APCUG's blog

Cloud Computing - An Ephemeral Concept

Cloud computing has been around for quite some time. It just wasn’t called Cloud computing until recently. Although, the term “Cloud Computing” is relatively new, references to “Cloud Computing” can be found as early as the mid-90s. But the term seems to have become popularized. In. Steve Jobs of Apple fame, developed his vision of the cloud as a “digital hub for all your digital content”.

My Windows 10 Upgrade Experiences

I’ve been previewing Windows 10 since October of and really like it. The official release couldn’t come fast enough for me!

I’m been fortunate enough to have a great laptop to run the preview on...i7 processor, 8 gigs of memory, with a touch-enabled 12” screen. I’m also fortunate enough to have had a spare hard drive to install the preview on. Along the way this disk was replaced by an OCZ SSD disk with Windows 10 migrated using Macrium Reflect, Fast and responsive machine.

What are Websites Doing with Your Personal Information?

You have likely noticed that the banner ads and other forms of advertisements on many of the web pages visited appear to "coincidently" be for many of the same items that you have recently searched for online. You may even notice that many of these ads are also from many of the same online sellers whose web pages you have recently visited. In some cases, you may also see online ads for direct competitors of previously visited websites, offering many of the same or similar products that you have looked at on other websites.

10 Ways to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft

A new study shows that identity fraud is increasing, affecting over 13 million U.S. consumers in the past year. Big spikes were noted in 'new account fraud' and 'account takeover fraud' -- two of the most damaging types of ID theft. In addition, a series of massive data breaches at major corporations leaves consumers vulnerable to phishing and other forms of fraud. Poor password practices are a factor as well. Read on for my tips on avoiding fraud and identity theft...

Two Factor Authentication — Proof of Identity

When you walk up to a teller in a bank and request information about your bank account, the teller may ask you to authenticate yourself by providing a picture form of identification. But if you have been going to this bank for many years and she is familiar with you, she may just give you the information. In truth, your face and her knowledge of you have provided the necessary authentication for her to respond to your requests. Authentication is much easier in the real world than it is in the software and computer-network world.

Multitasking: the Big Myth

Multitasking became the highly touted skill to possess back at the start of the millennium. The business world thought that more work could be accomplished with the same amount of people with this method. However, do we really all mean the same thing when we say it?  Can one learn how to multitask? And, the most important question, does multitasking make one more productive? Well these questions have been the focus of numerous studies worldwide spanning over a decade. They have yielded some interesting results.

Now We Have a High Tech Way to Get to Know Your Neighbors

Do you remember when neighbors knew each other and a neighborhood was a tight-woven community? Well, I do and I miss that. So today I'll tell you about a new, high-tech way to get to know your neighbors.

We don’t know our neighbors like we did when I was a kid. We stay inside our air conditioned homes and keep to ourselves. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Back to Basics - Tips for Using Your Keyboard and Entering Text

The keyboard is as old as the first typewriter and may very well be the oldest part of your computer. Although computer innovations such as the mouse, voice-recognition, and the touch-screen have saved us from much keyboard use, it still looks like the keyboard will be around for a good while yet. People buying touch-pads are also buying keyboards for them!  In the old days, believe it or not, the rules you followed for entering text into your computer were different in each program you used.

Music and Video Files: Modify them to your needs.

Music and Video files that you produce with your video camera, or voice recorder, are not always exactly what you want. Now, I’m not suggesting that you can change the artistic quality of the file, but that you can change the file length or size to accommodate your particular needs. With either an audio or a video file, the particular file may be too long, or it may contain sections that are not needed. So, it would be nice to be able to cut off the beginning, the end, or remove a slice somewhere in between.

Multitasking: the Big Myth

Multitasking became the highly touted skill to possess back at the start of the millennium. The business world thought that more work could be accomplished with the same amount of people with this method. However, do we really all mean the same thing when we say it?  Can one learn how to multitask? And, the most important question, does multitasking make one more productive? Well these questions have been the focus of numerous studies worldwide spanning over a decade. They have yielded some interesting results.

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