June Meetings 2019
June 6, 2019 - What is Hacking? Organizing Podcasts, Searching Google Images
"Unknown links say the darndest things."
- Art Linkletter
CLUB QUESTIONS
"Unknown links say the darndest things."
- Art Linkletter
CLUB QUESTIONS
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What Exactly is Hacking and How is it Done?
Hacking generally refers to unauthorized intrusion into a computer or a network. The person engaged in hacking activities is known as a hacker. This hacker may alter system or security features to accomplish a goal that differs from the original purpose of the system. Most often the end goal of a hacker is to extract money in some form from the hacked. Hacking can also refer to non-malicious activities, usually involving unusual or improvised alterations to equipment or processes. The actual process a hacker uses varies, but will always include modifying computer code. Below is a short video that goes over some of the basic hacking techniques that hackers use for cracking passwords, it gets a bit technical, but hang in till the end to hear the closing thoughts on passwords, along with some tips on how to keep yourself (and your passwords) safer. |
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Organizing Your Podcasts
If you're a fan of podcasts, you probably already know how they can take a fair bit of wrangling to keep in order. Whether you listen to your podcasts on an Android device or an iPhone, this article from MakeUseOf goes over a bunch of ways to get your podcasts organized. |
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What Comes After a byte? - Chart of byte Sizes
How to Use Images to Search on Google
Maybe you've already got a picture of what you're looking for, with Google Image Search's help you can use the power of the internet to look for matches to your image. A reverse image search can be helpful in myriad ways, matching a style of clothing, comparing patterns, etc, etc. Here's several different ways to use an image in a search from Google Search Support.
Maybe you've already got a picture of what you're looking for, with Google Image Search's help you can use the power of the internet to look for matches to your image. A reverse image search can be helpful in myriad ways, matching a style of clothing, comparing patterns, etc, etc. Here's several different ways to use an image in a search from Google Search Support.
June 13, 2019 - Internet Naming Conventions, Your Online Death Plan, Emojis as Bookmarks, Where to Find Them & What They Mean
If the "link" is unknown, then leave it "alone."
CLUB QUESTIONS
If the "link" is unknown, then leave it "alone."
CLUB QUESTIONS
Internet Naming Conventions
You might wonder who is the person or the people that come up with all the names of computer stuff, like "Gigabyte" and other technical things that need names. Electrotechnology gets all its names from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), they prepare and publish all international standards for all things electrotechnical. They are based in Switzerland.
You might wonder who is the person or the people that come up with all the names of computer stuff, like "Gigabyte" and other technical things that need names. Electrotechnology gets all its names from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), they prepare and publish all international standards for all things electrotechnical. They are based in Switzerland.
After You Die What Happens to Your Online Presence?
For those of you who plan on dying, you might want to organize your online presence before you're gone. Google makes it somewhat easy to do just that. From sharing your photos with loved ones to deleting your online presence altogether, Google has a plan for you. For more info on how to plan ahead, take a look at this article from HowToGeek, they help you get thru all the Google steps.
For those of you who plan on dying, you might want to organize your online presence before you're gone. Google makes it somewhat easy to do just that. From sharing your photos with loved ones to deleting your online presence altogether, Google has a plan for you. For more info on how to plan ahead, take a look at this article from HowToGeek, they help you get thru all the Google steps.
Finding Your Emojis on Windows 10
Who doesn't love emojis? But sometimes finding where they are located on your computer can be difficult. If you use Windows 10, you're in luck, Microsoft added a hot-key shortcut last year that allows you to open your emoji window inside almost any application. For all the details on how to find and access your emojis, take a look at this article from HowToGeek.
Apple Emojis
If you are an Apple user, you have a couple of ways to access your emojis. You can use a keyboard shortcut (Press Control–Command–Space bar) to open the emoji window, or you can also go into your system preferences > keyboard and make sure that, "show keyboard and emoji viewers in Menu Bar" is checked. For all the details on Apple emojis and more, take a look at this article.
Who doesn't love emojis? But sometimes finding where they are located on your computer can be difficult. If you use Windows 10, you're in luck, Microsoft added a hot-key shortcut last year that allows you to open your emoji window inside almost any application. For all the details on how to find and access your emojis, take a look at this article from HowToGeek.
