Thursday, December 27, 2018

Class Notes 12/27/2018

I know we did not have class this week, but I have put together some notes from my readings and experimenting this week. So I thought I would get you up to speed and wish you a Happy and Safe New Year.

Windows 10 version 1809 rollout to speed upAs we talked last week, 1809 is working and we are putting it on the machines we are working on at the club. I have installed it without a hiccup on three of my machines at home as well. If you do not want it yet then do NOT click check for updates. More in this article:
https://tinyurl.com/y9ouoob7

Windows 10 password-less accounts in 1903This article is about things to come. We will be able to setup Windows 10 to not even require a password to get started. Details in this article
https://tinyurl.com/y74r5tn2

Sign in to a Windows 10 account automatically on startWe can do this manually by invoking netplwiz at the Run screen (Win + R). The next version of Windows 10 will have an easier approach to making this happen. This article details doing it now.
https://tinyurl.com/ybvprn93

How to Email a Text
Yes, we can send a text to someone right from our computer. Not Facebook messenger texting, phone texting. This article details how to send and receive texts on your computer
https://tinyurl.com/y8be84rp

How To Record Internet Audio
This article shows how to use a male-male cable to record in Audacity anything playing on your computer.
http://tinyurl.com/y8u3prqa

Google’s Chrome Canvas
Google has quietly released a progressive web app called Chrome Canvas that lets you make quick doodles that automatically save to your Google account. Go to “canvas.apps.chrome” in a Chrome browser on any computer, and pull up a basic drawing app without having to download any programs or apps. More in this article
https://tinyurl.com/ycog76t3



LiveTV Free
Check out http://pluto.tv for a channel listing. Get it on your Roku box or on your computer. There is a TV Channel Listing just like on Cable and On Demand movies… free...

How to Send and Receive Faxes Online
Most companies still want a fax rather than an email. I believe this has something to do with what the courts will accept as a legal document. This article details how to send and receive a Fax from your computer without having to have a fax machine or a printer that does fax.
http://tinyurl.com/yaftgul2

In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, tomshardware, TechConnect, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Class Summary 12-18-2018

Don't "check for updates" in Windows 10. If you select "check for updates", you may get pre-release updates that are none-security in nature, on stable versions of Windows. The only thing that you can do about it right now is to never-ever, click on "check for updates" in Windows.
http://tinyurl.com/ybd2n3wd

Brave Browser is another way to access the Internet. It claims to be faster the. Chrome. You might want to check it out. And a couple of interesting search engines, not browsers, are Dogpile and Duckduckgo.
http://tinyurl.com/ycva54kf

Surprise! Microsoft plans to make Microsoft 365 available to consumers. It looks like they are heading to a time when have to pay to use windows and office. Might be time to check out Linux Mint which is free. Find out more.abut it at www.linuxmint.com.

1809 Clipboard

On Windows 10 version 1809, you’re getting a new clipboard experience that leverages the Microsoft cloud to copy and paste content across devices.

The experience works just like before, using the Ctrl + C to copy and Ctrl + V to paste.

Windows key + V keyboard shortcut that allows you to see your clipboard history. In addition, the experience includes a button to clear all your history, or enable the feature if it’s currently disabled.

Using the new experience, you can also paste anything that is listed in the history, and you can pin items for things you paste all the time.

The new clipboard also brings a new settings page in the System section that allows you to customize many aspects of the experience.

1808 Display

A new section called Make text bigger, which now includes the controls to increase text size across the system including Microsoft Store apps and classic (win32) applications.

1898 Snip & Sketch

Windows 10 is introducing a new snipping experience that combines the old Snipping Tool with Screen Sketch (formerly part of the Windows Ink Workspace) into a single modern experience called “Snip & Sketch,” which uses the modern app design that we continue to see on Microsoft Store apps.

Using this new experience brings a few additional benefits, including a single experience to take screenshots. The app receives updates using the Microsoft Store. It’ll show up in Task View. You can set the window size to be your preferences, and it even supports multiple windows.

Some of the new features includes the ability to quickly snip and share a screenshot using the Win + Shift + S, which now brings the snipping toolbar with all the basic tools you need.

In the “Keyboard” settings page, you’ll see a new option that says “Use the Print Screen key to launch screen snipping,” enabling this option lets you bring up the new snipping tool pressing the Print Screen button.

Finally, Action Center gains a new Screen snip button that let you also get a quick access to the new snipping experience.

1809 Notepad

Notepad is getting an update to support Unix/Linux line endings (LF) and Macintosh line endings (CR). The find and replace dialog now includes a new option to do wrap around search. The note-taking app will now remember previously entered values and the state of checkboxes and automatically populate them the next time you open the find dialog.

Additionally, when you have text selected and open the find dialog Notepad now automatically populates the search field with the selected text.

Under the View menu, and new Zoom option has been added to zoom in and out on a text document. The current zoom level is now displayed in the status bar.

You can also use Ctrl + Plus, Ctrl + Minus and Ctrl + Mouse Wheel to zoom in and out and use Ctrl + 0 to restore the zoom level to the default.

In addition, Notepad now supports the ability to display line and column numbers when word-wrap is enabled in the new status bar, and you can use Ctrl + Backspace to delete the previous word you type.

If you need to research a word, you can now select the text, click Edit, and use the new “Search with the Bing” option (Ctrl + E) to research the word using Microsoft Edge.

To check which version of windows you have installed press Win + R, type Winver, press Enter. The latest is 1809. 1803 is ok. Just wait for 1809 to come down on its own. If your machine does not line up with the requirements for 1899 it will not be updated. Some issues with certain processors and video chips.

How to pin to taskbar. On the desktop right- click the icon you want to place on the taskbar. Select pin to taskbar. Or you can just drag the icon to the taskbar.

Move a picture to a flash drive. Locate the picture on the hard drive in File Explorer. Right-click the file name. Then select to move it to the name of the inserted flash drive.

Install HP printer on new machine. When you get a new PC the printer you had in the old one might not be recognized on the nee one. Open a browser and go to www.hp.com. Select support and then software. It will ask you for the name of the printer. Then download the installation software and run it.

Amazon Prime prints for 9 cents each. This makes it simple to send pictures to all your friends with free shipping think about.it. 100 pictures will call $9.00 and will be delivered in 2 days free.

Grammerly.com is an extension for Chrome that will check not only your spelling but grammar as well.

Build a rescue disk for your image backup whenever you upgrade to a new version of EaseUS or Macrium. The new rescue disk or USB flash drive will read the backups made with an older version as well.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Class Summary 12-11-2018

Edge will switch to Chromium. They are building a new browser that will be based on the open source Chromium browser. Ironic, isn’t it?
http://tinyurl.com/ybg5fyay

1809 is back once again. It is already rolling out to those who click “Check Update”. Some users will not be updated due to known errors with their particular hardware. Make sure you have a current image backup, just in case something goes wrong with the install on your computer.
http://tinyurl.com/yctp2j4w

Fix 100% Disk Usage & Improve Windows Performance. We spent most of the time on this one showing a number of ways to make Windows 10 a little quicker. And the first thing to do always is to make sure you are not running multiple antivirus programs. All you need is Defender which is included with Windows 10. And to run the latest version of the maintenance programs: CCleaner, SuperAntiSpyware, and MalwareBytes.
http://tinyurl.com/y9hhef69 article
http://tinyurl.com/yd92t92r youtube

A free Photoshop clone that runs in your browser. We took a quick look at this program. Looks very nice and I hope somebody tries it out so we can hear more about it. Thanks go out to Donna for sending us this.
http://tinyurl.com/ybnknr5e



Tablet Mode turns your desktop to look like you are on a tablet instead of a PC. So if your screen is filled with those startup icons instead of the usual, Click the notification icon to the right of the taskbar and click Tablet mode to turn it off--it should not be blue. Your desktop will resume.

