OVER 2 YOU, 099 (24/09/02)

CAPITAL GAINS TAX CALCULATOR

I'm looking for some software that does CGT calculations for multiple sales/purchases of the same shares. It should be a purely mathematical calculation but it can be rather complex - it could even be a spreadsheet application. Any ideas?
Bryan Peak, via email

Your correspondent should contact Meridian Software's site: www.meridian-software.co.uk re their "Investor 3" program. Years ago I constructed my own program, but it was tedious every year having to revise the annual index figures, and then came the taper problem! This program was the first to do both the old indexing system for shares bought years ago, and also taper calculations. It will do portfolio updating, analysis, dividend recording etc. The printout of the results is very detailed and acceptable to the Revenue for CGT purposes.

Len Dowsett

I have used Updata's Fairshares Portfolio Professional (http://www.updata.co.uk/portfoliopro/) for many years for this purpose. It's not cheap but it does provide a complete investment accounting package and is updated each year with the current CGT rules. It copes with capital changes, purchases and sales in the same share, realised gains for the year to date and it will also provide details of the dividends for income tax purposes. If you subscribe to the pricing service you also get the ability to produce daily valuations, stock charts and a range (technical) of stock selection tools.

Ken Spry

I use Sharescope (http://www.ionic.co.uk/). This is not software but a service by subscription. The CGT calculations are excellent and the printout is accepted by the Inland Revenue with no problems at all.
Jo Withey

NORTHER IRELAND MAP

I wonder if anyone knows of a computer map of Northern Ireland showing the latitude and longitude of railway stations etc. I’m also looking for a web site that lists towns and villages in the UK with their population, it would be helpful to have a search facility for say find all towns/villages above 2,500 people.

Geoff Endacott, via e-mail

Microsoft's Auto Route Europe should fill the bill. It gives grid references as well as latitude and longitude, and lists various places of interest. Its Search the Web facility provides further information about a particular place.
Kevin Heneghan

ALBUM COVERS

I am in the process of collating my record collection onto a database but not having a scanner can't include pictures of the album/CD/tape sleeve/inlay card. Does anyone know of a site where I can download sleeve pictures that I can then import into my database?

Steve Elliot, via email

The web site at http://www.cdcovers.cc provides a repository for album covers, amongst other items. The site is free, and users are encouraged to upload any covers that they have. Covers are grouped alphabetically, or there is a search facility, and often the normal front cover is accompanied by the back cover, inlay cards and sometimes the disc label itself.
Bill Young

Have a look at www.mega-search.net, which gives other sites able to offer the same service.

Nigel DJ, via amail

Windows Media Player 8 has a feature that can be useful for this task but you need to be connected to the Internet in order to use it. Play a CD in the normal way and go to the toolbar View/Visualizations/Album Art and it will display the album cover of the CD currently being played. Although it will not let you save the album cover as a JPEG file directly from Media Player, if you were to double click the album cover you are redirected to a WindowsMedia website (which offers the option to buy the album) that not only displays the CD being played but lists other titles by the same artist or band which can be saved by right clicking and choosing the Save Picture As option.

Ashley Ponter

Steve should have a look at: www.KaZaa.com, type "sleeve" or "cover" in the search box.
David Wall

It’s simple. Go to www.amazon.com, search under 'popular music' for your CD title, click on the 'see larger picture' link, and there you are. It works for DVD's too.
Peter Barwich

The easy way is to buy a scanner - for less than £100 he could get something suitable and he might find other uses for it, such as cataloguing family photographs. However, downloading the sleeve images from the Internet is also easy - just right click over the image and select 'save picture as'.  It will copy to the PC.  If the option is greyed out, the image is protected by the web site. 

Finding the right image might be more of a problem, particularly if they are old records.  Most of the online stores with music sections have sleeve images that can be saved.  Good use of a search engine such as Google.co.uk will make it easier to find sites selling records, or a site dedicated to a band.
Oozat

Steve Elliot should check out some of the discography sites. CDNOW (http://www.cdnow.com) provides full track listings for many albums, old and new, with details of original the original production. These are usually accompanied by a thumbnail picture.
Lawrie Martin

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

Hotmail has built-in Spam filtration, which is powerful and configurable.

You can use generic filters, the strongest of which (exclusive) only permits receipt of e-mails from your listed contacts. Blocked sender is also an option - I would suggest starting with *@*.cn , *@*.ro and *@*.ru to block all e-mail from China, Russia and Romania (unless you have a pen-friend or business there of course! - though these can be added to an 'allowed list'. These facilities are available within Hotmail under the 'Options' tag, and are a standard feature.

William Saywell

The best solution is to open an account with Netscape Webmail. I have and receive no Spam at all, ever, as well as enjoying the ability to send attachments three times bigger than with hotmail. To do this go to www.netscape.com and follow the links to 'mail', where you
can sign up.
Simon O'Riordan

DISC IDEAS

I’ve made bird scarers with them, ‘papered’ the kids bedroom ceiling and even used a few for airgun practice (satisfying but messy…) but I’m still left with scores of freebie Internet signup CDs. Has anyone come up with a sensible use for the cursed things yet?

Geoff Belling, via email

Some time ago someone wondered what to do with them at:
http://www.makingfriends.com/cd_discoball.htm. There you will find instructions to make a disco-ball, handy if you've got some teenagers of your own, or, if not, a decoration to hang on the Christmas tree.

Also have a look at: http://www.makingfriends.com/readers_cds.htm
where you will find forty different ideas on what to do with the
blighters!  I'm just waiting for the next AOL mailshot...
Jane Berry

VALVE RADIOS

Does anyone know where I might obtain plans to build a ‘valve’ amplifier or radio, and also a source of valves? I remember building one as a young lad and I’m sure I would enjoy reviving the memory.

Peter Knowles, via email

You might want to check out http://www.vacuumtube.com/.   They publish a magazine called "Vacuum Tube Valley", dedicated to ‘hollow-state’ devices and their uses.
Steven Sidman

Valves can be obtained from Colomor Electronics, www.colomor.demon.co.uk. Practical Wireless, obtainable from most newsagents, is also a good source of advertisements and articles. For those interested in the historical aspects of radio ‘Radio Bygones’ is a must-read. It covers domestic, military, amateur and professional developments since the year dot. For more details see: www.radiobygones.co.uk

Gerald Stancey, Rutland

For information regarding suppliers of valve radios and amplifiers the follow company may be helpful: C. M. Howes Communications, Eydon, Daventry, Northants NN1 6PT, http://www.howes-comms.demon.co.uk/

G. F. Beasley, Okehampton, Devon

CAN YOU HELP

I work as a nurse 4 days on, 4 days off. I would like to be able to see at a glance, which days I will be working in 12 months time for example. Is there a program available which would do this?

Helen Lundy, via email

I use the contacts section of Outlook 2000 to keep the membership records of a club with nearly 1000 members. The forms have been customised with fields to record the various subscriptions paid. These have been formatted to currency so that they display a leading £ sign. However, when I print the form from the "All Fields" page only the numeric value of these fields is printed. How can I make the print include the £ sign?
Brian Rees, Sidmouth, Devon

I am a dreadful speller. Often spell-checkers cannot interpret my attempts to pitiful attempts to phonetically spell words. Is there a web-based-spell checker that can do this? (I have been looking for the correct spelling of "bizzerk" for an hour!)

Dave Null, via email