How to Backup Your Files to Network Home

An important part of maintaining your computer needs to be backing up the files that you use. An easy way to do that is to upload a file, and any type of file will work, to your Google Drive. This is recommended for files that you want to share with other people that are not confidential. Another way to backup your files is to use your Network Home folder. The following video will show you how:



The follow-up video below will tell you the difference between "synching" and "copying" when backing up your files and shows you how to make sure the most recent copies of your files are backed up to your Network Home folder:



Cautionary note: it is important to know which folder you are working in. Do not accidentally make changes in your files on Network Home instead of on your computer.  The Network Home folder should be opened only when files are being added and closed again immediately afterwards.

How to Clean-up your Desktop (and why)

This video will show you how to clean up your desktop and tell you why (hint: a clean desktop leads to a faster computer).  It shows you how to make a folder, move that folder to 'documents', and then make an alias of that folder on your desktop for easy access.

Google Drive 101

Created for the OES Open Block Series:
This video is a beginner's guide to using Google Drive at OES.  It covers how to find Google Drive and tells about the main folders My Drive, Shared With Me, and Recent.  It presents the three ways one can obtain a file in Drive: create one, upload one, and someone else sharing one.  It briefly talks about how to share a file with other people.

How to Repair Permissions on a Mac

Watch this video to see how to repair permission on your Mac computer.  Permissions is the tool your computer uses to know which programs are allowed to (or have permission to) access which files on your computer.  When an update to your operating system is installed, these permissions can get out-of-whack.  Therefore, after every large update, you should repair permissions.

How to Update your Software on a Mac

Watch this video to see how to update the software on your Mac computer.  Updates are available from software developers who have made their programs better in some way, which can lead to improved efficiency and faster speeds.  Software updates should be done at least once a month.

Create a Dropbox Account

Dropbox is a very useful tool for sharing large files.  It is a free service that allows you to upload and access files from any computer, anywhere, through your personal username and password.  In addition, if you install the app on your mobile device (phone, touch, iPad) or your laptop, Dropbox will keep all files synchronized.  Every change made in the file on your iPad will be automatically updated to your laptop and every other device.  

This sounds a lot like Google Apps, right?  Well there is a big difference.  The maximum size of any file you want to upload to Google Apps is 2MB.  The file size you upload to Dropbox is only limited to the amount of space you have in your Dropbox account.  You begin with 2GB of free storage and can get more space by inviting other people to get an account.

Here is a link to a handout on how to accept an invitation from someone to get a Dropbox account.

How to Configure Dropbox

Hiding Old Pages from Your Class Website

At this time of the year, it can be very helpful to simply hide the pages you used last year on your class website that either are obsolete information, but a useful reference for your planning for this year's site.  Keeping a page connected to your site, yet making it invisible to visitors is not as hard as you might think.  What you really need to understand is the way websites and all of its pages are organized and how a Navigation Sidebar works.

Here is a link to a document that shows you using text and static pictures how to see and understand your site's pages and how to manually manage the Navigation gadget in your website's sidebar.

Managing a Sites Pages and Navigation Gadget

If you would rather watch a screencast of me demonstrating the process, play the video below.

This is the video on how to set navigation to manual and choose which pages are accessible to the public on your site:

Click on this link to the YouTube video for a larger view:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8seio7UeTsg

This is the video that demonstrates how to add a newly created page to the sidebar when automatic navigation is turned off.  Follow these directions to add links to pages and change their position in the list in the sidebar.

Here is the YouTube video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aj7KZZPNCk

I hope this helped.