2012 Meetings
(View Archive of Meetings : 2003 to Present)
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Meetings are Free to Members (How to Join)
and only $5 for visitors
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Meeting Details
January 3, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map)
Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan)
Tips and Free Programs
David Jackson
David always provides us with excellent computer related information and tips. He will also be showing us some free programs that he has found useful.
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map)
Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan)
Tips and Free Programs
David Jackson
David always provides us with excellent computer related information and tips. He will also be showing us some free programs that he has found useful.
January 10, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map)
Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan)
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map)
Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan)
Train Simulator
and
How the Control Panel Can Help You
Mike Clarke
Mike will give us a demonstration of Trainz, a train simulator program which was actually written for Windows XP
but is currently working fairly well under Windows 7. There may be time for a quick demo of his computer setup as well. Questions are always welcome.
Paul Mather
Paul will safely guide us through the Windows Control Panel. Learn what your devices are, how they work and how you can speed up that computer.
Paul will also show us how to personalize our computer and answer questions such as;
How do I make the text bigger on the screen?
How do I see if my hardware is working?
Is Windows up to date?
This session will help beginners become more comfortable with their computer as they will familiarize them with its inner workings.
February 7, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map)
Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan)
The Insides of Your Computer
Axel Dittman
Axel has over 20 years of experience in the management of corporate Information Technology. We are very fortunate to have Axel share this experience in a manner that will help us as individuals or in a small company.
This presentation will take us inside the mysterious box. Becoming familiar with what is inside your computer will help you understand how it works. Many people have not even seen inside! Fewer have replaced a hard drive, added memory or inserted a video card. By becoming more familiar with the insides, simple physical maintenance becomes something that you can do rather than spending a lot of money to have done or waiting until major problems occur because of lack of maintenance.
Now you know what is inside, we hope to continue this topic in March, focusing on the care and maintenance.
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map)
Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan)
The Insides of Your Computer
Axel Dittman
Axel has over 20 years of experience in the management of corporate Information Technology. We are very fortunate to have Axel share this experience in a manner that will help us as individuals or in a small company.
This presentation will take us inside the mysterious box. Becoming familiar with what is inside your computer will help you understand how it works. Many people have not even seen inside! Fewer have replaced a hard drive, added memory or inserted a video card. By becoming more familiar with the insides, simple physical maintenance becomes something that you can do rather than spending a lot of money to have done or waiting until major problems occur because of lack of maintenance.
Now you know what is inside, we hope to continue this topic in March, focusing on the care and maintenance.
February 14, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Macro Photography - Snowflakes Don Komarechka Photographer donkom.ca This presentation will coincide with the publishing of an article, in Outdoor Photography Canada (Winter), on snowflake photography that Don wrote. It will be a great opportunity for people to learn from Don's images and experience. |
March 6, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) |
March 13, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan)
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Genealogy: Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.caPaul Mather and Don Edwards
Paul and Don will share with us some ideas and tips on doing your family tree. They will also demonstrate Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.ca, showing us how they work together. Paul will also demonstrate how to quickly convert your high resolutions pictures for use in your family tree. |
April 3, 20127:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan)
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David will show us some alternatives when it comes to email. Learn how they work and the advantages to client based email vs web based.
Axel will be joining David on a subject to be announced. They are always good! Security on Androids
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April 10, 20127:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan)
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Mail Merge and Form LettersPaul will show us how to make a simple database that can be used to make personalized letters and emails.
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May 1, 20127:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan)
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TV and Media using your computerWith the move to digital TV people are looking at all their media options. Axel will be showing us windows media centre, western digital TV and boxee box. |
May 8, 20127:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Painting with light - Photography
David has a unique style that transforms photographs into art. This style is often referred to as "Painting With Light".
His presentation will cover how he adjusts his photographs, and a few "tips and tricks" with Photoshop, Elements, and HDR. He is self-taught, so prides himself in turning complex ideas into easily understood steps. |
David Mather, PhotographerDave began his photography journey as a child over 50 years ago. He remembers working with very limited funds, a decent camera, and a darkroom in the basement using an old enlarger his father had stored away. In High School, he took photographs of football games and wrote for the school "paper." He was particularly proud of a composite showing the coach's face above a football player's head as he ran down the field. Pretty basic "dodge and burn" technique which took multiple tries a some wasted paper. The chemicals were crude and toxic. He took slides on various trips with the family - notably two trips from Hearst and Schumacher Ontario to Vancouver B.C. in a Volkswagen beetle - 5 people in the car. Lots of photo ops - hundreds of slides.
Dave became a disk-jockey in the 1960's and purchased a Pentax Camera from an advertiser. Later, his photography took a back-seat to career with the Dale Carnegie Organization, until he took several trips to England, Africa and Australia which allowed weekend photo trips - including a life-long dream to see and photograph Victoria Falls. Then, in the early 2000's, he purchased a digital camera - and Photoshop (7). Since then, he has developed a passion for photography and photo editing, most recently, delving into HDR. He is proficient in Lightroom, Photoshop 5 (now 6), Elements, and HDR software including Photmatix (Light) and Topaz (a photoshop plug-in). His FLICKR site has received over 51,247 views which, as he says, "May be small for some people, but for me, it's amazing. As a youngster, the only people who saw my photographs were family and friends. Since joining FLICKR and the Hamilton FLICKR Group I've connected with local and distant photo enthusiasts which has pushed my skills even further. My walks with the Hamilton group are fun and always end with social time together. I never considered "street photography" nor close-ups of doors, windows etc. until my time with the club - it's opened up a whole new world of photography for me." |
June 5, 2012
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Ok, so now I have your attention, this evening will really be a simple, albeit vanilla, approach to what different photographic editors can do, where they shine and, perhaps, where they sometimes let us down.
Most of the time will be spent on Photoshop 10 and Photoscape. Others will be discussed as well, particularly where they provide capabilities that the above two don't have, or don't do as well. |
June 12, 2012
7:00pm-9:00pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Recycling your old computer |
You are ready for a new computer and either your old one is quite dead or you want to give it a new home.
What can you do to prepare for this and where do you go? Protect your personal information before your computer leaves the house! Paul Mather Paul has had many computers at home over the years and also had to dispose of hundreds of computers, containing sensitive information, in his work. |
July 3, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Care and Maintenance of Your Computer with Aaron Weston - Northern Protocol http://www.npinc.ca/ |
Taking care of your computer so that it lasts as long as possible means taking care of your hardware, as well as your operating system. Ensuring good virus and spyware protection has become relatively easy with available programs, many which are free.
Taking care of hardware, however, is often forgotten. Find out what you need to know to keep your computer clean and healthy. Since 1984, computers have been Aaron's passion. It all started with the Vic 20, followed by the Apple II. By 1986 Aaron was programming games and applications in BASIC on the Commodore Pet. Aaron has built his reputation on service excellence. He brings with him 27 years of proven experience covering many aspects of the field, including teaching, tutoring, programming, website design, management, computer repair, sales and support. |
July 10, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Photoshop Elements: Reducing Wrinkles in Portraits |
Although we don't want our photos to be unnatural, there are some simple techniques that can be used to reduce blemishes and even wrinkles. Paul will share with us some techniques for improving your portraits. Paul Mather Photographer Members of he local Genealogical Society have taken advantage of his Photoshop workshops to help them scan and restore old photos. He has also restored home videos and photos for individuals, museums and Historical Societies. |
August 7 and 14, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Questions and Answers |
Both of these meetings will be dedicated to providing an opportunity to talk about YOUR problems and issues. We will also bring along some news items and a few tips and tricks.
This is your opportunity to get your questions answered! It would be nice if you could send your questions before the meeting but not mandatory. See "Contact Us". Our panel and other members will attempt to answer your questions or direct you to answers. |
September 4, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) DNS-Changer Virus and the Start Key with Mike Clarke |
Basically, I will be starting with the start key and discussing status of the DNS changer virus, and the present status of the American and Canadian battle to "eliminate" this virus.
a: While there are countless ways to access information about programs and files in modern PCs, that Start key has some very unique features which are worth sharing with you. b: The governments' campaign against the DNS changer threat has had considerable success in attacking the attackers and eliminating hundreds of servers through re-diversion of affected websites. The Canadian government had made available a website which allowed us to see whether or not we were affected, but closed the service in early June. They offer, however, another method to check your own computer for the threat. This will be presented at this meeting. c. Given time, Mike will present snapshots of various programs, such as: a} Vimeo - something like Facebook - but different b) VLC Media Player: nice and clean c) Facebook chat This agenda can be derailed at any time, with the support of the presenter, whose sole purpose is to introduce many different programs that, audience willing, could be covered in more depth at a future meeting. C U 2sday. |
September 11, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Use Google Maps to plan trips and to share trip pictures with Paul Mather |
Paul will be showing us how to use Google maps to plan a trip and to later share trip routes and pictures.
There will be some discussion of connecting GPS routes with Google maps and the use of panoramio |
October 2, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Linux: A Real Alternative to Windows with Axel Dittmann |
Axel will provide us with an introduction to Linux.
Linux has come a long way over the last few years and is becoming a viable alternative to Windows. See how it may be a useful tool, even for die-hard Windows people. Download Linux http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop More about Linux http://fridge.ubuntu.com/2012/04/26/ubuntu-12-04-precise-pangolin-released/ Ubuntu Software Centre http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/features/ubuntu-software-centre |
October 9 , 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) An Introduction to Computer Music with Paul Mather |
When people think of computer music, they are usually referring to mp3s. There is much more to music, however, than just listening. Paul will demonstrate a few programs for playing and writing music and and how easy it is to connect a keyboard as an input device.
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November 6, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Linux Apps with Axel Dittmann |
Linux has many applications and programs. See what is available .... you will be surprised.
Download the windows ubuntu installer from: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/windows-installer To make a bootable disk use Anyburn http://www.anyburn.com/ Ubuntu User Guide https://help.ubuntu.com/12.10/ubuntu-help/index.html |
November 13, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Media Players - VLC with Mike Clarke |
Televisions are starting to merge computer based and internet media. You do not have to buy a new TV, however to access your digital media. Over several months we will be talking about media and various players.
Mike will start off with a demonstration and review of VLC (Video Lan Controller). As its name suggests, it is more than just a media player! Future meetings will include Scriptus, Plex, Splashtop and more ..... |
December 4, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) What's New for Christmas with Aaron Weston |
See what new computer technology is out there for Christmas. Aaron will show us what is new and what is hot......
Should we wait until after Christmas to buy tech? Ask Aaron. |
December 11, 2012
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Kozlov Shopping Centre - 400 Bayfield Street, Barrie (map) Concourse Level - Unit C1/3 (Community Room) (mall floor plan) Windows Live with Paul Mather |
Windows Live is a series of programs that merge computer based programs with web accessible files. From Media editors to email ......
See what Windows Live is all about. |