May 21, 2023 - Miss me ? Shhhhhh. I'm back !
May 21, 2023 - Miss me ? Shhhhhh. I'm back !
It's been a while since I've added anything to this website. Many of you will likely not see this message. For those of you that do, my intent is simple...to get the website up and running. For the last few years, ZOOM was the membership's main source of communication and education. Now that everyone is venturing back to the classroom and club events are starting to get back on track, it's time to get the website current. As you can imagine, the site is in need of a modernization and a major update. The webcrew and I will be working to once again, to make the website a great resource for the membership. Our goal...to have it ready for September 2023 when the club stats the Fall session.
Hasta pronto! Susan
It's been a while since I've added anything to this website. Many of you will likely not see this message. For those of you that do, my intent is simple...to get the website up and running. For the last few years, ZOOM was the membership's main source of communication and education. Now that everyone is venturing back to the classroom and club events are starting to get back on track, it's time to get the website current. As you can imagine, the site is in need of a modernization and a major update. The webcrew and I will be working to once again, to make the website a great resource for the membership. Our goal...to have it ready for September 2023 when the club stats the Fall session.
Hasta pronto! Susan
Popular Websites Worldwide and the Internet Turns 30
We all are aware of the giants…Google, YouTube, Facebook and Wikipedia. All ranked in the top 10 most visited websites worldwide but did you know that when it comes to that list, 6 of the 10 sites are located in China. In the number one position is Google.com while China’s top search engine, Baidu is moving up the ranks quickly as more people in mainland China acquire internet access. Without knowing the Chinese language, it is actually easy to use Baidu as the format and layout are similar to Google. Using Baidu’s maps, there are even virtual tours similar to street-view...only in China! It’s interesting to note that most of China’s top websites are for online shopping. The TOP Russian website is VK which is a social networking site similar to Facebook. Russia’s most popular search engine is Yandex which overtook Google in popularity there recently.I guess online shopping hasn’t taken hold yet in Russia but that could change in the near future as Russia’s internet infrastructure is expanding rapidly. Hang on to your seats as the top Canadian website for this past year is not a news, social networking or shopping site but rather Pornhub, no explanation needed for this website that holds the #45 position for top worldwide websites so far in 2019. Canada shouldn’t feel bad however as France’s only two sites that originate out of that country in the top 100 are also pornography sites. Even with its large population, India only has one website in the top worldwide rankings. Google.co.in which is another Google site. India still has a long way to go to get its population connected and enjoying the benefits of being on the web. This is surprising considering they are a tech superpower in the call centre market as well as manufacturing.
English language Websites that are moving up in the rankings at a rapid pace are:
WhatsApp , a cross platform social media/communication app similar to Skype for all languages.
Netflix is at #21 and is continuing its dominance in the English language TV/MOVIE streaming portal
Microsoft's Bing search engine is up seven spots and now sits at the #25 spot worldwide.
Sadly, Wikipedia has dropped several spots and will be out of the top ten likely within the year. Other’s that are dropping fast is the social networking site Twitter. Perhaps tweeting will soon become a thing of the past but don’t bet on it, at least not for many years!
For most of us, we sometimes might think that the internet is written in the English language. Not true at all! Each country around the globe has websites written in the native language of that country. The worldwide web is truly global. It is now estimated that there are over 4.1 billion internet users worldwide as of January 1st of this year with North America making up less than 10% of that number. However, North America also has more than 88 % of the population listed as internet users, the highest percentage worldwide. With greater speed, all countries are improving internet access to their populations and the world is more connected than ever before. Now more and more people have access to educational resources, communication, news, entertainment and more. To think that the internet is an invention that is been around for only 30 years yet it has transformed how we live our lives on a daily basis. For many of us, we can remember a time before the internet existed. I ask you to ponder, how do you use the internet and has it improved society as a whole? So go and enjoy a little surfing…at 30, the World Wide Web is still a toddler!
Performance of your Windows 10
Today’s computers have faster processors and more than enough RAM to multitask and have many programs open simultaneously. However, as hardware has improved, so have the requirements of the newer applications. You will find today that if running many apps from the Windows store at the same time, your performance isn’t quite what you expected out of your PC. Why? There are several reasons but the most common would be an integrated graphics card, a processor that doesn’t have enough horsepower and insufficient RAM. So to improve the computer’s performance one can get some hardware upgrades but one thing to try first is to adjust your performance options. Make the most of what you have now! So how do we make ONE of these simple adjustments?
