SLO BYTES NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER, 1988 Last month SLO BYTES member, Mel Johnson, walked us through the very exciting spreadsheet program Lucid 3D. One of the things that sets Lucid apart from other spreadsheets is its ability to pop up in the middle of any other program with a single keystroke. Every cell can be described from a notepad while complex formulas or macros can be "learned" and saved to a customized keystroke combinations. All cells are automatically updated when one cell is changed to look at a "what if" situation. It's fast and looks easy to use. Thanks again Mel for the most interesting demonstration of Lucid 3D. This coming month is a potpourri of fun and games. When you walk in the door be sure to pick up a ticket for the giant door prize give-a-way. Just put your name on the back and drop it in the plastic tub. One ticket per SLO BYTES member, please! We plan on having food and drink as well. This will be held in the museum adjoining the lecture room. We hope several of you will briefly demonstrate your favorite public domain or shareware program. Please call either George or I before the meeting to let us know what you have in mind so we can schedule your time and avoid duplications. Show us your favorite utility, game or other program. Bring them on disk to the meeting and use the clubs Compaq computer and overhead projection system for the demonstration. Keep it as brief as possible without "shortchanging" the author by being too brief. Two to three minutes per program should be sufficient. A full demonstration of PC-Write or PCFile+ would be interesting but take way too much time at this meeting. December is our semi-annual swap meet. Bring your computer hardware and software to sell, swap or trade. All software must contain original disks and documentation. One person's trash may be another's treasure! And don't forget the election of officers. Any and all nominees are welcome. This is going to be one busy meeting. Hope all of you can attend! BEWARE OF BACKUP! David Schwartz Reprinted from GS-BUG Newsletter, Aug, 1987 Greater South Bay PC Users Group. Now that the prices of computers and hard disks have steadily declined, it is not uncommon to transport data from one system to another. When file sizes exceed 360K, the maximum size of a double sided, double density floppy disk, an alternate method to the COPY command must be used to move the file. I have always used the DOS BACKUP and RESTORE commands to accomplish this task, but a few warnings may save you some data and a considerable amount of time. The BACKUP and RESTORE you are using should be from the same version number, and preferably off the same original DOS diskette. Using BACKUP from one version and RESTORE from a different version may cause physical damage to the data on your hard disk when you RESTORE. In order to minimize the risk, you should verify that the hard disk you are restoring to is formatted using the same DOS version that you used to do the BACKUP. If they are not the same it is possible to wipe out the destination hard disk when you RESTORE. In addition to using the same version number, the same type of DOS should be used. PC and MS DOS are NOT the same, and may cause problems. There are even differences between MS DOS diskettes from different computer manufacturers. Your Compaq DOS 3.1 may not be the same as my AT&T DOS 3.1. Even Microsoft won't help. There is no source of reliable information about all versions and brands of DOS on the market today. Follow these three rules; you should be safe and remember, nobody was ever sorry for backing up too often. Always use the same version number of DOS. Always use DOS from the same manufacturer. Always verify that the hard disk is formatted with the same version of DOS that you used to do the BACKUP. Comdex Reviewed Sunday, November 13th Well, Bob and I are in Las Vegas on the night before COMDEX. The trip over was uneventful, except for Bob weaving all over the road with excitement. Your trusty SYSOP, of course, had no trouble. Except for a little blue smoke coming from his trusty Datsun Pickup. This first report will be short, since we don't have anything to report yet. We're heading for a meeting with Marshall Magee, the author of AUTOMENU. We'll be pigging out on shrimp, and getting the latest version of the program for the group and the BBS. This guy stopped us on the street and asked us if we wanted to meet a friend of his named Bambi, but I told him that we had another appointment this evening. I hope I did the right thing. Bob said to tell you that he hopes the newsletter will come out sometime before the next meeting. I have my doubts, but I know he'll try. If he doesn't get it out, don't re-elect him as secretary. I just know there are so many people who want that easy job. More tomorrow, after 6 PM or so, so we can save the club's money for more important things like the slot machines. George COMDEX REPORT --- FIRST DAY Monday, November 14th It's Monday, and both Bob and I have sore feet already, and there's still four days to go. We'll both be limping by Friday. So, what's new in the computer world? First, the MOTEL 6 switchboard can't handle data at all, so if you're reading this, I managed to find another place to upload it. I hate motel switchboards! COMDEX is still an MS-DOS show. Apple, Commodore and Atari are here, but there isn't much going on in their booths, and there is very little peripheral stuff available on the floor