I hope everybody got all their basic questions about scanners answered at this past meeting from Jon, Mark, and Eric. I say basic because I think it is very unlikely that even one-to-one you would get “all” your questions answered in one hour. I do believe from the feedback I received after the meeting and through email, that most of those present were happy with the information they got.

Eric gave us some background on types of graphics to begin with, pointing out the difference between the two categories of graphics, vector and raster. (Vector being graphics that consist of points and lines, raster, commonly called bitmap images, being those that are dots) Corel’s .CDR, some .WMF, and all .EPS files will be vector. Files ending in .GIF, .JPG, and of course, .BMP are raster graphics.

Some of the mechanics involved in scanning in pictures and how it relates to DPI was next in the presentation. Eric even took a few minutes to explain DPI while he was at it. We learned a little about how SCUZZY is faster than PARALLEL but is more expensive and a few points about the pros and cons for both. He then told us a bit about using a scanner for film and slides and transparencies before moving on to regular types of scanning.

Mark Meidel showed us a hand scanner, and told us how for some things he still prefers it. And of course, someone pointed it out that short of ripping out the pages of a book, a hand scanner is still a really great tool for eliminating the wave that can happen in the center.

Jon Slough and Eric discussed OCR software, and again I got the impression that OCR and GOOD do not belong in the same sentence. While the high end, full, complete programs such as Adobe Acrobat and OmniPage will do a very ‘good’ job, you still have to keep in mind that they are NOT going to recognize all characters all of the time. The low-end ‘lite’ versions that come with most scanners will do a fair job. As Eric pointed out, the difference between making the numerous corrections, as opposed to retyping the entire works, certainly makes it an acceptable short coming.

As far as what scanner should you buy? Well, Eric and Jon both had very good answers for that. Eric commented that his presentation could have been better if he’d done a bit more homework, and he feels that is the key to buying a scanner: Homework. Decide what it is you want to do with a scanner, and check out the various companies to see how they rate their equipment to do what you are wanting. Jon likened it to buying a motor vehicle. If you want to drive down the highway at 160 mph, then buy a Ferrari, if you want to plow your field, then buy a tractor! If you are going to scan mostly text, black and white, then buy something that does that extremely well. If you are going to do photographs, most of which will be in color, then look for one that is designed to do them well.

I agree with the comments about the presentation that it was very informative and had something for those looking for their first scanner, as well as some of those that already owned them. Thank you Eric, Jon, and Mark.

Writers of the past have written about what the new millennium will usher into the world’s general population. None of those writers knew about computers, software, and the Internet. George Orwell, who in 1948 wrote his book 1984 that included “thinking machines,” did not know that computer programming foundations being formed then would create the year 2000 problems of today.

As of the writing of this article, no fewer than three companies are trying to schedule a presenter for our users group. I have contacted Pinpoint, WRQ, GMT, and Intelliquis for a presentation. I have either full or evaluation copies of all of their software. Intelliquis and GMT are trying to schedule a presenter, and I have told them the first to get someone scheduled will be the presenter in August. At the last minute, I find out that Rent-A-Bit along with IKON also wish to make presentations on this issue.

As soon as I have the program I will have the Webmaster post the information on our web page. If I am not able to get any company to come, my wife Jocelyne and I will do a demonstration of several software packages and Web site locations where you can get more information about the problem.

The September meeting will be about the Internet. We have not had an Internet presentation in over a year. We will have Internet Explorer 4.0X either on Windows 95 or Windows 98 so you can see it, as well as Netscape Communicator 4.5 running on the same computer at the same time.

The November/December meeting is again Games Night. By then the new Program Director will be in charge, so I will leave that meeting up to him/her to decide how they will run that.

It is important that we keep our meeting attendance as high as possible over the summer. Almost every time I contact a company about coming to our meeting, they ask me how many people were at our last meeting. Like always, our summer attendance is down and that does not help when the program director is trying to get presenters.

The following was excerpted from the CIAC bulletin. The complete CIAC Information Bulletin I-077A: Mime Name Vulnerability in Outlook and Messenger containing all the above information can be read at:http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/i-077a.shtml

“A buffer overflow vulnerability has been identified in Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, and Netscape Messenger (Mail) that allows an e-mail or news message to contain malicious code in a mime header. That code is executed when the header is processed by the e-mail/news reader. All of these e-mail/news readers are widely distributed with popular packages such as Internet Explorer, Windows 98, Windows 97, Office 97, and Netscape Communicator.

