Idaho Technology Users Group Newsletter Volume 33 No. 9 September 2017

In This Issue

2. September - October Calendar ITUG Publication Statement Officers & Board Members 3. Help Needed - ITUG Board Posting 3. Home Networking - It all starts with the Router. - Clint Tinsley 6. Rational Backup Strategy - Dick Mayback 8. August 10th 2017 ITUG Meeting Minutes - Martin Torres 9. August 24th 2017 ITUG Board Minutes - Martin Torres Treasurers Report - Dick Graybeal 10. Question & Answer - Clint Tinsley ITUG Editorial Policies 11. Meeting Location Membership Report Help Line 12. About Us Membership Renewal Form

Meeting Location! We are meeting at the Lee Pesky Learning Center, 3324 Elder Street, just west of Vista, near the Interstate connector in Boise. The meeting starts at 6:30 and ending at about 9:00 PM. Please be sure to park in the “back” parking lot and not in the one in front of the building.

Our Next Meeting

The Idaho Technology Users Group’s next meeting will be Thursday September 7th, 6:30 PM, at the Lee Pesky Learning Center located at 3324 Elder Street, Boise. We will open the meeting with the announcements and call for nominations for our October Election (See the Help Needed p. 3 in this newsletter). We will be electing our 2017– 2018 officers and Board. This will be followed by the usual Q&A session. If you have a question or problem with using your computer, this is the time to ask. Currently planned, at 7 PM, we will go live to just north of Detroit. Michigan where Mike Bader will do a remote presentation on the Pi-Hole. Pi-Hole is home network Ad Blocker which runs an inexpensive Raspberry Pi which can effectively speed up your network performance by denying access to all those noxious website ads that proliferate in your browser. Mike is actually doing this presentation 3 times during the month of September and we are the 3rd. I am very happy to be having Mike make this presentation to us and I am sure you will find it very informative. Mike Bader is the President of the South Eastern Michigan Computer Organization and Vice President of the Sterling Heights Computer Club as well as an active radio Amateur. For our second presentation, Gregg Bruch will tell us about his methods of going without cable and/or satellite for TV reception in “cutting the cable” and cutting his costs! Following the meeting, several members will be at the meeting after the meeting at Denny’s across the Vista Interstate connector, just east of Vista, for conversation and refreshment.

Our next ITUG Board Meeting will be on September 28th at 6:30 PM and is open to all ITUG members. The Board Meeting is held at El Tenampa, 906 Main St. in Meridian. We generally start gathering together about 5:30 for great food and conversation followed by the Board Meeting at 6:30.

Pi-Hole · Cutting the Cable

See You At the Meeting!

August 2017 Idaho Technology Users Group Page 2

Idaho Technology Users Group Officers

President Clint Tinsley 514-9262 president@idahopcug.org Vice President & Program Chair vicepresident@idahopcug.org

Secretary Martin Torres 888-1258 secretary@idahopcug.org

Treasurer Dick Graybeal 343-4642 treasurer@idahopcug.org

Board Members

LeRoy Morrill 338-9153 Mike Brown 559-1813 Ruth Parsons 495-1166 John Alder 918-9358 C. Gregg Bruch 939-5195

Newsletter Editor Clint Tinsley 514-9262 c_tinsley@msn.com

All phone numbers are area code (208).

September - October Events Calendar

1st Thursday, September 7th - Idaho Technology Users Group General Meeting. - .Lee Pesky Learning Center, 3324 Elder Street 6:30 PM.

Tuesday, September 19th - Boise Linux Users Group. - 6:30 PM - Ustick Branch, Boise Library, 7557 W. Ustick Rd., Bitterbrush Meeting Room.

Thursday, September 28th - Idaho Technology Users Group Board Meeting. - 6:30 PM - El Tenampa, 906 Main St. Meridian.

2nd Thursday, October 12th - Idaho Technology Users Group General Meeting. - .Lee Pesky Learning Center, 3324 Elder Street 6:30 PM.

Tuesday, October 17th - Boise Linux Users Group. - 6:30 PM - Ustick Branch, Boise Library, 7557 W. Ustick Rd., Bitterbrush Meeting Room.

Thursday, October 26th - Idaho Technology Users Group Board Meeting. - 6:30 PM - El Tenampa, 906 Main St. Meridian.

Publication Deadline

The submission deadline on articles for the October 2017

issue is September 30th

Thank You!

