, number of pages,

margins printer, and variousoptions. PageMaker will open ablank document that looks like your“vision” and all you have to do is fillthe pages.

The toolbar will allow you goinsert blank “boxes”, they actuallylook like window shades, on eachpage that will hold the text andgraphics in your final version. Theconcept is that the “boxes” can bemoved around and resized. The“window shades” have a linkingfeature that allows you to have yourarticles continued to another area orpage. The handle will indicate if allyour text is not visible. You can editthe article, resize the box, or link thebox to another area or page andallow the text to flow to that box.

You may type or edit your articlesdirectly in the “window shade.” Wegather our articles and graphics andsimply import or cut & paste.

PageMaker allows you to drag abox off the publication. Will be vis-ible to you for planning purposes,moving to another page or savingfor you next issue. Even thought itis outside the printable area, it will

Start screen allows you to set thebasic properties

The “Pasteboard” view of ourKIPCUG brochure. A “window

shade” box of text has been movedoff the printable area and saved forfuture use. It has been resized to

show the tabs or handles.

I/0 Mar ch, 1999 Page 6

PageMaker 6.5 (cont.)be saved with your work and will bethere when you open the publicationthe next time.

The <save> function saves the ele-ments where they are. Unlike other<save> functions in other applica-tions, you still have the ability toclick on the element and move orreformat it later. We use <save>often.

We export a copy of each month’sI/O in “. PDF” file format and loadit to the KIPCUG.org web-site. ThePortable Document Format (PDF)allows you to see the file exactly asit was created. It maintains the lay-out and format that the author creat-ed. The Acrobat Reader is availablefree on the Internet and maybe themost distributed program in theworld. With other programs, wehad to purchase Acrobat Distiller to

produce the PDF files - it is includ-ed in PageMaker 6.5.

We also have the “export to html”format available in PageMaker. Itwill export a version of your publi-cation for the Internet that allowshyperlinks. As with all HTMLpages, PageMaker will “approxi-mate” your formatting but it will nothave the exact look and feel of theoriginal. That could be completelyacceptable for your publicationgoals. The output will remain con-sistent from issue to issue.

PageMaker 6.5 is a professionalproduct. It is powerful with a longlearning curve to “learn it all”.Fortunately we just have to learn theparts we are using. I don’t have toknow that “typograhic controlsallow kerning in 0.001-em incre-ments.” I do use the built-in word

processor and spelling checker. Idon’t need the “multichannel DCSsupport using PhotoShop usingChannel 24 by VISU.” I do usePhotoShop LE that comes withPageMaker 6.5 to process images.

Included is an 80-page “PrintPublishing Guide.” I found thepages on color properties Red,Green & Blue versus Cyan,Magenta & Yellow models veryinteresting. It is full of tips andtechniques from design to questionsfor your printer.

PageMaker is completely scalableas my knowledge grows and myconcept of my final product grows.

Web-site: www.adobe.com

Our original problem is solved!We ran the “QuarkXPress

Converter from within PageMaker6.5. In one <click> our 24-page I/Owent from a Quark file to aPageMaker file. While we had tomake small adjustments, the moveworked well.

Note that the toolbars are similarfor both programs making an easytransition.

A real plus is the page indicator onthe PageMaker desktop. A simple<click> and you move to any page.QuarkXPress Screen PageMaker 6.5 Screen

PageMaker’s Quark XPress Converter

Page 7 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

CleanSweep 4.1By Mike Bacon, KIPCUG

There are certain utility programsthat should be installed on everycomputer. One of these is an unin-staller. Quarterdeck’s CleanSweep4.1 is a very popular uninstaller pro-gram being sold today.

It safely removes unwanted pro-grams and files from your computer.This comes in handy when the harddrive becomes so full and there is noroom to install a new program.Once CleanSweep is installed onyour system (requires a minimum of15 MB available hard-disk space), itwill monitor the installation of anynew files or programs. This enablesCleanSweep to thoroughly removethese, if desired, at a later date.

CleanSweep 4.1 has seven differ-ent areas (index tabs). These areProgram, Cleanup, Internet Sweep,Restore, View, Registry, andOptions. Under each of these indextabs, various functions can beaccomplished. There are also indi-cator lights that indicate whetherSafety Sweep is on or off. TheSafety Sweep feature provides risk-free uninstalling by backing up all

the files and not allowing removalof the critical files.

In the Program section, there arewizards (programs that guide youstep-by-step) for uninstalling,archiving, backup, moving andtransporting. Uninstalling is reallyquite easy. First, the wizard willshow you a list of the programs onyour hard drive. You pick out theprogram for the uninstallation. Thewizard will analyze it looking forany files that should not beremoved. It will then prompt youfor several more responses andfinally will remove the program.The whole process only takes aminute or two.

The Cleanup section enables youto find and clean up any unneededfiles such as duplicate files, redun-dant DLL or VBX files, unused orinfrequently used files, and orphanfiles (left behind from deleted pro-grams). When viewing the list offiles prior to deletion, one willnotice that they have color codedboxes to indicate the safety level fordeletion. The files that are com-pletely safe to delete will have agreen box in front of them. Thissafety feature is comforting to haveso one doesn’t inadvertently deletean important file.

The Internet Sweep section is anaddition to CleanSweep thataddresses the programs and filesthat are downloaded from theInternet. In this section, you canclean cache files from your harddrive, uninstall programs down-loaded from the Internet, eliminateunwanted cookies, and safelyremove plug-ins and ActiveX con-trols. This section comes in handy

for those who use the Internet fre-quently.

The Restore section has a wizardthat walks you through restoring apreviously backed-up program ordeleted Registry value. You maychange your mind about files thatwere uninstalled, archived, orbacked up and want to restore them.

The View section is basically thereport section. It has a master log ofall the CleanSweep activity, gives arecap of the disk space that has beenfreed, and shows how much diskspace each folder or file takes onyour hard drive.

The Registry section, as it sug-gests, deals with the WindowsRegistry. CleanSweep provides autility program called the RegistryGenie that allows viewing and edit-ing the Registry. It also creates andrestores backups of the individualchanges you have made. Besidesthe Genie, this section also has theRegistry Sweep for eliminatingunused entries.

KIPCUG’s General Meeting isheld the 1st. Tuesday eachmonth in the Ogle Center at

Indiana University Southeast.

