It s easy to understand with a little help from your friends

1 Computer Club Topics It’s easy to understand with a little help from your friends This rather lengthy paper on computers and phones is separated in...
Author: Lorraine Baker
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1 Computer Club Topics

It’s easy to understand with a little help from your friends This rather lengthy paper on computers and phones is separated into Sections which are all self contained. So it is easy to just find the bit that you may be interested in and ignore the rest. Section 1. (p2) The Combined Probus Club of Noosa Website. Section 2 Computers

(p3)

Section 3. (p16) Down loading Video (including You Tube) Section 4. (p 24) Telecoms Services Cost$ Section 5. (p 28) Mobile Phone Plans and Costs Section 6. (p 33) Wi Fi around the house and access in public areas

2 Section 1

The Combined ProbusClub of Noosa The Website and how to use it. http://noosacombinedprobus.yolasite.com/

(Bookmark this site)

The Noosa Combined Probus Website has had ongoing development over the past few years. There is lots of interesting stuff about our Probus Club and helpful information about all sorts of things if you feel like having a look! There are 6 pages available by clicking on the tabs at the top of the Home Page. P1. The home Page Stacks of local information, what’s on at the Noosa Cinema. Flight arrivals and departures, News paper links from around the world. Tide times. Beach Camera. How to find a favourite author? And plenty more /.. P2. Vision and Constitution. We all need a good one. P3. Diary Dates Your electronic Diary for the next month. P4. Contact Us Page Most new members are identifying and making first contact via this portal P5. Bulletin Download current and past bulletins up to 24 months history, other downloads are also available. Handyman list. Computer Club information. P6. Gallery Follow the links and see pictures of events and personalities from previous years up to the present time.

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Section 2 2. Computers Do we actually need to know all this stuff in the diagram below? Not unless we intend starting our own electronics and computing maintenance business. Let’s keep it simple, take a look at the youtube link below, it’s enough explanation for most people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVDYHUoZTsw In the link above there is reference made to print several times. The word Print can also mean several other tasks. Video, search, open a program, operate the program, in fact any task a computer can perform.

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2.1 Computer Basics • Always remember you can help yourself by ‘Googling’ a problem. Put the question into the Google panel. Be as specific as possible, what are you trying to do, what problems are occurring. If no help is forthcoming try rephrasing the question. • And use the help button on any program you have difficulty with. A detailed description of the Computer procedures we need to know to enable us to do what we want to do, create, move and rename jobs (or files) for Videos, documents, pictures and many other tasks follows: (See Page 9 paragraph 5 for a link to more detail) To start, we’ll concentrate on Firefox as our browsing program. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and many others perform much the same tasks and work in similar ways. We’ll just look at Firefox for simplicity in explanation. The same principles can be applied to the other browser programs.

2.2 List of Contents (the most important ones) The Browser (We’ll use Firefox as an example) 2.2.0 Firefox 2.2.1 Firefox Tool Bar (is it displayed) 2.2.2 Get to know how to use Firefox for browsing the web. 2.2.3 Quick Access your favourite sites in Firefox (Bookmarks) 2.2.4 How to Bookmark a site in Firefox 2.2.5 Arrange your bookmarks 2.2.6 To remove a bookmark 2.2.7 Housekeeping Bookmarks 2.3 Virus Protection 2.4 Malware Protection 2.5 Adblock Protection 2.5.1 Trojan Programs 2.6 Drive your Computer with Confidence 2.6.1 Explore your Computer 2.6.2 Move Files and Rename Files 2.7 Routine Maintenance 2.7.1 Disk Cleanup 2.7.2 Disk Defragmenter (Defrag) 2.7.3 Windows Updates 2.7.4 Backing Up Your Data Files 2.7.5 Internet Security

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2.2.0 Firefox Firefox is just one of many Browser programs that connect your computer to the World Wide Web (WWW) You can download from here. http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/ Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and many others perform much the same tasks Firefox is a free program that has many contributors adding to its features on a regular basis. It does not try and on-sell other associated products and remains very orientated to its users, after all they developed it in the first place. It is easy to use and well supported. (My Choice) It is also easy to add program tools that are needed for downloading stuff. 2.2.1 Firefox Tool Bar If the ‘Tool Bar’ menu is not displayed at the top of the screen, press the ALT key and it will then display. When it displays click the VIEW tab and a drop down pane will display Toolbars, (the very top option). Hover the mouse over Toolbars and another pane will open. Tick Menu bar, and make sure Navigation and Bookmarks are both ticked as well. (they usually are). The Tool bar will display from now on 2.2.2 Get to know how to use Firefox for browsing the Web As a suggestion, and you can change it at any time later, just find Google Australia and when that is on the screen make it your home page. To do this, look at the line about 4 down from the top left hand side. It’s the one with the left pointing arrow. This line contains the website address you are visiting, in this case its # https://www.google.com.au/ notice the Icon at the left of the address. Left click on the icon and holding it down, drag the icon right across the screen to the right hand side to the symbol that looks like a home and drop it on that symbol. Google is now your new home page. Test by closing Firefox, then open it again and you will have that new home page coming up automatically. The address links that show up in this line when you are visiting a site are called URL’s or Unified Resource Locator (you really wanted to know that) Try and practise making home pages with other sites, how about http://noosacombinedprobus.yolasite.com/ 2.2.3 Quick Access to your favourite sites in Firefox (Bookmarks) Most people have web sites that are used on a regular basis. (Favorites) We should Bookmark those sites so we can access them quickly and easily. 2.2.4 How to Bookmark a site in Firefox In Firefox when we have a site that we wish to visit regularly, we simply click on the Bookmark tab on the Toolbar. A drop down menu will show “Bookmark this page” Simply left click on it and the page is now bookmarked for future access. Use this method to bookmark your download sites. To revisit that page at any time, simply click on Bookmarks and scroll down the book marks list for the site, then left click on the wanted site.