Apple Emojis
If you are an Apple user, you have a couple of ways to access your emojis. You can use a keyboard shortcut (Press Control–Command–Space bar) to open the emoji window, or you can also go into your system preferences > keyboard and make sure that, "show keyboard and emoji viewers in Menu Bar" is checked. For all the details on Apple emojis and more, take a look at this article.
How to Add Emoji to your Bookmarks
If you are using Google Chrome as your browser and would like to add emojis to your bookmarks (or even replace the words entirely with emojis) there is an easy way to do it. When you have Chrome open, click on "bookmarks" from the top menu and then follow the instructions (with pics) below.
If you are using Google Chrome as your browser and would like to add emojis to your bookmarks (or even replace the words entirely with emojis) there is an easy way to do it. When you have Chrome open, click on "bookmarks" from the top menu and then follow the instructions (with pics) below.
Click on the Bookmarks Manager from the Google Chrome Bookmarks menu
Then choose the bookmark you want to edit by clicking on the three vertical dots at the far right side of the bookmark
Then open your emoji window and drag and drop the emoji of your choice into the "name" section of the bookmark. Voila.
Adding Emojis
That's how you add emoji to the Google Chrome browser. For you Apple users on Safari, take a look at how to add emoji to bookmarks. Not all browsers make it easy to add emoji (Firefox for example), but look for it to get easier for all browsers as emoji become more ubiquitous on the web.
That's how you add emoji to the Google Chrome browser. For you Apple users on Safari, take a look at how to add emoji to bookmarks. Not all browsers make it easy to add emoji (Firefox for example), but look for it to get easier for all browsers as emoji become more ubiquitous on the web.
Chrome Hover Cards
Now let's just say that you're the kind of person who wants to totally replace your bookmark words with emoji, this will allow you to fit far more bookmarks in the visible section of your bookmarks bar. But this also creates a potential problem, with all those tiny emoji replacing the words of your bookmarks, it may get difficult to know what site bookmark you're clicking on. There is a solution, they are called Google Chrome Hover Cards and may be the perfect fix to your emoji bookmark viewing problem.
Now let's just say that you're the kind of person who wants to totally replace your bookmark words with emoji, this will allow you to fit far more bookmarks in the visible section of your bookmarks bar. But this also creates a potential problem, with all those tiny emoji replacing the words of your bookmarks, it may get difficult to know what site bookmark you're clicking on. There is a solution, they are called Google Chrome Hover Cards and may be the perfect fix to your emoji bookmark viewing problem.
What Do All Those Emoji Mean?
Now that you've found all your emojis and figured out how to use them as bookmarks (among other uses), it's probably a good idea to find out what they mean. Emojis are a language unto themselves and understanding them can be difficult sometimes, but not if you're using an Emoji Dictionary. Check out the list of links to various Emoji websites below.
Now that you've found all your emojis and figured out how to use them as bookmarks (among other uses), it's probably a good idea to find out what they mean. Emojis are a language unto themselves and understanding them can be difficult sometimes, but not if you're using an Emoji Dictionary. Check out the list of links to various Emoji websites below.
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June 20, 2019 - Clearing Computer Cache, Restoring Deleted Files, SuperCook
When I don't think, I click on the unknown link.
- anonymous
CLUB QUESTIONS
When I don't think, I click on the unknown link.
- anonymous
CLUB QUESTIONS
Will Clearing My Computer Cache Make it Run Faster?
You might have heard people tell you that if your computer is running slowly, you need to clear your cache. But does the act of clearing a cache really speed things up? Not so much. Cache files are created by apps to store commonly used information so it doesn’t have to be generated or downloaded again. Cache files will tell a website who your are when you return to it, or they might remember preferences, that’s why the second time you visit a page on the same site, it displays the layout of the page very quickly. It has been cached. When you wipe the cache, what you are actually doing is starting all of that work over again, and slowing your computer down in the process.
You might have heard people tell you that if your computer is running slowly, you need to clear your cache. But does the act of clearing a cache really speed things up? Not so much. Cache files are created by apps to store commonly used information so it doesn’t have to be generated or downloaded again. Cache files will tell a website who your are when you return to it, or they might remember preferences, that’s why the second time you visit a page on the same site, it displays the layout of the page very quickly. It has been cached. When you wipe the cache, what you are actually doing is starting all of that work over again, and slowing your computer down in the process.