15 Years now! They have more than 2400 courses available, all free for accessa anytime. Course range from Computer Programming to Quantum Mechanics to Anthropology

https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

BITS AND PIECES is published by the Idaho Technology Users Group of Boise, ID (ITUG). ITUG is not associated in any way with any product vendor, reseller, dealer, consultant, or business. The information appearing herein is distributed solely for use of ITUG members and other interested parties. Reprint permission is granted to other non-profit APCUG affiliated User Groups for use in their newsletters, provided credit is given to the author (where identified) and ITUG BITS AND PIECES Boise, Idaho, is named as the source. All editorial material contained herein is provided by the authors. ITUG assumes no responsibility for its source, content, or accuracy. Any use of this information is at the discretion and risk of the user. All opinions expressed are those of the authors without endorsement of ITUG or its membership. Original text and graphics are available from the editor via email requests. BITS AND PIECES is prepared for publication using Microsoft Publisher 2016, and exported for Electronic Distribution in PDF format.

Idaho Technology Users Group Page 3 August 2017

We are in dire need of help in two areas, program ideas

and presenters along with a shortage of officers to help

lead the group into 2018!

We have taken surveys and made other requests of our

membership as what you would like to learn about at

our meetings. We even have an area on the renewal

form where you can submit your ideas for meeting

topics. But, we have come up empty. Even more, we

would like members of our group to present on topics

that are of interest to them or things they have done

using technology. Remember this is the Idaho

Technology Group and it is your Group! Please bring

your ideas to the meeting and let us know what you

would like to see or present on.

At the September 7th meeting, we will nominating

officers and board members to lead us in 2018. In

some ways, we are running on borrowed time. We

have been missing a Program Chair for planning our

meetings for a year now. We also cut the number of

Board Members by one. And this year, Clint Tinsley

(that’s me!), would like to step down from the

Presidency as my activities as President are very

wearing on me given my physical limitations. It is a

struggle every month for me to bring in all the

hardware for the meeting, preside over the meeting and

do the presentations. We need fresh leadership to carry

us forward. Please consider volunteering to serve as

President or Vice President/Program Chair. As a foot

note to all this, I will continue to edit and publish the

newsletter as I consider this the lifeblood of our group.

As a friend of mine would often quip “Think About it!”

Home Networking –

it all starts with the Router

The router is the most im-

portant device in the home

network, and has become

as indispensable in the

modern home as the mi-

crowave oven.

- Clint Tinsley, IPCUG President

- Presentation Delivered 08/10/2017

In a home network, the router is directly connected to

the broadband modem by a single network cable that

runs between the “LAN” port on the router to the

“WAN” input port on the router. The

modem and the router should work

together to provide a “firewall” that

keeps instruders out of your network!

All Internet connected devices (computers, printers,

tables, smartphones etc.) access the modem through the

router. If you have a wireless radio on the modem, you

should turn it off or disable it as this provides a second

point that your network can be hacked.

Most home networking routers also provide a wireless

access point, which sends and receives data over a ra-

dio signal that cannot be hidden.

Home Networking Terminology

LAN – Local Area Network; a home network is a LAN

WAN – Wide Area Network (e.g., the Internet)

WLAN or Wi-Fi – Wireless LAN

Ethernet – the dominant technology standard for trans-

mitting data over LAN cables

802.11 – these numbers (followed by one or two let-

ters) appear frequently on wireless network devices,

and represent standards maintained by the Institute of

Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Since

these standards were designed to work with Ethernet,

802.11 is sometimes called “wireless Ethernet.”

(Continued next page…)

August 2017 Idaho Technology Users Group Page 4

Modem – Device that attaches to an Internet Service

Providers connection (telephone line, cable, satellite)

and provides the Internet connection to the “public”

Internet.

Router–the most important device in a home network;

among its many other functions, the router allows mul-

tiple devices on your home network to connect to the

Internet

Access Point –a device that transmits and receives data

for a wireless LAN; most home networking routers in-

clude an access point

Hub – a device that connects devices to a LAN

Switch – similar to a hub, but has more intelligence and

transmits data much faster

Bridge–a device that connects and translates between

two dissimilar LANs (e.g., Ethernet and Powerline)

Wardriver – a person who searches for unprotected

wireless LANs

Piggybacker – a person who access an unprotected

wireless LAN without permission

SSID – Wireless Network Name, aka, Service Set Iden-

tifier.

IP – Internet Protocol, generally refers to the connec-

tion methodology.

DNS – Domain Name Server which provides the

lookup of internet names such as google.com and pro-

vides the IP address of that name.

IPCONFIG – Windows command for determining the

IP addresses of your router, computer, and DNS pro-

vider. Run ipconfig /renew to update the network set-

tings after a router reset.

