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Online banking and shopping – 10th October 2019

Welcome & Boot-up
Introductions for the last time!
What do you want / expect from the Group?
Please tick your attendance, pay £1.50 and agree that you want to join the “Thought grazing” website I run where the notes of the meeting are posted, and if you are interested in joining a WhatsApp Group.
For those who’ve expressed an interest in “Thought grazing” and establishing a WhatsApp Group, I’ll send out an email following the meeting with UserIds and Initial Passwords for new members. [You can change your password if you want to – I’ll write a post that explains how you can do that.] The Password for Protected pages on the website is the same as everyone’s initial UserId Password, namely – Ca3rdyddU3A
Does anyone have any difficulties in connecting to the Thought grazing website?
Does anyone want to join the WhatsApp Group but is unsure how to do it?
[Note for self … I need to add member to Contacts on my phone, then I can see them in WhatsApp to add them as a member of the Group. Easy when you know how … duh!]
Incidentally Paul has written a post detailing how you can add WhatsApp to a Tablet.
Do we all know the difference between Google and an Internet Browser?  – Don’t be shy. This is perhaps the most important thing to be sure about before we go any further. Two links to look at – Just google it … and the notes from the first meeting last year.
What’s happening to Digital Projects? Well the first one has been announced, it’s a re-run of a Digital Photography course using Adobe Lightroom and the first session is next Wednesday at Cornerstone on Charles Street at 10:00am.
Which brings me to our webpage on the new website, has anybody other than Paul and David had any ideas? Paul has suggested this for the photo – https://pixabay.com/photos/computer-laptop-work-place-mouse-2982270/ – seems a good one to me! David suggested a photo (at least on the page) of Turing’s first computer; or it could be Leo – the one at Lyons Coffee; or even both!
Any other ideas?
Visits. We agreed visits to the Barclays ‘Maker Space’ which Mario will arrange for us, see details below …
In addition, as part of our community commitment,  we have also opened a new office in Cardiff designed to help businesses grow and start up in Cardiff. Great for budding Entrepreneurs (which statistics show can be high in the over 50s)  and inventors. Part of the Eagle Lab office hosts  a “Maker Space” that houses laser cutting, vinyl printing, 3D printing, electronics equipment including soldering etc. It has a distinctly digital feel too with a really switched on Engineer running the lab. We can host groups there and would be happy to chat with your Digital Projects group and your Science groups coordinators, to discuss with them what is available there and whether they would like to bring members along to take a look at the facilities, or host a meeting there. Please feel free to ask them to contact me and I can discuss what they need, what we have, what we can do to support your members.
… in the approach to Easter, and also a visit to the new BBC Centre after Easter.
Fred has offered to contact Brains and their new brewery at Cardiff Gate for a visit before Christmas.
I was unsuccessful in my first attempt at getting a visit to the Computer Centre of Cardiff University, however a second request targeted more closely at a tour of the Machine Room was successful, so I’ve said I will try and arrange that after Christmas.
News and other issues raised
Renee asked about opening compressed files in emails on an iPhone. We got some way to solving that one, but agreed to take it onboard as a conversation on the WhatsApp Group. I must confess to having forgotten about this – apologies.
I’m convinced there was something else that I’ve forgotten, can you help me?
Finally Catalina – the new operating system for the Mac – was released this week (as expected). My advice, as ever – and this is true for Windows as well, is to wait – let others suffer the pain, rather than you, and as I’ve detailed before there may be issues for some of your apps. I’ve switched-off Office 2011 already as my default app on my Mac for opening Microsoft Office files, it’s now the Apple programs that open these for me, but you could chose Open Office, Libre Office or Google Docs – they are all compatible with the .docx, and .xlsx file formats. Here’s how you change the default apps to open a document for MacOS …
These screen shots are taken from my iMac running Mojave, but they should be pretty similar for older versions of MacOS …
To change which application a document opens in:
1. Right click on the document’s icon.
2. Choose File > Get Info.
3. In the Info window, click the disclosure triangle next to “Open with,” and choose an application to open the document from the “Open with” pop-up menu.
4. If you want all documents of this file type to open with the same application, click Change All.
The important thing for you to get rid of any vestige of Microsoft Office is to press Change All…
In my screen shots I have used Pages (Apple’s Word Processor), but you could use Open Office, Libre Ofiice or Google Docs.

