February 2019

GVR Computer Club Hours
Mon-Fri: 8 am - 4 pm |  Sat: 8 am -12 pm  |  Closed on Sundays
Next General Meeting: Tuesday, February 19, at 1:30 pm
Anza Room, upper level of the Santa Rita Springs Recreation Center
Gene Komaromi presents "Free and Inexpensive Stuff"

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Message from your Computer Club Board

from left to right: Mike Kearns, Terry Flanagan, Juanita Kauffman,
Kathy Arnold, Jay Adams, Ernie Cox, Jerry Ferris

Welcome back to all of our Winter Visitors! The Computer Club is humming with activity and classes. Be sure to check the calendar on our website to see class/activity dates and their descriptions: ccgvaz.org

You don’t want to miss our next General Meeting on February 19 at 1:30 pm when Gene Komaromi will present "Free and Inexpensive Stuff." Gene will share some free and inexpensive stuff for computers, smartphones, tablets and more. You will also hear about free and inexpensive programs, Web applications, and services. Join us and maybe save a couple of bucks in the process.

If you missed Kelly Galvin’s General Meeting presentation on January 15, “Marketing Your Items on the Internet” it is now available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ii-zUrmVEms or visit our website ccgvaz.org and look under the Media tab -> YouTube.

Also, be sure to check out the blog posting about our incredible GVR Computer Club at Retire Arizona.

Lastly, don’t forget to stop in for the Santa Rita Springs GVR Open House on Saturday, February 9, from noon until 3:00 pm. Not only will our Computer Club be giving tours but the Clay Studio, Camera Club, and the Santa Rita Art League will also have their doors open. It should be a fun and informative day. 
 
Kathy Arnold

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Renew your Club membership today! For just $25 for an individual or $35 for a family, you can enjoy all that the Club has to offer for the entire year. Renew now to keep your membership active. See the Membership Renewal article at the end of this newsletter to learn how to renew. 

>> Interested in taking a class? Click to view the class calendar.
     All classes are free with Club membership. 
     Registration is required for hands-on classes.
     To learn how to register online, read the instructions near the end of this newsletter.

>> Here are some of the current offerings (see the calendar for details):

• Bob Ogus leads a "Cut the Cord" discussion on February 28 at 1:00 pm. Learn how to reduce or even eliminate the high cost of cable and/or satellite TV services with a simple over-the-air antenna and a streaming set top box like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Android TV, and others. He'll show you how and answer questions.
• Microsoft Word Mail Merge: February 12 at 10:45 am
• Apple Users Group every Thursday at 9:00 am
• Learn to create presentations with PowerPoint software in a 4-class session with James Ertel: Fridays (2/1, 2/8, 2/15, 2/22) at 1:00 pm
• Quicken Special Interest Group with Eric Noyes on February 9 at 9:00 am
• iPhone Classes on Fridays (2/8, 2/15, 2/22) at 10:30 am

>> Attn: Mac Monitors
     Click to view the Mac Monitor Calendar. To make changes, contact Kathy Arnold.

>> Financial Report, as of December 31, 2018, provided by Jerry Ferris:

Image Source: Federal Trade Commission

What is phishing? Wikipedia tells us this:

"Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Typically carried out by email spoofing or instant messaging, it often directs users to enter personal information at a fake website, the look and feel of which are identical to the legitimate site."

If you (the target, as referred to below) are invited to take a short, 3-question online quiz and perhaps win a freebie, stay away! It might involve:

• A customized “brand” website that displays logos and brands of trusted companies they use to lure in targets and get them comfortable to answer the quiz questions.

• A call to action that creates a sense of urgency, so the target would likely complete the quiz or give out information without thinking. One example of this is claiming that the high-valued prize can only be won by a limited number of quiz takers, so they need to get a move on.

