Photo Story 3

Photo Story enables you to turn a selection of 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.

First, you need to install Photo Story.

1. Download Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows XP
   Don’t be concerned, it works fine in Windows 10.

2. Double-click to install it

After installation, run it...

Select Begin a new story and then click Next

Click Import Pictures

Locate the pictures you want to use, select them all, and then click OK

They are all added to the film strip. You can move the pictures by dragging them.

Click on a picture to view it in the larger window. When a picture is in the larger window you can add an effect to it by Clicking Edit...

Click Next. To the right of the picture, you will see an editing block where you can add a title to the picture.

Click Next and then you can add narration to each picture if you wish.

Click Next again to choose the background music of your choice or computer-generated music.

Click Create Music and choose one, then click OK.

Click Preview to view and hear what you have created

Click Next to save your video and create a project file

Your choice of output determines the size and quality of the movie file. In my opinion, the best version is one saved on your computer.

Always save the Project so you will be able to go back and make and changes. To do that, click Save Project...

Choose a location and a name, then click Save

Then click Next to Build Your Story (your resultant video). This may take a while as it has to combine your pictures and the music.

You are done. The project and video files have been saved. At this final window, you can View your story or Exit. You can always view the story later by locating it on your computer and double-clicking to open it in any video player such as Movies & TV that comes with Windows 10.

I find this an easy way to create a video of pictures I have taken for an event. It creates an animated slide show that can be emailed or posted on social media. There are many editing functions available I did not discuss here. You can move the pictures around, change the coloring, modify the transition between pictures, and more.

I hope you find it another useful addition to your toolbox.

Computer Class Notes 5-25-2020

How about some SIGs for the club?

There is an interest in a Special Interest Group on Anytinhg Photos.

Taking photos, backing up photos, Photos to the cloud, editing photos, using Photoshop, using Gimp, etc

Perhaps a SIG on using the cloud and another on mobile devices would be useful.

And maybe a SIG for New Users?

However, what we need is people willing to run the SIGs. Any volunteers

Why do I have to sign in repeatedly on Yahoo Mail?
This may occur with any account you have answered Yes to the Keep me signed in question. That information is stored in a cookie. If you are running a maintenance program that removes cookies and you have changed the defaults so all cookies and perhaps even passwords are removed, you will have to sign in each time after you have cleared all the cookies and passwords. If you do not change the defaults in programs like Glary and Wise Care 365, then your passwords will remain and only the bad cookies will be removed.

What is the best pop up blocker with Chrome?
I use the extension called uBlocker
https://tinyurl.com/y9lmtln3

What extensions do you recommend?
Grammarly for Chrome
Social Network Adblocker
Show and Hide Passwords
uBlocker - #1 Adblock Tool for Chrome

How do I copy pictures (backup?) onto a flash drive?
In File Manager (Win+E) open the folder containing your pictures
In another instance of File Manager (Win+E again) open the flash drive
Right-click the taskbar and select Show windows side by side
Drag the pictures from the picture folder to the flash drive
Ctrl+A to select all of them and you can drag them all at once
Ctrl+click to select more than one image, if not all. Or click the first one to copy, hold the shift key down and click the last one to copy to select every image from the first you clicked to the last.

A chrome extension somehow changed my search engine
This is where have a restore point is very helpful



Simple go to Settings (Win+I) and type “restore” then choose to Create a restore point.



Click Create to set a restore point. I suggest doing this prior to running the maintenance programs once a week. This will give you a point in time to return to if issues come up.


Click System Restore to locate previously created restore points to take you back in time to where everything was working fine.

Click Next to view the restore points available



Choose one and click Next to back your computer up to that point in time.

Wise Care 365

I am using this to replace CCleaner. One of the options is to slim the system. System Cleaner > System Slimming



In the lower right of that screen make sure the box is checked to create a restore point.

Run that once a week and you will be sure to have a restore point to go back to if necessary.