PLATFORM: Any platform that runs the vulnerable e-mail/news readers: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Macintosh and Solaris.

DAMAGE: If exploited, this vulnerability allows a remote user to run arbitrary code on a users machine with the user’s privileges. The remotely executed code could do anything from sending thousands of e-mails in the user’s name to formatting the hard drive.

SOLUTION: Apply patches from Microsoft and Netscape.”

I’m not sure how they manage to intercept your mail to do this, but basically what they do is over-write the mime headers in an email with attachements and when it is recieved it auto-matically runs the newly embedded commands, such as, subscribe you to any list they want, mess with files, or format the hard drive!

Information is available from Microsoft at: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/security/oelong.htm

Patched versions of Outlook and Outlook Express are available from Microsoft at:
Outlook 98 http://support.microsoft.com/support/downloads/LNP499.asp
Download: OUTPATCH.EXE

Outlook Express
First update to Internet Explorer 4.01 at: http://www.Microsoft.com/ie
Then obtain the patch from: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/security/oelong.htm

Patches for Macintosh and Solaris versions of Outlook Express will be available soon at: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/security/oelong.htm

Version 4.06 of Netscape Communicator is due out around August 7 and will contain a patched version of the e-mail reader. Patches will be available through their Smart Update web page: http://home.netscape.com/download/su1.html

Have you tried making a phone call over the Internet yet? It’s been possible, if not always a piece of cake, for more than two years. I became mildly interested in the spring of 1997, then got really into while researching several articles (for PC World, Newsweek and MicroTimes. I’d like to share what I’ve learned.

First, you should the difference between conventional and Internet telephony. Conventional telephone networks use circuit switching. When a call is placed and answered, a circuit opens. The circuit remains open as long as the call lasts, so that line is tied up during that time.

Internet telephony employs packet switching, which breaks up data small packets which co-mingle on the same line. Packets contains identifiers, address of where it came from and where it’s going, so they can be sorted, routed and reassembled at the delivery point. When a packet is lost or corrupted by line noise, a duplicate packet is sent

You’ve come a long way, baby
Internet telephony has come a long way since its birth in 1996. Experts differ, however, on whether it’s destined to be a child prodigy, or a communications stepchild, stunted by politics and efforts of the giant telephone companies (telcos). Other problems include current Internet bandwidth restrictions and lack of product compatability.

Software-only products allowed hard-core users to make the first free long-distance Internet phone calls. I used VocalTec’s Internet Phone softtware for my first Net calls in early 1997. It was a free download and easy to install, but results were so-so. Making sure we all had current copies of the software and setting a mutually agreeable time to be online required mucho e-mail. Times delays were a nuisance and sound quality ranged from fair to barely intelligible at times. I couldn’t see any viable business use for the technology at the time, and personal calls were cheap enough in off-hours or on weekends so that Net phoning wasn’t worth the hassle.

Improved software and new hardware available solve many of the earlier problems. I acquired samples to check their effectiveness.

The Hardware Varies
The hardware I checked included Internet PhoneJACK, InfoTalk and Aplio Phone, all different but representative of currently available Net phone equipment. Software used included the latest version of VocalTec’s Internet Phone, Microsoft’s Net Meeting and IDT’s Net2Phone. These were not objective, scientific tests, understand; just quick, subjective trials to see how the results compared with my earlier software-only Net phone calls and those I make every day using conventional phone service.

PhoneJACK is a Plug-and-Play DSP (digital signal processing) card that plugs into an ISA slot (half or full). It works alongside, but independently of, existing sound cards. It doesn’t need a modem, and doesn’t use a precious IRQs. It does include an RJ-11 POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) port, RJ-12 headset port and 3.5mm connections for microphone and speaker. Its hardware-based compression technology reduces delay and CPU load on your system.

You can connect a standard phone to the PhoneJACK card and enjoy sound not too different from conventional phones. It’s ideal if there is another PhoneJACK on the other end of the call, but that’s not necessary. Even if the other party is only using such software as NetMeeting or Net2Phone, both parties benefit from PhoneJACK’s better sound.

InfoTalk and Aplio/Phone, Net telephony devices from InnoMedia and Aplio, Inc., differ markedly from PhoneJACK in that they do not require a PC. Both plug in between a conventional phone and POTS wall outlet, serving as a mini-gateways to the Net.