Exceptions to the Rule
If your computer doesn’t have a ton of hard drive space, and your applications have created way too many temporary files, you might have a real reason to clear out the cache. This would be even more true if your computer is still using a spinning hard drive, but nowadays most computers come with a Solid State (no moving parts) HD where this is less of a problem.
Cache Corruption
There are times when an application cache becomes corrupted, and requires a wipe to get things going again. Or perhaps the cache is just out of date and has old files, this is a big one for web browsers. This problem usually manifests itself as an issue rather than a slowdown though, so while you can fix problems this way, it isn’t the best choice for increasing performance.
Lousy Autocomplete
Another reason people wipe the cache is a side effect of a badly written auto complete algorithm. Let’s say your application’s search box attempts to give you a dropdown of recent items, and the algorithm is slow and clunky. You would end up having better performance while searching to disable the history or wipe the cache, which leads people to believe that cache is bad, when the reality is that cache is good… Bad apps are bad.
If your computer doesn’t have a ton of hard drive space, and your applications have created way too many temporary files, you might have a real reason to clear out the cache. This would be even more true if your computer is still using a spinning hard drive, but nowadays most computers come with a Solid State (no moving parts) HD where this is less of a problem.
Cache Corruption
There are times when an application cache becomes corrupted, and requires a wipe to get things going again. Or perhaps the cache is just out of date and has old files, this is a big one for web browsers. This problem usually manifests itself as an issue rather than a slowdown though, so while you can fix problems this way, it isn’t the best choice for increasing performance.
Lousy Autocomplete
Another reason people wipe the cache is a side effect of a badly written auto complete algorithm. Let’s say your application’s search box attempts to give you a dropdown of recent items, and the algorithm is slow and clunky. You would end up having better performance while searching to disable the history or wipe the cache, which leads people to believe that cache is bad, when the reality is that cache is good… Bad apps are bad.
Privacy Concerns
Deleting the cache is definitely something you’ll want to do if you are worried about your privacy. Just keep in mind that deleting the cache will only sorta delete those files — unless you overwrite the free space, you aren’t really deleting anything permanently.
Takeaway on Cache Clearing?
If you want to wipe the cache, there is no harm done. Your apps will dutifully rebuild their caches quickly, and things will be humming along faster than ever in no time at all. But now you will realize that clearing cache doesn’t usually improve performance. To jump in and begin clearing your cache, take a look at the videos below, they show how to clear your Windows and Apple caches with a few other tips thrown in.
Deleting the cache is definitely something you’ll want to do if you are worried about your privacy. Just keep in mind that deleting the cache will only sorta delete those files — unless you overwrite the free space, you aren’t really deleting anything permanently.
Takeaway on Cache Clearing?
If you want to wipe the cache, there is no harm done. Your apps will dutifully rebuild their caches quickly, and things will be humming along faster than ever in no time at all. But now you will realize that clearing cache doesn’t usually improve performance. To jump in and begin clearing your cache, take a look at the videos below, they show how to clear your Windows and Apple caches with a few other tips thrown in.
Clear Windows Cache (above) Clear Mac Cache (below)
Did You Delete the Wrong File?
How to Restore Lost Files
While we're on the subject of deleting cache, maybe you've recently deleted a file that you wish you had not, and now would love to get it back. There's an app for that, and it has a free version. Read more about how to recover lost files on Windows 10. Here's an alternate take on how to recover lost files from all the most popular Windows Operating Systems.
And for Apple users, here's a very complete article about how to get back just about any file you could delete on a Mac.
Just For Fun Websites
There's a lot of stuff out there on the internet and it's hard to keep up with everything that gets added each day (according to Quora there are over 14,000 websites added each day). This section is for showing off a particularly fun site, today it's all about food. Ever looked in your fridge and wondered what you can make out of the few ingredients you have? Supercook is just what you've been looking for then. Supercook will take your ingredients and search the web for recipes that fit what you've got in your fridge (or cupboard).
There's a lot of stuff out there on the internet and it's hard to keep up with everything that gets added each day (according to Quora there are over 14,000 websites added each day). This section is for showing off a particularly fun site, today it's all about food. Ever looked in your fridge and wondered what you can make out of the few ingredients you have? Supercook is just what you've been looking for then. Supercook will take your ingredients and search the web for recipes that fit what you've got in your fridge (or cupboard).