Demonstration from Jeanne Niosi


https://tinyurl.com/y78zg23a

A Simple Screen Recording Tool
Want to quickly capture a video, but don't have the time to edit it? Check out the video recorders that we reviewed in the past, e.g. VokoscreenNG, OBS Studio, or SimpleScreenRecorder. Quick Screen Recorder fits the criteria as well.
https://tinyurl.com/ycd4mskt

How to Get a Vertical Taskbar
Windows 10’s taskbar normally stretches across the bottom of the screen, but you can move it to the left or right side of the screen in a vertical orientation. It’s great for widescreen displays, giving your applications more vertical screen real estate.
https://tinyurl.com/y89djte4

How to Tell If You Have Windows 64-Bit or 32-Bit
Not sure if your installed version of Windows is 32-bit or 64-bit? If you're running Windows XP, chances are its 32-bit. However, if you're on Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows Vista, the chance that you're running a 64-bit version goes up considerably.
https://tinyurl.com/y929nkxg

Microsoft Will Phase Out 32-bit Versions of Windows 10
Microsoft says: "Beginning with Windows 10, version 2004, all new Windows 10 systems will be required to use 64-bit builds and Microsoft will no longer release 32-bit builds for OEM distribution," wrote the company in its documentation. Earlier versions of Windows will continue to get 32-bit support, however, as the hardware included typically won't support 64-bit code.
https://tinyurl.com/ycs86t85

How to Copy, Cut, and Paste
Copy, cut, and paste are three basic operations that every Windows user should know by heart. The concepts behind them apply to nearly every application you’ll ever use. Here’s how they work.
https://bit.ly/2zTHRzA

Link from George to the last APCUG virtual conference Getting to Know Windows from An Insider's Point of View workshop This is the link to the video...https://youtu.be/J-p-uju19Sw

Create a Shortcut or Hotkey to Clear the Clipboard
Have you ever copied something to the clipboard that you don’t want to leave there in case somebody else is going to use your computer? Sure, you can copy something else to the clipboard real quick, but can’t you just make a shortcut or hotkey to clear it?
https://tinyurl.com/y7u6oaro

Life 360
Life360 Inc. is a San Francisco–based information technology company that provides location-based services, including sharing and notifications, to consumers globally. Its main service is called Life360, a family social networking app released in 2008.

Sherri and I use this smartphone app. It enables us to see where we are located at any time. Very useful when you are both on the move. Great for seeing where your family members are allowing you to rest easy when they are on long rips. And it is free.
https://www.life360.com/

We did not talk about the following but some might find them a worthwhile read:
Microsoft Excel Alternatives
Spreadsheets are ubiquitous: people use them every day for tracking inventory, budgeting, data tracking, and a million other things. And, while Microsoft Excel has been the go-to spreadsheet for years, there are other (free) alternatives you might like more.
https://tinyurl.com/yben59dl

Microsoft Office Alternatives
While Microsoft Office is still the ubiquitous choice for word processing, slideshow presentations, spreadsheet calculations, and many more digital tasks, there are still plenty of free alternatives. Avoid freeware full of ads and check out these free productivity suites.
https://tinyurl.com/ycuw27xd

Computer Class Notes 5-19-2020

Organize Pictures and More

Thanks, Donna for a great presentation on how she organizes her photo using folder and subfolders in File Manager. And to Susie sharing the results of her editing her photos using Photoshop and a number of free programs. If you do not have Photoshop you can use a free equivalent called Gimp.

Some of the free programs Susie uses:

atom smasher http://atom.smasher.org/

be funky https://www.befunky.com/

funny.pho.to cartoon https://funny.pho.to/cartoon

funny.pho.to https://funny.pho.to/

funny photo maker http://www.funny-photo-maker.com/

gimp (like photoshop only free) https://www.gimp.org

Google photos and Photo scan by Google

Loonapix http://www.loonapix.com/

lunapic https://www6.lunapic.com/editor/

photo face fun http://www.photofacefun.com/

photofunia https://photofunia.com/

PhoXo http://www.phoxo.com/en/

pixlr https://pixlr.com/ (my favorite pixlr express is going away when flash does.)

simply good pictures https://www.malavida.com/en/soft/simply-good-pictures/

Donna suggests we take a look at our photos and enter one or more of these contests. You needn't be a professional to enter contests. The first one is closing in two weeks so get your pictures in quickly.