IUS is located at 2nd entranceoff Grant Line Road, just north

of I-265 Parking is FREE

Symantec announced the acquisi-tion of Quarterdeck in October1998, and expects to finalize theacquisition in March 1999, follow-ing a meeting of Quarterdeck share-holders.

Quarterdeck's products:CleanSweep 4.1 CleanSweep Extra Strength Crash Defender Deluxe DiskClone Partition-It EProcomm Connections 4.6

Procomm Plus 4.7 QEMM 97 RemoveIt 98 Zip-It 4.0

will join Symantec’s list:ACT!Cafe AnywhereWinFax PRONorton’s product line

Technical Support for Quarterdeckproducts is now available from theSymantec web-site:http://www.symantec.com/techsupp

I/0 Mar ch, 1999 Page 8

CleanSweep (cont.)

Getting to IUS from LouisvilleOur meetings are in the Ogle Center at Indiana University Southeast.

Take I-65 north to I-265. Turn west on I-265 (after passing under the overpass).Take the Grant Line Road exit from I-265.

Turn right at the intersection onto Grant Line Road. IUS is a half mile on the left.Ogle Center is at the back right of the campus. You will not “get a ticket” for parking in the

wrong lot or meter area. Park behind or in front of the building.

The last section, Options, is forupdating and customizingCleanSweep. Like most programstoday, CleanSweep can be updatedthrough the Internet. By connectingto the Quarterdeck Web site, the lat-est version or updates can be down-loaded.

What’s new in CleanSweep? Fast& Safe Cleanup and QuarterdeckSafe. Fast & Safe Cleanup allowsthe user to instantly and safely freeup hard disk space by finding andremoving certain file types that are

safe to delete. These files includetemporary, cache, and Recycle Binfiles. Fast & Safe Cleanup can beplaced on a schedule so your harddrive is kept continuously clean ofthese types of files. QuarterdeckSafe is a program that prevents filesfrom accidentally being deleted.You can select certain file types thatare not to be deleted and put them inthe Quarterdeck Safe for protection.

Quarterdeck’s CleanSweep is agood uninstaller program. I havehad CleanSweep as an uninstaller

on my systems for at least threeyears with complete satisfaction.The installation of CleanSweep isstraightforward and a novice shouldhave no problem using it.

Quarterdeck’s On-line Store(www.quarterdeck.com) sellsCleanSweep 4.1 for $39.99. Theminimum system requirements toinstall this program are Windows95, 8MB RAM, 15MB disk space;or NT 4.0, 16MB RAM, 15MB diskspace. A CD-ROM is also required.

825 South Hurstbourne ParkwayLouisville, KY

Thank You forhosting our

Windows, Word &Excel SIG

We encourage all our members tosupport the companies that support

us. Without them, we could notoperate

KIPCUG Appreciates your help!

Page 9 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

Opera Internet Browserby Steve Cox, KIPCUG

Pay for a browser? You’ve got tobe kidding!

That’s exactly what the folks atOpera Software are hoping you’lldo. Plunk down $35 for an internetbrowser in this day and age of free-bies. Surprisingly enough theymake a good case.

Imagine a browser that is compli-ant with the latest HTML standard,yet efficient enough to run on a 386with 8 MB of ram. Imagine beingable to open as many different web-pages as you want without runningout of memory. Imagine a browser*not* based on the Mosaic standard,that only takes about 10 minutes todownload (1.3 MB), and installsalmost instantaneously. Imagineturning images off with a singlemouse click. How about a browserthat is truly handicapped accessible?Or one that allows you to cruise theweb with your keyboard? Howabout a browser that allows you to“zoom” in and out on a webpage,from 20% to 1000% (great for thosepages designed for 1024 x 768 whenyou’re running 800 x 600!).

A pipedream? Nope: Opera.

Opera is all those thing mentionedabove and more.

Personally Opera was worth the$35 just for testing webpages. It isHTML 4.0 compliant, so I know if

my pages work in Opera they’llwork in the other version 4browsers. But as I used it I foundmore features that I loved. Keepyour Internet Exploder! I’ll go to theOpera any day!

In a perfect world all softwarewould be perfect. Not even the fineNorwegians who made Opera areperfect though. While Opera doessupport JAVA you have to go toSun’s website and download theplug-in. (Which takes longer todownload and install than Operadoes!) I also miss the history featurebuilt into Internet Explorer, but I’mlearning to once again bookmarksites I want to refer back to.(Speaking of bookmarks, Operacomes with an awesome “hotlist” ofsites selected by the Opera folks.Much more fun to browser thanMicrosoft’s commercial channels.)

The only other drawback I’ve seenis that some webpages aren’t neces-sarily written with other browsers inmind. Poorly done frames can bedifficult to read. (This is true inNetscape too. I’m sure the Netscapeusers reading this have run acrossmore than one page that loads total-ly blank due to a missing tag in theHTML code. To give Microsoftcredit, they’re more forgiving withpoorly written code.)

Opera is available in both 16-bitand 32-bit versions. It runs on a 386with 8 MB of Ram, and in Windows3.1 and greater. Opera doesn’t writeto the system registry, which makesuninstall a breeze.

Turn up the music! Opera makesthe “World Wide Wait” fun again.(And a lot faster!)

Announcing Opera, 3.5

Opera 3.50 now features the mostcomplete CSS1 implementation ofall commercial web browsers. Thisis enhanced by many customizationoptions for both users and websitedesigners.

With Opera 3.50, the most compli-ant and most recent version of Javais now supported! As a steppingstone to internal Java support,access to applets has been madepossible by supporting the pluginfrom Sun Microsystems.

Opera 3.50 once again leads theway in Internet security. It is theonly browser to support TransportLayer Security (TLS), the successorof the Secure Socket Layer (SSL).Opera integrates the latest 128 bitencryption protocols -- withoutrequiring additional modules.

Support has also been added forFile Upload, which is required formany web-based e-mail services.An Offline Browser Mode, NameCompletion, a Turbo Mode, theability to turn off tables, a newDownload Window with multiplefunctionality, and even wider pluginsupport are but a few of the manynew characteristics of Opera 3.50.

Opera 3.50 also allows users toimplement their own toolbar icondesigns, allowing for fully individu-alized versions according to theirpreferences.

