October - Hendersonville Area Computing Society

Hendersonville Area Computer Society Newsletter
http://hacs.org
Volume 7 No.10
October 2013
Meetings are held twice a month, January through November. We meet at the
Opportunity House on the third Monday of the month with an educational meeting at
6:30 pm followed by a featured speaker presentation at 7:30 pm. Our SIG group
normally meets the second Thursday of each month from 1-3 PM at Opportunity
House.
SIG meeting Oct 10th from 1:00 to 3:00 PM
At Opportunity House
VPN (virtual private network) followed by Q & A
Moderated by Bob Cannon
OUR NEXT REGULAR MEETING WILL BE ON
Monday Oct 21st
At Opportunity House
6:30 to 7:30 PM
Education Program
Brian asked for you to EMAIL him suggestions at the address below!!!!
[email protected]
7:30 to 8:30 PM
Computerizing Medical Records
Our own Ben Moore
Web Site of the Month
Helping people with technology... one answer at a time
http://askleo.com/
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Have “STUFF” will Sell
HACS will try proving space at the “check-in” table at monthly meetings for sales items.
Bring your stuff with a price and your name on it. Sales are between you and the buyer
and if it does not sell you get to take it back home. If you want to let members know what
you are bringing send email with description and price to Jim Bailes at
[email protected] no later than the Friday before the meeting. We will try this for the
next two months to see if it is useful to the membership.
Nominating Committee Report
The following slate is presented for our November election. If you would like to
nominate someone please get their approval and nominations will be accepted at the
October Main meeting. Slate is:
President – Jerry Liedl
Co-VPs -- Bob Cannon and John Decker
Treasurer – Jim Bailes
Secretary – Ken Granzin
Publicity – Fred Haddad
Tech Toys to Make Senior Life Easier
By Les Goldberg, APR, Contributing Writer
www.sunset-publishing.com
www.examiner.com
lgprman (at) gmail.com
Once upon a time, as far back as the 1990s, the words “technology, techie, electronic
gizmos” and others made mature adults cringe. “I can‟t understand them”, or “I‟m too old to
learn new things”, or “I don‟t need all that stuff” were often uttered reactions to the wave of
the new silicon chip world.
But, as is the case with new technology today, the speed of progress is limitless.
It is also a fact that “mature adults” now are more in-sync with the gadget world than
ever before. One of the primary reasons for this phenomenon is the fact that the gadgetmakers are making the products easier to use, easier to understand and more functional
for navigating through the aging process.
Here are some examples of what I‟m talking about:
Google Wallet
Google‟s payment application or “app” replaces a wallet full of credit cards, coupons or
cash. When you check out at one of the retailers signed up for the system you simply tap
your smartphone to a special terminal and use any debit or credit card. Your phone then
sends payment info to the terminal. Google Offers from participating merchants are
redeemed automatically.
Currently, you can use the app at many popular stores, including Macy‟s, Champs,
Bloomingdale‟s, The Container Store, CVS Pharmacy, Jack in the Box and others.
http://www.google.com/wallet/
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Looxcie Live
Looxcie Live is the first app to make sharing real-time video hands-free. It pulls
continuous video from the company‟s one-ounce, ear-mounted Bluetooth camcorder.
Depending on the strength of the network connection, the app adjusts the video resolution
for smooth replay. Family and friends can view the video through a browser or the Looxcie
app. The camcorders start at $150.
www.looxcie.com
Misfit Shine
Misfit Wearables has introduced an activity monitor or tracker that is not only useful, but
also manages to make a fashion statement. The Misfit Shine tracks steps taken, and
distances swum or cycled. It is waterproof and sturdy with a six-month replaceable battery.
The $79 device also allows you to transfer the collected data by holding it close to your
smartphone‟s screen.
http://www.misfitwearables.com/shine
iLunar RBX-500
Want to turn your room into one giant stereophonic experience? Now you can with the
iLunar RBX-500 Bluetooth/dock music system. Using Sonic Emotion‟s Absolute 3D sound
technology, the iLunar system eliminates “sweet spots” and fills the entire room with topquality sound no matter where you are situated. Dock your iPod or iPhone into the system
and it streams music wirelessly from any Bluetooth-compatible smartphone, tablet or PC.
Amazon has it for $249.
http://www.intl.onkyo.com/
y-charge 2.1
Charging your phone, laptop or videoplayer while in your vehicle has always been a
one-at-a-time affair. Not anymore. The y-charge 2.1 Dual USB Car Charger allows two
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devices to be charged simultaneously. It is small, lightweight and has a brightly colored
casing. Price: $99 at www.tylt.com.