Gear Guide
Has anyone bought, or obtained anything recently they’d like to tell us about? It doesn’t have to be a computer, laptop, tablet or phone – just something that’s digital, ie used a computer processor in some way?
Apps Galore
That slot in the meeting where members are encouraged to share their experience (and possibly excitement) at a new app they’ve started using for their smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop machine.
What’s IT all about?
Not this week
Online banking, transferring money and shopping
A subject which brings fear and trepidation into most of us. Should we even consider using our computers when we need to supply personal information to “the internet”, and in particular information about our bank and credit cards.
I would be foolish to say it’s completely safe, as my story last year detailed, but taking reasonable care you should be OK.
Discussion
Online banking, debit and credit cards
Safe as long as you don’t leave your machine logged-in; you don’t use it from a free WiFi access area; and you password your machine with a reasonably strong password. The banks have recently all upgraded the process of logging-in that should make access for no-gooders more difficult.
Here’s a useful link that summarises the different levels of protection offered for credit cards, debit cards and PayPal (see below).
Discussion
Then there’s ApplePay and Google Pay – does anyone use them?
Paypal
You may have assumed that PayPal was only of use when purchasing from eBay, Gumtree or Preloved, but it can be used – when a website provides the option – as an easy way to pay for goods online, as you can tie your PayPal account to a debit or credit card. As the article quoted above mentions, PayPal has it’s own payment protection scheme, but if you tie a Credit Card to your PayPal account, you will get the protection offered by your Credit Card.

You can also transfer money (abroad as well) using PayPal by transferring the money directly to another person’s PayPal account. This is not the cheapest way of doing it as the Exchange Rates are not the most favourable, but it’s easier than transferring using your bank account. Although written by a competitor, this article summarises the ways you can send money overseas.
Discussion
Your money abroad
As mentioned above there are ways of easily transferring your money abroad of which perhaps the best known is TransferWise. It’s relatively easy to set up an account, and you can immediately see the cost of transferring money abroad compared to what it considers its competitors. You can even obtain a free MasterCard to use as you roam across Europe, the US, Australia, NZ and the UK.

Which? Review of using TransferWise
However, there’s a newcomer on the block which is even cheaper that’s worth taking a look at – Revolut. Both TransferWise and Revolut offer an app for your SmartPhone to allow you to do easy switching of money from your domestic bank to your online account, and Revolut also links to ApplePay. It’s easy to open a Revolut account, you transfer some funds to it and obtain a Visa Debit Card which you can then use in any ATM abroad, at low exchange rates and zero fees.

Here’s a comparison from Money Saving Expert of the Transferwise Debit Card with Revolut.
Here’s a link to a Which? Report on Challenger Banks and Revolut – you may not be able to see this – I have a Which? Online Account.
Discussion
Enough of Banking – what about shopping?
This could go on for a long time! Your experiences, please?
Any really good examples of a great online shopping experience?
Hints and tips:
Use all the facilities the retailer offers, especially if (like Amazon) they provide Two Factor Authentication (2FA) to protect your account; so it’s safe to store credit card details, and addresses on the site.
Use lists to save items you are interested in, but don’t want to purchase just yet; use your order history to re-order goods.
Remember, if you’ve relatives abroad you should look to open accounts with the local Amazon, or search for retailers in their countries that deliver – it’ll be far cheaper than sending it by post, but if you have to post look at this site – Parcel2Go – which you can use for UK postings as well and which you can arrange a local pick-up as well as pick-up from a local shop.
 