OneDrive is a folder on your PC in Windows 10. To use it you must have a Microsoft account. Click on the OneDrive folder and if you are not signed in you will be asked for your credentials from Microsoft. If you do not have an account, you will be able to create one. Once you have an account you will have access to their cloud storage at onedrive.live.com. Then whatever you place in your OneDrive folder on your PC will be backed up to your OneDrive storage in their cloud. You are allocated 5GB with your account for free. If you need more space you can purchase an additional 50GB for $1.99/mo.

The Shift-Click method is a way to select a large group of items instead of dragging your mouse over all of them. This works anywhere you are able to select--web pages, documents, file manager, …

Select the first word or the first item in a list. Without touching the mouse, scroll down to the bottom of the entries you wish to select. Mouse to the end and hold the shift key down and click the left mouse button. All from the first to the last will now be selected.



Using the Task Manager, disable startup items to make your computer start quicker and to minimize the number of unnecessary programs in the background. To open it, right click on the task bar and choose Task Manager. Then click More Details and Startup to view the programs in startup. Disable all you do not to have start right away. OK to disable them all, but you might want OneDrive and Defender to start but not those checking for updates to various programs.

A Flash Player is an older method of animation that has caused issues. If you have a plugin or extension on your browser, it should be removed so as not to affect you. In Chrome mine is set to ask permission before allowing Flash to be used.

Print from a cell phone using an app from your printer company. Mine is HP and they have an app called HP Smart that connects my cell phone to the printers on the same WiFi network my printer is on. Yes, you need to have a wireless printer connected to your network and the phone needs to be on WiFi as well on the same network. You will see your printer(s). Select it and printing will occur.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Class Notes 11-27-2018

Windows Key Tricks
Try this out on your Windows 10 machine. With a window open, hold down the Windows key and tap any of the arrow keys. Up and the window is maximized, down it is minimize, and the left an right will send it the right half of your screen or the left.
http://tinyurl.com/y92yry6d

Searching for something?
If you are looking for a “what”, Google it.
If you are looking for “how to”, YouTube it.

Getting a New Computer
This question has come up a few time this month. How do I get my stuff from the old computer to my new one; from Windows X to Windows 10? We talk a lot about making an image backup of your computer on a regular basis.

You cannot take that image and using the recovery disk move it all onto your new computer. You will remove everything on the new and make it look like the old with the old operating system! It might boot but you will have wrong drivers and all the issues you had with the old computer.

Leave the new computer alone. Copy all your data from the old old computer to an external drive and then use that backup to copy the data to the new drive. You can mount the image backup you made of the old computer on the new computer using the same backup program it was made with (EaseUS or Macrium) and drag and drop the folders or files you need onto the new one.



You could also purchase a data transfer cable like the following. It allows you to do a direct transfer from one to the other at over 400Mbps.
http://tinyurl.com/ydh5o99e

Passwords
We talked again about the simple way of assigning passwords that you can remember. Here are the details of that methods:
https://dickevanstraining.blogspot.com/2018/11/passwords-simplified.html

Greeting Cards

Tis the season for sending Christmas Cards and all year birthdays and other events in life. I used to spend time and money searching for just the right card at stores around town. Then I was with a friend who create their own cards on their computer. Neat idea.
https://dickevanstraining.blogspot.com/2018/11/greeting-cards.html

Scam Phone Calls
If you have not tried it yet, use NoMoRobo.com to stop those annoying phone calls. Only works with VOIP phones (not Centurylink). It is free for home phones but $1.99 / mo for cell phones.

Passwords Simplified

By Dick Evans

Password creation has become a complicated process. We have hundreds of them and remembering them is a disaster for many of us. How about having one that is different for each website and yet always remembered?

Here is an effective way to do that.

Use the first letter of the site you are creating a password for and capitalize it. Use the last letter of that site as the last letter of the password, lower case. So if the site is Amazon.com start with A and end with n.

What you place in between will be the same for any site you use and should be at least 6 characters, contain a special character, and a number. I like to substitute numbers for obvious letters - 3 for E, 0 for o, 1 for i, 8 for B, etc.

Perhaps your dog's name is Snoopy. You could use $n00py which satisfies all the requirements and the password for Amazon would be A$n00pyn. The password for Staples would then be S$n00pys. Simple but useful.

All you need to remember is your 6 character word and you now know the passwords for all the sites you use. They will not change by themselves. You will have to open each site with the old password and locate its change password section to update them.

Greeting Cards

by Dick Evans www.rwevans.com

We can use templates in Word to create greeting cards. We can even design our own right in Word. But there are some websites where you can print your own and some free software you can install to make the job much easier.

Here are a few I found that do the job:



This one is free to try for 7 days, then you pay $3.99 per month, $19.99 per year, or $29.99 for a 2-year membership. You have to give them your credit card info to do the free trial, so be sure to cancel if you don’t want to buy it!

Print them on your computer and US mail them.


Or create them on your computer and email them

Click to view:
http://www.americangreetings.com/printable-cards
http://www.americangreetings.com/ecards/everyday-friend/best-friends-to-the-end/pn/3057280







As fun and friendly as its name suggests, Smilebox offers an easy way to create animated slideshows. It also includes templates for creating electronic greeting cards, photo albums, and scrapbooks, too. All you need to do in order to use Smilebox is sign up for a free account with your email address. But Smilebox's free offering is very limited. Many features—including the most popular templates—require the $40/year subscription.

http://www.smilebox.com/download-instructions.html




Sounds like a create place to go for free cards. But, free is for 7 days. They are owned by American Greeting (see above) After the free trial you need to pay them the same price as with their parent company. And if you do not cancel within the 7-day trial, you are responsible for the first term of membership that agreed to. Yes, you need to give them your payment information to get the free trial. However, every premium member is given two additional FREE memberships (subaccounts) to be given to family or friends. The subaccount members enjoy all of the features and benefits of membership free of charge!

http://www.bluemountain.com/printable-cards

They do have some free desktop calendars you can actually have for free:

http://www.bluemountain.com/downloads/display.pd?prodnum=3337800&path=2457242




Hallmark Card Studio

This one is not free. I use this to print all my cards using cardstock I purchase at Staples. It is a software product you install on your machine and it’s one time cost is only $29.99.

“For more than 100 years, Hallmark has designed greeting cards for life's special moments. Hallmark Card Studio Special Edition extends that tradition, making it easy to create one-of-a-kind Hallmark cards as unique as the people you care for. In three simple steps, you can add personal photos, sentiments and clipart images of your choosing.”

http://www.hallmarksoftware.com/



Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Class Notes 11-20-2018

The Best Windows 10 Apps
An interesting article that outlines what this author likes. Some line up with what we already use and there are a couple of new ones. He starts off with two of the cloud storage programs I already use, DropBox and OneDrive. Fotor is an all-in-one photo editor. It’s a worthy replacement if you don’t like Adobe Photoshop, he says. Sounds interesting as does Adobe Photoshop Express. It’s designed to be an on-the-go photo editor. Features include basic alternations like crop, straighten, rotate, and flip, one-touch adjustments for brightness, exposure, and shadows, and slider controls for exposure, contrast, clarity, and vibrance. Others mentioned look worthy to give a try.
http://tinyurl.com/yb2d9w5j

6 Ways You Can Use Microsoft Office For FREE
Yes you can access MS Office for free. Log in to http://live.com with your Microsoft credentials and access all the Office programs online as well as your OneDrive account. Download the cell phone version of Office and use it for free as well. Check out the article for other options as well.
http://tinyurl.com/y8v5y5sd

Chromefy turns any PC into a Chromebook. This is not the first Chromebook look-a-like we have seen. It turns an older slower laptop into a viable computer. It uses the real Chromebook OS.
http://tinyurl.com/yaujm6r9

Instead of Tiny…?




