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August 2021 THE LOS User ANGELES Friendly COMP —UTER The SOCIETY Los Angeles NEWSLETTER Computer Society Volume Page 38 Issue 1 8 August 2021

LACS A Computer and User Friendly Technology User Group IN THIS ISSUE AUGUST 10 GENERAL MEETING Meeting Time: 7:00 – 9 PM – Via Zoom From Your President / Editor 2 General Meeting Report 3 6:30 to 7:00: Socializing and Questions & Answers Topic: Evernote for 2021 Voice and Its Many Speaker: Hewie Poplock Uses 5 APCUG Speakers Bureau Interesting Internet Finds 6 Central Florida Computer Society Rubber Bands, Duct Tape, and Sarasota Technology Users Club the Windows Registry 6 LACS Notices 8 Evernote gives you everything you need to keep life orga- LACS Calendar 9 nized—great note-taking, project planning, and easy ways to find what you need, when you need it. You can capture Members Helping Member s 10 anything by adding your notes, photos, , and to-do Officers, Directors & Leaders 11 lists. You can keep it together by creating a personal Hands-on with Windows 11 12 space for all of your most important ideas and information. CAPTCHA 14 You can find it fast and get the right note, right away with its powerful search and keyword tags. You are able to Casting, Not in the Theatrical sync your notes to all your devices, so they stay with you, Sense 15 even if you are offline. Computer Trivia 16 Meet Our Presenter Special Offers 18 Hewie Poplock is a former APCUG Vice President. He Laughing Out Loud 18 leads the monthly Central Florida Computer Society’s Membership Information 19 online Windows SIG, and he is the CFCS’s APCUG Rep- LACS on Zoom 20 resentative. He is also on the board of directors of the Sar- asota Technology Users Club. Hewie has been active in

computer user groups since 1982. He likes to help com- APCUG EVENTS puter users. You can attend his free monthly Win(dows) Watch your email for SIG meetings online. Along with Ron Brown, Hewie hosts up-coming events. “Tech for Seniors” every Monday on Zoom & YouTube, “Tech for Seniors LIVE!” every Thursday, and “Learning ” on the 4th Thursday on Zoom. LACS IS A MEMBER OF APCUG Tuesday, August 10, 7:00 - 9:00 PM www.apcug2.org 6:30 - 7:00 Socializing and informal Q & A www.facebook.com/APCUG www.twitter.com/apcug This meeting will be conducted via Zoom. LACS members on the PC list, will receive the Zoom link on about August 8. Guests may apply for the link by emailing Leah Clark at before August 8. An International Association of Technology and Computer User Groups Page 2 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society August 2021

FROM YOUR PRESIDENT / EDITOR

Thank you! Nominations for the LACS 2022 Board • To Annette Tossounian for storing the It is now time to nominate members for the LACS equipment in her garage. LACS board for 2022. Paula Van Berkom • To Irv Hershman for becoming an User and Stephanie Nordlinger have volunteered Friendly proofreader. to be on the nominating committee. In addi- • To Loling Beckman for coordinating the tion, we should have one or two more mem- Culver City Senior Center computer lab bers who do not need to be current or future volunteers. board members. This committee will ask • To Paula Van Berkom and Stephanie members to run for a position, and will rec- Nordlinger for volunteering to be on our ommend candidates for each office or nominating committee. directorship. Current board members should notify the • To E. J. Rozek for his service as an committee if they are willing and able to run LACS director. I am sorry that he must for another term. Also, LACS members in resign because of personal obligations. good standing may nominate themselves. He will be missed on the board. Nominations will be taken from the Zoom participants at the August and September general meetings. Please consider being on the LACS board, and know that current During Judy Taylour's very informative members will assist you along the way. presentation at our July general meeting, we learned about Google Voice. She sug- See page 11 of this issue to note which posi- gested we could use it for putting some tions are up for reelection at the end of members' phone numbers in User Friendly 2021. Also, see our bylaws at and on our website. Perhaps this could https://www.lacspc.org/Various/ByLaws.pdf help to keep our personal numbers more for the duties of each position. secure. I am asking the nominating committee to re- See the report of the July 13 meeting on port to me (Leah Clark) before September 1, page 3 of this issue, the recording of the 2021, so the nominees can be presented at meeting, and the article on page 5. the September general meeting. Each nomi- nee is asked to provide a short bio and a I am going to look into it. I may email the photograph so they can be featured in the author of the page 5 article for advice. If October User Friendly. you have had any experience with Google Elections should take place at the October meeting. If there should be more than one Almost everything will work again if candidate for any position, you will receive you unplug it for a few minutes, ballots by mail. including YOU. If you have questions, please get in touch Author Anne Lamott with me or a nominating committee member.

