OVER 2 YOU, 098 (17/09/02)

SCRAM SPAM

I have a Hotmail address, which receives between 30 and 40 vulgar Spam messages every day. I have no PC and can only use cyber cafés; can anyone suggest how I could reduce the Spam? Are the other web email companies any better?  I can’t seem to find any anti Spam programs that I can load on to a computer that I do not own.

M.K, via email

Why use Hotmail? There are other web-based free e-mail services, such as www.fsmail.net and www.any-mail.co.uk and I am sure many more. I too had junk galore in Hotmail, but I have so far had none in either of these two.

If you do stick with Hotmail one solution is as follows:

Click on Options>Junk mail filter> set it to 'exclusive'

Then back to Options>Junk mail deletion> choose immediate

The effect of this is that all mail other than from people in your contacts or safe lists will be deleted before you get it. Of course you have to remember to add anyone from whom you want to receive mail to your contacts/safe list, which is easier said than done.

Peter Brown

I had similar trouble with Hotmail for several months and although I asked them for help on several occasions nothing was done about it. They just used to apologise! I then changed my address to yahoo.co.uk and I have had no trouble with Spam, vulgar or otherwise.

Cynthia Savory, via email

Trying to get rid of Spam --we all are -- this must be the best bit of Freeware since WinZip: http://www.mailwasher.net. It is absolutely brilliant.
Jonathan Hall

To fight Spam the best thing anyone can do is close down their Hotmail account and look elsewhere. BT Click at www.btclick.co.uk offer a free dial-up service which also includes an email account that can be checked through their own webmail service. It is best to move provider rather than try to filter Spam with a software package, if you stay with the provider they will never see that there is a problem. Show them by moving; make them do something because without the customers mail providers such as Hotmail will not be able to sell mailing lists!
Ryan Simmons, Oxford

PHOTO CATALOGUE

I have been bequeathed thousands of family photographic slides to be catalogued, which I would like to transfer to an electronic medium.  The majority of the slides are mounted in the traditional Kodak card mounts.  What would be the best mechanism or hardware/software/storage medium to catalogue and access these images?

Jef Barrett, via email

I am successfully using a Prime Film 1800u dedicated slide/negative scanner that I bought here in the States but I found was also available in the UK at Jessops for a similar price. I have added details to my own web site at: http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/russ/

slidescanner.htm

John Fowles

The Jenoptik Jenscan 21 can scan negatives in Kodak card mounts 4 at a time with a true resolution of 2400 pixels per inch allowing enlargement to A5. It connects to a PC by USB or more slowly by printer port, and costs around £300. Scan software is included but photo edit and catalogue software is desirable, I use PhotoImpact SE, which came free with a computer magazine.

Timothy Marwood

I use a CanoScan 2719 to scan slides in batches of 25 as .tiffs at the highest definition, Photoshop for any 'tweaks' and its 'automate' function to print a sheet of thumbnails and then burn them on to a CD ROM, which they fill nicely. I too have a huge collection of slides, and when I have finished scanning them in, I have the monochrome ones  (Will I ever finish them as I'm 68?) I use a program called 'Gallery' to batch convert the .tiffs to jpg and thumbnails for my internal website (which also contains genealogical material and details of holidays over the years etc.) created on 'Front Page', each slide has a separate page with description and links to the next or similar slides. The sad thing is that this is probably the last time the slides will be seen.

Mike Cotton

Garbage in, garbage out so as the process is time consuming, (I have scanned 4000 negatives and slides into my database) it is worth scanning at the highest quality you can afford. The Nikon Coolscan 'cleans' the image of scratches before it files it, and produces images from negatives far superior to a 3-megapixel camera. Pay the money and take your time!
Roger Johnson

Useful slideshow software with the ability to add text captions to each image can be found at www.DigitalPhotoSlideShow.com. This is an inexpensive and versatile integrated package.

David G. French

To store large quantities of images use the 700MB rewritable CDs. To collect the images from slides I use the Hewlett Packard HP Scanjet 5470c, which has the special holder for negatives and slides. This takes three slides at a time, cardboard frames are no problem, but for good cataloguing you need to separate the images as you scan. This separation adds to the time and you might manage 50 or 60 an hour into a folder in 'My Pictures' once you are adept, boredom is the biggest problem!  I have found I can get 80 mixed images, text captions, colour images and B/W images on to a 700 MB disc, the last 80 came to 673 MB.