Shorten lengthy URLs
Have you ever copied a website address only to find that it seemingly goes on forever? Not only are these addresses difficult to comprehend, they’re difficult to share too. Especially on social media sites or sites that restrict character usage, shortening a URL can help fit it in a space where it otherwise might not be able to. In order to access this tool, all you have to do it right-click on a web page and select “Shorten this page with goo.gl”. Once this is done, you’ll be provided with a condensed URL and one that is automatically copied to your clipboard so all you have to do is paste to share.

Share better
Not only does goo.gl URL Shortener Unofficial shorten URLs, it provides users with QR codes that can be scanned to access the website. In many cases, this is even more convenient than a shortened URL, as it can be shared as an image and accessed on smartphones and tablets.

Short URL (goo.gl) is a free extension for Google Chrome to allowing anyone to take any existing URL and shorten it. You can also find the Google URL Shortener at:
https://goo.gl/

What’s the best replacement for the Windows 10 Snipping Tool?
This article speaks of a few possibles. Of those mentioned I like Greenshot and PicPick. Greenshot can be downloaded at ninite.com and PicPick at https://picpick.app/en/download/

Both are easy to use screen capture programs. PicPick lets you capture the screen and then opens the image in a Paint like screen. I do understand that the new Snipping Tool coming “soon” in 1809 works in a similar fashion.
http://tinyurl.com/ycops8vr

Pic Collage
With NEW seasonal stickers, backgrounds, and templates, PicCollage has everything you need to create amazing collages with your photos. Use our powerful web search feature to find the perfect photos to add to your creations, share on social media, or PRINT your collages at home. We installed this one in class and it worked as advertised making a neat collage of some pictures and added some graphs within the program.
http://tinyurl.com/y9lywdzd

Download a YouTube video or just the audio portion easily. Open the video in YouTube and copy the URL. Paste it into the browser address bar adding the letter DL just after the “www.” to open a website giving you the option of downloading it.

Ninite.com is a great site to download and install many of the useful programs we use. Today we looked at irfanview and geenshot, both available from Ninite. Irfanview has many functions one of which is to display a slideshow of a series of images.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Non Class Notes 11-13-2018

Sorry I was unable to make it to class yesterday. I trust Lydia did a fine job answering your questions. My Sherri is in the hospital recovering from a surgery last Friday.

I plan to be there for next Tuesday for class as usual. So get those questions written down…

I see 1809 is back with a promise from Microsoft that it will not delete any files this time. I hope not but I am going to wait before letting it into my computer. Just in case I am making an image backup with EaseUS. You should also. And maybe with Macrium if that is your favorite.

Also CCleaner has a new version 5.49. Go to www.ccleaner.com to get the latest free version. You do not have to pay for it.

Here are some windows keyboard shortcuts you might like to use:

Win R opens the Run menu

Win I opens the Settings window

Win Q opens the Type here box

Win P opens the Projector

Win Shift S lets you draw a box and saves it in the clipboard

Win L locks the screen and requires you to enter your credentials to log back in.

Win E opens a new File Explorer window.

There are many more, all to save you steps and keep your fingers on the keyboard.

Remember that you can email me with any questions. And I still do house calls!

Dick

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Class Notes 10-30-2018

Cut the cable… This was a long discussion about what you can do to watch what you want and not have to pay the very high cable TV bills.

Comcast or Centurylink. What is the difference? They each have internet access. CL is on a DSL line and the maximum speed you can purchase is up to 25mps at this time. Notice I said up to. Your actual speed depends on how far away from their distribution center you are and how many are on the line at the same time. Do not be surprised if your actual speed is 6mps or less. Check it with a speed checking app like speedtest.net.



I am using Comcast and the above screenshot is my speed this morning. It is quite a bit faster than anything Centurylink can provide.

They each are able to provide programming for you to watch. Comcast has there own cable network while Centurylink using Direct TV.

They each provide telephone service. Comcast uses VOIP which uses the internet connection while Centurylink uses a twisted pair landline.

Bill is too high for for? Cut the cable connection. All you need is an internet connection. Either company will do but I think the best price is from Comcast right now.

Get a VOIP phone system like Ooma. It is $99. The only fee is to pay the taxes each month which is less than $5. When you switch you can elect to port your existing number to them so nothing changes. You friends will still call the same number to reach you. Another option is to not have a house phone by porting the house number to a cell phone.

Remember those old rabbit ears we used years ago to watch TV? You can get an antenna for your TV that will allow you to pick up over 30 local channels including news and weather. Just screw the connector into the back of your TV. let your TV scan for channels (right from your remote) and you are done.

What about programming? What about those TV shows I like to watch or movies? I added a Roku box. It plugs into an HDMI port on your TV and hooks to the Internet using WiFi or an ethernet cable. One time charge for the box, just like the Ooma phone. But NO monthly charge. There are thousands of channels, some you pay for with a subscription and many are free. I pay for Netflix and watch many TV shows without commercials. There is a Pandora channel where you can listen to your kind of music all day for free. And much much more.

Now you have Internet access, a phone for under $5 a month, local TV channels, and all the movies and more you want for much less than your provider is charging.

Mouse
You do not have to accept the default settings for your mouse or touchpad. You can change the size and color of the mouse pointer, the speed the pointer moves at as your mouse the mouse, the function of the wheel, and more. Open settings (Win I).

Click Devices…



In the left column, click Mouse to open the mouse window on the right, Here you can turn your right-handed mouse into a left-handed mouse and adjust the scroll wheel. If you work with multiple windows and go back and forth between them, turn on the “Scroll inactive windows…” option. There are more options under Additional mouse options.



In the Buttons tab you can change the double-click speed and more. The descriptions under each option are very clear.



The Pointer tab is where you change the size and color of the mouse pointer.



The Pointer Options tab lets you fine tune things. The example above is how I have mine set.

When using a browser, Ctrl L brings the cursor to the address line with the entire address selected. Delete or Backspace will remove the selected data, although all you have to do is start typing and the selected data is cleared giving way to what you are typing.

Change the size in the browser
Ctrl + increases the size of a web page allowing you to read the fine print. Ctrl - reduces the size of the page so you can see more of it without scrolling. Ctrl 0 brings the page size back to default.

Printing part of an email or web page
When you place an order from somewhere they send you an email confirming what you ordered or even display it on your screen. When you right-click on the screen and choose Print you can end up with multiple pages with all kinds of advertisements and even fine print. All you want to see is the details.

Quick access to Snipping Tool
Win+Shift+S opens Snipping Tool at the point you drag a box around what you wish to capture. When you drop the drag what you selected is placed in the clipboard to be pasted elsewhere.

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Class Notes 10-23-2018

Edit FB posts when you have made a mistake. Click the three dots in the upper right of the post and click the Edit selection. You can now make corrections to your post. If you had a picture on the post you can also add additional pictures or videos.

Last week we talked about Classic Shell. The checkbox for Classic Start in Ninite is the same program, so select it along with your maintenance options and browsers next time you update them.