6 2.2.5 Arrange your bookmarks To get you most used bookmarks to the top of the list simply left click on the site holding the button depressed and lift the site up your list to its desired place. 2.2.6 To remove a bookmark Open the bookmark list and right click on the site to be removed. A new menu pane will open up with an option to delate that sites listing. Left click on Delete and the site is deleted. 2.2.7 Housekeeping Bookmarks Some bookmarks we may have made previously are no longer used, so we should do some house keeping and remove them. The sites we use most, we should prioritise and move them up to the top of the book mark list.

2.3 Virus Protection Most of us will have some Internet Security and Virus Protection on our computers, We should make sure this is always up to date. I have used Comodo Antivirus for many years and have never had a problem. The reason (best of all) is that it is free and does not slow the performance of my Computer. http://antivirus.comodo.com/ This is included not to promote one system of protection over another, it is just to ensure that we are all protected and that protection is up to date, and it need not cost anything. 2.4 Malware Protection Malware is the name given to an insidious method by which some visited sites can drop programs into your computer that will direct you to sites you do not want when you are using your computer. Usually to try and sell you some service or PC program that you do not want or need. Malware can seriously disrupt your computer usage and enjoyment, even to the extend of blocking access to desired sites, placing unwanted garbage on your screen and altering preferences in your subsystems. (It can even disable adblocker). Malware is not a virus so it can often get around your protection programs and infect your PC. A suggested fix (free) is to download Malwarebytes and run it immediately to clean your system and then on a monthly basis. It can be downloaded from https://www.malwarebytes.org/free/ Malware bites will warn you that your test period is over at some stage and you should buy the program. Just ignore the prompt and continue to use it on a regular basis. The only thing different is that you have to manually update the Malware database and manually run the program occasionally.

7 2.5 Adblock Protection Is another layer of protection against unwanted interference when using a computer. It stops extraneous programs affecting your downloading experience. If you experience interference when trying to download, (seeing another video as well as the one you are trying to download) the inability to get to a clear on screen view and several other symptoms then there is a good chance that your Adblock program is not installed correctly or its Options need to be readjusted with all options unticked. 2.5.1 Trojan Programs (Similar to Malware - may be more difficult to remove) Just when we think our PC is all cleaned with Virus and Malware protection programs we discover we have another problem, A site we may visit does not allow us to proceed to the desired outcome. We seem to have a screen that has adverts that have nothing to do with the site we visit, some these adverts may be of a pornographic nature, some may be of a picture of another subject all together unrelated to the site. And then when we try to continue to our destination, we are hijacked to a different site entirely. Typical of this is diversion to gambling and Casino sites. A good description of a Trojan program appears below. A program that appears legitimate, but performs some illicit activity when it is run. It may be used to locate password information or make the system more vulnerable to future entry or simply destroy programs or data on the hard disk. A Trojan is similar to a virus, except that it does not replicate itself. It stays in the computer doing its damage or allowing somebody from a remote site to take control of the computer. Trojans often sneak in attached to a free game or other utility. Trojan comes from Greek mythology, in which the Greeks battled the Trojans (people of Troy). After years of being unable to break into the fortified city, the Greeks built a wooden horse, filled it with soldiers and pretended to sail away. After the Trojans brought the horse into the city, the Greek soldiers crept out at night, opened the gates of Troy to the returning soldiers, and Troy was destroyed. There is a lot of help on the Internet on how to clean out Trojan programs, however most need a good level of expertise. We have found that most members PC’s have Trojan programs without the owners knowledge. It is only when we try to do things a little out of the ordinary (like saving Video) that these problems rear their ugly heads. We need to remove such dangerous software PROFESSIONALLY. Our recommended Computer Servicer is Nissan Technology’s at 3/33 Gateway Drive Noosaville (Beside Bunnings) call 5455 6476 Jens Nissan. Tell him you are a member of Probus Noosa. If you can take your PC to him rather than a home visit, it will save money.