Opera Software:http://www.operasoftware.com

I/0 Mar ch, 1999 Page 10

Deals GuyFrom The Deals Guy, Bob Click,Greater Orlando Computer UserGroup

Often the deals are from mom andpop companies and some editorscomplain that I should have morefrom well-known companies. Thatwould be almost impossible, and toonly have a certain few companiesoffered would be boring to readers.Large companies aren’t often thatcooperative about giving deals. Infact, I have yet to get a deal fromMicrosoft or Corel.

In Review

The Chicago Map software is stillgood, so give Chicago Map a call at1-800-257-9244 to buy this soft-ware for just $29.99 + $5.00 S&H inthe continental US. The “File-Ex98” deal is also still good. If youorder it on the web, shipping is freein US. Web site is <www.cotton-woodsw.com>. Their phone is 1-913-663-3022 (24 hours a day). Lastmonth I said the discount was 20%off, or $7.50. Sorry for that confu-sion. I should have said the discountwas 25%, or $7.50.

TasACT 98 is ongoing so if youhaven’t done your taxes yet, visitthe company’s web site at<http://www.taxact.com>.

Power Quest Update

I know I just printed a special offerfrom this fine company but here isthe latest offer to user group mem-bers. It is for Partition Magic V4,

Drive Image V2, and their newestsoftware called Lost and Found.You can purchase any of these forjust $30.00 + $5.00 S&H.

I know you are familiar withPartition Magic and Drive Image sohere’s a brief description of Lostand Found which is called an afford-able, easy-to-use data recovery solu-tion for PC users.

They say Lost & Found recoversand restores data from damaged orcorrupted media in the event of adisk crash, a logical system failure,or even intentional or accidentaldata loss. Lost & Found can alsoquickly recover data lost on corrupt-ed disk media. As long as your diskis still spinning, Lost & Found canlocate any file, anywhere on yourdisk.

There is more description but datasheets and order forms have beensent to your user group. To orderany product, you must use the orderform and mail it to the address onthe order form. For faster service,you can order via their secure website at <www.ugr.com/order/>. Usethe code UGFLYR3 when youorder. If your user group did notreceive the forms, your coordinatorshould contact Gene Barlow.

Want to Get Better AtUsing W indows 98

O’Reilly Publishers is offering avery useful book entitled “Windows98 Annoyances” by David A Karp.This book is 448 pages of all kindsof information when it comes toyour Windows 98 operating system.

In fact, it even gives you 30 pagescovering the structure of the “reg-istry” and use of the registry editor,a very serious subject. It has itswarnings and offers in-depth infor-mation.

There’s a lot in this book aboutconfiguration, hardware and drivers,among other things, and instructionsfor getting rid of such annoyancesas being asked to confirm certainthings you wish to do. Also includ-ed with the book is a CD containingsample scripts, as well as an evalua-tion copy (30-day) of “O’ReillyUtilities - Quick solutions forWindows 98 Annoyances.”

If this book interests you, callO’Reilly at 1-800-998-9938 toorder. User group members are enti-tled to a 20% discount from the$24.95 price by using the orderingcode “DSUG.” Don’t forgetO’Reilly offers an ongoing discountof 20% on all their books by usingthe code when ordering. S&H of thebook should be about $4.50.

Thank YouNew Horizons

Computer Learning Centers

Thank you for hosting theDelphi, New Users, and

Visual Basic SIGS

Check out their 12 MonthClub Memberships

(502) 426-8519

www.newhorizonslouisville.com

Page 11 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

Deals Guy (cont.)

Golf or CampingAnyone?

You all remember Chicago Map,the company I featured a month ago... I happened to notice they also hada couple of other interesting pro-grams, although only for a specialcustomer base, so I asked aboutthem.

“National Golf Course Directory”is great for the weekend hacker orserious enthusiast. It will help any-one search and select his or her nextcourse of play. A detailed listing ofnearly every golf course in the US iscontained on a single CD-ROM.Find a course, review its informa-tion and print out a detailed reportfor future reference. Great foryou’re next vacation.

“Trailer Life CampgroundDirectory” combines Trailer Life’scomprehensive “CampgroundDirectory” along with detailed mapdisplays, making it fun and easy tofind a campsite. Choose from a list-ing of campgrounds, RV supportfacilities and attractions. GoodSam’s members will easily locatedestinations offering discount pric-ing.

Both are priced at just $29.99MSRP (already a modest price), butuser group members can buy eitherprogram for just $19.99 + $5.00S&H. Call Chicago Map at 1-800-257-9244 to order. Don’t forget totell them you read this in the DealsGuy column. They have some otherinteresting software, but mostly forprofessional applications.

Want to V isit with yourcomputer?

“Voice Xpress” has a bundle con-sisting of “Voice Xpress Pro”(includes headset) with a free-formdatabase - “askSam 3.0 Pro.” Youcan check out “Voice Xpress” at<www.lhs.com> and askSam at<asksam.com>.

“Voice Xpress” focuses on voice,mainly on recognition technology,and continues to do research andadd products that they find are pro-ductive. Their goal is to find voicerecognition products activating allaspects of computers, electronics,ask life.

The Voice Company’s real goal isto get the world talking... to com-puters, stereos, cars, the Internet,homes ... and perhaps to even havethem talk back! “We’re alwayslooking for all types of voice tech-nology. They want to find voicerecognition products activating allaspects of computers, electronics,and life. Lately we have focused ondictation for the business, medicaland legal communities,” saysFounder, Joy Porter.

At this stage The Voice Companyis dealing with the continuous dicta-tion and navigation technology ofL&H, “V oice Xpress Professional.”Xpress Professional won two PCComputing awards - Most ValuableProduct and Breakthrough Award,last November at COMDEX .“We’re not at the point of openingdoors by voice like Star Trek - butyou can open computer programs,files and navigate around the desk-

top with ‘Xpress Professional.’ Youcan dictate at a normal rate of speed- even into chat rooms! People justlove that!”

Fallon says, “It seems only rightthat the groups that love the technol-ogy and take the time to learn aboutit should have access. We are offer-ing “Xpress Professional” (withheadset) along with the free-formdatabase program askSam 3.0 Pro<askSam.com> for $129.00 + $4.99S&H in USA and $8.99 to Canada(for both programs) to user groupmembers. The retail of both ofthese programs is $499-$594. Ofcourse, they must give all the vitalstatistics in regards to their member-ship to the order desk when theyorder”. I’d appreciate it if you’dmention the column.