 

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What I did on my holidays … 64-bit and photo-editing – 26th September 2019

Welcome & Boot-up
Introductions
What do you want / expect from the Group?
Please tick your attendance, pay £1.50 and agree that you want to join the “Thought grazing” website I run where the notes of the meeting are posted, and that you are interested in joining a WhatsApp Group.
For those who’ve expressed an interest in “Thought grazing” and establishing a WhatsApp Group, I’ll send out an email following the meeting with UserIds and Initial Passwords for new members. [You can change your password if you want to – I’ll write a post that explains how you can do that.] The Password for Password Protected pages on the website is the same as everyone’s initial UserId Password, namely – Ca3rdyddU3A
Does anyone have any difficulties in connecting to the Thought grazing website?
Does anyone want to join the WhatsApp Group but is unsure how to do it?
I think it best to gloss over the chaos that followed – we’ll get there; here’s how to add members to the Group so that I don’t forget … add member to Contacts on my phone, then I can see them in WhatsApp to add them as a member of the Group. Easy when you know how … duh!
Incidentally Paul has written a post detailing how you can add WhatsApp to a Tablet.
Do we all know the difference between Google and an Internet Browser?  – Don’t be shy. This is perhaps the most important thing to be sure about before we go any further. Two links to look at – Just google it … and the notes from the first meeting last year.
What’s happening to Digital Projects? Well the first one has been announced, it’s a re-run of a Digital Photography course using Adobe Lightroom and it’s announced in the latest Newsletter on the new Cardiff U3A website.
Which brings me to our webpage on the new website, the Photography Group has already added information to their page.

  • What do you think should be on it?
  • Should we have a number of pages?
  • Any ideas for an image to head the page?

Helping others in Cardiff U3A with Computing/IT issues …

  • a WhatsApp Help & Advice Group? We agreed to do this and I’ll write to the Committee for them to consider.
  • [Update: The committee is going to consider this at their meeting in October. Further update: We decided to withdraw our offer until we felt more confident in using a Group for ourselves!]]
  • opening-up Thought grazing to non-Group members? We agreed not to do this

