Thursday, September 24, 2015

Class Summary 9-24-2015

Class was held remotely with help from Donna at the club office. Had a number of people at the club and one sign in online, plus me,

http://www.easeus.com/pc-transfer/
Program to allow transfer of programs from old computer to new one

http://inkpadnotepad.com
Great note taking software -- Android App, iPhone App, and PC App. Type a note on your computer and you can view and edit it on your PC. Take a note on your smartphone and you can view and edit it on your PC. Free with ads for some many syncs a day.

One of the members talked about the app called Notes she uses on her cell phone to make her shopping list. Another one we have looked at before is Google Keep. It does a lot more than lists.

A good question on how to change the browser default page. When your browser opens (IE, Chrome, FireFox, etc) it open one or more tabs based on how you set it up. To change the websites that open in IE you go to settings and internet options. You will see a box with the current default(s). Change or add as many as you want, then apply the changes. Similar in Chrome; click the gear in the upper right and then settings. Easy way to make the change is to open the tabs in your browser that you want to use as the defaults first. Then go to settings and choose Use Current and apply it. Close the browser and then reopen it to see all those pages open.

Alt+Tab to pop up a snapshot view of open programs on the desktop. Keep Alt down and use Tab to scroll through them, Stop on the one you want to access and release both keys.

If you have a wireless printer that seems to drop off your network once in awhile, turn off the printer, wait a minute, then turn it back on. Your router will reissue an IP address to it and you should be up and running once again. Might be happening because the power goes out.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Class Summary 9-17-2015

We talked a little about Windows 10 and I showed the Start Menu as well as the Start Menu with Classic Shell. That addon works with Windows 7-10. I like it. I have the best of both worlds -- an interface I am comfortable with along with faster Window 10 and its new feature. And I can easily get right to the new Start Menu by pressing Shift+Windows. You can download it at:
http://Classicshell.net 

I brought in my Android smartphone from MEtroPCS. I showed how easy it is to turn your smartphone into a WiFi Hotspot. I turned off my WiFi access to Not Found and instead used the hotspot from my cell phone carrier and the difference in speed was not much. So when you are away from a secure WiFi connection and need access on your laptop just turn your cell phone into a hotspot and use it. It does use your data plan. Mine is unlimited everything for $30 a month no contract.

http://livestream.com lets you broadcast live from anywhere so others can share your experience as it is happening. Great for meetings, training sessions, church services, etc. And it is free. They also make the session available for 30 days after the event.
http://halmarkecard.com is a free service to create greeting cards on line and share them with your email or social networks.

We looked at a new picture resizer program at http://tinyurl.com/ko82tel thanks to one of the class members. You install it on your PC and can resize one or a group of pictures easily. What I have been using is Prish Resizer and the one feature it has that this new one does not is the ability to resize into a new folder called resized. You can download it at:
http://download.cnet.com/Prish-Image-Resizer/3000-2192_4-75180364.html


Then we talked about getting pictures off a cell phone. All you need to do is plug your cell phone into your PC with its charging cable. It is connected as an external drive like a USB flash drive. The folder DCIM holds your pictures. You can then drag them over to your PC. YOu can even delete them from your phone while you are looking at the files. Make sure you really did copy them because once you take them off the phone they are gone from that device.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Class Summary 9-10-2015

We began with both online and in house participants. It was a good interaction with all. The hangouts connection was a lot easier to establish than the one to the TV set. Next time I will bring a computer that has an HDMI port.

Started off with a demonstration of the new feature in Google Docs that allows you to speak into a document instead of typing. Very cool. Oh, you need to be in Chrome. Here is an article on it:
https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/213506-google-docs-voice-typing-lets-you-speak-instead-of-type

There were some questions about how Ninite works. When we open ninite.com we are presented with a list of program to select from. We check the ones we want and click the Get Installer button. That does not download any of the programs we checked, it downloads a tiny program to our computer with a list of the programs we checked. When we run that installer program it looks over each program selected to see if we have it already installed on your computer. If not, it downloads it and installs it. If we already have the program it compares the version on our computer to the available one. If the one we have is already the latest, it does nothing with that program. If the one we have is older, the latest is downloaded and installed for us. Next time you want to check to see if you have the latest updates you do not have to go to ninite and start over. If you still have the installer program on your computer, just double-click it.