https://psa-photo.org/index.php?psa-competition-dates - contest and more

https://www.chnep.org/2021-nature-calendar - nature photos

http://www.viewbug.com - contests

http://www.fineartamerica.com - sell your work

http://www.cafepress.com - create products with your photos (cups, t-shirts)

http://www.zazzle.com - create products with your photos

http://www.winkflash.com - create products with your photos

http://www.flickr.com - share photos

==========================================

And this just in from Donna:

Photography on Your Smart Phone - Part 1

NOTE: As of 5/21, Class 1 is full, 2 and 3 are still open on 6/5 and 6/12. They are $20 per class 

Online Webinar
Instructor: John KellerMay 29
10:00-11:15am
Call 941-505-0130 to register

We will discuss using cell phones and tablets for capturing great photos. We will learn how to arrange photo apps, discuss the various photo and editing apps and gadgets to make taking photos both easy and fun, and how to capture portraits, panoramas, landscapes, and more. Some basic maintenance on your cell and tablet will also be reviewed...

==========================================

Windows 10 20.04 update coming soon

George talked about the latest Windows 10 update. It is expected on May 28th. We never know how the latest update will run on our computers. We strongly suggest a full image backup BEFORE you attempt the upgrade. And when it is successful, do another.

A big change in Cortina coming. It will be an app and not integrated into Windows. Win+C will open it to listen. Other small changes coming in this release.

What’s New in Windows 10’s May 2020 Update
This post is up-to-date with features included in Windows Insider builds up to build 19041.208, which Microsoft said was likely the final build on April 30, 2020. We originally published this article on Aug. 28, 2019, and we’ve been updating it throughout Microsoft’s development process.
https://tinyurl.com/y55dljzk

Windows 10 beginners guide
https://youtu.be/8d9FY3LpR4E


Useful Shortcuts

Win+Ctrl+D Open a new desktop

Win+J Hides desktop items

Win+M Same

Win+D Same

Peek Only as you mouse over the peek tab in lower right

Win+1-9 Open the taskbar item

Win+arrow keys Left half screen

Right half screen

Up maximize

Down restore

Alt+Tab Shows open windows to switch to

Win+Tab Opens the task view

Ctrl+Shift+Esc Open the task manager

Ctrl+Alr+Del same

Win+E Opens File Manager

Win + or - Opens the magnifier

Win+Esc Closes the magnifier

Win+Shft+S Opens Snip & Sketch (Prtsc does the same)

Win+A Opens notifications

Win+I Opens Settings

Win+C Opens Cortana in listening mode

Win+L Locks the screen

Q&A

What do you think about the Photostick for pictures storing and organizing being advertised?

I have not used one. There are a number of brands out there. As I understand it, they are a standalone system that scans your hard drive and saves all your pictures. If you use a cloud service like Google Photos or Amazon cloud, it will do that for you.

For some reason, I am getting folders in “This PC > Pictures” that I did not create.

The only way I can find that this could occur is if you install Backup and Sync from Google. This program keeps what is on Photos in sync with what is on your PC.

Screen snipping
Shift+Win+S will open the screen snipping tool, Snip & Sketch. You can snip a portion of the screen or the entire screen. This has been active since 1903. Ctrl+V will paste the last item copied to the clipboard. Win+V will display a list of copied items in the clipboard and you can select the one you want to use.


Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard



In the Start menu, right-click a tile and it will show a list of previous activity.



Settings > Personalization > Start

How do I set up a group email in Comcast?

In Xfinity Connect, select the Address Book tab.

Under New, select Add Group from the drop-down. Or click the link Add new group in the left-side menu.

Enter a Group Name, and click Add.

Check the boxes of the contacts you wish to add to the group.

Click and drag to move the contacts to the group.

How do I clear the cache on my Android phone?

Open the Settings of your phone.

Tap the Storage heading to open its settings page. ...

Tap the Other Apps heading to see a list of your installed apps.

Find the application you want to clear the cache of and tap its listing.

Tap the Clear cache button.


