It was suggested that members might be interested in finding out how one group – the Computer Group – has handled and coped with the Covid pandemic by using Zoom. We haven’t actually met in person since the beginning of the 2020 session in September. We were quick out of the blocks however even before that and we held our first Zoom meeting on the 23rd April even before the Committee had taken out a subscription to Zoom I believe. Since then, almost without a break, we’ve met virtually every fortnight.
Supporting us in our meetings we’ve kept Notes and added them to our website – “Thought grazing” at https://thoughtgrazing.org – which any Cardiff u3a member is welcome to view by just sending an email message to computer@cardiffu3a.org.uk.
We’ve had an attendance of between 12 and 24 at our meetings with 16 being an average number, so that means probably 50% of the group have been able to participate at any meeting, but of course it’s not always the same 16!!! We’ve adopted a new way of organising the meetings to match with the virtual world, focussing on getting members to share issues and problems, matters of interest and general chitchat about matters digital. It’s become a much more social group with everyone encouraged and requested to participate – when it’s their turn at the very minimum. This has led to reduced time for presentations and facilitator-led talks. Some might say this is a good thing … I couldn’t possibly comment!
The pluses …
We’ve enjoyed each others company and supported each other through these difficult times.
The technology has really helped, since we’ve found screen-sharing to be an excellent way of showing and telling what we’re discussing. [Not having to rely on the venue WiFi has also been a real boon!]
The technology, I think, has actually made us much more inclusive as every member has a chance to make a contribution – far more so than when we met face-to-face.
... and the minuses.
Nothing can make up for meeting people face-to-face, the chance for casual chatter, the chance to add a cup of coffee or share lunch before (or after) the meeting.
Perhaps the number of informational presentations has dropped, but this doesn’t seem to have been a factor in attendance.
As a technology group we would hope that our members would find using Zoom relatively straightforward. Hopefully, we can still encourage some “lapsed” members to try this way of meeting, but we do accept that some memberts are perhaps “over-Zoomed” as well.
Could we manage so-called hybrid-meetings?
The occasional one-off event with some members remote on Zoom and some face-to-face might work but it would have to be a presentation-style meeting.
We have concluded that we might try an alternate meeting style when we are able to return to face-to-face, with Zoom meetings still being scheduled.
Would we miss meeting over Zoom?
In the end, probably not, because the benefits of face-to-face would outweigh any benefit from the new form of interaction, much as we like it. However, I think we’d want to take some of what we’ve learnt from our Zoom meetings into the way we organised our in-person meetings in the future. Roll on that day when Zoom doesn’t have that view!
This article is a place-holder to the progress of the planned switch-off of the analogue PSTN (public switched telephone network) by 2025, and its implications to all of us, as Openreach moves to implement a fully digital service. It’s a dynamic document that will change over the next few months and the next couple of years so please look back for updates and further information.
What implications might this have for older people?
Digital services are not universally good across rural areas
There will need to be a solution to the issue of digital services requiring power – what happens if there’s a break in power supply
What implications might this have for people with certain disabilities?
It’s been reported to us that certain people with visual problems have been experiencing difficulties in the Salisbury pilot area with the withdrawal of the 1471 service, with call-back not working, and with needing to install a new phone number
Here’s a link to the Progress Openreach has reported by January 2022. Much of this is very technical, so some of the following information might be more readable.
Here’s a briefing from BT on the project; and an update on what’s happening in Wales forwarded to me in my role sitting on the National Pensioners Convention. Which? have also published a briefing on the subject which I encourage you all to look at.
I’ve also written the article below, which will hopefully appear in the latest Cardiff u3a magazine …
====
Ring, ring: Ready for the big ‘phone switchover?
Only three years until 2025 when all telephone providers will do the big “switchover” moving landline customers from the country’s traditional telephone network to digital technologies and analogue services are finally shut down.
Though BT published a timescale back in 2019, many older people’s organisations have expressed concern that the public have not been given enough information about the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) moving to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), what it really means and how it could adversely affect older and vulnerable people.
Among them is the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), which represents 1.5 million members in Wales, England and Northern Ireland.