LACS Needs Your Help

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GENERAL MEETING REPORT synchronized with various devices, July 13, 2021 opeating systems, and PC apps. By Leah Clark, LACS President and Editor • : Let's you store, share, Topic: There Is More to Google Than and collaborate on files and folders from “Google It” any mobile device, tablet, or computer. Speaker: Judy Taylour Files are saved in Google Drive. Santa Clarita Valley Computer Club • : A subscription service to APCUG Speaker’s Bureau manage your storage across Google Google’s mission is “to organize the world’s Photos, Drive, and . information and make it universally accessible • : A great way to organ- and useful.” Google produces no software that ize what’s happening in your life. It can resides on your computer. be customized in many ways, and it can Here is a list of Google’s offerings. Judy ex- be shared. plained each one. LACS members may refer to the meeting recording for information and • Google Tasks: A to-do list. Make multi- functions of each app. ple lists; access them via your calendar. The Android Operating System (OS) is • : A note-taking service. based on the Linux kernel and other open- Voice recordings can be transcribed, and source software. The first Android device was images can be extracted using OCR. in 2008. : Connect with club groups, The OS and web browser friends, and family via group emails. were introduced for Windows in 2008 and Mac : A video chat mobile app for and Linux in 2009. It is now the most used OS Android and iOS systems. globally, and it is your doorway to the cloud. Google Voice: A cloud-based VOIP phone Suite: A suite of productivity service to make and receive phone calls, tools including Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, send text , and to forward calls. A Drawings, Sites, and Google Keep. It works phone message comes in an email. with Android, macOS, Windows, iOS, Chrome : Provides telephone calls and OS, and Blackberry devices. Backups and up- SMS text messages. Calls automatically dates are automatic and instant. shift between mobile networks. • Google Docs and : Pared- Google Messages: A next-generation tex- down Microsoft Word and Excel. ting standard that is replacing SMS. It will • : Presentation software like make your chats more secure. PowerPoint, but more austere. : A video-communication ser- • : Create surveys, elections, vice. It has no dial-in, recording, or ability to quizzes, event registration, and obtain raise your hand, take polls, ask questions, feedback. Results can be downloaded to a or get attendance reports like Zoom spreadsheet. : A route planner for finding directions via driving, public transportation, • Gmail: Accessible on the web and via third walking, or biking. -party programs. It has many useful func- tions for sending and receiving email. Google Local Map Guides: Volunteers who write reviews, share photos, answer • : Available in Gmail or on questions, add and edit places, and check Android phones. Your contacts can be facts on Google Maps.

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Waze: A community-driven GPS navigation It does not store or transmit your credit card app that uses data from users to provide in- numbers. formation on traffic or road hazards. : Ask Google or "Google It". : Worldwide satellite images of A search is done in less than a second. buildings in 3D and the terrain of hundreds of Google Doodles: The Google.com home cities. Zoom to your house or anywhere else page is kept fresh with fun doodles. Some with Street View. are games that you can play. Google Arts & Culture: Travel to iconic : Go to images.google.com landmarks and tour museums globally. to search for images of anything. Beware that : Backs up all new photos images may be copyrighted. and videos in High or Express quality. They Google Home: Lets you set up, manage, will be accessible from all your devices. and control your Google Home, Nest, and : Connect your phone to your devices, thousands of connected car display; Android apps show up onscreen. products like lights, cameras, thermostats, Keep your eyes on the road and your hands and more in one place. Users can speak on the wheel with . voice commands to interact with services : The official app store for certi- through Google Assistant. fied software that runs on the Android OS. It Google Assistant: An artificial intelligence- is a digital media store. powered virtual assistant. It is primarily avail- Google TV: A movie and TV on-demand able on mobile and smart home devices. service. Some movies and programs are : Smart home products includ- free, and some are for purchase. ing smart speakers, displays, streaming de- YouTube: Offers streaming, exclusive con- vices, thermostats, smoke detectors, routers, tent, video playback on mobile devices, and doorbells, cameras, and smart locks. access to GooglePlay Music “All Access” Google Hardware: The big breakthrough is service. Watch APCUG’s VTC and workshop at the intersection of AI, software, and hard- videos on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ ware, working together to help you get real user/APCUGVideos/videos things done every day. YouTube Music: A free or subscription mu- Google : A brand of consumer electron- sic streaming service. Users may browse ic devices, including phones, that run either through songs and music videos based on Chrome operating system or the Android OS. genres, playlists, and recommendations. Google : They are very light- : A free website app with no weight simpler computers that are ideal for programming or design skills needed. people on the go. Google Podcast aka .com: Create Google Chromecast: Allows you to stream a podcast with easy-to-use- templates, back- audio and video content wirelessly. A dongle ground images, a free domain name, etc. plugs into an HDMI port on your TV. : Translates words, Judy then discussed, “What does Google phrases, and web pages between English know about us?” A lot! She told us about and over 100 languages. Type, write or many of the sources and things we can do to speak into the app. be safer. For example, Google has tools to (Wallet): Tap and pay with your give us control over our data, and they have phone and send money to friends and family. a security checkup to make your account more secure. ❖

