Alma Row's Tech Tips Edublog

For those of us that recently migrated to Windows 7, one thing I missed was the shortcut to the desktop that I put in the taskbar.  Unbeknown to me, Windows 7 already built one  in.  It’s just a tad more discreet.

If you look at the far right of the task bar, beyond the tray where the time is typically displayed, there is a little rectangle tile.  When you click on that, your desktop will be instantly displayed.  Pretty nice!

Enjoy the quick trip to the desktop with Windows 7!

While I know there’s a steep learning curve when migrating from Microsoft Office 2003 to 2010, the features built in are amazing.  Did you know you can ‘pin’ a document to the recent files listing so that you’ll never have to hunt for it again…no matter the last time you opened it up?  Well, Doug Greenholt showed me this one…a tidbit he picked up at a conference.

Using this pin feature is much like pinning a document to a cork board.  Follow the steps below.

Hopefully this will save you some time and help with organization.

There are a few tools on a Windows machine that are hardly ever used but can be very helpful in your instruction.  They were designed to help users with vision, hearing and mobility challenges.  One of my favorites is the magnification, which will reduce your screen slightly, but magnify wherever you move your mouse and show it at the top of the screen. This is pretty handy when you want students to see a web address that you didn’t bookmark or link for them.

To access these tools, click on the Start menu / All Programs / Accessories / Accessibility.  There is a wizard that will walk you through selecting the appropriate tool.

• Magnifier: Magnifies wherever you scroll your mouse and displays that in the top portion of the screen.  You can change the magnification, invert the screen, etc.  Press the Exit button when you want to stop the magnification.
• Narrator:  This tool will read the menu commands. You can change the voice and the speed of the voice.
• On-Screen Keyboard: This will bring up a floating keyboard that might be handy if you are away from the keyboard using a wireless mouse.  It might also be helpful to use with primary students as the main keyboard displays lowercase letters.
• Utility Manager: Allows you to control the above options.

Again, my favorite of these is the Magnifier, but I don’t like to have to click through all the menus to get to that tool.  So instead, I unlock my taskbar (right click/Lock the Taskbar) and drag the Magnifier icon from the Start menu and drop it in the task bar.  That way you can easily get to it.

When my son, Joe, was born, there were lots of pictures taken. You know the story…first child, grandchild.  Living over 2,000 miles from family, naturally we were sending lots of pictures home.  After sending one batch, my mother-in-law suggested I get in the habit of dating them.  While that was a pain, I am grateful for her suggestion as all of my pictures not only have dates, but I often included the event and those pictured.

[Enter new technology and digital cameras.]  While I print very few pictures, I do save most of the shots I take.  And if you’ve programmed your camera with the correct date, each picture has a time stamp associated with it.  But, labeling the files is still a chore.  Here’s an easy tip to ‘do it all at once’ instead of having files that read something like “DCM_0001, DCM0002, etc.”

Click and highlight all the files names that go together (e.g., Christmas 2009, Super Bowl 2010).  The easiest way to do that is to click on the first slide, hold your Ctrl key down and click all the other pictures that go in that group to select multiple picture (or Shift to click on the last picture in a contiguous list). 

RIGHT click on the first file and click on “Rename.”  (See below.) Key in a logical description for this group of pictures and then click off that file.  Instantly all the files will be renamed with that same name followed by (1), (2), etc. 

Now go get those digital pictures organized AND labeled!