That's right, Microsoft is coming back to visit EPCUG. It has been almost two years since Microsoft has been to do a presentation to our group. Clark Miller will be here for our October meeting for Microsoft. Clark contacted me, not the other way around as it usually done.

Clark asked me by E-mail what type of people we had in the users group. He was planning to show off a new game pack from Microsoft. Well, since games night is our next meeting, I asked him for something a little more technical. Clark read my E-mail response, dropped the game pack demo, and came back with a better program for us.

Clark will start with about 20-30 minutes on Windows Explorer 4.0, the new Internet browser from Microsoft. Part of this time will include how Outlook from Office 97 will work with Explorer 4.0 to handle E-mail messages. He will then give a 15-20 minute demo of "Memphis." For those who do not know, "Memphis" is the code work for Windows 98 that is now scheduled for the 2nd quarter of 1998 for release. To fill in any extra time, Clark will show Microsoft Flight Simulator. Flight Simulator is at my request to keep any vultures off my back for not having him show any games.

Since Microsoft is coming, and we will be doing some additional advertising, I expect that the room will fill to overflowing. I am requesting that persons who need special seating get there 30 minutes early so we can deal with their requirements. Those of us who are "old hands" in our users group, need to be ready to help new people get a positive impression of our group. This may mean helping someone find a seat. If you are physically able to stand, giving up your seat to a person who needs to sit. It can be as simple as helping someone find the rest rooms during the break.

We usually do not have trouble with our friendliness, but we will have many more people than normal and they may overwhelm the usual greeters along with the Board Members. Remember this is the first meeting with our new board, and we may not be running up to speed quite yet. I will appreciate your help for this special meeting. I thank you in advance for your help.

I recently wrote Orbra Bliss and told him that we miss him and that I have heard his name several times since he took a leave of absence from our company. I asked him what he had been up to and what it was like down there. The following was his return mail, which I would like to share with his many friends here. Orbra mentions a picture of dawn out his front window, which I unfortunately could not reproduce in the newsletter, but if you will visit the newsletter page on the Internet, I will have Mark Meidel post a link to the .jpg file (Will post it when I get It - watch for it here at a later date - Webeditor). If you enjoy reading about what is happening with Orbra, I'm sure he'd love to hear from you also. His address is repeated at the end if you'd like to drop him a line.

October is always an exciting time for the EPCUG Board of Directors. A new group takes up its duties on the second Tuesday of the month. We usually have a major presentation in October; this year, our presenter is Microsoft. And we begin planning for our December games night, our largest meeting of the year.

We welcome to our 1997-98 Board two new members: Russell Burke and Gordon Hostetler. Both were elected as directors-at-large. In this capacity, they are responsible to talk to you, the members and meeting attendees, and to bring your feedback and interests back to the Board. So we hope you'll get to know them this year, and share your hopes and concerns for EPCUG with them.

We also say goodbye to two men who have contributed much to the Board over the past several years. We will miss John Charles' curmudgeonly sense of humor. And, without a doubt, everyone (me, most of all!) will miss Brad's leadership. Hopefully, we'll be seeing them at general meetings, throughout the year.

As you've probably heard by now, a Microsoft representative will be making the presentation at our general meeting on October 23. Since we have less space in our meeting room than we had last time Microsoft was here, we expect to be a bit crowded. So, you may want to arrive a little earlier than usual to park and get through the sign-in line. And perhaps, some of us `younger folks' might choose to stand, if we're a little short on seating?

Due to the holidays, which are coming upon us more quickly than some of us would like, we have a combined November/December meeting on the first Thursday of December. As usual, this will be Games Night. We're hoping to have a special section for the younger kids this year, and to more strongly segregate any of the more "violent" games off in one corner of the room. We also hope to be holding an auction... But more on that next month!

Finally, I want to thank everyone who has volunteered to help out with the EPCUG work for this coming year. We have a total of 18 people who've taken over elected and appointed positions. I believe that's a record! I'm looking forward to a great year, as EPCUG continues to grow.

Next year's officers were elected by unanimous decision. We anticipate an exciting year of growth and learning.

Next month Microsoft will be here and demonstrate MS Office 97, Memphis and Internet Explorer 4.0.