8 2.6 Drive your Computer with Confidence (Don’t let it drive you mad) There is a lot written on the subject, here is a site explaining simply most things you will ever need to know. http://digitalunite.com/guides/computer-basics 2.6.1 Explore your Computer We will restrict ourselves to exploring our computer so we know how to arrange our files and where to store them and how to move them off our computer Hard Disk and onto another medium. (USB device) Mouse operation, the general rules are: Left clicking opens or activates the file or folder, if it’s a file or a document it will open it, if it’s a music or a video, it will play it. Right clicking tells you about the files property, how large it is, renaming the file, deleting the file and a lot of other options. Try it by left clicking on the windows symbol in the bottom left of the screen. It opens up all the programs on your computer for you. Choose one and open it with a left click (Word XL etc) Good, now close the program. This time right click on the windows symbol and choose ‘Open Windows Explorer.’ by left clicking. A panel opens up with your computers innards displayed. On your left side under computer, right click on your C drive. A new panel opens, choose properties on the bottom and left click. You will get a visual presentation of your C (Hard Disk) drive. Have you still got plenty of spare capacity? You can do this with any drive attached to you computer, plug in a USB drive and check it out. Can you store more files or do you need a new USB stick?

9 2.6.2 Move Files and Rename Files To practice the next steps lets create a new document in word and call it ‘Xmas 1901’ and save it to My Documents Now using what we have already read (and practised), open Windows Explorer and go to My Documents and change that files name to, say Xmas 1902. (just for practice…we can change it back or delete it later) Now lets again open Windows Explorer and move that file from My Documents Folder to My Music Folder.. Left click on the file and holding the mouse depressed pull the file into My Music , now release the left mouse button. You have moved the file into a different Folder Now try moving it back using the same method and practice a few times moving it between folders. Notice that when you move the file it does actually move it just doesn’t copy to the new location. However if we now plug a USB stick into our computer, let’s repeat the exercise and move that file the same way over to the USB stick. This time the computer knows you are trying to move it ‘Offshore” and safeguards against its loss by retaining the original copy on your Hard Drive ‘C’ while creating a duplicate on your USB stick. This means what? If you download videos and copy them to a USB device, a copy will remain on your Hard Drive ‘C’. Do it often enough and your Hard drive will be full (ouch!) So housekeeping is important, go to your hard drive and remove those video’s and other files no longer needed regularly.

2.7 Routine Maintenance This tutorial will cover the following areas: 1. Disk Clean Up 2. Disk Defragmenter (Defrag) 3. Windows Updates 4. Backing Up Your Data Files 5. Internet Security In the following explanations we can use the windows start button and search box as explained in the Disk Cleanup explanation to find the desired program, or we can go to the program directly by selecting it from the start menu.

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2.7.1 Disk Cleanup Disk Cleanup, is a quick and easy tool you can use to remove unnecessary files from your hard drive, and will free up some disk space. It can remove temporary files, empty your Recycle bin, and can remove a variety of temporary files sitting on your Hard Drive that you no longer need.

1. Press the Windows start button (also known ad the Orb button), type in the search box (just above the windows button), the words "disk cleanup", as shown below, the top of the search results you will see "Disk Cleanup", click on this:

2. A small "Disk Cleanup" window will pop up, click on OK to proceed with a disk cleanup.

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3. A small window with a progress bar will pop up, you computer will be looking for temporary files, and calculating the amount disk space that will be cleaned up if you proceed. Be patient, if it has been a while since you last run this process, it may take a while to complete

4. Once the disk space calculation is completed, as in the step above, a "Disk Cleanup for (C:) will appear, showing you what areas of your hard drive can be cleaned up, and how much space will be saved. Ensure you click in the check boxes to tick or untick which items you wish to remove, then click on OK to commence the cleanup.

5. Click on ‘OK' if you are sure you want to delete your temporary files:

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6. The following box appears on your desktop for the duration of the cleanup, and will close once the cleanup has completed successfully.

This completes the section on "Disk Cleanup"

2.7.2 Disk Defragmenter (Defrag) Over time your hard drive becomes fragmented (bits and pieces of files everywhere on your disk), you can run the Disk Defragmenter to get your hard drive to work more efficiently (files are stored nice and neatly on your drive). If you run the Defrag process regularly this will help to maintain efficiency with your Hard Drive.

Technically speaking, the two main reasons for running a defrag are: one, it limits the amount of times the drive heads have to move to a difference section of the hard disk to read the data; and two, it places the majority of your data on the outer edge of the disk where your read and write speeds are faster. However, please be aware if you have a Solid State Drive (SSD), which are becoming mainstream in high end computers, there is no need to run a defrag at all, so please skip this process. This section covers the steps to complete the disk defrag process. 1. Open the The Disk Degragmenter program as previously and, click on Defragment Disk 2. Leave this window open whilst your computer runs through the Defragmentation process, and depending on the size and fragmentation on the disk, this can take hours. Be patient. During the various stages of the Degrag process, you will see the progress as shown under the Progress column. It may seem to halt on a particular % for some

13 time before progressing further, again, you just need to be patient. See from the screen below, the first step of the degrag is to analyze the disk: 3. After the first stage of analyzing the Hard Drive, the process will go through 10 passes, where the data is reorganized on the drive, you can see from the screen below it is up to Pass 6: and the data is 3% Consolidated. 4. Once all 10 passes have completed, your screen should look like this, you will note under the Progress column, it is blank, just click on close, and this completed the defrag process.