Among the big questions is what happens if there’s a break in power supplies and people need to access emergency services – because the new system will run off broadband – and handsets will have to be plugged into an electricity socket.
Providers say solutions will be found – which will include the provision of emergency battery-powered backups for phones and routers.
This scenario became a reality last November when Storm Arwen hit the UK, causing widespread power outages and left 9,000 homes without power for more than a week.
Jan Shortt, NPC General Secretary did interviews with Talk Radio and other stations, and heard from affected listeners.
She said: “They raised the issue of not being able to charge mobile phones and other devices and therefore not able to summon help. It is clear that the majority of the population had not heard of the digital switch.”
In January Ofcom held an online public meeting to give an update on the “switchover” rollout throughout the UK and provide an opportunity to ask questions.
Jeff Richards, an NPC Wales executive member and a retired Swansea BT engineer, attended. He said: “Unfortunately they did not answer any questions that I raised regarding vulnerable customers nor anything on power supply. I felt that my questions were merely swatted away.”
BT have agreed to meet the NPC to address their concerns – which include, who will pay for the battery packs (some around £160) – the customer or provider?
Virgin Media has already promised that vulnerable customers with “accessibility needs or don’t have a mobile phone” will be given an emergency backup line at no extra cost.
Unsurprisingly, customers in various areas have reported teething problems as the system is being rolled out. For example, people in the Salisbury pilot area with visual problems have experienced difficulties with the withdrawal of the 1471 service and the need to get new phone numbers.
Hopefully, in the three years left of the rollout, teething problems will have been sorted. But be prepared: only an estimated 1.5million out of 29million landlines have so far been converted – and one day those old phones will stop ringing!
We start a new year much in the same way as we ended the old one. I invited members to volunteer any digital gifts they’d received. Somewhat surprisingly there weren’t many. David Hughes had given his wife a smart watch so that they could monitor things like heart rates and blood pressure; Sianed had been promised an iPad and we discussed possible options – I was looking at doing the same with a present from my Jenny; Paul had bought some replacement Dect phones and wondered whether they would work when the PSTN switched to digital (more later); Jenny had got an Apple Watch and I “appointed” her as our specialist/expert moving forward; Steve had got a Chromebook and was looking to get the most out of it whilst concerned about what we’d discussed last time in respect of the possible problems with ongoing support of the operating system and finally Christine was looking at the possibility of a webcam as another possible solution to her ongoing bridge game issues. I had been given a Wacom Intuos tablet but hadn’t started using it.
We turned to issues.
Ann had other pressing issues as a lath and plaster ceiling had collapsed; Fred shared an amusing story dating from when he was working in London relating to a ceiling collapse as well.
Christine was looking at possibly trying to return her Lenovo laptop and she was advised where she could find the AEU date.
Don had started storing passwords in his Google Chrome browser. We expressed some reservations about doing that, our strong preference is for using a password manager, but for the Apple fraternity there might be a possibility of using Keychain.
Sianed mentioned that she’d started using an ecologically friendly/green search engine – ecosia. I said I would be interested in looking at it.
Ted had started a migration from his personal blogspot (Google) website to one based on using WordPress. I offered advice and assistance if required. I also told members that Phil had recently migrated this website – for the clog team his wife organised – to Google sites.
David H reported that after guidance from a friend he’d been advised of a system that allowed multiple calls to come into the same landline. I was surprised and had never heard of such a possibility. It would be interesting to find out more about such a system.
Renee had wanted to extract messages from her iPhone to make them a document. I promised to investigate a solution I’d used for my Jenny. This I found to be called iMazing.
We then had a brief discussion on the withdrawal of the PSTN service by the telcos by 2025. Jenny and I were going to write something for the Magazine on it, and were also to provide Tony Baines with a briefing to take to Region. Paul told us about the problems a cousin (in the Salisbury area where the initial trials were being carried out) who was blind had experienced with 1471 not working any more; he’d had to change his number and there didn’t appear to a call-back facility which he’d relied upon before.
Jenny then told us she’d received a note of briefings on good use of Zoom, and I offered to put a link to them on this website. You’ll see it here.
