Hello All,
At the SLO Bytes meeting of 02/03/19, I mentioned that I had purchased a high speed SD card that I planned to leave inserted in the micro SD slot of my Lenovo Yoga X1 laptop in order to expand storage without any bulky external drives.
Curious as to the relative speed of sending and retrieving data from the SD card versus other media, I performed a test.  I have posted the results below
     
Transfer Rates Across Different Media
In all cases, I transferred a 2.2Gb .mp4 file

The laptop is a Lenovo Yoga X1 running Windows 10 Pro version 10.0.17763 Build 17763 with the following specs
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8650U CPU @ 1.90GHz, 2112 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s) and 16GB of RAM
The transfer times from fastest to slowest are as follows

Yoga Desktop to another file on the computer:  2.3 seconds
Yoga Desktop to external Crucial M500 2.5 240GB SSD 6Gb/s over USB 3 using a Stockplop case:  15.9 seconds
Yoga Desktop to external Sandisk 1Tb6Gb/s SSD over USB 3 using Stockplop case:  16.5 seconds
Yoga Desktop to Mushkin Ventura Ultra 120Gb USB 3 Flash Drive:  17.9 seconds
Yoga Desktop to Sandisk Extreme PRO micro SDXC UHS-II 128Gb Card:  22.8 seconds
Yoga Desktop to Sandisk 64Gb USB-C Flash Drive:  1 minute 12.3 seconds
Yoga Desktop to 16Gb Mushkin Atom USB 3 Flash Drive:  3 minutes 44.8 seconds

When I transferred files from the Sandisk Extreme micro SDXC to the Yoga Desktop, the results were identical to the transfer speed from the laptop to the SD card
Sandisk Extreme PRO micro SDXC UHS-II 128Gb Card to Yoga Desktop:  22.8 seconds

I plan to use the SD card for data files that I don't access very often.  Since I will remove the SD card when I want to import photos and videos from my camera, I will not have any essential files on the removable drive.
Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
I'm developing a presentation for the February 3, 2019 Second Session Presentation at SLO Bytes General Meeting.
My tentative presentation notes can be found at http://www.slobytes.org/presentations/sutter-0219/slideshows.docx
I will demonstrate how to create video slide shows with still and moving images.
So far, I've included the following programs

   Irfanview - freeware -
       Fullbean tutorial at https://youtu.be/1IT5lZHSV18

   Microsoft Windows 10 Photos - included in Windows 10
       Fullbean tutorial at http://www.slobytes.org/digital/tutorials/windows-10-photos.mp4

   Microsoft Windows PowerPoint - included in Microsoft Office Suites -
        Fullbean tutorial at http://www.fullbean.com/tutorials/powerpoint-slide-show.mp4

    Shotcut; https://www.shotcut.org/;  open source, cross platform video editor
    Fullbean tutorial at http://www.fullbean.com/tutorials/shotcut.mp4
    View the Developers tutorial at https://www.shotcut.org/tutorials/     

    Adobe Premiere Elements 19 - about $99

   Photodex ProShow Producer - about $249

I look forward to learning what programs SLO Bytes members use when they make slide shows.

Ralph Sutter

   

Hello All,
SLO Bytes' parent organization, APCUG, is holding the Winter Virtual Technology Conference on
Saturday, February 9, 2019 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Register for this free event at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2019-winter-virtual-technology-conference-tickets-54994757801
More information at:  https://www.apcug2.org
         Program
TRACK 1
10:00 AM PT
3 mini-presentations
Microsoft Security Center Windows 10
New Privacy Updates Windows 10
Password Managers for all devices
Jere Minich, Program Chair, Lake Sumter Computer Society

11:00 AM PT
Staying Connected While You Travel
Ron Brown, Program Chair, Program Coordinator, Silvercom Computer & Technology Club

NOON
(Join us on Track 2 for a Roundtable discussion.)

TRACK 2
10:00 AM PT
Unusual Sources on the Web for Family History Research
Jeri J. Steele, President, BGAMUG Computer Club

11:00 AM PT
The Future of Windows
Michael Shalkey, Computer Tutor and Troubleshooter
Channel Islands PCUG

NOON PT
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Let’s talk. Share your thoughts and hear from others on programs ideas, successes and lessons learned. Let us know how we at APCUG can help you help your members get the most out of our user groups! We’ll use Zoom and be able to see each other.

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
Parted Magic just released a new version of its Linux based software.  Read more at https://partedmagic.com/downloads/
I find this product very useful in troubleshooting non-Linux operating systems.
At $11, it is a tool well worth having.
Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
I place numerous icons in the Windows 10 taskbar, that area at the bottom of the screen.  I group the most often used icons to the left.  Icons for lesser used programs are on the right.

Two frequently used programs are Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word.  Since the two icons are quite similar, I sometimes click on one when I really wanted the other. 

One obvious solution would be to separate them, placing several other icons between them.  What is the fun in that?
I decided to create my own icon for Word and substitute it for the default icon.
I then created a short video reminding me and others of the steps that I took.

View the tutorial at www.fullbean.com/tutorials/icon.mp4. 
It is also available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM_fDpSqmls&feature=youtu.be

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
Here are my notes from the SLO Bytes Photo Group meeting of 12/09/2018
TOPIC: Images Suggesting the Approach of Christmas
The meeting opened with Ralph Sutter showing how he uses Irfanview's Thumbnail Viewer to show thumbnails for RAW images in Windows. Windows native program, File Explorer doesn't do this.
See the tutorial at Showing Thumbnails in Windows for RAW files with Irfanview and at https://youtu.be/__Yb-pYlcQ8
Ralph then shared a series of holiday images with Christmas decorations, figurines and street scenes.

Connie Sutter followed with similar choices, adding fancy food plates and festive outdoor scenes.

Alan Raul continued in a similar vein, using Aurora HDR to enhance photos of Pismo Pier.

Kaye Raul showed holiday ornaments and pictures of the family celebrating the season.

Bob and Linda Styerwalt chose light displays in their neighborhood and Christmas decorations

John Waller demonstrated how he used long exposure times to illuminate night scenes.
Like Alan, John used Aurora HDR and multiple exposures to bring out detail not seen in a single image.

Bob Grover offered daylight and evening shots of a neighbor's house, illustrating an impressive lighting project.

Our next meeting will take place on Sunday, 01/13/2019 beginning at 2:00 pm.  The topic will be Doors and Other Portals

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
Windows File Explorer doesn't display a thumbnail for RAW images.  It shows the same blue blocky icon for all RW2 images.  In my tutorial, I show how to use the Thumbnail viewer plugin from the freeware graphics program, Irfanview to overcome this.
View the tutorial at https://youtu.be/__Yb-pYlcQ8
Download Irfanview from www.irfanview.com and choose either the 32 or 62 bit version.  Make sure to also download the corresponding Plugin files.
Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
I received the following post from SLO Bytes' parent organization, APCUG, offering a 20% discount on the file search program, FileLocator Pro.  The discounted price is $39.00.
The page for this discount is https://sites.fastspring.com/mythicsoft/order/customer
Learn more about FileLocator Pro at https://www.mythicsoft.com/filelocatorpro/

MythicSoft also offers a free file search utility, Agent Ransack, available at https://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/

I have not purchased FileLocator Pro.  I did download and install Agent Ransack, finding it quite useful.  Unlike Windows built-in file search program, Agent Ransack includes a more sophisticated search and the ability to print out the results.

Ralph Sutter