SIG-Computing meeting notes 8-Jan-2017

Our Batteries Plus presentation again had to be rescheduled.  Our best wishes to our presenter as he recovers from illness.  Thank you to Sharan Kalwani on his excellent presentation on High Performance Computing in the automotive industry!

Great interview by Professor Dave Farber on Big Data and a rebuild of The Internet for improved security:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/tisk3ojwr9k0gm2/Stanford%20Podcast%20Interview%20%20Dave%20Farber%20Dec%205%202015.pdf?dl=0

Windows 10 Creator Edition Clinic?  Please let Jeff know if you are interested in a late March (after the new version comes out) with sessions to help with upgrading or a fresh install of Windows 10!

Discussion on filtering of Internet content for young adults/children?  Any recommended software packages?  OpenDNS will not be enough as pointed out by Brian.  Needs to be a client program.  If you have any recommendations, please continue the discussion at semcoug@yahoogroups.com

Windows 10 Dedicated Sessions

Sharan Kalwani is organizing a Windows 10 Dedicated Session for SEMCO Members.  Sharan has an exciting program in development!

The February 2017 class is now full.

Additional date added:  Sunday, 26-March-2017!

Please see this attached flyer for more details, and let your family, friends, and colleagues know!

Windows 10 Flyer updated March 2017

Q & A

Discussion on blue screens/crashes/instability after upgrading memory:

MemTest86+  www.memtest.org
Possible faulty memory
Possible BIOS upgrade needed
Motherboard and chipset may have limitations
Stability restored by reducing one bank from 8GB to 4GB

Mike discussed the NES Mini being an emulated system, and thus, people have figured out how to run more classic software on them:
https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/07/nintendo-nes-classic-edition-cracked/

Thank you for the great discussion!

SEMCO General Meeting – December 11, 2016

President Mike Bader called the meeting to order at 1:31 p.m. He opened nominations for SEMCO Officers and Members-at-Large of the Board of Directors for 2017.

For President: Mike Bader was nominated by Jeff Marraccini, seconded by Bob Clyne. There were no other nominations for President.

For Vice President: Richard Jackson was nominated by Jeff Marraccini, seconded by Bob Clyne. There were no other nominations for Vice President.

For Treasurer: Brian Brodsky was nominated by Bob Clynne, seconded by Jeff Marraccini. There were no other nominations for Treasurer.

For Secretary: Julie Comptois was nominated by Richard Jackson, seconded by Sharan Kalwani. There were no other nominations for Secretary.

For Members-at-Large of the Board of Directors: Bob Clyne and Sharan Kalwani were both nominated by Jeff Marraccini and seconded by Richard Jackson. There were no other nominations for Members-at Large of the Board of Directors.

The nominations came to a close at 1:40 p.m.

Notes written by Julie Comptois, SEMCO Secretary

 

SEMCO Board Meeting – December 11, 2016

The meeting came to order at 12:06 p.m. Present were: President Mike Bader, Vice President Richard Jackson, Members-at-Large Bob Clyne and Sharan Kalwani, SIG-Computing Chairman Jeff Marraccini, SIG-Programming Representative Sikander Rashid and Secretary Julie Comptois.

Bob Clyne gave the Treasurer’s report in Brian Brodsky’s absence. Inflow was $30.00 and outflow was $57.92 for a net loss of $27.92. The balance in the checking account was $6,252.88 and the balance in the CD accounts was $4,766.08 including $1.07 in interest, for a total of $11,018.96.

Currently there are 55 members.

Bob Clyne moved that the board authorize reimbursement of $57.92 to Carol Sanzi for refreshment supplies. Jeff Marraccini seconded and the motion carried.

Bob Clyne moved that the board authorize the purchase of one roll of first class stamps. Sharan Kalwani seconded and the motion carried.

Bob Clyne moved to post the Board minutes on a public area of SEMCO’s website. Sharan Kalwani seconded and the motion carried.

There was discussion about publishing a membership directory. Bob Clyne moved that SEMCO publish a membership directory and post it in PDF format in a private area of SEMCO’s website and mail a printed copy with the election ballots. Sharan Kalwani seconded and the motion carried.

Sharan Kalwani proposed that someone be an assistant/understudy to the treasurer. This idea was deferred to the next meeting.

A new chairman for SIG-Linux is needed. Richard Jackson suggested asking the membership to see who would be willing to do it.

Bob Clyne reported that a member asked why the E-mail Update is coming from vanders.com and requested that it come from semco.org. Jeff Marraccini said that for the e-mail lists it should be possible to make changes so that the messages come from semco.org. Jeff and Richard will work on making the necessary changes.

Bob Clyne moved to adjourn. Jeff Marraccini seconded. The meeting ended at 12:45.

Notes written by Julie Comptois, SEMCO Secretary

Notes from 11-Dec-2016 SIG-Computing Meeting

Thank you for those that attended during our bad weather today!  Great turnout and discussion!

Thank you to Gene Barlow for presenting backup and partitioning to us, and offering discounts on Acronis products to SEMCO members!

Richard Jackson linked this very disturbing article about the poor state of security products in the marketplace and ease of penetrations:

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3146046/security/security-products-are-among-the-most-vulnerability-riddled-software-products.html

A couple members have experienced the recently reported new Windows 10 WiFi problem in the Anniversary Edition.  Connection just cuts out.  If it happens to you before the expected patch (which may come Tuesday 13-Dec-2016!) search for cmd.exe, right click it, choose Run As Administrator, and run this command:   ipconfig /renew
This is not a permanent fix 🙁

The holidays are a great time to remind family and friends to practice safe computing practices:  Install an ad blocker and selectively use it, use a password wallet, and regularly back up important information.