We were delighted to listen to a presentation by Charlie Adams of the Northern Indiana Independent Living Services(NIILS), a division of ADEC, which is located at 702 Williams in Elkhart. We learned what is available computer-wise for those with limited vision. To be eligible you have to have to meet the legal description of blindness. (About 20/200)

The adaptive equipment used by NIILS focuses on Function . . . how to print, open and close programs and creating. The program uses a voice package, called Window Eyes in which the timber and the pitch of the voice can be altered to make it usable for those with various hearing ranges. The program can be customized to suit each individual user. It does include a spell checker. The program responds to the keys the typist types on the keyboard, for example, Menu, File, Open. This program can be used with head phones and if you choose, a keyboard with embossed characters or a braille keyboard (about $4000.00). It was interesting to realize that a person could run a word processing program without a monitor! This is accomplished by using the voice commands. Charlie also demonstrated that an OCR scanner could be used with this program. For those with limited vision there is also another program called Zoom Text by A I Squared which greatly enlarges the text on the screen.

Anyone who knows of someone that would benefit from these services, please call ADEC at 219-295-3167 or 219-848-7451 or NIILS at 219-293-7509. NIILS receives many of its clients from Vocational Rehabilitation and covers St. Joseph, Elkhart, Kos., Porter and Marshall counties. Our very own Joe Lidy participates in this program. They always welcome volunteers to come help teach the program. You will be supplied with lots of training and support. Just bring compassion and a happy attitude!

There I was, just sitting there at an EPCUG meeting waiting for the good stuff to begin. "OH NO", they want officers for the new year. Well, I just hope this doesn't take too long. Then it hit me!!!! What would I have missed if people like Del, Bob, Orbra and others had not been willing and able to help us along the way to computer literacy. There are lots of knowledgeable folks who are not willing to tolerate newbies like I was when I first came to a meeting about four years ago. I have never seen put downs or snickering, no matter how elementary a question was. Someone always seemed happy to share their gift of understanding.

Bob Kanaley, at New User SIG, taught me why and how the darn thing works at all. John Slough taught me how to get around the net. WHY ME? Well if nobody is willing to help keep EPCUG alive many, many others will be robbed of the opportunity to learn marvelous new things. I can not teach like some, but I can do something to help keep it going. HERE'S TO ANOTHER GREAT YEAR !!!

Or maybe you've heard of it and are just curious about it. We have been offered a presentation package for the operating system of Linux by Caldera, Inc. We need to know what kind of interest there is in the system. If you are interested in receiving a complimentary copy of their free lite version on cd-rom, and would like to have someone show this system, please send an email to epcug@skyenet.net and let us know that you would be interested in seeing this and receiving more information on it. We are not looking to make this a full evening's presentation, but it could be a partial demonstration, or run at a separate event even, depending upon the interest.

Remember, as with any EPCUG event, being a member is not a requirement. We welcome the public to visit us anytime. Membership is free, you need only attend a meeting and fill out an application like the one on page 23.

Hello, I am one of your new Directors-at-Large. As a director-at-large I need to hear concerns and suggestions from the members so that I can make sure that the board is kept up to date on what you are thinking. I have been a member of EPCUG since April 1987 - at least my newsletters go back that far. I used to work for Bayer, but left in 1991 and started a consulting business working with FDA regulated companies on Quality and Operations issues. I hope to see you at the meetings and to hear from you. My email address is gordonh@prodigy.com and my phone number is 293-2924 in Elkhart.

Here is a quick method to backup your registry file:

Go to the Windows 95 CD-Rom disk and find the programs cfgback.exe and cfgback.hlp. They should be located in the directory f:\other\misc\cfgback folder (where f:\ is your cd-rom).

Copy the file cfgback.exe to your windows sub directory and copy the file cfgback.hlp to your windows\help sub directory.

Now make a shortcut icon in your c:\windows\start menu\programs\accessories\system tools sub directory.

