PATACS Meeting Details Page

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Arlington & Fairfax Sessions -
Arlington Meetings in Person!
Fairfax In-Person Requirements
All Sessions Available via Zoom
Meeting Access Will Be Sent via Email

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Details of Monthly Meetings

Not a Member? Want to Attend Our Zoom Sessions?
Arlington Email: arlmtgs(at)patacs.org Fairfax Email: ffxmtg(at)patacs.org

Meeting in Person - and Via Zoom - See Above Banner
OPCUG Members Welcome! PATACS - Arlington
Wednesday, August 3rd, 7 PM

Please Come Early & Help with Meeting Setup!
Meeting Location: Carlin Hall Community Center,
5711 S. 4th Street, Arlington, VA 22204 Zoom Session: Details Sent via Email
Using Zoom

Smart TVs and other smart devices have entered our homes, offering unprecedented access to video programming and information at the touch of our fingers or the sound of our voices. Unless you are diligent about following the news or reading the fine print in service documents, you may not be aware that the companies behind your smart devices are collecting, using, and sometimes selling your personal information. Join presenters from Fairfax County's Department of Cable and Consumer Services as they explain what personal information these devices collect, why and how they do it, and what you can do to limit or prevent unwanted intrusions into your privacy.

This Fairfax County Department has been presenting to OLLI, OPCUG, WACUG and PATACS for many years. We sincerely appreciate our OLLI / OPCUG partners sharing this recording of an OLLI class from July 13th.

Douglas Povich is a management analyst in Fairfax County's Communication Policy and Regulation Division. Before joining the county, he practiced telecommunications and technology law for over 30 years. He holds a BA in English and Philosophy from Union College and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center.

Allan Hide has worked as a management analyst in the Communication Policy and Regulation Division of Fairfax County for 19 years. Formerly, he worked as a market analyst for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He has an MS (Environmental Biology) from George Mason University and a BSc (General Biology) from London University (Queen Mary).

--> Arlington Meeting Info & Maps

HAVE YOUR COMPUTER QUESTIONS ANSWERED!

The program planners for our First Wednesday PATACS meetings in Arlington are looking for topics that members would like to have explored or questions answered - this is your opportunity to have a say in topics addressed at this meeting. This is a smaller meeting than the Fairfax meeting, and it allows for much more interaction between members than is possible in Fairfax. And there's the post-meeting Pizza and Salad SIG, the post-meeting social at a nearby restaurant - another value-added feature of your membership! Please send your suggestions to our meeting program planners at arlmtgpgm@patacs.org.

Not a Member? Want to Attend Our Zoom Sessions?
Arlington Email: arlmtgs(at)patacs.org Fairfax Email: ffxmtg(at)patacs.org

OPCUG / PATACS Joint Meeting,
Saturday August 20th, 1 PM 3rd Saturday
Meeting In-Person and Via Zoom - See Above Banner
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Tallwood, TA1
4210 Roberts Road, Fairfax, VA 22032-1028
Fairfax Meeting Info, Maps Agenda / Meeting Info

In Person Requirements - Covid Precautions

Streaming Audio Using VLC

Presented by John Krout

This presentation covers four related topics:

1. How to prepare a Windows computer firewall to enable VLC to receive incoming requests to listen to an audio stream.

2. How to prepare, save and update a VLC playlist.

3. How to stream a playlist of songs using VLC (This is needed because the VLC streaming interface will play only one file at a time, even though it allows the user to specify multiple files to be played).

4. How to use a music player application such as VLC or VirtualRadio to receive streaming audio from a computer on a home network. My prior Learn in 30 Internet Radio on the Road Safely demonstrated adding a station to VirtualRadio.

John will demo the capability for the audience present in Tallwood TA1 by streaming a VLC playlist from his laptop. Bring along your smart phone with VLC or VirtualRadio installed to listen!

John Krout is a frequent presenter at our meetings on a wide range of computer, technology and photography topics, and author of many articles for the PATACS Posts newsletter.

Learn in 30

Introduction to Advanced Mousing:
Windows Context Menus
Presented by Gabe Goldberg

Though PC mice have two main buttons, people mostly use the left one. In fact, Microsoft quotes research showing that 75% of Windows users don't use the right button at all. But almost everywhere in Windows, right-clicking displays a shortcut menu, also called a context menu, displaying actions and options available in the "context" of the object clicked. These handy actions/options can greatly improve productivity. Don't Ignore Powerful Right-Click!.

Upcoming Learn in 30 Sessions:
This Is Your Chance!
10 - 15 Minute Talks Welcome
Presented by YOU!!
Contact director2 (at) patacs.org to arrange a presentation !!