ITS Quick Tips

To keep your file’s format when you share your files with other people or print your files by using commercial methods, you can use Office programs to save files as PDFs without needing additional software or add-ins. Use PDF format when you want a file that: Looks the same on most computers. Has a small file size. Complies with an industry format. Examples include resumes, legal documents, newsletters, files intended to only be read and ...

Test your password complexity by navigating to https://howsecureismypassword.net/ From here you can see how secure your password is by entering it into the dialog box. Password not secure enough? Find out why multi-word Phrases make for more secure Passwords than Incomprehensible Gibberish We've always argued that the most secure password is one you don't even know, and is basically incomprehensible. Security expert Thomas Baekdal argues that these incomprehensible passwords—while secure—are not as secure as ...

Have a laptop and want to get more battery life out of it? Windows 7 includes a hidden built-in tool that will examine your laptop's energy use and make recommendations on how to improve it. To use it: 1. Run a command prompt as an administrator. To do this, type cmd in the search box, and when the cmd icon appears, right-click it and choose "Run as administrator." 2. At the command line, type in the following: powercfg ...

Most of us use our computers to manipulate and work with data in some format. It could be something as simple as last week’s homework, something as personal as last month’s pictures from your trip to the Grand Canyon, or something as private last year’s tax returns. Regardless of what the data is, we all care about the personal stuff stored on our computers. The best way to secure your data is to back ...

How to recognize phishing email messages Phishing email messages, websites, and phone calls are designed to steal money. Cybercriminals can do this by installing malicious software on your computer or stealing personal information off of your computer. Cybercriminals also use social engineering to convince you to install malicious software or hand over your personal information under false pretenses. They might email you, call you on the phone, or convince you to download ...

Ever notice how people texting at night have that eerie blue glow? Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by your computer screen? During the day, computer screens look good—they're designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM, 10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn't be looking at the sun.  Flux fixes this: it makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of ...

Need to record a video lecture or tutorial for a class? Throw away the VCR, forget about using a DV cam, video capture recording has never been easier! Fraps and Camstudio are easy to use programs to record all screen and audio activity on your computer. Both programs are free to use. Download source: http://camstudio.org/ Download source: http://www.fraps.com/”  

“Particularly high on the list of things that annoy people about Windows 8 is the omission of the Desktop's Start menu. You can purchase a third party software such as Start8 from Stardock for $4.99 or create one with the instructions below. First make sure that you can view hidden files in File Explorer. Follow Steps below to show hidden files. 1.    From the Windows 8 Start Screen, select the Windows Explorer....

Use hidden international wallpapers and themes in Windows 7 by following the instructions below. 1. In the search box in the Start menu, typeC:\Windows\Globalization\MCT and press Enter. (Note: If Windows 7 is installed in a drive other than C:, use that letter instead.) 2. Windows Explorer will launch and show you a list of subfolders underC:\Windows\Globalization\MCT: MCT-AU, MCT-CA, MCT-GB, MCT-US, and MCT-ZA. Each subfolder has wallpapers for a specific country: AU ...

To open these applications through shortcut keys, simply hold down the Windows key and press the number on the keyboard that corresponds with the icon, working from the Start "orb" button to the right. For example, if Internet Explorer is the first icon, press Windows-1 to open IE, if Google Chrome is your second, press Windows-2, and so on.

Looking to buy a new computer? Use OIT’s EPP program and get a discounted Dell computer. Please call 800-695-8133 option 2 or visit www.dell.com/epp to purchase a system.

You can use Google's Advanced Search if you're researching for a class project or paper. It's a quick and easy way to understand a topic and gather sources. Search for exact phrases, use Boolean arguments, filter by website, and more. Visit the advanced search at http://www.google.com/advanced_search.

Would you like to save a Word document as a PDF? Click File, Save As, then change the “Save as type:” option to PDF

Printing files from a USB flash drive to the Smart printers / Sharp.   Below are the instructions to accessing files to and from a flash drive via printer.   1.  Login via username and password or Student ID   2. Select HDD file retrieve 3. Select file from USB memory to print 4. Choose printing Settings 5. Select print Type of formats the printer can see are Jpg. and PDF, .Docx will not be ...

“Do you have to include a table of contents in your report? Utilize Word 2007 and above’s styles option on the top right on the ‘home’ tab. Simply highlight the title of each section and hit ‘Heading 1.’ To generate the table of contents for all the headings, go to the ‘Reference’ tab, and hit ‘Table of Contents’ on the left. An added advantage of this is that you can easily change the style of ...

Need to quickly learn what movies are opening this weekend? Type ‘movie’ in a Google search and a list will come up for your location.

“There are secret pranks and jokes inside the Google search engine called “Easter Eggs.” In Google Maps, get walking directions from “The Shire” to “Mordor” and you will find a silly caution error. Start typing in the Google web search, “Do a barrel roll,” and prepare for the screen to be turned upside down. Many more Easter Eggs are only a Google search away.”

Do you frequently access a specific folder, but have to click through a large tree of folders to get to it? Right-click this folder, hover over “Send to”, and click “Desktop (create shortcut)”. This command will create a short-cut link to the specific folder on your desktop. This can be handy if you frequently access a folder on the T: drive.

Did you know that the word TYPEWRITER is the longest word one can type on a single keyboard row? Or have you heard that the word STEWARDESSES is the longest word one can type with only their left-hand (without cheating)? Sometimes we need to catch up on our typing skills for school or work. Index-finger-typing is no excuse! Go to www.typingweb.com to freshen-up and get faster at typing.

Peter Norton of the fabled Norton antivirus program once said that there was no such thing as a computer virus and considered the whole idea some sort of hoax. Whether this is fact or fiction, keep your antivirus software up-to-date so your computer is protected. The consequences of catching a virus can include: causing your computer to be very slow, loss of productivity, and losing your personal data. If you have no antivirus, a free ...

Would like to have a link to your favorite web page on your desktop? Create a shortcut to a web page by following the below steps. 1) Open the web page you wish to create a shortcut for. 2) Resize your browser window so it's not maximized. 3) Once in a window mode click the icon to the left of the Internet address in the address bar and drag it to your desktop and let ...

In Windows 7, hold down the windows key and hit one of the arrow keys to manipulate the current window. Hit the windows key  plus: up-arrow to maximize the current window, down-arrow to minimize current window, left-arrow to left-align the current window, and right-arrow to right-align the current window. When one window is left-aligned and another window is right-aligned, you can easily browse both windows as if you had dual computer screens!

Want to browse the web faster? Use keyboard shortcut or "hotkeys" with your favorite browser. Hit "Ctrl" and "T" at the same time to open a new tab (abbreviated "Ctrl"+"T"). Hit "Ctrl"+"F" to find a phrase or word on the current page. One little known shortcut is completing an address with the ".com" extension by hitting "Ctrl"+"Enter" E.g. type "google" followed by "Ctrl"+"Enter" and you'll be taken to www.google.com.  Visit http://bit.ly/PMrHdD to find more ...

Ever curious about the academic background of your professor? Find Ph.D.s, theses, projects, and papers that your instructor created during their education. Go to "scholar.google.com" and select the drop down menu in the search bar. In the field titled "Return articles authored by" type the name of your professor. Google Scholar will do a search and display all documents by your instructor! For more accurate results, make the first and middle name capitalized initials. E.g. ...

Send a message to multiple people without revealing other recipients' identities To send a message to someone without other recipients of the message knowing, use the Bcc line in the message. Bcc stands for blind carbon copy. If you add someone's name to the Bcc line, a copy of the message is sent to that person, but his or her name is not visible to other recipients.”