They have two drawbacks. They use proprietary technologies, so parties on both ends of a call must use the same products. An InfoTalk phone cannot talk to an Aplio/Phone, or to any other IP Telephony device. Also, making a call is not as simple as just dialing a number. That’s just the beginning.

After you dial and the call is answered, with InfoTalk, you tell the other party you want to make this an Internet call. Either party can then press the pound (#) key to initiate the Internet connection. When the connection is established, you can begin the conversation.

With Aplio/Phone, after making connection, either party can press the “APLIO” button on the device to switch the call from the long-distance carrier to the Internet. Both parties then hang up; in about 45 seconds, the phones ring and callers can converse as usual. Only they’re doing it on the Internet, not with AT&T’s or MCI’s meter running.

So that’s the current state of the art. The three approaches — software only, DSP cards and standalone devices — have drawbacks, but I lean toward the PhoneJACK as the best solution for my purposes at this point. All hardware IP Telephony products have one thing in common, however. They’re pricey, from about $200 to $300, compared to standard phone instruments that now go for as low as $20. How many long-distance calls will it take to amortize the cost of a Net phone, especially if you have to supply the devices to some of the people you call regularly?

The lack of interoperability looms as an immediate threat to IP Telephony. It reminds me of the bad old days (late 1970s, early 1980s) of proprietary operating systems, including CP/M and DOS. Microcomputers could not talk to each other any more than an InfoTalk can to an Aplio/Phone. It wasn’t until standardized operating systems came along that micros began selling in respectable quantities.

I doubt that lack of standards will continue too long, however. Some corporations already use their WANs (Wide Area Networks) for communications via TCP/IP, using the new Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). The audio quality has been likened to that of cell phones, which is good enough for this purpose. And the savings in this context can be significant.

We also have the H.323 standard, which defines a common set of compression/decompression algorithms. Pushed by such biggies as Intel and Microsoft, H.323 is gradually being accepted by IP Telephony vendors. Its champions say it will do for Internet telephony what SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) has done for e-mail.

On the debit side is the full-court press by the giant telcos to stifle development of Internet telephony, considering the big political guns they can bring to the task. They claim that if Net phone calls were subject to the same fees as they are, there would be little or no savings.

That remains to be seen. It might be true for large companies with enough telephony volume to get rates of a few cents per minute from the telcos, but probably not for individual and small businesses.

Summing up, most experts believe that Internet telephony future looks promising. I predict many of us will be making at least some of our phone calls over the Net within two to three years.

Copyright 1997 by Ken Fermoyle, Fermoyle Publications. 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 a radio show on computers and a partner in a DTP service bureau during the ’80s. Fermoyle Publications offers editorial, consulting & graphics design services, and Ken’s Korner, a syndicated monthly column free to User Group newsletters. For permission to reprint this article, contact kfermoyle@earthlink.net

This is the third and last installment of our look at file associations in Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. Last month we saw how to set up basic associations in WIN95. This month we’ll look at some of the advanced association tricks in Windows 95.

Setting Multiple Actions for a File Type

It is important to realize that you can have different actions defined to use different APPLICATIONS for one file type. This lets you associate different programs with a file type, selecting which application to run through the right-mouse menu. For example, on my system HTM files are associated with Netscape Navigator; when a file is double-clicked, it loads in the Navigator browser. But sometimes I want to edit the HTML file, not display it. So I have an action that will load the file in HotDog, an HTML editor. Since I also use Word 7’s Internet Assistant to work on HTML files, I have an action to load the HTM file in Word/Internet Assistant too. Now I can pick which editor to use from the right-mouse menu.

Right-mouse clicking on a file type displays a menu with the actions associated with that type displayed at the top. The default action that occurs on a double-click is at the top, in bold. This example shows how a file type can be associated with different applications through different actions.

If you have multiple actions associated with a file type, only one can be the default that occurs when you double-click on the file. In the Actions list, one Action name will be shown as bold. This is the default. To change the default to another action, highlight its name and choose the [Set Default] button.

The default action when double-clicking on a file is shown on bold in the File Type screen; to change the default, select the new action and choose the [Set Default button.]

There are two other selections on the New File Type window that may be of interest. Checking the Enable Quick View box will add a Quick View option to the right-mouse menu, which will view the file in one of Windows 95’s file viewers, or a third party viewer you might have installed. (The viewer used is the one associated with the application.) The Always show extension box will, if checked, always show the file extension in folder windows or Explorer. This is even if you’ve specified to Hide MS-DOS file extensions for registered file types in the View | Options | View tab.

