Kokomo PC Users Group

Volume 20 Issue 2...February 2002

Presidents Message:

Well, I had hoped to be well into prime PC computing weather by now, but this latest bout of "Global Warming" seems to have the climate control locked onto late fall. Rather than looking at a deep blanket of snow while drinking steaming hot chocolate and pounding the keys off my computer I am forced to go outside in my shorts and tee-shirt and wonder if the lawn might need to be mowed soon. This is an outrage!

On a more positive note Microsoft’s Bill Gates has finally admitted that his products are unreliable and prone to hacker attacks. He has promised a turnaround in the companies philosophy with a move toward what Gates calls "Trustworthy Computing". The recent problems with various internet worms and the major security holes found after the launch of Windows XP seem to be the driving factors in his change of attitude.

The Group’s January meeting was well attended. The question and answer session went on for quite a long time and almost everyone participated in some capacity. The group discussion of Spreadsheets was well received. I believe everyone learned something new (even me!). We also gained two new members.

I have not decided what our group discussion in March will cover. If anyone has any ideas let me know. We could do draw or paint programs, bank account and investment management programs or photo programs. Any of these would be pretty common with most of the members. We have not done database programs, but this is a very complex topic and most simple database work can be done in a spreadsheet. (In actual fact, we could probably do another meeting on spreadsheets to cover formulas, sorting, and charting. We did not have time to cover these topics in January.)

I have included a Treasurer’s report for 2001.

On the Membership side of the ledger we did not do as well. At the end of 2000 we had 58 members. At the end of 2001 we had 42 members. This is a loss of 16 members or almost 30% of the Group. I believe this decline was due in part to the confusion about the future of the Group due to the problems of presidential succession and also in part to the untimely loss of our friend and Treasurer Richard Coop. To survive we will need to work together to reverse this trend and get a membership increase for 2002. Invite your friends and coworkers to join the group. Remember, a good Users Group is the most important accessory you can buy for your computer!

Mark Pendergast

Da Prez

[email protected]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Loading Software on the New Computer

I had quite a shock the weekend and thought I would share it with all of you. But first a little history.

I can remember back in the depths of time when I was loading CD based games on my 386 computer so my son could play them. My rule of thumb was that a game would load about 10 Meg of data on the hard drive and run the rest off the CD. A fat Game was 20 Meg and a full install to the hard drive was a huge 100 Meg.

My son received a few games for his birthday (they claim to run on Windows 2000 so I was pretty sure they would also run on Windows XP) and I loaded them this weekend. I figured that with a 40 Gig hard drive I could load about a zillion games and still have plenty of room.

I began loading the games and I was shocked at the size of the install. The ‘small’ game wanted 150 Meg as the Minimal install and 600 Meg as a full install. The other game wanted 800 Meg as a typical install. Yikes! This is a 1 Gig game. Forty more of those and I am going to have to go out to buy a new drive.

After this weekend I have a much better appreciation of the phrase ‘bloatware’. If I had paid attention to how big these games had gotten over the years, I would have ordered a much bigger hard drive.

If I had gained weight at the same rate as computer software gained space, I would weigh just under a ton right now. If they still offered floppy disk versions of the software they would have to ship me about 600 disks. At a minute a disk, it would take 10 hours to swap all the disks in-and-out to load the software.

If you have had any bizarre experiences with your computer, and you have been unable to sell your story to the X-files TV show, feel free to send it in to the PC Users Group Newsletter. We would love to hear from you.

Mark Pendergast

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A Compendium of uses for a Spreadsheet

1. Home Budget

Set up a column for each month and a row for each type of expense. Allocate your money to each cell and total the rows and columns. Adjust the numbers until they add up to your expected income. (Don’t forget one time expenses like property taxes and auto registration. Also put in a line for savings.)

2. Checkbook register

Set up columns for date, check number, description, amount and total. Make the first row the starting balance. Create a formula for the total in cell E2 that looks something like =E1+D2. Then fill this formula down the total column. Put checks in as negatives and deposits in as positives. Check the total against your bank statement.

3. Christmas card list

Set up columns for name, address, city , state and zip. You can also set up columns to keep track of cards send and cards received each year. Use the label or mail merge function of a word processor to print out the mailing labels you need to send out your cards.

4. Other mailing lists

5. Random menu planner

Can’t decide what to eat this month? Type in a list of all your favorite meals in column A. Add the formula =RND() in column B. Sort the spreadsheet on column B and you will get a random selection of meals. Just pick the top 31 for this months plan.

If you want your real favorites to get picked more often you can add them to the list multiple times or you can bias the random function by multiplying the result by some rating of how much you like it. Change the formula to =RND()*2, to make the favorite appear in the finished plan twice as often as it would otherwise.

6. Record collection

Record all your records. Put in columns for Artist, Title, Year, Publisher, Style, Mood, and rating. You can then sort the list by any of these fields to see what you might like to listen to.

Other collections you could keep track of are:

7. Chart your weight

Charting can help you focus on trends over time. Enter the time schedule you wish to track in column A. Place your actual weight values in column B. Select the values in column A& B and run the chart wizard. When you complete the Wizard you will see how your weight is doing over time.

Other time trends can be charted as well:

8. Users Group sign-in Forms

Use the Border tool to outline the rows and columns for the form. Make labels in the top row of boxes for name, address, email, etc. Print the form and use it to find out who attended a meeting.

The list of uses for a spreadsheet program is probably endless. I have tried to give you a list of some of the more common ones. I hope you enjoyed the list. Maybe you will get the gumption to try some of these applications. If you have any interesting uses for spreadsheets, just write them up and send them into the Newsletter Editor.

Mark Pendergast

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Windows XP jokes

The XP in Windows XP stands for eXPerimental.

I loaded my new virus protection software the other day. It detected Windows XP and asked if I wanted it cleaned or deleted.

Why is a computer with Windows XP like a toaster?

- Because neither one will run your Windows 95/98/ME game programs.

How can you tell the difference between a Pentium 2 100MHz running Windows 98 and a Pentium 4 1.8 GHz running Windows XP?

- Load an old Windows game program. It won’t run under XP!

How many Windows XP computers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Just one, but the light bulb can’t directly access the hardware.

Mark Pendergast

February 2002

Return to the Archive