learn, laugh, live

Group meetings are held at the Otford Methodist Church Hall normally at 2pm on the fourth Monday of each month (October to May). Entrance £2, includes tea and biscuits. There is usually a talk on a topic of interest, followed by a question-and-answer session. Talks are normally illustrated and projected onto a large screen, and members can raise problems they are experiencing with their computers.
The group committee which organises the talks continues to be short of volunteers and anyone who would like to join us will be warmly welcomed. Technical expertise is not required members with ideas and topics for talks will be invaluable.

The next meeting at Sevenoaks School, where some of the older pupils help members of  Sevenoaks u3a with using their digital devices, will be held on Thursday 1 October from 14.30 to 16.00. Those wishing to join in should email computing@sevenoaksu3a.org.uk and they will be entered on a list and sent information on accessing the school. Since it is a new school year, some of the pupils that we met previously will have left and we will have some new faces to replace them. Read more about a visit earlier this year.
There will be no talk in September  and the first one of the 2026/2027 session will be 26 October 2026.

It is absolutely vital to ensure your device is backed up. Photos take up  a lot of space so consider paying for extra storage to avoid losing irreplaceable data and choose from say Google Drive £1.59 /month for 100GB, One Drive may be free for Microsoft 365 subscribers, Apple iCloud, Dropbox, and BT Cloud free for some BT broadband customers.

Internet Security software is often set to renew automatically without the user’s intervention and the renewal price may be 3 or 4  times higher than the original purchase price. It is possible for the user to alter the auto-renewal option although it is not always very easy to find.

On October 14th 2025 Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 10. However, if you aren't ready to upgrade yet you can sign up for Extended Security Updates so you can continue getting important security patches beyond 2025. Click here to see how to do this. In addition, Windows comes with the Defender anti-virus software. Whilst Defender is a ‘no cost’ option you may want to install a more comprehensive anti-virus security package for greater peace of mind when using Windows 10. Paid for examples of such packages are Bitdefender, ESET, Kaspersky, McAfee, Norton, Malwarebytes. There are also good free packages available from companies such as AVG and Avast, though these may come with in-built advertisements and upselling.”

Last updated: 15 August 2026