New Associations as you work
An “on-the-fly” association is available if you double-click on a file type that has no association. Windows 95 displays the Open With dialog box, where you can select what program to open the file with. If the program you want isn’t displayed, use the [Other] button to select it. By default, the Always use this program to open this file box is checked. To make a permanent association between the file type and a program, leave the box checked and fill in the Description box at the top. If not, uncheck the Always use box.

To open a registered file type in a different program, hold down the Shift key and right-click on the file. The menu displayed will now have a new option called Open With. Select it, then choose the desired program from the list displayed in the Open With dialog box. Again if the program you want isn’t shown, select it from the [Other] button. The Always use this program to open this type of file box is NOT checked. If you do check it, it will change the default Open application for this file type.

Creating Generic Associations
In addition to setting up Actions for different file types in Windows 95, you can also create “generic” file openers for all files. The trick is put these on the Send To right-mouse menu. Then for any file you can “Send” it to that/those programs.

Let’s set up two generic file openers: Windows 95’s Quick Viewer and Notepad. To make these appear on the menu, we’ll create shortcuts in the Windows SendTo folder.

1. Open Explorer, and Navigate to the \Windows\System\Viewers folder by selecting it from the tree display in the left window pane.

2. Select the QuickView icon in the right window pane, and drag it to the \Windows\SendTo folder in the left window pane. This creates a shortcut in SendTo (if prompted to create a shortcut, answer Yes).

3. Navigate to the \Windows directory in the left window pane. Select Notepad icon in the right window pane, and drag it to the \Windows\SendTo folder in the left window pane (if prompted to create a shortcut, answer Yes).

4. Navigate to the \Windows\SendTo folder in the left window pane. In the right pane, right-click on both the shortcuts you’ve just created, and rename them to the program names QuickView and Notepad. Close Explorer.

5. These programs are now on the Send To right-mouse menu. Highlight a file, right-click, select Send To, then select either QuickView or Notepad.

Associations in Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 don’t have to be a mystery. And they don’t have to be something just setup programs modify. Associations let you tailor how Windows can work for you, not just accepting how you have to work with Windows. If you spend a lot of time in File Manager or Explorer, set up and modify associations and file types so you can quickly load the files you need in the applications you need them in.

Several people have had concerns lately about getting viruses from downloading off the Internet. My response is always, “Download from a reputable site, and your chances are cut to nearly none” Not to mention you are more likely to get better quality shareware (stuff that works right!) In response two of us made the following site which gives you all you will ever need for download sites as well as connections to several of the popular magazines ‘top 10 shareware’ type lists. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/8959/

Those who are new to the Internet might also find some useful help from the links listed on this page. http://www.skyenet.net/~nisly/lessons.html

Don’t forget to check out back issues of our own newsletter for the various help articles that we have ran. You might have missed a few! http://www.qtm.net/epcug/news/news.htm

A list of links to a set of 1852 maps of Ontario/Upper Canada. You can view the maps online, or purchase them.

If you like Americana, you’ll love the new exhibit at the LOC... George Washington’s Letterbooks can now be viewed online. They are big graphics, but they are pretty darn cool. :) http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwseries2.html

You have to visit this site. It’s a blast! http://www.maddoxinteractive.com/enquirer/

This is a great site of volunteers who will check CD’s for information for you. http://www.seidata.com/~lhoffman/cdlist.html

This site lists ALL recipients of Medal of Honor from the Civil War, Indian Campaigns, all the way up to “modern times”. http://imabbs.army.mil/cmh-pg/moh1.htm

Most states now have a “State Newspaper Project” dedicated to preserving — usually in microfilm — as complete a collection as possible of all newspapers from that state. Generally associated with the Journalism Department of a major state university and often at least partially funded through the State Press Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities, these are superb resources for back issues of obscure and out-of-print publications that are difficult to find in libraries. NEH has a website for them: http://www.neh.fed.us/html/usnp.html

For researching Canadian Ancestry, a Canadian genealogy search engine and has some wonderful sites included in its database! http://indexes.mtrl.toronto.on.ca/genealogy/index.htf

This is a great URL...and it explains a lot in many families. :) http://www.geocities.com/~lovitt_roots/spaceship2.html

Some genealogy related URLs courtesy of the Internet_Genealogy-L, a mailing list by Marthe Arends, instructor of the Practical Internet Genealogy series courses at Virtual University (Internet_Genealogy-l-request@rootsweb.com:)

I would think your own home page ought to be one of your favorite sites, if you would like yours listed, just send it in an email to me. Also, don’t forget that Mark has a members web page listing on the EPCUG web site.

