President’s Message
When we ask our members what we can do better, technology education is almost always at the top of the list. While we love being able to directly help you with First Level Support, we know you would also like to learn more about your technology devices with resources such as professionally created videos and self-help tutorials on subjects that interest you.
Toward this end, we have added a new Help Resources section to our website and initially stocked it with many great videos and tutorials about topics we think will interest you (with hundreds more to be added soon). Whether you want to change email services and maybe start using Gmail, or learn how to better use that new Windows 10 computer or iPad you just bought, our Help Resources have you covered!
You can check out the new Help Resources section HERE. Click on any of the topical areas of interest to find a wealth of information that’s been vetted as easy to understand, professionally created, and suits your level of interest. If you have ideas for new Help Resources topics, SEND US AN EMAIL.
TVCUC Updates
Technology Access Program
In all the years that TAP has been providing computer systems to deserving children, the impact their mission has on families in our area continues to amaze me. Even to be remotely involved in this program is an honor. For this year alone – through the end of July, 441 systems were donated. Since the TAP program inception, through the end of July – 8,786 systems have been provided to 12,872 youths. Kudos to Warren Sanders, Vince Alline and everyone directly involved with TAP.
Membership Committee
After 11 years of serving our club as the Membership Committee chairperson, Jim Autry has retired so he can – well, be actually retired. Thanks for everything, Jim! With something as important as our members, we couldn’t leave this position vacant very long and luckily, Linda Rasmussen agreed to lend us her expertise in chairing this committee. Linda, welcome to the club!
Education Committee
We have added a new section to our website – Help Resources (read more about it here), which has a myriad of how-to and self-help videos that will help solve routine technology problems. You’ll find great video tutorials on subjects like Gmail Tutorial for Beginners, found on this page and Windows 10 Beginners Guide, found here.
First Level Support
During July, the FLS team fielded over 70 support calls – a monthly record! Be sure to take advantage of the most important benefits of being a TVCUC member – free device support for you and each member of your household is available from our First Level Support Team of technology experts. Read more or submit a support request here
Communications Committee
David Leaman is not only the chairperson for our very active Communications Committee, but he’s also our highly-skilled webmaster and graphic arts design guru. David takes all our ideas, adds many of his own, and puts everything together on this website. He has been in the technology industry most of his adult life and even though now retired, he and his wife still own a busy web and graphics design business. We’re thankful that David is part of our club management team. If you have ideas for our website, let us know.
Tours
Another benefit of being a TVCUC member is participating in the tours put together by Bob Kutschera. Bob has been doing this for many years and our members love going to the many places where he arranges tours – Loudon County 911 Center, MasterCraft Boat Manufacturing, and The Proton Therapy Center in Knoxville, to name a few. Whenever we have a new tour, we’ll send out an email to all our members, but sign up early as these are small group tours and they fill up quickly. NOTE: Due to the recent COVID virus spike, some of our tours have been curtailed, but we expect this to be temporary.
Trending Technology Articles
Annoyed By Windows 10 News and Feature Taskbar Element?
Turn it Off. In one of the recent updates for Windows 10, Microsoft added a new feature called “News and Interests.” However, Windows users do not seem very fond of the widget and seem to be looking for ways to deactivate or remove it. The feature displays the latest headlines from various news sources, horoscopes, stock market reports, and weather. If you’re tired of this widget, here’s how to turn it off…
If You Own a Ford – You Should Read This:
A bug on Ford Motor Company’s website allowed for accessing sensitive systems and obtaining proprietary data, such as customer databases, employee records, internal tickets, etc. Read the entire article…
How to Take Screenshots on a Mac
Whether you just need to take an occasional screenshot on a Mac, are a power user with an advanced workflow, or you’re somewhere in-between, follow along for how to take screenshots on a Mac with the free built-in macOS tools or with third-party software. Read the entire article…
Larry McJunkin, President