To subscribe to the “VoiceCompany” e-mail newsletter, type“subscribe” in the subject box ande-mail to <VoiceCo@usa.net>.Voice Company’s mailing address is14100 Walsingham Rd #36 Largo,FL 33774 Telephone: (727) 442-6989 E-mail: voiceco@usa.net. Ihope you can also order the productby that phone.

That’s it for this month. Meet mehere next month for more usergroup specials.

Bob (The Cheapskate) Click.

CourierNetThe Courier-Journal

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age 12

Name Position Home WorkSharon Kinney-Romeo President 893-2672 568-5192

Steve Goldberg Vice President 282-5186

Winnie Miller Secretary 895-5360

Anthony Krainski Treasurer 429-5155

Fred Soward Program Director 426-1829

John Henderson Editor, I/O Magazine 945-1102

Paul Ward BBS SYSOP 231-9267

Mike Shaikun Legal Advisor 425-3326 589-4200

Karen Schuler Membership Director 239-3841

Bob Streever Publicity Director 895-4180

Charley May SIG Director 425-4604

Marvin Livingood Director Emeritus 459-8888 459-8888

David Brooks Webmaster 454-4421 540-2730

Louis Gagel Program Setup 361-4275

Judy Lococo Past President 893-8710 893-8710

Bonnie Zepka Software Review Editor 449-6205

Larry Mand Director

David Puckett User to User Coordinator 549-9008

Page 13 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

I/0 Mar ch, 1999 Page 14

The SIG Scene

by Charley May, SIG Director

KIPCUG SIGs are open to thepublic. They offer a chance to meetpeople with similar interests, a pre-sentation on a related topics and aQ & A session.

ACCESS SIG

The ACCESS SIG is still new andis looking for more members inter-ested in using Microsoft’s Access

Database Program. If you would beinterested in getting to together withothers that want to use Access,come to our meetings, which areheld on the 4th Saturday of eachmonth. We meet from 10:00 AM tonoon, at the Eline Branch of theLouisville Free Public Library in St.Matthews, located at 3940Grandview Ave. and the corner ofFairfax Ave. We have room for upto 50 people and a large screen TVfor presentations.

In the February meeting SIG

TEAM LEADER John Kilpatrick, abusiness and personal user ofACCESS, will cover basics con-cepts on a new user level with easyto understand examples, followedby a Q & A session for all levels ofusers. Work on two SIG projects,will continue to develop, as bothprojects and learning tools.

The March and April meetingswill continue covering the basicsconcepts on a new user level withexamples, followed by a Q & A ses-sions.

ACCESS SIGMeets 10:00 am on the 4th.Saturday of the month at theLouisville Free Public Library, Eline Branch, located in theSt. Matthews City Hall Building at the corner of GrandviewAve and Fairfax Ave. about 3 blocks south of ShelbyvilleRoad.SIG LEADER: John Kilpatrick at 635-1153 orkilpat1@juno.com

DELPHI SIGMeets 6:30 PM. on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at theNew Horizons Learning Center, at 10200 Linn Station Roadin Suite 110 of the Triad E. Bldg.SIG LEADER: Amy Bordogna at 636-3030 orbordogna@yarrowconsulting.com or CO-LEADER: KelbyPrice at 636-3030 or kprice@yarrowconsulting.com

GENEALOGY SIGMeets 6:30 PM. on the 3rd Monday of the month at theLouisville Free Public Library, Eline Branch, located in theSt. Matthews City Hall Building at the corner of GrandviewAve and Fairfax Ave. about 3 blocks south of ShelbyvilleRoad. SIG LEADER: Susan Moore at 499-5222 or susankmoore@iname.com

HARDWARE SIGMeets 6:30 PM. on the 1st Monday of the month at theLouisville Free Public Library, Eline Branch, located in theSt. Matthews City Hall Building at the corner of GrandviewAve and Fairfax Ave. about 3 blocks south of ShelbyvilleRoad.SIG LEADER: Grant Mccormick at (wk) 266-9999 ext. 213,(home) 935-2497 or CO-LEADER: Charley May at 425-4604 or hardware@sig.win.net

INTERNET USER & TELECOMMUNICATIONS SIGMeets 6:30 PM. on the 4th Thursday of the month at 330-F,Distillery Commons in the Win.Net offices, at the corner ofLexington and Payne streets. SIG LEADER: Glenn Fish at 589-6800 or fish@win.net

INVESTING SIGMeets 6:30 PM. on the 2nd Thursday of the month at theLouisville Aero Club, Bowman Field. We do not discuss therelative merits of mutual funds.SIG LEADER: Doc Viele at 452-6878 for details.

NEW USERS SIGMeets 6:30 PM. on the 2nd Monday of the month at the NewHorizons Learning Center, at 10200 Linn Station Road inSuite 110 of the Triad E. Bldg.SIG LEADER: Fred Soward at 426-1829 orfrsoward@win.net

OS/2 & OTHER 32-BIT OS SIGMeets 6:30 PM. on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 120Webster in the Bakery Square Building, right next to theButchertown Pub.SIG LEADER: Art Atkinson at 589-7411 oraatkins@ibm.net

VISUAL BASIC SIGMeets 7 PM. on the 2nd Thursday of the month at the NewHorizons Learning Center, at 10200 Linn Station Road inSuite 110 of the Triad E. Bldg.SIG LEADER: Martin Campion at 479-8952 or mccampion@aol.com

WEBMASTER SIGMeets 6 PM. on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 330-F,Distillery Commons in the Win.Net offices, at the corner ofLexington and Payne streets. SIG LEADER: Don Fowler at 589-6800 or dfowler@win.net

WINDOWS, WORD & EXCEL SIGMeets 6:30 PM. on the 4th Monday of the month at the newtraining center located in the CompUSA Louisville store at825 S. Hurstbourne Pkwy.SIG LEADER: Jim Travelstead, 852-4761 (W), 375-4796(H) or jim.travelstead@louisville.edu

SIG Director : Charley May 425-4604 or sig@win.net

Page 15 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

The SIG Scene(cont.)

DELPHI SIG

The DELPHI SIG will hold theFebruary meeting at New HorizonsComputer Learning Center, locatedin the Triad East Building on LinnStation Road. SIG LEADER AmyBordogna and CO-SIG LEADERKelby Price will have a discussionon software design strategies andimplementation of these techniques.SIG LEADERS will request grouprecommendations for evaluation ofthird party components and devel-opers tools as well as host the regu-lar Q & A session.