Visits. We agreed visits to the Barclays ‘Maker Space’ which Mario will arrange for us, see details below …
In addition, as part of our community commitment,  we have also opened a new office in Cardiff designed to help businesses grow and start up in Cardiff. Great for budding Entrepreneurs (which statistics show can be high in the over 50s)  and inventors. Part of the Eagle Lab office hosts  a “Maker Space” that houses laser cutting, vinyl printing, 3D printing, electronics equipment including soldering etc. It has a distinctly digital feel too with a really switched on Engineer running the lab. We can host groups there and would be happy to chat with your Digital Projects group and your Science groups coordinators, to discuss with them what is available there and whether they would like to bring members along to take a look at the facilities, or host a meeting there. Please feel free to ask them to contact me and I can discuss what they need, what we have, what we can do to support your members.
… in the approach to Easter, and also a visit to the new BBC Centre after Easter.
I’ll approach Cardiff Uni about the possibility of a visit maybe before Christmas, and Fred suggested a visit to Brains new brewery site as an alternative.
[Update: Unfortunately I was unsuccessful in getting a useful visit to the Computer Centre of Cardiff University; I have another idea, but Fred has offered to contact Brains and their new brewery at Cardiff Gate for a visit before Christmas.]
Finally, I posted an article about the forthcoming MacOS Upgrade to Catalina – which is a 64-bit operating system – and what it might mean for Mac desktop/laptop users. This has prompted me to consider this as a topic (not Mac specific) for later in this meeting. There are several links in that article that you may wish to follow, and which are not listed below, if you’re a Mac user.
Other issues raised:
Gill asked whether it was possible to print from an iPhone to a printer. Members were able to say … yes, if the printer supports AirPrint. I presume there’s an Android equivalent?
Renee asked about opening compressed files in emails on an iPhone. We got some way to solving that one, but agreed to take it onboard as a conversation on the WhatsApp Group.
If I’ve forgotten anything, please let me know.
Gear Guide
Has anyone bought, or obtained anything recently they’d like to tell us about? It doesn’t have to be a computer, laptop, tablet or phone – just something that’s digital, ie used a computer processor in some way?
Apps Galore
That slot in the meeting where members are encouraged to share their experience (and possibly excitement) at a new app they’ve started using for their smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop machine.
Renee mentioned that she’d found DuoLingua a very interesting application for helping her learn a language just recently – others had used it as well.
What’s IT all about?
The next upgrade to MacOS – Apple’s operating system for its desktops and laptops (not iPads and iPhones) is 64-bit. Any software that is not compliant, that is it’s not written to meet the specification of 64-bit, will not run on your machine once the operating system has been upgraded. What does this mean though? Do Windows users face a similar issue, now or in the future?
I’m going to use this article as the basis for the explanation, using Windows as the operating system in question. But first, does everyone know what an Operating System is?
It has to be said upfront that Microsoft has been extremely “kind” to its users, offering backward compatibility even back to MS-DOS (a 16-bit operating system) for a long time so that you can even now still run old DOS programs using a 16-bit emulator for Windows 10. However, Microsoft has also confused its users ever since Windows XP by providing two versions of its operating system, one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit. If you had a previous version of Windows – XP, 7, or 8 – which had the 32-bit operating system installed on your machine, you are more than likely to have got the 32-bit version of Windows 10 installed on it when you did the free upgrade. But you can upgrade to the 64-bit version if your hardware will allow it. And there’s the rub, not all hardware will allow 64-bit processing and that’s why the MacOS upgrade is both helpful and annoying.
It’s helpful in that it sets a new benchmark for all software developers. They’ve known since December 2018 that this change was coming, and it’s not particularly challenging for Mac users as machines back to 2012 (including therefore my MacBook Pro) will be able to make the switch.
But why the change? Well as the first article spells out the biggest advantage of using a 64-bit processor is that it can address a much larger amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) and so therefore machines with more than 4Gb of RAM will benefit from faster processing if the applications are written to the 64-bit code base. Also more programs will be able to held in RAM, enabling faster switching between applications. Graphics intensive applications with the dependance on a large amount of memory space will also work faster. So there are huge benefits.
So should you as a Windows user upgrade to 64-bit Windows 10? That depends upon what you use your computer for. If you decide to stick with 32-bit be aware that Microsoft will one day dump 32-bit in the same way they “dumped” DOS, but the community of users is so massive that undoubtedly a 32-bit emulator will be written, by someone! But, you may choose to make the switch, if your hardware can take it, before you’re forced to jump; and in the meantime be aware that you’ll undoubtedly and progressively experience a slowing down of your software as more of them become 64-bit, and if you try and run a large number of them concurrently (at the same time) in different windows.
Some more links for you to ponder …
How to switch from 32-bit to 64-bit Windows 10
FAQs from Microsoft on 32-bit and 64-bit computing
32-bit app compatibility for Macs with current Mojave operating system
Incidentally, my MacBook Pro is still running High Sierra, the operating system before the latest one – Mojave. I intend to upgrade it to Mojave and then leave it at that operating system so that I can run some 32-bit applications such as Office 2011 and Adobe Lightroom 6 (and earlier) for a while longer. It is a seven-year old machine … it’s doing very well with the upgrades it’s had to it’s hardware – solid state disk, RAM increased, replacement battery – it’s not ready for the scrapyard yet, and it’ll be more difficult to upgrade to Mojave soon, once Catalina has been released.
My machine’s running slow!
Quite co-incidentally I’ve been approached by a U3A Group Facilitator who’s having problems with the performance of their machine.
This led me to do a search of Google for good articles that might be of help and value. We’ve looked at this before, of course for Windows, and I’m adding a couple of links below which might be of interest and assistance.
I use MacPaw‘s CleanMyMac 3 on my MacBook Pro, and I will probably upgrade to CleanMyMac X for both desktop and laptop before I do any upgrades to Catalina. Here’s a blogpost on how you can improve performance on your Mac.
Here’s an article that makes suggestions on how to clean-up both PCs and Macs.
So … to the Windows PC. Here are a couple of links:
Some quick ways of speeding-up Windows 7, 8 and 10 PCs.
Tips to improve performance with a Windows 10 PC – from Microsoft
Set of links from an earlier Thought grazing post on Windows 10 maintenance
Easy-peasy photo-editing … believe me!
You’ve taken a photo, or been sent it in an email, but you just feel that you could make it just a little bit better. Don’t despair, there’s an easy way of editing a digital photo in just a few steps if you have a Google Photos account, and if you don’t – here’s how to get one and how to get started with organising your photos.
Some thoughts. Most smartphones take images of 12mp or perhaps a little more. You can print a decent 15 x 10 inch picture from an image of that size

Google allows you to upload images without any compression up to 16mp – happy days!
So on to a demonstration … some simple edits to enhance an image.