Go to control panel by search for control panel in Cortana. Go to [system]. [advanced system settings][performance]. You have an easy choice of adjusting for best performance or best appearance. Adjust for best performance HOWEVER customize it by adding the check marks for...
- enable peek,
- save Taskbar thumbnails previews
- show thumbnails instead of icons. [apply and ok].
By adjusting these settings you will reduce the load on your graphics card significantly and your computer’s performance will often be noticeably better with little changes to the visual look of your desktop. A simple and easy adjustment that can make an older computer perform better.
HASHTAGS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Ever wondered what the tags #Flashback Friday and Throwback Thursday was all about? The topic is older events and photos but why the # ?
Simply put, a hashtag is a possible topic of your photo and a way that topic can be searched. Hashtags are often used with Facebook as well as with Instagram and Twitter. If you add a hashtag (topic) to your message with photos, the photo gets indexed and is searchable by anyone (if that message is public). If the post is private, the hashtag can be searched by your social network connections. All messages with the same hashtag get grouped together by that hashtag and have their own unique URL. Hashtag groups look very similar to Pages. Most people search for people, pages or groups on Facebook. Next time you do a search, try searching by hashtag. A hashtag is just a title or topic with no spaces and the pound sign (#) in front. Watch out for hashtags on the clubs Facebook page. You ever know if you might appear in a #waybackwednesday photo!
Repairing an App in Windows 10
So you have an app that is not working quit right. You have tried to uninstall it and then went to the Microsoft Store to reinstall but it is still not working as you expect. What to do ?
Go to the [all settings] located in the notification area of your taskbar or type in [settings]n your [search bar] located near your start button. Select [settings]
- select [apps]
- scroll down the list of apps and locate the one you want to repair
- left click on it ONCE
- Left click on [ advanced options]
- Scroll down and locate [repair]. By repairing the app, your settings in the app are retained. Go to the app and test it. Does it work ok...great. If not...
- Return to the [apps] section where you just were.
- This time locate [reset] and select it. Resetting an app will return the app to its defaults which would mean you would lose all customizations. It would be like new again! This is the method that you use to repair Microsoft Edge. Yes, Edge in an app !
What is a software patch ?
When software companies become aware of vulnerabilities in their products, they often issue patches to fix the problem.
Similar to the way fabric patches are used to repair holes in clothing, software patches repair holes in software programs. Patches are updates that fix a particular problem or vulnerability within a program. Sometimes, instead of just releasing a patch, vendors will release an upgraded version of their software, although they may refer to the upgrade as a patch
Make sure to apply relevant patches to your computer as soon as possible so that your system is protected.
Special note: I highly recommend you waiting to upgrade your operating system to the a newly released version of the software. Hang tight a couple of weeks. This will allow any issues with the software to be corrected before you download and install it. In other words....wait for a patch to be patched !
WHAT IS A TEMPLATE ?
A template is a pre-formatted, reusable document that can be customized and altered to YOUR needs. No need to know how to format a word document…let the template do it for you! Having trouble making a party invitation? Download a template, change the details such as time and place and you will have a beautiful invitation for your next event! Did I say easy to use? Examples of templates would include letters, resumes, brochures, flyers, newsletters, greeting cards, labels, calendars, lists, membership directories, databases, graphs, charts, backgrounds for slideshows presentations, memoirs and this is just a small sample of template uses. Read more….
Templates give you a head start in the creation of your new document. Rather than starting from a blank page, a template will do many of the steps for you. They save time and often give the document a more professional look and feel. While there are many templates to choose from that come loaded with your software , sometimes what is provided is not enough. Take a look at the Microsoft website where you can download templates for free !! There are thousands to choose from !!!! LibreOffice and OpenOffice also have there own templates. HINT – the templates for all the above mentioned programs can be shared with each other. For example, I may have a great birthday card template for Microsoft Word yet I can use it in LibreOffice !
Other popular templates are used for designing web pages, video editing, cd/dvd covers and much more !! For business cards, labels and other goodies, check out the Avery Website. You can download free software and templates or design and print from the website.
Kingsoft Templates (look in downloads for more)
Brainy Betty (PowerPoint and Impress Templates)
Canon's Creative Park ( Background, cards and more !)
Avery (labels,tags etc). Be creative and thing outside the label
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