for any of those machines. Lots of graphics, with monitors and display cards of every variety. The hard disk companies are here, in force, with hard disks up to 1 gigabyte available. I sure would like to get one of those for the SLO BYTES BBS, but somehow, I don't think it's gonna happen. What else? Well there aren't too many software announcements of any great interest. Microsoft is showing Word 5.0, but isn't shipping until, as they say, "Real Soon Now....." Lotus is showing 123, version 3.0, but again, they aren't shipping until some other time. There are about a million laptops, ranging from Compaq's new one with VGA screen and all that stuff, to old-fashioned 8088 laptops. Your trusty SYSOP is working real hard to bag one. I'll settle for a 286 with a 40 MB hard disk, thank you very much. Can you say, "Evaluation Sample?" I knew you could. Between us, Bob and I have given the casino owners about $20, and are quickly becoming bored with that stuff. I don't think too much money is going into the hands of the Mafia. At least not from us. There's lots more of the show to see, since the exhibits are scattered in locations all over this glittering city. As we digest more of the show, there'll be more to talk about. For now though, here we are and here we'll stay for four more days. Pray for our feet! George & Bob COMDEX REPORT #3 Tuesday, November 15th Greetings from Las Vegas, home of glitter, glitz, and a shortage of funds. Bob and I may have to dig into the club treasury to finance our slot machine expenditures. We promise to put all our winnings into the club's bank account. Honest. We're going hit the big jackpot soon. I'm sure of it , and so is Bob. Bambi and Trudy were a big bust, and I don't mean their chest size. Oh well.... Oh yeah....COMDEX....I suppose we need to tell you what's going on there. We actually did go to see some stuff. Bob is getting lots of software for the group, and has lined up some exciting demos for future meetings. We should be hearing from the publishers of CheckIt, a diagnostic program for your PC, CSPI, who produce a help program, GRAMMATIK III. a grammar and style checker for your word processor, and others which Bob can't remember right now. In any case, it promises to be exciting. Bob went to a dinner meeting for user's group newsletter editors, and met lots of beleaguered club editors. I think they all spent most of their time trying to figure out how to make their jobs easier. The number of products available is astounding. There is something for everyone and every PC. It doesn't matter who you are, you'd find something you couldn't do without. We'll be having a drawing at the December meeting for a piece of software which is the most fantastic program I've ever seen. The lucky winner will really be surprised at what it can do. It runs on any PC and comes with a complete manual. I can't wait to see who wins this one. I won't say what its name is, cause that would give too much away. AT&T is kind enough to provide press members with about 12 PCs with modems, plus unlimited free calls anywhere, so it's pretty easy to send this now. I'm thinking about calling every BBS in the country, one at a time, but then again....... That's about it for this report. More tomorrow..... Eat your hearts out.... George and Bob (Bambi and Trudy went home, but I know they'd like to have met you all.... Comdex - Las Vegas, 1988 It's enormous, it's saturating, and it's totally computer oriented -- the 10th annual Comdex show in Las Vegas. Covering the Las Vegas convention center, west hall and 6 other sites throughout the city, over 1,700 hardware and software companies are represented. The emphasis this year was on several topics including local area networks, 386 PC's, mass storage and graphics. I saw several 386 computers clocked at over 30 MHz. At those speeds though, their reliability is questionable. The most unique mass storage device was a 3.5 inch floppy drive using special high density disks formatting to 20 or 40 megabytes! That's right, a removable floppy disk with 40 megabytes of storage space. If this disk drive catches on, the Bernuolli Box and tape back up systems will follow the path of the 300 baud modem - to extinction. The price is about $1,000 for the drive and controller board, and $10 per disk. Macintosh was represented this year, although most of the peripheral dealers had their booths around the Apple display instead of scattered throughout the hall. For those of you with modems who frequent our BBS, you might have seen our daily reports created and posted by George. They are titled CMDX1114.DOC - CMDX1117.DOC. They were sent via computer from Comdex. The comments are mixed depending on our mood, but will give you a flavor for both Comdex and Las Vegas. No we didn't hire Bambi to escort us around Las Vegas and I didn't dip into the SLO BYTES treasury to pay off my gambling debts. Besides walking miles and miles looking at displays, we did have time to digest some fine meals and get our hands dirty at the nickle slot machines. I made contacts with several hardware and software representatives who are either located on the west coast or support user groups. They will make presentations to us in the spring of 1989. Tuesday night I attended a user group editor's conference hosted by WordPerfect and narrated by Richard Katz of UCLA PC User's Group. The three main topics of discussion were: 1. appropriate newsletter material, 2. exchange of newsletters on disk, and 3. advertising