Author: Kate

Working hard, learning lots.

World Back Up Day is coming: Are you ready?

Our compeers at APCUG are holding a Zoom for World Back Up Day on March 31 and are inviting STUG members to watch. They write:

WE WILL BE TAKING THE PLEDGE 😉  
HOW AND WHY TO BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVE
Don’t lose any or all of your important data: documents, photos, music, or videos.
• Your computer could be hit by a virus.
• Ransomware could hold your files hostage.
• You should be prepared for a natural disaster
• Hard drives sometimes fail.

We will look at an overview of backing up your hard drive and your smartphone during this workshop. There will also be demonstrations of various back-up apps: Bob Gostischa will demo Aomei, Bill James will show us how the Windows 10 File History works, plus another (TBD) demos of backup programs. Maybe you will find the one for you! 

If you’d like to attend, visit https://forms.gle/5TzUVaPCgyrjK1Fg9
Registration closes at 11:30 pm (your time) on March 30. For your registration to be approved, you must be a member of our Sarasota Technology Users Group.

Remember when?

$20 went further in 1982. No Verizon bills, no Netflix to pay.

For those of us who have a hard time remembering what we had for dinner last Tuesday (or even, in these times, when was the last time we went out to dinner?), dialing back to 1982 might be impossible. Here’s a feature from “Shorelines”, the 1982 newsletter from the then-named ManaSota IBM-PC Users Group. Remember IBM?

“Teach your child computer programming.” Hope that child is now top exec at some Internet company and treats you to exotic vacations with the grandkids.

The club, as of December 1982, had a treasury balance of $20. Heck, don’t scoff. $20 in 1982 is the “adjusted for inflation” equivalent of $54.51 in 2021. Of course, when it comes to money, there’s more to the value of money over time that the CPI. If you’re interested in delving further, here’s an article that will keep you amused for quite some time.

Yup, $20 went further in 1982. No Verizon bills, no Netflix to pay. And VoTech (as it was called back then) gave the club free meeting space.

Read the whole issue of “The Shoreline.”

Where did I hear that?

Ever want to find the source of something you “heard” on the Internet? Or reopen some website you found interesting oh, say a week or two ago?

Well, if you use Chrome browser, you can find out. (I found this out by accident when I hit Ctrl + H at the same time.) Go to chrome://history/ and voila ! Everywhere your browser took you is there to revisit. There’s even a search box so if you can remember that it was about car pools, for example, Chrome remembers that you read https://apnews.com/article/california-man-cited-using-mannequin-carpool-lane-d960a9623ee5a03aeca9764f8747acaf one day.

Somehow, I envisioned “mannequin” as something more glamorous…

Of course, this can be scary too. My history went back for 20+ days before my mouse finger got tired. There is an easy way to get it out of sight with the “Clear browsing data” button.

Look! It’s watching me as I type!

Customize your viewing

Want to reduce your streaming subscriptions, or cut the cord, but there are channels you simply cannot live without? So many choices!

More vintage TVs in Eric Wrobbel’s collections.

Here’s an interactive site where you can e-customize what you want to be able to watch and see what that all would involve. It’s called suppose.tv and it’s a fun way to explore your options. You can even prioritize your choices and mark specific channels as “must-have.” You do have to tell them your location, so they don’t recommend a service that’s unavailable where you live.

What’s it all about?

It is our mission to bring to our members quality education in using today’s personal technology products, and to provide to qualified citizens of Sarasota County refurbished computer equipment.

Founded in 1982, STUG is organized exclusively for educational and technological purposes.  This includes the distribution of hardware, software and educational materials to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. 

STUG promotes the use of, and encourages the exchange of information among individuals and groups who have interest in technology and technological devices.  STUG is committed to educate members as to the uses of applications, hardware and software of these devices through discussion groups, forums, lectures, seminars, meetings, and other similar efforts.