Annual Potluck Picnic at Government House, Thursday, August 18, 3pm

Posted on 2016-08-09 by George Bowden

Thursday, August 18th, 2015 from 3pm to 6pm, Photoshoot of Gardens at 2pm.

At the Government House Bandshell on the east lawn, 1401 Rockland Avenue.  If you require seating, please bring your own chairs. Click here for  map.

Activities:

  • 2pm:  Photographing the Government House Gardens
  • 3pm:  Socializing, Games,
  • 4pm:  the Potluck begins. Entrees and Salads preferred over desserts.
  • NOTE: Alcoholic beverage consumption and smoking prohibited.

The club will supply Cake / Pop / Ice / Plates.

Click to see what people are bringing so far.

This event replaces August’s monthly meeting.

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APCUG 2016 Summer Virtual Technology Conference

Posted on 2016-08-09 by George Bowden

Sat. Aug 20 10am.  Attend the FREE APCUG conference at the clubhouse or from the convenience of your own home! All you need is your computer, tablet, etc. and Internet access.

Register at: http://bit.ly/APCUG_8-20_VTC

The sessions are 50 minutes in length and offer attendees the opportunity to ask questions via Q&A; the questions are answered by the presenter at the end of the presentation or via e-mail if there isn’t enough time after the presentation.

CLICK FOR DETAILS

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You Can Still Get Windows 10 for Free from Microsoft’s Accessibility Site

Posted on 2016-08-02 by Faith Shannon

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade

The free Windows 10 upgrade offer may technically be over, but it isn’t 100% gone. Microsoft still provides a free Windows 10 upgrade to anyone who checks a box saying they use assistive technologies on their computer. This offer will end at some point, but Microsoft hasn’t announced when.

Continue reading →

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FULL: Internet References for Financial Planning

Posted on 2016-07-13 by sysop

An email has been sent to confirmed attendees.  There are no more seats available for the July 21st, Thursday 2:00 pm presentation to club members AT Island Savings Credit Union Mayfair Branch (map) on “Internet References for Financial Planning”, by Credential Securities’ Travis Koivula (B.Eng, CFP, CIM, FCSI, CSWP) Senior Advisor, Financial Planning.

RSVP to BigBlueSocial@gmail.com.  Seating is limited to ISCU’s large board room, Douglas and Tolmie.  No lunch, but cookies and coffee will be available.  Note: this is NOT taking place at our club nor at Silver Threads.

Disclaimer:  Island Savings Credit Union is the club‘s financial institution.  No club member is receiving any financial benefit for arranging this presentation, or for any future relationship attendees may have with Credential Securities. Only first names from RSVPs will be shared with Travis.

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Minutes from Victoria Computer Club Exec meeting June 6 2016, 7pm

Posted on 2016-06-09 by George Bowden

Minutes from Victoria Computer Club Exec meeting June 6 2016, 7pm

Attended by George Bowden (President), Dorothy Cushway (VP)  Martin Web (treasurer secretary) Iain Fletcher, (Membership) and Barkley Cox (clubhouse). Member/instructor  Rick Weatherhead attended.
Prepare to move to a larger space:
The club’s current location has drawbacks.
  • The classrom area can only seat 18 people and we often have more members attend than that.  T
  • The club is open only 18 hours per week 9 to 5pm, (31%) and 1 hour per week evenings (5%) . Sharing space with another group would be much more cost effective.
  • The club is losing about $500 per year with a membership count of 162.  Martin pointed out that if it not for the large donations this year and last, we would be losing $2500 per year.
  • We must reduce rental costs by sharing space with either Community centers, Seniors centers, churches, schools, ethnic associations, or Rec centers.
  • When we move, we will need about $3000 for 5 new laptops.
  • We must inform the landlord before the end of January.
  • George would like to inform the landlord in the fall, in case we can get out early.
The parameters for a new space include
  • A social meeting space where coffee and light snacks can be eaten.
  • Internet access (not just Shaw open)
  • A closet for the laptops
  • A way to mount our projector and screen
  • Preference for free adjacent parking.
  • Hours of operation that include a day on the weekend?
George to write plan for moving forward.  Rick offered to participate.
We must investigate what membership equity requires
Sharing current space with meetups
In the mean time, we can offer space to quality meetups, and a $50 membership to a meetup coordinator.  Make base rental $20, up to $2.50 per attendee.  This might bring in $300 per year per meetup, which won’t make enough of a difference without other changes.
Increasing membership
Also, extend by one month any member who brings in a new member.
Presentation by Rick Weatherhead on partnering with London Drugs.  Rick pointed out that both lowering costs and increasing memberships need to be done.
Benefits to the club members  could include:
  • reduced membership for one year to new members from London Drugs
  • discounts on London Drugs computer equipment
  • One hour free instruction to London Drugs customers (non-members)
Benefits to London Drugs includes
  • Promotion of LD on our website and in the clubhouse
  • Help provided by the club to their customers would result in less loading on their sales staff
George moved, and Barkley seconded, that Rick continue discussions with LD, leading to a partnership.  Approved unanimously
Trreasurer’s report for May31, 2016: 
Total Liabilities & Equity  $9,422.50.
Year-to-date Income was $8,804.61  Expenses  were $9,473.34 : Net loss for Year-to-Date was $668.73
 