policies. Over 35 user groups had representatives. I was happy to meet the editors of several clubs with which we exchange newsletters. We will be adding several user groups to our exchange list. Wednesday night Teri Sorgatz, Chris Wordlow, and myself attended a meeting of the Association of PC User Groups hosted by Microsoft. This group has been in the organizational phase for the past 2 years. We had the opportunity to hear from some of the "biggies" including Boston Computer Exchange and Capital PC User's Group. I think "SLO BYTES" with 200 members might have been one of the smallest groups represented... but then we probably ate the most shrimp at the reception afterward! A consortium of Borland, Intel, and Tymenet will be making a world wide BBS available for user group presidents and editors. The purpose of this BBS will be for the exchange of user group ideas and newsletter articles. The BBS will be free of charge to members of APCUG and available to other clubs for a fee. I ended Comdex on an upbeat note. I won back all my losses on a hot quarter slot machine before it "broke". Funny thing I found two slots over the period of 5 days that paid off well, just to have them break as things were getting good. Sounds like a computer problem to me. One Comdex attendee was very fortunate in winning $998,000 in a progressive dollar machine at Bally's. Oh well maybe next year. Ventura Publisher: Enhancements and Utilities The Corel Ventura Utilities By Teri Sorgatz Several month ago in this column I pointed out that Ventura Publisher, despite its wonderful and varied abilities as a complete desktop publishing package, unfortunately is not able to provide many of the functions necessary for efficient file and printer management. A program that fills some of the voids of Ventura Publisher is the Corel Ventura Utilities by Corel Systems Corporation. This is a collection of several independent programs that are primarily designed to augment Ventura Publisher's capabilities. Two of the programs are tools for use with Postscript printers regardless of the application. Styler: Styler enables you to analyze and record your Ventura style sheet settings. It will give you either an on-screen or printed report of all tag and global settings, a tag summary, and a tab summary. You can attach notes to either the Style Sheet Globals screen or the Tag Summary screen. Styler is menu driven and it supports several keyboard shortcuts. A Units option sets the units of measurement that all tag settings will be displayed in (inches, centimeters, picas and points, or fractional points). Reports can be sent to the printer in either ASCII or postscript. IK: IK is a RAM resident (TSR) program used to enter non-keyboard characters and symbols into Ventura with a two key combination. No need for using the usual method of holding down the ALT key while you enter the decimal equivalent. This is especially helpful when entering French and Spanish characters. Ik can be disabled and re-enabled at any time so as not to interfere with normal keyboarding but must be loaded from the DOS prompt prior to running Ventura. Vpcopy: Vpcopy works exactly like the Multichapter Copy function in Ventura. You can copy all Ventura chapter and publication associated files to a new disk or directory without having to load Ventura. File location references are automatically changed to reflect the new location. Vpcopy is run from the DOS command line. It gives you a status report as it runs and prompts you for confirmation of overwrites. It also notifies you of missing files. Vpdelete: Vpdelete works just like Vpcopy except, as the filename implies, all associated chapter or publication files are deleted rather than copied. The files deleted may be scattered throughout the hard disk in several subdirectories. If they are correctly referenced in the Ventura chapter file Vpdelete will find them. There is currently no equivalent utility within the Ventura program that will perform this function. Vpdelete is run from the DOS command line. Vpshow: Vpshow keeps track of which files are used by a given chapter or publication by displaying a list of associated files and their locations. It is run from the DOS command line. Psprint: Psprint is a subset of programs that allow you to send normal DOS text files to a Postscript printer without having to physically switch the printer to Diablo emulation. This is very handy for printing files from those applications that do not support the Postscript format, including the DOS SHIFT-PrintScreen function, if your printer is not located conveniently near. Psprint sends a special postscript program to the printer which tells the printer to print verbatim all characters received. Because it is a postscript program, the user is able to menu select typeface style and size. Other menu selectable features include: paper size and orientation, leading, auto-alignment of columnar text, line-wrap, margins, and horizontal tabs. Also included is a small program to send a form feed to the printer to eject a page. Psprint cannot print graphics. Timeout: Timeout increases the time-out value of COM1 or COM2 when downloading large postscript files with the DOS Copy or Print commands. This is done so that a "Write fault error" is not encountered during the handshaking between the PC and the printer. It does not affect the current communications mode of the port. Notes The Corel Ventura Utilities require a PC, XT, or AT, and Ventura Publisher version 1.0 or 1.1. The Utilities have not been tested with Xerox's new 2.0 version of Ventura Publisher. Corel's Styler Utility will be obsolete since the new release of VP includes a similar function. (More on this later when we look at Ventura Publisher 2.0, the Professional Extension, and the Networking Extension.) When testing the Styler screens on a monochrome system with a color emulator board such as an AT&T 6300, they were hard to read. The screen colors were apparently ill chosen for this particular hardware combination. They were also tested on both a regular monochrome monitor and a color monitor and appeared quite readable. Reports sent to the printer are formatted exactly like the screens, and are easy to decipher. The reports could be valuable in an attempt to duplicate tag settings in a new style sheet since there is no way to analyze style sheet and tag settings in Ventura 1.0 or 1.1 short of pulling down multiple menus to check settings. This problem has been corrected with Ventura 2.0. Very few TSR's may be active with Ventura Publisher. This is due to the large memory overhead of VP. IK uses so little memory it does not interfere. In fact it works very well and could possibly be a real boon to persons writing in a foreign language. As a matter of curiosity I also tested Ik in a word processing program that supports the upper ASCII characters. It worked, but sometimes the results were unpredictable because the character set differed slightly from Ventura's character set. Because Vpcopy and Vpdelete are run from the command line, it is best to first enter the subdirectory in which your chapter files reside. Otherwise, you must path to the exact location of the chapter files. I would like to see a selection-box/file filter interface to simplify the process. Also a word of caution about VPdelete. This utility does not alert you if a file being deleted is used in another chapter. You could very easily delete important text files, graphic files, width tables or style sheets shared between two or more chapters. Corel would be wise to upgrade this utility to include a cross-referencing system to alert the user if a file is used in another chapter and to prompt for confirmation before deleting. Overall, the Corel Utilities leave much to be desired. Of the entire collection Ik seems to be the only utility that could become indispensable to someone (one who writes in foreign languages). Styler is now obsolete. Vpcopy can be performed by Multichapter Copy. Vpdelete and Vpshow can be unnecessary if files are handled intelligently within sub-directories. Ventura's Assignment List will tell you which files are used in a chapter (but not where they are located). Psprint seems unnecessary when most Postscript printers can be changed to Diablo emulation by simply touching a switch. (You may have to get up and walk across the room.) And, Timeout <197> well...just how often do you print a huge Postscript text file with the DOS Copy Command? The Corel Ventura Utilities can be obtained from Corel Systems Corporation, 1600 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario KIZ7M4, (613)728-8200. SO YOU THINK YOU'RE COVERED? TED LYONS GOLD COUNTRY PC USERS GROUP SO YOU THINK YOU'RE COVERED By Ted Lyons, Gold Country PCUG Fire! Theft! Vandalism! Those and more are all possible sources of loss to our computer systems and the accompanying equipment and software in which we have invested. In case of a loss, do you have the insurance protection you need, or even protection that you thought you had? Computing equipment, whether at the home or at a business, needs to have special insurance in many cases insurance that many home and business owners might think they already have in their standard home and business property policies, and yet insurance that many will find they do not have. At the Office Consider the business owner who relies on a computer system to help his business function. He depends on the computer to be there and to work for him. If it doesn't, he can be out hundreds or thousands of dollars. What can the business owner do to protect his investment? Most computer and data processing policies will provide protection for the hardware and the software. Whether you own, lease or rent computers for your business, you have some definite and specific insurance needs that are usually best met by the specialized computer and data processing policies available from some of the larger insurance companies. What Can Be Insured? These policies generally provide protection against loss from a combination of perils, such as fire, lightning, burglary, malicious mischief, flood, earthquake, wind, vehicles, smoke and in the better policies, against any unknown peril not otherwise excluded. You can even insure your equipment against the loss to your business from mechanical and electrical breakdown. Often data processing policies can provide for the extra expenses that are incurred due to a loss; for example, the costs of restoring information, hiring extra help, renting an additional computer or other property at another location. These can get and often are substantial; but they're expenses that can be paid if the business is properly insured. When you do suffer a loss, your insurance can normally provide protection on either a "replacement cost" or "actual cash value" basis the choice is yours when you take out the policy. The "actual cash value" policy will deduct depreciation from your loss settlement, so many policyholders choose the replacement