And would the person who sent me their’s to be listed this month please send it to me again? It got deleted!!!!

Melba Hardesty - Crochet related http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/2208/

Sherry Nisly - Miscellaneous, eduction, ascii, graphics, etc http://www.skyenet.net/~nisly/

Curt Bartoe - Bartoe genealogy http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/7551/

What’s better than shareware? How about freeware! This month’s PC Computing had an excellent article listing several free programs ranging from games to graphic programs to business utilities. Check out all they had listed at: http://www.zdnet.com/pccomp/features/excl0898/freestuff/downloads/welcome.html

I went to Microsoft to get the File Manager update that Jon Slough talked about this past month. To locate this file after going to http://www.microsoft.com, click on the FREE DOWNLOAD link. Slide down the page to Support Drivers, Patches and Service Packs; click on Software Support Library which takes you to the Support Downloads page. Once there, click each of the following directories as you get to them: /Microsoft Windows/Windows 95/Updates and Utilities/ and then the file WIN95Y2K.EXE which will fix your file manager and command.com. Be sure to go to the extra info page as it sends you to Article Q158238 to make sure you know which exact version of Windows 95 you are running before using the update on your system.

While I was at Microsoft, I decided to see what other goodies they might have added since the last time I browsed their free downloads. In addition to regular updates, upgrades, add-ons, etc, for their software, Microsoft makes a nice selection of shareware/freeware programs available, too. I particularly was interested in their NETMEETING which my cousin has been after me to download. Several of us regularly get together for chat, and he wants us to give this a try. He is in Pennsylvania, our uncle is in Texas, my oldest son is in Kansas, and often 2-3 of us are online together. He claims they are correct when the say it will even work with a 14.4 modem. He says it’s a bit choppy, but better than typing!

Don’t forget to visit your other software companies also. Many have freebies or online updates and patches for their customers.

Sandra - A highly recommennded Windows 95 system diagnostics and information utility. Displays system statistics such as drive benchmarks, CPU speed ratings, and DOS memory and physical memory bank information. The included report wizard can collect user-specified portions tests and write the result to a file, a printer, or a fax or save it as a script. (2,258,044 bytes) http://www6.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?fcode=000EX9

When speaking to various groups about the Internet, I am frequently asked the same questions over and over again. I thought I’d share those questions, and my own highly opinionated answers.

I’m not claiming that any of these answers are right, only that they have served me well.

Which Web Browser Is Best?
In my opinion, neither. Both Microsoft and Netscape are doing users a great disservice by getting totally consumed in a features war and rushing new versions of their Web browsers to market long before they are ready. Today’s browsers are buggy at best, and so overloaded with features as to make them mediocre at the majority of tasks that they undertake.

I wish that Microsoft and Netscape would concentrate their efforts on making bug-free browsers, and forget trying to develop a single program that browses the Web, does e-mail, reads newsgroups, acts as your desktop, and shines your shoes.

Which ISP Should I Use?
I use several ISPs at any given moment. Their names are not as important as the reasons I selected them.

Picking an ISP is not rocket science, but you need to determine what you need from an ISP before you begin your quest for connectivity.

If you travel a lot, you might want to sign up with a national or regional ISP that allows you to log in at any of its points of presence (POPs). That way, when you travel, you can avoid long distance charges for the time that you are online. When I was still with Intel Corp., I signed up with Netcom because it had more than 200 locations where I could log in. Now that I have greatly reduced my travel, I’ve moved to a regional ISP.

Be careful, though: I currently have an account with a major regional ISP that only allows me to connect via my POP in Mesa (Arizona), even if I am up in Oregon where it has other POPs. Thus, when I was in Oregon a couple months ago, I would have had to call long distance to reach my regional ISP. Naturally, I didn’t discover this fact until I was sitting in my motel room in Oregon. Fortunately, Computer Bits provides me with an account with a local Oregon ISP.

If your needs are strictly local, then I would recommend that you sign up with a local ISP. There are a number of factors that are important in choosing a local ISP:

*The physical location of the POP in relationship to where you live.
I live in Gilbert, Arizona, and one of my ISP’s POPs is on the other side of the Phoenix metro area in Mesa. I recently dropped an ISP whose POP is in downtown Phoenix. Remember that physical distance between your home and your POP can impact the speed of your connection. You don’t want to connect to a POP that is 40 or even 50 miles away, even if the call is “free.”