One of the members had a libreoffice question. Each program that creates a file adds an extension onto the file name. Word adds .doc or .docx depending on the version of MS Office you are using. libreoffice writer add .odt. The extension tells Windows what program created the file and when you double-click the file Windows opens the file in the program that created it. Renaming the file to give it a different extension will force Windows to open in a different program. However, you will not be able to work with the file even if it opens. You see, every program creates different files. It compresses the files into a smaller size and only the creation program can deliver the data to present it in a form you can understand. If you want to send a file to someone else be careful what format it is in. If they have MS Word, send it as a .doc file. If you do not know what they have, send it as an .rtf file. If you only want them to be able to read the file, send it as a .pdf. How do you do that, you ask. Instead of just saving the file, save as. Save as gives you the option of choosing the format of the file so even if you are in libreoffice you can save it in a MS Word format, a PDF, or a number of other formats.

We had a discussion about editing a PDF. MS Word 2013 will read and allow you to make changes to a PDF. In experimenting with libreoffice we found out that it also will read a PDF and allow you to edit it.

We demonstrated using the Snipping Tool that is in Windows 7-10. Also showed using the print screen button. When you press print screen nothing appears to happen. What you cannot see is that what is on the screen has been copied to the Windows clipboard. It is available to paste into whatever you need. Paste it to Paint and save it as an image file. Paste it into a Word document and save it as a document or a PDF.

One member pointed out that there is a great app in Windows 10 called Get Started that will guide you through many of the ins and outs of the new OS.

I recommend with Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 that you bring up ClassicShell.net and download and install it. Then when you click Start you see the start menu from a previous version of Windows instead of the new boxes. To get to the new start screen (8) or start menu (10) simply hold the shift key down and press the Windows key. It is the best of both worlds.

Ever call tech support and end up talking to someone from another country? I am sure you have. Just demand that you be transfered to someone in the USA. They have to transfer you. One of our members shared her experience having to do just that. She persevered and was finally sent to a USA person and had her problem resolved in minutes.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Class Summary 9-3-2015

These things annoy me in Windows 10
http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/20/these-things-annoy-me-in-windows-10/?_m=3n%2e0038%2e1707%2eey0ao07fsm%2e1rw5

We talked about some of the items in this article and I mentioned a couple of keyboard shortcuts I like to use:

Win + Pause opens the system control window

Shift + ctrl + Esc opens the task manager or you can right-click the taskbar and select task manager

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate&hl=en
Google Translate will convert your text or web page content to of up to 90 different languages and the Android app does even more:

* Type to translate 90 languages
* Use your camera to translate text instantly in 26 languages
* Two-way automatic speech translation in 40 languages

Skype charging for phone calls? No; here is the info I found:
Skype-to-Skype calls are still very free. If you are asked to buy credit, then this means that you are not calling a Skype client but a phone number. Calling phones requires subscription or credit.

Fax it Nice seems to be charging for faxes now, but we found this site where you can send 1 page anywhere in America for free.
http://www.faxitforfree.com/

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/30/how-to-clean-install-windows-10-directly-without-upgrade/?_m=3n%2e0038%2e1715%2eey0ao07fsm%2e1s6f
Clean install of Windows 10 and avoid bringing all your junk to the new OS.

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/29/the-best-way-to-clone-a-hard-drive-least-time-consuming-error-prone/?_m=3n%2e0038%2e1715%2eey0ao07fsm%2e1s6k
This a good article on “Cloning a Hard Drive”

http://www.internetlivestats.com/
Did you know over 3 billion people are on the Internet? This site posts live internet statistics

http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/28/microsoft-releases-snip-editor-a-screen-capture-tool/?_m=3n%2e0038%2e1714%2eey0ao07fsm%2e1s59
Snip is an upgraded Snipping Tool, but does not have as many options as MWsnap or Greenshot

http://www.ghacks.net/overview-best-screenshot-software/
This article descibes the authors list of the best screenshot software

https://davescomputertips.com/find-your-email-passwords-with-mailpassview/?utm_source=wysija&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Weekly+Recap+Newsletter
Interesting article on recovering lost email passwords