This completes the section on "Disk Defragmentation"

2.7.3 Windows Updates Microsoft regularly makes available updates to Windows, which include bug fixes, security fixes, updates to functionality to Windows and Office. Updates can be done manually, or you can setup Windows to update automatically, where Windows automatically sends the updates to your computer and installs them. It is advisable to

14 keep your Windows updated, either by doing this manually, or setting up Automatic Updates.

Important Note about Computer Restarts: Once an update has been completed, you should be notified on screen if a windows restart is required to complete the installation of the update. You should be given an opportunity to restart immediately or postpone to a later time. If you are away from the computer, Windows will automatically restart your computer, this is done to make sure that the latest security and other important updates are applied in a timely manner, to help keep your computer more secure.

2.7.4 Backing Up Your Data Files Backing up your data is a critical maintenance task in which you should do regularly, so as not to risk losing important data. It is important to note that even new hard drives can fail, and you should never rely on having your data stored in just one place.

Your data can be backed up in many ways, including: 1. A data backup can be done manually in Explorer, by selecting your data on your drive which you need to backup, and then pasting into an external drive, or DVD. 2. The use of a third party Backup software, that enables you to configure a backup schedule to enable you to run a regular backup very easily, without having to select which data to backup, and where to store it - all this information is stored in the backup software. Most backup software allows you to setup an automatic schedule, this makes your task even easier. 3. Using Windows own backup software. We have a complete tutorial on how to do a Windows Backup, and you can easily review this by selecting this link (or by copying and pasting this link into the address bar of your browser): http://www.aclasspc.com.au/tutorials/59-pc-tutorials/132-how-to-backup-to-externalhard-drive-in-windows-7 As a part of your backup procedure, you should also verify that your backup is complete. This can be done by selecting the source drive where you have stored your backup, and checking all the files you have backed up are there. You can do things like right clicking on one of your folders you are backing up, and noting the size and number of files, then do the same process on the folder you have copied your files to on your backup drive and check they match. Files".

2.7.5 Internet Security Everyone knows that nowadays you cannot get to far on the internet without security software to help stop virus's, hackers, malware and all sorts of nasty's. You need to make sure your security software is installed and running, each time you turn on the computer. The most important things you need to do regularly are:

15 1. Check that you have Internet Security software installed and is running 2. Check your registration is current and your updates are up to date 3. You need to run anti-virus and anti-spyware scans regularly, as often as once a week if you are a heavy user of the internet, less often if you use the internet infrequently Given that there are many, many different security software packages out there, it is impossible to cover step by step instructions for each brand of software. (Delete and rewrite ) So in this example we will be using Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2010, and note that other packages work in a similar way. In this example we are using Windows 7.

16 3. Downloading Video TV shows and Movies (for you tube see 3.7) Paragraph 4 starts the description of the “setup” needed on your PC in detail, we will go through that setup method step by step during the sessions.. These few dot points will assist. (What are we doing and why are we doing it.) • We need to source the video we want….The site location. • We need to remove any interference to the connection, (Ad Blocker) • We need to install a down load program (Flash Video Downloader) • We need to organise the saved Video in our files library After the video is downloaded into our selected library we will discuss options for viewing.

3.1 •WARNING !!! Please follow the Instructions. This guide is for connecting to desired video/TV programs and displaying them on your PC screen. By using the Video Downloader Tool described later, the picture you see on your PC screen is saved to the Hard Drive on the PC, SAFELY. The program can then be displayed on your TV as a secondary action. DO NOT DOWNLOAD VIDEO FILES DIRECTLY TO YOUR COMPUTER Hard Drive. NEVER EVER CHOOSE A DOWNLOAD FILE OPTION FROM A WEBSITE Always choose to just watch it on screen. By choosing a DOWNLOAD instead of a WATCH option you put your computer at risk of SERIOUS MALWARE and VIRUS importation.

Before we start this process we need to ensure that ‘Our PC’ is program and software clean. No Virus No Malware No Trojans If we encounter any problems, it will most usually be because our PC is compromised in one or several of these areas.

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3.2 Next: Select Your Program To down-load programs to your selected Drive (computer Hard Disk or Memory device (USB stick) To find a program you want to view…. The following sites are a few recommended video sites as they are *‘proxy sites’ that work around the geo block described below. You can also save youtube videos using the same method. http://stream-tv.me/ Good number of TV series, House of Cards, Downton Abbey, Breaking Bad latest US and UK releases, easily selected. (MP4 file types) http://watchseries.lt/

Use the search box to find a desired program

http://www.reddit.com/r/BestOfStreamingVideo/ An amazing number of new and classic movies. You do not have to register to access video. http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/movies/

http://www.tubeplus.me/

Space Intentionally left blank for more recommended sites

*A proxy server (computer) is simply a server that acts on your behalf but is somewhere else It is like a person that you send to an auction to bid on your behalf. The seller has no idea who you are or where you are, they are simply selling to the person acting for you.