To do this, open (My Computer)
1. Double click on C: drive icon
2. Double click on the Windows folder icon
3. Double click on the Start Menu folder icon
4. Double click on the Programs folder icon
5. Double click on the Accessories folder icon
6. Double click on the System Tools folder icon
7. Close all the above folders except the two listed below

   C:\windows

   C:\windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools

8. Locate the file cfgback.exe in the folder C:\windows and highlight it
9. Drag and Drop it using your Rt. Mouse button to the System Tools folder
10. Right click on the file you just dropped highlight Rename
11. Rename it CFGBACK.EXE Shortcut

You now can launch CFGBACK.EXE from the Start Button and follow the directions on the screen.

As the new Director of the Special Interest Groups, I would like to know what interest the membership has in (re)forming the various SIGs, most were put on hold during the summer months.

We should be planning on restarting at least some of them back up. Two of the main requirements for a SIG include:

Some topics for possible SIG's include:

So let me know. E-mail me, Mark L Meidel, at markm@qtm.net

Are you interested in seeing the names of all the people who were part of the Windows 95 Product Team? You can watch them roll by (to music, don't you know) as if you were at the end of a movie. So grab some popcorn and do the following:

1. Create a folder on your desktop called "and now, the moment you've all been waiting for" (no quotes).

2. Right-mouse click on the folder, select Rename, type we proudly present for your viewing pleasure and press Enter.

3. Rename the same folder "The Microsoft Windows 95 Product Team!" (Again, no quotes, but include the exclamation point.)

4. Double-click on the folder and let the show begin!

Do you have your web page on the Net? Have you sent us your address? We have a page on EPCUG's site that lists those that would like to be listed publicly, and it's ok if you don't want the extra publicity, but we'd like to visit you if you are out there.

This month's featured member is Mick Slater. Check him out next time you are surfing around.

Mick says "Caution: My web page is politically critical in places, but is `smut' free.

Due to the number of animated .gifs it takes a bit to d-load, so be patient."

Part 1: Brief History of Hard Drives

This article is the first in a series about hard drives. I am following the requests from two of our members who E-mailed me on the same day for information on hard drive crashes. Both David and Jim related different stories about a person who had hard drives that failed. Both stories said that the hard drive had "crashed" and all the data was lost. I was going to write one article, but it has grown so large that I will break it up into several articles. The first one is on the history of hard drives. The second is on how to know if your hard drive is failing. The third article is on how to prevent the hard drive from failing and how not to lose data. The last article is on backing up your data the right way.

I want to start by defining what a hard drive crash really is. Unless the head of the hard drive has physically dragged across the platter (aluminum disks inside the hard drive) and removed the magnetic media, the hard drive has not crashed. It may have failed, but it has not crashed. A catastrophic hard drive head crash is where the name crash comes from. In older hard drives, this had happened very often. I am talking about the old 130-pound Winchester Hard Drives that were as large as 24" x 24" x 12" tall. The mechanical head system moved on adjustable rails over the single sided platter that looked like a phonograph record. When the rails came loose, the head would drag across the platter and scrape off the magnetic media. The head crash was and is always fatal, and it became the most feared problem to computer operators. I should know as I suffered through four from 1980 to 1984 in three different computers.

In early 1981, the fixed point, pivoted head hard drive had its introduction. This new drive, while still large in size, was much more reliable than the old rail type hard drives and quickly replaced them. The new problem became the problem of speed. The platter was turned with a belt, again much like a phonograph turntable. When the belt grew older, the speed would change slightly. The change in speed, or WOW, caused data to be lost. The repair was to replace the belt. Some people would not purchase the proper belt, but use O-Rings from the local hardware store. The O-Ring belts were usually too tight, and they would cause the lower bearing to fail. They then allowed the platter to either move up, or fall down enough for the head to hit the platter again. Another head crash then occurred.

When IBM introduced the first PC's, the third kind of drive was just coming into production. This drive did not have a belt to spin the platter. The shaft spinning the platter was also part of the direct drive electric motor. Again, the old phonograph turntable came to the rescue. Direct drive was the rage in late 1985 to reduce the WOW of records in stereo systems. They made the motors smaller, lighter, and faster and put into hard drives. While this drive cost about twice as much, it had very good life and had very few head crashes.