Piriform Utilities is where we get CCleaner. They make other useful utilities as well that you might want to check out.
  • Recuva -- Checks for files that have been deleted and removed from the recycle bin. If the file has not been overwritten by Windows, you have a good chance of reviving it.
  • Defraggler -- Although Windows 10 defrags in the background, this tool lets you look at the health of your drives and does a more thorough job of defragging.
  • Speccy -- Gathers a lot of information about your computer. Like Belarc, but different.
JotForm is a program that lets you create a form where you can ask questions, request information, etc. It then sends the results to you in email. Great for small groups, partes, church, clubs...

Win10 KB shortcuts article has one error. It is Alt+F4 that will close an open window, not Ctrl+F4. Otherwise a great list of shortcuts… there are many others.
http://tinyurl.com/ybx7b65n

Cell or Landline? Good article about figuring out if the number you are calling (or receiving) is a cell phone or a landline. We tried out one of the suggestions in class: Phonevalidator.com
http://tinyurl.com/ycy8xoew

Move Word Docs to Google Drive and you will be able to access the documents easily wherever you are through your Google account. However they will be in the .DOC/DOCX format. And they will go against your 15gb of free space. You may view them, but cannot edit them in the original format. You can, however, open them as a Google Doc file. Your document will be converted to a Google Doc where you can edit it. This new file will not be charged against your 15gb limit. When you are satisfied with the conversion, delete the Word formatted file and you will gt back that space in the Google Cloud.

Notepad++ is an expanded Notepad program for Windows. It does everything Windows Notepad does and more.

What is that flower?
Identify plants, flowers, cacti, succulents and mushrooms in seconds with the click of a button on your mobile device.
Download PlantSnap on your cell phone

Google Keep is what I use to keep our shopping list. We each can make entries on our cell phone and use it at the market to get all we want instead of getting there and trying to remember what we need.

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Class Notes 10-16-2018

Backup your stuff
We have classes on using backup programs and have written many white papers available on the club website with step by step instructions. There are two we recommend: EaseUS and Macrium. When you install and run them for the first time you will be prompted to create a recovery CD or USB flash drive. These will be needed should you ever need to recover your hard drive.

EaseUS has three different types of backup
  1. Disk partition will allow you to determine which partitions you want to back up
  2. File will allow you to backup selected files/folders
  3. System will backup the entire hard drive--all folders, files, and partitions
How to save a picture that is on FB newsfeed. Click the picture to open it. Then right-click the picture in the new view. Select SaveAs and change the long name to something you will remember and place it in the folder you desire (download is default)

Google photos is a great place to store all your photos and automatically from your cell phone by installing the Google Photos App. (see white papers on this subject at cccgc.info)

Libre vs MS vs WPS.com vs Google Docs
LibreOffice is a nice replacement for Microsoft Office. And it is free. Google Docs is also free and comes with your Goolge Account. Easy to use and reads MS formatted files. WPS is a new one that looks and feels like MS, but is also free.

PatchMyPc is a great replacement for Ninite. It installs on your PC. When you run it, it scans your programs to create a list of what you have installed. Then it checks to see if there are newer version available. Then you click to install the updates. To add a new program, find it on the list (left column) and check it. CCleaner is on the list so you do not need to install it separately.
http://tinyurl.com/y9b3watt

Locknote for passwords. It is a simple and free notepad program that has password protection. The first time you use it you have to enter a password to get back into it. I use it to store all my passwords.
http://tinyrl.com/yc7yljn8

To remove the need to type a password when starting W10

Win + Q > NETPLWIZ, uncheck the box and click OK. Enter your current password twice and click OK. The next time you turn on your PC, it will skip the need for your to type your password. WARNING: keep you password close as from time to time you may need to enter it.

To copy applications from one PC to another Easeus has a paid program that will do just that. Especially good when you purchase a new PC and you cannot find the installation programs for your programs.
http://tinyurl.com/ybanxtwz

Monday, October 15, 2018

Class Notes 10-9-2018

1809 has been taken off line by Microsoft. Best not to install it if you already downloaded it. If you did and you are having problems, they have announced they will assist you in getting back what you have lost. Give them a call.

Simple Passwords we have discussed before and Harold gave a great talk on it earlier this year. Put simply, Use the first letter of the site you are creating a password for and capitalize it. Use the last letter of that site as the last letter of the password, lower case. So if the site is Amazon.com start with A and end with n. What you place in between will be the same for any site you use and should be at least 6 characters, contain a special character and a number. Perhaps your dog's name is snoopy. You could use $n00py which satisfies all the requirements and the password for Amazon would be A$n00pyn. The password for Staples would then be S$n00pys. Simple but useful.

MetroPCS just bought Sprint and has an agreement with Google that gives users of their cell phones 100gb on Google and free Prime on Amazon. I think I will check this out further.



Classic Shell found at classicshell.net give you a start menu on Windows 10 that has the appearance of X, Vista, or 7.

Use TinyURL.com to convert those loooong URL’s to short ones. I use it all the time.

CCleaner removed my stored passwords? That is because you have the option to remove passwords checked. Remove the checkmark and that will not happen again. Make sure you remove it for all the browsers that CCleaner cleans.

Defragging is not necessary in Windows 10 as the Operating System does it for you when your computer is idle. If you want to do it on your own, I suggest the Advanced Utilities in Glary Utilities.




What Happens when I close the lid? Depending on your settings you can make closing the lid do nothing, put your laptop to sleep, hibernate it, or perform a normal shutdown.

Shutdown with Glary by checking the box to do so when you run the 1 Click Maintenance. I do this last thing at night and then walk away. Cleaning is done and the shutdown run without my having to do anything else.

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Class Notes 9-27-2018

This was the last class for me on Thursdays. From now on my class will be Monthly on Tuesdays from 2-4 except for the Tuesday of the General meeting. It will still be in an Open Forum format but may start with a short lesson on a specific topic first. Your help in determining that topic would be appreciated. Also, each class will be broadcast online using Hangouts--Just open any browser and enter this URL: TinyURL.com/DickEvans

Photo Story 3
Photo Story allows you to turn a bunch of 2D images into a movie like presentation with audio. It lets you drag images onto a window, arrange them as needed, then provide custom narration, transitions, zooms, pans, audio soundtracks and/or custom auto-generated music, then export the result as a WMV file.
http://rwevans.com/Photo Story 3.pdf 

How to get the movie to YouTube
You will need to establish an account with YouTube. Once that is done, sign in to your account and select Upload (button near the top right). Choose the movie file and add the information to describe the movie. When it is finished uploading you will be given a URL to access it.

Another eMail account
A member was asking if he could delete an email address and establish a new one. There comes a time when you are receiving more junk mail than mail you wish to read. This is a matter of organizing the mail that comes in so what you consider junk is put into a folder to review later or even to just remove it. This is done using a “filter” and having mail from

Some people automatically placed into that folder. Then you only get to see your good mail in your Inbox. You can create another email address or as many other email addresses as you wish. Then tell all your friends the new address and just stop looking at the old addresses mail. You cannot remove the old email address. I will never be assigned to anyone but you. From time to time you might want to look at it so you can make sure you told everyone about the new email.

