February Meetings 2019
Feb 7, 2019 - Dark Mode, email, passwords and smartphones
Beginning in February, the Club questions were still starting each class, this practice was eventually postponed for a short lesson or two before the questions begin, so as to get thru at least a few lessons before the class is over. We also began Spam of the Week - a feature that highlighted a recent spam attack on someone in the class, this week some phishing from a fake Apple email asking for all sorts of personal info. Please use the contact form on this site to let me know what spam you get this week, and remember NEVER click on unknown links.
Club Questions
Dark Mode is a thing now, as people get older and vision gets harder, Dark Mode is here to save your eye muscles. In a nutshell, Dark Mode reverses the blacks and whites on your screen, so black type on a white page, is now white type on a black page. There are a few down sides to Dark Mode, but for many, the benefits outweigh the negatives. Here's how to turn on “Dark Mode” in Gmail and how to add it to everything you view on Google Chrome. Give it a try and see if it's for you.
Beginning in February, the Club questions were still starting each class, this practice was eventually postponed for a short lesson or two before the questions begin, so as to get thru at least a few lessons before the class is over. We also began Spam of the Week - a feature that highlighted a recent spam attack on someone in the class, this week some phishing from a fake Apple email asking for all sorts of personal info. Please use the contact form on this site to let me know what spam you get this week, and remember NEVER click on unknown links.
Club Questions
Dark Mode is a thing now, as people get older and vision gets harder, Dark Mode is here to save your eye muscles. In a nutshell, Dark Mode reverses the blacks and whites on your screen, so black type on a white page, is now white type on a black page. There are a few down sides to Dark Mode, but for many, the benefits outweigh the negatives. Here's how to turn on “Dark Mode” in Gmail and how to add it to everything you view on Google Chrome. Give it a try and see if it's for you.
Passwords, a subject we will come back to many times, with the most important lesson always being that having a strong password is a necessity online these days, and keeping it safe from thieves is just as important. Browser extensions can be very helpful from helping keep your data private to helping your spell words correctly, here’s a link talking about a browser extension on Google Chrome that will check your passwords against a database of stolen/compromised passwords to let you know if you should change your password. Keep in mind, as fast as these 'databases' are created by the good guys, the bad guys are finding new ways to defeat your passwords. Strong and unique passwords are the solution.
Email is another topic we will often discus, today we are looking at the free (in exchange for your data) email service offered by Google, called, Gmail which can be a wonderful service, and has a variety of features. Here’s a link to some basic tips on how to use Gmail to its fullest.
BONUS: — 20+ Hidden features on smartphones, this one goes over some good basics for a first time smartphone user and for those of you interested in finding out more about smartphone features, this article is a good place to start. It covers Android and iPhones.
Email is another topic we will often discus, today we are looking at the free (in exchange for your data) email service offered by Google, called, Gmail which can be a wonderful service, and has a variety of features. Here’s a link to some basic tips on how to use Gmail to its fullest.
BONUS: — 20+ Hidden features on smartphones, this one goes over some good basics for a first time smartphone user and for those of you interested in finding out more about smartphone features, this article is a good place to start. It covers Android and iPhones.
Feb 14, 2019 - Outlook, Phone Font Size and How to Clear Cookies
Club Questions
For those of you using Microsoft Outlook, it can get a bit daunting sometimes when looking for lost emails. This short video (scroll down page to find video) goes over all the basics for email management in Outlook.
This week we also dug a bit deeper into Windows drives and just how they work. For those of you interested in knowing more about how your hard drive functions, watch this video it gets a bit geeky, but has some good basic knowledge.
If you've ever wondered 'how big is the biggest file I could use on a computer?' then this is the video for you, it goes over, in rather technical terms, how file size works on computers. This one once again gets geeky and techie fast, but it is a fascinating ride.
Club Questions
For those of you using Microsoft Outlook, it can get a bit daunting sometimes when looking for lost emails. This short video (scroll down page to find video) goes over all the basics for email management in Outlook.
This week we also dug a bit deeper into Windows drives and just how they work. For those of you interested in knowing more about how your hard drive functions, watch this video it gets a bit geeky, but has some good basic knowledge.
If you've ever wondered 'how big is the biggest file I could use on a computer?' then this is the video for you, it goes over, in rather technical terms, how file size works on computers. This one once again gets geeky and techie fast, but it is a fascinating ride.
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Smartphone users often complain about how small the type is on their phones, this problem can easily be fixed on iPhone and Android phones. Here's how to enlarge type on Android phones.
This video covers how to enlarge type size on iPhone models BONUS: Here's one of many, many tips & tricks videos that can be found on YouTube, this one is showing you their top 30 smartphone tricks for Android (don't worry iPhone people, some of these tips also apply to Apple). |
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Cookies aren't just delicious with milk, they can also be rather helpful or annoying, watch this short video for a basic understanding of cookies and what they do for/to you.
Now that you know a little more about cookies, here's how to clear the cookies off one site or all sites on Google Chrome as told to you by one of Mary Poppins chimney sweeps.
