Hello All,
This is a re-post of an announcement that I received today from SLO Bytes' parent organization, APCUG

FEBRUARY 10, 2024
SATURDAY SAFARI
9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET
(2 hours)

Tax Software Review
Tax Year 2023
Tom Burt, Vice President
Sun City Summerlin Computer Club
 
Register here – https://forms.gle/qfCPczcM5okXY73c9
After you click Submit, you will see a pop-up acknowledgment of your registration. You will receive the workshop encrypted Zoom link on Friday, February 9, after registration closes at 6 pm Pacific Time.
 
Tax Software Review. Two of the most popular programs for preparing your income tax return are H&R Block and Turbo Tax. You can run these programs on your PC or Mac or work with the online versions.
 
Purchase one of these software programs, install it on your PC (or go to the maker's website), and answer the step-by-step questions. When you've finished, either program will provide you with a finished tax return ready for filing. You can even choose to file your return electronically!
 
Happily, for 2023, the tax law changes for individuals were few and minor. In this year's presentation, we will discuss both programs briefly and then demonstrate the excellent H&R Block Deluxe program. We will create a 2023 tax return for a fictitious senior couple with typical financial transactions such as wage income or retirement benefits, interest and dividends, social security benefits, capital gains, itemized deductions, required minimum distributions, etc. You may be surprised how easy it is to prepare and file your tax return. We'll also look at how to set up electronic payments on the IRS website.

We look forward to seeing you this Saturday.

Hello All,
This is a re-post of the announcement that I received today from SLO Bytes parent organization, APCUG
Ralph Sutter
---
JANUARY 24, 2024
WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP
9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET
 
Artificial Intelligence and Scams
Monica Tait, Assistant United States Attorney
Major Frauds Section in Los Angeles, California
 
Keeping Your Data Private with VeraCrypt
Mark Schulman, Central Florida Computer Society past president, author, speaker, web designer, teacher, software designer,
and technology enthusiast
 
Register here – https://forms.gle/41GWJ9DCFjBgKY3RA
APCUG values your privacy. We only collect and store the personal data needed to give you the best service and will not share that information. Please read the registration form questions carefully before answering them.
After you click Submit, you will receive a pop-up acknowledgment of your registration; you will receive the encrypted Zoom link on January 23, after registration closes at 6 pm Pacific Time.
 
 Artificial Intelligence and Scams. Monica will be discussing the likely impact of Artificial Intelligence on familiar scams. In addition, she will be discussing the widespread crypto investment scams that are currently proliferating and how to avoid them.
 
Keeping Your Data Private with VeraCrypt. VeraCrypt is one of the most popular "on-the-fly" encryption programs, which enables you to store sensitive data on your PC in an encrypted format but to access that data normally without having to constantly think about encrypting and decrypting that data. VeraCrypt is based on the older TrueCrypt application and is free and open source.
 
Mark Schulman will be discussing these topics in this presentation:
- Creating and using encrypted containers
- Encrypting flash drives
- Encrypting your laptop's hard drive
- Backing up your encrypted data
- Caching passwords
- Using hidden containers

Hello All,

I generally use a RedDragon S101W wired keyboard on my PC. 
See https://www.amazon.com/Redragon-S101-Keyboard-Ergonomic-Programmable/dp/B00NLZUM36
Two things happened recently.

First, I noted that a red light appeared in the upper right hand corner of the keyboard right above the WinLock key.

Second, one of my favorite Windows keyboard shortcuts, Win + m (Show Desktop) stopped working.

Unsure of how to turn off the WinLock light, I resorted to actually reading the RedDragon Manual.
The manual explained that with the WinLock light illuminated, the Win key was disabled.
I learned that I could re-enable it by holding down the FN key and then pressing the Win key.
That turned off the red light and restored the functionality of the Win key.
Sometimes it is useful to read the manual.

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
When I attempted to reformat an SD card, the process failed.  The drive claimed to be write protected.
Usually, when this happens, I take out the SD card and verify the position of the little tab on the left edge of the SD card.  In this case, it was not in write protect (slid to the lower position). 
To make sure, I slid it to the forward position and got the same result.
Googling the problem, I learned that sometimes covering with Scotch tape the little notch on the right edge of the card would solve the problem.  It didn't

Since I was actually using a full size SD adapter to hold a microSD, I moved the microSD to several other adapters but ran into the same problem.
Finally, I bypassed the SD Card Reader built in to my Dell Tower PC and inserted the card in a removable USB SD card reader.  That solved the problem
Using a different SD Card Reader, I was able to successfully reformat the microSD.  It worked on all the SD Card Adapters that I tested.

I decided to give the faithless Dell Tower one last opportunity to successfully reformat an SD card.  This time I inserted a full-size SD card, not a full-size SD Card Adapter carrying a microSD card.
Sadly, the build-in Dell SD Card Reader failed again.