By 1985 the belt drive hard drive was gone. The "huge" 80 MB hard drive was the "biggest you will be able to buy for the next 20 years," quoting a Compaq sale flier I still have. The hard drives were basic and "dumb" with very little electronics in the drive. You had a motor, a read/ write magnetic system like a tape recorder, and a speed control for an electric motor. I repaired more than one hard drive with parts from the local Radio Shack store. All hard drives spun at the same speed, had two disks, four usable surfaces, four heads, and had "standard" parts. At that time the head moved above the disk with .006 inches of clearance. This is about the thickness of two pieces of paper. The disk rotated at 1850 RPM. To put this in physical terms, this is like flying a 1930's Airliner at 300 feet above the ground at 200 MPH. You could get into trouble, but you had to work at it. This would be like dropping your computer about 6" onto a table while it was spinning.

When the smaller quad-disk hard drives came out, the rules changed. The heads became smaller, closer to the disks, and the disks rotated faster. The heads were now only .003 inches above the platter or the thickness of one piece of paper above the disk. The disks inside were less than 1/16 of an inch thick, and the magnetic media was only .006 inches thick. The disks then rotated at 7500 RPM. This is like having a Commuter plane from South Bend flying to Chicago at 200 feet at 450 MPH. You can see that you can get into trouble much faster. Bumping the computer hard while it was running, could cause damage to a small section of the hard drive.

The electronics also moved outside of the drive. They grew more complex, smaller in size, and they were surface-mounted to a circuit board. Gone are the days of buying parts at Radio Shack to fix your hard drive. This is both a curse and a blessing. Because the hard drive is sealed, dust and dirt cannot cause the mechanical parts to wear out. Dust also will not run under the head, scratching the magnetic media. The separate circuit board is attached by screws and ribbon cables. Sometimes, by replacing the circuit board, a "dead" hard drive is brought back to life, with all its data intact. The problem is, do you have a "spare" hard drive with the exact circuit board needed for this fix? Probably not, so it is usually a non-fix fix. More about data recovery in next month's article.

Today, our large hard drives have up to 8 disks, 16 or 32 heads (that's right 2 heads per side per disk) and spin up to 18,500 RPM. When people say they hear their hard drive "spin up," they do. Using the example of an airplane again, this like having a 767 flying at 150 feet above the ground 975 MPH. The distance is greater from the centerline of the airplane to the wing tip than it is to the ground. You can see that any large bang in the computer can cause a major head crash with loss of data.

Right now, some smart person is thinking, well what about laptop computers? We bang them around all the time and they work. Well, yes they do get much rougher handling than your desktop computer. For that reason, the hard drives are Shock Mounted and the drives are Shock Proof. Have you priced the cost of a 2.1GB hard drive in the last 10 days? The cost is from $158 to $245, depending on the manufacturer. I just quoted a new 2.1GB hard drive for a laptop computer from Compaq. It is a cool $435, plus $75 for the adapter case, plus $15 shipping. See any difference in the cost? The laptop's drive disks are 1/8" thick, not the now standard 1/16" thick in your desktop. The bearings are 4 times bigger than those of standard hard drives and use roller bearings. The heads are mounted on a head carrier, made of a titanium alloy that costs $495 per pound. Then, the drive is mounted inside a second "outer case" with rubber support to absorb vibrations.

Next Month, Part 2: How do I know if my hard drive is failing? What are the noises, signs, and symptoms to watch for before the hard drive fails? Is there any way to recover the data from a dead hard drive?

While preparing to start a desktop publishing (DTP) SIG recently within my home user group (Technical & User Group Network, or TUG-NET, San Fernando Valley, Calif.), I ran across material that brought some chuckles, and memories. It took me back to the Stone Age of producing print material with very early microcomputers, before the term "desktop publishing" was coined. And even earlier.

That prompted this little article, which I share in the hope that you also might find it amusing, and that it might trigger memories of some of the more outrageous work-arounds you used back in the days when computers were less sophisticated. I feel also that it makes a good introduction for me and this new column, helping you "know" the faceless writer to some small degree . . .

Back in the '70s and early '80s, I produced newsletters and such using three typewriters: an old Olympic portable with Elite type, an IBM electric with proportional type (pre-Selectric, but I forget the model) and another machine with big Orator type. The latter normally was used for speeches, but I used it for headlines. Doing a typical newsletter involved switching a page from one typewriter to another frequently-and lots of WhiteOut!

