Registration Tues., Feb. 4th 9am at Southern Artery for Feb-May Series #61

Just a quick reminder that registration will be held tomorrow morning,

Tuesday-February 4th beginning at 9am for the next Southern Artery Computer Class Series #61, which begins the week of February 10th and will continue until the week of May 5th...

During this series, no classes will be held the weeks of

• Monday-Friday, Feb 17 - Feb 21st, 2014 February/Winter Break
• Monday-Friday, Apr 21 - Apr 25th, 2014 April/Spring Break

 During this new series we are excited to introduce two new classes:

• Intro to Android Smartphones, Tablets & eReaders, Wednesday mornings 10:30am-12N
• Intro to iPads & Apple products, Tuesday afternoons 2:30pm-4:pm

As always we will continue to conduct the following entry level classes conducted in the mornings:

·       Beginners held Monday 9am-10:30am & 10:30am-12Noon

·       Intermediate 1/Internet are Tuesday 9am-10:30am & 10:30am-12Noon

·       Intermediate 2/Word & Excel Basics is Wednesday 9am-10:30am

Our advanced afternoon classes will be focusing on a variety of topics this series including:

Cloud Computing, Review of Microsoft & Google email features; Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & Instagram, Media Players & Music Basics, Wi-Fi, Getting on Line without Cables; Online Security updates & changes; and Online Shopping & using Pay Pal...

So pass the word along and consider joining with a friend.  We welcome and encourage your feedback as to how we might improve this program and if there are topics you would like us to be discussing...These are your classes, so speak up!!!

Due to popular request we are bringing back our Special Q & A sessions, twice a year, to be held in the auditorium at Southern Artery on the following dates.  What would you like us to discuss??? and as before, we will host a one hour open Question & Answer Session for our teaching and technical staff - so mark your calendar for:

·        Tuesday, April 29th 3pm-5pm

·        Monday, September 15th, 3pm-5pm

Thank you to all veterans and their families

Remember to change your clocks tonight: 2AM Sunday Morning, November 3rd

Just a reminder - before you go to bed tonight, set your clocks back.. As you sleep tonight, on Sunday morning, November 3rd at 2am, Daylight Savings Time will end and most states in the US will revert back to Standard Time so be sure to set all clocks, watches and other time pieces BACK 1 HOUR. 

Most computers, cell phones and cable boxes will make this change automatically without our help..

This is always a great time to change the batteries in our smoke and carbon monoxide alarms

We will then move them ahead to begin Daylight Savings Time when we put the clocks ahead "1 hour" at 2am on the 2nd Sunday in March, March 9th, 2014  

Several states, including Arizona (except some Indian Reservations), Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa have chosen not to observe Daylight Saving Time so they do not change their clocks at anytime during the year.

And remember our new computer class series begins this week so we've saved your seat - if you need to make a change or haven't registered yet, not a problem, see Linda Roach in the SA Management Office and she can help you with that....

So enjoy your extra hour of sleep this weekend thanks to the annual shift back to standard time.

Registration for Nov 4th Computer Class Series #60 is Tuesday, October 22nd 9am

Just a reminder that registration for the next Series #60 of Computer Classes will be held tomorrow morning at the Southern Artery main building, Classroom 1, so come on down and bring a friend...

Classes are held Monday-Wednesday mornings and Monday-Thursday afternoons..

Monday-Wednesday Mornings:

Beginners held Mondays 9am-10:30am & 10:30am-12Noon

Intermediate 1/Internet held Tuesdays 9am-10:30am & 10:30am-12N

Intermediate 2/Word & Excel Basics held Wednesday 9am-10:30am

When an additional class is needed for a specific topic in the morning, it will be held Wednesdays 10:30am-12N 

Monday-Thursday Afternoons:

Advanced Classes Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday at 1pm-2:30pm and Thursday at 12:30pm-2pm; 2pm-3:30pm

This series our Advanced Afternoon Classes will be focusing on buying and using Smartphones; Reviewing Word Processing Skills and then spending several weeks using those Word skills to create Note Cards, Envelopes and Labels; Discussing changing technology in digital cameras & camcorders, tablets, kindles, nooks & ipads and spending two weeks improving printer and scanning skills...  Remember - these are your classes, so if you have suggestions for class topics, please let us know...Your input is very important to the success of this program and to ensure we are helping you learn the computer related topics that are of interest to you...