The current US West Direct white pages for Phoenix has a nifty map and table that you can use to determine where a POP is located, simply by looking up the first three digits of the phone number; presumably, such a thing is available in Portland, too.

*The ratio of modems to subscribers.
The math is quite easy, an ISP with a ratio of 1 modem for every 8 subscribers is likely to have fewer busy signals than a provider with one modem for every 12 subscribers. Now, it is possible to call up a prospective ISP and ask what the ratio of modems to users is — but you’re likely to get a less-than-useful answer.

Try this instead: find out the phone number of the POP you would be dialing most often and, using your regular telephone, dial the number four or five times on a weekday between 4 and 5 p.m (the busiest time of day for most ISPs). If you cannot get through, it really doesn’t matter how many modems the ISP claims to have, it doesn’t have enough.

*Modem technology.
Most of the major local ISPs are running very fast modems, but it does not hurt to find out what technology they have embraced to get beyond 28.8.

*Support hours.
If you cannot reach a live human 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, then you need to evaluate how important continuous support really is. If you are routinely online at 1 a.m., then find an ISP that offers support at that time of day. If you are only online at lunchtime, then don’t worry about this issue.

*Extra stuff.
Does your proposed ISP offer Web pages, RealAudio servers and the like? Does it offer automated Web page building or support for CGI scripts? Is any of this important to you? If so, find out what is available. Remember, not all ISPs include space for your Web page in their basic rates.

What Software Do I Need?
Now where did I put my soap box?

This is a fairly important issue to me. The warm, wonderful, caring people who are so deeply engaged in the browser wars are stuffing features into their browsers at an alarming rate. Why, if you listen to the marketing and PR types, the only possible software you will even need on your computer is their latest and greatest browser.

Bah! Humbug!
The fact of the matter is that a software package that claims to do everything probably does a marginal job of everything, but doesn’t do a very good job of any one thing.

If you are going to surf the World Wide Web, then get a browser.

If you are going to read the Usenet newsgroups, then go get a dedicated news reader; don’t use your browser to read and post.

If you are going to send and receive e-mail, then by all means, go get a dedicated e-mail client; don’t use your browser as an e-mail client.

There is a wonderful automobile analogy buried in here. There is no single automobile that is designed for everything you’d like to do: luxury driving with the top down, 4WD off-roading with good clearance, hauling a cubic yard of river rock, or sleeping six adults and three children comfortably. If you want to do all those things, you’ll need a wide range of different vehicles, ranging from a German luxury import to the newest, biggest motor home.

This applies to AOL users as well. AOL has finally made arrangements to allow it users to toss out their default browser and use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (special Janet Reno edition) instead. Go for it.

Which Packages Are Best?
That really depends upon you. Read the reviews, try some of the shareware or freeware packages, and find a software package that matches your personality and your needs.

About the Author: Frank is a Computer Bits’ magazine editor-at-large. Computer Bits’ Online and information regarding their print edition subscriptions can be found at http://www.ComputerBits.com/
This article is reprinted in the Elkhart PC Users Group by express permission from Frank Vaughan and is not to be included in any article exchange agreement EPCUG may have with any other publication or organization. Any reprint requests for this article must be directed to Mr. Vaughan. E-mail to frankv@computerbits.com.
This article was originally published in the December 1997 issue of Computer Bits magazine, and is copyright © 1997 by Bitwise Productions, Inc., Forest Grove, OR, (503) 359-9107. All rights reserved.

In the first article about this problem last month, you read a brief history of how, by a twist of fate, we got into the problem known as Y2K. This month we will be talking about how it can and will affect you.

My wife Jocelyne and I have been talking about this problem for over a year now, and people’s reactions to the issues have been anywhere from horror to complete disbelief. This month I will show you the scope of the problem without trying to sound like Chicken Little screaming that the sky is falling.

Let me start by asking you to do something very simple. Take out your credit cards and look at the expiration dates at them. How many have a four-digit date for the year, and how many are two-digit dates for years? If you have any with a two-digit date for the year, you are affected by the dreaded Y2K problem. The last report I read, only about 35-40% of all stores presently have upgraded their credit card readers and point of sale software to understand the Y2K issue and be able to use the credit card information after the year 2000.

