Technology Times

I know all of you are just as despondent as I am to know that the end of the year is rapidly approaching and that we are faced with seemingly endless summer weeks without our daily dose of classroom wondrousness.

With that in mind, it’s highly advisable to back up your data on a regular basis. At this point in the year, you probably have gigabytes of worksheets, notes, tests, etc., that you have worked long and hard on. If you haven’t been doing it on a regular basis already, now is the time to back everything up to a thumb drive! There are many different ways you can backup your data, but here’s one way for you:

1. Go to Start/My Document (Note: if you have your files stored somewhere else on your C Drive other your My Documents folder, then use these steps to copy those, too)
2. In the My Documents window, highlight all your documents and folders.
3. On the left pane, click Copy the selected items. The Copy Items window displays.
4. On the Copy Items window, select your Thumb Drive (this is usually your E: drive). Click Copy.

And that’s it!

(Many thanks to Charles D. who contributed this post)

Occasionally, you might try to print a document only to have the printer sit idle, taunting you with it’s quiet defiance.

The year is almost over (yippee!) and computer resources like ink and paper are sometimes harder to find. So, before trying to print again, and again, and, for those of you who are especially determined, even a third time, please check the print monitor to determine the printer status.

After hitting print the first time, the printer icon will display in your task tray in the lower right side of your window. It looks like a tiny, little printer. You probably need clear the queue of all earler print jobs.

To clear the queue:

1. Double-click the print monitor icon in the task tray. A list of items in the queue will display
2. Highlight the top job in the queue
3. Select Document Menu/Pause
4. Highlight the second job listed in the queue
5. Select Document Menu/Cancel
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until only the first (paused) job is left in the queue
7. Highlight the last last (paused) job and select Document Menu/Cancel

If you are still experiencing printing problems:

1. Unplug your computer for at least 60 seconds
2. Plug it back in
3. Restart your computer

If you still cannot print, please submit a Help Request and our TSSPEC will be there to help ASAP!

As we go through the school and connect the classroom PCs to the TVs, there is a question that keeps coming up. It seems that for some TVs the TV has to be turned on first, before the computer, for the PC to TV connection to work.

So, the solution is this — if you are trying to display your computer on your TV and it is not working, reboot your computer with the TV on. That should restore the connection.

Another issue is that some of the older TVs will only work if the desktop resolution is set to be 640×420, which is very large–the icons on the desktop will be huge. You can either keep it at that setting, or you can choose to switch to the larger setting only when you want to use the PC to TV connection. To switch back and forth, I recommend using the video card interface. Here are the steps:

1. Right-click anywhere on your desktop and select Properties
2. Go to the Settings tab
3. Click Advanced button
4. Click Catalyst Control Center tab
5. Click Catalyst Control Center button
6. Click Displays Manager
7. Under the Desktop area drop down - select the desktop resolution you prefer
8. Click Apply