NAT Firewall – Network Address Translation provided

by the router that only allows outgoing connections,

“firewalling” any incoming connection by default.

BASIC Router Setup

Usually “automatic” by default, most routers come with

Home Networking… (from pg. 3) a CD to make the process very easy.

Login the to router using the “default” password provided by the router manufacturer. Sometimes a user name such as admin is required followed by a password but sometimes the username is left blank and just a password is required. Use the Windows ipconfig com-mand to determine the router address to use in the browser such as http://192.168.1.1. Change your home Network “address”. The default 192.168.1.1 or a variant is very commonly used and known to hackers. 192.168.1.1 is what is called a “private” address and cannot be accessed directly from the Internet as it is secured by the NAT Firewall that is built into the router but it can be accessed via wireless, making the hackers life easy if you use the default net-work address. Also, in my downstream router setup, it is essential that it have a different network address than the “modems” network address, otherwise worlds will collide! Other private IP Networks are as follows (Network addresses always should end in a zero and then you can use the first ip address in the range for the router address): 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255 My router ip address is 172.16.0.1 an example. Doing this automatically sets the network to 172.16.0.0 and will “move” the DHCP Server from 192.168.1.0 network to 172.16.0.0 on the reboot of the router (or apply). The router reset is required, not an option. On completion of the reset, you will need to run ipconfig /renew on your windows desktop to update the network settings in window (wait about 5 minutes before doing this). Now I can use 172.16.0.1 instead of 192.168.1.1 to access my router configuration pages. Check your router manual if you have any questions on how to make these changes. All routers are different in how the tools used but the concepts are the same. Initial Tasks on first login: 1. Set administrator user and password for security 2. Update Firmware from Manufacturer Wireless Configuration steps. Modern routers may support up to three wireless con-figurations: 2.4 Wireless, 5G Wireless, and Guest. You need to configure all three and secure them. First step: Scan your “neighborhood” for other wire-less routers using a tool such as inSSIDer, WiFiInfo-View, or a utility that may have come with your router

Idaho Technology Users Group Page 5 August 2017

3. Backup router configuration in case…

4. Document your network.

5. Monitor your router

6. Check client list for “unknowns”!

7. Look at traffic if your router supports it.

8. Look at Logs for suspicious activity.

9. Check for router firmware updates.

10. Disable Wireless if not used or your on vacation!

Downstream Router and Extending Network.

Adding a “downstream” router essentially “double”

firewalls your network by having two NAT Firewalls

and two network layers that a hacker would have to get

through if coming from the public Internet.

1. I generally turn off wireless on the “upstream”

router or modem that is provided by my ISP.

2. Not necessary, but one could change the network

address and other configuration data in the up-

stream router. You do want to make sure you

change the admin password from the “default” one

3. Only one connection/cable from the LAN connec-

tion on the upstream router to the WAN connection

on the downstream router. The WAN connection is

the input to the downstream router. Do an auto

setup on the WAN network connection on the

downstream router.

4. Configure and secure your downstream router as

demonstrated for both the wired (LAN) connec-

tions and wireless networks.

USB Setup – Storage on the Router which can be used

to provide a network accessible storage device from all

your computers and devices on the network.

Backup Router Config – You never know when

things go bump in the night! (Administration) do back-

ing your router configuration and documenting it is

essentials if your router fails or the configuration gets

corrupted. You might want to save this “offline” or to

at least a couple of your devices.

or wireless adapter. https://www.howto geek.com/197268/how-to-find-the-best-wi-fi-channel-for-your-router-on-any-operating-system/ http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wifi_information_view.html Decide on the least congested channel for you own use for each band (2.4, 5G, Guest), do not user “auto”. Avoid the default and most widely used Channel 6.

The steps to configuring each wireless network: 1. Basic setup (SSID, Mode, Broadcast) Provide a Unique name for your wireless network. 2. Set the Channel Number 3. Complete the Security Settings Recommend WPA2-Personal/AES Use a complex passphrase (numbers, letters, characters), the longer the passphrase the better.

Wireless Network Security (Review)

1. Change the Administrator Password

(Default Passwords are public information!)

2. Enable Encryption (WEP, WPA2)

3. WEP is not very secure and can be easily cracked.

4. There is no way to completely hide your wireless

connection. Turning off or “hiding” the SSID only

slows down the serious hacker. Other things like

disabling DHCP or using MAC address filtering

only slows down the serious hacker but serves well

to making your life difficult by the amount of ad-

ministration required to implement these “security

measures” (setting up the MAC address filtering

and assigning “static” IP addresses). Everything

can be spoofed!