The meeting finished with a demonstration of the 1921 Census to be found on Find my past. I suggested that all members might offer to demonstrate a website they found useful. At the next meeting I would show the photo sharing site Flickr and how it works..
Two shots from the meeting. Ted had to leave us to attend to an urgent matter.
Apologies: Fred, Margaret, Sally Semlow – who hoped to join us again in the new year, Mario and Jonathan.
I suggested that we might list the successful and perhaps least successful presents/purchases we’d received/made in 2021. I kicked off with the Apple HomePod I’d bought for Jenny last Christmas which has turned out be one of the best bits of kit I’ve ever bought as a gift. The least successful was the Apple iMac 21.5″ (2015) I’d bought for her and which was under specified – criminal mistake on my part! In-between were FitBits, and Tags (which you connect to keys etc); maybe AirTags will be more successful – I need to investigate them more fully.
I reported that Which? have done a survey and written an article on the replacing of the PSTN Landline by 2025. Here’s a link to the article. Renee had requested help with transferring PDF to Pages (or Word) format. You can do it online from Adobe for free, or there are other online tools to do it as well. Otherwise, using the Brave browser, you can Open the PDF file, Save it in Document format; then Open, Select and Copy text onto the application you are using. This can’t successfully handle tables, however they can be treated as graphical images.
Jenny reported that she’d been over-successful; in getting a monitor in that a colleague had managed to buy 20 surplus monitors for £20!!! I said this was quite normal with surplus public sector equipment as they couldn’t be disposed of in other ways at zero cost.
Owen reported that he’d successfully employed an old USB speaker he’d got from a UCISA conference for his laptop. He felt that the purchase of an electronic PhotoFrame had been a bit of a failure due to the need to keep updating it from a USB stick, or WiFi, or SIM card.
David H said something about Heath MOT, a watch for testing blood pressure – I’m sorry I can’t remember the context.
Paul reported a failure (he felt) in the lifetime support for a Google Chromebook. You need to check the lifetime support span for these devices – they may be surprisingly short. [NB Apple’s tend to be longer on average.]
Jim felt that a table mount he’d bought for his phone had not matched his expectations.
Sianed reported that the pulse oximeter (for blood oxygen levels, and pulse readings) they’d bought had been a good investment – I agree.
Stella told us about the failure she’d had in doing some recordings off-screen of some films which had resulted in the sub-titles taking up 3/4 of the screen. On the other hand, she felt her purchase of an iPhone 8 on eBay for £200 had been a great buy.
Steve had been delighted by the purchase of his iPhone but had been alarmed by the heat generated during some activities which had led him to take the case off on occasion.
Ann was delighted with her Lenovo IdeaPad (£320) and said the switch to using SSD for external hard drives was a great success. She had been less pleased with a Toshiba laptop which had problems with the BIOS battery; difficulties in servicing but fortunately she’d not lost the hard disk in the repair.
Renee reported that HER stand for her iPhone had been a success (unlike Jim’s).
Don had started down the road of the “smart home” and reported that his smart plugs were a great success. [Another topic for a later meeting maybe.] His DashCam was a bit of a problem however and the updating of software was not easy – I believe he’d sought external assistance and had it done.
Christine was still experiencing the mammoth failure of her Bridge software, the Lenovo, and the WiFi extenders – I don’t know what else to say!!! On the other hand she was pleased with the Smart TV they’d bought.
John reported that he’d taken the camera he’d bought from JLP back – it was faulty. He was going to look into this again in the New Year – I offered to help.
I can’t find a Screenshot for this meeting – I think Jim said that he’d not taken one, but I could be mistaken. Some brief notes because it’s mostly history now.
Jenny raised a general issue about recording a meeting in Zoom and whether she was able to get a copy of it. We felt that was down to the group in the meeting to decide. Also … if anyone didn’t want to be recorded they should leave the meeting. She had been scammed with the inducement of a Google Play card, felt a bit embarrassed that she’d initially fallen for it – it appeared to come from a work colleague – but had realised that it was an email hack just in time.
Owen had been having problems with his son’s 5G router using a tablet and headset. In the end he had to tether the tablet to a phone and use the inbuilt 5G router. He also commented on the problem of WiFi systems not working when nearby networks were using the same channel – this probably needs to be the subject of a re-visit at a later meeting.
