Useful Technology Links and Care tips for the Home
Technology is a vast and ever changing landscape and to keep up with it, well you could go broke. New Phones coming out every year, new Computers and Operating systems to load or update to the latest and the greatest.
But with some simple information and care, technology can last a lot longer than expected.
Below you will find links that will take you to different sites off of Shelley School Districts website and we these sites may not be ADA compliant.
Some simple rules to note when using Technology devices and or carrying them with you from place to place.
Take care to not drop, hit, or mishandle your device. Dropping and hitting the device can cause not just damage to the screen but also damage to internal parts and or the body of the device thus rendering it either unusable or unstable and will need repair.
As for mishandling of your device there are a few things we should all do to help keep our devices working as long as possible, and some of these are:
Do not leave in the car or a place that can get extremely Cold or Hot. When a device gets too cold like a laptop, and you start it up without proper warm up time the screen will shatter due to the fact it is below normal working temperatures and you just lit a fire behind it which the screen can seem like when turned on. Also in Extreme heat like your car this can damage a device by de-soldering chips, and or connections inside your computer or device and or damage the hardware beyond repair.
So remember keep it with you or someplace safe. This will help save in the long run on replacement and repairs.
Make sure you have some kind of protection on your device to ensure it is not hijacked or infected.
A free software to protect your system is never the best option. With the complexity of some of these attacks like Malware’s, Viruses, Ransomware’s etc., a free solution is not the way to go. Most paid systems have a fall back to help you if you get infected.
We cannot recommend anything, however shop around. Find something that will not only protect you and help backup your most sensitive data and your photos, but it will also have something to help you if you get infected and loose data or get a ransomware.
Now as for software, there are many free software alternatives that work just as fine as some of the ones out there that cost big money.
You don’t have to break the bank to find and use software to do that one simple task you need done. Some of these software’s and their links are listed below to help you see what is out there for your use and can help ease the strain on the pocket book to help keep costs down.
| Libre Office Suite | Libre Office Home Page | This is a free and full featured office suite. Just as powerful as the 'other'office, but free to use. | ||
| Apache Open Office | Open Office Home Page | Apache Open Office software suite has been around a long time and is still one of the best out there for the Home or Office without the heafty price tag. | ||
| Google Docs | Google Home Page | Well this has to be on the list also. If you have a Google GMail account you already have access to Google Docs, Drive, etc. It is not as powerful as some of the ones listed above but if you need a good word precessor or spread sheet, then this one works as well. | ||
| 7-Zip File Compression | 7-Zip Compression Home | 7-Zip is a free file archiver like Winzip, but has a lot more features and is free under the open source licenses. | ||
| VLC Media Player | VLC Media Player Home | VLC is a free and open source Multimedia player that allows you to play DVDs. Audio CDs and other streaming protocols for free. It does have a learning curve in some areas but is powerful for any system. | ||
| Sumatra PDF Reader | Sumatra PDF Reader Home | Sumatra PDF is a free PDF, eBook (ePub, Mobi), XPS, DjVu, CHM, Comic Book (CBZ and CBR) reader for Windows. | ||
| Audacity Audio Editing | Audacity Free Audio Editor Home | For some of you who want to dabble in the audio world, Audacity is one of the best Free, Open Source, Cross platform audio software out there. | ||
| Notepad++ | Notepad++ Home | Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement with support for multiple languages. | ||
| Darktable Photo Editor | Darktable Home | Darktable is a great open source Photography workflow application and RAW photo developer. It basically is a virtual light table and darkroom for photographers. | ||
| Inkscape | Inkscape Graphics Editor Home | If you are a illustrator, desinger, web designeror just want to draw something, then INKSCAPE is for you, and it is free! |