Classes for the Month of Oct

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Volume 18, Number 9 Oct 2018 Classes for the Month of Oct To enroll in the class you want to take, log in to the website at myscacc.com.

Click on the green Enroll Me box for the class you want to enroll. If you need to cancel your enrollment, please log back in, select the class again and click on Drop Me.

If you are on the waiting list, show up for the class to see if someone enrolled did not show up and you may be bumped into the class. All classes are geared for beginners unless otherwise indicated.

Check-in will begin 20 minutes before the scheduled class time.

Photoshop Elements: Do you have a digital camera? Learn how to organize and edit your pictures.

1 Volume 18, Number 9 Oct 2018 Classes for the Month of Oct To enroll in the class you want to take, log in to the website at myscacc.com. Click on Class Calendar in the Navigation box (upper left-hand corner), then click on the class you are interested in taking. Be sure to check the date as there may be multiple offerings of the class. Click on the green Enroll Me box for the class you want to enroll. If you need to cancel your enrollment, please log back in, select the class again and click on Drop Me. This will make it available to others who may want to take the class and are on the waiting list. If you are on the waiting list, show up for the class to see if someone enrolled did not show up and you may be bumped into the class. All classes are geared for beginners unless otherwise indicated. IMPORTANT: You must have your SCA Resident ID with you to check-in at the Monitor desk AND AGAIN in the front of the Classroom to ensure you are enrolled on the day of the class. Check-in will begin 20 minutes before the scheduled class time. If you ve recently joined our Club we encourage you to attend the New Member Orientation class to familiarize yourself with our Club s activities. Learn how to sign up for classes, schedule a house call, volunteer to be a monitor and more. Current members who are not familiar with all of the benefits offered by our Computer Club are also encouraged to take this Orientation as a refresher. Photoshop Elements: Do you have a digital camera? Learn how to organize and edit your pictures. This hands-on class for both Mac and Windows users gives a basic introduction to Adobe Photoshop Elements. After taking this introductory class to this powerful photo-editing program, we recommend continuing with the Photoshop Elements SIG, where different tools, projects, and techniques are discussed. Apple Mobile Safari Browser: Using the Safari browser ipad, iphone, and ipod Touch including using multiple tabs, creating, organizing and using bookmarks, downloading, and setting preferences. Prerequisites: Introduction to ipad or familiarity with IOS operating system. Apple Mobile Mail App: How to use the Mail app to send and receive mail from multiple accounts on iphones, ipads and ipod touch. Topics will include basic account setup, creating and using mailboxes, attachments, and signatures. We will also cover sending attachments including pictures by . Avoiding Spam and phishing schemes will be explained. Prerequisites: Introduction to ipad or familiarity with IOS operating system. Apple Mobile Contacts App: Account configuration, using groups to organize contacts, integration with the Mail app, the phone, the Message app and Facetime. Prerequisites: Introduction to ipad or familiarity with IOS operating system. Buying a Computer: Are you considering buying a new computer for yourself or as a gift? Should you buy a desktop, a laptop or a tablet? What are the differences between them? Should you buy a Mac or a PC? Should you buy it from Best Buy, Costco, Fry's, Amazon or??? Will it be used for , to watch movies, organize your photos, write a book, etc.? Have your questions answered before you buy. Apple Mobile Calendar App: Account configuration, making and using multiple calendars, creating events

2 Classes for October (continued) including repeating events and the use of alerts. Sharing Calendars and subscribing to public calendars will be covered. Prerequisites: Introduction to ipad or familiarity IOS operating system. Introduction to iphone / ipad: If you are new to the iphone/ipad or planning on getting one, this class will show you how to setup your device including the critical icloud settings. You will learn how to set preferences and navigate the system. Arranging and grouping your apps will be covered and how to find and install apps from the Apple App Store. itunes Introduction: Introduction to itunes for Mac and Windows, a way to manage your multi-media content and your Apple mobile devices. Learn to create playlists, burn audio CDs, put photos, movies and music on your Apple iphone, ipad and ipod. We will also introduce access to the world of podcasts and itunes University. Excel Introduction for Beginners: This is an introduction to spreadsheets and their uses with the absolute beginner in mind. This class is taught using the latest version of Microsoft Excel. You do not need this class for Intermediate or Advanced Excel classes. User Group... What is it? A User Group is open to any Computer Club member who is interested in learning more about a specific topic. User groups normally meet monthly. All user groups meet in the classroom and participants ask questions and discuss various topics associated with that particular user group. After many years operating under the umbrella of the Arts and Crafts Club, the Anthem Photography Interest Group has opted to affiliate with the Computer Club. This change is driven in large part by the increasingly computer-centric nature of digital photography, offering an expanded capability through the Computer Club s equipment, software, and technical expertise. Are you interested Photography? All Computer Club members are invited to attend this special user group, regardless of skill level. Film photographers are welcome too. The Anthem Photography User Group will meet on the second Monday of each month from 1-3 PM in the classroom. Come and join us on Monday, Oct 8, from 1-3 PM. If you are an Apple user, join our Apple User Group. We meet monthly to investigate Apple products. Did you recently buy a Mac, an ipad or MacBook Air? Do you have questions regarding specific Apple products or applications? Sit in on this month s meeting on Saturday, Oct 13 from 10 AM -noon in the Computer Classroom and see if this is the group you have been looking to join. Computer Talk meets weekly from 9 10 AM every Thursday and is designed as a question and answer session. Can t figure out how to do something? Anyone can ask anything computer related. Do you have a question regarding a specific product or application? Bring your questions and/or answers and participate by sharing your knowledge with other Club members. Or just come and listen; we all learn something new each week. Your Computer Club s Board will meet on Thursday, Oct 27 in the Computer Classroom from 1:30-3:00 PM. The Board consists of your Club s Officers and Directors as voted on by you, the membership. Each Board meeting will discuss our Club s operations, policies and general business. New members are encouraged to attend. Learn how your Club operates and how to best benefit from all your Club has to offer.

