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Friday, February 8, 2013

Day 5 - TALENT


This post written by Jim Derk, Senior Director of Information Technology at United Companies.

When I was a child in school the old joke was “the dog ate my homework.” In today’s digital world, it’s “my thumb drive went through the washing machine.”

We live in a fast-changing world and there is no area changing faster than computers and technology. Parents and teachers expect more and more “digital competence” from students these days and teens rarely fail to deliver. If you ever can’t work something that plugs in, ask a 13-year-old for help.

The best part of the new world is the ease of use.
The first computers, as wonderful as they were, came with clunky operating systems and 1,000 page manuals.

My iPad came with an Apple sticker for my car window.

But as Voltaire (and Spiderman’s uncle Ben) said, “with great power comes great responsibility.” So we have to learn to be good digital citizens. Some key things I have learned over the years in my IT wanderings I hope will leave you with some thoughts:

  • When you create a file, name it in a way you can find it later. A hard drive full of files that are named “aaaaaa.docx” don’t help you much when you need to find something you need. Instead, name your paper about Voltaire “Research paper about Voltaire 2013.docx” Having the topic and the year in the title will greatly speed up your searches.
  • Thumb drives are junk. There’s a reason they cost $5 at the bookstore. Don’t save your two weeks of work to a thumb drive as your only version. Instead, you work on your hard drive and save a COPY on your thumb drive to take to school and amaze your teacher. Keep a copy in both places. If you’re hard core, save another version to your Google Cloud. It’s free and won’t get lost in the laundry.
  • Create folders on your hard drive (right-click and pick NEW) for various topics and create some order in your chaos. All of your documents don’t have to be dumped in MY DOCUMENTS. You can have a 2013 Folder and under that have ENGLISH or even SCHOOL STUFF. 
  • When you hit START on Windows 7, that white box at the bottom left will search your whole hard drive for anything you have on it. So if you think you wrote a paper about the French Revolution but can’t find it, you can type anything in that box and it will find it. (Assuming it’s not only on a thumb drive you left in your locker.)
  • If you drag something to the trash, it’s not deleted until you empty the trash can. (Even then it’s not really deleted to a computer geek, but that’s for another day). So if you need something back, check the trash can.
  • The most important thing you can do is make a back-up version of your most important files and data. I have been a digital hero more than once after I was able to recover priceless photos of weddings and children, tax records and even a doctoral thesis from crashed hard drives. But that process is expensive and hard. Protect yourself and make sure you use an external hard drive or an Internet service to back up your computer files to another location.

Those are just a few of the tips I have picked up in my digital life. What do you do in yours to keep your digital life organized and safe?

148 comments:

  1. well for school they have the H drive i put all my school stuff in there and any computer that i have i can still get my files that i need on there i dont worrie about the h drive messing up and at home i just use a flash drive for a back up one so i have copies of the stuff i need

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  2. I like to make a dropbox or online storer because what if my phone gets damaged or my ipod gets broken I won't lose all my pictures and numbers I have. Plus they will always be there no matter where I go. And also it is free .

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  3. All my documents for school are save on an online website so I don't loose them on my computer. At my house, all of my pictures are saved on a CD and kept in the family album just incase the computer lost it. It is always good to save your work in more than one place.

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    1. Brittany - You raise a very good point. It is ALWAYS a good idea to have multiple back-ups. The more important the data, the more important that it resides in multiple locations, especially one away from home like Dropbox or another cloud storage option.

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  4. I preach to my students endlessly about getting a cloud account somewhere to save their documents. There are many free accounts out there you can use. Some are Dropbox.com, thebox.com, sugarsync.com, all are completely free and you can access them from any internet device. So no more lugging around your computer. We all know netbooks take a lot of abuse during the day, and when they are down, your stuff is probably going to be gone when you get them back. SAVE IT TO THE CLOUD AND YOU WILL HAVE IT, ANY TIME, ANYWHERE!!!

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  5. Another good way to keep your documents secure is to save them on the drive provided by the school! This means you can access the files saved on it from any school netbook or computer. You can find it by clicking the 'Start' button and then 'Computer'. Look under Network Location, and there will be a drive under your first name.last name! -Cynthia Sanford, Bosse.