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GOOGLE VOICE click "More from Google." Then scroll down AND ITS MANY USES until you see the Google Voice icon and click on it. Here are the icons to click on. By Dorothy Fitch, Editor Green Valley Recreation Computer Club, AZ Green Bytes, March 2021 https://www.ccgvaz.org/ dmfitch (at) cox.net I recently had a use for an additional phone number. Google Voice to the rescue! It's free (for calls within the U.S.), works nicely, and is easy to use. Here is what I learned. What is Google Voice? You now see the "dashboard" for your voice account, even though you don't yet have a Google Voice is a software tool that allows you number. To get your number, click the box to obtain a free phone number. However, it below that prompts you to get a Google can't be your only phone number, and you Voice number. need a . You can set up a Gmail account for free if you don't already have one. It doesn't require any hardware or physical phone, only what you already own. Why would you want an additional Type in the location where you want the phone number? phone number to be based, then choose Here are a few reasons: your new number from a list of available • You temporarily want a phone number that ones. It can be either in your local area or you can delete later. elsewhere in the United States. • You want a phone number for a different How does it work? U.S. city. Calls to your new number will forward to a number you specify. It might be your cell • You have a side gig, perhaps selling hand- phone or landline. The number it forwards crafted items, and don't want to use your calls to is your linked number, and you can own phone number for that business. set up more than one number to ring at the • You want a phone number for specific peo- same time. You can also edit the name for ple to use, such as family members. the number that will appear on the recipi- I recently read of two teachers in Maryland ent's caller ID. who set up a Google Voice phone number for One of the settings lets you see the number seniors to call if they needed help setting up a that the person dialed, as opposed to the Covid vaccination appointment. The possibili- number of the phone it is linked to. That lets ties are endless. you know that they are calling the Google How do I sign up? Voice number. Adding that number with an To get started, go to https://voice.google.com/ identifying label to your Contact list shows about and sign in to your Google account. If you immediately the number the caller you are already logged in, click on the grid of dialed. This allows you to answer the phone nine dots for Google apps at the upper right of with a different greeting if you want. You can also create a personalized mes- the screen. Next, scroll to the very bottom and

Page 6 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society August 2021 sage that people hear when they leave a RUBBER BANDS, DUCT TAPE, voice mail. The default message, designed to AND THE WINDOWS REGISTRY eliminate spam and automated calls, asks the Posted by Bob Rankin caller to speak their name, so you get to de- https://askbobrankin.com cide whether or not you want to take the call. In some computer trouble- When someone leaves a message at the new shooting articles, you’ll find a number, you can listen to it in your account suggestion to fix a problem that dashboard, where a text version is also involves editing the Windows stored. You will also receive an email at your registry. Unfortunately, there’s Gmail account when someone leaves always a dire warning attached, along the a message. lines of, “Do not attempt to edit the registry There are dozens of settings you can adjust unless you know what you’re doing! One in the app or your computer dashboard. For wrong registry edit can render your machine example, you can limit the hours that phone unusable!” That’s true, but with a bit of cau- calls to the number will ring (a "Do Not Dis- tion, you can safely edit the registry. (Just turb" setting). You can set up more than one beware of hives.) Here’s what you need to phone to ring at the same time if you want. know and some helpful examples. Be sure to have the other phone handy, so Afraid To Edit Your Registry? Don’t Be... you can enter the verification code that Voice It’s always good to start with a definition. I will send you before it links the device to the like to call the Windows registry “a hideously number. complex ball of string, rubber bands, duct This is the article that convinced me to give tape, and baling wire. It’s supposed to keep Google Voice a try: track of Windows system settings, your hard- www.businessinsider.com/what-is-google- ware configuration, user preferences, file as- voice-how-to-set-up-use sociations, system policies, and installed software.” It was intended to improve the For complete instructions on setting up simple text-based INI files that stored Win- Google Voice, go here. dows configuration settings, but apparently, too many pocket protectors were involved in All in all, it's a very powerful tool and may be the design. just what you need. ❖ One advantage of the registry is that it ena- INTERESTING INTERNET FINDS bles each user of a machine to maintain their March 2021 own settings. Each user can have a unique By Steve Costello theme, speaker volume setting, set of apps, scostello AT sefcug.com and so on. But the registry can also apply How Often Should I Reboot My Computer? settings to all users or a group of users https://askleo.com/how-often-should-i-reboot- specified by the system administrator (e. g., my-computer/ “adults” and “kids”.) The registry is one of the most important files on your hard drive. On Leo Notenboom answers this recurring ques- the downside, this “all eggs in one basket” tion. As with most of his answers, there are approach can lead to problems if the registry pros and cons discussed. (Note: I leave my is damaged or edited incorrectly. desktop on 24/7 unless there is a problem or software update. I turn off and unplug my lap- It may be necessary to edit the registry to tops when they are not in use.) ❖ correct an error or corruption, add a setting

August 2021 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society Page 7 that is not part of the original design, or pre- vent some undesired system activity. The reg- istry is a very powerful tool, and if it’s misused,

YES, it can wreak havoc on your system. But with a basic understanding of how it works and some simple precautions, you need not fear.

