Category: Windows
Tech Tip #5: Where Did the Taskbar Go?
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: Where Did the Taskbar Go?
Category: PC, Keyboarding
Q: Some programs hide the taskbar when they open. How do I access the Start button when that happens?
A: Push the flying windows (between Ctrl and Alt) to bring up the Start button.
It might have disappeared because it’s set to Autohide. Here’s how to fix that:
- Hover over the area where the taskbar lives.
- If it appears, right click on it and select Properties. Go to the Taskbar tab.
- Make sure the box that says Autohide isn’t checked.
If the taskbar doesn’t appear, hover over the extreme bottom edge of the screen. If a double-headed arrow appears, click and drag up to bring your toolbar back from the edge.
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What’s your favorite tech tip in your classroom? Share it in the comments below.
Tech Tip #14: Desktop Icons Disappear?
As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions about computers. As often as possible, I’ll share those with you as well as my solutions. They’re always brief and focused. Enjoy! (more…)
#3: Make Your Own Wallpaper
Kids love personalizing their computer stations. Show them how to create their own wallpaper using internet pictures, pictures on the computer, or their own photos or drawings (more…)
Tech Tip #34: My Program Froze
As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!
Q: I’m writing a very (very) important paper and all of a sudden, the screen froze. I can’t save it, or anything else. What do I do?
A: Programs do freeze for no reason sometimes, but not often (I’m assuming you take care of your computer–don’t download with abandon, update it occasionally). Before you declare a dog-ate-my-homework sort of catastrophe, try this: (more…)
Tech Tip #68: Make Desktop Icons Big or Little
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: Make Desktop Icons Big or Little
Category: Problem-solving
Q: The desktop icons are tiny on my desktop. I don’t know how it happened, so I don’t know how to undo it. Please help!
A: This solution I learned in self-defense, like many other tips I share, when my students figured it out and made my desktop icons HUGE or tiny. Here’s how to fix that:
- Highlight all desktop icons by clicking and dragging a box around them.
- Push Ctrl and roll the mouse wheel. It enlarges or delarges them.
That’s it. How wonderful. I no longer have to squint at icons too small for my eyes.
Sign up for a new tip each week or buy the entire 169 Real-world Ways to Put Tech into Your Classroom.
What’s your favorite tech tip in your classroom? Share it in the comments below.
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.
Tech Tip #16: What’s Today’s Date?
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: What’s Today’s Date?
Category: PC, MSO, Keyboarding
Q: I never remember the date. Is there a shortcut for people like me?
A: Push Shift+Alt+D. That puts the current date into any Word document (use Ctrl+; in Excel and Google Sheets).
Be aware: This inserted date will update every time you open the document. If you want the date to memorialize the document, skip the shortkey.
Other ways:
- Hover over the clock and it tells you the date.
- Start typing the date in a Word doc and Word finishes it for you.
Sign up for a new tip each week or buy the entire 169 Real-world Ways to Put Tech into Your Classroom.
What’s your favorite tech tip in your classroom? Share it in the comments below.
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.
Tech Tip #91: Rollback Windows Updates
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: Rollback Windows Updates
Category: PCs, Problem-solving
Q: Windows automatically updated and now one of my programs freezes. What do I do?
A: Go into the Updates list and uninstall the one addressing your problem program. Here’s how you do it:
- Go to Start button>All programs>Windows Updates; select ‘view updates’. Or, search ‘Windows Updates’.
- Select ‘View update history’
- Select ‘Uninstall updates’.
- That takes you to a screen with all of the updates. It will instruct you:
To uninstall an update, select it from the list and click Uninstall or Change’
If things don’t return to normal, see Tech Tip #41 to restore to an earlier date that worked.
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.
Tech Tip #14: Desktop Icons Disappeared
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: Desktop Icons Disappeared
Category: PC
Q: My desktop icons disappeared for no known reason. What do I do?
A: This is a question I get often. One moment, shortcuts are lined up like little soldiers. The next, not. Try:
- Right click on the desktop.
- Select
- Make sure ‘Show Desktop Icons’ is checked.
Desktop icons reappear.
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What’s your favorite tech tip in your classroom? Share it in the comments below.
Tech Tip #105: Create Shortkeys for Windows Tools
As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!
Q: I love the Windows snipping tool, but it takes too long to get to. Is there a shortkey for it?
A: Oddly, there isn’t, which is why I didn’t use it for a long time. I want a screen capture that’s instantaneous. Jing is even too slow for me (though I tolerate it because of all its cool annotations.
Then I discovered how to create a shortkey for Snipping Tool:
- Go to Start–accessories
- Right click on ‘snipping tool’
- Select ‘properties’
- Click in ‘shortcut’
- Push the key combination you want to use to invoke the snipping tool. In my case, I used Ctrl+Alt+S
- Save
Now all I have to do is remember the shortkey!
BTW, this works for any tool.
Tech Tip #22: Quick Exit from 97% of Programs
As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!
Q: My child has a program on the computer and I can’t figure out how to get out of it. There’s no File-exit, no menu. What do I do?
A: Try the old standby from Windows’ earliest days–Alt+F4. It works on almost all programs. I use it on the kindergarten programs in my lab all the time.
More tips on Windows:
Tech Tip #69:Change Size of Desktop Icons