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
This is a re-post from APCIG, SLO Bytes' parent organization
December 13, 2023
Ralph Sutter

WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP
9 am PT, 10 am MT, 11 am CT, 12 pm ET
 
Games People Play
By Bill Crowe, The STUG Program Chair, iProducts Forum Leader, and Newsletter Contributor
 
Should I Buy a Chromebook For Christmas?
By Jolyn Bowler, HHIC Resource Center
 
Register here - https://forms.gle/HD4F9891tui5V2Ds6
 
APCUG values your privacy. We only collect and store the personal data needed to give you the best service and will not share that information. Please read the registration form questions carefully before answering them.
After you click Submit, you will receive a pop-up acknowledgment (see below) of your registration; you will receive the encrypted Zoom link on December 12 after registration closes at 6 pm Pacific Time.

Games People Play. Video or computer games are electronic entertainment requiring user interaction via devices like joysticks, keyboards, or motion sensors.
 
Visual feedback is displayed on TVs, monitors, handheld screens, or even
virtual reality headsets. Games are audiovisual, often involving sound and
sometimes tactile feedback. They may support a microphone and webcam
for in-game conversation and live streaming. The 2022 global gaming market
revenue nearly reached $347 billion.
 
Bill's presentation will delve into diverse video games, from single-player Wordle and Lumosity to multiplayer Minecraft and Call of Duty. These games, enjoyable and potentially addictive, cater to all ages. Whether a player or not, the presentation will highlight the various games available today.
 
Bill Crowe has extensive experience and knowledge, with a BS in Mathematics
Education and a 34-year career at IBM. He's completed IBM-certified coursework from
top institutions and taught computer-related classes at several colleges and institutions,
including Sarasota Adult and Community Enrichment (ACE). As an active member of the Sarasota Technology Users Group "STUG," Bill's passion for teaching shines in the classroom, where he promotes knowledge transfer. His students confirm a lot of learning happens in his classes.
 
Should I Buy a Chromebook For Christmas?
Chromebooks are a good option for users who:
•Spend most of their time online
•Use cloud-based software
•Don't need to install traditional software
•Are looking for a secure and easy-to-use laptop
•Are on a budget
 
Jolyn was first introduced to technology and computers through Madeleine L’Engle’s book “A Wrinkle in Time.” In 9th grade, she visited the IBM offices in White Plains, NY. After graduating from Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in Manhattan, she found her first job at Children’s Television Workshop as Secretary to the Assistant Director of Operations, Bob Dahl. When the Telex or TWX was down or a video or film reel wouldn’t load, she was the one folks came to. In 1973, Jolyn moved to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and worked as a Camera Operator at the local SCETV station. In 1982, she took two classes: An Introduction to Computer Concepts and a Word processing class on a dedicated DecMate system.
 
She worked as a “temp” during the 80s and could help any office with their computer needs. Jolyn discovered the Hilton Head Island Computer Club in 1991 and immediately volunteered at the monthly meetings. Through the years, she has held the position of Membership Director, Webmistress, Vice President, and President. She is now the Resource Center Director for the Club.
 
When Covid shut down the club, Jolyn took to Zoom, and they could communicate with members through the shutdown. Good presentations, even if they couldn’t meet in person. Jolyn often gives presentations and has been the Zoom Queen, helping all the Volunteers do their Zoom presentations.
 
Jolyn is also a singer and guitarist and has jammed and played with the same group of friends for 30+ years—something about the mathematics of computers and music that fits.

Hello All,
Here are my SLO Bytes Photo Group Notes for 11/12/2023
TOPIC: Images of the Fall
Kaye Raul couldn't attend the Photo Session but thoughtfully sent some Fall images of grape vines and bushes changing colors.

Ralph Sutter continued with an off-topic video that he created on Microsoft's Format Painter, a feature found in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. View it at
https://youtu.be/bLvC3an_Es0
Then Ralph shared images of Fall leaves, pumpkins and orange garden implements. Finally, using a 16mm closeup ring and a 50mm f2.0 lens on his Sony A7iv camera, he showed closeups of Goji berries.

Alan Raul shot a variety of images using focus bracketing which is in the camera. He then used focus stacking in his post processing using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. His subjects included pumpkins, etc. at the Avila Valley Barn. He then showed a variety of persimmons shots.

John Waller showed images of a stately dead tree and the same tree several years later after it collapsed. He then took his camera to the Santa Maria Air Fair and captured numerous planes in flight. John then demonstrated selective blurring and masking in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Stanford Brown commented that Fall was slow in coming this year. He then made his point by showing the same tree lined streets from a previous year and those trees this year. Like others in the group, he included a shot of ripe persimmons and shared a story of a failed third-party attempt to scam him when he mailed boxes of that fruit to friends far away.

The last meeting of this year will take place on December 10th, 2023 beginning at 2:00 pm via Zoom The topic will be Things for which we are grateful.

See the Links page for tutorials and other resources; https://www.slobytes.org/digital/links.html

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
I just created a short video that shows how I use Microsoft Format Painter in Word 365.
View it on YouTube at https://youtu.be/bLvC3an_Es0
Ralph Sutter