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FVTC

Senior Computer Users News

 

JULY, 2009

ISSUE: 201

 

NEXT GENERAL MEETING - July 17, 2009

 John Ross, retired FVTC computer instructor, will be the presenter. He will discuss storage mediums (primarily Verbatim, DROBO, Click Disk), as well as some new video editing software. John has continued the monthly Good Neighbor call-in show about computers with WHBY radio; and this “Press” connection takes him to events such as the 2009 Consumer Electronic Show   www.cesweb.org    He will tell us about some of the new technological developments from that event and from his recent product reviews. John will take questions from the audience about Consumer Electronics, Digital Imaging, and Computers.

 

REPORTS:

GENERAL MEETING – June 12, 2009   by Elaine Vollmer

 Presenter: Diane W. Doersch, - Instructional Technology Leader for the Neenah Joint School District gave a very interesting and educational presentation on Web 2.0.  Many of us, including  myself, had never given much thought to this computer application or what it can do.  It runs on the Web and does not take up space on your hard drive.  She explained what a “Wiki” is and what it can do for us.  www.wikispaces.com     Most, if not all, wiki applications can be used without cost.  It has many social applications for sharing pictures, calendars, etc., with your friends and co-workers.

 

GENEALOGY USER GROUP    by Mary Klein
 In June we continued our overview of Google as a research tool in genealogy.  We now know the arrangement and special features of the “results page”. We also looked at the 25 Best Websites for Finding European Ancestors.
 Exploring the use of keywords will be our Google topic for July.  We will also look at the many special censuses available.

 

INTERNET USER GROUP

 CCleaner is a free registry cleaner.  www.ccleaner.com   It has no adware working with it.  Other computer programs were also discussed.

 

SCANNER/PHOTO USER GROUP

 We had a Q & A session and discussed Voice Recognition software.  Actually this is a part of the VISTA operating system.  There was a discussion of how to send pictures by e-mail.  Our new work involved becoming aware of all the features in Adobe Elements by working with the various tools.

 

RESOURCE SHARING USER GROUP

 When researching problems, a good site to check out would be www.pcdon.com    Senior Computer Tutor Don Edrington writes PC newspaper columns, reviews Hollywood in the 20th Century, World War 2, Korea, and has downloadable music files.  Entering a search for your computer questions will locate sites where you can go for answers.  We discussed creating, alphabetizing, importing, and printing mailing labels.

 

WAUSHARA USER GROUPS

 Joyce Clark, FVTC-Oshkosh sewing instructor, was the presenter. She demonstrated how to download and save (and later retrieve) patterns and other information from the Internet. She brought many fabric creations she had made, and discussed computerized sewing. We also heard from Marie Thull about sewing classes, weekends, and tours.  Go to  www.fvtc.edu   and search on “sewing”.

 In the Genealogy User Group, we had a roundtable discussion and then used the Internet for researching.

 

JUNE MAILING CREW

 Thanks to Donna Dutter, Barb Johnson, Donna Nowak, and Dolores Spitz for preparing the June newsletter and envelopes for mailing

 

TECH TIP

 There is a wealth of information available for you at this Web site:  www.smartcomputing.com

Look under “Search the Tech Support Center.”  Troubleshooting and how-to questions are answered.  Check out what they have to offer.

 

INFORMATION

 Those who have been members of the national SeniorNet group recently received an email newsletter, a new service.  If you did not furnish them with your email address, they cannot send you this newsletter.  You can check this out at:  www.seniornet.org

 

 It was announced at our last General Meeting that our Coordinator, Judy Williams, will soon be retiring. FVTC presently cannot fill this position, but they will still offer their facilities to our local SeniorNet group.  Judy is a gifted and knowledgeable worker and put together so much of what has been offered over the many years she has served.  Now we are asking for volunteers to step forward and fill the gap left by her departure.  Won’t you consider helping us with the user groups, classes, or both?  Many hands will make the work light.  Most jobs can be shared, i.e., more than one person can pitch in to get the job done.  This could be on a seasonal basis, or a task-by-task basis.  Also, most positions will need at least one back-up.  Contact any User Group officer or fill out a volunteering form at a User Group meeting or call (920) 735-4864.