How to sell items online
There are many way to sell things online. It all depends on how much you have to sell, if it is an online business you want to start, or just an item from time to time. I have used eBay to sell items and have be successful doing it. It is an auction site meaning you place the item on eBay and people bid on it. Highest bid gets the item. You can say what the minimum amount you will take and you can even set a “buy now” amount. Another site is etsy.com. Etsy is a global online marketplace, where people come together to make, sell, buy, and collect unique items. You post the item and set the price. Those interested in buying your item at that price will contact you. Even easier is Facebook Marketplace. www.facebook.com/Marketplace‎ Easy and Fast Way to Connect Buyers and Sellers. Find What You Want. Get Deals & Sell Faster. You post the item and the price and your local area Facebook users get to see it and communicate with you on Facebook Private Message to negotiate the price and arrange to meet to deliver it.

PayPal is safe way to send and receive payments. It is what is used when selling or buying on eBay. They have my credit card number and will make payment to others I do not know for me. It is a safe way to purchase over the Internet.
www.paypal.com

Nomorobo.com is a website where you can stop those annoying robotic calls the come in around meal time. The phone system must be VOIP so if you have Century Link you are out of luck. It is a free service for your home phone and can be used with your cell phone for $1.99 per month. When you install it the calls stop coming in; they are blocked by them. Your phone my ring once or not al all as the system works.

Call Control is another service like nomorobo. It offers protection from illegal calls by blocking them before they get to your phone. Call Control works like anti-virus for your computer, by automatically identifying suspected illegal calls and blocking them.


How fast is your download speed? In seconds, FAST.com's simple Internet speed test will estimate your ISP speed.
http://tinyurl.com/y8bwx798

Another on… Speed Check
https://www.speedcheck.org/

In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, tomshardware, TechConnect, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Class Notes 9-20-2018

CCleaner 5.47 was just released today. Install fine but under the Security section in Tools you might want to turn of the feature to send anonymous reports to Avast, who owns CCleaner now.

I suggest using CCleaner on a regular basis, but download and install the latest version each time from ccleaner.com. When done with it, uninstall until the next time. And the same goes for Superantispyware and Malwarebytes. Why have them running in the background when you only want to run them once a week and install new versions just before you run them? Use Ninite.com and save the file it created. Just run that file again to download and install the latest versions when you want to run them. Then install them also.

Uninstall
Win + I > Apps > Apps & Features
Scroll to the App you and to removes. Left Click and choose Uninstall

Also turn off all the Background Apps Windows 10 loads on startup.
Win + I > Privacy > Background Apps
Turn them off

From your house you can join in on the classes by going to Google Hangout. Just open a browser and click this link: http://tinyurl.com/DickEvans

Dropbox.com is a cloud storage site. It is free for 2gb of data. If you need more you can subscribe to different levels. I have a 1TB subscription. It is a great way to share large files with others.

OneDrive is another cloud storage site. It is included in Windows 10 and is owned by Microsoft. You receive 4gb free and can subscribe for additional space. You can also share the files on this cloud.

How to unzip a file in Windows 10. Many downloads of files and images attached to an email come in the form of a zip file (extension .zip). To see what is inside, double-click the zip file and then in the ribbon above click Extract All to pull the files out of the zip and into a folder where you can work with them as individual files.

If you have a group of files to send somewhere, select the group > right-click the selection > choose Sent To > Compressed (zipped) folder.

How to create a shortcut to a website on the desktop. Open the site, like gMail. In the address bar point to the icon to the left of the address (URL). Left drag it to the desktop. When you drop it a shortcut is created for you.

Where to download Revo Uninstaller? You can get it on Ninite.com. It does a better job uninstalling apps as it goes deeper into the system to get all the pieces.



Home - New Tab Page extension in Chrome is a page that replaces the home page when you create a new tab in Chrome. To install it click the menu button in chrome (three vertical dots in upper left) > More Tools > Extensions. In the Extensions window, in the upper left click the menu button (three horizontal bars). In the lower left corner, click Open Chrome Web Store.

In the “Search the store” box type Home Newtab. Then Click “Add to chrome”
Open a new tab (+ to the right of last open tab) and see what happens.

What’s New in Google Chrome 69
Some changes in the way it looks but still the same browser. Read about it in this article
http://tinyurl.com/yaxc7b9q

Windows 10's October 2018 Update. It will be called 1809. This article tells some of the things coming and going.
http://tinyurl.com/y88brmuy

Gmail’s Confidential Mode allows you to send secret emails that you can have disappear after period of time.
http://tinyurl.com/y966s9hw

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Class Notes 9-13-2018

Two more Thursday classes. On October 1st we will switch to Tuesday except for the day of the evening General meeting. Otherwise on the 2nd Tuesday through the last Tuesday I will be having class from 2-4.

I have also had a request for being online during the classes using Hangout. The address for that will be http://tinyurl.com/dickevans.

I have had a request for a hands on how to build a website using Wordpress. Let me know if you have an interest. If we get 3 or more wanting to do that I will schedule some time for us to meet. This will not be a lecture but a hands on your own laptop to develop a site.

We covered a number of topics and these are the one I recalled:



AdBlock is a neat addition to your Chrome or FireFox browser. It stops most of those pesky ads from appearing on your screen. In Chrome click the menu button (three dots in upper right) then More tools then Extensions. In the upper left, click the Main Menu button next to the word Extensions. In the bottom left, click Open Chrome Web Store. In the upper left Search box type adblock and press the enter key. Then locate AdBlock (see above) and click it’s Add To Chrome button.

Facebookd Friend Request from your already friends are scams. If I receive any friend request I check it out before accepting it. I click on the link to their page. Then in the search box, which already has their name, I click the search button. This displays everyone with that name. If I see I am already their friend, then I know the request is a scam and I deny it.

There are 2 batteries in laptops. The big one that we plug our laptop in so it will charge is easily removed and replaced. I have found replacements for under $25 on Amazon. You snap the old one out and snap in the new one to charge it. By the way, the club will take your old one to recycle. There is another battery inside your laptop (desktop too) that keep the internal clock running among other things. It usually is one of those flat, quarter size batteries (2 for a buck at Dollar Tree). However, you must take your laptop apart to access it..A better choice might be someplace like Batteries Plus. So if your clock is not keeping time or you have to press F1 to boot your computer, you might look to the internal battery for the solution.

Photomyne is an app for your cell phone that will let you snap a picture of a group of photo, perhaps in an old album, and it will turn them into individual digital images. This is a great way to digitize those old photo books. You can find it on your cell phone Play store or App store.
https://photomyne.com/

Irfanview is a program that allow you to do many tasks with images. One of those tasks is to display a slide show. You can find the program on the Ninite.com list of programs.

Photo Story 3
We have looked at this program in the past. You can find some details in more than one of my past blog posts. This lets you create a self executing slideshow with background music and narrations.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11132

Backing Up a Machine that Won't Boot
This is a good article. We did not go into it in detail but it gives you a path to use Reflect backup to backup a non-bootable computer using their bootable restore CD. The CD contains not only the restore program. The full backup program is there and you can use it to backup the hard drive. Then you rebuild the hard drive and use the backup file to restore your data.
http://tinyurl.com/ycfb3evl

Friday, September 7, 2018

Class Notes 9-6-2018

Good discussions today. What follows are brief summaries from memory. We hi on a number of other subjects as the questions came.

Meeting on Thursdays for the rest of September. In October we will meet on Tuesdays. That will be my "day at the office." I will continue to be available for one-on-ones and to help starting at 10 am. At 2 pm I will begin the class and end at 4 pm. Hope that works out for most of you.

Speech to Text
Our phones let us speak into them and convert our words to typed letters. Well Window 10 can do it too. Win+H and turn on the speech to text feature. What you say is typed into wherever your cursor is on the screen. Works in Email, Facebook message, WordPad… everywhere. Give it a try.