APCUG Volunteer of the Year Award instructions as mentioned by George today

https://apcug2.org/don-singleton-volunteer-of-the-year-award/

OneDrive
OneDrive is both a folder on your C: drive and storage in the Microsoft cloud allocated to you. The amount you own is 5gb or more depending on how long you have had your Microsoft account. You can access your cloud space from any computer by going to https://onedrive.live.com. If you are not already logged into your account because of your Windows 10 login, you will be asked to enter your Microsoft user name (an email address) and your password.

Back to the PC. Whatever you save into your OneDrive folder on your PC will be synchronized (synced) to your OneDrive cloud. The OneDrive folder is just like any other folder on your C: drive. You can save files into it and create additional folders within it. The only difference is that whatever you place into a OneDrive folder is synced to the cloud when you are connected to the Internet. And when you copy a file from a non-OneDrive folder into your OneDrive folder that file is moved--it is no longer in the original location.

This makes OneDrive a simple and powerful way to have a cloud backup of your data. I suggest NOT placing pictures in your OneDrive. They take up a lot of space and you should be using Google Photos to freely store them for you in the Google Cloud.

Chrome Saved Passwords


chrome://settings
To display the password click the “eye” and enter your sign in password for windows


To remove a saved password, click the three dots and choose Remove

Password Extention



In Chrome, click the 3 dots and choose Extensions


This is the password revealer extension I use.

Manual Defender Scan

Settings > Update & Security


Windows Security > Virus & threat protection

Quick scan

Computer Class Notes 5-12-2020

Way to make back and forward arrow in Chrome darker




The back and forward arrows are light until there is a page to go back or forward to. If your theme is set to a darker one, they may be hard to read.

Print Scanned Items In Microsoft Fax And Scan



The scanner creates an image file (JPG, PNG, etc). To generate a PDF from that image, File > Print and choose Microsoft Print to PDF.

Google Secure access
What is less secure app access?A less secure app (LSA) is an app that connects to Google accounts using only username and password verification for access and not OAuth. Generally, you should only allow your users to use external apps that connect to Google accounts via OAuth, as LSAs make user accounts more vulnerable to hijacking.

How do I stop Google from blocking my sign in?
To do so, sign in to Gmail on your desktop, click your profile and select 'Settings'. On the settings page, go to Sign-in & security and scroll down to the very bottom where you will see the 'Allow less secure apps' option. Click the switch to enable/disable it.

Print Text Messages
To print a text from your smartphone, press the text and then, depending on your phone, select Print or Copy. Then open another App like your email and pasted the text to send it or print it.

Voice To Text On The Computer?
Like you can do on your cell phone when texting, you can also use voice to text on your PC. The Google.com page shows a microphone to the right of the search bar if you have a microphone installed. If so, click it and you can speak into the search bar.



Open Google Docs and under Tools click Voice typing. Then what you say becomes what you write.

What Is Cache
Cached data are files, scripts, images, and other multimedia stored on your device after opening an app or visiting a website for the first time. This removes the need for the app to access that information the next time, saving time. Often the cache becomes full and needs to be emptied. The maintenance programs take care of this for you. Then when you access that webpage the next time it takes a little longer as all hose images need to be downloaded. The filling of cache is more of an issue in your cell phone because of the limited memory they have.

Spellcheck In Libre
Shift+F7 to toggle automatic spell checking while using Libre. When On, spelling errors are underlined with a red squiggly. Right-click on the misspelled word and choose the correct spelling from the pop-up list.

How To Save Zoom Background Picture



Open Zoom and access your profile page, then Settings > Virtual background.



Snip the screenshot of you in front of the background using Win+Shift+S. Then save the screenshot as an image.

Change Google Photos from Orig to HD

Open Photos.Google.Com



Click the three lines menu button






Scroll down and click Settings

Click High Quality and then Recover storage to have Google resize your picture to the “High quality” size

OneDrive
OneDrive is both a folder on your C: drive and storage in the Microsoft cloud allocated to you. The amount you own is 5gb or more depending on how long you have had your Microsoft account. You can access your cloud space from any computer by going to https://onedrive.live.com. If you are not already logged into your account because of your Windows 10 login, you will be asked to enter your Microsoft user name (an email address) and your password.

