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