MEMBERS at the January meeting had two interesting presentations, which were very well received. The first was by Brenda Allan on Computers in Tanzania. Brenda recently retired after 20 years of IT Teaching and became involved in the links between Bromyard and Tanzania which forms part of the Herefordshire/Tanzania scheme. Over the past three years she has organised the collection and delivery of second hand computers to schools in Tanzania and has arranged training for teachers and students. Brenda's great need is for computers to go out to Tanzania. Nothing earlier than Pentiums - the later the better. Software licences, particularly Office97 and Windows 95/98 would be welcome as would formatted floppy disks, laser printers, network cables. Also: books and manuals suitable for teenagers and teachers. Non-computer requirements are, for instance, medical equipment. Last year a doctor retiring from practise donated all his medical equipment and books. The second presentation was by Steve Read of Secure Inventories based in Kington. The story started in 1997 when Mr Read's house on the Welsh coast was flooded when a sea wall was breached. Massive damage resulted. And afterwards there was the problem of listing all losses and settling the insurance claim. This took nearly six months. John thought, "There must be a better way". This was how Secure Inventories were born. The system works as follows. You buy the Secure Inventories software and get a database to fill in. This is broken down into rooms and lists of every imaginable type of product that might be found in a house . Typically the main product heading, say cameras, is broken down into a large number of types. Clicking on the appropriate product brings a list of 20 suggested prices. You pick the price applicable. You go on room-by-room listing everything in this way. Bit of a chore but it only has to be done once. A nice little variant is that if you are travelling you can treat your suitcases as 'rooms' and have available a list if your luggage goes missing. Having entered all the data this is uploaded to Secure Inventories who hold it in encrypted, compressed form. No name and address appears on this file. Values can be updated automatically using 15 different indices. A development in the pipeline is the attachment of digital photographs: useful for the police. Changes to the inventory can be made at any time at no charge. Analysis by room, type of item, and value of item can be produced if needed. The main use of the inventory is for insurance purposes after fire, theft and flood. Full details to support a claim can be available on demand. The inventory also shows the value for which you should insure and avoids under insurance and the Insurers paying out only a proportion. Most homes are probably under insured. In some cases the valuation might be useful where it is necessary to achieve an equitable distribution of household contents. For full details go to www.secureinventories.com Both speakers were thanked by the chairman and it was obvious from the questions asked that a keen interest had been generated. Details of the Hereford Computer Club can be obtained from Graham on 01885 482277 - email graham@g-perkins.freeserve.co.uk