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  6. The way I keep my digital safe and oganized is save it on a flash drive. Also I put that flash drive on a necklace, so i remember that it is around my neck so i will not lose it. Then I save my stuff on my computer in a folder that has all my information on it. Well another thing is I also save my information in a online page where they give 5gb to save your stuff in a folder.

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  7. My teacher Mrs.Market always is telling me to save my stuff on dropbox.com. She said its a good way to have your stuff all together. And it has easy access to get your documents.
    This is D'Romeo Cunningham, I'm Central Highschool.

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  8. I think that it's important to keep your things organized because if your not organized then things in your phone will go missing and you'll loose things and you'll never see them again. I think it's important for someone to keep their organizations properly organized also because you might loose your information on the computer

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  9. What ever your skill. What ever your sport. Just be you. Don't be afraid to show yourself. You can be who ever you want to be. You can be you.

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  10. I title everything and I don't save it to a flash drive. I use my school gmail and regular gmail account to save documents and pictures so just in case something happens to my computer I'll always have my stuff.

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  11. Getting a cloud account or just any account to save your work is a good idea. Saving it on your computer or flash drive isn't always gonna be there. Your computer could get taken away or it could brake, ect. Putting it on a flash drive isn't a smooth move either. Your flash drive is small so there for it could easily get lost. You could forget it's in your pocket and wash it and it's ruined! Save it to a cloud, flash drive and hard drive just in case something does go wrong.

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    1. Plaza Park International Prep Academy- That is so true

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  12. One really helpful way to save yourself from losing documents is to save them on the school provided drive! Doing so, you'll be able to access your files from any netbook or school computer. To find it, click the 'Start' button and then 'Computer'. Next, look under Network Location. The drive will be your first name.last name!

    -Cynthia Sanford, Bosse

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  13. Central High School

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  14. Morgan Tighe Central High School-The most important thing to do is back up everything your pictures, documents EVERYTHING I don't back up my stuff but now im gonna start

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    1. Great to hear. The dentist says "only floss the teeth you want to keep." In IT we say, "only back up the stuff you want to save." I can't tell you how many people have brought me broken hard drives, ruined thumb drives and smashed ipads that contained their only copy of something... baby pictures, tax returns, master's thesis.... and then what if your laptop is stolen. Back it up!

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  15. I use Folders. And keywords that discribe what I'm naming. So i can easily find it later.

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  16. Technology is great and we use it here at school all the time. I don't have one teacher that has never used technology

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  17. The trick with a cloud account remains security... don't forget to use a password that only you know and not a simple word or something easy to guess. And learn from the hacking of former President Bush today and Sarah Palin a few years ago... don't make your password recovery questions easy to hack too. For example, a common question to get your password is "what city were you born?" something easily gleaned from any Facebook account. So I have picked a faraway and exotic city to use as my answer to that question if I ever use that one.

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    1. Great advice!

      Here's a link to the article on President George H.W. Bush getting hacked:
      http://abcn.ws/V3H41Q

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  18. How I keep my digital life is not the best and I'm not the greatest at organization. I usually just stick all my homework and different files into my folder and I just save it anywhere. I should really find a different routine. After reading this article, I'm gonna start naming my files and getting my stuff in order.

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  19. I don't really know much about this stuff because I'm not in to all the technology but I mainly save all my stuff to my documents. I never really had a problem with losing all my stuff so I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing. I mainly just save all of my important papers and work in my documents.

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    1. Noah - You are lucky. Let me tell you that the day will come when a hard drive fails, or your netbook gets dopped and all will be lost. Back-up your stuff...you're tempting fate!

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    2. ok thanks for the info

      Evansville Central High School

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  20. I always use h drive at school to save all my work for a class.

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  21. Noah, you are VERY lucky. As technology has become cheaper (when I was your age the computer was a typewriter :)) there has been a resulting reduction in quality as profit margins have been squeezed. When a laptop was $4,000 there was quite a bit of quality in a hard drive; today you can get a laptop at Wal-Mart for $299 that contains more computing power than Apollo 11. And those components are cheaper to manufacture and fail more often.

