Our meeting was held on July 7. I brought a disk from work containing a project that uses Excel as a quasi-database. I am generating export shipping documentation with this "database." There are five to seven Sheets set up as forms within one Excel workbook. These forms have cells linked to Sheet 1, which is the "master database." If anyone is an intermediate-advanced Excel user, do you know if there is a better way to set this up? I thought MS Access might be the way to go, although I talked with a friend who recently graduated from Chico State and says Access is "old" technology (along with Visual Basic). The newest technology in database development is supposed to be something from Oracle (I don't recall the name). Anyway, if you can help me out with this project, please contact me at brower@jps.net.

   We also defragged my PC, which we use for the meetings. It took a lot longer than anyone anticipated. Thanks for everyone's patience! I had never de-fragged my PC before (purchased in Dec 97). I am pleased to report the computer seems to start up and open programs faster, thanks to the de-frag (or is it my imagination :). It is recommended that you de-frag every one to two months!
   Check back for the August meeting report, when we review several tips from the July and August issues of PC World.
   
   
   

—Tony Brower

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