The ten week series will begin the week of November 4th and continue into the first week of February, however no classes will be held:

Monday Nov 11th - Veteran's Day Holiday

Monday - Friday, Nov. 25-Nov 29th Thanksgiving Holiday

Monday-Friday, Dec. 23rd - Jan. 3rd, 2013 Christmas-New Year Holiday

Monday Jan 20th - Martin Luther King Holiday

Reminder - When Quincy and/or Weymouth Public Schools are closed for inclement weather, no computer classes will be held.

Enjoy your day...

WINDOWS 8.1 IS AVAILABLE AS A FREE DOWNLOAD TODAY

If you haven't heard the announcement yet - Microsoft released the new Windows 8.1 update/upgrade today.

It is a free upload for any of you who are using Windows 8 on your computers, laptops or tablets...

Here is a link to the MSN website that made the announcement this morning and clearly outlines many of the issues addressed with this update/upgrade.....

http://money.msn.com/investing/news.aspx?feed=AP&date=20131017&id=17008390

This update is specifically designed to address many of the gripes people have had with Windows 8, the dramatically different operating system that attempts to bridge the divide between tablets and PCs.

So again, this Window 8.1 update is free for current owners of Windows 8; downloads started at 7 am this morning in New York, which corresponded to the start of Friday in New Zealand.

Simply go to the Windows Store app to find it.  Here is the link for their app store if you don't have it in your favorites...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/apps#Cat=t1

As they noted in their MSN announcement  "it may take a few hours for updates to reach everyone. Computers with Windows 8.1 already installed will go on sale Friday local time. That's also when people will be able to buy stand-alone copies of Windows 8.1."

Windows 7 - Using Speech Recognition

Before you run out to buy Dragon Speech or a similar software program, use the Speech Recognition software that has been built into all Windows Operating Systems, since Windows XP.  Voice/Speech Recognition is becoming common today in so many devices including iPhone, iPad, iPods, Android tablets and smartphones, computers, automobiles and other devices... So the more comfortable you get with it, the more you will use it with all of your devices...

If you haven't played with "Speech Recognition" yet, and are now using Windows 7, give it a try.  The program in Windows 7 is quite powerful and allows you to tell your computer what to do and you can also use it to dictate text into a document. 

Speech Recognition uses a special voice profile to recognize your voice and spoken commands, so the more you use Speech Recognition, the more detailed your voice profile becomes, which will improve your PC (and other mobile devices) abilities to understand you

As with so many things we do with the computer, using the speech recognition to give commands is just another way, in addition to using the mouse and/or the keyboard and/or

keypad.. 

Before you set up your Speech Recognition, make sure you've plugged a microphone into your PC so these steps will work.. Personally I think using a headset microphone; which is less likely to pick up background noise, is best when I'm using any speech recognition program to give commands or dictate into documents, doing voice recordings for slide shows and movies and using other programs such as Skype..

In Windows 7, click the Start Button

• Type Speech in the search box of the start menu
• Choose Windows Speech Recognition from the menu
• Note-if this is the first time you've used it, the Set-Up Speech Recognition Wizard will open and walk you thru setting up the system & settings. 
•  When you are in settings, it gives you the option to "Train your computer to better understand you" that helps it to recognize your voice.. 
•  In the Set-up, Windows also offers a tutorial that will help familiarize you with how to give commands and use the software - Take the tutorial - it really helps... 
• As with any new program or piece of hardware you are learning, remember to also use www.yotube.com, to find additional tutorials that will help you master just about anything..

Be patient and practice - like so many other things, the more you do it, the easier it will become and the more comfortable you will be...

Which Internet Browser To Use??

TRY ALL OF THEM...

Today almost all public & work environment computers have all 4 of the major browsers installed on them.  This gives the individual users the choice of which browser they want to use...  Why?? Think of it as having multiple salad dressing choices in your fridge... No particular reason, they all do the same thing, it's just a matter of taste..

You will also find that certain websites you visit "work better" if and when you use the browser that they've built their platform on... so for example if you are visiting any website from Google - Gmail, blogger, YouTube, Google drive, Google maps etc. then you might consider opening your CHROME browser to access those websites.

Computers and other devices with Windows Operating Systems come with Internet Explorer pre-installed, those with Android Operating Systems have Google Chrome installed, and Apple Operating Systems have Safari pre-installed, but you can use any of these browsers on your devices - simply download them: 

• Google Chrome ~ go to www.google.com
• Firefox by Mozilla ~ go to www.mozilla.com
• Safari  by Apple ~ go to http://support.apple.com/downloads/#internet