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3.3 Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) Hi, With the site below it asks me to create an account. When I give them an email address and password, I am then asked to validate it with a credit card. They say it will not be used!!! Do you do this or is there a way around this???? Answer Don't give them anything, email etc nothing. There should be a video app in the page when you click on the movie you want. By clicking on the arrow the movie should start playing. If you are transferred to a site that asks for email etc you have taken a route that is not wanted, go back and look at the site again and choose another option. BEWARE: A lot of these unwanted routes are simply MALWARE with false instructions pictures and arrows overlaid on the web page you are looking at, These symbols are usually brighter and more appealing than the basic instructions on the page and are designed to suck you in to following them - DON’T . Get rid of malware with adblocker and malware bytes. There are usually a number of links underneath to the desired program if one doesn’t work, try another. Try each one in turn until you get what you want, I haven;t found a movie or TV series yet that I can't access this way. The moment you are referred to a site that wants details, skip it & go backwards by using the browsers back arrow, there is usually an option to continue as a free user. If not, abandon the site and look for another. Its a matter of trial and error, but do not give them any details.

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3.4 Start the Set-Up Process on Your PC to save the Video 3.4.1 Please use Firefox Browser (Rather than Internet Explorer and others) for this purpose, if you don’t have Firefox already download it from here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/firefox?as=u&utm_source=inproduct {Firefox for Apple only certain models} https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-firefoxmac?esab=a&s=irefox+for+apple+mac&r=0&as=s 3.4.2 Adblock Plus installation In Firefox /open Tools and select (click on) Add Ons (See Page7 Para1.1) Then in Top Right Search Pane, Type in ‘Adblock Plus 2.4, then search with and Install as directed. When installed check filter preferences and make sure all filters are unticked. This stops pop ups advertisements and interference from other sources including Google when accessing the web.

3.4.3 Flash Video Downloader installation In Firefox /open Tools and select (click on) Add Ons In Top Right Search Pane, Type in ‘Flash Video Downloader 5.3.2,

then search with

and Install as directed. Please read product instructions

3.4.4 Tools - Add Ons In Firefox /open Tools and select (click on) Add Ons and the page will look like this.

The above 2 programs Adblock Plus & Flash Video Downloader, are now integrated into your Firefox Browser. (Below) There is a new Down Arrow Symbol on Firefox tool bar On your top tool bar a new downwards pointing arrow has been installed. This has a red X at the bottom. When a video stream is playing on Firefox that can be recorded

20 this arrow will turn blue. Right Clicking on the arrow in this state will open up a dialog box with storage options. Where do you want to store this video? ( my videos)??

Hover the mouse pointer on the first line of this dialog box, (Don’t Click) and a second dialog box will open next to the first box. The first line will be ‘Download’. Right click on Download and your library will open up, it is then a matter of selecting where you want to save the downloading file. Preferably you should create a folder for Downloads within Documents, Pictures, My Music, or Videos’ before starting the downloading process.

End of Set Up Process

3.5 Update your computer’s Codec Library The codec library is part of your Windows media player program Video downloads come in many formats, wav, mp3, mp4, divx are just a few examples, these formats are coded by the download site and then decoded by the viewers computer, hence the derivation ‘codec’ which is a software program that codes and decodes. They are used to minimise the amount of data that needs to be transferred over the Internet to view a video. (Less Data = Less Co$t to you) It is a good idea to update your computer’s codec library when there are any problems playing back the video downloads on your PC. Use the official windows site http://www.windows7codecs.com/. When downloading and installing upgrades always make sure you read the download page. Sites often push so called free programs as well, which you do NOT want. So be sure to tick the boxes for do not want any Games, Mc Afee security etc. This applies to regular Adobe Acrobat updates as well. Always remove the added extra McAfee download.

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3.6 How to get the downloaded Video from your computer to your TV You can use a notebook to connect to your TV input using a HDMI lead. This way there is no additional hardware to purchase or, you can purchase a media player and connect it to your TV permanently using an HDMI lead. In addition you will need a memory device (Memory stick or preferably a USB hard drive to copy the down loaded material from your computer.

Media Player and HDMI Cable……. Don’t pay too much, Check EBay prices Where to from here? This sector is evolving rapidly. Smart TV In the previous examples for Video connection to TV we have been using a WD media player as an example. However the advent of ‘Smart TV’ is evolving and may render current methods obsolete very shortly. Here is a taste of what we can expect. The next generation of TV may allow direct connection to the Internet via your homes wifi. At this stage there are still compatibility issues with file types available. So external decoders are still needed with many free downloads.

3.6.1 LG Smart TV Explained - YouTube ► 2:34► 2:34 www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aKL7opt0d8 Aug 15, 2012 - Uploaded by LG UK SIMPLE CONTROL OVER YOUR ENTERTAINMENT Bring the best of the internet directly to your TV without a ... In addition Smart TV Dongles pictured below have an ability to upgrade your current TV to Smart Functionality.

