SaddleBrooke Computer Club 2015 class registration opens

Class registration will open on December 15 at 12:01 a.m. for established members who have paid their class fees for 2015. There will be a few evening classes (PowerPoint, Windows 8.1 and Outlook) this semester to see if there is interest in this time slot. Adobe Elements 13 will be installed on all the classroom computers and we will be replacing all the classroom Mac mini-computers and switching to OS X Yosemite over the winter holidays. We are working on adding new instructors and new topics; expect several classes to be added to the schedule after the semester has started. Consult the calendar page on our website for the earliest available information concerning any changes in classes and schedules. You can find more information and on-line forms on our web page. Just go to www.saddlebrookecc.org and choose “Club Membership.”

If you are not yet a member, you will need to join before you can enroll; payments for 2015 can be submitted now – by credit card via our website or by a check mailed to our registrar. Membership is still $55/single and $80/couple; the fee includes all available classes for the initial calendar year. After the initial year, the annual class participation fee remains just $30 per person. It may take several days for the data to be entered into our database before you will be able to enroll. If you do not have a computer or have problems with the online system, you may contact our registrar Alice Stuart at 825-4239 or [email protected]. The computer club is a non-profit organization. Membership and class fees are used solely to purchase classroom equipment and software; our instructors and staff are all unpaid volunteers.

Our free public presentation at 1:00 p.m. on January 19 in the MountainView Ballroom will be our own Carlton Wiens and Judy Spencer presenting an introduction to OS X Yosemite and iOS 8, the just released operating systems for Apple products. After retiring from a career in education, Judy has staffed the Apple Store Genius Bar in Phoenix. Carlton has been our lead Mac instructor for longer than he will admit and has just completed his term as computer club president.

We will staff both a PC and a Mac table at the Recreation and Activities Fair on Saturday, January 24 in the MountainView Ballroom to tell you about our organization and answer your questions. We will also hold an open house in the Silicon Room at the same time; this is our computer classroom in the Arts and Crafts Center located next door to the MountainView Ballroom. Come on over and take a look at our resources if you haven’t visited recently.

Computer Tidbits: The holiday season brings a familiar scam – an e-mail announcing problems with a package sent via a major carrier, requesting that you respond by opening the attached invoice. Doing so will initiate the installation of malware and cause  expensive problems.