• Multiple fake endorsements in social media, wherein fake social network profiles are used to strengthen the legitimacy of the supposed brand’s offer. By showing the target that several people have already won and claimed the prize, the target would doubt less. It’s also required for the target to share the link to the quiz in social media channels—a classic survey scam.

Ernie's Mac Tips

33 of the Best Mac Tips from 2018
Click to read the article.

How to rotate iPhone and iPad videos taken in the wrong orientation
Click to read the article.

How to recover deleted photos on Mac
Click to read the article.

How to upload photos into iCloud Photos from iPhone, iPad, Mac, and icloud․com
Click to read the article.

How to Update All Apps from the Mac App Store, Concurrently
Click to read the article.

To see all of Ernie's Mac Tips, organized into folders by topic, visit tinyurl.com/ErniesTips.
Just double-click on any folder name to see the links for those tips.

Tip:  Having trouble with the URLs not working in the “Tips” above? Copy the heading of the story you want to read and put that into the browser. This also works if you can’t open an article in your favorite on-line news outlet.

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GVR is working to help all GVR members get to the activities that are offered, and have asked our Club to share this information with our members.

Find out how to get a SunGo ID & Card to use on the Sun Shuttle to travel independently around Green Valley at a discounted price.

GVR is offering classes on February 12 to tell you how to use the shuttle, pay the fare, plan your trip, and travel with mobility devices.

Please read this PDF to learn more about these classes and how to sign up. There is also information on the GVR website.

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Photo Credit: Flickr, www.gotcredit.com

"Google isn't the only way to search online. Here are 7 services you should try instead."
from an article at MSN.com by Kim Komando

Did you that Google processes 40,000 searches per second? And yes, Google is the go-to search engine for most of us. But which search tool you choose to use may depend on what you are looking for or the level of privacy you want to have while searching. Here is a brief summary of the article. Click here to read the full article.

1. Find streaming movies at JustWatch. This free website combs through streaming sites, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO, YouTube, iTunes, Roku and Vudu, and it will show where a particular movie is available to stream (free or otherwise).
2. The right GIF is worth a thousand words. Unlike a photo, a GIF is like a tiny video – an animation, a clip from a movie or a piece of news footage. GIFs often express an emotion or sentiment that no single photo or verbal comment can. Most of the time, GIFs are spit-take funny.Find GIFs for email and social media at Giphy.
3. Search space images at the NASA Image Library. It has pictures across 60 collections combined into one searchable database. Whether you search for pictures of our solar system, far-off galaxies or the moon landings, you can browse through NASA images and download them for free, share them on social media sites, or publish them for your purposes, as all this digital content is in the public domain. [Editor's note: I found this image of the telescope atop Mt. Hopkins here.]
4. For coders and developers -- Most people will not appreciate the glory of Libraries.io, but coders definitely will: The website lists thousands of pieces of open-source software. These packages and tools are free, and you can use for them for any programming project.
5. Make money using a search site -- Microsoft developed its own search engine, Bing, as a direct competitor to Google. Nobody is going to pretend that Bing has the popularity or reach of Google, but the free service is still very powerful, and there is even an incentive to use it: Microsoft will pay and reward you for your web searches. Sign up at bing.com/rewards.
6. Private search engine -- At first glance, StartPage.com looks a lot like Google. But StartPage is designed to retain your privacy. The engine doesn’t collect data, doesn’t keep tabs on your movements, and it isn’t owned by a gigantic corporation. The site is designed to retain privacy, yet it retains much of the power and ease of use of Google.
7. Search without being tracked by Google -- Similar to StartPage, the purpose of DuckDuckGo is to retain privacy. The company proudly abstains from targeted ads, though it does have sponsored ads in the first one or two search results that are relevant to your keywords. DuckDuckGo has a clean interface and deftly aggregates digital news..

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As members of APCUG (Association of Personal Computer User Groups), we can take advantage of their Virtual Technology Conferences. You just watch the sessions on your computer. And they are free!

Read more below, or click here for all the details.