Router Configuration & Maintenance

1. Download the manufacturer’s user manual and read

it! Know thine router!

2. Check for router firmware updates

August 2017 Idaho Technology Users Group Page 6

However, with software, you have choices: 1. Use the original distribution media to create a fresh

installation, configure it, and apply any updates for the OS and all the applications. This is tedious, but the result is a clean system, free of whatever problem (assuming it's not with your hardware) that corrupted your system. Most PCs are delivered with the operating system already on the disk and without its installation media; they have instructions on how to create a repair disk, although you may have to dig to find them. Most also have a recovery partition on the disk that you can use to recreate the initial configuration. In my experience, the hard disk is the PC component most likely to fail, which of course makes the recovery partition unavailable. The software supplied with a PC is almost certainly sold as OEM products, which means it is licensed only for that hardware, and it often includes feature to prevent it from being used elsewhere. As a result, you need a separate set of recovery media for each PC, and you need to be able to identify to which hardware each set belongs.

2. Recovering the software from a backup is far simpler, because it restores all the software in one step, which has already been configured and updated. However, if the failure was the result of a developing software problem, you also install its root cause. For this reason, many keep backups made at different times, hoping that if they go back far enough, they'll find a clean one. Of course, when you restore an old backup, you most likely also restore your old data, destroying any acquired since. Your recovery plan must include a remedy for this.

There are several choices of backup media: 1. a backup directory on your system disk, 2. a backup partition on your system disk, 3. a separate internal backup hard disk, 4. an external backup disk, and 5. a cloud service. Only hard disks and cloud services have the capacity to back up modern disks. Optical media capacities have not kept up with those of hard disks, and far too much of it has poor reliability. Cloud service adds security concerns, both because your data travels over the Internet and because you have entrusted it to an outside entity. As with the backup medium, you have choices about what to back up. These include: 1. a complete disk image, 2. all the data files in the home directory, and 3. only those data files in the home directory that have

changed since the last backup. Some strategies include backing those OS and application files that have changed, but this can be risky, as these often depend on each other. With software, it's safer to replace everything. Some backup program developers recommend that your PC have constant access to the backup medium. While this insures that all your data is backed up as soon as its created, it also insures that malware also always has access to the

Rational Backup Strategy By Dick Maybach, Member Brookdale Computer Users’ Group, NJ In developing a plan to defend against the loss of data and software from operator, hardware, and software failures and malicious acts, it’s important to take a systematic approach rather than responding to the latest sensational article or alarming ad. Your first step should be to identify the threats. Otherwise, you could end up with a Maginot Line, an expensive defense against an attack that didn't occur and was ineffective against the one that did. Common threats to PCs and the information they hold include the following:

Operator errors are common. You mistakenly delete a file, a directory, or an entire partition. If this involves your software, it may disable the PC.

Software sometimes contains coding errors that create problems, which if serious enough can crash the operating system. Simply repairing the resulting damage doesn't cure the root cause. However, often symptoms appear only under rare conditions, which means you can only repair the damage and hope these don't recur.

Hardware malfunction often immediately disables the PC, and the solution is to repair the failure and then restore any damaged data. Some problems, such as intermittent RAM failure can be difficult to identify and may require a visit to the shop. Disk failure is common and this requires replacement of the disk and then restoration of the software and data it held.

Malware is software that is designed to cause damage. Individual programs acquire colorful names, such as virus, ransomware, rootkit, and Trojan horse. Each newly discovered name results in a new commotion, but the remedy is the same for all – remove the malware and then repair the damage. A worry here is that the malware may reside for some time before damage appears, so that you back up the problem as well as your software and when you restore from a backup, you also restore the malware.

PC loss can occur when traveling with a laptop or when one fails to the extent that repair isn't economically practical. You must replace not only the hardware, but any original equipment manufacturer (OEM) software that is licensed only for the lost machine. You can restore only your data from backup.

Environmental catastrophe most commonly results from burglary, fire, storm, or flood. Here you lose not only the PC, but perhaps all the material associated with it, including documentation and backup media.

You will surely find that no single approach will protect against all of these, and you may decide to ignore some threats. You have two software and data repair approaches: reinstall from the original sources or recover from a snapshot of your disk taken previously. Only the latter is possible with data; the receipts needed to recreate your 2012 tax return are long gone, as are the vacation photos on your camera's SD card.

Idaho Technology Users Group Page 7 August 2017

the basement or better by storing a backup drive at a neighbor's or in my bank deposit box or using a cloud storage service.