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3.6.2 REPEAT •WARNING !!! Please follow the Instructions. This guide is for connecting to desired video/TV programs and displaying them on your PC screen. By using the Video Downloader Tool described later, the picture you see on your PC screen is saved to the Hard Drive on the PC, SAFELY. The program can then be displayed on your TV as a secondary action. DO NOT DOWNLOAD VIDEO FILES DIRECTLY TO YOUR COMPUTERS HARD DISK NEVER EVER CHOOSE A DOWNLOAD FILE OPTION FROM A WEBSITE Always choose to just watch it on screen. By choosing a DOWNLOAD instead of a WATCH option you put your computer at risk of SERIOUS MALWARE and VIRUS importation.

3.6.3 Video and Sound out of Synch on your saved video? May be caused by a very poor internet connection which stops and starts during the process or simply a bad source link. The best way to fix this is to delete the file and rerecord at a more stable time on your Internet connection or choose another Link.. Another synch problem may occur is if the file Format is FLV……there are several versions of this file type. Some versions just will not synch picture and voice on many media players. Also check for the desired video on another site for different file types, MP4 is usually the most compatible of all file types on many media players

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3.7 You Tube Download Go to this site https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1-click-youtubevideo-downl/ And add the video to your Firefox Browser

by clicking on the green button

This program will now be automatically installed as an ‘add on’ under your Firefox /Tools/ add ons and ready for use. Now select a You Tube video that you wish to save. And underneath the Video panel there is another box Click on the download button.

The video (You Tube File) will now save to your download folder, Use windows explorer to move the file from downloads to your preferred location.

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4. Telecom $ervices Costs http://www.youtube.com/embed/0ilMx7k7mso 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

Are you paying more than necessary? Internet (ADSL) and Home Line cost Find the best Internet (and home phone) deals available Add a prepaid $40.00 mobile call package Reasons for not wanting to change ISP’s

25 4.1 Are you paying more than necessary? How will we ever know unless we can identify the component parts and compare to what is available. The three components most of us use are: Fixed Phone Mobile Phone Internet Other Add ons (not covered at this time) *Tbox *PayTV *DVD Rental programs We need to identify best in market costs for the first three components. Then combine and Total these cost$ for a simple bench mark comparison with our current costs. 4.2 Internet (ADSL) and Home Line cost See paragraph 5 for more on mobile phone plans.. Some of us may realise we no longer need a fixed phone and Internet at home. More and more people are ditching conventional phone lines, it is currently one of the largest areas where Telstra is losing customers. If all we need is the ability to have Internet connection (for emails and a few other things) together with a good cost efficient option for phone calls then consider a Mobile phone call and data package only. (consider Amaysin or Aldi plans that will fill the need for less than $40 per month. (Think of all the telemarketing calls you will no longer receive) However most of us have a greater need for Internet Capacity and that can currently only be economically obtained with ADSL type services. So it means being stuck with a home phone whether we like it or not, as it is the backbone carriage for ADSL Internet. (At this time) 4.3 Find the best Internet (and home phone) deals available. How do we minimise costs? Three Possibilities/.which is best for you? 1. Bundle your phone service with an ISP and get cheaper line rental 2. Bundle with an ISP and get cheaper line rental and pay a small amount for a capped phone call package. 3. As in point 1. Bundle with an ISP and get cheapest line rental, however don’t use the home phone to make calls, just to answer calls. Use your mobile with a capped call plan for all outgoing calls. To see what Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are available in your area and their , go to this website and follow the directions. http://whirlpool.net.au/

26 As an example only, let’s look at Exetel as one of the larger and cheaper ISP’s. And we’ll bundle our home phone rental in with the Internet to minimise our monthly cost.. (Noosa Exchange Area only)

100 GB • • • • • $

Anytime downloads Free uploads 30 Free email addresses Free public static IP address $0.20/GB

19 .99 per mth 12 MONTH CONTRACT

Choose to add a phone line and call package option? Yes please! Bundle my phone line rental with (Exetel) for $20.00 per month. Call rates No thanks, I want to keep my phone line rental with my current provider. Typical Cost A Package of $39.99 per month includes bundled 100GB Internet and phone line rental. However, If you live in the Peregian area the Internet price rises by $20.00 per month. The total for the same plan becomes $59.99 per month. Why? Because in Noosa Heads there is an Optus cabinet POP (Point of Presence), as well as a Telstra cabinet POP in the local telephone exchange. In Peregian there is only a Telstra cabinet. No Competition. Regardless of which ISP provider you choose in the Peregian area, you can only be connected to their services by Telstra who backhaul it to Sydney (or wherever Exetels equipment is located. That is why prices vary according to our location. 4.4 Add a prepaid $40.00 mobile call package (More about Mobiles in chapter 5) Let us now jump ahead and add a prepaid $40.00 mobile call package to the plan above for an unlimited pre paid call package on a mobile phone. This give a total Home phone, Internet and mobile package for $79.99 per Month in the Noosa area and $99.99 per Month package in other areas where there is no competition with Telstra How does that compare with our present BILL?