YUBZ Retro Handset
Back in the old days people weren‟t subjected to every phone call made near them – the
microphone part of a phone handset was close to the mouth. YUBZ has brought back the
old Bell-style handset with a modern twist – it connects to a mobile phone. The company
says it also reduces radiation from holding a mobile phone close to your ear. Each handset
is shipped with adapters to fit a large variety of phones. Available in solid or customized
artwork styles, the YUBZ Retro Handsets are priced at $45 and $56, respectively.
http://www.yubz.com/retro-handsets/
The Tip Corner
Bill Sheff, Novice SIG Coordinator, Lehigh Valley Computer Group, PA
April 2013 issue, The LVCG Journal
https://sites.google.com/site/lvcgsite/
Nsheff (at) aol.com
LCD Resolutions
LCD monitors are super. They‟re flatter, lighter, and let‟s face it, cooler than the bulky
old CRTs out there. However, unlike CRTs, LCDs look their sharpest at their native
resolutions, such as 1,280 x 960 or 1,600 x 1,200 pixels, as listed in their users‟ manuals.
If you have your computer‟s display settings set to a different resolution, onscreen text and
graphics may appear slightly fuzzy. On the other hand, the native resolution may be so fine
relative to the physical size of the screen that onscreen objects may be way too small for
your tastes. If the labels of your icons are too tiny to read at the LCD‟s native resolution, try
lower settings until you find a resolution that‟s reasonably sharp. If you are the market for a
new monitor, look around for a touch screen which will make you ready for Win 8 when
you get it.
Adjust Monitor Brightness
Since we are on monitors let me ask: Do your eyes hurt after sitting at your computer, it
may not just be from spending too much time staring at your screen. An overly bright
monitor (particularly in a dark room) can be uncomfortable for some users. Check your
monitor‟s sides and bottom (of the screen, rather than the stand) for buttons that will let
you lower the display‟s brightness setting.
Log Out Quickly
If you regularly log out of your Windows XP/Vista computer instead of shutting it down,
try this handy key combination to quickly switch user accounts or "lock" your computer,
depending upon your security settings. Press the Windows key (next to the ALT key on
many keyboards) and L at the same time. You'll still be logged on, but you'll be able to
switch user accounts. If your account requires a password, your PC will be "locked" until
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you supply it. When you return to the same account, you'll see the same documents and
applications that were open before you pressed Windows-L.
WEP & WPA
You probably already know that you shouldn't set up a WLAN (wireless local-area
network) or Internet connection without protection in the form of encryption. What you may
not realize is that WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption is no longer enough in the
eyes of most experts. WEP may discourage casual attempts to connect by nearby users
that detect your WLAN's presence, but it won't keep out skilled and determined hackers. A
better choice is WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access), which adds several layers of protection
beyond WEP. To use it though, you'll need WPA support in both your router or access
point and your computer's wireless adapter.
Convert To Print or Web
Microsoft Publisher's Convert To Print and Convert To Web Publication options let you
change a print publication to a Web publication and vice versa. Open the publication you
want to convert and click File. Next, click either Convert to Web Publication or Convert to
Print Publication and follow the instructions to make the switch. As a word of caution,
certain features available in one publication type may not be available in the other, so your
publication may experience a few formatting changes when you convert it.
Take a Screenshot in Word
Microsoft Word 2010 provides you with the capability to take a screenshot from another
open program and paste it within Word. Just click the Insert tab and select Screenshot.
Gadwin Screen Capture
Since I mentioned the Word 2010 screenshot capability, I thought I would mention
Gadwin Screen Capture. This is a free download (just Google Gadwin) and allows you to
take a screenshot of a window at any time. You can be on the internet, browsing a
PowerPoint presentation or any time you want to capture something on the screen. Once
loaded it works when you hit the printScrn button. (I think the latest version has you hold
down the Control key at the same time). You can set up the name of the capture and
whether you want to capture it to the clip board or to a PrintScreen folder, or both. What
you end up with is a jpg or bmp picture. If you take a picture of a document you can always
use a free OCR program to convert it to actual text. One thing you must do is set it for
„rectangle‟ while you are setting it up. This way you can
capture any size portion of the screen – from full monitor to a small rectangle containing
just what you need. I know there are other screen capture programs out there, but I have
been using this one for many years and it works simply and flawlessly.
Background Removal Tool
Need to quickly remove the background from an image? With the Background Removal
Tool in Microsoft Word 2010, you can clean up the background to make your image blend
with the document.
Recall A Message In Outlook
Catch a spelling error right as you were sending out an email? If you are using Microsoft
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Outlook, you can recall the message. Open your sent messages, open the email you
want to recall, select Actions (located in the Move section of the ribbon), and click Recall
This Message.
Put Recent Items On The Start Menu
Windows 7 has a Recent Items feature, which can display any documents you‟ve
recently used. To put this button on your Start Menu, click Start and then right-click the
Start menu. Click Properties. When the Taskbar And Start Menu Properties window opens,
click the Start Menu tab and then click the Customize button. When the Customize Start
Menu button opens, scroll down to Recent Items and check its box. Click the OK button.