When saving the images to 'My Pictures' you must give each a File Name, if you use an alphanumeric they will appear in the folder in that order. An image-handling suite such as MGI Photosuite will allow you to recall each image and adjust for size, blemish removal etc and captioning. There is a buzz from having tidied up a complete folder of 80 images and burnt it onto a CD. Then comes the next one!

John Stanley

I use Film Scan 35 by Microtek to transfer my slides. I find it excellent and very easy to use. The Photos are scanned in as Bitmaps but I then change them to Jpeg as it uses less space. Normal Photo programs seem fine.

Roy Plumridge

ACCESS ANSWER

Before I retired in 1992 every day I used a software package called Open Access IV from Software Products International. When I created a report in their database I could create group headers by inputting the following type of instruction:

matches  <2|'Members who cannot qualify'    

matches=2|'Members who have qualified'   

These instructions could be superimposed over one another so that the text was printed in the same position before each group. How do I do the same thing in Microsoft 2000 Access database? I have tried all ways but nothing seems to work!

Robert Morris

Add a calculated column to your record-source query and insert the formula:
’QUALIFIED:iiF ([matches]=2,"QUALIFIED","CANNOT QUALIFY")’

You can run the query to test the results. In your report, select View/"Sorting and Grouping" and add the Qualified field as the first Group field. Change the settings for "Group Header" to "Yes" and "Keep Together" to "With first detail". Insert the "Qualified" field into the Qualified header section.

When you run the report the Qualified will be listed separately to the others with the appropriate heading.  If some records have matches >2, and you wish to group these as well, you will have to insert a nested iif function (note the 2 i's) into the formula. Of course you can exclude them from the report by inserting <=2 in the criteria of "matches" in your query. Access problems can be posted on the excellent www.p2p.wrox.com site where programmers help each other.

Alan Hawkins, via email

MODEL DESIGN

Since retiring I have taken up the Internet, model aircraft and model boats. Can anyone recommend a CAD program for general drawings and any specialist design programs for model aircraft and boats?

Dale Broad, via email

Dale might try looking at ‘Alan's Hobby Web Site’ http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~atong/. This lists a tremendous amount of links on modelling. Plans section lists various sites offering free or cost plans usually in DXF format which above programs can access.  After download these plans can then be modified to suit own use or as basis of new plans etc. There are also sites for aerofoil sections and drawing routines to go with them.
John Laird

BROADBAND FAX

Is there an application for computer-based fax for Broadband Internet? I used to have a good one but it only works on a dial-up connection.

Steve Jones, Yarm

Have a look at www.tpc.int, which allows an individual to send faxes via e-mail.  The e-mail is sent to a special address, e.g.

remote-print.Fred_Smith@442012345678.iddd.tpc.int
and is automatically turned into a fax and delivered it to, in this
instance, the fax number + 44 (0)20 1234 5678.  This is a free service,but the cover page of the resulting fax does carry an advert. Also for receiving faxes, he could look at www.efax.com, which is similar to www.yac.com
Andrew W. Young 

CAN YOU HELP?

I work for a charity, which helps young disadvantaged people to set up and run their own small businesses. Many of our clients - mostly sole traders would like to use their computers to help them with their accounts and book-keeping. However, usually we find that the well-known commercial packages are not only more complex than they need but also often difficult
to set up and learn to use. At the other end of the scale, clients need something a little more structured than a basic spreadsheet. Can anyone recommend any alternative packages - perhaps designed specifically with very small businesses in mind - which combine business functionality with simplicity and ease of use.
Vivian Dunn, via email

Following on from the recent fascinating discussion in Over 2 You about valve radios and amplifiers, some years ago I recall seeing mention of building a ‘mechanical’ Baird type television, and camera from readily obtainable bits and pieces. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Lesley Michael, via email

We are aiming to move house fairly soon and are finding it difficult to research the boundaries of catchment areas for different schools. Is there a website that outlines specific catchment areas? The info would have to include roads and even which side of the street can be important. Failing that, actual maps of parish boundaries would be a help. 

Michael Gregson, via email