You should make a similar assessment of your backup plan against your own list of threats to see if it needs adjustment. Your recovery approach of course depends on what is damaged. Your data resides in what is often called the home directory, and this can be restored only from a data backup. However, Windows may store some of your data (such as Internet favorites and e-mail data) in the system area, and recovering them requires a system restore. The operating system and applications reside in what's known as the system area. They can be recovered by restoring a system backup or by making a fresh install from the original distribution media. If you use Microsoft's backup software, system backups are in the form of full disk images. If your system won't boot, it may be because the boot loader, or in new PCs the UEFI partition, has been damaged. These can be repaired in Windows system using the Windows recovery disk. See the MS Website for instructions. If the BIOS ROM is corrupted, a competent shop may be able to help, but you may have to return the machine its manufacturer. How you recover depends of course on how you backed up: 1. The fastest is to restore from backup as the result will be

software that is updated the last version of your data. If this includes restoring the OS, you must be able to boot from live media, which means you have to properly set up your BIOS. Later PCs use UEFI.

2. If you decide to re-install the OS you can try to restore from the PC vendor's recovery partition, which places your computer to its state when you first purchased it. You will have to reinstall all your applications from their distribution disks and your data from a recent backup.

3. If the recovery partition isn't available, you'll have to use the OS distribution disk if you purchased it separately or its recovery disks if the OS was installed by the PC vendor. (This of course assumes you created these.)

4. As a last resort, if the former isn’t possible or if you doubt your abilities you can take your PC back to the vendor who sold it to you or to an independent shop to have the OS re-installed. You then must restore any applications and your data yourself. It should be clear that record-keeping is a very important component of your plan. In particular, be sure to label your external backup media and any notes. You don’t want to restore from the wrong computer.

Creating and following a good backup discipline require more than trivial knowledge, thought, and time. Many computer owners choose to take a “Do nothing and hope for the best” approach or they follow the advice in the latest article or ad they’ve read, and neither approach is sound. As a last resort, there are commercial firms that will attempt to recover data from damaged or corrupted storage media, but the results aren't certain and the costs are high (up to multiple thousands of dollars).

backup. This is a good scheme for protecting against operator error, but less so for protecting against malware and software errors. For the latter, you want your backup medium to be accessible for only very short periods of time. You may decide to use two methods, one that backs up continually to protect against operator error, which are common, and a second that backs up only periodically to protect against such threats as malware. Backup software is a poor area in which to experiment. Obtain it from well-known vendors with good reputations. Consider only products with favorable reviews from responsible experts. Microsoft includes a suite of recovery software with its operating systems, and you should have a good reason for using something different. After obtaining your choice, test it as best you are able. For a thorough test, you would have to erase your disk and restore a backup, but don't do this. Instead, make a copy of just one file or directory; then backup, delete, and restore it. Compare the original and restored versions. If the recovery software includes a bootable disk, test it on the PC where you will use it to be sure it does boot. This will probably require that you make some changes in your BIOS. Record these before you change them back, as frequently, the BIOS settings must be different for internal disks and external media. You may also wish to obtain and test a reliable repair utility disk. If you suspect a virus infection, you can boot with it and the virus won't be active. This will allow you to copy your data files to an external drive without its interference. I discussed some of these tools in articles in the April, June, July, and August 2012 issues of Bytes. My strategy is that every week I have a scheduled backup of all the data files that have changed since the previous backup. This is to an internal hard drive, separate from my system and data drives. As a result, I limit my loss from most causes to the data I generate in one week. Once a month, or when I think of it, I back up to an external hard disk, all the data files that have changed since my last external backup. My operating system is Linux, and I have its installation USB memory stick. Almost all my applications are available from the distribution's repositories. As a result, it's convenient to restore all my software as a fresh install, and I do this every two years, even if I have no problems, just to clean out the accumulated cruft. Reviewing this plan against my list of threats, we see the following:

An operator error can destroy at most a week's work.

Similarly, most software errors and hardware failure can delete up to weeks of work. Although if one affects both the service and the on-line backup disk, I could lose up to a month's worth, but this is very rare.

Malware could cost me up to a month, if it affects all the disks.

Although I do have a laptop, I transfer any data to my desktop as soon as I get home. As a result, losing it would lose only the data acquired on that trip.

