SeniorNet Eastern Bays Inc., Auckland is a voluntary organisation for people over 55 with active minds and who want to keep up with the computer age. Complete novices through to more advanced users are welcome while new topics are constantly being added. We always like to hear from members as to what they would like to have taught. Experienced users are welcome as tutors and every one is encouraged to help with the running of the club.
Our new premises are located at 75 Felton Mathew Avenue and our postal address is P.O. Box 18348, Glen Innes, 1743.
But, to enrol and/or contact us, please click on the Contact Us form (also on the main menu) and follow the instructions. You don't need to have an existing email address or even a computer as long as a friend, neighbour or family member has one and can do this for you.
The above is now the preferred method but you could also call the SeniorNet Eastern Bays voice mail at (09) 578 0994 and leave the same contact and query details. Someone will call you back, and we can proceed from there.
Whichever method, we would love to hear from you!
For more details on who we are and what we do, start by clicking here
There's been a lot of work behind the scenes in the last few weeks, both on our new premises and our schedule for this year
The Courses and Calendar pages are rapidly filling!
Auckland Anniversary Day falls on February the 1st, which is a bit later than usual, but our year begins with the Computer Introduction session, 10am-noon, on Friday the 5th (see opposite). The following Monday (the 8th) sees the first of our Demonstration and Discussion meetings, this one hosted by Graham Wright (see opposite), while Judy Iggo holds the first of the Getting Started courses the next day and Friday. This one is already full but don't worry, there'll be more!
The week after that sees the first of the File Management courses and our first Monthly Meeting-Lecture for 2010. For new members, these are usually held on the third Wednesday of each month (February - November) and feature an invited speaker on a topic of interest in either a computing or a broader context. Peruse the Archives page for a taste of these. Our February lecture will be on the 17th, 10-12 noon. It'll be good - more details soon!
Keep monitoring the Calendar and Courses pages, constantly updated by Sue LaRoche, for the latest. Once you have decided on your courses or want to discuss them further, see "How To Enrol and Contact Us" (above). Happy learning and don't forget that you can also be an assistant or a tutor in subjects you are experienced in. Tutors are the mainstays of SeniorNet!
We now have an online form (Contact Us) which you can fill in and send to us. You can use it ask us questions, make comments, join us, enrol in one or more courses or seminars or simply update us on your new physical or email address, phone numbers or other details.
Phone your ISP and tell them to disable all spam filtering they are doing at their (remote) end. These examples of "Artificial Stupidity" can and do cause havoc because they toss vital messages from friends, family and business into a remote Spam bin along with only some of the true junk. If you don't visit your webmail for more than a month, all those messages will be deleted and you'll never know they were there.
It's one of the most common and heartbreaking problems we keep hearing about at the Discussion Forums. Keep your local spam filtering by Outlook (Express) by all means because you can easily monitor its performance but the bottom line is that it takes less than a second to highlight and delete a silly message and, even if you get 10 of them per day, that's only one sixth of a minute!
Graham Wright hosts the long awaited first "D&D" meeting of the year on Monday morning (see below). On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Judy Iggo and Sue LaRoche hold the first two, already full, Getting Started courses (more in the pipeline). On Wednesday afternoon, the Committee will have their first formal meeting of the year (but they've been busy all the way through!).
All members are welcome to this monthly seminar - no need to enrol!
Graham will present a demonstration on:
- and this will be followed by a general discussion, questions and answers.
A gold coin Koha to cover morning tea would be appreciated
Note: this was formerly the Question and Answer Discussion group and is traditionally held on the first Monday of the month (February - November). This year, both Anniversary Day and Easter Monday have forced a week's delay on the February and April meetings (see the Calendar).
Graham Wright will tutor this Level-2 course, which uses Windows Explorer to organise files by creating, naming, and moving folders and files; dragging and dropping; searching for lost files; backing up with CDs and flash drives, etc.
The first monthly lecture from an invited guest at our new premises will be given by Stefan from Dick Smith Electronics. His main topic is Windows 7 but he'll also be happy to talk about any and all of the wide variety of hardware, software and related devices that DSE stock at their many stores around Auckland and further afield.
So, make a note in your diary and start thinking up some interesting questions for Stefan!
Graham Wright will tutor this Level-2 course which covers updating programs, anti-virus, firewalls, internet security, Windows Defender, security centre, and safe computing practices.
Greetings everyone
The committee and I wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year.
We look forward to seeing you taking part in our exciting programme of courses and activities.
Much hard work has been going on during the last couple of months to get our website working the way we want it to. Our profound appreciation goes to the webmaster, Wayne Power. New course notes have been prepared to be used in our reformatted introductory courses – Sue LaRoche has spent countless hours in her “holidays” to do this. Grateful thanks, Sue.
Other people are getting to grips with new and/or revised tasks which will lead to greater efficiency in the running of our club and education programme.
Our open meetings (monthly and discussion groups) will all be scheduled in a morning, to alleviate a parking problem. Our first monthly meeting will be held on Wednesday 17 February at 75 Felton Mathew Ave, St Johns at 10 am. The speaker will be Stefan from Dick Smith’s Electronics, telling us about Windows 7.
Graham Wright will lead the first discussion session of the year on Monday 8 February at 10 am. – “Computer First Aid – task manager and defender”. Note it in your diary.
Please remember to bring and wear your membership label when attending SeniorNet activities.
Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student can be purchased from the Seniornet Federation at a special price of $130 (normal retail price $260), via www.seniornet.co.nz. This offer closes on 28 February 2010.
This year will mark the tenth anniversary of the formation of SeniorNet Eastern Bays. We need to celebrate this, probably some time towards the middle of the year. If you have any ideas for a suitable occasion I should be pleased to hear of it.
Take care
(Ed's note: Microsoft Office 2010 currently has a June release date)