David H was being challenged with the need to renew a Covid Pass. We went through the process and agreed the paper version was easier than the online “passport” – a QR-code.
Stella told us about BT’s plans to replace PSTN analogue landlines by digital services by 2015. This was something most of the group knew nothing about. This might mean that several services needed to be changed – Lifelines; alarm systems – and there was the need to have back-up batteries for vulnerable people
Jim was having problems with grey boxes on Zoom screens – this was resolved (see Owen’s post on this blog).
Margaret was also having difficulty with the Covid app, and the way it worked with your NHS No, which you had to set up separately to then return to the Welsh NHS website. [Not great software architecture imho.] She also told us about the price differences she’d encountered by chance between Argos and Amazon on Black Friday – it’s always worth checking!
Paul told us about VOIP and alarm systems, they wouldn’t work without upgrades. Recommended Google Mesh system (£140) and told us about a BT scam call from India .
Mike mentioned the proliferation of 4G/5G masts in north Cardiff. At least we have the technology, not the case in a lot of rural Wales. [Also worth noting that the telcos have given notification of the switch-off of some 3G (and earlier) services where 4G is now available. Means some handsets may become redundant.
Don was having difficulty lining up his Avery labels for his printer. I can’t remember how we resolved this one for him.
Christine continued to try different solutions to her problem of playing bridge on two machines in the same house on the same network when using WiFi extenders. We’d tried a number of things already – turning off the security channel hadn’t worked; neither had turning off Norton. Could using a different WiFi channel be he answer – perhaps there was external interference? [No is the answer!!!]
A shortened meeting due to your host not having prepared anything to present for which I apologise. It’s been a bit hectic in the Harrison household just recently!
Steve, Owen, Margaret, Christine and Sally presented apologies. We wish the latter a continued good recovery to her broken shoulder and hope to see her in the New Year. We had an attendance that shall we call was fluid as we had members who had to leave to attend to taxi duties and others who arrived towards the end again due to other considerations. Our mug shots (thanks Jim) reflects the comings and goings.
There wasn’t much to review from the previous meeting but we await the outcome of Margaret’s discussions with TalkTalk and Christine’s experiments with using different email addresses with interest.
For today it was very much a “no issues”, “nothing to report” sort of day. Quite a change from normal, so the notes are relatively brief and as I hadn’t added any news stories to Flipboard that part of the meeting was also brief!
David‘s contribution was focussed on the use of his lookout on the Esplanade to watch the painting of the pier and the fireworks. Time well spent!
Stella reported she’d had a scam message from WhatsApp – very similar to the one that Jim had reported to the group on Signal. These are very upsetting and annoying but easy to notice – perhaps changes introduced by Ofcom will limit them in the future. One hopes so. She also advised us that she’d learnt last week of a process to check more rigorously for fraudulent claims involving online activity. This was bound to happen one day as the banks have been paying out large amount of money in compensation. Perhaps it would be a good idea if we all checked the Terms and Conditions of service providers more closely instead of just check-boxing them through in the same way as we’ve had to accept cookies, etc. She also told us of a funny interlude when she’d been unable to set a password for an account she was setting up with a bank. Eventually a clerk had created the account with a very basic password. She’s been unable to change it, so needs to go back to the bank for them to change it – if they can!!!
John was puzzled by the Covid Password Passport application procedure and whether voice recognition was being employed as the process requires you to video yourself whilst saying a number. I suspected that it was more facial recognition that was being used. I couldn’t imagine where my voice was kept on file. Others mentioned the online banking where “My voice is my password”. John pondered on whether Big Brother was alive and kicking in Covidland. He also reported that he’d gone to John Lewis with the possible intention of purchasing a new MacBook Pro but had decided that the purchase of a new Fuji Camera would be much more worthwhile – can’t disagree!
Don had purchased a U-Green USB smartcard adaptor for his Micro-SD card for his in-car camera system. He has yet to try it out. It cost £15 and has ports for CF, MS and standard SD cards as well. He also told us about the trials and tribulations of trying to delete an email address from his contacts in Gmail. It is a bit more convoluted than with other systems as Contacts in Googleland are part of Gmail. Elsewhere they’re a standalone application. So you have to follow a different process than you would have to in Microsoft or Apple worlds.