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  22. I keep everything that I do for school in folders that I created on the desktop. I made one folder for each and every class, so I know where to find anything I go after.

    Also, in each folder, I have subfolders for notes, projects, and assignments.

    I'm an organized piece of work.

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    1. Andrew - Good organizational strategy. Now, what are you plans for backing that info up in preparation for the day your computer dies. And it will happen...

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    2. Well, I'll just use the flash drive. However, I use every strategy I can to ensure that the computer doesn't die. Or at least lasts as long as it possibly can.

      Problem is, Flash Drives are a scarcity at my house.

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  23. i save mine on the computer and on the flash drive just to be safe

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    Replies
    1. And when you lose your flash drive in the laundry and your hard drive dies..... :)

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  24. Plaza park national prep academy
    I learned how to change the font and other things my dad right before are old comoputer crashed like a like a few months ago like two months before it crashed mydad got one of those backup devices i forgot the name he back up the computer so we have all the photos that can not be replaced we have put onour computer.

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  25. I already do things like naming my files correctly and I also have all of my documents seperated into which class they are for. I find that it is much easier to find what I want when I want it. I also backup all of my work on 2 flashdrives and also on my home computer, so that if something does get deleted on accident, I will have it whenever and wherever I want.

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    1. Good for you Dawson! Read again, though, about flash drives in the article. Is there another way you make absolutely sure your documents are safe?

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  26. Everyone has a talent and even if they don't know what it is yet they do have one. One of my talents is being a gamer. You might say that being a gamer is not a talent but it is. If you are good at something then that is your talent. If you haven't found your talent then start looking because you will never know if you don't start.

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  27. I make sure that if I am doing a project on my laptop or computer, I always have a backup copy just in case. I will usually save it on a thumb drive. I get folders for each of my classes and make sure all of my work and homework are organized.

    Jimmy Hoang, North Junoir High School

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  28. What I do to keep my digital life organized is, first, I never give out my password to anyone. If I did, someone could hack into my account and post bad things. I also don't have my account settings on public it is on private. This way nobody can look me up if they don't know me and stalk me or some manner. I also keep my digital life organized by always writing down my password so I never forget it. This will keep me safe and organized when I use digital devices.

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    1. That's a good start Zach but if you read the earlier posts this week you will see that "private" is never private online. Use a good strong password too.

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  29. As it said in the article, technology is growing and changing fast. Many people don't take what teachnology can do for granted. I believe that technology can screw up a bunch of your work. It can end up getting deletd, or getting lost, and then you've lost everything. I ususally download everything on my hardrive, then put it on my home computer, and, just for safety, also on my netbook. Technology can be difficult and irratating at times, but it takes a big part in our lives, in the world today.

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  30. I keep my documents organized by naming my folders and putting my documents into the correct folders. I keep my information safe by putting it onto a flash drive, so if something happens to my computer, I still have my folders and documents.

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  31. Teachnology is changing fast and furious in the world today. When I save my files I always use a flash-drive then import them on to my home computer. Also, for safety, I save it on my netbook also. That way I have three sources to go back to, in case one of them fails. Technology can be irratating and may delete or lose your documents, but its becoming a big part in our lives today.

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  32. I use multiple resources to keep my digital life organized. I create folders for each class and put each document in the correct folder. I also use the H drive so i can use any netbook as long as i sign in to my account. Another resource I like to take advantage of is a thumbdrive. Those are just a few things that keep my digital information organized.

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  33. When doing work on the computer, you want to make sure it is safe. I usually save it to a file, and make sure I save it every ten minutes, just to make sure. When I am done with my work I not only save it to a flash drive, but also save it to HD Drive. Sometimes, when I just save it to a flash, it gets lost. It might sound like a lot just to just to save something, but I like to be careful.

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  34. Saving a document on a flashdrive is a very smart thing to do, because you never know when your computer may crash. For me, I always save my document on 1 or mabey 2 flashdrives, depending on how important it is.

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  35. There are many ways I keep my digital life safe and organized. I, first, keep everything on a flash drive and my hard drive. I use the flash drive to keep my pictures, music, and documents. Then, I use my hard drive to store all of my school work and projects. So, if anything happens to my computer, I will have everything I need.

