Whether you’re brand new to computers or a veteran, it’s good to go over some things that you should know and do before you get started working on your (super fun) projects.

First, log in. Your user name is: your first initial a dot, then your last name (some people add a number afterward)

ex: g.waters
or: g.waters2

Your password is: The first three letters of your first name (CAPITAL ON THE FIRST ONE ONLY) then the first three letters of your last name then the last 3 numbers of your student ID

ex: Geowat123

Remember to keep your log in SECRET! You do not want anyone logging in as you and messing up your work or doing something bad that you will get blamed for!

 

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For the next section, the video immediately below will show you everything that is written below that, so you can choose to either watch the video, read the instructions, or both!

Once you’re logged in, your desktop will look something like this:

You will see a couple of quick launch icons on the desktop and a Recycle Bin where files go when you delete them.

 

Down in the bottom right you’ll see a Start button

Clicking that gets you an area where you can open programs and sometimes see information like the weather:

Next to that is a search bar:

You can use this like Google (even though it launches another horrible search engine called Bing. It should be called Barf.)

Typing in a question or something like that will initiate an Internet search:

You can also ask it to do things like convert units for you:

And it will display the results for you:

This is a great way to get the answer to simple math questions and things like that!

You can also use this bar to launch programs. Type in the name of a program you want to open (like my favourite Internet browser, Firefox):

And it’ll give you a quick link to launch that program:

Beside that, you’ll see something called the Task Bar, which includes links to commonly used programs (and a couple of useless ones…)

   

That blue E launches a horrible browser that no sane person should ever use. I get tired of seeing it there, but you can remove it by RIGHT CLICKING on it. To RIGHT CLICK you either use a mouse and click the button on the right side OR tap on the track pad on your laptop with TWO FINGERS AT THE SAME TIME (NOT the same thing as a double click!)

When you RIGHT CLICK, you’ll get the name of the horrible program and the chance to Unpin it from the taskbar so you never have to see its ugly face again. Do it!

Next to that piece of junk is a program that we use A LOT! This program is called File Explorer and it helps you to locate, open, move, or rename files (or a whole bunch of other cool options!)

Opening up File Explorer will launch a window like this:

On the left, you will see a bunch of common locations. DOCUMENTS is one of only TWO safe places to save your files. If you save files into DOCUMENTS, you will be able to see them from any computer in the school:

Down in the bottom right corner there are two options for viewing your files, one is a list of details, like you see above. If you click the other one, you can see a “thumbnail” preview of the file:

Now those same files look like this. This allows us to know what a picture is of without opening it.

Next to that is another totally useless program:

Get rid of that one too!

In the bottom right corner you’ll see a few things as well.

You will see whether you’re connected to the Internet or not with the little wi-fi icon. Sometimes that gets turned off for some reason. If you can’t connect to the Internet, check to make sure that is turned on.

If you can’t connect to the Internet, you may be on Flight Mode for some reason. If that’s on, you can’t connect.

OR…

Sometimes Mr. Robson will catch you doing something you shouldn’t be doing on your computer (I see EVERYTHING!) and will turn off your Internet!

You can also see how good your battery is on the laptop. If they don’t get plugged in properly they can get low. You should notice before it dies!

 

There’s also a little arrow that you can click to Show hidden icons:

One of those icons connects you to OneDrive. OneDrive is where you will drop off your work to me and also a great place to store your files so that you can have access to them on ANY computer or device, even when you’re not at school.

See the OneDrive post for more information about how & why to use that application/site!