On this video, our favourite chimney sweep continues with how to clear the cookies on one site or all of them on Firefox, Opera, Edge, and Internet Explorer.
For smartphone and tablet users, find out how to clear out the caches and cookies on those devices in this short video.
Now that you know a little more about cookies, here's how to clear the cookies off one site or all sites on Google Chrome as told to you by one of Mary Poppins chimney sweeps.
On this video, our favourite chimney sweep continues with how to clear the cookies on one site or all of them on Firefox, Opera, Edge, and Internet Explorer.
For smartphone and tablet users, find out how to clear out the caches and cookies on those devices in this short video.
How to backup your computer, both Windows and Apple, with an external drive is explained very simply in this video. the video will be on the right side of the page you open. click to start the video. How to backup your computer by Lifehacker.
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Question: Can a virus get into external drive used as time machine backup?
Answer: The short answer is, yes it’s possible, but this can only happen if the computer you are using does NOT have an antivirus program running. As long as you have an up-to-date antivirus program working on your computer, your entire system will be safe. |
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Feb 21, 2019 - Tabs, Browsers & Windows (oh my)
This week started a new trend, instead of getting right into all the member's questions, we started with a short (10 minute) lesson on the subject of Tabs, Browsers and Windows.
A Window is like a box that has stuff in it. it's a 'window' into what's inside the program.
A Browser is a special kind of window that allows you access to internet. Google Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Vivaldi, Safari are all browsers and all have an address bar at the top of their page, this is how you can navigate to places on the internet.
A Tab is like the 'notch' on a file folder that you write the name on, they are at the top of Browser windows. many Tabs can be open in one Browser at the same time. Tabs can also be found in other programs (IE, Microsoft Word, Pages, etc). Tabs allow you to hop back and forth between many different websites quickly.
All Browsers are Windows, but not all Windows are Browsers.
Club Questions
Basic privacy online is getting more difficult everyday, one way to protect yourself is by using a VPN. This is a review covers what is a VPN? (hint: Virtual Private Network) and in this short, well-crafted video you get the whole story on VPNs and just how they work in simple terms and basic animation.
A Window is like a box that has stuff in it. it's a 'window' into what's inside the program.
A Browser is a special kind of window that allows you access to internet. Google Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Vivaldi, Safari are all browsers and all have an address bar at the top of their page, this is how you can navigate to places on the internet.
A Tab is like the 'notch' on a file folder that you write the name on, they are at the top of Browser windows. many Tabs can be open in one Browser at the same time. Tabs can also be found in other programs (IE, Microsoft Word, Pages, etc). Tabs allow you to hop back and forth between many different websites quickly.
All Browsers are Windows, but not all Windows are Browsers.
Club Questions
Basic privacy online is getting more difficult everyday, one way to protect yourself is by using a VPN. This is a review covers what is a VPN? (hint: Virtual Private Network) and in this short, well-crafted video you get the whole story on VPNs and just how they work in simple terms and basic animation.
We’ve talked about browsers before, here’s a list of some of the more secure browsers as recommended by Nord VPN, this list is not in order of best to worst, make sure to look at the rating each browser is given out of 10, near the bottom of each review. They cover all the most popular browsers.
Feb 28, 2019 - Cut, Copy & Paste, Popup Ads, and some animation
Start with Spam of the Week - Never Click on UNKNOWN Links
Club Questions
This week we did a review of: Cut, Copy & Paste. Below are the basic keystrokes on PCs and Macs. You can highlight some text or image in any window and then use the following key strokes;
CUT - Control key + X (Mac Command + X) (copies & removes)
COPY - Control key + C (Mac - Command key + C) (copies only)
PASTE - Control key + V (Mac - Command key + V) (pastes only)
Or you can watch this guy (video below) walk you thru all the basics of cut, copy & paste for Windows users. Very good video, goes into detail on all the important stuff.
Or for you Mac users wondering about cut, copy & paste, you can watch this video, but be warned that the narrator is a bit quick while covering a lot of options. If you want to dive even deeper into the world of Mac keystroke shortcuts, please enjoy this video.
Nobody Likes a Pop Up
How to block pop up ads on your phone/tablet? This article explains it all for both iOS and Android with easy to follow graphics. Please keep in mind that no matter how fast the good guys find solutions to popups, the popup people find new ways to popup ads on you.
There are many ways to try to block robocalls, but the truth is that the bad people who initiate those calls are constantly changing the way they do it so as to keep ahead of the companies that are trying to stop them. It is an ongoing battle.
How to block pop up ads on your phone/tablet? This article explains it all for both iOS and Android with easy to follow graphics. Please keep in mind that no matter how fast the good guys find solutions to popups, the popup people find new ways to popup ads on you.
There are many ways to try to block robocalls, but the truth is that the bad people who initiate those calls are constantly changing the way they do it so as to keep ahead of the companies that are trying to stop them. It is an ongoing battle.