For more guidance on Google Photos, the use of Backup and Sync and much more, you might like to visit (or re-visit) this Thought grazing page.
 
 

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Watch out for Catalina!

I was asked last week about a message that had appeared on a Lightroom 4 users’ screen with this warning …

… scary eh!?
Well yes it is but if you’ve got a relatively new Mac you do have the choice NOW of making sure you have the latest version of software that will support older versions of Lightroom, and do an upgrade to Mojave (v.10.14) BEFORE Catalina (v.10.15) is released later this year – probably in October. That way you’ll be nearly up-to-date with your version of MacOS and that may be sufficient for you if you don’t feel the need to have the latest version of MacOS.
If you have Lightroom 6 installed (or even 3, 4 or 5), you may be getting the message above EVEN THOUGH it is a 64-bit app. This is because the Installer/Uninstaller and Activation code software is 32-bit. That means the software “should” continue to work, but you won’t be able to re-install it to a MacOS of Catalina (v.10.15), or later.
The only other alternative if you want to stick with Adobe Lightroom is to swallow hard and subscribe at £9.98pm to the Photography Plan of Adobe’s Creative Cloud programme. You do get Photoshop as well as what Adobe call Lightroom Classic, plus their in the cloud version of Lightroom which they (confusingly) call Lightroom!
Adobe detail the changes and implications in this blog post. Another post from Laura Shoe Training gives more information here.
UPDATE: I’ve just read this really useful and interesting article from the magazine MacWorld – I suggest you read it too – and I’ve found out that Microsoft 2011 and Picasa (amongst others on my iMac) will not work with Catalina. Whilst I’m not particularly concerned about losing either of these as there are alternatives I’m already using – such as (in the case of the former) Google Docs, Open Office, Libre Office or Apple’s Pages, Numbers or Keynote applications – it’s better to be prepared and to have made the decision to move before I have to jump! Also in the case of Picasa, that I haven’t got anything in the database that I haven’t catalogued elsewhere – I think that unlikely, but I ought to check!
I’ve also stumbled upon an entry in “About This Mac > System Report …” which you get to from the Apple Icon in the top-left corner of your desktop. Go to Software and if you’re running Mojave there’s an entry called Legacy Software. Look at that and you’ll be able to see quickly what software is unlikely to work in Catalina. If you’re running an earlier version of MacOS go to Software and click on Applications and look for non 64-bit applications (a column to the right of the window).
Other links worth following …
MacOS 64-bit – what it means to you
32-bit app compatibility for Macs with current Mojave operating system
 
 
 

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Adding Whats App to a non SIM card Tablet / Pad

Equipment Required: Tablet, £1 Pay As You Go SIM card, Spare Mobile phone.
You probably have a Whats App account associated with your phone.
You may have a tablet and wish to use Whats App on that tablet.  This method gives you a second Whats App account – separate from your original one, – Don`t confuse the two !
1    Obtain a £1 PAYG  SIM card from any store
2    Insert the SIM card into the spare phone, there is no need to make any calls, or send texts & hence no requirement to “Top Up” the SIM card
3    Record this phone number and leave the phone turned on
4   On Your Tablet, Download Whats App from Google Play or Apple Store,Select a name you wish to be known as on this Tablet account (different from your normal Whats App account on your normal phone)
5    When the App requests the Tablet to provide a VERIFICATION phone number, enter the Phone Number of your PAYG SIM card from step 3
6    Whats App will send a verification Text to the phone, Confirm the Text if required
7    You are now up and running and can Whats App to and from the Tablet, you can now switch off and forget about the spare phone as it is no longer required.
Enjoy…..
Paul