Word Search
You can find word searches in newspapers, magazines, and even purchase books filled with them. With this website you can create your own. Good for personal fun or for presents to your grandkids with searches built using their names and other family names.

These last two came from the talks from George Kopenec at our monthly meetings. He has discovered a number of neat programs or websites. You can find them on our club site (cccgc.info) under Monthly Favorites. Thanks, George.
http://tinyurl.com/yc2yuzcx

PicPick is a good replacement for the Paint program in windows. In addition to the edit capabilities in Paint, PicPick allows you to capture a screen or a portion of a screen using the PrtScr key on your keyboard--PrtScr puts an image in your clipboard of the entire screen and Shift+PrtScr allows you to select the portion of the screen you want captured. Other programs to capture the screen or part of the screen: Snipping Tool, MWsnap, Greenshot

Background Apps
Win+I > Privacy > Background Apps > Turn Off All or just the ones you do not use




Ear Spy
Consider you and your spouse are watching TV and the volume is too low for you to catch all the words. Your spouse doesn’t like it loud enough for you to hear as it i too loud for them.

Check your date and time

 

if your internal battery is low or dead you might see your clock out of sync with reality. If it is way out of whack you will get issues accessing web pages. You might even get a black screen when you boot up requiring you to press F1 to continue.

BTW your laptop will run fine without its battery if you keep it plugged into the power. However a totally dead battery might not allow the laptop to turn on. I have found reasonably price replacements on Amazon.

CCleaner 5.46 ships with clearer privacy options
http://tinyurl.com/yadb9oy7

How to view your photos in order by date-uploaded rather than date-taken
When you use Google Photos to store your pictures, they are organized in one great big stream, by date the photo was taken. The most recent photo is on the top, as you scroll down you're going back in time. On a mobile device you can pinch the screen until you see your photos grouped by year and month.
http://tinyurl.com/ya4eyg6o

In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, tomshardware, TechConnect, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.

Saturday, September 1, 2018

Class Notes 8-30-2018

I am back at the club teaching every Thursday once again. It is an open forum but I have a list of things ready to talk about should there be no questions. We are thinking of changing my day from Thursday to Tuesday. Would that be a problem for any of you?

It was good to get back into it today. Here are what I remember we discussed today. And remember there are no questions that are to simple to ask. You would be surprised how one simple question can not only help you but will also help others, too. It may even get us into another series of questions as well. So don't think about, just ask it.

When Windows downloads a new version (1803 being the latest) some of our old settings are changed to default. Some have had the sign in bel automatic with no need to type in a password. We reviewed how to tirn off the need to enter your password each time. However even if you do not have to do it you need to know what it is. Write it down somewhere. Here is where to go to fix it: On the keyboard type Win+Q. In the text box that appears, type NETPLWIZ. This opens a windows where you can check off the box that says you require a password. Click Apply and enter your current password in both boxes. When you reboot you will not need to enter the password.

Another keyboard shortcut to remember is Win+L. It locks your screen requiring your password be entered to get back in.

You can change your password to a Pin #of 4 or more digits right from the sign on screen. I use a 4 digit one.

Saving a picture from Facebook. Click on the picture to open it in another window. Then Right-click and choose Save Image As. Or you can capture it from your screen using the PrtScr key on your keyboard or a screen capture tool such as the following.

PicPick is a good replacement for the Paint program in windows. In addition to the edit capabilities in Paint, PicPick allows you to capture a screen or a portion of a screen using the PrtScr key on your keyboard--PrtScr puts an image in your clipboard of the entire screen and Shift+PrtScr allows you to select the portion of the screen you want captured. Other programs to capture the screen or part of the screen: Snipping Tool, MWsnap, Greenshot

The Purpose of Download folder is to be a repository for anything you download from the Internet. Unless you change the defaults that is where they all go. Those using the download folder correctly move the items downloaded to a permanent place on their hard drive to a cloud storage location. Used properly everything in the Download Folder should be able to be deleted at any time. So those nice pictures you just got from Facebook need to be moved to your pictures folder somewhere; maybe even uploaded to your Google Photos account in the cloud.

CCleaner issues over the last few weeks have gotten many to consider other options. Although the latest version seems to have solved all problems. We continue to recommend a weekly cleanup using CCleaner, Superantispyware, and Malwarebytes. Add to that Glary Utilities for daily use.

Spell checking - red squiggly. In most programs and browsers a red underline indicates the word is not found in the program's dictionary. Right-click on the word and suggestions to correct it will appear above. If the word is spelled correctly, you may add it to your (on your computer) dictionary.

How to convert WAV to MP3. A WAV formatted file is an audio file that plays with Windows Media Player or equivalent in Windows 10. Google “convert WAV to MP3” and you will find many options. I suggest an online solution rather than downloading questionable software to your machine.
Cut the Cable

With cable costs increasing often many are looking for ways to drop down to just an internet connection and use an antenna for local TV programming. This is kinda like the old rabbit ears from years gone by. In this area I have seen a simple antenna bring in 20-30 stations. Then use a Roku box or an Amazon Firestick to get the additional channels you want to watch. I like to watch commercial free TV series and movies using NetFlix. For and antenna one of our members recommends one by Terk or Greenleaf. Here is one from Amazon that looks pretty good
http://tinyurl.com/y7nhphlt

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Computer Club Update July 2018

Sorry, it has been a while but the traveling has been good. We are in RI now with friends. Spent 4th in Jamestown with some of my family. Will be going to Block Island one day this week. Cooking some lobsters this afternoon. Heading to NH one day and Cape Cod near the end of our visit. Also planning on seeing Plymouth Rock where the pilgrims landed and walking on the replica of the Mayflower. Then spend some time at Plymouth Plantation, a replica of village life in the 1600’s.

Might not be have time to try Hangouts until we get back to KY the end of this month. Have a great summer.

Here are a few ideas I have picked up in my reading (and Harold’s) that I would’ve shared live Had I been there.

How To Create A Shortcut (Icon). In the former OS’s all you had to do is right click on the program icon under All Programs. One of the options as creating a shortcut on the desktop. No longer is it that easy in Win 10. Right click and you get two options: pin to the taskbar or pin to the start menu. This article shows you how to get that shortcut on the desktop again.
http://tinyurl.com/yctykn7n

Gmailify: The best of Gmail, without an @gmail address. Like using your current email like yahoo, AOL, or any other but want some of the gmail features? Now you can use the Gmailify feature in gmail to have your other email open your Gmail account.
http://tinyurl.com/mfp7pwy

How to Properly Restart a Router & Modem. This is a good description of how and why we need to go thru a process to restart after connection issue.
http://tinyurl.com/y79g8khm

Bitly is like TinyURL. It lets you shorten a URL. It is different in that it will track the number of times the link has been clicked on. Well, this is a new one for Bitly. You can now create a full page of material - a single webpage without having to have a host site or pay for a URL. Here is an example I created: http://tinyurl.com/ycewp46m
https://itty.bitty.site/edit

Quick look at your Google footprint. This shows you how much storage you have and what is used.
https://drive.google.com/u/0/settings/storage?hl=en

We always wonder what those Cookies are for. This article shows us.
What are Browser Cookies and How Are They Used?
http://tinyurl.com/y77lvd5f

QuickLook Instantly Previews Files on Windows
Just browse your files in Windows Explorer, as usual, then press Space to preview something. Quick Look will open quickly, showing you either the file or information about it.
http://tinyurl.com/y8am85a4

Everything you knew about Chromebooks is wrong
Google’s slow, limited, browser-only, cloud-centric laptop platform is now the most powerful and capable user platform on the planet.
http://tinyurl.com/ybbxdu2x

In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, tomshardware, TechConnect, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.

