PC Update
PC Update is the Melbourne PC User Group magazine/newsletter. The first issue of PC Update appeared in March 1984 under the title MELB-PC.
The name was changed to PC Update in September of the same year and has remained unchanged ever since. The magazine has won a number of International Awards.
PC Update has been published in various formats, firstly as a printed newsletter, then a printed magazine, then an e-magazine, and currently as a e-newsletter.
June 2022
Did you bring it with you – the cloud is always with you
Phil Sorrentino There is just so much room on your phone for pictures, videos, music, and such. So, what if someone asks about that video of your grandchild or pet or that list of current movies that you keep up… Continue Reading…
DOTW Winners April 2022
Roger Brown DOTW is a lighthearted look at some of the sillier events of the week which has been posted weekly in the Chit Chat group in Yammer. From the start of June, this poll will transfer to Spaces as… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report April 2022
Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened the April meeting, again from home via Zoom. The first presentation of the night was by George Skarbek presenting his usual Q&A segment. This month there were only two questions, the first resulted in… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report May 2022
Neil Muller After 15 years as convener of East SIG, Paul Woolard has decided to retire from the role. On behalf of all members present, new host Frank Maher, thanked Paul for his many years’ service to the Melbourne PC… Continue Reading…
From The Editor June 2022
Hugh Macdonald I’m back and so is PC Update after a one month unscheduled hiatus. I do apologise about that. I took back the reins from David Stonier-Gibson, thinking I’d be right to produce the May issue, but had some… Continue Reading…
Interesting Internet Finds
Steve Costello While going through more than 300 RSS feeds, I often run across things that might be interesting to other user group members. The following are some items I found during August 2021. Internet Problems? Here’s How To Tell… Continue Reading…
It’s 2022. Why do we still not have waterproof phones
Ritesh Chugh, CQUniversity Australia While manufacturers have successfully increased the water-repelling nature of smartphones, they are still far from “waterproof”. A water-resistant product can usually resist water penetration to some extent, but a waterproof product is (meant to be) totally… Continue Reading…
Locate files and folders instantly
Jasmine Blue D’Katz I have been watching Tech for Seniors for several months, and like attending our monthly club meeting, I learn about different programs available to make using my computer easier. Recently, during his Evernote presentation, one of the… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting July 2022
David Stonier-Gibson The July 2022 monthly meeting will be on Wednesday 6th July via zoom only: Click here to join meeting on Zoom a little before 7pm. Our MC, Peter bacon, will start at 7pm sharp. Guest segment: The Nordic… Continue Reading…
So this is how it feels when the robots come for your job: what GitHub’s Copilot ‘AI assistant’ means for coders
Ben Swift, Australian National University I love writing code to make things: apps, websites, charts, even music. It’s a skill I’ve worked hard at for more than 20 years. So I must confess last week’s news about the release of… Continue Reading…
Spaces Highlights April 2022
Dennis Parsons Google Spaces, a replacement for Yammer With Melb PC moving away from using Microsoft services for the general membership we’ll shortly be closing down Yammer as the host for our Online SIG. It was recently announced after a… Continue Reading…
April 2022
Beer Wine Spirits
Beer and spirits have more detrimental effects on the waistline and on cardiovascular disease risk than red or white wine Researchers are working to tease apart how various alcohol types contribute to weight gain and disease risk. Brittany Larsen, Iowa… Continue Reading…
Bitcoin
The Other Side of the Bitcoin By David Kretchmar, Computer Technician, Sun City Summerlin Computer Club https://www.scscc.club In the April 2021 edition of the Gigabyte Gazette, I contributed an article titled “Bitcoin – the New Gold?”. I stated that “Gold… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report – March 2022
Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened the March meeting, again from home via Zoom. The first presentation of the night was by George Skarbek presenting his usual Q&A segment. Q. I have a hard drive with 5 partitions on it… Continue Reading…
Editorial April 2022
From the president (and editor) David Stonier-Gibson Zooming into the future While we still live in the shadow of Covid, there are clear signs we are emerging back into the world. But it will be a different world. Within Melb… Continue Reading…
Green Hydrogen
Australia plans to be a big green hydrogen exporter to Asian markets but they dont need it Andrew Blakers, Australian National University and Cheng Cheng, Australian National University In its latest budget, the federal government has promised hundreds of millions… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting May 2022
May monthly meeting special guest Our monthly meeting for May is on Wednesday 4th at 7pm. This will be held as a hybrid. You are encouraged to attend at Moorabbin in person, or if you’d rather stay home you can… Continue Reading…
Reflecting on Linux as my daily driver
Using Linux as my daily driver Hugh Macdonald I initially wrote an article of October 2020 where I announced I was going to spend more time using Linux, use Ubuntu as my distribution of choice, and use Linux as my… Continue Reading…
Start a New Habit in ’22 – Back Up!
