OVER 2 YOU, 005 (16/11/00)

RACING CERTAINTIES

Can anybody help? I have a list of 50 horses to follow for the coming chase season. I can access, via the 'Racing Post' website, a list of runners each day. Is there any way that I can compare the two lists to highlight 'horses to follow' for that day. The 'Find' facility is too slow. The quickest way at the moment is to hack the list alphabetically.

Bob Platt,

Copy and paste the list of today's runners into cell A1 of an Excel worksheet. Enter the list of 50 to follow into cells B1 to B50. In column C1 enter the formula =IF(COUNTIF($A$1:$A$500,B1)=1,"Running today","") and copy down to C50. This means - if the contents of B1 are matched in the range A1 to A500, then enter the text "Running today", else leave the cell empty. Each day, delete the contents of column A and copy and paste the day's runners. The formula assumes there are up to 500 horses running.
Trish Ward,

Appending one list to the other and sorting alphabetically is as good a method as any in Excel. However, using Access you could create a new database, and make a new table containing your list of 50 horses. This will consist of one field (column) called, say, "horses". The data of a day's runners is then inserted into another new table, again, with one field called "horses". Then create a query to connect the two tables (use the help file, under "linking multiple tables with a query". It is just a few drags and clicks, quite easy). This query gives you the names of horses that appear in both lists. You could then create a report based on the query, which is better presented for output purposes.

Each day that you need to check, you create a new table, query and report, possibly naming them to include that day's date. With a bit of practise, Access is a powerful tool for various similar problems. My only reservation is how you are transferring the data from the web. If you copy and paste to Excel, it is easy to use Data-Convert to MS Access, to create a new table in the existing database.

Patrick Powell,

May I recommend www.racing-network.co.uk? It has a unique REMIND ME feature which allows you to register your interest in your favourite horses, and you will be sent an Email the day before the horse is due to run. The site also offers daily race cards, great tipping and results services and a huge array of editorial features.

Nick Hill,

QUICK FIX

I have run a pub quiz league in the Sevenoaks area for the last six years. Every year I spend the best part of two days organising the fixture list. All I need is a formula where you input the following.

1:    The number of teams

2:    How many times they play each other

3:    Which teams can't play at home the same week? (Some pubs have two teams).

Is such a thing available either on the net or CD-ROM?

Richard Smith,

Competition Fixtures by SportSoft http://www.sportsoft.ltd.uk/ may be of interest. A product called Boot Room 2000 by JWR Software http://www.jwr-software.com/ also claims to be able to create fixture lists.

Tim Grose,

NOISY KEYS

I am not the world's best typist and apparently the keys make a lot of noise when I punch them. My husband finds this very stressful (like living in a typing pool) which means I am restricted in the use of our computer, in order not to drive him out of the house. The computer lives with us in the living room, as we do not really have enough space elsewhere. Trying to improve my typing skills has been unsuccessful, so I have tried to find a "silent" keyboard instead, so far without success. Do they exist and if so, where can I find one?

Ineke Ely

Virtually silent keyboards can be bought from The Keyboard Company (www.keyboardco.com) and I personally use the very quiet A4 sized one which has standard key spacing but only 3mm. key travel.  However, the best tip is to make sure that the keyboard is on a thick felt mat. This stops almost all key sound being transmitted. Firm bases act as soundboards!

Geoff Thomas, Stroud, Glocs

My wife and I share a room for our hobbies.  In one half I have my computer and in her half she has an electronic knitting machine.  The knitting machine makes a hundred times more noise than I do with my keyboard!

My hearing is good and the noise of the knitting machine does not break my concentration, but my wife with less acute hearing finds the tapping of the keys disturbing. It is really a case of 'mind over matter'. If one has ringing in the ears, one can home into the noise or if they think about other things can totally ignore the ringing in the ears. I have it slightly and with concentration I can obliterate it. By the way you should not thump the keys you should caress them with tender loving care. 

Dr Thomas Beve,

BACK ON TRACK

When I retire in a few years' time I intend to build myself a model railway.  In the meantime, I wish to start on its design. Is there any software that would help me do this?

Mike Carter,

All of the programs suggest so far cost money, you might be interested in a freeware program called DSPRail that I found recently at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~dpssys/

Software/dpsrail.html
 
It's certainly quite usable, and excellent value at the price… It's a good idea to do frequent saves, as it occasionally aborts. There is little in the way of predefined track elements, I have set up a definition file for Peco 00 Streamline points. All sizing is in inches (decimals of and/or sixty-fourths), there is no support for Napoleonic measures. The printing function is quite good but doesn't always print very large radius curves.

Rodney Hills,

CAN YOU HELP?

I have recently taken over the fund-raising role in a large national charity.  How can I use Internet technology to improve our fund-raising efforts?
Kieran Dove,

I am a drama teacher in a secondary school and teach A and AS level Drama and Theatre Studies. I am aware of virtual lighting programs for stage design and lighting exercises but the only ones I've heard about are not suitable for PCs. Does anyone know of any software that can be used on a PC that would allow students to try out lighting designs for simple sets?

Gill Chesney-Green,

I have quite a large record collection consisting of popular and jazz music in CD and vinyl formats. I am looking for a program to organise this into a catalogue for easy identification and classification.
John Graydon