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  36. I like to keep my things organized so that I know where things are. I also like to back up all my files just incase I lose them. At our school we each were given netbooks. These netbooks help us with our learning but also cause problems for all of us. Our netbooks can crash at anytime and erase our files. This is why our files need to be backed up. This then keeps things organized and safe.

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  37. Saving a document on a flashdrive is a very smart thing to do, because you never know when your computer may crash. For me, I always save my document on 1 or mabey 2 flashdrives, depending on how important it is.

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    1. Think about cloud storage like Google Drive in case you lose your thumb drives.

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  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  39. Plaza park International Prep Academy I think that using a flash drive is not a good idea!

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    1. It is a good idea but not as your only backup. Flash drives are great for portability but they get lost and corrupted too.

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  40. (Plaza Park, Sunnie Berning) I keep all of my things in folders. I am a very organized person. And I get all of my homework or other tasks very nice. I help even my little brother and sister to keep stuff nice. They have learned alot. But I am not a crazy person about it!

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  41. PLAZA PARK INTERNATIONAL PREP ACADEMY (PPIPA)

    Well, I don't usually trust websites with my files and such. But tonight, I can download dropbox and give it a try! I usually just use Windows folders to put all my files in. But I also have a hello kitty USB drive that I don't really use that much. But using Google Cloud and Dropbox is a good idea, cause it's on a website and it won't go away. In some ways it's more secure because my teacher gave an example of if a house burns down with your drive and computer, it's destroyed. But if your device is destroyed but your files are saved elsewhere, then your files still exist.

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    1. Your teacher's example is a good one. Make sure that when you set up cloud account you use a VERY secure password. See what Mr. Derk wrote in the comments above about this.

      It should be noted that ALL EVSC students have a Google Drive account. Login with firstname.lastname@evsck12.com and use the password you use for your computer. You have 5GB of storage plus GoogleDocs just waiting for you!

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    2. Bill is right. If you have Google Drive you don't need dropbox.

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  42. Plaza Park International Prep Academy
    I think that you should save it on a flash drive and save it in the computer/Laptop/Netbook or send it to teacher or parents so just in case my computer crashes i can have it saved.

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  43. I keep my documents organized by naming my folders and putting my documents into the correct folders. I keep my information safe by putting it onto a flash drive, so if something happens to my computer, I still have my folders and documents

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  44. The things I do to keep my digital life safe is that I do not put anything too personal on the internet. I make sure not to put anything that can be bad or incriminate me later. I only do things that are legal, I do not go and use a stolen credit card or try to hack into something. If I only use things like it was meant for then it is ok

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    1. Central High School, and proud of it!

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  45. _____Central High School_____I like to make folders or use my iphone backup because what if my phone gets damaged or gets broken. I won't lose all my pictures or contacts I have. I will have everything backed up just in case! I will never lose anything.

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  46. I like to keep my life on the internet safe and effecient. That is why I dont really do a whole lot of things on the internet.

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  47. I like to try and keep my life on the internet by not posting alot of things on the internet.

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  48. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL- What do I do to keep my digital life organized and safe? To keep my digital life organized and safe I make sure the place I put my information is secure and safe to my liking. Such as a website, I make sure it is a trusted and realiable. If I am saving personal documents on my computer at home or important info, I will make sure only I can access it. When saving my files, I make a subject folder then a sub subject folder, then the document or info. I will also make sure to have it backed up on another computer or flash drive. If I don't, the entire harddrive could end up erasing all my info and it being lost forever. So, I always remember to save my files in an organized place and make sure they are backed up.

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  49. What I do to make sure I have my stuff is I save my things ,right after I get done typing something, in a document or a file of some sort on my computer/netbook. Its better to do that than have a flash drive which might get lost or broken. You can also name it as the paper you are writing so you can access it easier and faster.

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  50. I believe that an other safety measure to back up your work is to save it every once in a while, that way if you accidentally shut down your computer or something similar, you won't lose everything. I have had something similar happen to me before, I had to almost completely redo a project.

