Hello All,
The link below is a re-post of a ZD Net article.  It explains that if you have the license for an earlier Windows Pro installation, you can use it to update your current Windows 10 Home edition to Windows 10 Pro for free.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/going-pro-how-to-upgrade-windows-10-home-without-hassles/

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,

Here is the link to the sites and products mentioned by Bob Gostischa in his presentation, If it's connected, it must be protected delivered via Zoom on 10/07/18
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YvAsiLdJdgjPpgQ1hWg4O6tdsLp8ZFu6uu33mO7rXP4

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
Yesterday, I checked Windows Updates and learned that KB4458469 was available for my Windows 10 desktop machine.  This surprised me, since I had checked for updates on Tuesday and updated then.
I attempted to install the update but when it reached 25% installed, it restarted the process.  It did this many, many times yesterday and today.  Clearly, the update wasn't going to happen in the short term.
I went to Plan B and downloaded 2018-09 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1803 for x64-based Systems (KB4458469) from
http://download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/updt/2018/09/windows10.0-kb4458469-x64_22139e5b137440eac5526d4c5c85762fcbe80030.msu
I then installed it successfully and restarted the computer.

When I re-checked Windows Updates, it informed me that Update KB4458469 was ready to install.  Since I had just performed the update, this puzzled me as is often the case when dealing with Redmond.  Nevertheless, I told Windows Update to proceed.  This time, it went through the complete process that had failed many times over the past 24 hours but assured me that this time the update was successful.

I rebooted the machine and ran Windows Update once again.  The View Update History confirmed that KB4458469  had installed successfully and that no further updates were currently available.

Hopefully, your Windows Updates will work as advertised and the work-around that I describe here will only be a source of amusement, not the start of your own Plan B.

Ralph Sutter

Hello All,

The topic was Animals.  The session opened with a series of images of animals from a National Geographics slide show. 
View the show at https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hodomt6bBOw  Stanford Brown provided the link.
Next came the announcement of the APCUG Photo Contest.  Entry deadline is September 30, 2018.  Details at apcug/apcug-photo-2018.pdf
Ralph Sutter then shared his own tutorial explaining how he used Adobe Photoshop Elements to remove a dark background from the screen shot of a terminal window. 
View the tutorial at
www.slobytes.org/digital/documents/Remove-dark-background.mp4
Finally Sutter pointed out three excellent articles on the workings of the digital camera
   Anatomy of a Camera; www.slobytes.org/digital/documents/Anatomy of a Camera p6-9.pdf
   Digital Camera Control and Image Capture; www.slobytes.org/digital/documents/Digital Camera Control and Image Capture.pdf
   Digital Camera Processing; www.slobytes.org/digital/documents/Digital Camera Processing - Maybach.doc

After these introductory activities, members of the group offered images that fondly recalled pets, zoos and critters of all stripes. 
We saw a menagerie of feathered and finned creatures, both in the wild and domesticated, interspersed with animal sculptures, wall hangings and paintings
The meeting ended with the distribution of photographic wisdom and oatmeal cookies.

Our next meeting will take place on Sunday, October 14th beginning at 2:00 pm.
This time, we will meet at a different location, 
   The home of Monica Tarzier
   1657 Southwood Dr.   
   San Luis Obispo, CA

The topic will be Scenes of the Fall
Please bring images tied to Autumn for sharing with others.

Ralph Sutter

Hello All
I have a Samsung SUHD TV that, until today, I had been unable to connect to my Yamaha RX-A2020 AV receiver in such a way that the sound from the TV played through the speakers of the receiver.  Instead, all TV programming on this smart TV played through the speakers of the TV.  While these are capable speakers, it annoyed me that I couldn’t configure the TV to play through the 5.1 speaker setup of the receiver.

I faithfully followed Samsung’s setup instructions.
From the remote go to Setup/Sound/Select Speaker/Receiver (HDMI)
Expert Options that were not greyed out were as follows
    HDMI Autio Format:  Bitstream
    Audio Format:  DTS Neo 2:5
    Audio Delay:  40
    Sound Feedback:  Low

Whenever I chose these settings, I got no sound from any programming on the TV.  I had to turn off the receiver.  With the receiver turned off, the TV reverted to TV Sound.