A few paragraphs earlier, I mentioned that you can make a backup of the registry by using the registry editor. Let’s do that now. Click File, then Export. In the lower-left cor- ner of the new window that opens, select All under Export Range. Enter a filename, and click the Save button. It will take a minute or so to create the backup. Don’t be sur- prised if the lights flicker or if you hear a deep, guttural moan, followed by a hissing The first rule of editing the registry is, Backup sound emanating from your computer. If you Your Registry! You can make a backup of see smoke, call the fire department! your registry by creating a System Restore Kidding aside, when returning to the registry point. To do so, click Start, type create a re- editor window, at the top left corner, we see store point, press Enter, and follow the a link containing the word “Computer” — prompts. Another method is to use the Export think of that word as the trunk of a tree. Be- function in the Regedit utility. (See below) neath it, in the left-hand window pane, we Even if your Windows installation becomes see the names of five branches: unbootable, you can recover your old, working HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, registry using the System Recovery USB drive HKEY_CURRENT_USER, etc. Click on any tools you created. If you have not created one of these branch names (called “keys”) to see yet, here are my instructions for how to do it what other branches lie below it. Keys can on Windows 10. (For Windows 7 or 8.1 users, be nested up to 512 levels deep. We won’t see HOWTO: Make a System Repair Disk, be going that far! NOW!) The prefix “HKEY” indicates a registry hive, REGEDIT is an app included with Windows to the top level of this hierarchical database. help you edit the registry. Type regedit in CLASSES_ROOT, CURRENT_USER, etc., Windows start/search box, then press Enter. are names for hives, each of which contains You may see a popup that says, “Do you want more levels of data that are all logically con- to allow this app to make changes to your de- nected to the hive’s subject. vice?” Click YES (no changes will be made at “HKEY_CURRENT_USER” is a hive that this point). The open Regedit window will look has settings that apply to whoever is cur- something like the screenshot in the next rently logged in to the computer. If you click column. on that hive name to expand the tree below it, you will see familiar names like Control (Continued on page 17) Page 8 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society August 2021

LACS NOTICES WELCOME ALL FIX YOUR PC FOR FREE? Gavin Faught, LACS Treasurer LACS Member and presenter, Jim McKnight, has an open New Members (0) offer to LACS members to diag- Renewals (5) nose, repair, disinfect, or up- grade members' PC’s for free. Irving Farber There are certain limitations to Jim’s offer, so Gavin Faught see the details by clicking the “Fix my PC for Henry Harris Free?” link at www.jimopi.net. Monique Kemp Non-members can wisely invest in a one- Kim Stocksdale* year new regular LACS membership * Supporter ($40.00), and Jim will fix your PC problem, JOIN OUR MAIL LISTS too. Contact Jim for specific considerations. LACS members can join one, or both, of the lists shown by putting just their name in the HOW TO CHANGE YOUR CONTACT message body of an e-mail to each of the INFORMATION lists they wish to join from the e-mail ad- Go to www.lacspc.org. Click on Member dress they wish LACS to use. It's highly Forms in the bar under the picture. Under recommended to join both lists. Membership Update, select Click Here to • PC@LACS+subscribe (at) groups.io select either the DOC or PDF form. Fill it out, • LACSLIST@LACS+subscribe (at) email your changes to membership (at) groups.io lacspc.org, or mail it to LACS, 11664 National Blvd. #343, Los Angeles, CA PC is for official LACS business only. 90064-3802. Lacslist is for any other computer or tech- nology – related messages and questions. Email computer or technology-related ATTENDING A ZOOM MEETING questions or comments to all members You should receive, via email, a link, Meet- on the LACSLIST to ing ID, and Passcode to attend the LACS lacslist (at) lacs.groups.io. general meetings a couple of days before New members will receive one invitation to the meeting. Please let Leah Clark know join each list; they must respond quickly or by the morning of the meeting if you follow the above instructions. don't have it. If you have any problems or questions You can put an icon to the link on your desk- about joining the lists, please contact top so it's handy at meeting time. Stephanie Nordlinger: nordlacs(at).com. 1. Right-click a blank spot on your desktop. 2. Select New from the drop-down menu. HYPERLINKS 3. Select Shortcut. Note that underlined text (blue in the col- 4. Type or copy and paste the link in the box ored editions) in User Friendly usually indi- that says "Type the location of the item." cates it's a hyperlink to a website. Click on 5. Click Next. them to see the reference. 6. Type a name for the shortcut. August 2021 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society Page 9

LACS CALENDAR GENERAL MEETING PRESENTATIONS VIA ZOOM August 10: Evernote in 2021 September 14: Music in Your Car This schedule is subject to Change. Check your email and User Friendly for updates.

ZOOM MEETINGS LACS Board Meeting To join a Zoom meeting, click on the Date: Monday, August 2 , 2021 Via Zoom URL on the invitation you will receive Time: 7:00 P.M. (Open from 6:30 P.M.) via email before the meeting and follow Please arrive early so we can start on time. the prompts. Where: At your home Contact Leah Clark at if you have any questions or if you General Meeting don't receive the link by the morning of Date: Tuesday, August 10, 2021 via Zoom the meeting day. Please enter before Time: 7:00 P.M. (Open from 6:30 P.M.) our meeting starts in case problems Please arrive early so we can start on time. need to be solved and to ask ques- Where: At your home tions. We want our meetings to start on time.

