| Last
Month….
Geoff
Walsh shared with us a couple of software packages that he had
acquired some years previously but as often happens these small
programmes have been a handy boon to him.
The
first offering was PhotoPrint Gold that originally came free on
a cover of PC Adviser. The programme offers the user the ability
to produce numerous pictures on one sheet ready for printing.
Geoff explained that it was extremely easy to use and had been
very useful to him. He demonstrated the package and showed us
the numerous templates available to the user. Once the template
layout has been selected all that remains is for the user to select
the photos for each slot option. The programme automatically resizes
the image to fit the selected position, keeping the correct aspect
ratio. The user is able to select a number of images and batch
them into the selected template. I am sure there are numerous
packages around that do similar things, but as Geoff said the
software has suited him very well and after all, it was free.
Item
number 2 was Print Artist and came originally bundled with Geoff’s
Epson 600 inkjet printer. Again the package is some years old
but has become a firm favorite with Geoff. He uses it extensively
to produce cards such as the ones he gave out a couple of months
ago with the meeting dates on them. The programme is very good
for creating and producing cards, letterheads and adverts etc.
It offers a huge range of fonts to the user as well. The user
can also import pictures and it will recognize all the usual types
such as jpeg, bmp, tiff and gif. There are all the usual tools
to manipulate your work on the screen including moving components
to the front or back, print size, colour, fonts and effects. One
nice touch was the addition of cutting marks on the printed sheet.
Geoff
then led a discussion on printer inks and their longevity. He
explained that he had done some investigating for a friend regarding
which printer and ink offered the best deals in terms of cost
per print and ink lifespan. Some interesting claims had been made
by the various manufacturers and in the end it really came down
to personal preference and how you stored your finished print.
Finally
Geoff showed us some special artist print paper and some examples
printed on each. The paper is specialist and as such comes at
a price – in Geoff’s case he had an experimental packet
of 25 different artist type print papers supplied by www.Linepaper.co.uk
If you have a further interest in these specialist papers, I am
sure Goff will put you on the right path.
In
last months newsletter you will have read Steve Orrell’s
very interesting article on developing a stand-alone music computer
with touch screen operation. Steve kindly brought the finished
machine to the meeting. The box had to be small and compact to
be hidden away in a cupboard in the lounge – all controls
being via the accessible touch screen. The processor box housed
an 80 Gbyte hard drive to store his music on and a CD player built
in. In his article Steve explained that he was experimenting with
Linux as his operating system, unfortunately due to circumstances
out of his control he had to go with Windows in the end. The touch
screen was of the type you find in the rear seats of cars and
came in at around £200 with the computer itself costing
around £250.
The
technical details of Steve’s unit :-
Mini ITX EPIA ME 600 motherboard with a built in 600Mhz fan-less
processor.
256 Mbyte of RAM.
Samsung IDE 80Gbyte hard disc drive – full size.
Sony DVD Rom/CD writer – laptop size
Morex Cubid case
LinITX 8”diagonal touch screen
Steve’s
project is showing excellent promise and we look forward to seeing
it in more detail in the future.
Our
thanks to both Geoff and Steve for another interesting evening.
Dave
Robb
Protecting
My Computer
I
have been using Norton anti-virus software in one form or another
for many years. My initial introduction to anti-virus software
was via my work environment, where they had obtained an offsite
licence for company employee. We were able to download full copies
of Dr Solomon’s Toolkit from our local network system and
take it home for our personal use. The downside was that you had
to copy it on to numerous floppy disks. Some time later, the company
ditched this packaged and moved on to the more sophisticated Norton
Anti-Virus package. Again we were able to have personal copies
(all very civilised), but it came on even more floppy disks –
9 for version 5.01. We even got regular updates as well.
I
was happy with this version, but as with all software, things
move on and they become more sophisticated and generally much
larger. I purchased a bundled package of Norton 2002 Antivirus
and Utilities programmes and was quite happy with them. This was
in the days when I ran Windows 98. One of the downsides of commercial
anti-virus software is that to keep it up to date you need to
register it and pay an annual licence or subscription fee to get
the latest updates – which are crucial. A year or so ago
and by now on Windows 2000, I purchased Norton System Works 2005
which came bundled with Norton Firewall 2005 for around £40
from PC World. System Works is a suite of programmes that includes
both the anti-virus and utilities software along with various
other Norton offerings available from an easy to use front-end
menu. The packages were excellent and I received regular anti-virus
updates and their latest Firewall software, which was also updated
via the subscription, protected my Internet connection.
A
couple of months ago, the software started reminding me that my
subscription was due and invited me to renew over the Internet.
Renewal costs worked out at around £35 for both packages
that seemed a little steep but then again I had been pretty happy
with the job they had been doing and I was fairly comfortable
with their operation. I still had a few weeks to go, so I kept
ignoring the messages for the time being. I was still undecided
about renewing or trying some other package such as McAfee that
also has a very good reputation.
About
this time I saw an advert from PC world offering Norton System
Works 2006 bundled with Norton Firewall 2006 for £40 –
only £5 more than renewing my subscription, and for this
I get the latest software and enhanced suite of extra programs.
It seemed a good deal to me so I hotfooted over to Leicester’s
PC World only to find stacks of the Norton 2005 bundle ( I had
bought a year previous) also priced a £40. Had I misread
the advert, as there were versions of System Works 2006 on its
own for around £50, anyway I left empty handed. Back home
I found the PC World website and sure enough they were offering
the 2006 package for £39.99. I promptly sent for the package
and it duly arrived two days later – not a bad service I
thought.
So
what do I get for my money? The System Works suite contains the
latest versions of Norton Utilities, Norton Antivirus, Norton
GoBack, CheckIt Diagnostics and System Optimiser. Its key features
include the latest antivirus updates and will automatically remove
virus, Trojan horses and worms. It will scan Email and IM attachments
for any virus threats. With a current license the user can automatically
download all updates as they are created – ensuring that
the machine protection is at its optimum.
There
have been improvements made to the GoBack software that will restore
the computer to pre-crash status after system failures. There
are also improvements to the cleaning out of unwanted cookies,
caches and unwanted temporary files and it will automatically
detect and fix Windows problems (surely we do not get them these
days!!!!).
New
Features from previous versions include high-risk spyware and
adware detection and blocking before they get installed on the
system. It will detect and remove dangerous spyware, keystroke
loggers and other unwanted monitoring software. It will also prevent
spyware programs redirecting home pages to their download sites.
Other
new features include the monitoring of new software installations
and allow you to reverse the operation if the installation goes
poorly or you decide not to keep the software. You now also have
complete control over the Windows settings and processes running
on the system.
System
Works 2006 need Windows 2000 Professional or later to function
with a minimum of 170 Mbytes of disk space, a 166Mhz or higher
processor and 128 Mbytes of RAM. If you have an earlier operating
system then System Works 2005 is for you.
I
am sure you can get similar utilities in other packages but for
me this suite has all the useful functions under one roof and
it is easy to use. For me the added attraction of Norton Firewall
2006 thrown in was a very good deal. I have found the firewall
extremely robust and again very user friendly. It also gives me
peace of mind that my machine is pretty well protected from all
those nasties out there on the World Wide Web.
Now
Norton System Works may not be for you and there are lots of alternative
packages that will do similar jobs. If you go down the line of
free software, remember why it is free – you are unlikely
to get any updates for the latest nasties. But you can very often
register for a small fee that will get you their updates and much
improved results.
Dave
Robb |