Then came microcomputers. Wow, what progress. Or was it? Changing fonts and type sizes wasn't a whole lot easier than with my old 3-typewriter setup. During user group meetings then, we had many discussions about utilities that made it possible to do such fancy things as bolding and italics. Wonder of wonders.

Doing two columns on a page was the Holy Grail we pursued, and you may not believe how I finally accomplished it. But I'll tell you anyway.

A full-page-width head ran at top, under the masthead. (I had cheated on that; had a friendly typesetter do it for me and make numerous repro copies, which I pasted on by hand.) Below the head I started entering the lead story, also full width, or two columns. I did about the first five or six lines like that, but then came the tricky part.

I had set the tabs so that I could type a line that went halfway across the page, the width of the left column. Then I would hit the tab key and go to where the second (right-hand) column started.

So, when I got to where I wanted to start the two columns, I did the first line of the head for story #2 in bold caps, hit the tab key, and wrote the next line for lead story. I continued that process all the way down the page: first a line for story #2, tab, and another line for the lead story.

I even had column 2, the lead story, justified! Column 1 was ragged right, but not terribly so. Took a lot of backing and filling to accomplish that.

The kicker is that I didn't write the stories in advance and then copy them into place; I made `em up as I went along. It was one of my finest hours, folks! Of course, everybody else thought I was nuts. "Why didn't you just type the stuff up in single columns and paste `em in place?" they asked.

Why, indeed? Like the man said about the mountain: it was there, a challenge not to be ignored.

Then came things like the 0.7 Beta version of Ventura Publisher, accompanied by a couple of dozen poorly-copied pages which eventually would grow to a full-fledged User Manual. That was another challenge for a novice software tester. Now we have $75 DTP programs that are astoundingly powerful. And $500 software that can do what used to require teams of professionals and machines costing many, many thousands of dollars.

But I'm glad I was around during the Stone Age. It wasn't always easy, but it was fun.

[Next month we will look at the differences between draw (vector) and paint (bitmapped) graphic formats and why each type is best suited for different uses.]

Copyright 1997, Ken Fermoyle. For one-time use only; all other rights reserved.Ken Fermoyle has written some 2,500 articles for publications ranging from Playboy and Popular Science to MacWeek, Microtimes & PC Laptop. He was cohost/producer of radio talk show on computers and a partner in a DTP service bureau during the '80s. Fermoyle Publications currently offers editorial, consulting & graphics design services. He can be reached at kfermoyle@earthlink.com.

In Windows 95 you can use keyboard shortcuts to copy or move files or folders. After selecting the item, use the keyboard to cut or copy the selection to the clipboard. Then use the left mouse button to select the destination and Ctrl+V to paste the item.

Keyboard shortcuts:

The right mouse button finally has a use in Windows 95

- Dragging and dropping with the right mouse button displays a menu asking whether you want to move or copy the text or object.

- Right-clicking an open spot on the Taskbar presents the following choices for arranging open windows: Cascade, Tile Horizontally, Tile Vertically; or Minimize All.

- Right-clicking on the Desktop opens a menu giving you access to such options as Screen Savers and Wallpaper, etc.

You don't have to worry about losing applications or windows in Windows 95. Each application can be assigned a button on the Taskbar when it is opened. You then maintain easy access to it while you continue to launch or open additional applications.

The more applications you open, the smaller the buttons get, until there's no longer enough room for all of them on the Taskbar. At that point a scroll bar will appear to give you access to the additional buttons.

When you need an image of the entire screen, use the Print Screen key on your keyboard. This puts a copy of the screen in the clipboard.

You can then paste the image into your word processing application, or into Paint, Notepad, or WordPad, etc. If you need an image of only the active or current window, use Alt+Print Screen.

This article was originally printed in the August 1997 issue of microCHIP (micro Computer Happenings In Poughkeepsie), the newletter of the Mid-Hudson Computer User Group. Reprinted with Permission.

The following information was recently received from The Symantec AntiVirus Research Center(tm) SARC AntiVirus News Update Special Edition, September 29, 1997.