August is the time to reap what you’ve ZOOM sown, quite literally, as most summer RECORDINGS & PODCASTS vegetables are ready to be harvested. LACS members will receive links to the recordings of Zoom meetings It goes without saying, that August is a via email. time to celebrate a good harvest and a To listen to the podcasts of most of good summer! our past in-person general meetings, go to https://www.lacspc.org/category/ audio-files/. Click on the session you want to hear.

USER FRIENDLY BACK ISSUES AND INDEXES To see back issues of User Friendly, go VISIT OTHER COMPUTER USER GROUPS to http://www.lacspc.org/category/user- Check out the URL below for information for visit- friendly/. ing other user groups' Zoom meetings and for For indexes to past issues go to many more ideas for using Zoom and managing https://www.lacspc.org/category/uf- dealing with the stay-at-home restrictions. index/ https://apcug2.org/tech-things-to-learn-while- To find a specific article or topic, use the sheltering-in-place/ search box on the top right. Page 10 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society August 2021

MEMBERS HELPING MEMBERS LACS members volunteer to help other members solve hardware and software problems by telephone during the hours listed below. Select the topic from the list and then call a person whose number is listed next to it. Or you may use a Helper’s e-mail address, found in your LACS Roster. We hope that you find this free service useful. If you are experienced using a particular program or know a topic, please volunteer to be a consultant. You don't have to be an expert. To volunteer for this list or to make corrections, please email Leah Clark at or call her at 310-677-2792. More Quick Consultants, and more categories are always needed. You may decline or postpone a call if it comes at an inconvenient time.

Adobe Creative Suite: PDF, Lotus Word Pro, Approach - 7 Photoshop - 10 InDesign, PhotoShop, etc. - 10 Mozilla Firefox - 7 Quicken - 8, 12 Android - 8 MS Excel - 8, 11, 12 Thunderbird - 7 Apple devices - 11 MS Word - 1, 3, 8, 12 Utilities - 7, 8 Anti Malware and Backup - 7, 8 MS Outlook - 8, 1, 10 Visual Basic - 5 Dragon Naturally Speaking - 3 MS PowerPoint - 8, 11 Websites - 5 Genealogy - 8 MS Publisher - 2 Windows - 6, 7, 8 Groups.IO - 8 Open Office - 6 WordPerfect - 8 Hardware - 7 Zoom - 2, 9

Preferred Number Name Phone for Calls From To 1 Beckman, Loling 310-471-7893 10:00 AM 6:00 PM 2 Clark, Leah 310-677-2792 7:00 AM 5:00 PM 3 Hershman, Irv 310-397-9453 11:00 AM 11:00 PM 5 Ialongo, Gilbert 310-641-7906 9:00 AM 5:00 PM 6 Johnson, Carol 310-372-8535 10:00 AM 9:00 PM 7 McKnight, Jim 310-823-7829 8:00 AM 7:00 PM 8 Nordlinger, Stephanie 323-299-3244 9:00 AM 5:00 PM 9 Presky, Mark 310-780-3302 Any Any 10 Rozek, E. J. 310-823-3811 Noon 8:00 PM 11 Van Berkom, Paula 310-398-6734 9:00 AM 5:00 PM 12 Wilder, Joan 310-472-8445 9:00 AM 9:00 PM

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OFFICERS, DIRECTORS AND LEADERS Title Name Term Telephone President Leah Clark 2021 310-677-2792 Past President Stanley Johnson 2021 424-216-6984 Vice President Stephanie Nordlinger 2021 323-299-3244 Secretary Marcia Jacobs 2021 310-435-1457 Treasurer Gavin Faught 2021 310-346-2637 Director Newton Bernstein 2021 310-945-9111 Director Irv Hershman 2021 310-397-9453 Director Paula Van Berkom 2021 310-398-6734 Director Howard Krivoy 2022 310-717-7465 Director Mark Presky 2022 310-780-3302 Director Open 2022 Director Sylvia Davis 2022 323-293-5004 APCUG Rep. Leah Clark 310-677-2792 Corporate Counsel Stephanie Nordlinger 323-299-3244 CCSC Computer Lab Loling Beckman 310-471-7893 Database Manager Sylvia Davis 323-293-5004 Groups.IO Lists Stephanie Nordlinger 323-299-3244 Hospitality Chair Sylvia Davis 323-293-5004 Newsletter Editor Leah Clark 310-677-2792 Program Chair Stephanie Nordlinger 323-299-3244 Publicity – Press Mark Presky 310-780-3302 Publicity – Online Media Open Quick Consultants Leah Clark 310-677-2792 Webmaster Paula Van Berkom 310-398-6734

Mailing Address 11664 National Blvd., #343, Los Angeles, CA 90064-3802 Website www.lacspc.org Voice Mail 310-780-3302

The email addresses on the LACS website are currently being updated. Until this is completed, please use your roster for emails or the phone numbers above to contact any officer, board member or chair person.