The weak point in my plan is environmental catastrophe, as all my PC gear resides in one room, and I could lose all of it in one incident. I could improve by adding a backup file server to our home network and locating it in

August 2017 Idaho Technology Users Group Page 8

iCloud drive has been attached. With no further questions, Clint began the evening’s presentation – configuring a second router to create a more secure local network. After a handout as passed out with the information that was going to be covered, Clint began with an overview of basic networking and hardware terminology. Next up was a quick showing of how to find your current IP address using either a web site – IPCHICKEN.COM or by using the IPCONFIG command. This was followed by the steps for basic router setup. Including how to change the your home network address to something other than the default 192.168.1.1 and how to configure the second router to use a different address completely so that neither it or its DHCP server can be easily seen from a simple WIFI search. While doing this, Clint did a diagram on the whiteboard showing the phone line coming in to a DSL router, the IP address of the DSL router and the connection to a second router with a different IP address, along with the IP addressing the equipment plugged into the second router will use. The next steps Clint covered were how to change the router’s network administrator user and password from the factory defaults and how to update the router’s firmware to make sure everything is fully up to date for security issues. Following this, he then went through basic wireless configuration steps including changing the router’s SSID, selecting which channel to send WIFI over, and which security settings to use. As the most complex passphrase is the best, Clint recommends using WPA2-Personal/AES encryption as the best way protect your WIFI network. Steps that used to be recommended, such as turning off the SSID name broadcast, disabling DHCP, or using MAC address filtering will do little to slow down a serious hack attack. Next, Clint showed two tools (WiFiInfoView and inSSIDer) to see what WIFI channels are in use and how to use an external WIFI modem that plugs in to a USB socket for PC’s that do not support the latest WIFI speeds (A/C) on their built in wifi. Before reviewing what he had covered, Clint recommend that users should check the client list on the router’s maintenance pages or use a tools such as nmap to scan their networks to see who and what is connected. The steps in this presentation, along with making sure your router firmware is up to date, making sure you have a copy of the router manual printed (or saved as a PDF), and turning off WIFI in the routers when on vacation will make maintaining a secure home network an easier task. Following this, Clint quickly demo’d how to attach a USB storage device to a router so it can be seen by everyone on the network and mentioned a commercial WIFI scanner – Acrylic. A question from a member on what IP numbers need to be changed on the second

Meeting opened at 6:30 PM by ITUG President Clint Tinsley. After welcoming everyone, Clint then announced that the September General Meeting originally scheduled for 14th will have to be rescheduled for either the 7th or the 21st due to a conflict with our host’s schedule. After a quick vote by show of hands for which date was preferred, the meeting will be on September 7th, the first Thursday of the month. Clint also announced that the Boise Linux Group will begin meeting again on the third Tuesday of September (the 19th) , at the Boise Library on Ustick Road (at Cole). Also upcoming is the August ITUG board meeting on the 24th at El Tenampa in Meridian with dinner beginning at 5:30. Clint then announced a proposed change to the ITUG bylaws to reduce the requirement for a board meeting quorum from a minimum of 5 to 4 officers and board members present. All members present voted in favor of the change. Clint then announced the upcoming ITUG officer and board member elections coming up in October, with nominations beginning in September. After several years as the ITUG President, Clint is ready to step down and needs someone else to be nominated for the position. Also still open is the Vice-President/Program Chair position. The evening’s Q&A session began with a question on creating a link to a PDF manual. Clint demonstrated creating an active desktop link that directly opens a PDF document. The second question of the night was what is the CPU usage figure and how is it produced. This is just a process analyzer that looks at all the threads a CPU is tracking. To see how this changes, Clint opened the Linux subsystem, bash scripting, in Windows 10 and entered a ‘TOP’ command that shows all the processes currently in use. Clint then opened up a Photos app in Windows to show how much memory and CPU processes a memory and CPU intensive application can take up. Another question concerned what components can be swapped without triggering a Windows license message. Currently only the CPU/Motherboard combination and the hard drive are logged in the Windows license. Swapping either of these components for a new piece of hardware will trigger the invalid license message. You can move hard drives to another PC as long as it does not boot – only used to add or remove data. Additionally, Microsoft does not allow moving licenses and there is no longer a way to restore a Windows license via phone call. The final question was how to access an iCloud directory. This is done from either an iCloud app or via the Mac OS Finder or on a Windows PC, the File Manager if the

