Re: file comparisons; viruses

[Patricia M Godfrey pmgodfrey@xxxxxxxx]

Bill, I deeply sympathize. As a copy editor, I often need to handle this
kind of thing (I edit something, raise queries, and the author sends me a
brand-new "revised" version, with no indications of what's new and what's
not). Would this work? Take the file with the PN codes, and use XyWrite's
search and replace to remove them (could probably create a macro to do
it); save the file under another name, and then FC that with your
maniacal co-author's version. You'd have to remember to put all
corrections in the version with the codes, but possibly you could redline
them in that and then either cut and paste or print it out and then work
from hard copy to screen. I find it outrageous that after nearly 20 years
of PCs we still do not have competent tools to handle this kind of thing.
(And have you ever tried to use redlining to track the kind of
corrections copy editors make--things like changing upper- to lowercase
or roman to ital, or just transposing a word or a phrase? It comes out
utterly illegible.)
	As for plain ASCII readers to check for viruses, a Dutch guy, Jan
Goyvaerts, has written a nice one called EditPad
(http://www.editpadpro.com). You can get the classic version by just
sending him a pretty postcard. Or a more advanced version for a small
registration fee.
Patricia