Back to the PC. Whatever you save into your OneDrive folder on your PC will be synchronized (synced) to your OneDrive cloud. The OneDrive folder is just like any other folder on your C: drive. You can save files into it and create additional folders within it. The only difference is that whatever you place into a OneDrive folder is synced to the cloud when you are connected to the Internet. And when you copy a file from a non-OneDrive folder into your OneDrive folder that file is moved--it is no longer in the original location.

This makes OneDrive a simple and powerful way to have a cloud backup of your data. I suggest NOT placing pictures in your OneDrive. They take up a lot of space and you should be using Google Photos to freely store them for you in the Google Cloud.

Basic Windows 10 Training
Here are some of the material out there to help you.

https://www.elkhornservice.com/a-definitive-beginners-guide-for-windows-10-with-pictures/

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/basic-windows-10-tips-tutorials-how-to-for-beginners

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/how-to-use-windows-10

And there are many many more including hundreds on YouTube.

WinZip
Winzip is the world's leading zip utility for file compression, encryption, sharing, and backup. Save time and space, zip & unzip files quickly, and much more. Since Windows included their own compression (zipping) routine and un-compressing the need for WinZip for most users has diminished.

How To Zip And Unzip In Windows
Right-click on a file or group of files (or folders) and select Send To Compressed File.



This creates a file with a folder like icon showing a zipper.



Right-click the zip file and select Extract All… to create a new folder containing all the original sized files.

How To Search The Club Blog

The club blog site is at:
http://dickevanstraining.blogspot.com/

To search that site for a specific document place the search word(s) in front of the word site: and follow with the URL without the http://. For example, this would search all the documents in the blog for the word Ninite:

Ninite site:dickevanstraining.blogspot.com

Computer Class Notes 5-5-2020

Watch the video of today’s class
https://tinyurl.com/ydyjyjml

Online Class Invitation
The link, meeting ID, and password will stay the same for the Tuesday classes. I will continue to send the invitations but you can reuse them from now on. Feel free to pass them on to others but please do not post them on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc).

New Articles Of Mine
How To Deal With Blue Screen Of Death
Another Facebook Friend Request
Easy Mail Merge Using Microsoft Office
How To Get On Zoom
https://davescomputertips.com/author/dick-evans/

New to Windows 10? Check out 'Simply Windows' videos
If you’re new to Windows 10 or want to learn more about how to get the most out of it, there’s now a video series to help you get up to speed on using it: “Simply Windows.”
https://tinyurl.com/y98758tu

Another Computer User Group
SilvercomCTC is a technology club that meets weekly through the months of November to March at Silveridge Resort in Mesa, AZ. They hold weekly Sigs (Special Interest Groups) online and have a library of past sessions available online.
https://sctc.myclubcircle.com/

aNotepad online notetaker
It was launched with the basic premise of providing a simple tool for users to save notes online. We are very excited about interacting with this vibrant user community around aNotepad. We are a group of Open Source fanatics who have banded together to form Vannet Technology. We hope to work hard on your feedback and roll out useful features suggested by you soon.
https://anotepad.com/

Adblocker Extensions
In an attempt to show how to use adblocker it appears that it is not working. We tried to disable it on a site with many ads and the ads still appeared. We looked for another extension for Google Chrome and came up with uBblocker and it works very well.

Open Chrome




Click the three dots in the upper right to bring down the menu.




Settings > More tools > Extensions to open the extensions window.



Click three dashes in the upper left



Then at the bottom left click to open the store



Search for Adblock



Choose the one to be added and click Add to Chrome

Works in a similar manner to add extensions in the new Edge and Brave browsers.

Edge Chromium Browser Launches
Microsoft is officially launching its new Edge Chromium browser today across both Windows and macOS. A stable version of the browser is now available for everyone to download, just over a year after the software maker revealed its plans to switch to Chromium. Microsoft is initially targeting Edge at enterprise users of Windows and macOS, but consumers will be able to manually download and install it, too.
https://tinyurl.com/wlldfcs

Phone Charger 1, 1.5, or 2
The speed at which your phone will charge depends upon the output level of the charger. Look in the fine print on the charging block one is very slow, one and a half is normal, and two is a quicker charge.