On February 9, you can learn from these sessions. (Times are for Arizona.)

TRACK 1

11:00 AM
3 mini-presentations with Jere Minich, Program Chair, Lake Sumter Computer Society
"Microsoft Security Center Windows 10"
"New Privacy Updates Windows 10"
"Password Managers for all devices"

12:00 PM
"Staying Connected While You Travel"
with Ron Brown, Program Chair, Program Coordinator,
Silvercom Computer & Technology Club

1:00 PM
Joint round-table discussion with Track 2

TRACK 2

11:00 AM
"Unusual Sources on the Web for Family History Research"
with Jeri J. Steele, President, BGAMUG Computer Club
 
12:00 PM
"The Future of Windows"
with Michael Shalkey, Computer Tutor and Troubleshooter, Channel Islands PCUG

1:00 PM
Joint round-table discussion with Track 1

Click for descriptions of these sessions.
Click to register.

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Add a Display!

 

Photo Credit: everystockphoto.com

If you spend a lot of time at your computer, as I do, you might want to consider having two separate monitors. I love my two displays, as it gives me lots of extra digital "real estate" for when I have many windows open. I can use the mouse to drag windows from one monitor to the other. The second monitor can display the task bar and clock at the bottom, and you can even extend images across the two displays or show the same content on both monitors.

On Windows 10, to set up or adjust multiple displays, go to Settings>System>Displays. One monitor will be your primary monitor, and the other the secondary one. You can have a different resolution setting for each monitor. You can also swap the positions of thir icons in the Settings area so that when you want to drag a window to the other monitor, you don't have to drag your mouse the opposite way, which is quite counter-intuitive! Click to read about dual monitor setups.

But what do you do when a monitor fails, as my second display did the other day while I was working on this Green Bytes newsletter? The contents of a file open on that monitor started to flicker and then I watched the monitor turn completely black. Oh, my.... There were a number of open windows and documents displayed on that monitor and now I couldn't get to them! What to do? Google to the rescue!

By Googling this text -- see files when second monitor is off -- I found the answer! All I had to do was hold down the Shift key as I right-clicked the icon on the Taskbar for the document I couldn't see. I could choose the 'Move' option from the menu, and then use the right-arrow key on the keyboard to move the window, little by little. Lo and behold, it came into view on my one working monitor.

If you have room on your desk and a second monitor avaialble, you might enjoy having the extra room for all your work (and play).
 

There are many classes listed on the Club Calendar. You don't have to sign up for a lot of them. However, you need to register for Hands-on Classes offered in the Agave and Pecan rooms during December, January, February and March. Note that Club membership is required to attend Club classes. 

How to sign up for classes using Electronic Registration:

1.  Go to our club website: ccgvaz.org
2.  Hover over Classes & Events.
3.  Click on Class Registration Form.
4.  Scroll down and click on Click for Electronic Registration Site.
5.  Scroll to your class of interest.
6.  Click on the class name. 
7.  Scroll and read Event Details.
8.  Click the Register button.
9.  Enter all required info.
10.  Click Complete Registration.
11.  Click the close button on 'Share on Facebook'.
12.  Read the information and record your event on your personal calendar.
13.  Close your browser tab when finished.

Membership Renewal

Your GVR Computer Club membership runs from January 1 through December 31. If you have not paid your 2019 dues, you can come to the Club and a monitor on duty will assist you, or you can complete the renewal form online and bring it or mail it to the Club.

Click here to download the fillable Membership Form.
(Use either Google Chrome or Internet Explorer to fill it out online.)
Print the form and bring it with your payment to the Club.
You can also mail the form and your check to:

GVR Computer Club
921 West Via Rio Fuerte Drive
Green Valley, AZ 85614

If you have any questions, call the Club at 520-625-4508.

If you have a Single Membership and wish to add a person in your household to create a Family Membership, refer to the Membership Form for guidelines.