August 10th 2017 ITUG Meeting Minutes

- Martin Torres -

Idaho Technology Users Group Page 9 August 2017

October – After the annual ITUG elections, the presentation will be on the Windows 10 Fall Creator’s Update – if the final version has been released, otherwise subject to change at the next Board meeting. Old Business: The Vice-President/Program Chair needs a volunteer to fill the position. Clint checked with the local Best Buy to see if they would be willing to have someone do a presentation on new technologies available, does not look like this will happen, so this item is closed. Clint will announce at the September meeting a call for nominations for the October ITUG officer and board member positions. New Business: John will check with the local astronomical and telescope group to see if a member would be willing to do a presentation on computers and telescopes at a future meeting. Gregg will check with a local laptop repair shop to see if they would be willing to do a presentation on laptop repairs. With no further discussion, at 7:33 a motion to adjourn was moved by Gregg and seconded by John with all present voting to adjourn

Treasurer’s Report Dick Graybeal

Balance July 31, 2017 $ 1544.17 Income Membership 0.00 Total Income $ 0.00 Expenses Newsletter 35.50 Total Expense $ 35.50 Balance August 31, 2017 $ 1508.67

router as just the first sets of 3, 2, and 2 need to be changed – the final set of 1 to 3 numbers can be left as is. Additionally, the subnet mask (usually 255.255.255.0 or something similar) does not need to be changed. The subnet mask can be left to the router default settings. With no other questions, Clint announced the meeting closed with a reminder that the next general meeting will be on September 7th.

President Clint Tinsley called the board meeting to order at 6:35 P.M. with the current board members and officers present: President — Clint Tinsley Treasurer – Dick Graybeal Secretary — Martin Torres Board Member — John Alder Board Member — Gregg Bruch Board Member — Ruth Parsons Board Member — Mike Brown After giving those present a few minutes to review the Treasurer’s reports that were included in the board meeting packet, a short discussion on was brought up on past due members. Clint indicated that after a few months they are dropped from the email list if they do not respond to a query about possible renewal. With no further discussion on the Treasurer's report, Gregg motioned to accept and was seconded by John – all present voted in favor of accepting the report. The Secretary’s reports included both the July Board minutes and the August general meeting minutes. No changes were noted on the July Board Meeting minutes and 1 typo needing a change from a ‘to’ to ‘two’ in the last paragraph of the August General Meeting notes was noted. With no further changes, Dick motioned to accept both of the minutes and was seconded by Gregg – all voted in favor of accepting the reports. The program planning portion was hosted by Clint in lieu of a Vice President. After a review of a list presentations done 3 years ago by Gregg to see if any of those topics needed to be re-addressed at future meetings, a discussion of possible topics for the September meeting was held. September -The first portion of the meeting will be an open discussion on fixes for router issues, followed by a presentation by Gregg on his methods of going without cable and/or satellite for TV reception.

August 24th 2017 ITUG Board Minutes

- Martin Torres -

August 2017 Idaho Technology Users Group Page 10

Reprint Permissions There is no restriction against any non-profit group using articles in Bits And Pieces as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given to the author and source. Any articles in this issue authored by members of other user groups are provided by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which the ITUG is a member. The APCUG also makes the same restriction on the use of articles provided by them but also requires that the non-profit group be a member of the APCUG.

Editorial Submissions

All newsletter submissions should be sent to directly to the editor: editor@idahopcug.org. The submission should have a file with the text of the article along with any graphics files. Articles should be about 2-4 pages including graphics. If you don’t have e-mail or have questions on submitting articles, please call me at (208) 375-8356. Please cite all references where quoted material is used. Include written copyright permissions where required for reprinting. Articles may be edited and formatted to fit the space available.

ITUG Online

Always check our website for up-to-date information on meetings and special announcements at www.Idahopcug.org where you can also download the latest copy our newsletter. (About Us page) We will also post important announcements of events and other items of interest to the technology community. Many times there has been a community event that we have not been able to get out the word and details maybe posted there along with our events calendar. Be sure to visit our website often.

Bits AND PIECES Question & Answer Time!

