The best news for 2006 is that modifications to the Centre at Holder are almost complete and we are now in a position to resume training courses for members.  Thanks are due to John Saxon, Peter Reeves, and their willing band of volunteers who made this miracle happen.  We owe a special thank-you to Terry Spencer who has constructed for us a pair of large wall-mounted projection screens - one for each room.  Thanks Terry.  If you have not been to the Centre, drop in for a look - 10:00AM to 2:00PM everyday except on long weekends.

The Microsoft Unlimited Potential Commonwealth Games competition has now closed.  Thanks to those members who submitted entries - hopefully one of you may win a trip for yourself and a printer for the Centre.  We have now received software from Microsoft for installation on our training machines and should be able to offer courses using this software soon.

We hope soon to have a new agreement with TransACT whereby we get the commission for any new TransACT customers who sign up through us for either cable or ADSL services.  So, if you are thinking of connecting to TransACT or signing a new contract with them, talk to us.  And remember, TIP/PCUG is one of the TransACT partner ISPs and you do not have to go with their partly owned ISP no matter what their salesperson tells you.  Even without bundling offers, we can still offer a competitive service for most users.

One of the benefits of TIP is that our download limits, while expressed as a monthly figure, apply across the whole of your current subscription period.  For example, our low use broadband plan gives 400MB per month.  If you subscribe for a year, this actually gives you 4800MB which can be used when you please.  This is particularly useful if your usage fluctuates - with most ISPs you are penalised if you have a 400MB limit and use 200MB in one month and 600MB in the next.  With TIP, this is quite OK.  It also provides an incentive to subscribe for a longer period.

We are making slow progress with implementation of our 0198 "dial from anywhere for a local call" service.  We hope to complete this soon and will notify on the web site when this is operational.

At the February Monthly Meeting Andrew Miles of Microsoft gave a very informative and entertaining presentation on "Home PC Security in a Windows XP environment".  The principles shown in this were still very relevant for users of systems other than XP.  A PDF of his slides and transcript of his talk are available from the PCUG website - well worth a read.  We have some interesting monthly meetings coming up and all members should consider attending.  Lucky members at the February meeting won copies of Office 2003, Windows XP Home, and other goodies from Microsoft.  We cannot always have prizes of that calibre. But will always have some lucky door prize for members..

Allan Mikkelsen