Each issue of Astro*Talk will include tips on current astrology programs. If you've discovered any special tips or tricks to get the most out of your software please contact Jeff@thenewage.com. This month tips come from Jeff Jawer of Matrix Software:

Jeff Jawer, Matrix Software
Program:   Win*Star and Win*Star Plus

Searches - Win*Star's search capabilities are very powerful. To get the most out of them you can set up specific searches, save them and use them regularly. With Win*Star you can define up to six categories for a single search. For example, when doing a one-year forecast for a client, I'm interested in looking at transits for the slower moving planets. For Saturn through Pluto I want the basic five aspects (conjunction, sextile, square, trine and opposition), as well as the semi and sesquisquares. For Jupiter, though, I'm not interested in the semi and sesquisquares. In this case I select Transit to Natal with one set of planets and aspects for Saturn through Pluto, and another for Jupiter. For secondary progressions I'm interested in major aspects from Progressed to Natal for all the planets. For Progressed to Progressed I'm only interested in the Sun and Moon and their 8 phases (a la Rudhyar). So I set up these two different progressed searches. I'm also interested in Solar Arcs, but only SA planets to natal angles and SA angles to natal planets. I set up two different searches to cover these. I've saved this as my default One Year Search, so that every time I do a forecast I just put in the client's name and click on the 1 Year Search button, pick a starting date and I'm off. After a couple of seconds, when the results pop up, I've already selected the order in which I want the results displayed (sort) and their layout on the page. One click on Print and voila. I love this stuff!