Windows 10 Dedicated Session in February 2017

Sharan Kalwani is organizing a Windows 10 Dedicated Session for SEMCO Members.  Sharan has an exciting program in development!

Interested?

Please provide feedback to Sharan and the SEMCO Board:  board@semco.org

Have a wonderful holiday season,

Jeff

Notes from 20-Nov-2016 SEMCO SIG-Computing meeting

Thank you to Richard Tapaninen from Micro Center for the great presentation today!  Micro Center’s web site is http://www.microcenter.com and the local store is at 32800 Concord Drive, Madison Heights, MI 48071.

Notes/News:

  • Thank you for your patience with this meeting rescheduling!  We had to change out a large UPS system last weekend due to a factory defect.  Nearly 40,000 pounds of equipment had to be moved in two days.
  • Latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build replaces Windows Command Prompt with PowerShell by default!  Microsoft asks for feedback as some add-ins rely on cmd.exe’s syntax, but if this moves forward, those should change quickly to PowerShell syntax.
  • Xamarin/Microsoft released first version of Visual Studio for Mac!  Not full featured compared to Windows.  Updated Visual Studio Code for Linux.
  • Container-hosted SQL Server for Linux preview was released last week!  Easy installation, and is fully compatible with Azure’s SQL Services.  Great way to quickly install SQL Server and get familiar with it on any platform that can run Docker.
  • New Apple MacBook Pro laptops are out – Micro Center has theirs already on display.  Jeff skipping this generation J
  • Several China-based Android device manufacturers have been exposed using insecure over-the-air update mechanisms.

Windows 10 Dedicated Session in January 2017?

Sharan Kalwani is organizing a Windows 10 Dedicated Session for SEMCO Members.  Tentatively, this would happen in January 2017.

Interested?  Any specifics you would like covered?

Please provide feedback to Sharan and the SEMCO Board:  board@semco.org

 

SIG-Linux notes 11-Sep-2016

Thank you for the excellent discussion this evening!  The links I presented are below.  Have a super week!

 

Lynda.com full course on Docker (your public library likely provides free access to Lynda.com, please check your library’s web site – if you live or work in the City of Troy, the site is http://www.troypl.org/):  https://www.lynda.com/Docker-tutorials/

 

Getting Started with Docker (Linux, Mac, Windows, AWS, Azure):  https://docs.docker.com/engine/

 

The one I started with:  https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-use-docker-on-ubuntu-16-04

 

Quick example building up a web application:  http://anandmanisankar.com/posts/docker-container-nginx-node-redis-example/

 

One of the hardened / specialized Linux-based operating systems to run containers:  https://mesosphere.com/blog/2016/04/19/open-source-dcos/

 

 

 

SIG-Computing notes for 11-Sep-2016

Thank you for the great meeting today!  These are the notes:

Intel could delay 7nm to 2022, 10nm is already delayed:  http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/news/article.php?storyid=15387

New cross-platform malware for Linux, Mac, Windows (sheesh!):

http://m.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/09/mac_backdoor/

Google may be on the verge of a massive speech synthesis improvement with AI-developed WaveNet!

https://regmedia.co.uk/2016/09/09/wavenet.pdf

Intel could delay 7nm to 2022, 10nm is already delayed:  http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/news/article.php?storyid=15387

New cross-platform malware for Linux, Mac, Windows (sheesh!):

http://m.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/09/mac_backdoor/

Google may be on the verge of a massive speech synthesis improvement with AI-developed WaveNet!

https://regmedia.co.uk/2016/09/09/wavenet.pdf

Other links that came up during the meeting today (great discussion, thank you all!):

SpywareBlaster:  https://www.brightfort.com/spywareblaster.html

Malware mitigation without having to boot up into Windows:

Avira Rescue CD:  https://www.avira.com/en/download/product/avira-rescue-system

AVG Rescue CD:  http://www.avg.com/us-en/avg-rescue-cd

Looking up unknown phone numbers:  http://www.okcaller.com/

Stopping robo callers and other annoying callers (not all carriers are supported):  https://www.nomorobo.com/signup

Turning off WhatsApp marketing involvement with Facebook (please do this before the end of September 2016 if you are concerned!):  https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/general/26000016

Free DNS service to help block malware and fix ISP name look up problems:  https://www.opendns.com

Add ons to web browsers (including some mobile / tablet ones) to block unwanted ads:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin

Thank you again for providing these great links during the discussion!

 

Notes from 10-July-2016 SIG-Computing News

Thank you to Bill Buchanan for the great presentation on ProShow Gold 7.0!  He will provide his presentation.
Update: Bill could not say anything last Sunday during his ProShow presentation due to confidentiality agreement with Photodex, but Photodex just released Version 8 on July 19. Also as promised he was able to get us a 15% discount promo for SouthEastern Michigan Computer Club. See the following:
Promo Code: NWX9Q3DM
Discount: 15%
The code is good for our ProShow Gold, ProShow Producer, and ProShow Web software. This code also works for upgrades. Members/attendees can redeem their discount by entering the code in the “Discount Code” area when they are ready to check out.

The notes from today’s news portion are below.  Have a super week, and please keep the discussion going!

Read more

SEMCO is now on LinkedIn!

Please join us on LinkedIn!  Our group page is https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8544439

Adding SEMCO as a group to your LinkedIn profile can improve your search ranking, show that you are involved with a dynamic user group here in Southeastern Michigan, and is an excellent forum to interact with other experts around the world.  Thank you to Sharan Kalwani for setting up our new SEMCO LinkedIn group!

Join us today!