By Kurt Jefferson, Editor, CKCS Newsletter. https://ckcs.org/ As we start a new year, it’s a great time to start a new habit – back up your PC or Mac data. It’s easier than ever. The review site, The Wirecutter, has… Continue Reading…
March 2022
An open letter to Scott Morrison
An open letter to Scott Morrison On March 15 the full federal court ruled that the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley does not have a duty of care to protect young people from the climate crisis when assessing fossil fuel… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report – February 2022
East SIG Report – February 2022 Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened the February meeting, (our first for 2022), again from home via Zoom. The first presentation of the night was George Skarbek presenting his usual Q&A segment. Q. For… Continue Reading…
Editorial March 2022
Editorial March 2022 David Stonier-Gibson Hugh Macdonald is temporarily indisposed, so I am holding the editor’s quill for him until he’s back onboard. More precisely: I’m curating the content, and Stephen Zuluaga is doing the online posting part. Here is… Continue Reading…
Free Tutorials – How to use Smartphones, Tablets and Computers
Free Tutorials – How to use Smartphones, Tablets and Computers Committee member Stewart Gruneklee has taken the initiative to start a training program for people struggling with our modern “device centric” life style. With the increasing trend of everything moving… Continue Reading…
Make a Wi-Fi QR Code Using Android
Make a Wi-Fi QR Code Using Android John Krout, Potomac Area Technology and Computer Society Instead of forcing family, friends, and user group members to type a long, convoluted password to access Wi-Fi, use your Android phone to make a… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting April 2022
Monthly Meeting April 2022 David Stonier-Gibson With a federal election on the horizon, there is much speculation about the large number of independents putting their hands up in predominantly government held seats. At the last election in 2019 Tony Abbott… Continue Reading…
Potential Problems Ahead For Users of Three Popular Web Browsers
Potential Problems Ahead For Users of Three Popular Web Browsers By Kurt Jefferson, Editor, Central Kentucky Computer Society Three of the most popular Web browsers in use today are about to hit version 100. That is a major milestone for… Continue Reading…
Tiny satellites are changing the way we explore our planet and beyond
Tiny satellites are changing the way we explore our planet and beyond Shane Keating, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics and Oceanography, UNSW Sydney Clare Kenyon, Astrophysicist and Science Communicator, The University of Melbourne Want to go to space? It could cost… Continue Reading…
February 2022
Club Notices February 2022
A Commodore 64 challenge for Melb PC Harry Lewis Melb PC was approached recently by local poet Ted Holmes. Between 1999 and 2001 Ted published three volumes of poems. For publication at the time he presented his publisher with 3.5″… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report November 2021
Neil Miller Host Paul Woolard opened the November meeting, again from home via Zoom. The first presentation of the night was George Skarbek presenting his usual Q&A segment. With most members on their computers during the latest lockdown, many questions… Continue Reading…
Editorial February 2022
Hugh Macdonald Hello and welcome to another edition of PC Update and welcome to another year in the life of Melbourne PC User Group. I’m sure I wrote something similar last year, but we can only hope that this year… Continue Reading…
How to become a Linux expert by installing Arch
Roger Brown You too can amaze your friends and colleagues by becoming a LINUX EXPERT who runs the very best rolling distribution – Arch Linux. For various reasons, people regard Arch Linux as a Linux distribution requiring a true Linux… Continue Reading…
How To Delete Your Social Media Accounts
Sharon Horwood, Deakin University For more than a decade we’ve been deeply immersed in a love affair with social media. And the thought of ending things can be painful. But like any relationship, if social media is no longer making… Continue Reading…
Interesting Internet Finds
Steve Costello Nearby Share On Android: All You Need To Know https://joyofandroid.com/nearby-share-on-android/ If you are an Android user and want to know about Nearby Share, check out this post. I don’t use it myself, but not because of anything in… Continue Reading…
Mandatory logins for ABC iview could open an intimate window onto your life
Michael Cowling, CQUniversity Australia Last week, the ABC announced it will begin to track the viewing habits of all users of its iview streaming platform from March 15. This will be done by making users create an account and log… Continue Reading…
Member Fiction: How The World Is Run
George Wright There was once a leader of a country who wanted to be safe from atomic attack so he asked another friendly country to provide a facility to protect them. Unfortunately the facility could not be constructed in the… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting February 2022
The November 2021 Monthly Meeting was held online on Wednesday 2nd February 2022, with about 90 members in attendance via Zoom. Guest segment: Zero to One Million Hits in 14 Days A discussion with Sue Barrett and Jobst Schmalenbach around… Continue Reading…
Using Google Workspace
Greg Eden Part 1 – Document scanning and OCR Can you use your Android phone as a document scanner? Yes. As a way of copying old photo prints? Yes. Is it as good as a stand alone scanner? Probably not,… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights January 2022
Dennis Parsons Linux Frank plugged his Kobo eBook into his Linux computer but couldn’t get it to connect properly. The reader was showing as connected on the reader but the computer wasn’t seeing the reader at all – it wasn’t… Continue Reading…
December 2021
Behind The Scenes At PC Update
Hugh Macdonald I began as PC Update editor back in September 2019 and with my permanent step into the role, there were a lot of changes in how PC Update was produced and how it could be consumed. From a… Continue Reading…
From The Editor December 2021
Hugh Macdonald Hello and welcome to the final edition of PC Update for 2021! And what another strange year it was. It started with some promise but ended up being another trying one. Hopefully along the way, whatever the situation… Continue Reading…
Getting To Know The Committee for 2021/22
At the November 2021 annual general meeting of Melbourne PC User Group the committee of management was up for reelection. Due to the fact that only existing committee members nominated for election, the existing committee was returned unopposed. As PC… Continue Reading…
How 2021 was the year governments really started to wise up against big tech
David Tuffley, Griffith University After all the bad press tech companies have received, would anyone still be surprised to learn the outwardly smiling face of social media conceals a sophisticated data-collection industry? This year’s headlines delivered news of an array… Continue Reading…
How To Install Linux
Hugh Macdonald Every few months in PC Update, reviews of different Linux distributions are featured, and other aspects of the operating system are discussed as well. So you might have found yourself interested in trying it out but been unsure… Continue Reading…
Interesting Internet Finds
Steve Costello A Quick Way To “Clear Your Web Browsing History And Data” … https://technewsforyou.com/2021/03/01/a-quick-way-to-clear-your-web-browsing-history-and-data/ I can’t believe I did not know this before. This shortcut is easy to use. I will be clearing my browsing history and data more… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting December 2021
The November 2021 Monthly Meeting was held online on Wednesday 1st December 2021, with about 70 members in attendance via Zoom and a few in attendance at Moorabbin. This was the program for the evening: Guests: Dr Michael Brand Topic:… Continue Reading…
Most Common Issues that Need Repair from a PC or Mac Repair Shop Perspective
Dan Douglas, President, Space Coast PCUG This month I am updating the presentation highlights from the session I gave at the APCUG virtual Technology Conference held back in 2019. I spoke on “Most Common Issues that Need Repair from a… Continue Reading…
Why wearable fitness trackers aren’t as useless as some make them out to be
Ben Singh, University of South Australia and Carol Maher, University of South Australia Wearable fitness trackers will be on many Christmas shopping lists this year, with a vast range of devices (and an ever-increasing number of features) hitting the market… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights November 2021
Dennis Parsons Computer Help Smart phones can be confusing for everyone at times and doubly so when you’re on the other end of a phone call trying to sort out what they’ve done 😉 But that’s another story. For many… Continue Reading…
November 2021
An update on some minor changes to the Website Menu and login
Rob Brown Some small changes have been rolled out to the melbpc.org.au website to improve the user experience for new visitors to the site. The changes are around the top menu which currently looks like this and Following the… Continue Reading…
Book Review: I, Warbot
Tim McQueen I, Warbot – the dawn of artificially intelligent conflict. Kenneth Payne Hurst & Company, London Payne based his title for this book on Asimov’s famous short story ‘I, Robot’, with its three rules for robots: A Robot… Continue Reading…
DOTW Highlights October 2021
Roger Brown DOTW is a lighthearted look at some of the sillier events of the week. Don’t take it too seriously and do pop over to Chit Chat and vote each week. Thanks to those of our members who occasionally… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report October 2021
Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened the October meeting, once more joined by an increased audience, again from home via Zoom. Paul announced that starting this month, videos of each presentation will be available on the East SIG website… Continue Reading…
From The Editor November 2021
Hugh Macdonald Hello and welcome to the November 2021 edition of PC Update. It’s an interesting issue, with our feature articles being on the various types of solid state drives available today and how to understand Interner speeds, which is… Continue Reading…
How vulnerable is your personal information? Four essential reads
Eric Smalley, The Conversation When you enter your personal information or credit card number into a website, do you have a moment of hesitation? A nagging sense of vulnerability prompted by the parade of headlines about data breaches and hacks?… Continue Reading…
MelbPC Email Changes Gear
Harry Lewis Members with Melb PC email accounts have been provided with access to their new mailboxes hosted by Google Workspace (formerly G Suite). From the introduction of this service up to the end of November 30th 2021 mail has… Continue Reading…
Member Fiction: Identifying Yourself As A Computer Nerd
George Wright When deleting emails over six years of age you recognise you don’t trust anybody. When deleting emails under three days old you recognise you need get some new friends. When emailing yourself, you can’t believe a word they… Continue Reading…
Member Fiction: Thinking Machines
Tim McQueen Daryl was frustrated. He’d left the job in Philadelphia, suspecting that international travel bans would come, but had risked going home via Cambridge to catch up with colleagues. He’d no sooner landed in London than the Australian government… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting November 2021
The November 2021 Monthly Meeting was held online on Wednesday 6th October 2021, with about 70 members in attendance via Zoom. This was the program for the evening: Guests: Yoko Fukuda, Kajsa Sjöman, Iqbal Samin Prithul Topic: Self balancing Robots and Covid Around… Continue Reading…
Solid State Drives
Tom Burt, Sun City Summerlin Computer Club Solid State Drives (SSDs) have been around for quite a while. However, prices have come down while capacities and performance have gone up. As a result, adding an SSD to an existing system… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights October 2021
Dennis Parsons Windows With the move of our services from Microsoft to Google based the use of Melb PC e-mail addresses for a Windows login will cease to work. Turns out Windows Home users aren’t affected as our Microsoft account… Continue Reading…
October 2021
Advantages of New Wi-Fi Standards
Joe Callison, Seniors Computer Club of Greater Kansas City Wi-Fi technology and the routers and Wi-Fi adapters using it have advanced a lot in recent years. It is difficult to explain the nuances of Wi-Fi technology without getting geeky,… Continue Reading…
DOTW Winners September 2021
Roger Brown DOTW is a lighthearted look at some of the sillier events of the week. Don’t take it too seriously and do pop over to Chit Chat and vote each week. Thanks to those of our members who occasionally… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report September 2021
Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened the September meeting, with a significant increase in members joining again from home via Zoom. The first presentation of the night was George Skarbek presenting his normal Q&A segment. With most members in lockdown,… Continue Reading…
From The Editor October 2021
Hello and welcome to the October 2021 edition of PC Update. Exciting news – our Moorabbin headquarters can reopen soon! By about October 30 2021, Victoria will have reached the milestone of having 80 percent of the population aged over… Continue Reading…
How Do I Know When It Is Time to Buy a New Wi-Fi Router?
Kurt Jefferson, Central Kentucky Computer Society Shortly before Halloween last year, I noticed my Internet connection was getting slower and slower. I would visit CKCS.org to check the latest newsletter. Then I would visit The Animal Rescue Site to give… Continue Reading…
Member Fiction: What Am I Doing Here?
George Wright I love my computer. I know it’s just a machine on my desk, but what can it really do? What use is it when its presence dominates my life early in the morning from a focus on… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting October 2021
The September 2021 Monthly Meeting was held online on Wednesday 6th October 2021, with about 70 members in attendance via Zoom. This was the program for the evening: Guests : Mark O’Reilly Topic: Tips, Traps, and Trouble with Cyber Insurance… Continue Reading…
Presidential Musings October 2021
David Stonier-Gibson This is the last PC Update you will receive before the AGM on Wednesday 3rd November. That meeting will be online only, so votes will have to be done by email or snail mail. The details on voting… Continue Reading…
Revitalising an older PC
Hugh Macdonald You might have received an older PC from someone and now you’re wondering what to do with it. I often get handed old laptops and desktop PCs that clients no longer want. Rather than these going into e-waste,… Continue Reading…
The Apple iPod came out two decades ago and changed how we listen to music. Where are we headed now?
Stuart James, Edith Cowan University On October 23, 2001, Apple released the iPod — a portable media player that promised to overshadow the clunky design and low storage capacity of MP3 players introduced in the mid-1990s. The iPod boasted the… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights September 2021
Dennis Parsons Windows Windows 11 was officially released on October 5th and while most of us probably aren’t brave enough to use it on our main system quite yet, some of us might be keen to at least have… Continue Reading…
September 2021
CitSciOz 2021
If you enjoyed the September 2021 monthly meeting on citizen science, then you might be interested in attending the annual conference which is coming up, Please join us in October 2021 for “CitSciOz21: Celebrate, Communicate, Co-create” in a brand-new event… Continue Reading…
Digital tech is the future, but a new report shows Australia risks being left in the past
Shazia Sadiq, The University of Queensland and Thas Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas, The University of Melbourne Digital technologies are now at the heart of our everyday lives, as anyone who has swapped their office for a videoconferencing screen, or downloaded a contact-tracing… Continue Reading…
DOTW Winners August 2021
DOTW is a lighthearted look at some of the sillier events of the week. Don’t take it too seriously and do pop over to Chit Chat and vote each week. Thanks to those of our members who occasionally ‘feature’… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report August 2021
Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened the August meeting, again with all members back at home joining the meeting via Zoom. The first presentation of the night was George Skarbek presenting his normal Q&A segment. Q. On John Hall’s recommendation,… Continue Reading…
From The Editor September 2021
Hugh Macdonald Last month in PC Update we celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the IBM PC with an article. This month, if I’d had more time, I would have done a similar article on another momentous anniversary in the history… Continue Reading…
In Search of Backup Utopia
Harry Lewis In his intriguing article ‘Elephobia’ in last month’s PC Update we were transported to Planet Wright where George (of that ilk) introduced us to folk with interesting traditions regarding backup. The standout for me was the practice of… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting September 2021
The September 2021 Monthly Meeting was held online on Wednesday 1st September 2021, with about 70 members in attendance via Zoom. This was the program for the evening: Guests : Dr Alice Motion and Michelle Neil Topic: Citizen Science Dr… Continue Reading…
Presidential Musings September 2021
David Stonier-Gibson This may be the last PC Update you read before submitting your proxy votes for the November AGM. That meeting will be online only, so votes will have to be done by email or snail mail. You should… Continue Reading…
Thanks To The Ancient Greeks
George Wright (with maths advice from Ann Lawry) Humans can identify complex relationships with each other and their habitats. I’ve come to think that the ancient Greeks who invented numerical theories were actually laying the groundwork for a study into… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights August 2021
Dennis Parsons Technology News While last month saw the 30th anniversary of the announcement of Linux, this month marks 30 years since the first actual kernel (0.01) was released. Linux has come a long way since, from its humble origins… Continue Reading…
‘What is my IP address?’ Explaining one of the most Googled questions in the world
Paul Haskell-Dowland, Edith Cowan University and Bogdan Ghita, University of Plymouth What is my IP? It’s an odd question in most people’s minds, yet it’s one of the top ten most-searched questions on Google. Those who know what an IP… Continue Reading…
August 2021
A Change to PC Update Subscriptions
David Stonier-Gibson The Committee has decided not to accept any new subscriptions for the printed version of PC Update. Here’s why: The large, fancy colour laser printer we use in the office is costing us well over $6,000 p.a. on… Continue Reading…
Curious Kids: how does music get onto a cassette tape?
Christopher Wenn, The University of Melbourne How does music get onto a cassette tape? — Paul, age 9, Adelaide Hi Paul! That’s a great question. To answer it very briefly, music is recorded onto a cassette tape using electricity… Continue Reading…
DOTW Winners July 2021
Roger Brown DOTW is a lighthearted look at some of the sillier events of the week. Don’t take it too seriously and do pop over to Chit Chat and vote each week. Thanks to those of our members who occasionally… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report July 2021
Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened the July meeting, again with all members back at home joining the meeting via Zoom. The first presentation of the night was George Skarbek presenting his normal Q&A segment. Q. I have a question… Continue Reading…
Forty years of the IBM PC
Hugh Macdonald The twelfth of August 2021 marks forty years since the IBM Personal Computer was first released onto the market. It is widely regarded as a seminal moment in computing history because it spurred on many other companies to… Continue Reading…
From The Editor August 2021
Hello and welcome to another edition of PC Update. On the club front our activities have been back online this month. We had an interesting monthly meeting where two speakers, Jacky Barker and Zach Morris discussed their experiences of setting… Continue Reading…
How one simple rule change could curb online retailers’ snooping on you
Katharine Kemp, UNSW I spent last week studying the 26,000 words of privacy terms published by eBay and Amazon, trying to extract some straight answers, and comparing them to the privacy terms of other online marketplaces such as Kogan and… Continue Reading…
Member Short Stories: Elephobia
George Wright My wife loves an Apple. I like apples too, but I like eating mine. My computer is Android. Hers backs-up automatically, several times a day. I’ve pointed out that backing-up to a drive in the same computer is… Continue Reading…
Smart Home, Smarter Home
Greg Skalka, Under The Computer Hood User Group Everyone wants some control in their lives. Having the ability to control things in our homes can provide added safety, security, and convenience. Technology to enable consumer home automation and control has… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights July 2021
Dennis Parsons NBN Questions and Comments Steve posed the question of whether it was possible to use the 4G fall-back capability of a Telstra Smart Modem to tide his father over for a few days while broadband was connected during… Continue Reading…
July 2021
A Life Changing Monthly Meeting
Kevin Gray Dear David, This is a short note of thanks to the Melbourne PC User Group. I’ve been a member for just on 30 years. One of my moves into a different vocation over my lifetime involved writing database… Continue Reading…
A Look Through Windows 11
Hugh Macdonald On June 24 this year, Microsoft somewhat surprised everyone by announcing that a new version of Windows, called Windows 11, was coming This was a surprise because after Windows 10 was released, Microsoft announced that it would be… Continue Reading…
DOTW Winners June 2021
Roger Brown DOTW is a lighthearted look at some of the sillier events of the week. Don’t take it too seriously and do pop over to Chit Chat and vote each week. Thanks to those of our members who occasionally… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report June 2021
Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened the June meeting, this month with all members back at home joining the meeting via Zoom. After a short introduction outlining his aborted travel plans, George Skarbek presented his normal Q&A segment. Q. Windows… Continue Reading…
Editorial July 2021
Hugh Macdonald Welcome to another edition of PC Update. On the computing front this month, I take a first look at Windows 11, David Stonier-Gibson explores the changing nature of computing and we look at Pegasus spyware. On the non… Continue Reading…
From The President July 2021
David Stonier-Gibson Moorabbin renovations: Can you help? The process of upgrading and reconfiguring Moorabbin has been continuing, even during Covid. A small band of volunteers have worked on the Maker Room (was Training Room) and Lounge areas. The Borrett room… Continue Reading…
How does the Pegasus spyware work, and is my phone at risk
Paul Haskell-Dowland, Edith Cowan University and Roberto Musotto, Edith Cowan University A major journalistic investigation has found evidence of malicious software being used by governments around the world, including allegations of spying on prominent individuals. From a list of more… Continue Reading…
Interesting Internet Finds
Steve Costello PSA: Gmail Has Your Old Chat Logs From Google Talk (And Hangouts) https://www.howtogeek.com/711404/psa-gmail-has-your-old-chat-logs-from-google-talk-and-hangouts/ Did you use Google Talk and or Hangouts? If so, your logs are still stored in your Google account and taking up space. Check out… Continue Reading…
Lockdown
Heather Stonier-Gibson This rain fits. It fits the dull, bleak swarm of Melbourne winter. It fits my growing bitterness and sits well with the anxiety that this time, it will be worse. I live in a place without education. Yellow… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting July 2021
The June 2021 Monthly Meeting was held online on Wednesday 7th July 2021, with about 70 members in attendance via Zoom and another 20 at Moorabbin. This was the program for the evening: Guest Speakers: Jennifer Daddow Topic: Support Services fo Carers… Continue Reading…
QR scanning is important
David Stonier-Gibson The Virus struck close to home today: It was in Coles at Southland, 10 minutes walk from home, last Monday. And I know my wife was in that very shop earlier this week. Fortunately she conscientiously scans in… Continue Reading…
Whither hobby computing?
David Stonier-Gibson The world is changing rapidly, not least of all in the realm of computing. Computing today is vastly different to what it was when Melb PC was established 37 years ago, with terms like The Cloud, The Edge,… Continue Reading…
Why Darwin Survived
George Wright Last year, unverified rumour says that North Korea’s Supreme Leader ordered a nuclear strike on Darwin because he figured that Australia’s response would at best, be with boomerangs. Unfortunately, the missile dropped into the Java Trench in Indonesian… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights June 2021
Windows (formerly Windows 10*) We were able to help Jan with a major learning experience this month – using a bootable Linux USB flash drive to recover files from a Windows computer with a failing hard drive that would no… Continue Reading…
June 2021
Best Practice Backups for your Operating System
Hugh Macdonald Last month in PC Update we published an article by Dan Douglas on backing up in Windows. While this presented a method that would work if members followed the advice, there are more up to date methods that… Continue Reading…
Blocking Unwanted Emails
David Kretchmar, Computer Technician, Sun City Summerlin Computer Club Sooner or later this happens to all of us. You continuously receive unwanted emails, (spam) from an individual or organization. Legitimate organizations usually have an Unsubscribe button within their message, which… Continue Reading…
Building a CNC Router (Part 2)
Dave Williams This is the second part of a series of articles on Dave Williams’ experience of building a CNC (computerised numerical control) router, which is an automated cutting machine that can be used on materials such as wood, composites,… Continue Reading…
DOTW Winners May 2021
Roger Brown DOTW is a lighthearted look at some of the sillier events of the week. Don’t take it too seriously and do pop over to Chit Chat and vote each week. Thanks to those of our members who occasionally… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report May 2021
Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened the May meeting again via Zoom. This month he was seated with a small audience at Eley Road Hall, our normal meeting place before the pandemic hit. This being the first hybrid meeting from… Continue Reading…
Editorial June 2021
Hugh Macdonald Welcome to the June 2021 edition of PC Update. As Melbourne has once again found itself in Covid lockdown, there is not a lot to report this month from a club perspective. The Monthly Meeting transitioned back to… Continue Reading…
How an app to decrypt criminal messages was born ‘over a few beers’ with the FBI
David Tuffley, Griffith University Australian and US law enforcement officials on Tuesday announced they’d sprung a trap three years in the making, catching major international crime figures using an encrypted app. More than 200 underworld figures in Australia have been… Continue Reading…
Interesting Internet Finds
Steve Costello The Two Types Of Cloud Data Threats And How You Protect Yourself https://askleo.com/two-cloud-data-threats/ Leo Notenboom explains the two types of threats for having your data in the cloud and suggestions for protecting yourself from them. (Note: I have… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting June 2021
The June 2021 Monthly Meeting was held online on Wednesday 2nd June 2021, with almost 100 members in attendance via Zoom. This was the program for the evening: Guest Speakers: Dr Kirsten Ellis, Nathan Sherburn Panel discussion “Learning in Lockdown”… Continue Reading…
US lawmakers are taking a massive swipe at big tech. If it lands, the impact will be felt globally
Katharine Kemp, UNSW Five antitrust laws proposed in the United States aim to aggressively rein in the market power of “big tech” companies and change the way they do business. The set of bills, introduced on June 11, targets the… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights May 2021
Dennis Parsons In Memory of Judy Bednar We had a terrible shock when we heard that a long-time member, Judy Bednar, had been murdered in her home and her son subsequently arrested. She was well known to many members through… Continue Reading…
May 2021
Backing Up
Dan Douglas, President, Space Coast PC Users Group Two types of files are required to be backed up. There are your personal files, normally stored in the following folders under your login account in Windows: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Music,… Continue Reading…
Book Review
Tim McQueen This is how they tell me the world ends – the cyber weapons arms race Nicole Perlroth Bloomsbury 491 pages On 10 May 2021 The Age carried a story ‘DarkSide, ransom group linked to Colonial Pipeline hack,… Continue Reading…
Building a DIY CNC Router (Part 1)
Dave Williams This is the first part of a series of articles on Dave Williams’ experience of building a CNC (computerised numerical control) router, which is an automated cutting machine that can be used on materials such as wood, composites,… Continue Reading…
Casting, not in the theatrical sense
Phil Sorrentino, Sarasota Technology Users Group Most modern computers have HDMI outputs so it is easy to display your computer screen on a big-screen TV, but what about displaying your smartphone screen on that same big screen? Most phones do… Continue Reading…
DOTW Winners April 2021
Roger Brown DOTW is a lighthearted look at some of the sillier events of the week. Don’t take it too seriously and do pop over to Chit Chat and vote each week. Thanks to those of our members who occasionally… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report April 2021
Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened the April meeting again presented via Zoom. After welcoming members, the meeting commenced with George Skarbek presenting Q&A. Q: I have a problem with printing. I’ve done all the maintenance tasks on the printer… Continue Reading…
Editorial May 2021
Hugh Macdonald Hello and welcome to another edition of PC Update. This month the highlights include: Dave Williams with the first part of his series on building his own CNC Router Dan Douglas with tips on backing up your Windows… Continue Reading…
Interesting Internet Finds
Steve Costello What Is Archive In Gmail And How To Archive And Unarchive Emails https://www.guidingtech.com/what-is-archive-in-gmail-how-to-archive-unarchive-emails/ Do you know what archiving in Gmail is? If so, do you know why and how to use it? The answers to these questions are… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting May 2021
The May 2021 Monthly Meeting was held in person and online on Wednesday 5th May 2021, with over 20 members in attendance at Moorabbin and over 70 members in attendance via Zoom. This was the program for the evening: Guest… Continue Reading…
Presidential Musings May 2021
David Stonier-Gibson Successful Covid-be-gone party Sunday 18th April I think I can confidently declare the Party at Moorabbin on Sunday 18th April a success. We all had fun with frivolous games, pizza, and a lot of socialising. Email Transition The… Continue Reading…
Remember, Apple AirTags and ‘Find My’ app only work because of a vast, largely covert tracking network
Paul Haskell-Dowland, Edith Cowan University Apple recently launched the latest version of its operating system, iOS 14.5, which features the much-anticipated app tracking transparency function, bolstering the tech giant’s privacy credentials. But iOS 14.5 also introduced support for the new… Continue Reading…
Want to become a space tourist? You finally can — if you have $250,000 and a will to sign your life away
Cassandra Steer, Australian National University Billionaire Jeff Bezos’s space launch company Blue Origin has announced it will sell its first flights into microgravity to the highest bidder. Blue Origin and its two greatest competitors in the “space tourism” field, SpaceX… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights April 2021
Dennis Parsons Coronavirus Discussion & Comments The use of QR codes for “checking in” to many businesses and venues for COVID tracking purposes, including Melb PC for those physically attending our premises for meetings, raised some discussion around the… Continue Reading…
April 2021
ASCCA Online Courses
Frank O’Loughlin Last Monday I participated in an online course on Gimp photo editor. I haven’t been game to try this previously as my memory is quite poor and I find it hard to remember much from courses. My motivation… Continue Reading…
Chromebook Update
Jeff Wilkinson, President, Sun City Summerlin Computer Club I have become more interested in Chromebooks as an alternative for our club members who need to replace an outdated desktop or laptop computer. Many, if not most, of these users don’t… Continue Reading…
DOTW Winners March 2021
Roger Brown DOTW is a lighthearted look at some of the sillier events of the week. Don’t take it too seriously and do pop over to Chit Chat and vote each week. Thanks to those of our members who occasionally… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report March 2021
Neil Muller Host Dave Botherway opened the March meeting again presented via Zoom. After welcoming members, the meeting commenced with George Skarbek presenting Q&A. With no questions forthcoming, George proceeded to give the first presentation of the night. The presentation,… Continue Reading…
Editorial April 2021
Hugh Macdonald Pleasingly, life is beginning to return to normal at Melbourne PC User Group. Everytime I walk into the club these days (usually on the weekends) it is a hub of activity, often with members of the Microcontroller Workshop… Continue Reading…
In 2021 vow to start using a password manager
Kurt Jefferson, Editor, Central Kentucky Computer Society I keep telling students in my CKCS classes that they need to start using a password manager. You should be using a password manager on your iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows PC, and Linux… Continue Reading…
Interesting Internet Finds April 2021
Steve Costello Proxy Vs. VPN: When To Use A Proxy Server And When To Use A VPN? https://www.digitalcitizen.life/when-use-proxy-and-when-use-vpn/ Have you heard about Proxies and VPNs. Do you know the differences, or when you should use which and why? Check out… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting April 2021
The March 2021 Monthly Meeting was held in person and online on Wednesday 3rd March 2021, with over 40 members in attendance at Moorabbin and over 70 members in attendance via Zoom. This was the program for the evening: Guest… Continue Reading…
Phone wet and will not turn on? Here is how to deal with water damage
Ritesh Chugh, CQUniversity Australia If you’ve ever gotten your phone wet in the rain, dropped it in water or spilt liquid over it, you’re not alone. One study suggests 25% of smartphone users have damaged their smartphone with water or… Continue Reading…
Potential for harm: Microsoft to make US$22 billion worth of augmented reality headsets for US Army
Ben Egliston, Queensland University of Technology and Marcus Carter, University of Sydney Microsoft has reportedly been awarded a ten year contract worth close to US$22 billion, to provide 120,000 military-grade augmented reality (AR) headsets to the US Army. Popularised through… Continue Reading…
Presidential Musings April 2021
David Stonier-Gibson Internet lounge equipment As part of our refurbishing and de-cluttering the club rooms, we have moved all the Internet Lounge equipment into temporary storage. If you use any of the stuff there, please email me and let me… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights March 2021
Dennis Parsons Windows 10 Merv, our loud and proud purple dinosaur (if you see his Yammer profile pic you’ll understand), has been on a rather steep learning curve with using a new Nokia C3 Android phone as a 4G hotspot… Continue Reading…
March 2021
DOTW Winners February 2021
Roger Brown DOTW is a lighthearted look at some of the sillier events of the week. Don’t take it too seriously and do pop over to Chit Chat and vote each week. Thanks to those of our members who occasionally… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report February 2021
Neil Muller Host Frank Maher opened the first East SIG’s meeting for 2021 again hosted via Zoom. After welcoming members, the meeting then commenced with George Skarbek presenting Q&A. The first question of the night related to connecting to the… Continue Reading…
From The Editor March 2021
Hugh Macdonald Hello and welcome to the March edition of PC Update. Our magazine this month covers a range of topics: A discussion of various types of ads that annoy us as we’re using our devices, a look at the… Continue Reading…
Interesting Internet Finds
Steve Costello, SEFCUG Gmail’s New Quick Settings https://cynmackley.com/2020/08/04/gmails-new-quick-settings/ https://cynmackley.com/2020/08/05/gmail-quick-settings-part-2/ https://cynmackley.com/2020/08/06/gmail-quick-settings-part-3/ If you use Gmail, you should know how to use its quick settings feature. Cyn Mackley explains the quick settings in the three blog posts above. Mind The Metadata… Continue Reading…
Member Wanted Ad
Expert tuition and assistance needed in using software to improve vinyl records and cassettes. I have a basic knowledge of Adobe Audition 1 and hope to use Izotope RX 8, X Click, and Samplitude – some of them anyway. I… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting March 2021
The March 2021 Monthly Meeting was held in person and online on Wednesday 3rd March 2021, with over 75 members in attendance. This was the program for the evening: Guest Speaker: Colin Pudsey Topic: Virtual Reality for Seniors Colin Pudsey… Continue Reading…
New evidence shows half of Australians have ditched social media at some point, but millennials lag behind
Roger Patulny, University of Wollongong A recent nationally representative survey has shown Australians are willing and able to pull the plug on social media. But it turns out the generation you were born in, as well as your level of… Continue Reading…
Security flaws in Microsoft email software raise questions over Australia’s cybersecurity approach
Carsten Rudolph, Monash University On March 2, 2021, Microsoft published information about four critical vulnerabilities in its widely used Exchange email server software that are being actively exploited. It also released security updates for all versions of Exchange back to… Continue Reading…
Those Nasty Pop Up Ads
Jim Cerny, Help Desk Host, The Saratoga Users Group You’re going along just fine, enjoying a fun game on your device, you don’t know how it happened or maybe you touched the screen just a teeny bit out of place,… Continue Reading…
Why Linux?
