how to

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Hurry! Save $ on Computer Courses

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        This is just in from Jim Hays, "Udemy (http://tinyurl.com/mxwz7jk) offers its top 300 courses for $10 each via coupon code 'FEB1010.'  Alternately, take 75% off site-wide via coupon code '775LEARN.' 
        "The offer expires March 10, 2015. 
        "Udemy offers courses in web development, iOS development, photography, Excel, programming (Java, Javascript, VBA, Python, Ruby, Swift, etc.) as well as many other topics."

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Improving Photo Lighting

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        Today John Carter writes, "I needed to get a really good photo of my office this morning, but the lighting was fairly poor with one side in near shadows and bright windows on the other side, and the room was bathed in white LED lights. I looked to see what was possible with Photoshop CS6, and sure enough, right here is a published review and tutorial on how to get the best results using three bracketed photos.  I am really happy with the result." 

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Why Your Smartphone Records Everything You Say to It

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        A friend sent this to us, and it deserves our attention.  The article starts out, "After controversy earlier this month over televisions recording owners and sending the clips to third parties, smartphone owners are now discovering that companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft are also recording voice commands and storing them for up to two years."  This article from the UK dated 2-25-15 also declares, ". . . and you agreed to it via the terms and conditions."
See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11434754/Why-your-smartphone-records-everything-you-say-to-it.html   and notice the comments that are posted.  

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How to Configure Safari

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          Here's something that might be helpful.  John Carter sends us this: 

How do you configure Safari to have a specific search engine as the default?
        Start by clearing any text the Address Bar. Then click on the spotlight.
A menu pops up. Then click on the search engine you want to be default:  
To specify the default search engine in Firefox, click on the spotlight in the Search Bar:  


Then click on Change Search Engine Settings. A whole new window opens with many options to choose from.
        Toolbar is the name of the top portion of any application. It usually contains icons of functions. Here is the Toolbar of Safari:
Here is the Toolbar of Firefox:
Based on that alone, Safari leaves a tiny bit more space for a website than Firefox does.
        Notice that the Tab Bar in Safari is below the Favorites Bar. With Firefox, it is above the Address Bar. The position of the Tab Bar is configurable. When looking at a single page, the Tab Bar can be hidden.
        With Firefox, you add many more rows of stuff in the Toolbar (additional search engines and toolbars) and that takes away even more space from a web page. So don’t add additional search engines or toolbars. And if you have them, remove them. You only need the default.
        Bookmarks are only found in a browser (or in iBooks, but that’s a totally different kind).
There are two types of bookmarks. In the Toolbar, you’ll find your Favorites just under the Address Bar. That’s a list of bookmarks for quick reference (without having to open the full list). The other type of bookmarks is the full list. For Safari, you click on the  symbol in the Toolbar, then click on the
symbol in the sidebar:
It's different for Firefox. Click on the 
symbol in the Toolbar to access the Bookmarks.
        There are some websites that you will have to use Firefox to make it display properly, so if something doesn’t work with Safari, try Firefox.
        For more tips on how to use Safari, I recommend the NoteBoom tutorials here.   # 
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Avoid IRS Phishing Scams

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  'Tis the season to be concerned about taxes, filing papers, paying.  An email purporting to be from the Urban Institute had links to open to change your password on tax forms.  Before you click to give anyone any such information see what the IRS has to say: IRS Completes the "Dirty Dozen" Tax Scams for 2015  and see http://www.irs.gov/uac/Report-Phishing  

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Take Control Book Sale

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         Quoting from their info forwarded to us by John Carter,  "Faced with rising snowdrifts and falling temperatures here at Take Control HQ, we’ve decided to liven up the season with a sale — it beats shoveling the driveway again! No matter what your weather, now’s the time to add any number of our books to your Take Control library for 50% off, through February 25th. All our titles are DRM-free and available in PDF, EPUB, and Mobipocket (Kindle) formats, so you can access the real-world Mac and iOS advice you need wherever, whenever, and on whatever device you like." Order now at http://tid.bl.it/50-percent-off-feb-2015-sale-mug

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Cyber Vulnerabilities: Did You Know?

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        “Car Hacked on 60 Minutes” is the headline that shrieks to grab your attention when you click on this CBS news article forwarded by Jim Hamm.  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/car-hacked-on-60-minutes/   
        Quoting from this article,"In a dramatic demonstration, he (Dan Kaufman) and his colleagues use a laptop computer to hack into a car being driven by Stahl. Much to her surprise, they were able to take control of many of the car's functions, including the braking and acceleration."  Be sure to read the article.  
        Bringing this notice to us was the response of Jim Hamm when queried about another eye-grabbing article about the risks of using SmartTV.  
        Samsung notifies their customers “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.”
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Find Out More About Malvertising

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        According to Rahul Kashyap we'll be hearing a lot more about malvertising.  See http://www.wired.com/2014/11/malvertising-is-cybercriminals-latest-sweet-spot/   
        Third-party ads are "quietly displaying on these pages and sometimes burrowing into viewers' browsers and PCs before they even click anything," is how he describes it.   His short article in Bottom Line/Personal declares that malvertising has already invaded extremely popular sites including Amazon, Answers.com, Yahoo and YouTube. 
        Malvertising relies on a trusted destination to bring in a target for their attack.  Site operators often have no knowledge of malware on their own domain.  Cybercrime rings are brutally efficient and do not bother with unnecessary effort, cost and exposure.  