Friday, May 25, 2018

Class Notes 5-24-2018

Today was the last Thursday class for me until I return from my trips north to visit children and friends, show Sherri some of the country she has not seen before, speak at various places, spend a little time in our KY home. We had a good class today going over a number of things. I will try to connect using Hangouts over the weeks we will be away. It all depends on a good WiFi connection wherever we are. I will send an email to let you know or you can just check in on Thursday afternoons at 4:00 PM Eastern. The link is http://tinyurl.com/DickEvans. If I am not there you can connect with whoever is and have a Q&A session without me.



On the left of my taskbar I had a Cortana search window that was taking too much space for my taste. I would rather have more room for taskbar items.


Right-click on the taskbar> click on Cortana > then choose Hidden, Shoe Cortana icon, or Show search box. I checked Hidden.

Then to open Cortana just press Windows+Q and the Cortana window with a search box appears.

In that search box we can type the name of a program, like quick assist, and a link to it will appear at the top of the window. Press Enter to open the program or right click to pin the link to your Start Menu or to the taskbar. You can also create a desktop shortcut.



Click Open file location



Right-click the program name, then click Create shortcut



Click Yes and a shortcut with it’s icon will appear on the desktop

One of our members found a great Chrome browser extension: Block ads from Facebook. Yes it really works.
http://tinyurl.com/6m2rfcc and search for “facebook ad blocker” and add it to chrome.

We talked again about the importance of image backups and using Google Photos to automatically backup your photos from your cell phone to the Google cloud at NO CHARGE. There is no limit to how many pictures you send and you can view them anywhere by simply signing in with your Google credentials.



We looked at using a cell phone amplifier to boost cell signals inside your home. It works by having you place an antenna outside your home and pointing it toward the cell tower nearest you. So instead of having to go outside to make a call you can have full access in the house.

Here is one for Verizon 4G LTE for $47… http://tinyurl.com/y73jxhqr

I found recently after my iPhone phone battery was needing recharging after a few hours that I could go to Settings and Battery and turn on the Low Power Mode. I still get my phone calls, text messages, and Facebook messages. Google Maps still works. And at the end of the day I still have plenty of battery left. Not sure about an Android.

This works with all cell phones. Need a fast charge? Put the phone in Airplane mode. Nothing will be using the battery in the background and the charge time is less. REMEMBER to take it out of Airplane mode when the charge is done or you will not get phone calls, texts, etc.

In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, tomshardware, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Class Notes 5-10-2018

Well the season must be over. Small class on Tuesday for using Macrium backup and a small class for the open forum. We spent most of the time on cut-copy-paste (see class notes 5-26-2018). Then we hit on a few other questions. What follows are some new things you might be interested in.

If you are using Kodi you might check this article out.
http://tinyurl.com/ybls52ze

Cut the cable and lose high-speed internet, says Comcast.
http://tinyurl.com/yap38o7m

Windows Build Numbers
http://tinyurl.com/y8hz7c6v

Open-Source Desktop Publisher
http://tinyurl.com/yb4kbgkh

In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, tomshardware, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Meeting Notes 5-1-2018

Inactive Windows Scrolling
We are used to having to click on a window to bring it to the front to be able to scroll in that windows. We click to bring it forward and the other window(s) go into the background. In Windows 10 we just have to mouse over the window in the background to scroll without making that window active.

Win+I > Devices > Mouse, then make sure Scroll inactive... is On.


Toggle color on and off in Windows 10
Ctrl+Win+C

Rotate the screen with Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys



Change in how to add an extension in Chrome. Click the menu button (upper right three dots) and choose More tools > Extensions. Click the menu button (upper left three lines). Scroll to the notton and select Open Chrome Web Store.

Popular extensions: Adblock and Show and Hide Passwords



Free up disk space automatically on Windows 10 with Storage Sense.
Win+I to open Settings > System > Storage



Win+I to open Settings > System > Storage > Change how we free up space

1803 update note… Allows cleaning up a larger number of files including no longer needed windows update files.
http://tinyurl.com/y9mg4xgw

What's the Difference Between Hibernate and Sleep?

Hibernate: writes RAM to disk and then turns off the power

The contents of RAM are written to disk. All the loaded and running programs are included in the exact state they happen to be in, including any data they’ve initialized and maintained.

Sleep: keep RAM in RAM and power is left on at a low level. The battery is being used so do not do when not plugged in.

1803 update note... when an update is ready to come down Windows will not allow sleep mode to start

http://tinyurl.com/y7etoqn8

Snipping Tool vs Paint
The Snipping Tool comes bundled with Windows free of charge and so does Paint. A look using both
http://tinyurl.com/ycgp49lx

Another 1803 update… Password Recovery for local accounts

Monday, April 30, 2018

Class Notes 4-26-2018

We spent almost an hour on Cut Copy Paste giving examples of moving file or folder from one place to another. The example talks about files but the same directions apply to folders. When you copy or move a folder all the files within that folder will also be moved.

When you use Copy the file is placed in the Windows clipboard and will stay there until another copy or cut is performed. Cut copies the file and removes it from its original location. Ctrl+Z will reverse the process.

There are two ways of moving a file from one location to another. You can drag the file or you can right-click the file and select cut or copy. Then go to the destination location and right-click and select paste. Use cut if you want to move the file and copy if you just want to copy it and have it in two locations.

It is a little different use the drag and drop method. When you left drag a file to another location on the same drive the system assumes you want to move the file. If you are dragging to another drive, like to or from a USB flash drive, the system assumes you want to copy the file. As you drag a box appears telling you what you are about to do. The safest way to drag is to right-drag. When you do a box appears giving you choice between Copy, Paste, Create a shortcut,or Cancel.

We all know that deleting a file places the file in the recycle bin. The file is still on the hard drive and can be restored by opening the recycle bin. Empty the recycle bin or run one of the maintenance program that deletes temporary or deleted files removes access to the file with Windows explorer. However, the data in the file is still there until the drive is wiped with some utility or Windows needs the space and overrides it with another file.

Piriform.com has a free utility called recuva to recover those deleted files, if they are still there. The best time to do so is soon after the erroneous deletion. The longer you wait the less chance the file is available for recovery.

Speccy is another Pirifom utility that displays specifications for the computer it is run on.

If you have open windows you can easily switch between using Alt+Tab.

Friday, April 13, 2018

Class Notes 4-12-2018

We talked about the website George demonstrated at the meeting last week. Open the site and type in your name and the state where you reside. It searches all the unclaimed money and gives you a list of what is out there. I ran my name and did not find anything for me but I did find over $100 due to my oldest son. Check it out. One of our class members is getting back over $100!
www.missingmoney.com



Check your internet speed by running one of the speedtest sites. See what the test results are compared to the speed you are promised by your internet provider. I am using Comcast and you see my results above. So before you attack your computer with all kinds of maintenance programs, check your internet speed. Might not be anything wrong with your PC. www.speedtest.net

WizFile is an ultra-fast Windows Search tool. We downloaded and ran this in class and the speed in which it locates file is wild. As you type the last letter the results are displaying. This program is portable meaning you can put it on a flash drive and run it from there.
http://tinyurl.com/y7n2mw3a

How Do I Find Out What Program Is Using All My CPU? Computer slow? This article explains what those detail in Task Manager are all about.
http://tinyurl.com/y8vu9kxy

Financial Documents: Should You Save or Shred Them? Just a reference for what we need to save and what we can destroy now that tax season is over.
http://tinyurl.com/y76bhsn7

This article explains how you can get a list of every single thing Google knows about you. It will come in the form of a .zip file. Don’t expect it right away as it may take hours to create the file. I recommend you have it sent to one of your cloud accounts instead of email. The options are built in to the task so you can choose.
http://tinyurl.com/y74hf327

In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, tomshardware, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.