The March meeting will continueto gather recommendations on thirdparty components and developerstools that they would like to see thegroup evaluate. The group will con-tinue with the SIG’s Project and dis-cuss projects brought to the meetingby attendees, plus a Q & A session.

The April meeting will cover moreon software design followed by asession covering members questionsregarding code issues, documenta-tion, error handling & performanceand other subjects

GENEALOGY SIG

The GENEALOGY SIG met atthe Eline Branch of the LouisvilleFree Public Library (LFPL) for theFebruary 15, 1999 SIG meeting andhad 21 attendees, a good show butwe are looking for YOU to join theSIG at future meetings. SIGLEADER Susan Moore covered the

use of Deed and Probate Records asresearch sources, the balance of thepresentation covered more informa-tion on conversion to and setup of“The Master Genealogist” (TMG).The SIG has previously decided tostandardize on TMG a genealogydatabase program.

Topics for March meeting includeInternet sources and any questionson TMG conversion/setup.

The April meeting will coversource citations in “The MasterGenealogist” followed by aQuestion and Answer session.

HARDWARE SIG

The HARDWARE SIG held theirFebruary meeting at the ElineBranch of the Louisville Free PublicLibrary (LFPL). There were 14attendees with lots of room formore, including YOU. GuestPresenter Tom Scanlan gave anexcellent presentation and demon-stration on installing and setting upa new Hard Drive in a KIPCUGMembers computer. There weremany questions from other mem-bers that have plans to install a larg-er Hard Drive in their own comput-er and answer were provided to allby Tom. Every one gave TomScanlan a “Special Thank You” forbeing a Guest Presenter at theHARDWARE SIG and for the sec-ond half, of a very thorough two-part presentation on Hard Drives.

In March we will cover research,purchase, installation and configu-ration of a new Motherboard foryour computer. Come find out all

the tips and tricks before you buyone and see T. Lee Harris of theHardware Team install and setup anew Motherboard in a KIPCUGMembers computer at the meeting.

If you have a HARDWARE prob-lem that you would like to bring tothe meeting to hopefully be solved,PLEASE call one of the phone num-bers listed in the proceeding SIGDirectory to get in the queue and sothat HARDWARE TEAM Memberscan be prepared to handle yourproblem. With this advance plan-ning you may not have to bring, asmuch of your computer equipmentwith you and the HARDWARETEAM will be better prepared tohelp you.

The April meeting will cover“Every thing you ever wanted toknow about USB and more”. GuestPresenter Joe Sykora of Inter SpaceComputers will cover USB with ahands on demonstration of practi-cally every USB device known toman.

INTERNET USER &TELECOM SIG

The January SIG meeting featuredGuest Presenter Eric Paul, of AyeNet. Mr. Paul’s topic was InternetSecurity and covered a blow byblow explanation of how Aye Nettried to prevent a continuous 24hr aday multi-day international invasionof their ISP Operation and whatmeasures they took to prevent futureinvasions. (One of the most inter-esting presentations that I have beento. -Charley)

I/0 Mar ch, 1999 Page 16

The SIG Scene(cont.)SIG LEADER Glenn Fish and his

Guest Presenters will continue tocover the Tools for getting the mostout of your Internet connection aswell as Telecommunications sub-jects. KIPCUG Members are invit-ed to bring their questions to theSIG for discussion.

In February Glenn will have a pre-sentation on the program “THENORTON pcANYWARE(tm)”Symantec’s “Remote ComputingAny Way You Need It” program.

The March meeting will coverwhat are “Internet News Groups”and how to use them.

The April meeting revisits I-PHONE, Internet VoiceCommunication to anyone’s phoneanywhere in the world. During thepresentation, attendees will talkwith people all over the World. Solookup granny’s phone number inAfghanistan or wherever and“COME ON DOWN”.

INVESTING SIG

SIG LEADER Doc Viele conductsthe investing discussions that havebeen going on since 1986. Evenwith bad weather there were 16attendees at the February INVEST-ING SIG meeting. Most attendeesstill feel the market situation isimproving slowly at this time.According to Doc, a few SIGMembers are making limited newinvestments while most will contin-ue to watch to see what happens forawhile before re-entering theMarket.

Next SIG Meeting will includegeneral information on investingand the usual information exchange.

This is not an investment club;they DO NOT discuss mutual funds.

NEW USERS SIG

The NEW USERS SIG metFebruary 6,1999 at New HorizonsComputer Learning Center, locatedin the Triad East Building, 10200Linn Station Road Suite110. FredSoward’s Guest Presenter was GrantMcCormick a longtime KIPCUGMember and Hardware SIG Leader.Grant’s excellent presentation cov-ered file types, how to open andlook at them, sizes of files, types ofmedia used to backup your files andmethods of using a hard drive forbackup. Grant answered all mem-bers’ questions throughout his pre-sentation and gave examples of whyit is so important to backup data andwhere to store your backups.

The March meeting, the second ofa two-part presentation, will covermethods of backing up your datafiles.

Also, Fred will give you a firstlook at a new program called EnfishTracker Pro which will find any-thing instantly, organize it intelli-gently whether it’s located on yourhard drive, intranet, network, inter-net or E-mail.

As with all of Fred’s presentations,it should be verrrryy interesting.

OS/2 & OTHER 32-BITOS SIG

KIPCUG Member, if you areinterested in OS/2, NT or LINUX,please consider attending ArtAtkinson’s SIG held at 120 Websterin the Bakery Square Building. Atthe January meeting, Art Atkinsoncovered the new 4.04 Release ofNetscape Communicator for OS/2.All meetings cover OS/2 tips, prob-lems and shortcuts.

The February meeting presenta-tion will be given by Art’s GuestPresenter, Gary Nofrey, a newKIPCUG member that recentlymove to our state. Gary will give abrief overview of Windows NT OSand will be looking for input frommembers on future NT subjects. IfYOU are interested in NT, pleasecome and bring your questions withyou.

Future meetings will see broader32 BIT OS coverage, moving intoWINDOWS NT and LINUXOperating Systems.

New attendees should e-mail orcall SIG Leader Art Atkinson at589-7411 for meeting details.

SIG Director’s Note: We are look-ing for Guest Presenters or TeamMembers for the OS/2 & OTHER32- BIT OS’s SIG to give presenta-tions on LINUX and Windows NTOS’s. If you can help or know some-one who can, please contact ArtAtkins at 589- 7411 or Charley Mayat 425-4604 or sig@win.net

Page 17 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

The SIG Scene(cont.)