A new virus hoax is currently being spread. Please read the description here carefully and simply trash any messages received concerning it. For more information on virus hoaxes, see: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html or call your local computer consultant.

The name of this hoax isTime Bomb, also called Win95, October 1.

You should ignore any messages you receive concerning this "virus" and should NOT forward these messages to friends, etc as this only helps to spread the hoax along.

St. Joseph County Public Library has monthly programs on basic Internet introduction as well as highlighting specific useful techniques, applications, and other special related topics. They are usually 90 minutes with a lecture and an online demonstration. Librarian Michael Stephens is in charge of the Internet training and development for the St. Joseph County Public Library.

All dates, times and topics above are subject to change. For questions about the Internet classes, send e-mail to: m.stephens@gomail.sjcpl.lib.in.us

Main Library 304 South Main St. South Bend, IN Phone: 282-4625

Do you know of a computer related, community event that could be listed in our newsletter? Please submit it to the editor.

It is hard to believe that a whole year has gone by already since I first agreed to help with the advertising for the EPCUG newsletter. Although it is almost automatic with most of our advertisers and supporters, I occasionally have a difficult time getting home from work early enough to call on these businesses to arrange advertisements. Is there anyone out there who might be able to be my assistant in helping me get the ads? It would only take an hour or two at the most per month. The prospective candidate would need to possess good phone skills and be home during the day time hours to make the phone calls. Most of my calls last for only a few minutes but I can't get ahold of someone who goes home for the day at 3:00 if I don't get home until 5:30 or 6:00. I wouldn't need an assistant every month but it would be nice if someone could help when I needed it. If you think you might be able to help me out, please call me at 295-3649.

I thought the cupboard was bare this month, but fortunately it really came together at the last minute.

Hayes problems. There seemed to be a problem with the Hayes offer. I had several people email me saying Hayes insisted the offer ran out July 31. I faxed a few folks the form and it was honored. I've E-mailed the Hayes UG coordinator with no response at this time about it. What's going on with these Vendors!

Last but not least, in answer to some Email questions: I do not sell any software. It must be ordered via the phone # I include in my article (I'm just the messenger); any discount code is also in the article, such as the code following the price for the Cybermedia items this month (say the code number when ordering); and a "users group" is something you might think of as your "Club," although I've been taken to task by professionals for calling a user group a club. They say a Club is a hobbyist organization. (sometimes I can't win).

Thanks much to Wes Taylor of Hilton Head Island Computer Club for sending the lead deal I am using this month and next. All user groups don't get the same offers, so don't hesitate to apprise me of deals you think I might not know. Think of me as a way to make them known to others. On with the deals.

*In review. The 50% discount* offer from My Software Company is good until Dec. 31, 1997. Call them at 1-800-325-3508 and use the P9 code. Logicode offers are good until Oct. 31, 1997. Call them at 1-800-735-6442 to order.

*Viagraphics 30% discount* on learning tapes and CDs are good until Oct. 31, 1997. Call them at 1-800-233-2332 and use code D-2401-7 to order.

*The WebPad mousepad* (lift up the lexan cover to write notes) is still good. Call them at 1-888-216-1090 to order.

*How about the beach today!* BeachWare is a Vendor in Southern California that has an interesting collection of software. They have a variety of titles; I will list some this month and some next. However, if you call them you can find out about them all or visit their Web site at www.beachware.com to see about their products. Here are their descriptions:

"Casino" is a virtual Las Vegas in your own home. This electronic casino will entertain you for hours with its ten different machines. The CD-ROM is full of fun surprises from the background piano music to an occasional glimpse of celebrities. (Think I'll practice for after hours at fall COMDEX).

"Night Sky Interactive" introduces a new introductory learning experience on CD-ROM. Constellations, comets, stars, planets, meteors, galaxies, the moon and more are yours to explore. Watch animations and hear their narratives about many topics. (Talk about getting high!)

"Credit Repair" CD-ROM will show you how to get your reports, what they mean, and how to get the credit bureaus to correct or remove specific items. Easy-to-use form letters and texts of important credit legislation are included.

"Nature Photos" on CD-ROM includes trees, waterfalls, mountains, oceans and more. Offers you one hundred nature photos stored as two meg TIFF files for MAC and two meg BMP files for Windows. All license and royalty free. Multimedia.