Newsletter Links - Newsletter Links for downloading past issues of the ITUG Bits & Pieces Newsletter. These links will allow your to download past issues without logging into our website. https://idahopcug.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2017/01/2017-01-Jan.pdf https://idahopcug.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2017/02/2017-02-Feb.pdf https://idahopcug.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2017/03/2017-03-Mar.pdf https://idahopcug.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2017/04/2017-04-Apr.pdf https://idahopcug.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2017/04/2017-05-May.pdf https://idahopcug.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2017/06/2017-06-June.pdf https://idahopcug.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2017/07/2017-07-July.pdf https://idahopcug.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2017/08/2017-08-Aug.pdf Windows 10 S - Question on the soon to be released Windows 10 S and is it faster than regular Windows 10.? First off, the S means nothing according to Microsoft and certainly not for Speed. Some have written that it is a “school “ edition and it is focused on the educational market with a Simplied and locked down version of Windows 10. It is “speedier” than Wndows 10 because of features that have been removed and don’t have to be started at boot time, which shaves about 15 seconds the boot time compared to comparable Windows 10 Pro computer, whatever that is.. It will be available on the Microsoft Surface Computer , again primarily in the Educational market. While one will be able to download and run applications from the Windows Store what is more important is what applications you won't be able to run on Windows 10 S which is basically all 3rd party applications such as Apple’s iTunes, Google’s Chrome browser and the full versions of Adobe’s Acrobat, Photoshop and the rest of the Creative Suite – or anything else that’s installed via the traditional Windows 7 or earlier way. Game choices will also be limited, you will not be able install Valve’s Steam store, EA’s Origin, Blizzard’s Battlenet or any game distributed on disc or downloaded from the web.

Idaho Technology Users Group Page 11 August 2017

Our meeting location is at Lee Pesky Learning Center, 3324 Elder Street, just off Vista Ave., at the top of the hill. Mary Goff, a past member of our group, is our host in making the meeting room available to us. Our meeting starts at 6:30 and ends around 9 PM. Please do not arrive before 6:15 PM as the facility is in use. There is a signal at the corner of Elder and Vista where you will turn west on Elder. Located near the corner is also an Applebee's and a gas station. When you get down to the building shown, turn right into the parking lot next to the monument sign and park in the parking lot behind the building (north side of the building). Entry will be by using the front door. We hope you are able to join us at our meetings.

Our Meeting

Location!

Membership Report August 2017

Recognizing the following members who joined or renewed their membership recently. Thanks to all who have renewed in supporting our group.

There were no renewals in August! Remember to check the mailing label on the back of the newsletter for your membership expiration date and several expired the end of May. Our membership dues are still only $25 a year and includes all Membership benefits such as our newsletter and social activities. Also, if you a change of email address, please let us know. Thanks.

ITUG HELP LINE Several of our members, listed below, have volunteered to provide help when needed. They will help you out if they can by just giving them a call and discussing the problem you are having. Please no calls after 9 PM. Do not expect an instant solution and it may take a day or two for a response. If you feel that you could help by volunteering, let one of the ITUG officers know and we will add you to the Help Line list. All numbers are area code 208.

Clint Tinsley 375-8356

LeRoy Morrill 338-9153

Ruth Parsons 495-1166

ITUG Member Business Card

Please bring this form to the meeting or mail to: Idaho Technology Users Group PO Box 191097 Boise, ID 83719 Membership is for a year. Benefits of membership include our Newsletter, all group meetings, our twice-yearly social events, and special User Group vendor pricing on books, hardware and software where available. Please check the mailing label for your Membership Renewal date: ITUG Member (A 7/31/2017) 2000 Treasure Valley Rd. Treasure Valley, ID 83700

Meeting Notice Time and Place September7th 2017

6:30 PM

Lee Pesky Learning Center

3324 Elder St. Boise, ID

The Idaho Technology Users Group

Meeting is open to the public.

Idaho Technology Users Group PO Box 191097 Boise, ID 83719

About Us

The Idaho Technology Users Group is a non-profit organization that meets on the second Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM. The meetings are held at the Lee Pesky Learning Center, 3324 Elder Street, Boise Idaho. The public is welcome at any meeting. Membership dues are $25 per year for an individual or family membership. Corporate memberships are $100 per year, which includes free 1/4 page advertising and two copies of the newsletter.

The Idaho Technology Users group maintains a web site on the Internet at http://www.idahopcug.org, where you can find the latest meeting information, our E-Zine, events calendar, links to other sites of interest and information. We can also be reached by calling one of our officers (listed on page 2) or by mail at the address shown below on the membership/renewal form. The Idaho Technology Users Group Newsletter, BITS AND PIECES, is published monthly.

The Idaho Technology Users Group

Membership/Renewal Form

Name:

Address:

City: State: ZIP:

Change of Address?

Phone:

Email Address: New?

(Please Print All) Note: The Idaho Technology Users Group will not disclose any member contact information or email address to any third parties. Member information is for the internal use of the ITUG. Membership information where disclosed in this newsletter or on our website is by permission only.

New Member (1yr/$25) Renewal (1yr/$25) Corporate Membership (1yr/$100)

Newsletter Delivery Options: (Mailing costs are over $8 per year per member) Mailed Copy Needed Pick up at Meeting Send PDF via email.

Meeting topics or suggestions: