Monthly Newsletter of the Volume 17 Number 6 Rockland PC Users Group June 1997 ELECTION CONTROVERSY CleanSweep and QEMM 97 Election News Quarterdeck Visits At the May meeting, Nominating Committee chairman Jim Trying to keep a computer’s hard drive neat has become a frus- Mullins announced the slate that would be presented at the June trating, futile task ever since Microsoft sweet-talked the world meeting. For president: newsletter editor Sy Ribakove, who had into using Windows. No longer do applications remain com- agreed to serve for one year, during which fortably in their own directories; no longer can an time he would continue to edit the unworthy application be banished newsletter; for vice president: with a single DEL C:\BADAPP\*.* program chairman Sondra Coulter; command. Now, when we invite for secretary: long-time member a new application into our Win- Dick Blumenthal, experienced as dows environment, it tracks muddy Secretary of the Council of footprints into the Windows and Research Scientists; for Treasurer: Windows\System directories. It is Paul Shapiro, the current treasurer. also likely to write to WIN.INI, The Nominating Committee had SYSTEM.INI, the Registry and polled sitting officers; only trea- in the case of Windows 95, may surer Paul Shapiro wished to stand also create a \SharedFiles direc- for re-election. However, shortly tory under C:\Program Files, no before the May meeting, with the matter what measures you take to slate complete, Stan Smith in- prevent this proliferation. formed board members that he had What’s a user to do? One of the changed his mind about stepping better things to do is to monitor instal- down and that he would oppose the slate’s lations with Quarterdeck Corporation’s candidate for president and would, if necessary, elegant uninstaller, CleanSweep. Then you can see nominate himself from the floor. (continued on page 8) Immediately after Nominating Committee chairman Jim Mullins announced the slate to the May attendees, Sy Ribakove rose to withdraw his name. His statement to the members MEETING SCHEDULE present follows: Rockland Conservatory of Music 7:30 P.M. “When Stan Smith let it be known that after six terms as Tuesday, June 10 – Quarterdeck president he no longer wished to serve, I decided to offer myself as a candidate. I thought that my energy level plus my Tuesday, July 8 – Adobe experience as Pomona Planning Board chairman, president of Tuesday, August 12 – Swap Meet Hospice of Rockland and also of the Rockland County Music (All are welcome) (continued on page 4) PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE by Stan Smith time and would find an earlier start time Secret Guide to Computers at our June a hardship. That feeling has been rein- meeting. They will go to the first twenty forced by the arrival patterns of most of people with $9 (cash or check made pay- our membership at past meetings: the able to RPCUG) to seek out our secretary, majority has arrived between 7:20 P.M. Gerry Lee, and complete the exchange. and 7:40 P.M. So I have resisted any Gerry will also be recording pre-paid suggestions to start our meetings earlier. orders for those who aren’t lucky enough However, since most attendees arrived to be among the first twenty. We will then close to 7:00 P.M. for our recent special- order enough additional books for deliv- starting-time meeting held at the New ery in July to cover the pre-paid orders. If City Library, and since many members you can not make the June meeting and arrived by 7:15 P.M. for our first meeting want a copy of the highly recommended at the Conservatory, perhaps we should volume (at a great price!) telephone Gerry Our first meeting at the Rockland Conser- rethink this issue. Lee at 354-3286. vatory of Music went without a hitch. The Enclosed in this issue is a simple survey seating was comfortable, the atmosphere allowing you to select 7:00 P.M., 7:30 P.M., Our Great Volunteers was pleasant, and our new projection or write in your own preferred starting This month we feature Jim Mullins and screen displayed a large, bright, and very time. There is also a place for any relevant Phil Van Riper. readable image—even with our own out- comments. Please bring your completed A long-time member, Jim has served dated overhead projector and data survey to the June meeting or mail to be RPCUG in many capacities. He has served display panel. I expect that modern, received by June 15 to: RPCUG, 169 South on your executive board as a member-at- vendor-provided display generation Main Street, Suite 384, New City, NY large; he prepares meeting bulletins that equipment will really dazzle us. 10956-3358. Here’s your chance to voice are displayed in businesses in Rockland your opinion and be heard. and are distributed to the libraries in the Annual Elections county for posting on their activities bul- As our fiscal year ends on June 30, our PC Expo letin boards; he has produced name June general meeting is our annual busi- Although it’s too late to pre-register, don’t badges for RPCUG’s leaders; he has rep- ness meeting and the time for the election forget about PC Expo at the Jacob K. Javits resented us at computer fairs; he produces of officers for the upcoming year. Convention Center in Manhattan on June the maps that locate and publicize our Nominating Committee chairman Jim 17–19. The pre-registration form can still meeting sites; he has produced several Mullins will present the committee’s be used at the door to save the $65 vendor product reviews for newsletter publica- recommendations, and nominations will exhibits admission fee, and its use will also tion; he has served on and as the chairman also be accepted from the floor. The only save standing in one long line at the show. of the Nominating Committee; he main- requirements for nomination are that the If you want to pick up a form, telephone tains and transports (along with John nominee be a current member of RPCUG me at 634-6618. Iurica) our literature library; and he has and have agreed to fulfill the duties of the The exhibit hours are: June 17-18 from participated in some of our best member- position for which (s)he is nominated. 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. and June 19 from led meeting presentations. As one can see, Be sure to attend this important meet- 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. (Many vendors Jim is a valuable member and volunteer. ing and exercise your voting rights. begin packing up their displays starting at Phil is the longest-term, active member 3:00 P.M. on the last day of the show, so that I know. Phil’s participation in Meeting Time plan to see your important vendors as RPCUG dates to the mid 1980’s that I I have overheard members talking over early as possible.) know of. Over the years Phil, like Jim, the years about the starting time for our has participated in many ways in general meetings—currently 7:30 P.M. My Secret Guide to Computers RPCUG—on our executive board as our sense of what I have heard is that a major- We are expecting to have twenty copies of membership chairman for many years, ity of members like the 7:30 P.M. starting the new edition of Russ Walters’ popular (continued on page 9) 2 ComputerConnection June 1997 THE EDITOR’S DESK Up until last month I had never encoun- place punctuation when it falls next to tered a computer virus. Then the screen parentheses or quotation marks. went black and my antivirus program Separate sentences, when using a pro- warned that the floppy disk I had just in- portional font such as Times Roman and serted was infected with the AntiCMOS.B Arial, by tapping once on the space bar, virus. While I was phoning to inform the just as you do to separate words. Tapping disk’s owner of his problem, I disinfected twice is a leftover from typewriter days and the diskette and checked my entire hard is best avoided in typeset documents. If drive to make sure it was still clean. It was, you put two spaces between sentences you but my colleague had to deal with two are likely to find unsightly rivers of white contaminated machines. When the virus winding downward through your pages, program he borrowed wasn’t successful, especially if you fully justify the text (flush it became necessary to reformat both hard against the right and left margins). drives, reinstall their operating systems Press Enter twice to separate para- (plus all the tweaking he had done) and graphs, or indent the first line of the sec- work and give all your documents a every one of his applications. Then he had ond and subsequent paragraphs. Combin- consistent professional look.) to check and disinfect his entire library of ing the two methods—pressing Enter Every modern word processor or page floppies, several hundred of them, to make twice and also indenting the first line of layout program provides a method for sure his restored system wasn’t reinfected. each new paragraph is definitely overkill setting a first line indent. A rule of thumb So here’s a message for all you daredevils and will wrinkle the nose of any knowl- is to indent the first line the point size of who are living dangerously: Get yourself edgeable person.