VISUAL BASIC SIG

The VISUAL BASIC SIG met asusual at the New Horizons LearningCenter, located in the Triad EastBuilding, 10200 Linn Station RoadSuite110.

At the February meeting SIGLeader Martin Campion and atten-dees covered the workings of a pro-gram written by Martin called“Time Clock” which is used by pro-grammers (or others) to keep veryaccurate time records of time spenton various projects while on thecomputer. An additional feature isthe ability to organize the time andprint out an invoice to send the cus-tomer. Also covered were featuresof a program called “RoofBase”, aprogram developed for RoofResources Inc. The presentationwas followed by a question andanswer session covering VB prob-lems, tips and shortcuts

In March SIG Leader MartinCampion will discuss Visual BasicGraphics and how you incorporatethem in your programs. Martin willalso cover questions that attendeeshave on their projects.

The April meeting will continuecovering Visual Basic Graphics andhow to use them in your programsfollowed by a Q & A session.

If YOU have ANY interest inlearning VB or think YOU might beinterested, please come to this SIGand give it a try.

WEBMASTER SIG

The January WEBMASTER SIGcovered “Browser Wars”. DonFowler’s Guest Presenter was SteveCox from Mectek. Mr. Cox ‘s pre-sentation covered Netscape Ver. 3 &4, IE 3 & 4 and Opera 3.5 and howthese browsers view your web pagedifferently. Steven feels that WebPage designers should think abouttheir audience before starting thedesign stage. Some of the manythings you should consider beforestarting your Web Page include;your audience and could they beusing an older browser, the speed oftheir connection, their screen resolu-tion & color palette used, even theviewing platform (PC or Mac)makes a difference. Forty of thecolors differ on Macs and PC’s soyou should use the “Browser SafePalette” (216 colors) in the develop-ment of your Web Page. Steve’sexcellent presentation generatedmany interesting questions from thegroup.

The February 18 meeting will fea-ture Guest Presenter Glenn Fishfrom Win Net. Glenn will cover theprocess of how to choose “HighSpeed Access” for your business sit-uation.

In March, Guest Presenter MaxUnderwood from Systemax willcover corporate IT planning.Covering methods of Planning cor-porate information structures usingemerging technologies, VirtualPrivate Networks (VPN), deliveringdata over the Internet and exploringClient/Server.

WINDOWS WORD &EXCEL SIG

SIG Leader Jim Travelstead heldthe WINDOWS, WORD & EXCELSIG at COMP USA’s New TrainingCenter located in their COMP USALouisville Store on SouthHurstbourne Parkway. The WIN-DOWS WORD & EXCEL SIGMeetings are now on a monthlybasis. This change will gives YOUmore space, new computers and aprojector to aid learning more aboutWINDOWS, WORD & EXCELfrom SIG Leader Jim Travelstead.Try to find time in your schedule toattend this SIG, and if a friend orneighbor has a W, W & E relatedproblem or want to know more,bring them or send them to this SIG.

The January meeting covered thefirst look at MS OFFICE 2000,what’s new and how or if youshould install/setup your beta copyon your computer. As always, Jimanswered members’ questionsbrought to the meeting with hisusual thoroughness.

The February Meeting will centeron what to do after upgrading toWindows 98 VS a complete installof Windows 98.

In March Jim will cover WORD97 hints, tricks and how to get moreproductivity out of your computer.

Please bring any questions to theSIG or E-mail Jim Travelstead at“jim.travelstead@louisville.edu”and Jim will have your answer at thenext SIG meeting.

I/0 Mar ch, 1999 Page 18

M E E T I N G by John Henderson, KIPCUG

Agenda:6:15 Check-in time6:30 Meeting

Announcements:Sharon Kinney-Romeo’s mom has

been ill and Sharon was not able tobe there. Steve Goldberg took thepodium and along with Fred Sowardheld the gavel. We all send our bestwishes to Sharon and her family.

User to User:

David Puckett gathered a fewquestions from the audience andsent out a appeal for help from thefloor. Sample questions were:

“I have this IQRobot show up andhow do I get rid of it?”

“My icons on the desk top have allbecome generic white boxes. I canrename them but how do I get theactual graphics back?”

“I have Windows98 and am havingproblem printing in DOS mode. Ithink it has to do with DOS not rec-ognizing various LPT ports?Perhaps my problem is in the spool-ing or maybe just switch ports?”

If you have any questions regard-ing any phase of computing, pleasedrop in the box at the registrationtable. The User-to User Partners

will present them to the floor.Someone “out there” is bound toknow the answer!

Presentation:Our Program Director played

games the rest of the night!

Actually the goal of the eveningwas to demonstrate what is happen-ing in the world of games. Fredlined up several presenters thatcover a wide scope of products.

Pat Todd started the show with“Puzzle Master.” The software willtake any photo you have and createpuzzle pieces that you have to putback together. Open include thenumber of pieces and the degree ofdifficulty. If you get stuck, the pro-gram will solve it for you.

The software can be purchased for$14.99 at CompUSA.

Becky Wiley of Discovery Toys

ran several programs marketed forchildren and the educational mar-ket.Their toy line is aimed at agesbirth through high school.

Mitchell showed the group that the

computer is for all ages! WhileBecky described the action, Mitchellran the programs. The sports game“Soccer” at $19.99 and a math,logic, science and geography game“Jack’s Attic” at $29.95 were 2 ofthe presentations.

Discovery Toys’ Discovery Questdivision does not produce the soft-ware but rather gathers what theythink are the best of the best and actsas a distributor. They pick onlyproducts that are positive to 2 ques-tions: is the software really educa-tional and does the child actuallyinteract with the product?

The program did not forget the

REVIEWFeb 2, 1999

Jack Stearns and David Puckettmoderate the questions and look

for the answers.

Pat Todd & Judy Lococo playedwith “Puzzle Master”

Becky and Mitchell fromDiscovery Toys

Page 19 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

January Meeting Review (cont.)serious gamer. TJ Duncan spentsome time with “Thief” fromLooking Glass Studios and El DosInteractive.

The “Need for Speed” is a car rac-ing game. It can be run with thesteering wheel, a stick controller oras we saw Tuesday night by usingthe keyboard.

