Sunday, February 25, 2018

Class Notes 2-22-2018

We covered a number of other topics and I really need a secretary to keep track of them all. We ended up looking at Windows Basics

Purchase out of date software cheap. Like MS Office 2013 Pro for $8.99.
http://tinyurl.com/y72rd5cl

CONVERT SCANNED PDF TO WORD
Extract text from PDF and images (JPG, BMP, TIFF, GIF) and convert into editable Word, Excel and Text output formats
http://tinyurl.com/kh7rcft

We talked about a number of by-sell sites on Facebook and someone recommended this on called 5miles which does not used Facebook. Others like eBay and Craigslist and Etsy also do not use Facebook.
5miles http://tinyurl.com/yd8zad7z
etsy http://tinyurl.com/y7cck5wv

Display: changing backgrounds, size of desktop icons, arrangement of the icons, brightness of screen.

Setting what happens when you close the lid on your laptop and when you press the power button. Also when your computer goes dark. I set mine to not do that when plugged in. I set both to Nothing.

Browsers: importance of having more than one browser. If your browser stops working you need another one to get on the Internet to diagnose your problem. (My browser of choice is Chrome)

Trouble opening the CD drive? Go into File Manager and right click on CD/DVD and select Eject. The drawer open.



USB removal: ALWAYS do a safe removal of USB devices using either the safe removal tool on the taskbar or by going into File Manager and right clicking on the device you are removing and selecting Eject.

How to remove the need to type the password to get into Windows. Remember the password because there will be a time when Windows will want it.


  1. Win+R
  2. Type NETPLWIZ then press Enter
  3. Uncheck the box
  4. Click Apply
  5. Type your password twice
  6. Click OK and then OK
In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.

Friday, February 16, 2018

Class Notes 2-15-2018

We looked at the Advanced section of Glary Utilities and how to retrieve a list of details about our computer including key codes, amount of memory installed, size of hard disk, and more.
Open Glary > Advanced > System

The URL for these notes is dickevanstraining.blogspot.com. This gets you to the page to view the latest notes. On the right of the page is a list of previous dates we added notes. However there is no list of topics. You can use the search engine in Google to locate a set of notes about the topic you are looking for.



In the address bar of your browser type the topic as one or more words. Add a space and the word site with a colon, then type the name of the site you need to search. Here is the search to locate notes on using ninite:

windows 10 site:dickevanstraining.blogspot.com



We talked a bit about using CC and BCC when sending emails to a bunch of people. This way the recipient only sees their own address and not a list of all the people you sent the email to. When forwarding an email, scroll down to be sure someone else did not leave a list of other emails. Delete them before forwarding.

You can use a site like MailChimp to confirm an email was received. I use this to send all my emails to groups of people. I can look a couple of days later and see how many emails were read and who opened them.

Using TinyURL is good way to shorten long URLs when posting links or sending them to your friends.
http://tinyurl.com/dyynf56

Using LibreOffice as a PDF Editor, Like Word 2016, Libre will read a PDF nd allow you to make changes to it
http://tinyurl.com/yc25zrwn

Gayzo
Third party screenshot utilities right in your browser
http://tinyurl.com/ycm8jnle



Clean up tool for more than emails… Email STRIPPER is a free program for cleaning the ">" and other formatting characters out of your emails. It will restore "forwarded" or "replied" emails back to their original state so they're easier to read.
http://tinyurl.com/y7gp8b7d

Disable the touchpad on your laptop to avoid the jumping insertion point.
http://tinyurl.com/y854tx45

Helping Gramma, a current times truth… LOL
http://tinyurl.com/ybs2vu3e

LibreOffice 6.0 is out, Time to use ninite.com to download the latest vesion.
http://tinyurl.com/y9dbdyjl

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


Saturday, February 10, 2018

Class Notes 2-8-2018

We covered a lot of areas this week and I know I have not remembered them all. Here is what I do remember. See you next week...

Free Autos for those in need. This is a local business that will help those in real need to obtain a vehicle. Good to know so you can help someone in the future or perhaps you know someone right now.
http://tinyurl.com/yblyqb89

How to Windows 10 won't Boot after Update. This article speaks to the issue some have been having with the latest updates from Microsoft. If your computer is running very slow check task manager. If you CPU and Disk usage is up near 100% you may have this issue.
http://tinyurl.com/y7gmafd4

Calculator with a tape can come in handy when you need to have printed proof of your calculations. It is found in the Window Store. Here is a link.
http://tinyurl.com/y8qosla2

No More Robo calls on your home (VoIP) phone. If you have Century Link this will NOT work. It is only for Internet phones like Comcast, Vonage, Ooma, Magicjack, etc. There is list on the site about the ones that will work. All I can say is that since I signed up (and it is free) I have not received one telemarketing call.
http://tinyurl.com/oawtoef

We have been using ninite.com for a long time. It is convenient because we can update a long list of programs with one click on the downloaded installation file and not be concerned with which box to check or uncheck when installing. Unchecky will help with those other downloads not part of ninite like ccleaner.
http://tinyurl.com/jlkdwxa

We explored a couple of useful extensions that can be added to your Chrome browser: Adblocker and Show Passwords. An extension is a program that is added to the browser extending its usefulness.