Jim reminded us that two-factor authentication (2FA) was being rolled out to Google accounts. He and Don had yet to have their chat about the user interface of AllDup.
Ann wanted to congratulate Owen on the splendid presentation and use of technology for the u3a AGM on Tuesday. [I had to admit I’d forgotten it was taking place, such is the happenings currently in my life.] She had been stimulated by the excellent experience and the prodding from Owen at a previous meeting to try and document her solution to the connect a printer by WiFi to a Sky router problem. So far she’s failed unfortunately because thinking the best way of documenting it would be to repeat the process, she’s been unable to reconnect. All is not lost however because she has a cable connection to her router which is working satisfactorily. She has said she won’t give up however and will try again. I commended her on her devotion and service to the group … but please don’t lose sleep over it!
Renee asked me whether it was sensible to upgrade MacOS to Monterey now. I said that was the version that had been supplied to me on my new MacBook Pro and it seemed OK. Some small cosmetic changes to the appearance of Finder and Safari; some rather larger (and worthwhile) changes to the way MacOS and iOS would work together. [I’ll share a link to a document on Signal for Mac users that describes what’s going on, the shortfalls and the benefits of the routeway between the two technologies.]
Fred had problems connecting to the meeting; it would appear that it was a problem at his end as no one else had experienced any difficulties. In general discussion in response to Sianed’s experience (see below), he reported that he’d been surprised to find £4k had appeared in his bank statement this week, which he’d reported to NatWest. It’s still there!
Sianed reported the unpleasant and worrying mistake that HSBC had made with her bank account – a withdrawal to go to the Halifax. She was concerned that if she hadn’t checked her account roughly twice a week, she might not have come across it. She (like John who had also experienced a mistake by a bank) was offered £50 compensation. Notwithstanding this, I reiterated that online banking was generally very safe, and that using banking apps on mobile apps even more safe because of physical measures such as fingerprints or facial scans.
Jenny arrived just before the end of the meeting and gave us a very brief and pleasing summary of her discussions with Irish journalists on getting broadband to older people. She advised them to use OpenReach’s Postcode checker and to use that information in lobbying for accelerated rollout of service.
And that was that. Mike, Paul and Jonathan had nothing to report.
Thanks Jim for the screenshot. One to treasure as I’ve now moved into new luxurious accommodation! The small front bedroom!
Apologies for the delay in posting these notes. I’ve been rather busy on multiple fronts. Hopefully things will begin to settle down now that holidays are out of the way, new Macs, new office setup, etc will become distant but pleasant memories.
We started the meeting reviewing the experience of the History Group’s Hybrid (face-to-face plus zoom) meeting. Generally felt that it worked reasonably well, and once the issue of microphones and cameras were resolved and the need for an external zoom admin added, the format could work well for presentation-style meetings. This raised the possibility of attempting similar meetings for this group, which we discussed and agreed to try after Christmas. The format to be trialled would be a monthly hybrid presentation meeting with a zoom meeting in between. Ann offered to help anyone after the first hybrid meeting try and join the zoom meeting afterwards. Paul offered some help as well, I believe.
Margaret had been experiencing frustration with TalkTalk (Tiscali) and as of the meeting her contract was not to her liking. This seems to be a perennial problem with broadband suppliers.
Owen had been struggling with Google’s changes to the way it enables publishing of Calendars to web pages, but thankfully this had now been resolved.
David had been caught in the gas/electricity supply problems and was now looking at Octopus as a possible supplier. He’d also been caught in the Tesco outage. Apparently that hack had cost the company £16m!! He’d also been engaged in trying to help an IT-scared person attempt to use new equipment. He also asked for advice on cataloging art material. Currently using Powerpoint, and after discussion we agreed that although a database would have been the most suitable platform, the number of records probably didn’t justify changing, or indeed using webpages – my suggestion (of course). Steve also mentioned using Imobilise as a possibility which was linked to insurance, but there might be a registration fee.