"A Zillion Sounds" is an incredible collection. CD-ROM containing 2,177 sep-arate sound effects and short music clips. Each sound is conveniently stored Sound-Edit, System 7, Beep and .WAV formats. Organized in separate categories such as animals, high tech, humor, etc. (Wonder if it has a wife calling, or "yes dear?)

"Trivia Warehouse" CD-ROM contains 2000 trivia questions from 45 categories in several game formats. Test your memory with the Q & A, multiple choice, or concentration general. (My kids use to have that many questions!)

"Photo Textures" are photo texture backdrops for multimedia and DTP projects. CD-ROM offers you a collection of 100, license-free digital photographs stored as 8-bit PICT files for multimedia projects and 50 images are also stored as high-resolution 24-bit TIFF files. Categories include cities, plants, sky and more.

"Web Ware" is new. They say it's the ultimate collection of clip media and templates for building your own Web Page. CD-ROM contains over a thousand clip media items, over 100 ready-to-use animations as Shockwaves, animated GIFs, 500+ buttons, 100+ dividers, 100+ bullets, 300+ tileable textures, 400+ sound effects and a variety of template web pages. That should keep you busy. I don't know if it includes a guide book.

That's about half of theBeachware titles. More next month, although you can buy any titles right now at special prices. Almost all are for PC/Mac but check for yourself, and the MSRP each is $24.95. Get this - our user group price is just $10.00 + $3.00 S&H for 1-5 items; or $6.00 for 6-10 items + S&H. What a deal! Obviously, members should get together to order. Call or fax 1-760-735-8945 to order. Again, visit their web site at www.beachware.com.

I have not tried any of their software at this writing, so I can't vouch for the quality of it, but they say they develop all their software themselves.

*askSam again.* No, I don't mean to ask a guy named Sam something, but I was talking to askSam Inc. about a review software and when I mentioned deals were scarce this month, she said I could offer the askSam's standard version again for $79.95 + $10.00 S&H for the month.

For the new readers, askSam is the most unusual database I ever saw. It takes anything you give it and puts it together in a "freeform" database. I watched a presentation at our user group and a search found a word, then the whole sentence containing the word was retrieved. The presenter imported some general information into askSam and it organized it. You can call them at 1-800-800-1997 to order. Their web site is www.asksam.com.

*Animate yourself.* Well, maybe I overshot the goal here since nothing would do that for my body. I reviewed Astound's "WebMotion" a while back and what a delightful experience it was. In fact, it was my favorite toy for a while afterward. Here's their description abbreviated.

Add Java-powered animation to your website in seconds. Animation, sound and interactivity with no plug-ins required. Create stand-out web sites that keep visitors coming back for more. WebMotion offers more than just static text and images. Combining Java's standard cross-platform delivery with a 20k player which offers the fastest performance available. Delivers spectacular animated multimedia at real world modem speeds. Saves as java applet or animated GIF.

Astound makes one of the premier presentation packages and now "WebMotion." I have enjoyed them both. I ask for a deal and they said OK to WebMotion. We may have another product next month. Not only that, but I got a person when I called, no voice mail. I found their tech support was very good.

You can buy WebMotion for $44.95 + S&H during October ($69.95 street), but if you are late call anyway. Call Astound at 1-800-982-9888 or 1-415-845-6200 to order and use the code UG11097 when ordering. Visit their web site for more info and to download trial software at www.astound.com.

*Last but not least.* I saw Binh Ly from Cybermedia at a UG presentation, and he gave me some specials for my column. I assume you all know about Cybermedia software, so I'll just list it.

First Aid 97 (win 95) - $24.95 (code F210); Upgrade to First Aid 97 (from First Aid 95) - $19.95 (code F211); First Aid 3.1 (win 3.1) - $19.95 (code F220); Upgrade to First Aid 3.1 - $14.95 (code F221); First Aid 97 Deluxe (includes a bundle...games, tutorials, book, yellow pages book) - $44.95 (code F230); Upgrade to First Aid 97 Deluxe - $29.95 (code F231); Oil Change for win 95 - $24.95 (Code C310); Uninstaller Ver 4.5 for win 95 & NT - $19.95 (Code U100); and Upgrade to Uninstaller 4.5 - $9.95 (code U101).