Friday, March 30, 2018

Class Notes 3-29-2018

It is getting more an more difficult to remember every little item we discussed during the class time. I did turn on the Hangout this week and will try to remember in the weeks to come. Please mute your microphone so we do not get feedback. Thanks. The link to join in is http://tinyutl.com/dickevans

Jarte, the word processor that wraps a fresh face and new power around Microsoft's trusted WordPad word processing engine. Quick to load and easy to use makes it a great tool.
http://tinyurl.com/34fo8h 

This led us into a discussion on creating and Icon and replacing an icon on the desktop shortcut with our own icon. You can use the Paint program to create an icon, just save it as a .ico file by replacing the .jpg extension with .ico.

The default desktop icon size in XP was 32x32, while in Windows 7 it is 48x48. As a consequence, for Windows 7 it is relatively important to have a 48 icon. Otherwise, it is upscaled from a smaller icon, which may look quite ugly.

@Have you ever wanted to convert files without the need to download software? I had an instance this last week where I was sent a document in .wps format. I could not read this old Work file and had to look for a solution. I Googled it and found zamzar.com. I was able to upload the .wps document and in seconds I received an email with the .doc file I opened in MS Word.
https://www.zamzar.com/

CCleaner now found at ccleaner.com. They have over 2 billion downloads at this point and decided to change their Domain name. So instead of going to Pirifome.com you can access the ccleaner download page directly at ccleaner.com.

Slimjet is a fast, smart and powerful web browser built on top of the Chromium open-source project (on which Google chrome is based as well). It adds more options to Chromium to make it more flexible and customizable. It also integrates more features to Chromium so that users can get more done in less time without relying on external plugins. It works great and is easy to use. Adblocker and other tools we love to use are build right in t the browser… even a YouTube downloader.
http://tinyurl.com/ydxhgm4f

Google Cloud Print Overview can be found at this YouTube page. Also some documentation on our club site at cccgc.info.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A5zvYda7Eo

How to Bring Back the Quick Launch Bar in Windows 7, 8, or 10. I posted this last week, but thought I would demo it today. It is a nice tool to keep that clutter off the desktop.
http://tinyurl.com/z4qmjxu

A reminder for you who use the keyboard shortcuts. When pressing more that one key, like in Windows + Q or Win+Q, hold down all but the last key and then tap the last key. In this case, hold down the WIndows key and then tap the Q. Release the held down key(s).

We also talked about Facebook security. The key is to not post everything Public and to not allow others to add to your timeline. Just because someone duplicated your Facebook page does not mean you were hacked. It means everything on your pages were copied and placed on a new page with your name. Before adding someone you know, check to see if you are already friends. If so, do not add the new person as they are not your friend.

In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, tomshardware, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Class Notes 3-22-2018

Okay, I know we did not have a class. These are the items I was planning on discussing had we been together. In reality I probably would not have gotten to most of these with all the questions and rabbit trails we seem to drift into. It has been a strange week being home fighting this cold (Sherri says it was the Flu). I am much better today and it will be life as usual by Monday!

Malwarebytes 3.4.4 update released. The best way to get the new version is to go through ninite.com like we usually do. It works just like the older version. I run it once a week or more often. See the documentation on the club site for how to run all of the maintenance programs.
http://tinyurl.com/ybt3679m

I don’t know if this has happened to you but if Malwarebytes blocks legitimate processes, do this
http://tinyurl.com/y9fqzpo2

Some interesting facts about browsers. Chrome has them all beat no matter with Microsoft wants you to believe. Here is the current browser Market Share in United States Of America - February 2018. Worldwide Chrome did even better.

Chrome 51.56% <-- my favorite

Safari 30.16%

Firefox 5.08%

IE 4.94%

Edge 3.45%

http://tinyurl.com/y7hbwnvu to see the latest results

Speaking of browsers, here is an interesting note about new version and Edge.

“Microsoft will try a new way to push Windows 10 users into running Edge, forcing links opened from the Windows Mail app and its messages to display in the browser.

Normally, links embedded in messages retrieved by the Windows Mail app open in the default browser, which may be an Edge rival if the user has set one.

In the latest preview of Windows 10's fall feature upgrade, currently known as 1809in Microsoft's yymm label format, Microsoft has mandated that Edge assume responsibilities for opening links within messages.”

“Since it debuted as the default within Windows 10 nearly three years ago, Edge's user share of the browsers run under the OS has been in steady decline. In February, Edge accounted for a record-low percentage - less than 12% of all Windows 10 systems - which represented a nearly-two-percentage-point decline from the month before. And Edge's continued slide has been in the face of Windows 10's own growing share. Windows 10 last month powered 39% of all Windows PCs. In other words, the more people who run Windows 10, the less they collectively like Edge.”

How Should I Back Up My Computer Before an Operating System Upgrade or Reinstall? Going to be talking more about this topic at the next general meeting. This article reinforces what are always saying -- backup backup backup
http://tinyurl.com/yb84ftos

How To Send Sound Clips With Facebook Messenger. Messenger lets you send text messages to anyone you know of that has a Facebook account. But it is a lot more. You can make a voice call just like a phone call but it does not require phone service, just WiFi. Pick up an older smartphone someone does not need anymore and you have an internet capable device to surf the net, get emails, use facebook, and even make phone and VIDEO calls using messenger. How cool is that? If you do not want to go that far, you can leave a voice message. This article tells you how.
http://tinyurl.com/y9dqnabr



In previous versions of Windows there was a quick launch bar that was to the right of the Start button. Remember? Well this article tells us how to Bring Back the Quick Launch Bar in Windows 7, 8, or 10.
http://tinyurl.com/z4qmjxu

This one caught my eye and I might be the only one interested but here it is. Praisenter is a free Church presentation software to project worship songs, Bible verses and custom slides with images, audio/video etc
http://tinyurl.com/ya4qol6

Here is another one. It claims to be one of the most popular open source worship presentation program out there, OpenLP packs a ton of features for managing and displaying songs, Bible verses, images, videos (not video backgrounds though) and more.
http://tinyurl.com/y9sl9kze

Ever wonder why C: is C: and D: is D:? You can assign drive letters on your own instead of having Windows 10 decide for you and here is how:
Windows 10 Drive Letters
http://tinyurl.com/yau6fxpy

Most hard drives today come as 1tb and even more. We do not need anywhere close to that amount for normal processes. Some like to take that 1tb and break it up into individual partitions. Instead of one big C: they partitions the drive into 2 or 3 parts. C: still holds their OS and programs but they allocate a couple of other drive letters for backup and data storage. He is how To Make Partitions In Windows 10
http://tinyurl.c butom/y7sz5rcm

The recommended content on your Netflix account comes from a complicated algorithm analyzing your viewing history. But sometimes after endlessly scrolling through Netflix, you find yourself no closer to making a selection from the recommended content. This is where a collection of “secret codes” will be a godsend. By making a small tweak to the Netflix URL, you will be able to unlock hyper-specific genres such as religious documentaries or cerebral French-language dramas from the 1960s. These secret Netflix codes unlock hidden show and movie categories
http://tinyurl.com/yaybhamg

In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, tomshardware, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.