3 How Long Will My Hard Drive Last? By Brian Corr This is a question I have been called on to answer several times recently. Macintosh computers are well built and tend to outlast their technological obsolescence, but a large portion of the computer, though assembled by Apple, comes from third parties. As most everyone realizes, there are few moving parts in a computer but there are several that do have moving parts and are subject to wearing out. The obvious ones that you come in contact with every day are the mouse and keyboard. You also might hear the sound of a spinning DVD or CD drive and if you have an older computer you might even hear the sound of the floppy drive. All of these are devices that are intermittently used and, depending on how you use your computer, will never reach their expected lifetime. The one piece in your computer that is almost continually moving and subject to wear is your hard drive. As you can see by the illustration it consists of multiple magnetic disks with a read head hovering over each one. The disks are typically spinning at anywhere from 5400 RPM to RPM and the heads must move in and out quickly to read the minuscule data bits on the platter. There is a motor spinning the disks and a bearing that supports the disks so they can easily spin at these speeds. All of these moving parts are subject to wear out and failure. In addition, any jostling of the drive while it is spinning with the heads almost touching the surface of the disks can cause the head to contact the disk causing irreparable damage and loss of data. Now that I ve introduced you to your hard drive and the many parts subject to failure let s get back to the simple query How long will it last?. Hard drive manufacturers usually list something called mean time between failures as a measure of reliability but that is simply an average and unless you know what their test conditions are in comparison to your use of their drive it is kind of misleading. In general, there is an initial failure rate for new drives which is caused by manufacturing defects (usually occurs within the first 90 days) and then a relatively stable period (generally 5 years) which you should consider as your guaranteed reliability period. After 5 years you are living on borrowed time and should be prepared for the failure by making frequent backups so you can recover with no losses. When the failure occurs, you can generally have the drive replaced and maybe even with a larger, faster or even a solid-state drive. Solid-state drives are significantly faster and have come down in price recently making them a good option. Here are a couple of observations from my house call experience. This past week I had a member who was having trouble starting up his imac. I first tried through the recovery mode to repair the hard drive with software but that failed so I erased the hard drive and tried to reinstall the operating system but that also failed indicating that the hard drive had failed. Fortunately, the member had a Time Machine backup and restoring to the new hard drive will be a simple task. The computer was exactly 5 and a half years old. On the other hand, last year I got a call for a house call and the member reported that his screen was coming up with a question mark when he tried to start it up. I knew that was not an indication that had been used on Macintosh computers for quite a few years so I asked him for the model number of his machine and when I looked it up it turned out to be 22 years old and in fact that indication was indicative of a hard drive failure. Unfortunately, compatible hard drives are no longer available for that computer. So, what is the answer to the question How long will my hard drive last? Reliably 5 years but then be ready for failure and maybe yours will be the one that lasts 20 years.

Mark your November calendar so you do not miss the following upcoming events: SCACC General Membership Meeting Thursday, Nov 1 at 1 pm in the Delaware Room, Anthem Center.

The guest speaker for November s meeting will be Bronson Mack from the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Please be sure to attend this important meeting so you can VOTE!