Dale Yocom, T Lee Harris and

Louis Gagel brought “GrimFandango” and “Diablo.” In thefirst game the goal is to have yourside slip by the enemy unseen.While in “Diablo”, you get out thereand kill as many of the enemy asyou can. Louis and Dale set up anetwork to show that games can beplayed by multipul players on thesame battle field.

Tony Eaton from Microsoft

stopped by with 3 of their latest.

“Moto Cross Madness” has morelevels of motorcycle racing that theaverage person could accomplish ina lifetime. Race by yourself oragainst competition across thedesert, on race tracks or exact dupli-cates of the courses from inside thedomed areas that you see on televi-sion.

“Age of Empires” starts with thenomadic tribes and progresses

through time. The warrior witha

club up through the Iron Age and

on to the Roman Empire. You need

to build your “empire” by gathering

food or fishing, mine for iron and

gold, and build shelter by clearing

forests. It is a strategy game.

“Flight Simulator” is famous as

being so close to the real thing that

you can actually learn to fly a real

plane. Tony and Fred ended the

evening with the newest version:

“Combat Flight Simulator.” The

program allows you to import about

any plane you can think of and arm

it with guns and bombs. Take Air

Force One and attack a Piper Cub!

T Lee Harris & Dale Yocomshowed “Grim Vandango” and

“Diablo”

T J Duncan and “Thief”

William Burger has a “Need forSpeed”

Tony Eaton from Microsoft

Fred Soward attacking Air Force One

I/0 Mar ch, 1999 Page 20

Portrait of a Leader: Jim Travelsteadby Charley May

This is the first of a continuingseries articles on the special groupof people in KIPCUG that we callSIG LEADERS. There are manyqualities found in this diverse groupof people that lead each ofKIPCUG’s SIG’s that make themspecial. Probably the most impor-tant is the willingness to give ofthemselves, and their time over andover again. Secondly, is the abilityto deal with all of the different typesof people, at each person’s particu-lar skill level to enhance the learn-ing experience for that person. Ofcourse the knowledge in their fieldand their ability to convey it to us isalso important. But without thisability to give of themselves, theseleaders would not be as effective asthey all are in dealing with the restof us. For this we are all thankful.

This month I would like to tell youa little about the WINDOWS,WORD and EXCEL SIG Leader,Mr . James Travelstead.

Jim has been involved in the com-puting field for 21 year in variouscapacities. He started out withMainframes back in 1978 and addedPC’s to his responsibilities in 1989.His background in PC’s startedusing Lotus 123, WordPerfect,Dbase II. Jim moved into Windows(Ver. 1.1) when it was released withMicrosoft Word. Currently, at theUniversity of Louisville, Jim workswith stand-alone PC’s, Novell LAN,Unix Systems, Client/Server sys-tems.

Mr. Travelstead has been an activeCobol programmer for the UnitedStates Marine Corps, aProgrammer/Systems Programmerfor the Central & Southern MotorFreight Tariff Association, aProgrammer Analyst for theUniversity of Louisville and ispresently Operation SystemsAnalyst for the University ofLouisville.

As you can see Jim brings a wealthof knowledge and up to the minute

experience with him to each andevery SIG meeting. Back inOctober Jim moved his SIG locationto COMP USA’s New TrainingCenter located in the COMP USALouisville Store at 825 SouthHurstbourne Parkway, where he hasmore space, new computers and aprojector to facilitate your learningexperience. With this change oflocation, the WINDOWS WORDand EXCEL SIG meetings haveseen record attendance and receivedexcellent reviews on Jim’s presenta-tion skills and content covered eachmonth.

So, now that you know more aboutMr. James Travelstead and how hecan help you, try to find time in yourschedule to attend his SIG.

I am sure that I can say for all theKIPCUG members, THANKS Jimfor all your efforts and keep up thegood work!

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New KIPCUG Membersby Karen Schuler, Membership Director

Please extend a warm welcome to our newest KIPCUG members:

STEVE SCHERDIN

STEVE COX

STEVE MORFORD

CHRISTOPHER R PARRISH

ANGELA STATEN

BILL BATES

KEN GREGORY

BILL HERPS

WILLIAM HERPS

MIKE CHRISTIANSEN

JOANN LUECKE

Page 21 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

Ken’s Korner: Confused by Graphics Formats?by Ken Fermoyle

(Editors’ Note: We welcome KenFermoyle to I/O. Ken started a col-umn with 11 APCUG editors lastSeptember. We heard about his arti-cles at Comdex last fall.)

Judging by questions I’m askedregularly, many computer usersdon’t really understand the differ-ences between vector (or object-oriented) images produced bygraphics draw programs and bit-mapped (raster) images produced bypaint programs. The differencesare significant, and knowledge ofwhat they are will help you choosethe best tool for a given graphicstask.

First, a few basic definitions are inorder.

Draw programs use mathematicalexpressions to create objects (lines,curves, circles, squares, etc.) thatmake up the drawing. Paint pro-grams create an image dot by dot,by turning the pixels that representeach dot on or off. When youdraw a line in a program such asCorel Draw, for example, you createa mathematical formula thatdescribes that line and its location.When you draw a line in any paintprogram, you create a series of dotsthat make up the line.

Each method has advantages anddisadvantages. Draw images are res-olution-independent; because of theway they are described, objects areprinted at the resolution of the out-put device, be it a 300-dpi (dots perinch) laser printer or a 1270-dpiimagesetter. Moreover, they can bemade smaller or larger withoutaffecting their quality and sharp-ness.

Paint images are created at a givenresolution that can’t be changed. Soan image created at 72- or 300- dpiwill print only at that resolutioneven if the output device is capableof 1270-dpi or more. Nor can theybe made much larger or smaller thanoriginally painted. Blow them upmuch and paint images becomecoarse, with obvious “jaggies.”Reduce them significantly and thedots merge, making images muddyand indistinct.

Paint image file sizes tend to bemuch larger than draw image files,though introduction of compressedimage formats such as JPEG andGIF in recent years has reduced thisimbalance to some degree. To illus-trate the size differences, I saved anidentical piece of art in several for-mats; here are their respective sizes:CGM, 20KB; JPEG, 45KB; TIFF,46KB; BMP 8,974KB! CGM(Computer Graphic Metafile) is adraw or vector format; the others arebit-mapped formats.

Metafile formats such as CGM,WMF, EPS and PostScript basicallyuse draw techniques to createimages, but bit-mapped fills can beadded to to add richness. Programslike Corel Draw and Xara or AdobeIllustrator allow image layering toproduce illustration-quality images.