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Welcome to the Computer Group – 12th September 2019

Welcome
Introductions
What do you want / expect from the Group?
Please tick your attendance, pay £1.50 and agree that you want to join the “Thought grazing” website I run where the notes of the meeting are posted, and that you are interested in joining a WhatsApp Group.
For those who’ve expressed an interest in “Thought grazing” and establishing a WhatsApp Group, I’ll send out an email following the meeting with UserIds and Initial Passwords for new members. [You can change your password if you want to – I’ll write a post that explains how you can do that.] The Password for Password Protected pages on the website is the same as everyone’s initial UserId Password, namely – Ca3rdyddU3A
Do we all know the difference between Google and an Internet Browser?  – Don’t be shy. This is perhaps the most important thing to be sure about before we go any further. Two links to look at – Just google it … and the notes from the first meeting last year.
What’s happening to Digital Projects?
Helping others in Cardiff U3A with Computing/IT issues …

  • a WhatsApp Help & Advice Group? We agreed to do this and I’ll write to the Committee for them to consider.
  • opening-up Thought grazing to non-Group members? We agreed not to do this

Visits. We agreed visits to the Barclays ‘Maker Space’ which Mario will arrange for us, see details below …
In addition, as part of our community commitment,  we have also opened a new office in Cardiff designed to help businesses grow and start up in Cardiff. Great for budding Entrepreneurs (which statistics show can be high in the over 50s)  and inventors. Part of the Eagle Lab office hosts  a “Maker Space” that houses laser cutting, vinyl printing, 3D printing, electronics equipment including soldering etc. It has a distinctly digital feel too with a really switched on Engineer running the lab. We can host groups there and would be happy to chat with your Digital Projects group and your Science groups coordinators, to discuss with them what is available there and whether they would like to bring members along to take a look at the facilities, or host a meeting there. Please feel free to ask them to contact me and I can discuss what they need, what we have, what we can do to support your members.
… in the approach to Easter, and also a visit to the new BBC Centre after Easter. I’ll approach Cardiff Uni about the possibility of a visit maybe before Christmas, and Fred suggested a visit to Brains new brewery site as an alternative.
Boot-up
There will be no News section this year – I’m moving it to Flipboard, unless there’s a really big news story when we’ll take it as part of Boot-up.
Only “really” big news (tongue-in-cheek) is of course the Apple Autumn event streamed across the world last Tuesday afternoon. Available on YouTube and from Special Apple Events (if you’ve got an Apple TV).
Update your Bus Pass – Transport for Wales have taken over the issuing of concessionary bus passes for all of Wales from the Local Authorities. Your current bus pass will not be valid after December 31st 2019.
Gear Guide
Members are encouraged to talk about a new piece of computing/digital technology, or software that they’ve purchased or recently started using.
Paul’s gear experience this summer …

Our Windows 7 Medion Laptop in Holland slowly died after over 10 years, it was originally running Vista.
I looked at what we (Dolly) actually used it for …
  • Emails
  • Google Photos
  • Banking
  • Bit of Surfing
  • Some Games
I concluded that we could use a Chromebook for all this, apart from  2  Windows specific Games.
I purchased an ACER 15.6″ Chromebook for €260 (it runs Chrome Operating System (Nougat 7.11) and with the saving from not getting a Windows 10 Lap Top , I bought a Lenovo 10″ tablet (TBX104F) for €120 (16GB / 2GB, it runs Android Oreo 8.1).
The Chromebook set up was really easy, you follow the on-screen instructions, and connect to your WiFi. It did an Update when started  for the first time, then, if you already have an active Google Account and were using a Chrome Browser, you enter your details and it loads up and mimics what you had before. It works with Google Drive (or Cloud ?) and is easy to use for all the Google apps in the Google suite.
The Android Tablet was also simple, again you follow the on screen instructions & once logged in to your Google Account, it asks if you’d like to Clone  your nearby Android device; hence it loads all the Apps you have on your phone. Dolly loves the Tablet, and is sorry she resisted my efforts to get her one for years!!
We came back to the UK and have now bought a SIM-free HONOR 8A phone for £120 from CarPhone Warehouse, although they are easily available elsewhere.
HONOR is part of Hauwei , but any current phones will continue to be supported with Google products (thus there should be no problem with the current Import Restrictions placed upon Huawei. This device runs Android 9.0 and is a DUAL-SIM device so we can install a UK and a Dutch Sim and she can use a single phone.  [She is waiting for me to go over and install the Dutch Sim.] Set up on the phone was again easy. I logged into her Google account, and it mimicked all the apps she already had. I resisted the offer to sign up to Hauwai app “for a better experience”. 🙂
The HONOR also has some nice features … take a photo, and answer a call by just touching the Finger Print Sensor, on the back.
Currently all is working well.

