Our next meeting will be an open house Computer Surgery. Please bring along any issues you may be having and might like to ask for advice, or even projects you are working on to share with the group. Anything goes if it involves computers be they desktops, laptops or tablets.
Our last meeting saw Michael providing an update from the Windows world with an overview of Windows 8.1 which sought to address some of the issues and shortcomings in Windows 8 having broken from the traditional desktop attempting to marry the touch screen / tablet "Modern UI" with the familiar Windows desktop of old.
Windows 8.1 was released to the masses in December 2013 and was quite a significant update to the Operating System, a much bigger update than a typical point release or Service Pack. In fact installing the update to 8.1 reset the system install date stored within the OS, something that Service Packs have never done.
One of the much hyped features of the 8.1 update was to reintroduce the Start button functionality that was completely removed in Windows 8 and was missed by many. However unlike the familiar Start button and menu of old, clicking merely loads the Modern UI home screen, essentially switching to the touch screen/tablet interface for selecting and starting apps.
The Modern UI home screen now features a down arrow icon, providing quicker access to an "All Apps" view than was possible in Windows 8. Another enhancement to the Modern UI has been smaller tiles for the app screens, with the new small tile being ¼ of the previous allowing more apps per screen.
The Modern UI can now be configured to boot directly to the Desktop, but as mentioned above, clicking the "start" button returns you to the Modern UI home screen for launching apps.
For users wanting to virtualise other Operating Systems without resorting to 3rd party hypervisors such as VMWare, Microsoft have made the Hyper-V Manager available in Windows 8.1 allowing full management of virtual machines and guest OS's in the Professional edition and in doing so bringing this aspect of Windows 8.1 into line with Window Server 2012.
Windows 8.1 also witnesses the start of Microsoft's inevitable foray into BYOD (Bring Your Own Desktop) for business with Workplace Join and Workplace Folders attempting to provide limited and secured access to the corporate domain. Also present is a new feature called Remote Business Data Removal, adding a form of remote wipe similar to that supported on mobile phones for corporate data stored locally through the Workplace features.
8.1 also brings native support for WiFi printing and NFC tap-to-pair printing support natively without need for 3rd party software. The latter allows NFC tags to be placed on printers and for NFC equipped Windows devices to seamlessly be configured to print merely by tapping the device on the tag, no more hunting on the network for the correct printer.
Native support is also included for Miracast Wireless Display, allowing remote display to Miracast enabled devices over WiFi in a similar way to Apple's AirPlay.
Rounding out the evening Michael also gave us a quick tour of Office 2013 which would be familiar to anyone who has used Office since the Ribbon UI was introduced a couple of versions ago.
Please bring some computer problems to the next meeting or just come to get advice; don't forget we are multi-platform in the club. See you there!
Peter
| 2013 | ||
| March 19th | Computer Surgery | All |
| April 16th | AGM + | All |
Meetings are now on the Third Wednesday of the month unless otherwise stated.
Our meetings are held at the Bourne Vale Social Club, Halifax Road, Ipswich IP2 8RE , for a map and other details please see the website.
http://icenicomputerclub.org.uk
Currently both visitor fees and membership fees are in abeyance until the next AGM due in May 2014.
We are continuing our publicity for EAUG events , however their website has not been updated for a year now. So if you wish to know information please phone one of their contacts.
Meetings are at the Great Baddow Village Hall, on the second Tuesday of the month
opening at 7:30 p.m. for a start at 7:45 - 8:00 p.m.
http://www.eaug.org.uk/mtg.htm
For directions see below (note the new web addresses)
http://www.eaug.org.uk or 'phone one of the contacts on http://www.eaug.org.uk/ppl.htm
Tea/coffee/biscuits usually available.
Visitors pay 2.00 GBP for the evening, which is deductible from the normal joining subscription if you decide to join at a later date.
See the Membership page of the website for more information:
They have now moved to the St. Andrew's Computer Club at Britannia Road, Ipswich.
They have a full programme on the parish website
(http://www.ourstandrews.co.uk), We may be able to make new contact with them to arrange something in common.
"ICENI does not have any Insurance cover for computers or other equipment so please be advised that you bring machines to the club at your own risk."
However many household insurance policies will include cover away from home often with no increase in premium. (Ed.)
Our website has had to be moved since BT is no longer giving free hosting to customers and Peter was running the old website on his account. So Gareth has been fortunate to register a web address of our own and has generously hosted it on his own woolridge domain. All our old website data has been ported to the new site and a redirection placed on the old address. The old site will disappear some time soon.
If anyone would like a copy of the CD of our old newsletters this could be arranged.
I am open to suggestions on what people would like to have included in the website.
Our website URL is
http://icenicomputerclub.org.uk
Email to: iceni@woolridge.org.uk