Jim Quinn, Vice President, Under the Computer Hood User Group In 2008 we (my wife & I) decided to do the 5-year plan to retire in 2012. We calculated our retirement income and expenses (including taxes) to make sure we… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights February 2021
Dennis Parsons Computer Help Occasionally members raise the issue of readability of the Yammer posts, no not the quality of the content, but the combination of the dark grey text colour on light grey background. For most of us (presuming… Continue Reading…
February 2021
AI can now learn to manipulate human behaviour
Jon Whittle, Data61 Artificial intelligence (AI) is learning more about how to work with (and on) humans. A recent study has shown how AI can learn to identify vulnerabilities in human habits and behaviours and use them to influence human… Continue Reading…
Book Review
Tim McQueen Uncanny Valley – A memoir Anna Wiener Farrar Strauss & Giroux 284 pages Wiener is a contributing writer to The New Yorker. After college she tried for a career in publishing in New York. As this wasn’t progressing… Continue Reading…
Club News February 2021
Hugh Macdonald Upgrades to the AV system at Moorabbin Our Moorabbin headquarters hosted its first in-person monthly meeting since February 2020 on Wednesday 2 February, when the combined February monthly meeting and AGM was held. Given the success of the… Continue Reading…
East SIG Report December 2020
Neil Muller Host Paul Woolard opened East SIG’s December meeting again via Zoom. After welcoming members, the meeting then commenced with George Skarbek presenting Q&A. Q: During last month’s Q&A it was mentioned that MS Office 2019 was available from… Continue Reading…
From The Editor February 2021
Hugh Macdonald Hello and welcome to PC Update for another issue, and another year! The club is slowly returning to ‘normal’. Earlier this month we had our first in-person monthly meeting for nearly twelve months and some SIGs are now… Continue Reading…
From The President February 2021
David Stonier-Gibson 2020 will of course always be remembered as the year of Covid 19. We are fortunate that in Australia the effects of the pandemic have been very much less harmful than in many other countries. Nevertheless, it has… Continue Reading…
If Google does pull its search engine out of Australia, there are alternatives
Gianluca Demartini, The University of Queensland The Australian government’s push to make Google pay news organisations for linking to their content has seen the search giant threaten to pull out of Australia. Google Australia’s managing director Mel Silva said if… Continue Reading…
Interesting Internet Finds
Steve Costello, SEFCUG In the course of going through the more than 300 RSS feeds, I often run across things that I think might be of interest to other user group members. Why Video Calls Are So Exhausting (And What… Continue Reading…
Monthly Meeting February 2021
The February 2021 Monthly Meeting and Annual General Meeting was held online on Wednesday 3rd February 2021, with over 75 members in attendance. This was the program for the evening: Guest Assoc. Professor Nathan Lawrentschuk MB, BS, PhD, FRACS (Urology)… Continue Reading…
UEFI Configuration for Booting Live Media
Dick Maybach, Brookdale Computer User Group In modern PCs the boot process is controlled by a Unified Extended Firmware Interface (UEFI), that has replaced the old Basic Input-Output System (BIOS), see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface. Most users, who purchase a machine with Windows… Continue Reading…
Use keyboard commands to create screenshots in Win10
John Stampfel, President, Brookdale Computer Users Group I learn something new every day. To someone’s question “In Windows 7 (or 8 or 10), is there a simple way to press “print screen,” and then press just one more key (on… Continue Reading…
Yammer Highlights January 2021
Dennis Parsons Computer Help In these days of COVID online meetings are ubiquitous and if you wish to fully participate a functioning camera and microphone are a necessity. Unfortunately for Arthur he’s had a problem using the webcam he… Continue Reading…
Your Committee For 2021
Leading up to this month’s Annual General Meeting, the committee for 2021 was installed. There were quite a number of familiar faces returning, but also a couple of new faces joining the committee for the first time. In order for… Continue Reading…