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HANDS-ON WITH WINDOWS 11: crosoft account in this edition of Windows. A LIGHTLY SKINNED WINDOWS 10 Even tricks like disconnecting the network Josh Hendrickson @canterrain didn’t work. That just leaves you stuck on a HowToGeek.com screen demanding an internet connection. June 15 2021 Alas, Home users must use an online Microsoft account. At least in this copy, though, things could always change. But if they don’t and you do want a local account, you’ll need to spring for Windows 11 Pro. Most laptops and pre-built computers tend to come with the “Home” edition of Windows, though, so it’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft holds the line. And as for activation, I managed to activate Windows 11 with both a Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 key. So that’s an encouraging sign for upgrading users. New Taskbar Look, With New, Shortly after leaked images of a Windows But Limited Options 11 build appeared online, we managed to get ahold of a working copy of the OS. That’s right; we have Windows 11 installed — in a virtual machine. So we’re not totally crazy. And ready or not, we have initial impressions of a clearly unfinished operating system. No Local Sign In For Home Users

Start up Windows 11, and the most obvious change will hit you right away. The Taskbar buttons have moved. Now you’ll find them in the center, evoking a more “mobile OS” look to be generous, or perhaps a Chrome OS and macOS look to be less generous. On Windows 11 Home, disconnecting the network After digging through various settings, I have won't get you to local accounts anymore. some good news. You can move the Taskbar I set up Windows 11 in two different ways. buttons back to the left side if you prefer. And First, using the Standard Windows 11 Home some bad news. If you prefer to keep your option, then later Windows 11 Pro. During my entire Taskbar on the side of the screen, per- initial setup of Windows 11 Home, I encoun- haps because you have an ultrawide monitor, tered a surprising change: Microsoft forces that option seems to be gone. Home users to sign in with an online Mi-

August 2021 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society Page 13

As with Windows 10, you’ll find dark theme op- The new look is bound to be controversial. tions in settings along with several preloaded Some people are going to hate it, I’m sure. background wallpapers. Overall the new look And the best you can do is move things to feels like a bunch of modern polish, as do the the left. It won’t be the same, and I can’t find new sound effects, which I’d describe as bub- any options to customize the Start Menu—at bly. That is until a glitch causes them to ding least not yet. Another new thing? Rounded forever, and I have to restart the OS to save corners on all the windows, from the Start my ears. This is, folks, an unfinished build, and Menu to programs you install. it shows. New and Better Windows Snap Options Start Menu Killed the Live Tiles

One thing Windows has always done well is, Do you remember Live Tiles? The square and well, windows. Specifically, that’s the Snap rectangular tiles that Microsoft introduced on features first introduced in Windows 7. And the Windows Phone, then brought over to Win- while the shake-to-minimize feature disap- dows 8. On Windows Phone, Live Tiles were a peared with Windows 10, I’m glad to say the revelation. I honestly liked them a lot. Howev- Snap features actually get improvements in er, on Windows 8, they were an abomination. Windows 11. Everyone hated them, even this Windows In Windows 10, if you drag a window to a Phone fan. corner, you’ll get a faint, hard-to-see border Part of the problem was Windows 8’s insist- that suggests how your window will reshape ence on making the “Start Screen” full screen when you let go. In Windows 11, that chang- (as the name implies). Windows 8.1 tried to fix es to a dark border that’s easier to see. It’s that with better desktop support, and the trend a subtle but welcome improvement. continued through Windows 10. But with Win- You’ll also find a brand new feature tucked dows 11, Live Tiles are gone. And so is the into Windows 11’s maximize buttons. Open “connected” start menu that touches the a program, whether it’s Chrome (of course I Taskbar. downloaded Chrome) or File Explorer, and Now, it’s a floating rectangle that almost right-click on the maximize button. Now serves as its own window. If you move the you’ll find new snap options with a diagram Taskbar icons to the left, you’ll get something showing where any window will end up. a little more familiar. But even still, the Start Click on one, and it moves your window. Menu is now a mix of “pinned apps” and And, of course, Windows will pop up an op- recommended files and folders. If you want to tion to snap a second window. get to all your apps, you’ll have to click through The new button diagram feature even has to them. an additional Snap sizing that Windows 10

Page 14 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society August 2021 didn’t have. It’s a sort of “2/3rds of the screen File Explorer doesn’t see much of a change, for one window and 1/3rd for the other win- nor do virtual desktops. Alas, the action noti- dow ” scheme. I like it because half and half fication center is exactly the same, which isn’t always better. means it’ll be mostly useless. And desktop The “News and Interests” Widget Gets notifications haven’t changed either. Basical- a Downgrade ly, Windows 11 feels just like Windows 10 but with a skinned desktop. Once you get past the initial shock of the Taskbar and Start menu changes, it’ s hard to find any other differences. And maybe that’s for the best. Sure it’s tempting to want a massive overhaul; after all, it’s Windows 11, not Windows 10.5. But at the end of the day, at least a few minor changes to the main look might avoid anoth- er Windows 8 fiasco. Maybe. ❖