27

4.5 Reasons for not wanting to change ISP’s Don’t want to change your Email Address. Is this a reason for some reluctance to get a better deal elsewhere? It has been for a lot of us, change is always something extra to put on the ‘to do’ list, inconvenient for all concerned. How about we bite the bullet, do it once and get a permanent email address. Then we can play the ISPs off for pricing at any time without further inconveniencing ourselves our friends or our business contacts . It is best to have an address that will remain the same regardless of circumstances. Here are two. • Gmail • Hotmail The most popular is Gmail which can be accessed though Google. Open Google and click on Gmail (top right of page). Next, Create an Account. Fill in the account details. What name to choose? Perhaps it is just as easy to use the address you are already using up to the @ bit. Once it is all completed, you now have another email address. The beauty of this is that when you are not near your own computer, you can access your emails from any device that connects to the World Wide Web. For those of you wishing to continue using another email program like Microsoft Outlook, go to Tools, Options, Mail Setup and then include the new Gmail account. You can then keep your original email address as well as your new Gmail address while you migrate your contacts (friends) and business contacts) across to your Gmail address over time. In the Gmail account itself you must read the settings instructions for forwarding Gmail messages to any other mail server client program. (like Outlook) You can elect to automatically forward your Gmail messages to another email address (Outlook) and keep a copy on the Gmail page or simply forward the message and delete the Gmail copy automatically. To Print from Gmail first open the email and then click on the Printer symbol top right area of the page.

28 5. Mobile Phone Plans and Costs 5.1 There are plenty of confusing plans available 5.2 Contract or Prepaid 5.3 Compare these prepaid deals with Telstra, Optus and Vodafone contract Bundles. 5.4 Conclusion:

29 5.1 There are plenty of confusing plans available. There are just 3 Primary Telecoms in Australia that have their own Mobile cell infrastructure. Telstra the most geographically wide spread network. Optus acceptable but not quite as widespread. Vodafone usually OK in metro areas, not great in the bush. Other Telecoms retailers just use these Carriers infrastructure. They buy Airtime (minutes) and Data at Wholesale rates and then retail it to the public under another name. So it is important to know who is actually providing the Service (especially if you are going bush) The retail plans (not including phone) are changing all the time. Aldi formerly sold an ‘all you can use’ $35 dollar a month plan using Telstra’s network. They have subsequently reduced the call minutes and data. Amaysin still sell an all you can use plan at $39.95 per month (Why would you make a call from a home phone if you have a plan like this?) 5.2 Contract or Prepaid Unless you are buying a new mobile phone in the deal, it is usually not worth considering a contract. (See Note 1 in 5.2) And, even if you are buying a new phone, you will still usually get a better deal buying an unlocked phone and amortizing it over the usual 2 year period whilst buying a Prepaid Service like the ones below. (Your decision - but make it carefully) For the purpose of this exercise we looked at Virgin, Optus, Amaysin and Aldi mobile. Virgin and Optus have similar plans to Amaysin but are qt least $5.00 per month more expensive. See Cost Charts on Next Page.

30 AMAYSIN (uses Optus Network) Cost per 30 days $0 Plan type

Pay as you go

Data

5c /MB Data Packs available

$19.90 $39.90 $19.90 credit to use how Unlimited you like 4GB (excess 500MB (excess 5c/MB) 5c/MB) Data Packs available Data Packs available

Standard calls 12c /min 9c /min (18c/2 mins) Unlimited (mobile & landline) Standard SMS 12c /SMS 9c /SMS Unlimited Calls to 13 & 18 numbers 29c /min 29c /min Unlimited Voicemail 12c /min Unlimited Unlimited amaysim-to-amaysim 12c /min or Unlimited Unlimited calls & SMS /SMS Flagfall 0c 0c 0c Credit duration 90 days 30 days 30 days Auto-renewal No every 30 days every 30 days The $19.90 plan above gives an average of 7 minutes talk time per day, while the 500MB data is too small to be of any real value .This plan may OK for a user who only wants minimum talk and text. However to use just an extra 500MB of data, would cost another $25 taking it way above the cost of the $39.90 plan which allows 7 times more data use and unlimited talk time for an extra $20.00...The $39.90 plan is the most generous in the market at present. (at July 2014) ALDI Mobile (Uses Telstra Network) S - $10 M - $20 Calls/SMS Calls/SMS up to 100 up to 300 minutes of calls or SMS* Data Data add-on

L - $30

XL - $35

Calls Calls up to 650 minutes* up to 1250 minutes* SMS SMS

minutes of calls or 2200 SMS 2200 SMS SMS* Data Data Data 300 MB 1 GB 1 GB Data add-on Data add-on Data add-on 300MB extra for just 1GB extra for just 1GB extra for just 100MB for just $5** $7** $10** $10** Buy data straight You can buy a data add-on when you've used 70% of your away allowance The $30 plan allows 650 minutes per 30 days, the equivalent of an average of 23 minutes talk time per day. The data allowance of 1GB is also quite small with both the $30 and $35 plans. .Talk time on the $35 plan averages 41 minutes per day which sufficient for most of us.

