Tech tip # 38 - network start menu folder

Hello all,

Many years ago, all the programs on the network were available through the start menu, but that is no longer possible with our network setup.

To compensate for this, we have created a shortcut to a folder of shortcuts called W7-Start Menu (or W10-Start menu). This folder should be on your desktop. If it is not, please ask one of your ed tech support folks to help you find/recover it (you can find the shortcut in the W: drive).

I have created a screencast of how to use this folder: http://www.screencast.com/t/z0TbgJoK  (the video also shows how to use the Lab monitoring software)

If you would like any help doing this, please let one of your EdTech support teachers know, and they will be glad to help.

These tips are now being archived at the following location in a blog format: http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca

Also, please let me know if you have any tips you would like to share!

Tech tip #34 - The Windows 10 menu (and the tiles will be going!)

One of the biggest changes between windows 7 and windows 10 is in how the start menu works.

HEADS UP – The “Tiles” section of the menu will be disappearing next week (probably Monday)

Please note that the “tiles” will be disappearing from our network menu soon. This is because Microsoft has made tiles difficult to manage in a multi-user environment such as ours. Users were finding that tiles were getting corrupted and were not user configurable.

The start menu still contains shortcuts to all the installed programs. The links are sorted alphabetically by folder. One of the best ways to find a program is to type it into the search box by the start menu. If there is a program that you want an easy link to, I recommend that you right-click on it and “pin it to the task bar”.

I have created a short screencast on how to use the start menu: http://www.screencast.com/t/Em0QdfX9j

If you would like any help doing this, please let one of your EdTech support teachers know, and they will be glad to help.

These tips are now being archived at the following location in a blog format: http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca

Also, please let me know if you have any tips you would like to share!

-------------------------

Mike Jackson, Science Teacher

Senior School Technology Coordinator

St Michaels University School, Victoria, BC

tech tip # 26 configuring Windows 10

Dear Colleagues,

By now you are probably all getting somewhat used to Windows 10 (it is quite a change from Windows 7 which came out in 2009!), but there are a few things that you may want to do to customize your personal Windows 10 settings.

Personalize

If you right-click on your desktop and choose “personalize”, you can adjust quite a few things about how things look, including the background image, the lock screen image. Under the “lock screen” item, you can adjust the screen timeout settings as well as the screen saver settings.

Taskbar

If you have a program that you use often, you may want to “pin it to the taskbar” so that it is readily available. To do this you can right click on the program icon in the start menu and choose “pin to taskbar”.

Launching programs

In general, one of the easiest ways to launch a program is to type the program’s name into the search bar. This is often faster than scrolling through the list of available programs. (once you find that favourite program, add it to your taskbar!)

Logging out, shutting down and restarting

If you forget to log out of your computer and it “locks”, then there is no way for anyone else to log in without restarting the machine. Windows enterprise does not allow multiple users at the same time. The person who needs to log into that computer has to either “restart” the computer, or shut down and then power up. Surprisingly it is usually faster to so the latter rather than restart. Please get in the habit of logging off when you leave your computer. Also, please remember to leave your computer on (logged out) when you leave so that updates to software can be performed.

SMUS Windows 10 FAQ

Chris Kloosterman sent out an email in late August with a link to the “Frequently Asked Questions” about windows 10.  In case you have misplaced the link it is here: https://secure.smus.ca/wiki/index.php?title=SMUS_Windows_10_FAQ

At the moment this FAQ includes topics such as: logging out, setting your default browser, setting the right program for PDF files, and much more

If you need help figuring any of this out, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the ed tech specialists on your campus. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Cheers

Mike

These tips are now being archived at the following location in a blog format: http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca

Also, please let me know if you have any tips you would like to share!

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