Marilyn approached me for advice on which Mac to buy. She had a Windows laptop which was slowly dying. I advised her the most important thing when buying new gear was to write down very clearly what it was that you wanted to do with the gear, and where you wanted to do it. The upshot of that debate with herself was that she got an iMac desktop instead with faster internal Solid State Hard disk, an external hard disk for her photographs, and a bigger (and better screen) to watch YouTube photography videos on … and a re-organised flat!!!!
Apps Galore
That slot in the meeting where members are encouraged to share their experience (and possibly excitement) at a new app they’ve started using for their smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop machine.
What’s IT all about?
An opportunity to occasionally go into a little more detail about how something works – eg how the internet works, how does a website work, how does email work, etc etc
Thought grazing, Flipboard and WhatsApp
Demonstration of using Thought grazing – there is a Guide, but I know you’d all like a demonstration.
Using Flipboard – for the best experience, register, follow Thought grazing and install it on your smartphone or tablet. You can add content yourself as well.
Creating a WhatsApp Group … for the Group. If you’ve ticked-the box on the sheet I’ve circulated, I’ll send you an invite to join the Group. You’ll need a mobile phone number to participate (I believe), and have installed the App on your phone. You can then also use if from your laptop/desktop (if your phone is  to hand). Currently, it’s not available on a tablet (I believe).
[Update: Paul has written a post detailing how you can add WhatsApp to a Tablet.]

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WhatsApp location finder.

If you want to share your location with a friend eg if your delayed on a train – WhatsApp may come in useful.

  1. Open individual chat or group chat, in text box, tap the paper clip icon. Tap Location in the box that pops up, (ensure you’ve already allowed whatsApp access to your location)
  2. On next screen a google map of your exact position appears, and below this a list of nearby locations as well as the option to share live location.
  3. Tap Share Live Location & choose how long to share your location (can be between  15 min -1 hour  & 8 hours)
  4. You can also add comment here eg train running late.
  5. Tap the Send arrow,  you’ll then see your location on the app map & an option to Stop Sharing – which can be used any time
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Android System Update

What a week!  I was getting to the end of the extra data allowance I bought after the Windows update, when I noticed Android was doing an update to my phone.  I managed to interrupt it, hopefully before the allowance had been used up completely.  I’ve now been able to let it finish.
It might be something for some of the group to keep an eye out for.

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Another Windows 10 Update / Internet Explorer

This update apparently was because I’m using an old version of Windows 10 (?!), which won’t be supported after November (?! again).  Once again I had a hint one was on the way, because a few times last week I lost control of the cursor, presumably as the update was being downloaded.  It was finally installed this morning, taking about an hour.
On another matter, a member of the Photography Group had some trouble logging in to some sites, and finally took her laptop in to the shop she bought it from.  It turns out she was still using Internet Explorer as her browser, which is now past its ‘use by’ date.  She is now using Firefox, (but as we know, other browsers are available).  Does that help anybody?
 

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Sound session – 25th July 2019

Boot-up
Renee has asked a question about PDF converters. I’ve attempted to answer part of the question, but have not come up with any answer yet on electronic signatures – any thoughts, anyone? A former colleague has suggested that OpenOffice might provide the solution that Renee requires. I haven’t had the time to test that idea, but if it works – it might mean that this software is a better choice than LibreOffice which we looked at earlier in the year but you’d have to forego the ability to read AND write in Office formats (.docx and .xlsx), I believe.

