THE COMPUTER CONNECTION SAUK COMPUTER USER GROUP VOLUME THIRTY -ONE AUGUST 2021 NUMBER EIGHT INSIDE THIS ISSUE: The Whiteside July computer to VOW TO START 2 USING PASSWORD Morrison Institute of M A N A G E R County Senior SCUG BOARD Technology. Neal to APPS AND APPLICA- 3 - 5 TIONS-MOBLILE & Center will not MEETING MINUTES D E S K T O P finalize details with be open in DATE: 7/14/2021 BACKING UP 6 - 7 August for our MIT for anyone Meeting was called interested in touring meeting. to order by: Neal the facility. The board is in Attending the -SCUG to purchase meeting were: Neal Zoom Professional process of Shipley, Lorraine license through Bill hiring a new Armstrong, Ken S. for approximately director and are Club Information Hughes, Joe Fornero, $50. down to 2 Janice Maves, Art Sauk Computer User Group -August meeting will PO Box 215 Bendick, Nancy, and candidates. The be done on Zoom. Sterling, IL 61081-0215 new director will Tom Rich. Art Bendick - President -Neal has 4-5 desk [email protected] then make the Treasurer’s report Treasurer’s report top computers decision of was presented by: Website was presented by: available to club www.saukcomputerusergroup.org Joe F. when to reopen members. SCUG Email the center. I am Discussion [email protected] Future Programs: hoping that it Highlights: Editor and Printing done by: will be in Neal and Terry to Joe Fornero -Thirty-one people September. identify videos for September. attended the August club meeting summer computer program. Joe Fornero club party at Pizza Ranch and a good Meeting adjourned. time was had by all. -Date of August 6 Respectfully established for submitted by delivery of antique Secretary Nancy Rich HELPING OTHERS INTERGRATE TECHNOLOGY IN THEIR DAILY L I V E S In 2021, vow to start using a password manager Page 2 By Kurt Jefferson The Next Drawing I keep telling students in my says you’ve got company. “Password CKCS classes that they need to managers are vegetables of the Hopefully we will start using a password Internet. We know they’re good for resume the raffles, if manager. You should be using a us, but most of us are happier password manager on your snacking on the password equivalent we can meet at the iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows PC, of junk food,” writes Wired in an Senior Center in and Linux PC. Seriously? Yes. article headlined, “The Best Password Managers to Secure Your September. Digital Life.” With a good password manager, you only need to of having your web browser store remember one password. As I read that I said to myself, “Ain’t your passwords, make use of a That’s right. You don’t need to that the truth.” I know plenty of really password manager.” remember the one you use smart people who are committed to when you buy from Amazon. their habits, who are stubborn, and And the password you use to who simply cannot change. They If you use a Mac, you might avoid pay your water bill. And the one don’t use password managers. You using Apple’s built-in keychain you use to log into your bank probably know your web browser will system and opt instead for a account. save your passwords automatically password manager. Glenn for you. The website Tech Republic Fleishman, who writes about says this is a bad idea. security issues for Macworld, gets Password managers are apps into the details and digs deeper that securely keep track of your into this if you’re interested. passwords, allow you to create Why you should never allow your web private notes, automatically log browser to save your passwords you into your password- shows others can see your Tom’s Guide spoke with several protected websites, and more. passwords. The article describes digital–security experts. While step–by–step procedures that some are not fond of password someone can use to view your saved managers, plenty of others use Some of the best include: passwords in Google Chrome, them, trust them, and rely on Firefox, and Safari browsers. 1Password them. Dashlane The article concludes: “Don't allow LastPass Cybernews writes, “You really your browser to save your should use a password manager. Keeper passwords. None of them. Not one. If Yes, they have their flaws and you do, those passwords are NordPass vulnerabilities. But it’s still better vulnerable. All someone has to do is than re-using the same weak RoboForm have access to your computer passwords and writing them down (remote or physical) and, unless you Sticky Password as a note on your smartphone that use Safari or the Master Password becomes a playground for your bitwarden feature in Firefox, those passwords kids after work.” are available for anyone to see. If RememBer you absolutely must have your Enpass browser store your passwords, and By Kurt Jefferson, Editor, Central you're not using macOS, make sure Kentucky Computer Society to use Firefox and enable the Master