The “fix” for credit card readers and many non-day sensitive dates is using a windowing technique. This uses the year 50 as an edge for a window. Every date that is year 50 and above has 1900 added to it to give a date of 1950, 1951, 1952, etc. Every date that is under year 50 has 2000 added to it. This gives dates of 2049, 2048, 2047, etc. This works well with dates that expire at least every 50 years, but what if they do not?

This is the problem that the financial industry faces. Unlike credit cards that came into existence after 1950, they have accounts that were open in the early 1900’s by persons who were children then and are now in nursing homes. The windowing technique does not work here. True four digit year dates are required to properly calculate earnings, tax information, and many other functions for the financial industry. This includes Banks, Savings and Loans, Insurance Companies, Stock Exchanges, Credit Card Companies, and many others.

Since most of the programs used by the financial industry were written since the mid-to-late 1950’s, the computer languages tend to be languages like Fortran, Cobol, Assembly, and a few others. It is possible for a mid-size bank to have between 500,000 and 2,000,000 lines of computer code in their program, not counting the data. Here is an example of the problem.

A bank has 1,250,000 lines of code in their software. Every line needs to be checked to see if it is OK to use, so they hire a programmer. The programmer can check 500 lines of code every day, seven days per week, 52 weeks per year, so in 6.85 years they will be finished checking the code, and will be ready for the next step. Since we do not have that long until the new millennium hits, this is not the solution.

OK, so we hire seven more programmers, right? Wrong. Programmers who can read, correct and check the code are hard to find right now. So what does the institution do? There are software programs that have been written in the last 24 months that will automate the code reading process. Basically, this is a multi-step process. In the first pass, the checking software looks for and finds the problems. You are usually given the program’s line number and an explanation of what is wrong. Once the institution knows what and where the problems are, they can decide on how they want to fix the program. Many of these checking programs have a second pass option, that will go ahead and automatically fix the problems in the program using the way chosen. But, what do we do about all the old data?

Now that the program is fixed, but the data is still in the old format. The third pass is to translate all of the original data from its present format to the new format. This will make a complete new copy of the data that will be larger than the original. You need about triple the amount of free memory space that the data now requires. If you have 3GB of data, you need 9GB of free space just to get started. I read one report that said that this translation process took one medium-sized bank almost one month to complete, and during the process, because of the load on the CPU, the teller terminals slowed to about 50% of their normal speed.

Ok now the program is fixed and the data is translated, so we are ready to roll, right? Wrong again. They now have to do what is called “Due Diligence” to prove that the software and data work. In many cases this means running two complete sets of data and programs in parallel for several months and checking every account every day to see that they match. Depending on what industry is involved, this can take 6 to 12 months to complete. You can see that time is running out quickly.

Fortunately, the financial industry saw this coming about 18 months ago, and while most are not complete in this process, most mid-sized and larger institutions are well on their way to having this process completed. As always there are exceptions, but they are still exceptions and not the rule.

Still think this will not affect you? OK, so you don’t have a computer, you don’t keep any money in the bank, you keep it under your mattress, and you walk in and pay all of your bills in cash. How about taxes, Social Security, Medicare, etc.; do you think the government is up to speed on this?

If you had asked any expert on January 2, 1998 if the state or federal governments would be ready, they would have laughed in your face. To their credit, the federal government has been making great strides in fixing the problem. Jocelyne has been watching several WEB pages that give a status report on federal agencies and how they are doing. Several have made good progress while some have just started. It is going to be close, but I personally believe that most federal agencies may just get everything done just under the wire. Remember they have the power, money, and the right to “requisition” what they need for the public good to get it completed it time.

State government agencies are not revealing much information on how well they are proceeding on this problem. Since information is limited at best, if you have any questions on how the local and state government is doing, you should call them yourself and ask them.

Public utilities, the petroleum industry, embedded chips, city water supplies, what the rest of the world is doing, and many other topics are not going to be covered in this article. It is enough to say that Y2K will have some impact on everyone in the world. How much or how little is still in question. Both my wife and I have been called soothsayers of doom over this issue. I even had one county government official send me an E-mail saying that there is no Y2K problem so shut up about it. Other officials have said they don’t know how bad it will be so they are not going to do anything about it right now.

The next month’s article will be on how you find out if your computer will work. What tests do you need to do? Can the computer be saved if it fails? Is there hope for the old system yet? Visit this article next month to get the answers.