Click the OK button on the Taskbar And Start Menu Properties window. Now, click the
Start button. You‟ll see the Recent Items button on the right side of the Start Menu. Hover
the mouse over Recent Items (or click it) and you‟ll see
the list of recently used documents. Click any document in the list to open that item.
Go Incognito
If you are using a friend‟s computer and don‟t want your browsing history to remain on
his PC after you leave, you might want to use Chrome‟s Incognito window. It prevents the
PC from retaining most traces of your browsing. (It won‟t, however, prevent a keystroke
capture device from tracking your keystrokes.) To use the feature, click the wrench icon
and then click New Incognito Window.
Windows 7 Libraries
By Dick Maybach, member, Brookdale Computer Users‟ Group, NJ
February 2013 issue, BUG Bytes
www.bcug.com
n2nd (at) charter.net
Windows 7 introduced a new way of accessing files, libraries. These are roughly similar
to program shortcuts. A shortcut points to a program, while a library points to group of files
and/or directories. Neither takes up significant disk space, and you can delete either
without deleting what they point to. Shortcuts appear on your desktop, while libraries
appear in your file manager. The purpose of both is the same – make it easier to access
things on your PC.
The argument in favor of libraries is best made by citing some examples.
 Your primary PC is a laptop with limited disk space, so you have most of your
extensive collection of videos on an external USB hard drive, with just a few of your
favorites on your laptop. You create a video library that includes both the video
directory on your laptop and the external hard drive. When you travel (without the
external drive) it includes only your favorites, but when you're home it expands to
hold your entire collection. If you fill the USB drive, you can add a second and see
its contents in the same library. Searches are now much faster, since they will look
only at your video collection, and it will appear in one place even though it may be
spread over several hard drives. This becomes even more important if the external
drives archive data other than videos.
 You are making a report that analyzes data from several different projects, each
stored in a different directory. So you create a library that includes all the directories
you need, and all the data appears to be in one place. When you finish the report,
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you can delete the now unneeded library without affecting any of your data.
 You have an extensive photo collection with recent ones stored on your desktop PC
(in My Pictures) and older ones archived on a different internal drive that you added
when your C: drive began to fill. Using a library brings these together seamlessly.
You can probably think of other examples that fit your own situation.
It should be obvious that libraries don't affect the need to organize your files logically
into directories. If you just throw everything together in My Documents, every library will
contain all your files. Libraries augment your directory structure; they don't replace it.
Libraries can include files and directories on internal hard disks and on USB hard disks
with NTFS or FAT-32 file systems. In general, they can't access USB memory sticks,
DVDs, CD-ROMs, or drives on home networks. (There are some exceptions, but these
aren't common.)
You can see your libraries by calling the Windows File Manager; just click on the folder
icon in the taskbar at the bottom of your screen. The screen-shot shows the result, which
shows the default libraries. (You may have to click on Libraries in the side panel to see
something similar.) Note the New Library item in the File Manager menu bar; click on this
to create one.
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Before you use a library, right-click on its icon and select Properties to see something
similar to the second screen-shot. Although a single library can include many folders, new
additions always go the the same folder. The default save folder for the Documents library
is My Documents, click on a different folder, then click on the Set Save Location button; a
check-mark indicates your choice. Add or remove folders from the library by clicking the
appropriate button below the Library locations box. While you have this window open, click
on the button below to optimize the library for general items, documents, music, pictures,
or videos, depending on its contents.
Any time you are using the file manager you can add folders to a new or and existing
library. Single-click on a directory, then click on the Include in Library item in the menu bar,
and the drop-down menu shows the existing libraries to which you can add the directory,
or you can click Create New Library to create a new one. (See the screen-shot below.)
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When you open a library, what you see depends on the display option you've chosen.
The screen-shot below shows my Pictures library. I've just clicked on the button next to
“Arrange by,” which shows that I've selected “Folder.” If you select anything else, you will
see all the files in all the folders included in the library arranged by month, day, rating, or
tag. Your choices of arrangement depend on how you've optimized the folder. In my
Documents library, for example, these are folder, author, date modified, tag, type, and
name. While in a library, you can move to a directory by right-clicking on it and selecting
Open folder location. Similarly, if you right click on a file and select Open file location, you
will move the directory where it resides.
Libraries provide an alternate to the traditional directory tree, which you may find
convenient for at least some of your work. It would be worthwhile to experiment with them
enough to know when.
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Computer Humor
Send the information regarding what software for which you would be
willing to be a resource person. Send it to [email protected] and we will
publish it for members to reference.
HACS Officers/Executive Committee
President - Bob Cannon – [email protected]
Vice-president – open
Secretary – Ken Granzin - [email protected]
Treasurer – Jim Bailes - [email protected]
Public Relations – Fred Haddad - [email protected]
Past President – Jerry Liedl – [email protected]
Program Committee – Interim chair is the Vice President
Membership – Interim chair is the Treasurer Door Prizes – Joy Capps
THE END
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