4 Mark your November calendar so you do not miss the following upcoming events: SCACC General Membership Meeting Thursday, Nov 1 at 1 pm in the Delaware Room, Anthem Center. Computer Club members in good standing are encouraged to come and VOTE for your 2019 Board, e.g. Officers and Directors. Members will also vote to approve our Club s 2019 budget. The guest speaker for November s meeting will be Bronson Mack from the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Please be sure to attend this important meeting so you can VOTE! FREE Medicare Part D Consultation provided by the Nevada State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) on Tuesday, Nov 13 from 9 am- 1 pm in the Computer Classroom by APPOINTMENT ONLY. For an appt, nrosenfeld@cox.net and put Medicare in the subject line. ON THE AIR Windows and listening in What is the latest on Windows 10? As we have told you previously, Windows 10 is not just an OS (operating system) but a service, meaning it receives new features on a regular basis. Microsoft has released five major updates to its initial Windows 10 release in July 2015 (1507). They include: the November Update (1511), the Anniversary Update (1607), the Creators Update (1703), the Fall Creators Update (1709) and the April 2018 Update (1803). The latest update, the Windows Update (1809) is about to be released. Once released, you should be getting the update automatically. However, with over 700 million users of Windows 10, it may be months before your computer is updated as typically the newest computers get the updates first. So, do not worry if you do not get it right away. If you are interested in what features are being removed or planned for replacement in 1809, you can read about them at the following link: Microsoft Office 2019, a stand-alone version of the Microsoft Office software suite, was just released for Windows 10 and macos (Sierra, High Sierra and Mojave) on 24 Sep It includes some features that previously have been only available to Office 365 subscribers. Some of these features include: Focus Mode in Word, that darkens the screen and reduces displayed UI elements. UI elements are visual elements seen in applications, e.g. Title and menu bars, toolbars, workspaces, status and scroll bars, task pane, etc. Users will also have new learning tools available such as new text-to-speech, text spacing and translator tools. For Mac users, the drop-down menus (also called ribbons) will be customizable. In Outlook, a new focused inbox will be available. Contact cards have been revised and users will be able to use command for tagging people in s. Mac users will get new templates that include a Send Later function for scheduling delivery time and also get read receipts. New morph and zoom features in PowerPoint will enhance presentations. Now there will be the ability to export presentations in 4K UHD video format. New functionality, e.g. formulas and chart options and support for 2D maps and timelines will also be available in Excel. Microsoft will include monthly security updates and support for digital pencils for all its Office 2019 software. Office 2019 does NOT replace the cloud-based Office 365 but provides those users who do not necessarily have (or who do not want to use) Internet access (required for Office 365) the ability to have a local (stand-alone) version of Microsoft Office.

5 Useful things you may want to know, or Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that we made up ourselves Q. I use Windows 10 and I keep getting these annoying notifications. I do not mind the ones that tell me that my computer was scanned and that no threats were found but the ones about OneDrive or the News, I can do without. Is there any way to change these? A. Yes. Notifications are customizable in Windows 10, so you can select what you want to see. Go to Settings> System> Notifications & Actions. Here you will see a menu with associated toggles that control what you will receive in terms of notifications. Simply slide the toggle to On or Off as appropriate. Q. I am thinking about buying a new computer, or perhaps a laptop or tablet. What are the differences and/or advantages between a PC, a Mac and an Android device? A. Although this is an excellent question (and there are both differences and advantages) there is not enough room to answer your question here. We recommend that you first determine how you intend to use whatever device you decide upon because that will help in evaluating what is best for you. You probably also need to determine your price range as there are all sorts of devices available at various price points. Our Club offers a Buying a New Computer class which is quite helpful to those who share your same questions. Check the Club calendar for its next offering, then sign up and bring all of your questions with you to the class. Q. What is a MPEG file? A. A file with the.mpeg (or.mpg) file extension is a MPEG video file format (popular for movies distributed on the Internet). The specific compression used makes streaming and downloading quicker than some of the other video formats. MPEG files can be opened with many different programs on different platforms, e.g. Windows Media Player, itunes, QuickTime and VLC Media Player. Normally when double-clicking on such a file, your OS (operating system) will determine which program to use. Windows uses Windows Media Player and macos uses QuickTime, by default. If one s OS does not have a default program set to open MPEG files, one can change that via Settings. There are also third-party apps, such as VLC Player that work well. VLC Player is a free, open-source app that works with Windows, macos, Linux, Android and ios. If you are a Monitor and have NOT yet completed your Refresher Training within the last 12 months, there is only one (1) session left in which to do so (Dec 4). Remember, our Club Policy states: 7.3. A Monitor is required to work at least ten shifts a calendar year and must attend one monitor refresher session every twelve (12) months. Be sure to sign up for the Dec 4 th class to remain current. For more information or to check on whether you need to take this training, please contact Jerry Peterson at tqmguru@hotmail.com at your earliest convenience.

Classes for the Month of Aug

Volume 17, Number 8 Aug 2017 Classes for the Month of Aug To enroll in any of the classes, first log in to our website at www.myscacc.com. In the upper left hand Navigation Box, click on Class Calendar.