Paul quoted his TalkTalk experiences of late which meant that he would be moving to Fibre 150 for £28pm once OpenReach had installed a new socket and modem (£42). He also reported on a recent Gadget Shop programme that had reviewed Mesh systems ranging in cost from £100 to £350. The cheapest came out the best. TPLink was recommended.
Stella had been having problems with email with attachments, realising that she needed to change the message once she’d started it. Paul suggested right-clicking on the attachment to copy and paste it to a new message.
Sianed advised that booster jabs could now be sought by contacting CAVC on 02921841234.
John told us about his saga with using Trainline to book rail tickets and the scandalous £3.60 a minute phone charges he would have had to pay to get a refund on tickets. General advice from the group was to use a train-operating company rather than a ticketing company. So GWR, TfW or VirginRail are good alternatives.
Christine is trying to make their house eco-friendly had been switching things off. The surprising by-product had been that her Powernet devices seemed to work as they were supposed to. However she now felt that the problem with her and her husband playing bridge(?) in different rooms with other remote participants might be due to using the same email address. This she was going to investigate further.
Don told us that he had a TPLink system and that he was satisfied with it.He’d been trying out Alldup (advised by Jim) and had so far saved 28Gb of disk space. He was unsure of the interface and I suggested that he contact Jim offline for a chat. He also requested advice on a USB adaptor for different sized SD-cards. These would tend to be better than the micro-SD to SD-card convertors you usually get with the smaller format cards.
Jenny‘s mouse was broken! She’d had some discussions on Covid-Passports, and had been asked to give some advice to some journalists in Northern Ireland on the subject. We felt that it was up-to-them to investigate this as their local position was different to us in Wales.
All I have recorded for Ann is “booster letters” and “energy advice” – I’m afraid the “little grey cells” can’t translate that into a meaningful note!!
Jim reported that he’d learnt something about the way that Dropbox shared folders worked. The size of them was added to both the host and the users’ local storage allocation.
Steve added to the TalkTalk discussion. He was going to pay £27pm as opposed to Margaret’s £26pm. He was also looking at the possibility of getting a Chromebook as his PC was 8 years old and might be needing a rest!
I then went through the Flipboard articles I added highlighting Apple’s new machines, operating systems and the like; the controversy surrounding Facebook after the whistle-blower episode (still ongoing); and the proposal to block scam calls coming from overseas hiding behind UK mobile phone numbers.
Thanks as ever to Jim for the screenshot and hoping the ones looking down are not actually asleep!
In David’s absence, we went straight to the round-table session.
Margaret had found a very useful site ‘Plotaroute.com’ which describes itself at an ‘Outdoor route Planner’. Margaret recommends it for journeys as well.
Mike sang TalkTalk’s praises after they spontaneously provided him with new routing equipment and an engineer to fit it on the day stated. Not only that, they reduced his monthly cost. Steve concurred about their quality of service but indicated that their prices need to be monitored and compared.
Stella and Sianed had no issues of which to speak but Steve came back in with a question about hybrid meetings. Owen explained that he had run a low-level meeting of the Writers 2 group with 4 attendees in the room and 2 on Zoom, which did seem to work well using a basic laptop, separate camera and separate microphone but that Wi-Fi quality appeared to be the critical factor. The History Group was having a larger hybrid meeting on 27th in the City URC Sacristy so he would report back on 28th. The AGM was also being held there on 9th November.
[There is now a U3A Facebook Group for help with hybrid meetings “u3a: Let’s Talk Tech”]
Jim had no issues but Don had a question about Zoom recordings and how could he pass on the files (MP4) to others. Zoom recordings can be saved either in the cloud (Zoom itself) and shared from there or, if recorded locally, a couple of options were suggested: WeTransfer as mentioned a few meetings ago or possibly uploading to a private You Tube channel. The size of file precludes it form being sent as an email attachment.
Don also mentioned that he had an Amazon Firestick and as a result of using it, his remote control now did more than he had thought…
As Ann, David and Fred had no issues to raise, there was a brief discussion on Windows 11. Owen recommended obtaining the Microsoft PC Health Check software (an ‘.msi’ file) via a Google search and running that first. He had done so on his own PC and laptop and neither of them could take Windows 11. He shared screen images from the report. He did incidentally realise that his PC is now 7 years old!