All this made it a no-brainer fordesktop publishers to select draw artwhenever possible, especially backin the 1980s when much of the paintclip art available was in PCX, nativeformat of Zsoft’s PC Paintbrush. Itusually was quite low in resolution:150 and even 72 dpi (the latter tomatch screen resolution). Many ofus preferred the CGM format or, if

using a PostScript device, EPS(Encapsulated PostScript) graphics-native or proprietary format ofAdobe Illustrator, first of the high-end illustration graphics program.

When scanners began gainingpopularity, the TIFF (Tagged ImageFile Format) bit-mapped formatdeveloped by Aldus, Microsoft andothers specifically for capturingscanned images, was used widely.Digital cameras will further popu-larize bit-mapped formats, and wecan only hope that a standard willemerge from the many proprietaryformats now used.

Biggest boost to bit-mappedgraphics, however, has been theWorld Wide Web, which requiresbit-mapped images, usually .JPG(short for JPEG, Joint PhotographicExperts Group) or .GIF (GraphicsInterchange Format). Both formatsgreatly compress the size of bit-mapped files; .JPG files may be 20times smaller than the originalimage, but images may lose some-thing in the translation.

Graphics professionals may arguethat this information is too simplis-tic, but space is limited and I believeit does cover the basics. Perhapsyour group has several memberswith wide graphics experience andthey could provide more detailedinsight into different facets of com-puter graphics in future meetings.

Ken Fermoyle (kfermoyle@earth-link.net) Fermoyle Publicationscurrently offers editorial, consulting& graphics design services.Copyright 1999, Ken Fermoyle,Fermoyle Publications.

I/0 Mar ch, 1999 Page 22

LiveArt 98by David Brooks, KIPCUG

Clip art is available from lots ofsources, and it can be difficult topick between the many collectionsavailable. LiveArt ‘98 fromViewPoint seeks to distinguishitself by offering a unique set oftools to modify and customize theimages in its library. LiveArt, infact, has several innovations thatshould become standard features inPC clip art libraries.

LiveArt contains a library of near-ly 4,000 3-D images. While that cer-tainly sounds like a lot of pictures,the images themselves are basicgraphic images similar to what youmay find in entry-level publishingapplications like PrintMaster. Ifyou’re looking for images with a lotof detail or “sizzle,” LiveArt maydisappoint you. To find an imagerelated to a theme (e.g., sales, edu-cation, holidays, etc.), LiveArt pro-vides the individual elements, butyou’ll have to assemble them into acomposite image yourself. Notmany of us have this talent (which iswhy we look for thematic clip art inthe first place). Thus, you mightwant to look elsewhere if you needthematic images.

To help you find useful images,LiveArt offers a handy searchengine in its file finder. Simply typein one or more words to describe thekind of image you want, andLiveArt will retrieve a list of imageswhich have some link to your keywords. Like Internet search engines,LiveArt lists the images in the orderof relatedness.

Type in “money,” for example,and LiveArt returns images of bill-folds, piggy banks, money bags and

other similar images. It alsoincludes a gold medal, theWashington monument, astrologicalsymbols and leg irons, presumablybecause of a semantic link to thepresence (or absence) of money.

This search engine is an innova-tion that increases the program’svalue because it makes it possiblefor one to find and use images thatthe program suggests but that theuser might not think of. Sure, therewill be some silly suggestions, butthere will also be the occasional sur-prise image that is just right. In fact,one of the categories available in thesearch engine is “Surprise me.”Selecting this option will cause theprogram to present a randomlyselected list of images. You neverknow what you may find useful.

LiveArt images have .lrt exten-sions and are 3-D. The LiveArtSketchPad lets you rotate imagesaround any axis, apply various artis-tic renderings, adjust line weight,resize images, and select lighting.The manipulation of images iswhere LiveArt is different fromother clip art libraries. Thirty-fiveLiveStyle renderings are available

to modify the background and tex-ture of the image. The rotation andlighting tools let you adjust theimage in three dimensions.

You can also import images fromother sources into the SketchPadand modify them. You cannot cre-ate new images in the sketchpad,however.

While the SketchPad tools arefairly sophisticated, I found that itwas not easy to select and adjust animage to produce an effectivegraphic.

Once the image is complete, youcan insert it into documents or webpages. LiveArt images can beloaded into Office 97 applicationsor any programs which supportOLE 2. In these applications, youcan revise the image in SketchPadby double-clicking on it. If yourapplication does not support OLE 2,then they may be imported as .BMP,.JPG or .TIF images.

LiveArt requires Windows 95, 98or NT, a Pentium 133 (P166 recom-mended), 32 MB RAM (48 MB rec-ommended), 24 MB of hard diskspace, CD-ROM and VGA.

LiveArt’s ten functions fall into four categories: A click on the cube starts Object Selection allows you to search, preview,and turn around thousands of intelligent objects. The Style Selection can

turn a cartoon into a watercolor, a painting, or a woodblock print. Thefour buttons let you change line thickness, line color, object color, andbackground color. Scene Attributes control, lighting, and animation.

Page 23 Mar ch, 1999 I/0

KIPCUG Mentors - aka members helping membersThe following members have volunteered to provide assistance to any current member on these topics:

Debbie Bulleit (dbulleit@iusmail.ius.indiana.edu)AskSam, ASAP, Excel

Danny Lee Catron (CDMRFIX@aol.com OR 502-495-1874)OS/2, Windows 95, WordPerfect 4 - 6.1, Lotus 1-2-3 ver 5, Hardware

T.Lee Harris (tlee@aye.net)Pagemaker

Steve Goldberg (stevehgold@aol.com OR steve.goldberg@tfd.org) Paradox, Quattro Pro, WordPerfect, Excel, AOL, CompuServe

Mike Shaikun (mike@aye.net)HTML and Basic WebPage Design

Bob Streever (bob.streever@tfd.org)Pagemaker, FoxPro

For help with additional topics, post a message to the KIPCUG Web Forum at http://www.kipcug.orgWe are always interested in hearing from people willing to help out their fellow KIPCUG members.Please contact a member of the Board of Directors if you are interested in being added to this mentor list.

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Forwarding and Return Postage GuaranteedAddress Correction requested

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The next General Meeting will be onTuesday, March 2, 1999 @ 6:30 pm

at Indiana University Southeast, Ogle CenterSubject: Paint Shop Pro