Today, I discovered the configuration step that I had been missing, the one necessary to send TV audio to the receiver.  Look for the HDMI input on the TV marked HDMI (ARC)

The Samsung TV has a smart hub.  (See attachment)  It outputs to the TV’s HDMI input with a single cable, called the ONE CONNECT cable.  Since it is a hub, it has 4 HDMI inputs that can be routed to the TV through the ONE CONNECT cable.
In my case, I plugged my Yamaha receiver into Input 1, my Asus mini computer into Input 2 and plugged another HDMI cable into Input 3, using it for guest laptops and other temporary devices.  I did not use Input 4

I noticed that Input 4 was labeled 4 (ARC).  When I researched what that meant, I learned that ARC stands for Audio Return Channel.  It allows two way communication between the device plugged in to it and the TV.
Once that I unplugged the receiver from Input 1 and replugged it into Input 4, the sound from whatever was playing on the TV was output to the speakers of the receiver. 

Now, if I turn on the TV, the receiver automatically turns on also.  I can use the receiver controls to modify the sounds from the TV just as I can if I were listening to any audio source on the receiver; phono, tuner, Apple TV, stand alone Roku, etc.
The TV remote controls the speaker volume of the receiver as does the receiver remote.  Life is good.

Ralph Sutter


 

Hello All,
This is a re-post of an article from Leo Notenboom.  Despite the title, the article offers detailed instructions on accessing a Windows computer that won't boot.
https://askleo.com/backing-up-a-machine-that-wont-boot/
Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
My desktop computer is a Dell XPS 8930 running the current version of Windows 10.
I run PIA, a competent VPN on the machine.  For the past two days, all attempts to connect to the Internet from a browser fail but my mail client, Outlook 365, works.
This happens whether I go online with an Ethernet connection or WiFi.  If I disconnect PIA, the browsers (current 64 bit versions of Chrome, Firefox and Edge), work properly.  I have tried changing the PIA servers from Auto to a variety of other locations with no improvement.
I run the same PIA settings on a Lenovo Yoga X1 running current Windows 10 as well as a MacBook Pro and an HP desktop running Ubuntu 18.04.  They all work properly with PIA enabled and connected.

I finally resolved the problem by following the instructions provided by PIA at https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/helpdesk/kb/articles/why-is-the-vpn-connection-not-working-or-slow-with-the-pia-app

In my case, the answer was Change Connection Type from  UDP to TCP.  I can't explain why this change became necessary but making it restored the ability of my browsers to go online.
Ralph Sutter

Hello All,
My main laptop computer is a Lenovo Yoga X1, a high-end machine running at 2560x1440 dpi.  However, when I enabled HyperV under Windows 10 and installed Linux Ubuntu 18.04,
Ubuntu only filled about 1/4 of the screen.  From past experience, I knew that I would have to edit the grub file in order to achieve a higher resolution.
For the record, here are the steps to accomplish that
From Ubuntu, open the Terminal to the default directory.  Here is how I did that
At the terminal, change to the root directory by typing cd /
Type cd /etc
Type cd default (Notice that the command was not cd /default
Type sudo gedit grub (This sequence opens the Gedit text editor to the grub file at /etc/default)
Enter your password (It will not be displayed)

The grub file contains a line that reads as follows
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
Modify it to read as follows
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash video=hyperv_fb:1920x1080"
Save the file
Type update-grub to do just that

IMPORTANT
Return to the Windows desktop and change the screen resolution in Windows to 1920x1080. 
Do this by going to the desktop and right clicking an open area.
Left click on Display Settings and change to 1920x1080

Re-launch Ubuntu and it will fill the screen.  If you skip the previous step, the Ubuntu desktop will not cover the Windows desktop completely. 
The native resolution of my laptop is 2560x1440 but at the time of this posting, Ubuntu is apparently only capable of delivering 1920x1080.  Entering a higher resolution in grub fails.

Ralph Sutter