Hold a garage sale.  Offered by ??
Get two boxes of pamphlets printed, and circulate to legions, and libraries. Get some posters printed for Tillicum.
August 18th picnic might be held at Government House.  Rick and Iain to check pricing.  Otherwise check out Gorge Park, and Beaver Lake again as last resort.
No June monthly meeting. 
Martin thought we should start a blog with exciting posts. George said the club website is a blog, that members can post to, Authorship to date is as follows
Meeting adjourned at 8:40pm
Discussion continued on format of monthly meeting, to include possibly games and a shorter presentation.
Martin to take up with Dorothy in the fall.
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Summer photoshoots June 7, 11, 25th & July 29th

Posted on 2016-06-04 by George Bowden

Summer is here so the club photoshoots are becoming more frequent.

Continue reading →

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Setting up sound and Cortana

Posted on 2016-05-19 by George Bowden

First, learn to search for solutions to your sound problems.  Google Dell 530 audio jacks

dell530audioJacks

5 line-in connector Use the blue line-in connector to attach a record/playback device such as a cassette player, CD player, or VCR.
On computers with a sound card, use the connector on the card.
6 front L/R line-out connector Use the green line-out connector (available on computers with integrated sound) to attach headphones and most speakers with integrated amplifiers.
On computers with a sound card, use the connector on the card.
7 microphone connector Use the pink connector to attach a personal computer microphone for voice or musical input into a sound or telephony program.
On computers with a sound card, the microphone connector is on the card.

Google audio plugs wiki

 

Go to google.com and search for “audio issues with windows 10”

Click on the videos tab to see the videos.  If your speakers are not working, a video is useless. But the video below provides a textual explanation below the video player.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/audio-issues-silencing-your-windows-10-experience-heres-the-fix/#:OGtmgL3C3SBlKA

Having confirmed your audio equipment, now move on to setting up Cortana

Here is the link to a good video about the need to set up the language packs

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Make Windows Live Mail your default email program.

Posted on 2016-05-17 by George Bowden

At the Seniors SIG May 16th I quickly showed how to make Windows Live Mail the default email client.  This video shows the steps, but makes Thunderbird the default email client. Where the presenter chooses Thunderbird, substitute Windows Live Mail from the drop down list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v3On77NDT8

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Learn Photo management with Rick at the Seniors SIG

Posted on 2016-05-13 by George Bowden

19-DSCF5078Here are the notes from Rick’s photo management workshops in the Seniors SIG:

Monday May 9th File management with a focus on Photo management

Monday May 2nd : Manipulation and Management, The art of photo domination

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Are you interested in attending the Genealogy SIG?

Posted on 2016-05-05 by George Bowden

treeGenealogy is the study of your family tree, i.e history on a personal scale. It helps satisfy a deep need to understand how we fit into the broader world around us. For those unfamiliar with genealogy, here is a good summary of its benefits to you.

The Genealogy group at the Victoria Computer Club has been fortunate to have excellent teachers, but attendance has waned recently.  Murray Strome (wmstrome@yahoo.com)  has a few questions for those interested: Continue reading →

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