Computer Club Minutes (September 2015 to November 2016)
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From the meeting of 14 November, 2016
Announcements: There were about 16 in attendance with 1 returning member.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we have $94 plus tonight’s money. A $300 cheque donation was made to the GWSA back in June.
Club's future: A discussion was held with ideas put forward. Members voted for fewer meetings for 2017. Namely March, June, September and December. Also an important step; a number volunteered contributing to meetings in the future which should lighten the load on those doing the organizing.
Program:
Ross K. gave us a viewings of new devices. Go to these websites:
(Google Home Demo)
(Amazon Echo vs Google Home)
Gord C. showed a small collection of articles on Win10:
10 stuff Nov 2016.pdf
followed by a review of a lengthy site discussing Win10 privacy I forwarded to members received from Ross K. earlier:
10 Privacy Settings.pdf
Questions/discussion: Some with much discussion.
Bob’s Tip of the Month: Was not received this month. Go to:
to see his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers always welcome.
Next Meetings: Will be Monday, Dec. 12, hence March 13, June 12 and so on.
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From the meeting of 12 September, 2016
Announcements: There were about 17 in attendance with 1 returning member.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we have $329 plus tonight’s money. A $300 cheque donation was made to the GWSA tonight.
Program:
Ross K. gave us a comprehensive report about safe downloads and related items. See them at:
Especially note the Avira and Ninite links.
Ken C. gave us an overview of GoogleNow. See it at:
Gord C. gave a brief overview of some of the uses of the free Microsoft Paint program/photo editor that normally comes with most Windows O/S. Besides drawing, etc. it works well for cropping, red eye over painting and titling pictures See it at:
Questions/discussion: Not much!
Bob’s Tip of the Month: Is about Futurelearn, a diverse selection of free step by step courses. Go to: to see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers always welcome.
Next Meeting:Note that we have cancelled the Oct. 4 meeting as it is so close to the September one and having problems with topics too.Therefore the next meeting will be Nov. 14.
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From the meeting of 13 June, 2016
Announcements: There were about 17 in attendance.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we have $289 plus tonight’s money.
Program: Guest speaker Julian Sale gave us an informative talk titled “How To Be Plugged In Digitally and not be overwhelmed”. He guided us through the most common of the social media apps. FaceBook got much attention and how to be more secure with it. See the visual part of it at World.pdf
Questions/discussion: No surprise, Julian's talk promoted much discussion.
Bob’s Tip of the Month: Is about Facebook tips which fitted in with tonight’s talk. Go to: to see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers always welcome.
Next Meeting: Will beMonday, Sept. 12, 2016 (no meetings in July and August)
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From the meeting of 9 May, 2016
Announcements: There were about 14 in attendance.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we have $260 plus tonight’s money.
Ross K. guided us through most of the features of the new, revamped GWSA website. He mentioned about websites with the prefix “http…..” versus secure ones with “https…..”
See his notes at: May 9 notes.doc
Gord C. gave a presentation on “Training Your Mouse” (and touchpad.) How you can control or set the various features. See it at: Training.pdf
He also showed two web cam sites of nesting birds. The Osprey nest at Belwood Lake:
The Perigrine Falcon nest on Channel 13 microwave tower in Kitchener:
Questions/discussion: Claude announced the reduced storage data for Microsoft's free Cloud storage OneDrive is now down to 5 Gigabytes. This and other items were covered too.
Bob’s Tip of the Month: Is about Apple QuickTime bugs Go to:
see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers always welcome.
Next Meeting: Will be Monday, June 13, 2016 , (back in room #3.) Guest speaker will be Julian Sale about social media, etc.
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From the meeting of 11 April 2016
Announcements: There were about 17 in attendance.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we have $198 plus $20 from the Lab printing box and tonight’s money.
Ken C. led off with a comprehensive presentation of the evolution of wireless and broadband development over the recent years. See it at:
Then he continued with tips on tax preparation. This is at:
Gord C. gave a short review of his trials and tribulations updating to Win 10. Then went on to show info about newer methods thieves are using to break into cars to steal your possessions and a tip about how best to lock your car: theft update.pdf
Questions/discussion: Ross K. mentioned a good photo recovery program for deleted pictures. It is “Photorec”. For information and help using this program which works with Mac, Linux and Windows go to This program is one of the most effective for recovering lost pictures from corrupted camera cards and best of all, it's free (donations are gratefully accepted, of course).
Bob’s Tip of the Month: EaseUs: ToDo Backup Free version 9.1 is now ready for Windows 10. PC World says: The Best Free Backup Tool in Existence. Back up partitions, restore partitions & individual files with highly useful backup program. Go to:
to see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers: a Julian Sale was mentioned as a speaker on social media at the March meeting. This has been confirmed for the June 13 meeting.
Next Meeting: Will be Monday, May 9, 2016 and in the GWSA boardroom for this meeting only.
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From the Meeting of 14 March, 2016
Announcements: There were only about 14 in attendance. Many missed good discussions.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we have $168 plus tonight’s money.
Ken C. Led a presentation and discussion on income tax programs, router with USB connection, a Picasa update, Word Press course via the GPL and an internet statistics website plus others.
See them at:march2016_ken
Gord C. gave a short review and info about Blu-Ray and M-discs plus related info. See it at:Blu-ray & M-Discs
Also a collection of websites about Blu-ray information. See them at:Blu-ray websites
Bob’s Tip of the Month: is about a source and Canadian website for mobility tips, aids etc. with free shipping Go to:
see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers; a Julian Sale was mentioned as a speaker on social media. Ken C. may follow up. Any topics/ideas and the like are always welcome.Ask someone if they would give us a presentation on some computer related topic.