Open Chrome and click the menu button (3 vertical dots) > More tools > Extentions



Scroll to the bottom and click Get more extensions



Type adblock and press the Enter key



Locate AdBlock and Add the extension to Chrome



Now locate show password and add it to Chrome

AdBlock will stop most ads from appearing on websites you visit. Show Password will allow you to mouse over hidden passwords so you can reveal the actual password.

Microsoft automatically downloads Windows updates. This is usually okay but may make your PC run a bit slower while the download is in process even though it happens in the background, they say. What if your internet connection is not cable or DSL? What if you have a hot spot or are using your cell phone as a hotspot? You are paying for that data at a high rate if you exceed your data limit each month. The 4gb upgrade to 1709 may have cost some of you a pretty penny.

There is a provision in Windows 10 to tell it you are on a metered connection. When you do, Microsoft will not download its updates so as to save you data.

Wii+I > Network and Internet > WiFi > Manage known networks

This brings you to a list of available WiFi

Mouse over the WiFi you are connecting to and click Properties


Scroll down to Metered Connection and set the switch to On.



In Window 10 you can press Win+P to pop up a menu of display options for a second monitor. The choices are self evident. The second monitor may be an HDMI device or and VGA monitor. Many newer PCs are not equipped with a VGA port.

There are many adjustments you can make in Window to your mouse. You can change the size and color of the mouse pointer, adjust the speed it takes across the screen as you move it, swap the functions of the left and right button (for left handed users), make it easy to find by adding circles or mouse trails, and more.

Win+I > Devices > Mouse > Additional mouse options



From here you can modify and make adjustments to the mouse.



The Pointer tab is where you can Show the location of the mouse with circles and where you can add pointer trails (aka mouse droppings)

If you ever get frustrated with double-clicking, there is a setting to make all clicks single instead of double. The icons on the desktop become actual links (hand mouse pointer) instead of the normal pointer. The hand indicates that you only need to click once. Here is how…

Win+I > Type Folders and a dropdown will appear



Click Show hidden files and folders



General tab > Click items as follows > click Single-click radio button > Apply > OK

Now all your desktop icons will be single click

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

Friday, February 2, 2018

Class Notes 2-1-2018

Point out the difference in USB ports. The black ones are for USB 1/2 and the blue ones are for USB 3. The higher the number the faster the port and data transfer speed. If you are plugging in the dongle for a wireless mouse to the wires for a keyboard or mouse, use the black (or white on older PC’s). Leave the blue ones for devices that are designed for high speed. Do aste the port on a slower device.

Someone asked how to make their Windows 10 PC boot without asking for a password. Windows needs a password. However there is a way to have it remember the password and have you log it in automatically. In the Type here to search box, type NETPLWIZ and hit the Enter key. This is what comes up:



Uncheck the Use this list… checkbox.



Click OK and OK

The next time you turn out your PC it will grab the password you set and not have you enter it by hand. However, write down the password as you may need it in the future.

If you would like to restart your PC in safe mode, the old F8 at boot does not work. At the Type here to search box type MSCONFIG and press the Enter key to bring up the System Configuration screen.



Open the Boot tab, then check the Safe boot checkbox and then click OK. The next time you start up the PC will start in Safe mode. When you are done using Safe mode, run MSCONFIG again and uncheck the box.



The many faces of Outlook. What do you use for email, you ask. Outlook. Is it the outlook that is part of Windows?



Or is it the outlook that is part of Windows Live?



Or is it the Outlook that is part of Microsoft Office?

They are different, but all can access your mail from wherever they are stored. The later gets your email from your server like Comcast, Embarq, Hotmail, AOL, etc and places it on your PC as .pst files. Once retrieved from your mail server they are on your PC and you do not need to be on the Internet to view them.

The first one is a program on your PC that allows you to access the mail from the cloud. You choose where it finds it and give outlook your credentials from all the places you use for mail servers (comcast, embarq, aol, etc). Your mail stays in the cloud.

The middle one is a web service through your Microsoft account. Like the first one, it displays your mail stored in the cloud. For personal email (not business) this is the one I recommend. All your mail is in the Microsoft cloud and accessible from anywhere.

I prefer to use the webmail from Yahoo or Google. Nothing is on my computer; all email is in the cloud and I can access it on any computer or cell phone with my sign on credentials.

Here is another good article on Outlook:

How do I backup my Hotmail or Outlook.com mail?
http://tinyurl.com/y7m253qm




Spent most of the class looking at how to build a movie with sound using an old Microsoft program called Photo Story 3. Install it on your PC and Create a New Story. Here is a good paper on how to use it step-by-step. http://tinyurl.com/6k7esp. There is even a YouTube video on it at http://tinyurl.com/ycbpm8pg.

Then we looked at how to do an image search in Google.