Newsletter

NOTE: SAC ROOM 310

WINDOWS DESKTOP CONFIGURATION

There are basically 2 types of computer & technology users. There are the geeks & the appliance users. The appliance users are frustrated by technology. They just want to use the tool technology provides without having to learn about the tool itself. Geeks on the other hand have a fascination with technology tools. They want to first learn about their tools and the features they posses, and then figure out ways to use the tool to accomplish tasks.

Therein lays the basis for this month's presentation. The goal of this month's presentation is to remove the frustration users sometimes encounter when trying to navigate through Windows desktop, task bar, and start menu. We want to show users how to configure these features to work to their advantage by showing them how to set configuration settings to favor their preferences.

Access to these settings is not necessarily obvious or intuitive. We will be emphasizing how right-clicking is a user's friend. If nothing else, I hope all users will come to learn this fact.

Main Meeting Program: This meeting was what has become our annual "Get to Know You" meeting. Technology changes so fast that members interests also change with the times. This meeting is an attempt to re-assess the interests and technology that members are using so that the club can hopefully setup main meeting programs during the next year that are pertinent and of interest to its members.

That said, here are the issues and questions that were discussed at this meeting:

• What aspects of the club meeting do you like?
• What aspects of the club meeting do you really dislike, find boring, or troublesome?
• I notice some of our members have to leave promptly at noon or before. What can the club do to make the meeting a better experience for those with limited time?
• What are your personal tech related goals for this year?
• What topics would be interest you? We're considering Desktop Basics, VoIP, Large File Xfers over the Internet, Webmail vs Email Clients. Any others? - tracking, security, privacy, other?
• Do you use desktop, laptop, tablet, smart phone, other devices? What OS is on these devices? What OS's do you frequently use? Have you migrated from XP or Vista over the past year?
• Do you use VoIP when your smart phone is near Wi-Fi?
• Where do you get your technical info? - magazines, RSS, podcasts?
• What is the primary use of your computer beyond email & general browsing? Do you operate any servers?
• Who is your ISP? Have you switched since a year ago? What speed down/up? How do you know?
• Do you have more than one personal email account & why? Who is your email provider(s)? Do you sync contacts or calendars between email accts or clients. Have you switched email providers & what issues did you encounter?
• How do you access your email - computer, tablet, smart phone, client, webmail?
• Do users of Win7 use the built-in backup utility? Why or why not?
• If some users don't backup, why not?
• Do users backup data, entire system, both, or none?
• What is their primary anti-virus / anti-malware? Firewall?
• Preferred input device - mouse, touchpad, voice, other?
• Any interesting apps or utilities used? - virtual machines, media players, VNC, VPN, VoIP, music, video, photography, torrents, rippers?
• Interesting Web services / sites used? - RSS, VPN, Usenet, Pandora, Spotify, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, cloud services, etc.
• Do you sync bookmarks & other browser settings? How?

What was noteworthy, but of little surprise to me in the feedback was that appliance users often do not make the effort to go out of their way to learn the technical acronyms and vocabulary. Therefore much of the terminology used during presentations is over their heads. They face a situation where they fail to understand because they have not learned the vocabulary. They just want to be users. Its akin to trying to learn to be a glider pilot without wanting to learn the principles of flight and not having an understanding of essential vocabulary.

The big problem for the geeks is how to interest the appliance users in learning the vocabulary so both parties can communicate effectively. And always how to get everyone to ask questions when they don't understand the terminology.

From the members, suggested future topics included:

• Understanding DLNA
• Understanding Airplay
• Understanding LAN connectivity issues
• DVD burning for multimedia
• Large file storage & backup
• Computer maintenance
• GPS topics
• Remote access
• Electronic book sources, i.e., public libraries

The following information was excerpted and edited from the Michigan Sate University guidelines at: http://lct.msu.edu/documents/Cloud%20Computing%20at%20MSU,%20guidance%20document,%206%20Sep%2011.pdf

Confidential Data. It is unlawful to disclose certain types of data to third parties (including cloud service providers) without appropriate safeguards in place. Cloud-services must NOT be used with any Confidential Data, unless an appropriate contractual agreement can be negotiated with the service provider.

Business records. Business records are ``information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business.'' Many types of data we receive or create every day fit this definition and do not necessarily involve Confidential Data, but deserve appropriate care in how we manage the records. Business records can take the form of e-mail, e-mail attachments and other electronic communications, calendar entries (particularly those involving important meetings or events; e.g. meetings involved in due process protocols; vendor contacts during bidding; etc.), and documents posted and edited in file shares, wikis and a variety of other electronic tools. Cloud-services must not be used for work involving business records, unless an appropriate contractual agreement can be negotiated with the service provider.

Intellectual property. This property often needs to be protected carefully (e.g., content with patentable subject matter or commercial value) and should not be placed in a cloud situation unless an appropriate contractual agreement can be negotiated with the service provider. Sometimes the owners of this property care less about its protection than they care about the value of the services they will be receiving from cloud applications. These trade-offs should be considered before using a cloud service, and the choices should be made by the involved content owners.

Agency decisions. One person should not make a decision regarding use of cloud services when others who are party to the use but not party to the decision may have valued data involved. For example, except in a limited number of circumstances, students own the copyright in works submitted to meet course requirements. If an instructor chooses to use a cloud application in a class, the application's terms of use should be reviewed with the students in the class, and the instructor must be willing and able to provide an alternative if a student decides not to use the service due to objections to its terms of use. Similar regard should be given to collaborators and their intellectual property if a cloud service is chosen for use to support a research project or other form of group collaborative effort. All members of the collaboration or work group should be aware of the conditions of use for the tools they are using, and should reach a consensus decision about the value of using those tools.

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DIRECTIONS FOR ST. AUGUSTINE CENTER MEETING ROOM Meetings are in the St. Augustine Center at Villanova University. The regular monthly sessions meet in Room 110.

Enter from the ITHAN AVENUE main gate, then proceed to the upper level of the 2-level parking building adjacent to the St. Augustine Center, on the Ithan Avenue side of the building. NOTE: maps on our web page - http://micug.org/

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