Next Meeting: Will beMonday, April 11, 2016
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From the meeting of 8 February, 2016
Announcements: There were about 18 in attendance.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we have $100 plus tonight’s money.
Ken C. Showed a variety of items and websites, covering:
New trends in ink supplies for inkjet printers
LeefiBridge
Magic Leap, 3D imagery
Windows 10 task bar tips
Managing Windows 10 update settings
See them at:
Brenda P. showed items about the tech-toys offered at the Wellington County Library, at the Marden branch and is open to Guelphites too. Some neat little robotic ones could be a hit with younger ones. Having a Guelph Public Library card will get you further too..
Bob’s Tip of the Month: is about “BookBub”, a source for ebooks. Go to:
to see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers, topics/ideas and the like are always welcome. Ask someone if they would give us a presentation on some computer related topic.
Next Meeting: Will be Monday, March 14, 2016
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From the meeting of 11 January, 2016
Announcements: There were only 16 in attendance, including Sally and Tom M. possible new members.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we have $67 plus tonight’s money. (A donation of $200 was made to the GWSA in December.)
Ken C. raised the possible updating for the Computer Lab. Some computers in the Lab need updated video cards if they are to be updated to Win10. See it all at:
Lab Update.pdf
Gord C. gave reviews about SSDs (solid state drives) and related considerations. See them at:
- Update.pdf
- SSD.pdf
and also some other links of interest: 2016 links.doc
Ross K. gave us info re trimming a SSD drives (you do not defrag a SSD drive.) Also some more tips and Linux info, all at:
Notes Etc Ross Jan16.doc
Bob’s Tip of the Month: is about other computer help sources. Go to:
see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers, topics/ideas and the like are always welcome. Ask someone if they would give us a presentation on some computer related topic.
One suggestion was about “M” discs for pretty permanent storage.
Next Meeting: Will be Monday, Feb. 8, 2016
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From the meeting of 14 December, 2015
Announcements: There were 13 in attendance, partly due to a rainy, stormy night.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we can make a $200 donation tonight with a small balance plus tonight’s money.
Gord C. gave a review of some of the popular or more useful shortcuts for email and documents. See it at:
Ken C. presented a variety of items that were discussed as he went along. Go to:
We had some lengthy and good discussions that those who did not attend missed. Some were re Excel spreadsheet tricks and tips plus many others.
Bob’s Tip of the Month: is about using as a way to give a wider aspect compared to a Google search. Go to: see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers, topics/ideas and the like are always welcome. Ask someone if they would give us a presentation on some computer related topic.
Next Meeting: Will be Monday, Jan. 11, 2016
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From the meeting of 9 November, 2015
Announcements: None. There were 17 in attendance. We had 1 potential new member, Bob W. (note again, we don't disclose full names here.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we have about$144 plus tonight’s.
Ken C. presented a good review of a new product called a Compute Stick. Go to:Compute Stick
Gord C. gave a brief demonstration of Windows MSPaint or just Paint, as can be used for photo editing. Paint is a complete drawing program as well. This is already installed (and free) on Windows any PC up through Windows 8.8 but not Win 10. It can be downloaded free from Microsoft and installed on Win 10. See the article at:MSPaint.
Ross K.proceeded with another Linux O/S demonstration, this time of Ubuntu 14.04 Linux he uses. Go to:Ross Linux Nov 2015.doc.
We had lively discussions on many topics.
Bob’s Tip of the Month:is about Windows 8.1 and IE 11. Go to: to see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers, topics/ideas and the like are always welcome. Ask someone if they would give us a presentation on some computer related topic.
Next Meeting: Will be Monday, Dec. 14
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From the meeting of 5 October, 2015
Announcements: There were 19 in attendance. A surplus GWSA Tower computer, new in 2006, with Win 7 complete, is available for a $25 donation. Contact Gord C. or Ken C.
Treasurer’s Report: Jacqueline reported that we have about $99 plus tonight’s.
Ken C. presented a good review of the new browser in Windows10 called Edge. Go to:Windows_10_Edge
Gordshowed a page about methods of USB to load Windows 10. Go to:Win10 on USBand then some background on Linus Torvalds, the 'founder' of Linux, before Ross's Linux demonstration.
Ross K. proceeded with a demonstration in this case of the Linux Mint 17.2 O/S version which he uses.
Go to:Linux Mint 10-05-2015There are many other popular versions of Linux; i.e. Ubuntu, Red hat, Debian and others.
Various discussions took place with many participating.
Bob’s Tip of the Month: is about doing a reverse image search. Go to: see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers, topics/ideas and the like are always welcome. Ask someone if they would give us a presentation on some computer related topic.
Next Meeting: Will beMonday,Nov. 9
From the meeting of 14 September, 2015
Announcements: None
Treasurers Report: Jacqueline reported that we have about $30 plus tonight's, after we made a $250 contribution to the GWSA in June.
Claude B. presented a good summary of the steps and choices downloading Win10. Go to: 2015 meeting.doc to see his presentation about Windows 10 and related items.
Also a website
Gord C. followed up with a file about Win10 caveats compiled by the Canadian Press. Go to 10 caveats.pdf
Ross K. tried to give us a demonstration of the Linux O/S he uses but the overhead projector did not cooperate, so we may reschedule this for a later meeting.
Varied discussions took place with many participating.
Bob’s Tip of the Month: is about using the Ctrl.+ Z keystroke combination to go back or undo an action. Go to: to see this and his previous tips there, on the Hints and Tips link.
Ideas for speakers, topics/ideas and the like are always welcome. Ask someone if they would give us a presentation on some computer related topic.
Next meeting: will be the first Monday, Oct. 5, 2015 due to Thanksgiving being on the 12th.
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