The group generally concurred that this was the appropriate first step and no-one was too keen to upgrade as yet.
Owen then gave a (rather rushed) presentation on building a small business network and the meeting closed thereafter.
Thanks Jim for the screenshot; I’m glad it’s just your internet connection that’s unstable! We had apologies from Mike, Jenny, Jonathan and Margaret. I’d forgotten to send out the calling notice until David Hughes reminded me – my apologies if that caused problems for anyone wanting to join. I caused problems for myself by trying to run the session from my laptop as I wanted to be near the front door to receive a parcel, but that caused a different set of self-inflicted problems as I started up the wrong Zoom session – The History Group to be precise – and wondered why no one was joining the meeting. Duh! Still, it caused some merriment at my expense and the meeting continued in a very light-hearted manner.
As suggested at the last meeting, I started with a description of what Google Drive for Desktop replacing Back up and Sync means for users of Google Drive on Desktops or Laptops. It has very little impact upon the use of Google Photos on Mobile devices which still has a Backup and Sync option. The slides from the presentation are available here to download as a Powerpoint presentation to play offline – with active links; or to read/download as a clickable PDF file.
We then reviewed the notes from the last meeting. We noted that the issue of Margaret‘s Modem/external drives/computer being switched-off would need to be followed-up at the next meeting. We were pleased to see that Jonathan had been able to get away on holiday to Cornwall, despite his Covid-scare reported at the last meeting. We were even more pleased (and impressed) to hear that he’d solved his McAfee Popup situation – something I’d managed to add to the last meeting’s notes. Steve had looked at the link to change YouTube videos to MP3’s but hadn’t tried it yet. Ann had solved her Printer and SkyQ Modem issue with acknowledged assistance from Owen – she offered to write what she did up as a Comment to these notes.
I suggested I leave the review of news (Flipboard) to the end of the meeting.
Sianed had been troubled by a popup when accessing Gmail that she was being asked whether she wanted to grant access by Google to her accounts. I was of the opinion that this was normal Windows security (now) and that she could probably switch off the prompting from with in Windows (somewhere).
This “problem” enabled me to raise the issue that I felt I was not doing the best for the group in not being able to answer Windows “issues”, or attempt to “solve” Windows “problems”. During the meetings Owen and Paul were doing a sterling job of trying to provide answers, but I felt it would be useful if someone in the Group could take the “Windows brief”. After a brief discussion, I sort of persuaded Paul to take on that role. Many thanks.
Jim reported that he was continuing with his work in adding to the metadata stored with his digital photos. Some of it was recorded in the EXIF data of the photo, but some was not – being camera specific. He offered (and I accepted gladly) the offer for him to write-up what he’d discovered. I added that a similar situation occurred in the world of Adobe Lightroom in merging of EXIF data, and also shared a tip to always take one photo with your smartphone (which stored location data) alongside any photos taken with a digital camera – if you wanted to add location information to your picture in your photo editing software.
Ann described her solution to the printer problem mentioned above and offered to write it up. Many thanks.
Ted had also had a printer problem, to the extent he’d nearly bought a new printer! However, after a bit of research, he found that the problem – blocked printer heads – could be resolved by purchasing a kit costing less than £10 which he intended to apply. It was also suggested that putting the cartridge heads in a saucer of water can resolve the problem as well. I can’t verify whether this is a foolproof, or damage-less solution.
Christine was able to announce that she’d moved the VM Extender to another power outlet the previous day and they’d had perfect reception. Let’s just hope this continues and the problem of poor WiFi reception is behind them. She also had noticed that one of the Icons that had been visible from her Windows Start Icon – that for People (her Contacts) – had disappeared. A solution was proffered (forgive me if I’ve got this wrong): Right-click on the bar on the screen; choose the option to show People on the Taskbar.
Paul was having “fun” with a new dash-cam which used different cable connections – a rather common problem unfortunately with digital devices. We noted that the EU was trying to standardise on USB-C. We also noted that the lack of printed manuals with new devices was not as good for the planet as might be imagined because we had to print them quite often. It was therefore good for the supplier in terms of cost-reduction.