cost type of protection. This normally eliminates the depreciation and usage deduction from the loss settlement. What About Your Software? How is the computer media covered? Normally, the policy will protect the media (including your valuable software programs), such a drums, cells, magnetic tapes, disk and diskpacks, paper tape, and cards. The coverage is usually on an "actual cash value" basis. There are many optional coverages for losses due to electrical disturbances (both on and off your premises) and numerous other potential possibilities. It pays to spend some time with your insurance agent carefully going over your business' potential for loss and then select the best coverage for the money that will protect you from those potential losses. In the Home For the home computer operator or hobbyist, the protection of the computer hardware and software is not usually as involved as some businesses can be. However, there are a couple of areas of which you should be especially careful. Many homes and renter property policies restrict electrical and electronic equipment. There are often other restrictions on the use of property, especially if it has any business usage. If you use your computer in part for a business, or if you bring home software to work on at your home computer, you might be in jeopardy of being restricted on a loss settlement due to the business usage of the computer. In addition to the business usage restriction, many personal policies also restrict loss settlement to specific perils that might not cover all of the common risks that you face. Fortunately, there is good news for the home computer user, since many insurance companies have developed and now offer special home computer coverages along with their standard home and renter's policies. The coverage is usually very broad and normally available on a full replacement cost basis (with no reduced settlement due to age or depreciation). On many policy forms there is no longer a deductible for you to pay, meaning that the insurance company picks up the loss starting from the first dollar. Most of the better coverages also provide protection for not only hardware, but also computer programs (software) purchased from commercial sources (no, they don't usually cover public domain software). Just like the business policies, most homeowner computer coverages have data recreation coverage available to help pay the lost software. The key item to remember if you own computer equipment in your home or business is to talk to your insurance agent or broker about the coverages and the protection available. Do it now, before you have a loss that is not covered! DISCOUNTS - DISCOUNTS - DISCOUNTS Discounts usually apply only to regularly priced merchandise. Ask a salesman to make sure. Paradise Computers 5% All computers. peripherals and software. 10% Ribbons, paper, disks & other expendable items. Star Computers 5% Any software in stock. 10% Paper, ribbons, cables, and other supplies. Computer Logic 10% Off list - all computers, software, computer peripherals, and products. Contact Bruce, Paul or Dave for discount. WITCO Computers 10% Off complete systems, peripherals, supplies but not including software. 5% Off computers alone. FISBOSA Systems 10% Off packaged systems, software, and/or peripherals when purchased with system. Contact Lynne Boisen. Todays Tip You have several short text files with the same extension and want to view them quickly. Using the TYPE command on each file is time comsuming. Assuming the files have the extension .TXT, use the following command to view all .TXT files in a continuous sequence. COPY *.TXT CON Library News The following disks have been added to the library for the month of November. Many of these disks may be updates and moved to a new library disk number due to an increase in disk size. The latest versions of both PC-Write and Automenu were obtained at Comdex. All disks below will be available for purchase at the meeting. Generally updates must be copied by you at the meeting. We make exception this time as these are very popular programs. #165 Automenu ver. 4.5 (formally on disk #102) good file utility program. #166 Treeview ver 1.0 use with Automenu. #289 PC-Write ver 3.0 Program disk. Great wordprocessor. Many new features including multicolumn formatting, improved spelling checker, etc. (formally #165) #290 PC-Write ver 3.0 Utility disk. (disk #289-#291 should be unarc'd to separate floppy disks before installing on your hard disk. #291 PC-Write ver 3.0 Reference disk. #292 & #293 ASC IN-CONTROL (formally Prospect!) Manages up to one billion records, labels, and phone numbers. IN-CONTROL will accomplish the following and more: * Prospect and Activity Tracking System [default] * Bank Loan Recovery/Collections Tracking System * CPA Time, Billing and Activity Tracking System * Attorney Time, Billing and Activity Tracking System * Secretary's Appointments Scheduler * Real Estate Prospect and Activity Tracking System * Doctor's Patient Appointment & Billing Tracker * Dentist's Patient Appointment & Billing Tracker * Manufacturer's Rep Prospect, Activity & Expense Tracker * Church Member's Collections and Activity Tracker * Accountant Time, Billing and Activity Tracking System * Purchasing Agent's Vendor and Activity Tracking System NEW MEMBERS Welcome to our new members. We hope you find SLO BYTES informative. As a "user's group" we endeavor to solve each others computer problems. Become a part of that group... seek answers