Tech Tips – Page 39

What’s Your Crash Plan?

Did you know that SMU has a backup service for University owned, primary computers?

CrashPlan Pro is a software application that Faculty and Staff can install on Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms via LanDesk. After installation, it performs a complete backup of your profile or home directory (file folder structure). If you store your files in the default locations (My Documents, Desktop etc.), those will be included.

CrashPlan-Pro-webpage

Once the initial backup is complete, the application will backup any changes every three hours. Although the process runs continuously in the background, it utilizes very few resources. This process is fully automated and requires no user intervention! When you need to recover data, there’s a quick and easy process to locate the folders or files you need from the backup client.

It’s secure too! The backup is completely encrypted. That means your data is protected by an algorithm that only your SMU ID and password can unlock.

For more information about eligibility, obtaining the software, restoring data, and more, please visit our service page http://www.smu.edu/BusinessFinance/OIT/Services/Backup.

How to fix common Mavericks problems?

This post by Digital Trends highlights some of the common issues and fixes with Mac OS X Mavericks.

Get iPhoto working again in Mavericks
Fix the slow Time Machine problem and make it run faster
Reinstall Java after upgrading to Mavericks
Make iCloud save your password
Keep Mail from crashing
Fix the constant Welcome to Mail message problem
Fix the Time Machine Mavericks install issue
Fix a buggy Menu Bar in OS X Mavericks
Make iWork, iPhoto, iLife and other apps work in Mavericks
Fix the ‘Contacts app not syncing’ problem
Fix the Wi-Fi disconnect problem

Discover New Features in Microsoft Word (Part 2)

By Rachel Mulry

In Part 1 of this article, we discussed Quick Parts, creating your own templates, and the Screenshot tool. Today we’ll continue with two powerful Word features.

Navigation view: If you use the styles in Word, not only can you create a consistent polished document, but you can also use the Navigation view to help rearrange and jump to various portions of the file quickly. You can enable navigation view from the View menu, or you can simply click on the page number in the bottom left corner of the screen. There are three options in the navigation panel. Viewing by headings allows you to view the overall structure of your document but also allows you to reorder the sections in a document simply by dragging and dropping! The page view displays a thumbnail image of each page in the document. You can jump to the desired page by clicking the thumbnail. The results view allows you to search for words, images etc in your document and then navigate to each instance where that search term was detected. To turn off the navigation view, just click on the page number on the bottom left and you’re back to full screen view of your document.
Available actions properties: I admit I stumbled across this nifty feature while I was writing this article!
By default, the available actions menu is turned off. However, once it is enabled it will allow you to right click on certain types of data and select from additional options. For example, you could right click on a data and create a calendar appointment! Or right click on an email address and add it to your Outlook contacts. To enable this feature, click File—Options—Proofing— AutoCorrect. Click the Actions tab. Then check “enable additional actions in the right-click menu”. Select the types of data that you wish to enable these actions. Click OK. When you are viewing or creating a document, simply right click on the text and a new “additional actions” field will appear.

These are just a few of the many powerful features in Word. There are so many others waiting to be discovered! So be adventurous! Click through those menus on the ribbon or view a few new tutorials to discover something new in Word today!

Got a pic? Send a Postagram!

Last week my buddy Ian provided some practical tips for using Instagram. To follow up with his theme I thought I’d share an idea of what you can do with a pic once you have it looking the way you want.

My husband recently took this selfie of us, he edited the photo to give us the glasses, and then posted it online. I liked it so much that I wanted to make a card out of it to surprise a dear college friend, so she would know I hadn’t actually forgotten her birthday. Below is my “Here’s celebrating you!” birthday postcard. Truth be told, I’m lousy at taking the time to shop and send cards, but this was so quick, easy and fun that I had to do it.

Postagram allows you to send your photos as real postcards. And let’s face it, in this day and age with technology and social media taking over, every once in a while you want to get some fun snail mail! So, if you’re getting ready for that next vacation or spring break trip, why not use one of your own photos as a postcard?

You can download the app (available on android or iphone) or upload photos to the postagram. Photos need to be .PNG, .JPG or .GIF , should be at least 612 x 612, and can’t exceed 8MB. If you are using the app, simply select your photo or login to Instagram, Facebook, or Dropbox to get your pic. Then, crop and scale your photo and hit continue.

Finally, personalize your postcard message and click continue. Once you do, you’ll be directed to your contacts. You can select a recipient from your address book or enter a new address if needed.

I guarantee you, send one of these and you’ll make someone very happy! By the way, while I’m talking about taking and posting pics, consider sending us your favorite Valentine themed SMU pic @smuoit in our Valentine photo contest. We’d love to see who and what you love at SMU!