June 27, 2019 - Setting/Creating Custom Ringtones, Making Your Cursor Bigger, Talking to a Real Person
I Clicked on an Unknown Link, I shouldn't have,
I'll Never do it Again.
- new member to FCC Computer Club
CLUB QUESTIONS
I Clicked on an Unknown Link, I shouldn't have,
I'll Never do it Again.
- new member to FCC Computer Club
CLUB QUESTIONS
Setting Custom Ringtones on Your Smartphone
Besides being a tiny computer in your pocket, smartphones can also make phone calls. And unlike the old days of landlines, you have the ability to set any ringtone you want to your phone. But did you also know that you can assign specific contacts specific ringtones? Yes, you can. The advantage here is that without even having to look at your phone, you can know who is calling you. This way you will know whether to pick up immediately or send it to voice mail without ever taking it out of your pocket (if that's where you carry it).
If you use an Android phone, then take a look at this article that goes over how to create a custom ringtone as well as how to assign them to your contacts.
For you Apple iPhone users, there's this article from Apple Support that shows you how to add ringtones via iTunes (which will soon be gone). And another article from HowToGeek that shows how to create custom ringtones.
If you prefer watching a video, and I found many, many videos that go over lots of different ways of creating ringtones (there are several third-party apps that do this, some free, some paid), I suggest you open YouTube.com and do a search for "how to create custom ringtones" for your specific phone make/model.
Besides being a tiny computer in your pocket, smartphones can also make phone calls. And unlike the old days of landlines, you have the ability to set any ringtone you want to your phone. But did you also know that you can assign specific contacts specific ringtones? Yes, you can. The advantage here is that without even having to look at your phone, you can know who is calling you. This way you will know whether to pick up immediately or send it to voice mail without ever taking it out of your pocket (if that's where you carry it).
If you use an Android phone, then take a look at this article that goes over how to create a custom ringtone as well as how to assign them to your contacts.
For you Apple iPhone users, there's this article from Apple Support that shows you how to add ringtones via iTunes (which will soon be gone). And another article from HowToGeek that shows how to create custom ringtones.
If you prefer watching a video, and I found many, many videos that go over lots of different ways of creating ringtones (there are several third-party apps that do this, some free, some paid), I suggest you open YouTube.com and do a search for "how to create custom ringtones" for your specific phone make/model.
How to Make Your Computer Cursor Bigger
It's the little things that matter, but sometimes they are just too little to be seen. If you're having trouble seeing your mouse cursor, there is a way to make it bigger. On a Mac you can adjust your mouse to a variety of sizes very easily. There are also features that allow you to find where your cursor is on your desktop by shaking it to temporarily make it larger (so you can find it).
On Windows you can also enlarge your mouse cursor, and in Windows 10 you can also change the colour of the cursor, if you're into that kind of thing.
It's the little things that matter, but sometimes they are just too little to be seen. If you're having trouble seeing your mouse cursor, there is a way to make it bigger. On a Mac you can adjust your mouse to a variety of sizes very easily. There are also features that allow you to find where your cursor is on your desktop by shaking it to temporarily make it larger (so you can find it).
On Windows you can also enlarge your mouse cursor, and in Windows 10 you can also change the colour of the cursor, if you're into that kind of thing.
Talking to a Real Person
In this Internet age, it is getting harder and harder to talk to a real person when you call for help, be it your phone company, a retail vendor or service provider, more and more sellers are going the automated route, leaving you talking to a robot a lot of the time. Well, robot be gone, take a look at this article that not only provides a couple of useful websites, but also a ton of the most common vendors/service providers direct phone numbers (including the necessary extension numbers to get you to a real human being). PC Magazine lays it all out in this article.
In this Internet age, it is getting harder and harder to talk to a real person when you call for help, be it your phone company, a retail vendor or service provider, more and more sellers are going the automated route, leaving you talking to a robot a lot of the time. Well, robot be gone, take a look at this article that not only provides a couple of useful websites, but also a ton of the most common vendors/service providers direct phone numbers (including the necessary extension numbers to get you to a real human being). PC Magazine lays it all out in this article.