or help solve someone else's computer problem. Elliotte Buckner 489-0266 Jack Carter 528-8128 Bob Dunn 481-3969 Charles Kusuda 544-9568 George Maithonis 528-8364 Edwin Montgomery 934-1231 Ron O'Brien 528-2341 Colette Roest Virginia Sawyer 489-1710 Henry Spence 489-4382 Craig Thompson 528-0259 William Yanes 528-3603 ELECTION OF OFFICERS We will be voting for new officers at the December meeting. The following individuals have come forth or been persuaded into being placed in nomination for the vote. We encourage other nominations from the floor at the meeting. Don't let them run unopposed, become involved in YOUR club! PRESIDENT:George Campbell VICE PRESIDENT:Sam Powers TREASURER:Teri Sorgatz * ** SECRETARY:Bob Ward Officers have the following duties either found in our by-laws or by tradition: PRESIDENT: Chair the general meeting, preside over the new user meeting, sign any official documents of the club, including membership cards. VICE PRESIDENT: take the place of the president when absent. Help the treasurer collect money during the meeting. Monitor the library room during meetings. TREASURER: receive and deposit all monies in our account at SESLOC Credit Union. The treasurer is to maintain proper books and records which are open to the membership for inspection and provide a monthly report to the editor for inclusion in the newsletter. The treasurer will sign club checks and pay for any debts incurred by SLO BYTES out of the club account. SECRETARY: Draft correspondence between SLO BYTES, other clubs, and computer businesses and/or individuals. Create and distribute promotional materials. Each current member of SLO BYTES who is present at the December meeting will have one vote to cast for each office at the meeting. * This position was represented by John Rohde this past year. He has asked to be replaced due to conflicts with our new meeting time. ** You must be a member for a minimum of one year to fill this position. The SLO BYTES Newsletter is a monthly publication of SLO BYTES PC User's Group located in San Luis Obispo, California. Information in this Newsletter is derived from both our own membership and other PC User Group Newsletters. The purpose of this publication is to inform our members of meetings and provide information related to the use of IBM PC's and compatible computers. Membership: Dues are $18 per year. Newsletter only is $10 per year. Full membership entitles you to our monthly newsletter, full use of the public domain software library and discounts at local computer stores. Article Submission: Deadline for submission of articles is the 15th of each month. Articles should be provided in ASCII format without any type of formatting from your wordprocessor including tabs, indents, extra spaces, or highlighting. We prefer articles on disk but will accept hardcopies if necessary. Disclaimer: Neither SLO BYTES PC User's Group, its officers, editor, or contributors to this newsletter assume liability for damages arising out of this publication of any article, including but not limited to the listing of programming code, batch files and other helpful hints. Reprinting of this Newsletter: Articles from this newsletter may be reprinted by other user groups if credit is given to both the author and newsletter from which it was taken. Reproduction of articles with a specific (C) Copyright notice is prohibited without prior permission from the original author. The SLO BYTES Newsletter is a monthly publication of SLO BYTES PC User's Group located in San Luis Obispo, California. Information in this Newsletter is derived from both our own membership and other PC User Group Newsletters. The purpose of this publication is to inform our members of meetings and provide information related to the use of IBM PC's and compatible computers. Membership: Dues are $18 per year. Newsletter only is $10 per year. Full membership entitles you to our monthly newsletter, full use of the public domain software library and discounts at local computer stores. Article Submission: Deadline for submission of articles is the 15th of each month. Articles should be provided in ASCII format without any type of formatting from your wordprocessor including tabs, indents, extra spaces, or highlighting. We prefer articles on disk but will accept hardcopies if necessary. Disclaimer: Neither SLO BYTES PC User's Group, its officers, editor, or contributors to this newsletter assume liability for damages arising out of this publication of any article, including but not limited to the listing of programming code, batch files and other helpful hints. Reprinting of this Newsletter: Articles from this newsletter may be reprinted by other user groups if credit is given to both the author and newsletter from which it was taken. Reproduction of articles with a specific (C) Copyright notice is prohibited without prior permission from the original author. Advertising: Commercial advertisers, request ad packet from Bob Ward. Members may advertise personal computer equipment or software for free. Submit your ad to Bob Ward. Direct all correspondence to Bob Ward, 2100 Andre Ave., Los Osos, CA. 93402. Call (805)756-2164 M-F 7:30am - 5pm and (805)528-0121 all other times. Treasurer: John Rohde, 1214 Vista Del Lego, San Luis Obispo, CA. 93401 The following summary is submitted by John Rohde, treasurer. @TRES FIGURES = Balance 11/10/88: $1243.83 @TRES FIGURES = Expenditures: $-338.28 @TRES FIGURES = Deposits: $ 514.00 @TRES FIGURES = Current Balance: $1419.55