        Rahul Kashyap is Chief Security Architect and Head of Research at Bromium.  Part 2 of this series is already online.  Find info at bromium.com and be aware of the growing problem and what you can do to protect yourself.  
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Electronic Device Batteries

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        "What's the best way to increase the lifespan of the battery in your smartphone, tablet or computer? Here's an article with useful tips," remarks Jim Hamm.  
        "What's the best way to increase the daily battery life of your device so it doesn't run down during the day? Here's what Apple has to say about that.
        "It seems it's best not to discharge the battery in your device down to zero as there is a finite number of times the battery can do that and still take a charge. Also, it seems it's OK to leave the device plugged in overnight (if you should want to) as long as you remove any cover so the heat can dissipate.
        "Will apps running in the background on your device drain battery life? I've read articles claiming yes and no. This article states apps running in the background do not drain battery life, at least on an Apple device.
        And here's Jim's latest experience.  "What I have found, though, on my iPad, if I keep opening apps and websites eventually my iPad slows down and gets 'buggy'. By doing a reset and closing everything down, everything runs smoothly again when it reopens."
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Same Song, Another Verse (NeoOffice)

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        John Carter to the rescue.  A question on NeoOffice brought this speedy reply. "Documents written with Pages will not come up in NeoOffice, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, or MS Office.

        "Documents written with MS Word will come up in NeoOffice, but there may be some formatting changes.
        "The only reason to use NeoOffice is if you don’t have MS Office and you want to create a document that can be shared with MS Office users in the .doc format — but you have to keep the formatting simple and use only standard fonts like Arial, Courier, Times, Helvetica, etc.
       "Personally, I have MS Office but only for tutoring purposes. I use Pages for PMUG documents and NeoOffice for everything else. Pages is not a real document processor and NeoOffice is."  So, now we know more than we did.  Thanks, John. 
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What to Know About NeoOffice

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        John Carter recommends NeoOffice.  He explains, "Here’s something good to know about NeoOffice:   NeoOffice includes the following open source software:

  • OpenOffice.org and Apache OpenOffice
  • LibreOffice
  • Akua icons
  • NeoOffice icons and images
  • Minizip
  • Mac remote control
  • The main difference between NeoOffice and OpenOffice or LibreOffice is that NeoOffice is built specifically for the Mac.
  • Another main difference is that NeoOffice launches MUCH faster than LibreOffice.
Here are features in NeoOffice that are not found in OpenOffice or LibreOffice:
NeoOffice :: Open at Launch menu to open Calc or Impress instead of Writer at launch
  • File :: Browse All Versions menu to restore previous versions of your documents
  • Native file locking to safely edit files in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, or network drives
  • Native Mac OS X grammar checking
  • Native Mac OS X text highlighting
  • Support for Mac OS X Services
  • Native floating tool windows
  • Menus open when no documents are open
  • Command-clicking on window titlebar
(Go to neooffice.org to get details on those features.)
        "NeoOffice can be freely copied. However, it is only available in the Apple App Store for download, and that copy you have to pay for. Hence, a copy of NeoOffice installed on another computer can only be updated from the App Store, and that would require the original owner’s Apple ID and password.
        "The developers of NeoOffice believe that they have produced a more stable and secure version of LibreOffice or OpenOffice.
       "Hence, NeoOffice is much more impressive as a tool than either OpenOffice or LibreOffice. A document written with NeoOffice will open in MS Office, OpenOffice, and LibreOffice. However, when opened in MS Office the formatting may change. My personal experience with all four products convinces me that NeoOffice is the best way to go for a Mac user.
        Thanks to John we know a lot more than we did at the beginning of his report.
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Super Bowl! Live Streams!

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        Today is Super Bowl Day!  

        "If, by chance, you're not near a TV for today's Super Bowl, not to worry," declares Jim Hamm.   "You can watch the game on your computer, iPad or iPhone. Take a read here.  I'll be watching the game on TV but I might dial-in my iPad a time or two just to see what the game would look like on a small screen.
        "Watch the game on an iPhone? Not for me -- screen is way too small." 
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No Need to Wait

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        "OS X 10.10.2 is OUT, and so is iOS 8.1.3!"  John Carter alerts us, and he follows up with this, "So, for anyone waiting to update to Yosemite, stop waiting!

        And here's his own experience:  "My computer, iPhone, and iPad have been updated. The computer was updated automatically overnight and forced a restart, but that’s because I don’t turn off or sleep my computer and I am accepting automatic updates. 
        "The iPhone and iPad had to be updated manually. I have not had any problems during the first day after the update. But that doesn’t mean that all of the bugs were found and fixed. It does mean that the new OS an iOS are now mature enough to trust - in my opinion."
       And John advises, "If you haven’t updated to Yosemite, simply click on the Yosemite update icon in the App Store and take all the defaults. It will require you to authorize the update with your Apple ID and password. The download can take quite a while, especially with a slow Internet, so make sure that your computer will not go to sleep during the download."
        He concludes with this:   "After the download, just take all the defaults and fill in whatever information it may ask for. After the update to Yosemite, you will need to check for new updates once more and take all that are available. Those updates will be for applications like Pages, Numbers, etc. Take the updates whether or not you will ever be using the application."
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Where's the Book?

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        John Carter sends us the following info.  "People are asking, 'What is the best book for learning about OS X Yosemite?'

        "The sad news is that I haven’t found one printed book on this subject - yet. There are several e-books available on Amazon (start here), but they are all Kindle editions (readable with iBook on the Mac, and iBook comes with Yosemite if you don’t already have it) and not a paper edition (it’s not surprising that they are Kindle books on Amazon), so it’s still something only in digital format. 
        "No one seems to be printing user guides anymore. There are two online videos for purchase at a very reasonable price. One is from MacMost.com and one is from NoteBoomProductions.com.
        "The good news is that if you buy an e-book, you can read it on your iPhone or your iPod Touch or your iPad — or your Android smart phone or tablet. That allows you to tinker on the computer while you read about it on your mobile device."
        And John pronounces this as the bottom line:  get used to not finding printed books about computers.