Binh pointed out that Oil Change is actually a one year subscription and the second year of Oil Change is $19.95. As with all Cybermedia products, just click on the "update" button and it calls in to update it. If you already have their software, try that, if your modem is working OK. Don't confuse an update with an "upgrade."

Call Cybermedia at 1-800-721-7824 to order and be sure to mention the discount code to receive the special prices. Offer is good for two months and they take your plastic.

That's it for October. Meet me here next month for more deals. Bob (the cheapskate) Click. You can reach me at fax 1-407-382-2781 or email - dealsguy@aol.com.

If you got a chance to visit the Resource Center at the meeting this month, you saw several programs that focused on the Internet. Many of you were interested in this area, and we hope we have covered it well. If you still have other areas related to the Internet that we have not covered and you would like to see them, please feel free to make suggestions.

Programs on the table covered Internet newsgroup reader, FreeAgent 1.5 and WS-FTP a file transfer program. FreeAgent is great for reading your newsgroups off-line, and WS-FTP is for downloading programs and allowing your browser to concentrate on surfing you across the Net.

For those who have started thinking about putting up their own web page, but just didn't know where to start, we brought in an HTML tutor, WebTutor, to teach you the basics easily. Next we had two web editor programs, one simple, Web Wizard, and one more intense, Arachnophilia, to make your web pages in. We presented Microsoft's free Gif Animator program along with a hands-on tutor for it written by Live Sparks Artistic Productions.

We had a program which will export that little applet that came with Windows called Cardfile. It will send your cards out to ASCII delimited text. You can choose commas, tabs or custom value delimiters, along with several other options. And finally for those who receive mailing lists in digest format, but wished there was an easy way to keep some portions and trash the rest, as well as skip thru them quicker, we presented a digest reader that works with any email program including JUNO!

The theme for October will be educational programs. We have a lot of families and several people who work in the educational fields, and it has been a while since we gave them a full focus. So we will begin with a section of geography programs and then move on to the area of reading. The geography programs have already been selected and will consist of 4 smaller programs for Win3.x and 2 for Win95. They will include both US and World geography and will include game type assistance for learning states and countries and their capitals as well as other information.

The reading programs will include a basic one for those first learning to read and will progress up to those accomplished readers wishing to improve their speed. One program, Word Games at Camelot, is a game-like DOS program for ages 8 and up. The program is designed to improve speaking, reading, writing, spelling, and SAT scores by teaching more than 3,300 words. There are hidden treasures, background music and excellent graphics, as well as word-search and other games. Another, Roxie's Reading Fish, uses the format of the kid's game Go Fish to teach preschoolers basic words. Registration of this program brings levels above 1st grade. Junior high and high school students can work on their vocabulary with Vocabulary Modern and maybe do better on their SATs.

The game Math and Science is for children in grades 1 through 6, it covers addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, as well as science and math applied to real-world problems.

Primary Learning is an all-inclusive educational package for children ages 6 through 14. There are 10 programs and games , including spelling, geography, Presidents and math. The games include a hangman-style game, word scrambles, and Lemonade Stand, in which children learn about math and business by running their own lemonade stand.

For the parents to maintain their schedule along with all the band performances, PTO meetings, and track meets, we will have. It's Time which will remind you of appointments, deadlines, regularly scheduled activities and more. Ascend 97 which is a powerful PIM that includes a Rolodex-style contact manager, a scheduler, the ability to maintain to-do lists, and ways to link them to one another and Ecco Pro is for those who prefer their information more freeform. It includes the ability to take notes, as well as phone books and calendars, and also lets you keep information in an outline-style format.

We always have a full table of anti-virus programs, whether you are looking for a program to begin with, or you already have one and just want to get the latest update so that new viruses are caught. If we don't have what you are looking for in an update, ask us, we will see if it is available for downloading.

And last, for those that are interested in a text-to-speech reader similar to the one used at the September meeting, we have WinSpeech for Win 3.1 + 95.

Look for all these and more, and perhaps something "just for the fun of it" on next month's tables. Thanks for stopping by.