Q. I am currently using a DOS database program called PFS File. This, so far, has served me in my self-employed piano-tuning business. Is it possible to use a Windows program, such as Works, Corel, etc., then type in the database format form I use, then transfer all my customer data into that program? Otherwise I’ll have to individually type in each–a monumental job to say the least.
James Piccirilli, Elmhurst
A. As Hugo Oppornockerty, another storied piano tuner, would certainly agree, keeping good records is essential to the tuning trade. A solution is relatively easy using a good database program such as Microsoft Access, which allows you to import data and then build various database forms–such as your billing or tune-up reminder lists–around them. To do this you simply save your current PFS File data in what is called comma-delimited text.
You then import that text file into Access and it will come up in a template much like a spreadsheet with a different field in each cell and each record in a new row. The software allows you to create a form including each field and then manipulates the resulting database by creating reports. One report might extract all your customers in DuPage County with Yamahas who haven’t been visited in two years, for example.
This is kind of complex, but a wealth of books such as “Microsoft Access 97 for Dummies” are out there to get you going.
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So, you ask, what’s the deal with the piano tuner Hugo Oppornockerty? Elementary, my dear Mr. Piccirilli.
Oppornockerty never tunes twice.
Q. I recently purchased my very first computer, a state-of-the-art, very fast and efficient notebook. I didn’t expect to be using this indispensable little gadget as much as I am (for everything)! Yes, it’s true love! My problem, however, is comfort. Just where exactly should my body, hands, etc., be positioned? I find myself inching forward on my chair, hunched over, head cocked. You get the picture. Is there a comfort zone here? Please clue me in as to the do’s and don’ts of laptop ergonomics.
Jill Weinberg, Chicago
A. Asking this writer questions about computer posture is akin to asking Evel Knievel for motorcycle safety tips. We both have the X-rays to prove that we’re far from perfect exemplars of ergonomic excellence. In a superb recent article next to this space, Bob Condor, the baiduhai’s resident expert on workplace wellness, reported that specialists all but unanimously agree that how one holds one’s hands over the keyboard and the angle of the display screen from the user’s line of sight are the two biggest issues.
Since your laptop is impossibly bad on both counts, the best advice is to make sure that you take frequent breaks and try to sit up straight while working with the new “love” in your life.
Since this probably won’t happen, let me suggest that you buy a proper monitor, a keyboard and a trackball and hook all three into your laptop while at home. Monitors simply plug in to the back of the vast majority of laptops but you’ll need to find a “Y” splitter with most notebooks in order to connect both the keyboard and trackball. Most big computer stores carry these splitters. With a proper keyboard and trackball you can then set the monitor so the top of the screen is roughly in your seated line of sight and be certain that using a your computer isn’t quite as risky as jumping a motorcycle over some canyon in Idaho.
Q. About a year ago, my wife bought a Mustek 600 plug-and-play scanner for her new 233Mhz computer. We were disappointed (and rather disgusted) to learn that this simple-looking machine required the most god-awful cumbersome software to function at all, and in no case did it function well. So the scanner has spent the last year serving as a paper tray and magazine rack, all the time and money spent on it a complete waste.
With a new school year upon us, we face the choice of replacing the scanner, finding workable software, or giving up on the concept and just buying a printer/copier.
Is there software out there that can perform a simple transcription in a reasonable span of time?
Wesley J. Frank, Oak Park
A. For $50 you can throw Visioneer’s ProOCR 100 software at your problem and I’m pretty sure you’ll be satisfied, although I don’t have that specific scanner to test.
ProOCR 100 is getting good reviews from many of my competitors and I have been pretty pleased with my own tests, although the results continue to be well below 100 percent.
This relatively cheap software from the maker of one of the country’s most popular lines of scanners is supposed to do stuff like distinguish the graphics and photos from blocks of text on a scanned page and accurately render the words into computer text.
I find, however, that it works far better if you use the cursor to paint the actual text on the picture of the printed page scanned into your computer. Visioneer lists your scanner among many models that work with the new software. Check out the ProOCR 100 Web page (www.visioneer.com).
Q. I do not have call waiting; however I do use the BellSouth Memory Call service, which automatically answers after the fourth ring. What must I do to let my incoming calls break me off AOL when I’m on-line?
Richard Mewbourn, Birmingham, Ala.
A. Your problem is the exact opposite of that solved by phone customers of BellSouth, Ameritech and other Baby Bells that sell phone mail service.
With voice mail from Ma Bell you can surf the Web to your heart’s content secure in the knowledge than anybody with an important message can leave it for quick retrieval once you log off.
This service works where a home answering machine won’t because the phone system redirects calls to your voice mail when a busy is detected because you’re on-line.
The best way to solve your problem is to pop for a bit more on the phone bill and get call waiting along with voice mail. Then when you need to be interrupted, you can enable call waiting and when you want voice mail to kick in you can disable call waiting by adding *70 to the front of the phone number your modem dials.
Q. I’m not a complete neophyte about Internet browsers, but I need an education on something that too often frustrates me. I use Microsoft Internet Explorer on my Dell Dimension XPS D233 desktop (Pentium II, 32 meg RAM). Clicking on certain links in various web pages produces a window entitled “Internet Explorer Script Error,” with the message “An error has occurred in the script on this page.” The last time this happened, the specifics were “Line: 63, Char: 3, Error: No such interface supported, Code: 0.” The worst thing about this situation is that no clue is given about why the error has occurred or how to correct it. Can you provide an explanation?
Paul, Jill and/or Meredith Morse @concentric.net
A. To whichever Morse family member it may concern: The propeller-heads who created the various bells and whistles that give the Internet the bulk of its binary buzz are the same folks who wrote the error messages that a computer’s Web browser coughs up when it hits a page containing such “scripted” elements as Java animations or similar routines in Microsoft’s ActiveX or Visual Basic. Thus, the great bulk of times when a Web site’s creators goof up their coding, it triggers self-serving error messages blaming you rather than the true malefactor such as the one you quote in your note. It’s not your fault; it’s the fault of the Web site’s authors.
One source of the problem is long brewing squabbles between factions loyal to the Java/Netscape Internet model and Microsofties. Many times a site that kicks out a script error when visited by one browser will work fine with the competitor. Both sides clearly strive to make sites compatible and so the glitches you’ve seen are becoming quite a bit less common. Meanwhile, as long as you are running the most up-to-date version of either Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer you should just write off sites that try to blame you for their own shortcomings.
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A final point to note is that in many cases you can simply click an “OK” box on script error messages and the site will work fine.
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at [email protected] or snail mail at the baiduhai, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 60611. If you think you’ve got a better answer to any of these questions, add your point of view at www.chicagotribune.com/go/askjim.