Windows 10 just started rolling out a new CAPTCHA “News and Interests” widget, and we already From HowtoGeek.com have qualms with it, but somehow the Win- CAPTCHA, or the little text and/or visual dows 11 version looks worse. It’s built-in right challenges you must complete to prove to out of the starting gate, but in keeping with websites that you are human, is an acronym this “somewhat mobile device” new look, for the Completely Automated Public Turing gone are the borders and backgrounds. test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. Instead, the news items float and litter up the From Merriam-Webster.com/dictionary/ place. That’s when it’s not broken. Did I men- The Turing Test (by mathematician, Alan tion this is a leaked and unfinished build? Turing in 1950) "is a test to establish the ex- Yeah, not everything works. About halfway istence of artificial intelligence in which ques- through testing, the stories disappeared, and tions from an interrogator are answered by suddenly the widget window gained a back- an unseen person and computer with the un- ground. This widget will probably see a lot of derstanding that if the interrogator is unable changes before the final release version. to correctly identify which responder is hu- Mostly the Same man, the computer has demonstrated think- If you want to know the biggest thing I’ve no- ing ability comparable to a human's. ticed in my few hours with Windows 11, it’s all The Turing test pits an interrogator against the things that haven’t changed. So start dig- another human and a computer. Able to com- ging in, and you’ll see that everything is most- municate with each via keyboard and printer ly the same. The settings panel is the same, only, the interrogator tries to determine which and the control panel is too. Because, of is which. If he can, the computer is not con- course, we still have to deal with both a mod- sidered intelligent." ❖ ern Settings UI and an aging control panel.

August 2021 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society Page 15

CASTING, screen TV. So, to make it work, both the NOT IN THE THEATRICAL SENSE and the Chromecast device Cast your data to the screen have to be on the same Wi-Fi network. By Phil Sorrentino, Newsletter Contributor Many current Wi-Fi routers provide many Sarasota Technology Users Group networks. Usually, the main network is in STUG Monitor, March 2021 the 2.4 GHz frequency band, and there may www.thestug.org be another network in the 5 GHz band. The philsorr (at) yahoo.com 5 GHz network sometimes includes 5G in the network name, which can be confused Most modern computers have HDMI outputs, with the 5G wide area network provided by so it is easy to display your computer screen companies like Verizon and AT&T. Future on a big-screen TV, but what about displaying Wi-Fi routers can even take advantage of a your smartphone screen on that same big new 6 MHz band. Also, some routers may screen? Unfortunately, most phones do not provide a guest network in the 2.4 GHz or 5 have HDMI or, more specifically, micro-HDMI GHz band. connectors. Though I have seen some tablets The trick here is to make sure that when you with micro-HDMI connectors, I even had one that I used for teaching a smartphone and set up the Chromecast device, you choose tablet class. the same network that your smartphone is using. You can see what network your So, you have to find another way to get the smartphone is using by going into Settings smartphone screen displayed on the larger TV on the smartphone and selecting “Network screen. Fortunately, Google has provided a & internet” or “Wireless,” or something like solution with its Chromecast hardware device that, where the network name will be shown. and casting software that is becoming part of This is usually early in the list of settings. many Apps. If your App supports Chromecast, When you select this screen, you will also you will see the Chromecast icon somewhere see the other available networks that are not on the App’s opening screen. currently being used by your smartphone. The Chromecast device gets plugged into an Once you know the Wi-Fi network you will HDMI input port on the big screen TV, and be using, you can then set up the power is provided to the device by a micro- Chromecast device. Again, this will be done USB connection. So, a Chromecast device using your smartphone and usually the and an App that supports casting can turn a Google Home App. dumb TV into a pretty smart TV, at least for those Apps that support casting.

Google Home App Icon

You can download the Google Home App Chromecast Device Chromecast Icon from the Google Play Store or the Apple Besides the Chromecast device, the only other App Store. Apps are updated regularly, and thing you need is Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is the mecha- screens may change, so specific directions nism used to transfer the smartphone screen for this setup may be different when you information to the Chromecast device, which need them, but when you do need in turn provides the HDMI interface to the big directions, Google something like “How to Page 16 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society August 2021 set up a Chromecast device using the Google Home app.” The results will probably be several tutorials or, even better, a few vid- Hoopla App Icon eos with up-to-date instructions. The Google Home App provides control for many devices besides the Chromecast. Home automation lights, cameras, and switches are also set up Hoopla is an App that supports casting. This using this App. means that you can now take advantage of Additionally, this App also provides control for all the video media at your local library; vide- Google’s “Google Home” assistant. Once you os, TV shows, and feature -length movies. have set up the Chromecast device, you can You can use your phone to access the media cast your smartphone screen to your big and then cast the media to your Chromecast screen TV. device plugged into any TV with an HDMI in- And to see what else you can do with the put. Using Wi-Fi to cast the media means you Home App, just find the “Discover” icon, are also using Wi-Fi to access the media which looks like two sheets of paper. This is from the library, so there is no cost associat- really an advertisement for all the wonderful ed with the whole process. You can think of things Google can do for you once you have that as free movies for the entire family, at their products. least if the big screen TV is big enough to As well as Google Home, their other Apps satisfy the whole family. All you have to do is that can be used to set up the Chromecast supply the popcorn. device and that support Casting, such as By the way, as was discussed in a previous LoCast for Chromecast, iMediashare, Cast to article in September, Hoopla can also bring TV, Mirroring360 Sender, and Plex. I have you E-books to read, audiobooks to listen to, not tried any of these. and even music to listen to. What a bargain. With the Chromecast device setup, all we If you haven’t gotten the Hoopla App yet, go need to do is find Apps that can cast. Some to the Google Play Store or the Apple App of the more popular Apps are YouTube, Store, download it, and start taking ad- YouTube Music, Google Photos, Disney+, vantage of this very useful, and did I mention, Prime Video, Hulu, Media Monkey, Movies free App. ❖ Anywhere, Netflix, Crackle, Pluto TV, Tubi, COMPUTER TRIVIA Hoopla, and HBO Max. There are even many Compiled by Leah Clark, LACS Apps that appear to be cable channels like 1. To celebrate its 30th birthday in 2010, A&E, History, AMC, MTV, and TNT. Many Google placed a playable version of what more Apps may have this ability in the future. arcade game on its homepage? You may already have some of these apps 2. When referring to a website’s address, on your smartphone, like YouTube, but the what does the acronym URL stand for? other Apps are available at the Google Play 3. In computer terminology, what does the Store or the Apple App Store. Once you’ve acronym LAN stand for? downloaded the App of interest, look for the 4. When referring to cables used to transmit Cast icon somewhere on the opening screen. audio/video, what does HDMI stand for?

August 2021 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society Page 17

Rubber Bands, Duct Tape, and The Windows bers to make the borders fatter. Valid values Registry for BorderWidth are 0 to -750, but any num- (Continued from Page 7) ber larger than 100 will produce unusable results. Valid values for PaddedBorderWidth Panel, Printers, etc., along with mysterious are 0 to -1600. PaddedBorderWidth should labels of system resources that most users be larger than BorderWidth. For some rea- don’t need to know about. son, both of these numbers must be nega- You may recall that I mentioned hives in the tive. The more negative, the fatter the bor- opening paragraph of this article. Last year, a ders. A reboot is required for the changes to weird thing happened to me as I was using the take effect. Watch out for wasps while your registry editor – a wasp flew into my office and computer restarts. stung me on my finger! I’m not saying it came It’s also possible to make changes to the from a registry hive, but it was 2020. I’m just registry with a REG file that someone else glad it wasn’t a murder hornet. has coded for a specific task. A REG file contains the instructions for making a specif- You need to know that it is critically important ic registry edit and will do the magic for you to make edits in the correct hive and the cor- without having to open the registry and edit rect sub-branch of that hive. A change to it manually. For example, you can add a HKEY_USERS instead of new option, “Open with Notepad,” to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER may have unintend- context menu that appears when you right- ed consequences for all users of a machine, click on a filename. This is handy when you not just you. Navigating the tree structure of want to quickly edit a file that doesn’t end the registry must be done with utmost care. with the .TXT extension. Fortunately, there are many helpful geeks who Download this ZIP file file, click to open it, provide precisely the right paths to take you and then double-click on the Open-With- where you need to go in the registry. For ex- Notepad.reg file. Next, click your way ample, in my articles, you may find instructions through a few “Do you really want to do such as “navigate to this?” prompts, and it will add a key to your \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Polici registry. Now you can open any file es\Microsoft\Windows…” Just highlight the (regardless of the extension) with the Note- pathname, copy it, and paste it into the ad- pad editor, using the context menu. dress bar at the top of the Regedit window. So now you (sort of) know what you are do- Once you are in the right place, most registry ing in the registry. Just make sure you al- tweaks involve enabling or disabling some- ways start by backing up your existing regis- thing. The “something” may have a key at the try, even if you don’t plan to change any- end of a registry path like the one above, or thing but are “just looking around.” And you may need to create one for it. The instruc- watch out for wasps. ❖ tions provided by your friendly geek should tell you what to do, step by step. For example, to change the border width of your windows, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Pan- el\Desktop\WindowMetrics. Set the values of BorderWidth and PaddedBorderWidth to 0 to eliminate the borders. Or increase the num-

Page 18 User Friendly — The Los Angeles Computer Society August 2021

JERE’S TECH TIPS LAUGHING OUT LOUD For many helpful tips and tricks for all as- From How-To Geek pects of computing, see Jere’s Tech Tips at https://apcug2.org/jerestips/.

TECHBOOMERS.COM teaches how to use various websites and internet-based applications. • https://TechBoomers.com • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2- bwYIYu1I

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