31 5.3 Compare these prepaid deals with Telstra, Optus and Vodafone Contract Bundles. Some of these offers sound terrific. Just sign a mobile bundled contract for 2 years at $50 a month and you’ll get $600 worth of phone calls a month. Wow! $600 of calls a month how good is that? ( and a few dollars extra will include a new phone/.more about that later) What no steak knives? Let’s look at how good the call plan actually is: Telstra usually charge 90c a minute with these “deals” however, there is a $00.25 connection fee for every call made, so if we make one call a minute, the actual cost is really $1.15 . Now calls usually last several minutes so we have to arrive at an average cost including the connection fee. The ”average” call time is around 3 minutes, so an average cost is 3 x 90 = 2.70 plus 25c connection or $2.95. To get an average cost per minute we have to divide 2.95 by 3, which is just over 98c per minute. Now divide Telstra’s $600 of bundled mobile credit by 0.98 for the minutes per month allowance, which equals 612 minutes. Divide 612 by 30 to get a daily minute allowance of 22.4 minutes per day/. Now compare that to an Aldi $35 pre paid (no contract) at 1250 minutes. is 46.6 minutes per day for $15 less. And you can opt out at any time without a penalty. Then there is the market busting Amaysin, $40 a month pre paid, no limit, no contract, opt out any time and 4.5 GB data included. The only downside could be a sore throat.. * Note 1. Include a new mobile phone with a Telstra bundle? The bundle cost increases to $68 per month (depending on phone type) with the talk time of around 23 minutes a day for a contract period of 2 years. And the phone will probably be locked to the Telstra Network. So when your contract is over you will have no choice of Service provider. As an example, including a phone adds around an extra $28 per month for 24 months for a Samsung Galaxy S5. Total contract price $1,632 over 2 years. . Or $672 above a Amaysin call plan, or $768 more than an Aldi Plan over 2 years, both of which have more talk time. The latest model Samsung Galaxy S5 can be purchased outright from around $639 at most stores. You can get last years new S4 for less than $400.And be reasonably sure that during the first 12 months ownership, your new S5 will be superseded by a new you-beaut model and its value will fall by a few hundred dollars.. How

32 many of us could tell the difference in function or looks between an S4 and an S5? It becomes apparent that there is no benefit to be gained by a lock in bundled contract with Telstra or any company that includes a phone. In fact it is a costly exercise tat has no upside. 5.4 Conclusion: Selection of a mobile phone plan should be based on our personal use and desire to reduce cost. We can minimise our total phone and internet costs if we, 1. Select a mobile call plan with high talk time allowance and use it for all outgoing calls at home or on the move. 2. Select a low cost home phone plan bundled with an Internet Service. and opt not to include a free call quota package in that bundle. 3. Make a habit of not using the home phone for outgoing calls (*wherever possible) and, Remember, mobile calls do not have a long distance cost component. Home phones do, except if you also have an add-on package with your home phone that reduces or eliminates them.. How much does that call add-on package cost? It can often make economic sense by transferring that cost to a mobile plan with more talk time and freedom of use anywhere and everywhere.. *There are always exceptions with mobile phone use, some people live in area’s where mobile reception is very poor.

33 6. Wi Fi around the house and access in public areas. Do we actually need data on our mobile plan? If we have a mobile phone, we should connect to WIFI around our house whenever possible, naturally we have to have an ADSL modem with wifi capability. If our modem does not have this capability we should seriously consider changing to one that does. In addition to our home there are more and more publicly accessible wifi hotspots springing up everywhere that allow you to use their WIFI for free. McDonalds, Airports and Hotels are just a few locations. If you are travelling OS then you can use these free WIFI locations with wifi hotspots to keep in touch by email with home just using the WIFI connection on your smart phone, all at zero cost to you. (A lot easier than trying to organise mobile phone services in foreign countries with all their compatibility/cost issues) Further Discussion on WIFI access and security issues.

5. Tablets and Mobile Phones What do you actually need? Look at it this way, A tablet is simply a very large screen smart phone (without the phone). That’s why a top end smart phone costs more than a tablet. The apps can be the same. Smart phone users can do advanced tasks and editing of Microsoft Office files while they're on the go with the help of these mobile applications.

34 The larger the screen on a smart phone - the easier it is to navigate and use the applications. If you just want to use it as a phone with small amounts of messaging, then a smaller (and cheaper) phone should be considered. A tablet because of the larger screen gives a much better view of applications and ease of use. Both smart phones and Tablets can be directly connected to the Internet (provided you pay for it) or can freely access wifi where available. They can also store data on “the cloud” but there is usually a cost associated . Neither device can completely replace a computer with a Hard Disk with its own free huge data capacity and ability to add universal programs as needed and communicate it to other devices. .. What about an Ereader?

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