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 Plus with Win*Search

Win*Search is the research module that was added to Matrix Software's Win*Star program last summer. It's certainly a handy tool for analyzing groups of charts in many different ways. Win*Search uses an AND/OR system (Boolean) which means that you can string together a search that says, "Give me all the charts that have Mars in Capricorn OR in the 10th house AND Venus in Leo OR the 5th house." This allows considerable precision in searching for specific chart elements.

But, aside from the powerful research functioning, Win*Search allows you to export Win*Star databases in a text format. What good is that? I'm using it to help stay in touch with my clients.

Here's how:

I send birthday cards to my clients each month. My clients are in a database that I created for them in Win*Star, called "Clients." I then created a new Win*Star database called "Birthday." In the Client database I clicked on Sort and selected Birthday. This put the charts in birthday order (by month and day) so I could easily find all those born in the same month to send the cards. I selected those by clicking next to the last name at the extreme left of the database screen. Just move your mouse until a check mark appears, then click. The record (name, birth data, etc.) will then darken, indicating that it has been selected. After doing this for all the birthdays of the month in question, go to Edit, select Copy to DB...and choose the "Birthday" database from the list. You'll then have a database with only the charts that you want that you can then open in Win*Search. Click on File and select Exports Charts from Database... An Export Chart Data screen will come up. You can pick the fields (columns) that you want included. Then click Begin and a file called Export.txt will be put in the Winstar directory. (You can call it any name and send it anywhere on your computer, or floppy, etc.) This txt, or text, file can be opened in Notepad, Write or any word processor. You can print your birthday (or any other) list or you can import this into any database program. I put it in my MSWorks database of clients where I was able to select just the birthday clients and print labels for them.

This whole procedure sounds more complicated than it is. If you play with it a couple of times, you'll understand its logic and be able to use your Win*Star Plus to help you build your astrology practice.