Bits and Pieces

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Meeting Reminders

November Meetings.  There will be NO meeting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  The next meeting will be Saturday, December 10th.  This will be our annual Christmas party and is limited to dues paying members only.  There will be NO meeting on December 24th…well, you figure it out.  We’ll get back to our normal schedule of meetings on the second and fourth Saturdays in January.  Check the ICON website for meeting locations.

Tech Updates and Info

Advanced System Care Update.  If you use the free version of Advanced System Care there is an update from version 4.2 to version 5.0 available on the IObit website (www.iobit.com).  I opened my installed version 4.2 and did a ‘Check for Updates’ and received the message that I had the most current version.  I had to go to the IObit website to obtain the latest version.  If you use this produce to keep your system cleaned up you might want to check out the latest version.  NOTE: After you install it make sure you update your ‘Preferences’ so that the tool is doing what you want it to do.  For instance, I do not have it run at system startup but only run it upon command; the default is to run at startup.

Beware on ASC Update!!  When you are updating your ASC software, after the install window you are offered the option to install the IObit Toolbar and to set Yahoo as your home page.  If you don’t want to do this you must press the DECLINE button!  Otherwise you’ll have some settings changed you might not want changed. 

Closing Thoughts

We had a well-attended meeting on November 12th.  The presentation on e-Book readers and tablets generated a lot of interest and questions.  We discussed the Barnes and Noble Nook, the Amazon Kindle (2nd and 3rd generations), Apples iPad and Acer Aconia Android tablet.  All of these devices are computers to greater or lesser degrees and have a variety of capabilities. 

The Springfield-Greene County Library now has e-books that can be loaded onto a variety of electronic devices such as iPods, iPads, computers, and some e-book readers.  The process is a bit different for each type of device as well as each type of e-book reader.  You can check out current best-sellers, both fiction and non-fiction but there is a limit of 10 books checked out at a time (that’s a lot) and they expire in 14 days (how fast can you read).  But, there are over 34,00 books that are out of copyright and these can be checked out without counting against your 10-book limit and they don’t expire.  The Library is offering classes on how to download and install books you might want to check out.  Here’s the current schedule.  Be sure to check the Library website (www.thelibrary.org) to verify this schedule before you show up.

DATE	TIME	LOCATION
Saturday, Jan 7th	10:00 a.m.	Library Center, Meeting Room B
Saturday, Jan 7th	2:00 p.m.	Willard Branch Library
Tuesday, Jan 10th	Noon	Brentwood Branch Library
Tuesday, Jan 10th	6:00 p.m.	Library Center, Meeting Room A
Monday, Jan 23rd	7:00 p.m.	Library Station, Frisco Room
Wednesday, Jan 25th	3:00 p.m.	Midtown Carnegie Branch, Upstairs Meeting Room
Monday, Jan 30th	7:00 p.m.	Brentwood Branch Library
Saturday, Feb 4th	3:00 p.m.	Strafford Branch Library
Saturday, Feb 4th	7:00 p.m.	Library Center Auditorium
Wednesday, Feb 8th	3:00 p.m.	Republic Branch Library

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Disclaimers

This newsletter and blog is for the enjoyment of its readers. There is no warranty or guarantee stated or implied in the content by the authors. None of the information contained in this newsletter or on the blog is to be considered as legal or financial advice as the authors are neither lawyers or financial advisors. The authors are not liable for any consequences that result from actions taken by the reader relative to the contents of this newsletter or blog.

Meeting Reminder

Our next meeting will be on November 12th and will be held at the Library Station on N. Kansas Expressway in Springfield.  We’ll start our sessions at 10:30 with a discussion about Tablet Computers and eBook Readers (Nook, Kindle, Sony, etc.).  All of these devices are computers in some fashion and are the way things are headed for most people.

In my family we have several computers, a tablet, a smartphone, a couple of eReaders, some iDevices and so on.  I’m not sure how we got along without them 10 years ago but somehow we did.  But, why fight it, this is today, not 10 years ago.

Come and join us for this entertaining discussion.  We’ll follow that with our monthly membership meeting and a discussion on blogging, focused on this blog as one of our ways to communicate with our membership.

….art irish

Selected Items from the November Newsletter

Be sure to check our updated calendar by clicking on the ICON logo on the right!

OUR PREZ SEZ:  I continue to believe that owning and operating a personal computer, tablet or smart phone requires the user to be very aware and cautious of what they are doing. Just this week, while on Facebook, I received more than a dozen messages (not comments) from folks who supposedly wanted me to join them to be a tester for the iPhone5. Well, there’s no iPhone5 and by clicking on the link, I’d be taken to a website where I might download a virus or be asked to complete a questionnaire but no iPhone. Each time that a person goes to one of these websites, the people who designed the scam get cash. Plus, your email address is shared and a message is sent, in your name, to your Facebook friends…and so it continues.

I recently read a report that 44% of all malware (malicious software such as virus’s, trojans and the like) attacks are a result of some sort of human interaction with something that appears on the computer. Less than 10% come from sneak attacks.

I know I continue to talk about this but I believe it’s important for you to be aware that YOU are responsible for the security of your computer and any impacts of a computer failure.

On a lighter note, if you want individual copies of your favorite films in the “Harry Potter” series, you need to buy them before Dec. 29. On that date, Warner Bros. is ceasing all distribution of the movies, presumably in order to push a comprehensive set of all eight in the franchise. Its reported that all the DVD/BluRay film titles including the newest Deathly Hallows — Part 2 and Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection, set to be released Nov. 11, will not be available after Dec. 29th.

Check your personal copies, and those of your kids and grandkids and plan ahead for Christmas.

We’re making some changes to the ICON meeting format and introducing new ways to communicate with our members. In October we moved the monthly membership meeting to the 2nd Saturday of the month rather than the 4th. We are also having an officers’ meeting following the educational session after the membership meeting. This allows us to get membership meeting into the newsletter for the current month and also gives us a regular schedule for officers’ meetings. We are also making some adjustments to the educational sessions to make them more entertaining and relevant to the membership as a whole. We need your help with two things; first, check the website www.iconusersgroup.org) for the meeting schedules and second, give us your ideas about what you’d like in the educational sessions.

Finally, we’ll soon have an ICON blog to help with the communication to the membership. As one person said, we are a computer club so we should use the computer in our communications. Over the next few months we’ll give you more information on this and other changes. Stay tuned.

—Art Irish