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Learn Laptop Lingo

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“I learned to program in fourth grade,” junior Elijah Peters said. According to junior Zach Simo, some people are “born tech savvy.” Other students don’t have as much experience with technology, and the One-to-One laptops are introducing them to it. While not everyone excels at using the laptops, students can learn some simple tricks and shortcuts to help them improve. Peters was originally sceptical of the One-to-One technology, but now he agrees the laptops are helpful to students. Despite some complaints about carrying the laptops, students have access to It’sLearning and can take work home.

Shortcuts are keys you can press at the same time to perform tasks. The most basic shortcuts include ctrl+x to cut highlighted text, ctrl+c to copy, ctrl+v to paste and ctrl+a to select all the text. Google has some shortcuts as well, such as ctrl+f. This allows you to search a web page for specific words, and highlights whenever the word appears on the page. Alt+shift+tab allows you to go back and forth between your tabs on your desktop.

Troubleshooting is an effort to fix your computer’s problem by running through a list of common issues and checking to see if one of those common options is the source of the problem. The task manager can help with this, and can be opened with ctrl+shift+esc. If your laptop is running slowly, checking your task manager and closing unnecessary processes may resolve the issue. Restarting your computer may help a laptop gain a better signal to the school server and internet, if connection issues arise. Ctrl+alt+delete is an instant shortcut that will restart a program.

Peters also had a suggestion on effectively using your computer throughout the school day.

“One thing I see a lot of people doing is shutting down their computers. You should sleep, which is the shortcut fn+f3. It saves battery life without taking a lot of time, and saves class time instead of shutting down the computers,” Peters said. Lastly, Peters reminds students to keep their laptop charged and to remember their chargers.

Overall, students in Computer Programming are willing to help others with technology. In general, they find students don’t try to fix the problems themselves first. Try to solve the problem yourself by troubleshooting and then ask someone else. However some problems require special attention.

In that case, “Ask for help, and don’t wait, that only makes it worse,” Simo said.

A simple way to find a solution is to search the internet for the problem.

“Google everything,” Simo said.

There are several search tips that can help students find what they are  looking for on Google. To find results for an exact quote or phrase, put quotations around it in your search. Exclude certain words from your results by placing a dash in front of the unwanted term, like  columbus -ohio. Using @, #, and $ in the search will help find social media users, trending topics and item costs more easily. Lastly, if you only know part of a phrase, insert an asterisk * in place of the unknown word. Keywords, different combinations of words, and persistent searching will help find the information needed.

There are many ways to learn about technology, especially at North.  

“Take Computer Programming! North also has Microsoft word and IT classes,” senior Marlee Reisinger said. Get involved by taking classes and asking knowledgeable students and professionals. Another start is to learn on Youtube, Peters mentioned.  

By learning these shortcuts and tips, students may find the laptops more helpful to their education.

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