Victoria Computer Club

We are drowning in discarded devices and competing information.  Withdrawing is one solution, but perhaps a few wise decisions will save us.   This presentation was given May 14th by George Bowden,

Club members can attend the Spring session May 5th free REGISTER AT: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/apcugs-2018-spring-virtual-technology-conference-tickets-45148317834  Continue reading →

Tue Apr 24, 12:30  Lunch, and 1:30 Presentation. (10am Help session is cancelled) Here is a corrected link to RSVP by Sunday, to help us plan the room and lunch:  If it fails you can email BigBlueSocial@gmail.com
Presentation – 1:30 – 3pm Scott Munro will be showing us how to use two apps from the Greater Victoria Public Library.  
Please check out the following before attending:

• Lynda.com – https://www.gvpl.ca/virtual-branch/lynda-dot-com/  Watch thousands of video tutorials and learn skills to help you achieve your personal and professional goals.
• CloudLibrary – https://www.gvpl.ca/virtual-branch/cloudlibrary/  Learn about the thousands of ebooks and e-audiobooks at your fingertips with cloudLibrary.

Though I am still a promoter of Chromebooks, we must now be aware of Chromebook’s planned obsolescence, and take extra extra care when buying a chromebook. Continue reading →

Dorothy taught the Monday class on March 26, continuing on from George’s previous Security slides referring to passwords, Last Pass and how to become secure with your accounts.

Here is a link to Dorothy’s class notes on her ideas of Security, as well as links to many classes you can take to learn on a continual basis.

https://tinyurl.com/yad6tdnp

• Started with everyone checking in Play Store to ensure their apps are up to date.  Explained how to do this by pressing the 3 bars in the top left of the program.  My apps and games, and it will show how many updates are required.  Please make sure you are on WIFI in your own home, as if it’s a phone you could incur data charges.  If it’s a tablet, you will be fine.  If there are many to do, just do a few at a time as the UPDATE ALL can take a long time.
• Check your settings by pressing the 3 bars, go to Settings, check the Auto-update apps setting – you have 2-3 options.  Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only is my setting (Dorothy)

Watched most of the following video of a recent APCUG course I took one Saturday:

APCUG – https://apcug2.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTze3ZCI9Sw

Reviewed one of the following websites for Apps, so we can continue with this in the future.  Showed everyone if they go to TechBoomers.com there are 100+ free online courses they can take on their own at https://techboomers.com/courses

Tech Boomers Resource site – https://techboomers.com/

Here are some of the Tech Boomers Top 15 Apps

https://techboomers.com/best-android-tablet-apps

Links to visit in the future or on your own if you wish

https://techboomers.com/organize-your-life-for-spring

https://techboomers.com/t/make-receive-calls-on-android

https://techboomers.com/top-messaging-apps-for-ios-and-android

Mentioned about a few apps in our discussions – Translate – which is built in with Google.  Try it out and see what it does for you!

Also, take a look at KEEP – a good note taking app, talk to it, take pictures, make bulleted lists

Over the past few weeks, Charles has been organizing and teaching the photo gallery project.

First, there was the presentation of the survey results, from which we chose the photo album project

Then the January 29th overview of Organizing Photos

And lastly, the February 8th presentation of digitizing your photo prints with Google Scan or PhotoMyne, or just a digital camera, and uploading them to Google Drive or PhotoMyne.

There are several files you can download from this folder:
1. Photo Story 3 – Pstory.msi
2. Photo Slideshow creator (Wondershare) – dsb_delus_setup_full18.exe
3. Photo Slideshow creator (filmora) – filmora_setup_full846.exe
4. Picasa – picasa-3-9-138-150-multi-
and pixlr and phtoscape

John O’hara (November), Joan Greig (December), Julie Anderson (January) and Dieter Hettstedt (February) were the winners of the monthly draw for a $20 gift certificate from London Drugs (purchased by the club).

Sessions with a drop-in fee (Mondays and Thursdays) have a draw, and the winning ticket is entered in the monthly draw. The 2018 AGM voted to continue this draw.

Congratulations John, Joan, and Julie

The Victoria Computer Club Annual General Meeting, was held January 23rd 1:30pm at 286 Hampton Road Saanich (Silver Threads).
Formal minutes will be available soon.  In the meantime, here are some highlights:

• George gave a short presentation, on the training topics survey and the tutorial registration form. Attendees asked for iPad instruction and more Windows app instruction
• Minutes of the AGM 2017 were approved
• Motions passed:
  • 1) To convert all current Associates to Regular memberships.
  • 2) To make the changes shown the Minor cleanup of bylaws
  • 3) To continue free monthly draw for gift certificate for attendees of paid events passed unanimously.
  • 4) To continue membership fees at $25 per year passed unanimously.
• President thanked all volunteers by name and function
• Treasurer gave his reports of Income Statement and Balance Sheet
• Membership director reported about 165 members, an increase of about 20
• Election of Directors for 2018.
  • For President, Dorothy Cushway.
  • For Vice President, George Bowden.
  • For Treasurer, Martin Brooks.
  • For Secretary, Rosa Benjamin.
  • For Membership Director, Iain Fletcher.
  • For Training Director, Rick Weatherhead.
  • For Member at Large , Ed Prior.
• Many thanks go to departing board member Barkley Cox for his many years of service as Clubhouse director and Vice President.
• First executive meeting will be 1:pm feb 26 2018