Year End President’s Message

Approaching the end of 2024 is bittersweet for me, as it signifies the end of a one-year term that somehow turned into four years. During this time, we went from a full-on pandemic back to a somewhat normal state, but we didn’t arrive here without learning a lot of lessons…many of them about ourselves, and our character as an organization.

Our First Level Support (FLS) team went from making house calls to using remote-control software during the pandemic, and we increased from 40 to over 100 calls per month. We are so blessed to have this group of technical experts untangling our members’ technology problems. Huge props to each member of this team!

Our Technology Access Program (TAP) was a savior in terms of providing computer systems for underprivileged children and families, local schools, and many nonprofit organizations. They not only reached an unbelievable milestone of repurposing over 11,000 computers, but these systems also provided technology access to over 16,000 children. These numbers continue to boggle my mind.

Our membership is over 1200 people strong, and I want to thank each of you. Thank you for your continued support – thank you for helping us provide computers to so many underprivileged children and families – thank you for allowing us to fix your technology problems – and most importantly, thank you for being the best part of the Tellico Village Computer Users Club. We couldn’t fulfill our mission without you.

On January 1st, Buddy Holt will assume the role of presiding over this amazing organization, and I couldn’t be happier that Buddy will be our next president. He has been a board officer (Secretary) for the past two years and has been a major contributor to our decision-making process.

I will remain on the board as Past President, and I’ll continue to help our Mac/Apple members as part of our FLS team. It has been an honor and pleasure working with our board, core group, and many of you for the past four years. I look forward to supporting Buddy and our club for many years to come.

Happy Holidays!

Larry McJunkin, President
Tellico Village Computer Users Club

Apple Intelligence Overview

If you use an iPhone, iPad or Mac computer, this newsletter contains some of the most important information you’ll ever read regarding these devices. In the most recent releases of iOS & iPadOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1, Apple has started rolling out Apple Intelligence, which is AI for Apple devices. In my 25 years of using Apple devices, the recent Apple Intelligence features released for iOS & iPadOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1 are the biggest game changers I’ve ever seen. Period! Though Apple has only begun introducing Apple Intelligence (with much more planned during 2025 & 2026), if this is only the start, I can’t wait to see what else is coming.

Apple’s new “Apple Intelligence” suite of features for iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 introduces enhancements in writing, photo management, and personal assistant capabilities, powered by on-device AI for privacy-focused processing.

• Enhanced Writing Tools: Integrated across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, Apple Intelligence offers advanced writing support tools, including text rewriting for different tones, proofreading with grammatical suggestions, and summarization. These tools are designed to be accessible in various apps, like Mail and Messages, enabling users to adjust their communication based on the context, with privacy preserved through on-device processing.
• Smarter Siri: Apple has upgraded Siri to be more conversational, with improved natural language understanding. Siri now retains context across multiple requests, can be seamlessly used in both voice and text formats, and has an updated look with a soft glow around the screen edge. Siri also gains more integration across apps, helping users with specific tasks like scheduling emails or finding details in Messages.
• Intelligent Photos and Memories: The Photos app now supports natural language search, allowing users to locate specific moments by describing the scene. The Clean Up tool lets users remove unwanted objects from photos without affecting the main subject, and a new Memories feature can create movies from images based on simple text descriptions, using AI to arrange content into a story-line.

Apple Intelligence is initially available in U.S. English on recent Apple devices (iPhone 15 Pro and newer, iPad with A17 Pro or M1, and Macs with M1 or later). These updates reflect Apple’s focus on privacy by keeping AI processing on-device or within a secure private cloud environment.

Below are three Apple Support articles to help you learn more about Apple Intelligence and show you how to install Apple Intelligence on your Apple devices. I’ve been using Apple Intelligence for the few days during which it has been available, and I am amazed at how much productivity has been added to my day.

• Getting Started with Apple Intelligence on iPhone
  (https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/get-started-with-apple-intelligence-iphc28624b81/ios)
• Getting Started with Apple Intelligence on iPad
  (https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/get-started-with-apple-intelligence-ipade5045bb1/ipados)
• Use Apple Intelligence in Mail on Mac
  (https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-apple-intelligence-in-mail-mchlb2dbea8f/15.0/mac/15.0)

Larry McJunkin, President
Tellico Village Computer Users Club

Windows Includes Ransomware Protection

(Here’s how to turn it on)

Ransomware is nasty stuff. This type of malware encrypts files on your PC so you can’t access them unless you pay the attacker to unlock the data. Basically, your files are held hostage until you cough up the demanded ransom, or you’re able to survive the ransomware attack using other means.

The #1 defense against ransomware is avoiding sites and downloads riddled with it, but some of the tricks bad actors use to lure you to these places are all too realistic, making it easy to take the bait.