The other thing I wanted to raise with you was how I was going to decide whether to use Apple Music (rather than Spotify, Google Music, Amazon Music, or whatever). I really haven’t had the time to give it a serious tryout but I can see that there’s some music available that I haven’t seen anywhere else – compilations of live music for an artist, for example – which looks very interesting. So I’ll subscribe for a while, see how the breakup of iTunes this autumn works out and then make a decision about whether £9.99 a month is a worthwhile subscription cost.

There was no interest from my family – I could have added them at an additional cost of £5pm – they’re all Spotify users. I guess that’s the issue. If you’re a user of another service and have set up Playlists, or whatever, and know the interface – why would you change? Me … I’m very slow into digital music. I’ve always wanted to hold the CD, and before that the vinyl/cassette, but as I have no interest in the latter anymore, perhaps it’s also time to ditch the former too!

Whatever I decide to do, I must remember to back-up my iTunes Library and iTunes Media Folder before I do anything – and that includes cancelling my iTunes Match subscription, which I’ve not been totally sure what it gives me, but which I know now is unnecessary if I have Apple Music.

Anything else anyone?
News
Continuing our paranoia theme of the year – ways in which to find out if accounts are linked to your email or phone.
How to avoid fake ads disguised as fake download links.
An unexpected upgrade for old iPhones.
Sound
So this part of the session is a bit of a “digital project”, but one where I have very little expertise, so I’m hoping (praying) for some help from Jim and anyone else who knows something about this area!

The challenge was thrown down by Renee. To paraphrase what she said: “How do I get music off old analog devices” (ie cassette recorders and record decks). I knew I had a a device to help in that – it was just a challenge to find it, to see if it would still work and more importantly whether it would work with current hardware PCs and Macs.

I’m delighted to say I found it (in the same box as my record deck); it appeared to be still working; which was then confirmed when I connected it to both a PC and my Mac running the latest versions of Windows 10, and MacOS (Mojave). So as long as I didn’t want to use the software provided by Creative – which I didn’t – all was ready to go.

Here’s the Creative SoundBlaster Audigy NX-2 external sound card – to be found in every home … NOT, just in a geeks home, like mine!

On the back you have a number of ports and the power connection, but most importantly the USB port.


On the side you have the port I’m going to use for input (Line In) – but you can see also a port for Mic In.


So having connected the power cable, and the USB cable to the SoundBlaster and the computer, it’s now time to connect the sound source cables. For that you’ll need either a cable like this …



… or have a splitter to join two red and white hifi cables to the Line In …



… or in my case for testing only, a cable like this …



… so that I can connect my iPhone to it! Yes, I know that’s totally pointless as the music on that device is already digital BUT I wasn’t going to lug a cassette deck in today, let alone a record deck! I haven’t tested output from a headphones socket into Line In which would use a similar cable. I can’t see any reason why that wouldn’t work as well. [NB This won’t work with more recent Apple devices than the iPhone 6s which I had at this time, as Apple have discontinued the headphone jack on their devices.]

You might also be able to connect another music device – keyboards or whatever using this method.

There is one caveat if you’re using the red and white cable connectors. You may well (certainly in the case of a record deck) need to take the feed from an amplified source as the sound output is unlikely to be sufficient for the software on the computer to pick-up. So you may need to take the feed from your hifi amplifier rather than the decks. Which neatly leads us to the software we’re going to use. Which is called Audacity …


and which can be downloaded from this link. Make sure you choose the right format – Windows or Mac. Below are a couple of screen shots of the software in action, but now (drum roll), I’m going to try another live demo, which I have absolutely no confidence of achieving success, whatsoever!

However, hopefully, Jim will have helped me a bit and it’s not been a complete disaster and it’s good to know that the software is well documented here.

I’ve got a printout of the instructions on how the SoundBlaster card works, and I can make them available if anyone wants to borrow the device and cables.