Steve reported that following the last meeting he’d been able to remove the McAffee pop-up reminder; we advised him that he could quite safely use the Windows Defender software rather than pay £4 extra to TalkTalk for McAffee.
Don (with new devices at home recently) would quite like a session on Connecting Devices to the Network. He recently used his phone to take snaps of meter readings as they had fallen foul of the companies going bust. He also described what appeared to be a rather strange scenario (at first hearing) where he was being asked whether he wanted to register a Direct Debit payment for PAYG for the London Exclusion Zone for his car. After some discussion we came to the conclusion it was a valid offer [Ann reported something similar after an experience of entering the Birmingham Zone – and suggested that going on the .gov.uk website might explain more.] It appeared that this would be a personal decision to make. Setup an account, or just remember to pay if you DID happen to enter a zone.
Renee asked for any information on alarm systems as her COD Security system had recently requested a large hike in costs. Paul suggested approaching O’Brien Systems (Swansea); other suggestions were Sonic Alarms and Cardiff Alarms. She asked whether it was OK to upgrade her MacOS and iOS systems now. I suggested waiting for iOS 15.1, but that point releases of MacOS were generally safe to upgrade, and Safari upgrades should always be done. Following the meeting I sent a message to the Signal Group about a new “feature” for MacOS which should possibly be installed when offered – Mac Device Support.
Stella requested advice and information about different disk formats. I explained the origins of NTFS, and why exFAT was better in many ways as it could be used for disks attached to either Macs or PCS. Paul mentioned that FAT32 was another format that was relevant in the Windows world, but there was a fundamental problem with what Stella was hoping to achieve. A disk formatted for use specifically when connected to a TV could not be read on a PC, and vice versa. This was a protection mechanism on the TV to prevent copyright infringement.
David Hughes told us he’d had great pleasure watching his niece play her harp from the college where she was playing but wondered whether there was anyway he could have watched it on the TV. We thought that either Google’s Chromecast, or Apple’s AirPlay might do the trick if his Smart TV supported either of these. Here’s a link for Android devices and here’s how to show an iOS screen on a TV. He also asked about the connection of a sound-bar to his new TV. I stated that for decent sound he would have to use a cable connection – usually HDMI – and not rely on a wireless solution. Others suggested that there might be a Setting to change the “environment” of what he was watching, ie Music, Drama, News, etc which might improve the quality of the sound. He also praised the route information provided by his Maps on his iPad which indicated the best way to get to M&S, now that his local store was closing.
Owen updated us on Beacon issues including the fact that Chrome currently doesn’t work, but Firefox does. He described how a hybrid (in person + zoom) meeting had gone, but that the sound quality on his laptop was probably not good enough – perhaps using external powered speakers (£20-£40) connected to the earphone jack would be necessary; I have some connected to both the TV in the kitchen (from Logitek) and to my iMac (from Creative). Much better sound quality than the internal speakers of both.
To end the meeting, which had now extended to nearly 2 hours – partly due to my trials and tribulations at the beginning – I went briefly through the items I had added to the Flipboard magazine. I highlighted the features that were in the new iOS 15 release (again, I caution on upgrading until 15.1 is released); an important security upgrade for older iPhones; changes in the way people will be able to switch Broadband suppliers; the changes proposed by the EU to standardise on one kind of phone/tablet/device charger (USB-C form); and the release of an app from the Met Office and Exeter University that might be able to predict (using AI) whether it’s going to rain in the next 90mins!
I’ve noted (apart from Don’s suggestion to look at connecting devices to a network) the following topics I may look at in the future – Virtual Private Networks; and ways of using Google Contacts and Google Calendar with native Microsoft/Apple applications.
I’ll also raise the signposting of this website on the Cardiff U3A site (thanks to Steve for alerting me to this) and send an email message to the Group also advising them of the way to access it – just in case they’d forgotten.
I asked members to consider reporting – using this page – any scams they’d encountered to the Which? Scam Alerts Service – which I encourage you all to subscribe to.
I’m grateful for Owen offering to host the next meeting whilst I take the last of our “autumn breaks” in sunny Aberystwyth – well hopefully it will be sunny.