Our FLS team highly recommends using Microsoft Defender as your first line of malware defense (even over a 3rd party antivirus app). Microsoft Defender is built into Windows, made by Microsoft, and it can take care of all your malware protection needs. (Microsoft changed the name from Windows Defender several years ago, but it’s the same program.)

The catch? Ransom protection is not turned on by default in Microsoft Defender. You have to enable it yourself.

How to turn on ransomware protection in Windows

Step One: Open the Windows Security app on your PC. You can access it in one of several ways:

• Press Alt + Spacebar on your keyboard, type in windows security, then press Enter 
• Open your Start Menu and type in windows security, then press Enter 
• Open your Settings app, then choose Windows Security in the left pane 

Step Two: Find your ransomware settings. In the Windows Security app, click on Virus & Threat Protection. Then click Manage ransomware protection at the bottom of the screen.

Next, turn on Controlled folder access. This setting restricts app access to your PC’s default OneDrive, Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, and Favorites folders. (You can also manually add other folders to the list).

Not all apps will be barred from these areas in Windows – Microsoft Office programs are automatically allowed to open and alter files. But if an app is not on Microsoft’s internal list of trusted apps, it can’t see anything in those folders until explicit permission is granted in Windows Security.

Step Three: Make sure you’re logged into OneDrive

Limiting access to files and folders won’t completely protect them. An additional method of defense is to have good backups, which Windows automatically does if you’re logged into OneDrive. (You can either connect a Microsoft account to your whole Windows PC, or just the OneDrive app specifically.)

To confirm that this protection is on, you can look at Ransomware protection > Ransomware data recovery. 

For the purpose of warding off ransomware’s worst effects, the safest backup of your files is the one you keep offline. You should make a backup in addition to anything stored in the cloud. If you only have one copy of your data, you’re not properly backed up.

Should you turn on ransomware protection in Windows?

Security and convenience live on opposite ends of a spectrum, and that’s the case here, too. Controlling folder access in Windows can keep attackers out of your important folders, but it can also be slightly inconvenient. My suggestion is to live with that little bit of inconvenience and stay protected. The choice is yours.

Larry McJunkin, President
Tellico Village Computer Users Club

This month’s newsletter contains three unrelated, but informational and timely topics I hope you’ll find helpful. (Thanks to Karen Brown for these suggestions.)

Tellico Village Network Custom App

The Tellico Village Network (TVN) has a custom app that is available for download on Apple TV, Roku, and Fire TV, making it as easy to watch TVN as watching Netflix. With this app installed on any of these three media players, you can get all the programs that are recorded or created on TVN, including the great documentary on the history of Tellico Lake. If you don’t have one of these devices, or aren’t into streaming, TVN content is also available on the TVN YouTube channel (link below), which is the platform used for POA and other live-stream events. And if you still have Spectrum cable, channel 193 is TVN.

Click here to go to the TVN YouTube Channel

Switching from Windows to Mac

Worldwide, many individuals, businesses, and schools are switching from Windows to Mac – and for good reasons, as Microsoft seems to be forcing features like CoPilot down users’ throats and making changes to the Windows operating system that benefit no one…except Microsoft, not to mention all the ads they’ve recently added to the Windows user interface.

An interesting fact about the number of Mac users in the TVCUC – when our club first started over 20 years ago, very few members used Mac computers, and of course, Apple hadn’t even invented the iPhone yet. Fast forward to today, and a whopping 49% of TVCUC members use a Mac! This percentage is in line with the rest of the entire world, where over 35% use a Mac.

While switching from Windows to Mac is relatively easy, to save you some time in learning how use a Mac after making the switch, below is a link to a very informative and helpful video. When switching from Windows to Mac, one of the first things folks typically do is look for specific tips to use and alter your Mac to make it more like Windows, but that’s not the way to switch. If you really want to switch to a Mac, learn to do things the Mac way. This video helps you after you’ve made the switch, and even if you’re on the fence about switching, this is great information that can help you make your decision.

Click here to watch the “How to Switch” video

Digital Estate Planning Guide

While most of us have wills and powers of attorney to help guide our executors and estate planners in the event of our death, these documents often do not include the information and tools necessary to execute our digital accounts and assets. Without procedures in place to help an executor with our online accounts, passwords, etc., we’re complicating things for our family and loved ones.

The article I’ve referenced below is provided by one of the co-founders of 1Password, a popular Password Manager, but the guidance it provides is applicable to each of us and you can use a password manager of your choice. I found this document not only good guidance, but an essential tool for estate planning and executing a will.

Click here to watch, or download, the Digital Estate Planning Guide

If you have any topics you’d like to see in future newsletters, let us know by sending an email.

Larry McJunkin, President
Tellico Village Computer Users Club