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.

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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.

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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

President’s Message

June was a very busy month! With COVID restrictions lifted, we can now travel to visit family and friends again and begin returning to life as we used to know it. But travel often means hotels with unsecured Wi-Fi and the temptation to just join that free Wi-Fi with the same password that everyone in the hotel is using. Please don’t do this!

The truth is hotel Wi-Fi has never been safe by any means, and all the sensitive information that you transmit while using it, (your credit card details, passwords for your financial institutions, etc.) can easily be tracked by the most novice of hackers. The same can happen to the history of your online browser searches because your hotel’s Wi-Fi admin can see your internet browsing history. So, what can you do to stay safe when traveling and using public and unsecured Wi-Fi?
Given the fact that hotels do not care about your personal security, it is in your interest to protect yourself from hackers and third-party monitoring.

Here’s how:

Know the potential risks. Be advised that unprotected Wi-Fi hotspots may pose a great danger to you as a traveler. They are the best place for hackers to steal people’s data.

Avoid logging into highly vulnerable accounts. Avoid using online banking and other financial services on a hotel Wi-Fi connection. Do not log into accounts that could leak valuable data when hacked. If you must log onto these, your phone’s data service is much more secure than the hotel free Wi-Fi.

Make sure a Wi-Fi hotspot isn’t fake. Often, hackers set up fake Wi-Fi hotspots (also called evil twin networks) to trick their users into thinking they are legitimate. So, if your device detects two hotspots with similar names, do not connect to any of them and ask your hotel’s staff which Wi-Fi network is the real one.

Enable your firewall. Always keep your firewall enabled when traveling and using Wi-Fi networks other than your own. A good firewall creates a lot of obstacles on a path of a hacker trying to intrude into your system.

Encrypt your online data. A Virtual Private Networks (VPN) is a great security tool for you to encrypt your online data and stay safe on an unsecured guest Wi-Fi. A VPN hides your real IP address and ciphers all the data that you send and receive on the internet, keeping you under the radar of hackers and snoopers.

So, enjoy traveling again, but take these simple steps to keep digitally safe when using unsecured, free Wi-Fi.

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TVCUC Updates

Technology Access Program. Despite a slight decline in requests for systems, TAP continues to raise the bar in systems provided to local youths. For 2021 through the end of May – 318 systems provided. Since the TAP program inception through the end of May – 8,663 systems provided to 12,872 youths. Kudos to everyone directly involved with TAP.

Education Committee. The Education Committee, under the direction of Margie Krafft, has spent the last few months developing How-To articles that match topics requested by our members. In the following months, expect to see many more new articles, including a presentation on Password Managers.

Free Technology Support. Don’t forget about one 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.

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Trending Technology Articles

Windows 11 Will Require Newer CPUs. Windows 11 is projected to launch during the holiday season or early next year, and one of the most important tidbits is that Windows 11 won’t be “officially” supported on older PCs including Surface products, according to Microsoft.

What’s New in Windows 10. New features in recent Windows updates will help you customize your PC, increase security, and be more creative with Windows 10. With these updates, it will also be easier to get things done on your PC and across your other devices, including syncing to Android phones (7.0 or later).

How to encrypt your Mac, iPhone and iPad backups.
Privacy is becoming more of a priority of users, but It has always been a big deal for Apple, which has gone to considerable lengths to enable encryption and minimize personal data use in its products and services. The focus on such security means Apple’s customers can be reasonably sure their personal data is highly protected.

— Larry McJunkin, President