Slow Clock on Desktop
We had a question about a computer losing time. It was a desktop and is an indication to me that the BIOS battery which is located on the motherboard is very weak and needs to be replaced. The battery keeps BIOS Settings such as date and time.

Do I Need Microsoft 365?
Office 365 is now known as Microsoft 365 and contains among other things the complete office suite. A one user subscription is $69 a year, $99 for the five user package. Unless you have a need for Office and the additional 1 TB of free space per user, you do not need Microsoft 365.

The Green Board
A green board background is necessary for changing the backgrounds on your screen in Zoom. It can be anything green. One user is using a green towel hung behind them. I am using a couple of green poster boards picked up at the Dollar Tree.

How to Run Maintenance
The four maintenance programs that I suggest running once a week are Glary Utilities
Superantispyware
Malwarebytes
Wise Disk Cleaner and/or Wise Care 365
Instructions on installing and using them can be found at the club site.
https://tinyurl.com/sspm7zu

Print Tiny Print Larger
When you print an email the size of the type will be the same size as came in on the email. Making the print larger while reading the email by using Ctrl+Plus does not affect the font size of the type when printed. My suggestion is to drag through to select the body of the email and then right-click in the selection and copy it to the clipboard. Then you can open up any word processing program (WordPad, Word, Libre, etc) and paste the words into the new document. Then in that document select all th text and increase the font size of the font before printing.

Photo Scan By Google
We heard about a new scanning program by Google that was demonstrated at the APCUG conference on Saturday. It is an app for your phone to take pictures of photographs. When you use this app, the picture is automatically straightened and glare removed.

Fix Sound On Laptop
If you're having an issue with sound on your laptop you might first check to see if plugging eight a pair of headphones works. If it does than you may have internal speaker problems.. Otherwise I suggest you right click on the start button and choose device manager.



Locate the section on Sound and uninstall the device. Restart the computer and Windows 10 will install fresh drivers.

Access The Clipboard
Every time you copy something it goes into the windows clipboard. Beginning with version 1903 all clipboard entries are retained until the computer is restarted. To access the clipboard contents, use Win+V. Then you can scroll through the contents of the clipboard to choose the one you wish to paste someplace.

Windows Security
Windows Defender comes with Windows 10. This is an antivirus program that protects the computer from known viruses. There is a firewall built into Windows and one built into your WiFi router to protect you from intrusions. The maintenance programs mentioned above take care of removing malware, adware, Pups (potentially unwanted programs) as well as cleaning up the registry and removing junk files. These are not viruses but they do cause your computer to be sluggish.

Hosting A Zoom Meeting
When you started using Zoom you had to download and install a zoom client. It probably happened for you when you clicked the link sent in the invitation to join a meeting. The client is an application that allows you to connect to a Zoom meeting.

If you did this through a download from Zoom.com, it probably asked you to register by entering your username and password or by using your Google account or Facebook account to sign in. If you registered you have a free account and can both join a meeting hosted by somebody else or actually host a meeting by yourself.

If you don’t see a Zoom icon on your desktop, click start and scroll down the list to locate it or Win+Q an type Zoom. From the main screen that you sign into you can click to host a meeting or to schedule a meeting or to join one. If you click to join you will need a meeting ID and a password to enter. I suggest looking at some of the videos available on Zoom.com for detailed instructions.
https://tinyurl.com/hhe7sg2

Printing Photos
We spend a lot of time discussing the advantages of using Google Photos by setting our cell phones to automatically upload any picture we take. But what if we would like to have those pictures printed out at one of the local stores such as Walgreens, CVS ,Walmart, etc.?

All we need to do is open up Google Photos (photos.goolge.com) and locate the pictures we would like to have printed. Once we have checked them all, that is placed a checkmark in the upper left circle of each picture, we can hold down the shift key and press the D (Shift+D) to download all of them to our computer. Then we can copy them to a flash drive to bring to the store. Or we can sign onto their website and upload the pictures so we can have them printed8. Then we can go to the store and pick up the photos.