Moved to Self-Hosted Wordpress Blog

I have imported posts and comments from this blog into my new self-hosted Wordpress Blog,
Computers, Technology, and User Groups, and have been posting there since the end of October 2012.

Summary Of New Blog's Contents

This blog is a consolidation of my blogs for the Boca Raton Computer Society (BRCS), and the Broward Personal Computer Association (BPCA).  It contains information related to computers, technology, and user groups.

 As the groups I belong to are primarily Microsoft Windows oriented, the main focus will be on Microsoft products. Occasionally, reference is made to Android, Apple, Linux, or some other technological products, in which case it is categorized as same.

 Also, there will be posts directly related to the various computer/technology groups, again, these posts are categorized as such.

Invitation

Come on over and check out the new blog, rate and/or comment on the posts. The new blog can be found at http://ctublog.sefcug.com/ .
It is a work in progress, so I appreciate any feedback.

Where I Find Free Software February 24, 2011 Session

After a long absence due to meeting place being unavailable for November and December of 2010, and the moderator's unavailability for January 2011, the BRCS Freeware Special Interest Group (SIG) met in the evening of Thursday, February 24, 2011.

The subject was where to find free software. We were actually able to go to a few of the sites mentioned, and then our connection to the internet suddenly died out.

The presentation, notes, and a document containing all the links mentioned, have been posted in LibreOffice, Microsoft, and PDF formats at:

http://www.box.net/brcs-freewaresig#/brcs-freewaresig/1/68014370.

These are all under a Creative Commons license, so you may use, alter to suit your own needs, share with others, etc., as long as attribution to http://brcsfreewaresig.blogspot.com/ is shown, it is for noncommercial purposes, and it is shared under the same licensing.

As always, please comment if you need more information, or if you have further information.

October 28, 2010 Freeware SIG Session

The files from the October 28, 2010 BRCS Freeware SIG session, Online Storage, have been posted in the OnlineStorage-Oct10 folder at http://www.box.net/brcs-freewaresig.

The notes and presentation files are posted in OpenOffice.org, Microsoft Office, and PDF formats with Creative Commons licensing, to allow other user groups to utilize as well.

If you use them, please let me know and what your comments are.

While you are at the box.net location, check out what has been posted for previous sessions. There will be nothing for the November 2010 session, as that is Thanksgiving evening.

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If you would like just the links referenced during the session, check out the Links Referenced in SIG Sessions page of this blog:
http://brcsfreewaresig.blogspot.com/p/links-referenced-in-sig-sessions.html

Top 10 Beginner Level Video Tutorials To Learn GIMP Fast

You can find a myriad of written tutorials and websites on GIMP, the open-source Photoshop alternative, as well as YouTube channels dedicated to GIMP tutorials, but which tutorials are more suitable and totally worthwhile for beginners?

Since I’m also a learner of GIMP, I thought that tutorials illustrating the first few points of the official user manual from GIMP.org may just be what beginners need to familiarize themselves. This collection here gathers clearly-narrated screencasts and are thus very good starting points for those that don’t prefer to read long user manuals.

So hit the jump to learn more GIMP terminology.

via makeuseof.com

Yet another post related to the discussion about free photo editing software at the 23SEP10 BRCS Freeware / Open Source SIG (Special Interest Group) meeting.

Some excellent videos for GIMP beginners.

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

Xmarks Sync to be Discontinued #usergroup

Check out this website I found at xmarks.com

If you use Xmarks to synchronize your bookmarks, and other browser settings, this is a must read.

This posting explains that Xmarks will be shutting down in January 2011, and has some suggestions of free and paid alternatives to check out, as well as how to create an html backup by using the export feature at my.xmarks.com.

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

Xmarks Sync to be Discontinued #usergroup

Check out this website I found at xmarks.com

If you use Xmarks to synchronize your bookmarks, and other browser settings, this is a must read.

This posting explains that Xmarks will be shutting down in January 2011, and has some suggestions of free and paid alternatives to check out, as well as how to create an html backup by using the export feature at my.xmarks.com.

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

15 Best Free Photo Editing Software | TechDiffuse

via techdiffuse.com

We talked about free photo editing software at the 23SEP10 BRCS Freeware / Open Source SIG (Special Interest Group) meeting.

Today I came across this list, via my delicious bookmark network's 26SEP10 posting at http://www.delicious.com/rohit.chdh, and thought it might be of interest to group members.

Posted via email from sefcug's posterous

VLC Media Player Portable 1.1.0 Rev2

As I was trying to find something else, I went to the PortableApps.Com site and noticed that there was an update for the portable VLC Media Player. I have downloaded it an updated my portable version on my thumbdrive.

I have been carrying this portable application on my thumbdrives for quite a while now, because it will play most any format and I sometimes at other  PCs than my own. When I find a music or video file that does not play on that other PC, usually it will play once I load it into this portable application.

I also have the regular install version on my desktop. It is set up to be the default media player. The install version can be found at http://www.videolan.org/vlc/. It is currently at version 1.1.0, and I updated my desktop install also.

Visit their site for all the available features and supported platforms. I know it does a lot more than just function as a media player, but I do not use any of those features myself, so can not attest to their usefulness.

If anyone uses the advanced features of this portable application, or even the full install version, please let me know by leaving a comment. Maybe you could present your findings to the SIG, and teach us all how to use this more effectively.

Microsoft Security Essentials Client Update 29JUN10

Today, I started a computer on which I have Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) as my anti-virus/anti-malware application.

There was a Microsoft Update icon showing, and the MSE icon was yellowed out. When I checked out what the update was, I found it was the Microsoft Security Essentials Client update package KB224596, so I let Automatic Updates install it:

When it was completed, the MSE icon returned to its regular green, signifying that it is up to date, and running. The following screenshot shows the MSE About page, after the client update:

I don't know exactly when the update was posted, as this particular computer is not run every day. In fact, it has not been started up since June 25th.

My recommendation is that anyone using MSE should apply the client update as soon as possible, if they have not done so yet.