Senior Tech Group
Getting Comfortable With The Basics

Program Notes for the 4th Week of the Month

Oct 27, 2025, 1 and 7 PM | Join Online Meeting > The Gadget Gurus: I will review the current tech news. We will do our best to answer questions about computers, smartphones, apps, cameras, tablets, and the Internet. Bring your tech issues and join us for the meeting.
> 9 Google Maps Gestures Every Driver Should Know – howtogeek.com

> Google Maps Just Got a Big Safety Upgrade – howtogeek.com

This Week’s Tip or Trick

If you have a Gmail account, you have a word processor and spreadsheet program. These applications are part of the Google suite of productivity tools, which are free for personal use and accessible with any Google account.
The specific applications are:
  • Google Docs: A word processor that allows you to create, edit, and save text documents.
  • Google Sheets: A spreadsheet program for organizing, analyzing, and manipulating data. 
How to access Docs and Sheets
Your Gmail account is a Google account, which gives you immediate access to these apps. You can find them in your web browser in a few different ways:
  • From Gmail: While logged into your Gmail, click the “App Launcher” icon (a 3×3 grid of dots) in the top-right corner of the screen and select the Docs or Sheets icon.
  • Direct URLs:
  • Through Google Drive: All Docs and Sheets files are stored in Google Drive. You can access them by going to drive.google.com. 
Important to know
  • Cloud-based: All of your documents are automatically saved in the cloud to your Google Drive, so you can access them from any device.
  • 15 GB of storage: Your Google account includes 15 gigabytes of free storage, which is shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.
  • Offline access: You can enable an offline mode in your Google Drive settings to work on your documents even without an internet connection. 
You can upload Word and Excel documents to Google Drive using a web browser in a few simple steps. Once the file is uploaded, you can either keep it in the Microsoft Word format (.docx) or convert it to a Google Docs file.
  1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com and sign in to your Google account.
  2. In the top-left corner, click the + New button.
  3. From the dropdown menu, select File upload.
  4. A file explorer window will open. Locate the Word document on your computer and select it.
  5. Click Open. Your document will begin uploading to your Google Drive. You will see a progress bar in the bottom-right corner. 
Convert all uploaded Word and Excel files to Google Drive to Google format for editing.
Note:  I recommend this method when uploading multiple Word files, as it enables automatic conversion.
  1. On a computer, go to drive.google.com.
  2. Click the Settings gear icon in the top-right corner, then select Settings.
  3. In the “General” tab, find the section for “Convert uploads“.
  4. Check the box next to “Convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format”.
  5. To finish, go back to Drive by clicking the back arrow at the upper left of the page.
After enabling this setting, any new Word or Excel documents you upload to Google Drive will be automatically converted for editing in Drive.

Q:  Can you talk about ghost tapping and how to protect from that? Thanks – Andrea
A:  Retail fraud (ghost-tapping)

How it works:  Criminals first trick you into giving them your payment card information, often through a “smishing” text message or a fake online store. They might get you to confirm a fake payment and capture a one-time password, which allows them to add your card to a digital wallet like Apple Pay or Google Pay.
>>> Note: Smishing is a type of phishing scam that uses text messages (SMS) to trick people into revealing sensitive information or downloading malware. The term is a combination of “SMS” and “phishing”. Scammers often impersonate trusted entities like banks or delivery services to create a sense of urgency and trick victims into clicking on malicious links or providing personal data like account numbers, passwords, or Social Security numbers. 

The “ghost tap”:  The criminal then uses a network of individuals (mules) in stores. A coordinating criminal sends an NFC signal from their phone to a point-of-sale machine, which is then relayed to a mule who uses it to make purchases with your card details, often reselling the items for profit.

Protection:  Be wary of requests for personal information via text, and check your receipts after making a purchase. 

Q:  Please let’s talk about the parking app. Do you use the ParkMobile app? I need to learn to use this app for future events. Mark B
A:  ParkMobile Parking App | Find & Pay for Parking –  Available in more than 400 cities across the US, ParkMobile gives you the ability to park, pay, and extend your parking session right from the palm of your hand.

Beware of These Parking Scams.

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