January 2021 issue, CKCS Newsletter If you’re reluctant to use a Password feature. Use Chrome at www.ckcs.org password manager, wired.com the peril of your passwords. In place lextown2 (at) gmail.com HELPING OTHERS INTERGRATE TECHNOLOGY IN THEIR DAILY L I V E S Page 3 Apps and Applications – Mobile and Desktop By Phil Sorrentino When we talk about computer software nowadays, we typically use the term Apps, referring to any software that is running on a computer, smartphone, or tablet. The term Applications was originally used for software other than the Operating System, but that seems to have changed over the last few years with the advent of Mobile devices - Smartphones and tablets. Also driving the change has been the migration towards the “Client – Server” architecture, where smaller Apps running in a client device (smartphone or tablet) can control a much more elaborate collection of Applications software running in a much larger server (in the cloud). Computing has been moving in this direction ever since the internet and the World Wide Web have become available to us. The term "App" has become very popular. In 2009, technology columnist David Pogue even proposed that the new mobile smartphones be nicknamed “App Phones”. And in 2010 App was listed as the “Word of the Year” by the American dialect Society. So, here are some definitions, at least for this discussion. A computer program is a generally structured collection of instruction sequences that perform a specific task when executed by a computer. (How’s that for a “Nerdy” definition?) Software is a general term and will refer to all types of computer programs for all types of computers. An Operating System is a collection of computer programs that manage computer hardware and software resources and provides common services for Application programs. An Application program is a computer program designed to perform a group of coordinated functions, tasks, or activities for the benefit of the user, for example, a Word Processor, a Spreadsheet, an Accounting program, a Web Browser, or even a computer game. These applications are designed to run on the computer hardware with the assistance of the Operating System (like Windows10, macOS, or Android), which is mainly involved with managing the computer hardware. Before the Smartphone, circa 2007, we only had Desktop Applications, because we only had Desktop computers. Yes, I know laptops were HELPING OTHERS INTERGRATE TECHNOLOGY IN THEIR DAILY L I V E S Apps and Applications – Mobile and Desktop (cont.) Page 4 available and they could be easily moved around, but basically, they were just portable desktop computers. So, Desktop Applications are software programs intended to be run on a desktop (or laptop) computer. Then came the Smartphone (and shortly later, circa 2010, the tablet), and these devices were very much different in that their screens were noticeably smaller and there was no mouse for selection/navigation, only a touch- sensitive screen. So, applications that could be used in this new smaller environment had to be created specifically to run on a small screen using your finger as a pointer/navigation device. These applications are software programs intended to be run on a mobile computer, a smartphone, or tablet, with limited input and output capabilities. So, a mobile app is a computer program designed to run on a mobile device, like a smartphone or tablet, with the assistance of the Mobile Operating System (like Android or iOS, or even Windows 10 for tablets). Desktop applications are usually "fuller featured", whereas the Mobile app equivalent is usually smaller, “lesser featured”, simpler, and may or may not be easier to use. This should not be unexpected when you consider that most desktop Apps are built to be used with the more capable input and output devices, (a mouse, a keyboard, and a much larger display), whereas mobile Apps are intended to be used with only a finger and a much smaller screen. With the arrival of mobile devices, many popular Desktop Applications were the basis for new mobile Apps for the new mobile devices. Many Google desktop applications have been recreated for mobile devices. Your Google email can be accessed from the desktop application or the mobile App. Both devices will provide the same information from the Google email server. But, as we have noted, Mobile Apps are different from Desktop Applications in that they have to run on a much smaller device with limited input and output capabilities. And not only is there a display size and input/output capability difference, but the mobile devices are different way HELPING OTHERS INTERGRATE TECHNOLOGY IN THEIR DAILY L I V E S Page 5 Apps and Applications – Mobile and Desktop (cont.) down at the hardware level, the central processing units, most of which are slower than their desktop counterparts.