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    1. Thor, you also have to store a copy of your work someplace else, like the EVSC's Google Drive account.

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  51. well what i do is i take my flashdrive but most the time i save it to my desk top becauz im one of those cocky people i thnk oh nothing will happenits perfectly fine i dont ahvea to help any more but i am totaly wrong i have tothink of more ways like file folders and more.

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  52. The things I do to keep my digital life safe is that I do not put anything out on the internet that is too personal and gives people all my info. I also do not put out vulgar or bad stuff that will hurt me later in life.

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  53. What I do when making a folder or document is I just make a title that is easy to remember it is for one certain thing. It is just simple and easy. Now we are doing a research project in English and i just named it "English Research Project". It's simple and easy.

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  54. Central High School......I like to make folders or use my iphone backup because what if my phone gets damaged or gets broken. I won't lose all my pictures or contacts I have. I will have everything backed up just in case! I will never lose anything.

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  55. I make sure to keep everything I do on my computer safe and organized. I never keep any Internet browsers open for too long because I'm afraid it can access your files and pictures. I also make sure to back everything up. I save it onto my computer's hard drive, and save it onto a flash drive. That way, if one of them crashes, you have another copy of the file.
    -Andrew Wilderman, North Junior High School

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  56. fallenangel is ariel irwin

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  57. I go attend North Junior High School - Madelyn Mills

    Being able to keep your digital material organized isn't very easy, but in the end, it could save you a lot of time. One major component is naming the document a proper name, if you just quickly type "blahablajsljd123", it will not be easy to find when you need it. But, if you name it something like "English Novel Book Talk", you will be able to easily navigate to it later when you need it. Keeping your material organized is a very good component in your digital citizenship.

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  58. What I do is I always put a filter on my digital gadgets and always make sure what I search is safe. Sometimes I ban things so I don't get tempted to look at things like that or be put in a situation where I might accidentally pull up something bad.

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  59. I always try to stay safe on the internet. One way to do that is put a digital lock, I also search safe things on the internet. I have to think ahead incase something bad might come up on the screen.

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  60. It is very important to stay organized in this digital era we live in today. The things I do to stay organized is put everything in different folders on my desktop. Just little things like this can be very helpful in the future.

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  61. Central

    I don't really back anything up except on my phone. I have all my photos on our computer, which I'm pretty sure is backed up on something else also. I probably could do more, like back things up more carefully.

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  62. To keep my computer and personal data safe I download a free antivirus prgram and do regular scans on my computer to avoid viruses that steal information and other things that i dont want on my computer. Organization is a different story. I have trouble keeping my computer organized so i try to avoid getting to much programs downloaded onto it.

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  63. I have always been paranoid about losing important files, so I always save my important projects to more than one location. I even carry around a thumb drive in my pencil case so that I always have a backup location. On my laptop, I have made a folder for every class. This has helped me so many times in the past to find and save things quickly. You have to remember to clean out the unimportant stuff every once in awhile, though.

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    1. I go to North Junior High, by the way.

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    2. Great work, Leah! Sounds very organized. Do you do backup to the cloud like Google Drive?

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  64. I like to keep oraganized by saving my documents on more than one device. I will usually save it to 1 or 2 flashdrives. Then, I also save it to my H drive.

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  65. It is very important to stay organized in this digital era we live in today. The things I do to stay organized is put everything in different folders on my desktop. Just little things like this can be very helpful in the future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jordan - If you are a student and would like to be entered in the drawing we need to know your real (full) name. Use your EVSC gmail to post. Share your name here so we make sure you get credit for this post! If you are not an EVSC student, welcome to the conversation!

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  66. My Dad is a very geeky computer guy. Every time my laptop is getting full, he keeps a certain hard drive that holds tons of space for me, my mom and him. He worked at computer place, and cleared out viruses, and helped people organize. He always make my Mom and I clear out computers at the end of the month or so... we have had our laptops each for 2 years, and none of them have crashed, or signs of it. My organization, and safety for my pictures, music and stuff from my electronics.

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    1. Nice to have a dad like that but.... lets say... God forbid... house fire. You run out with your PJ's and your cat. You've lost it all, at least digitally since I know you are not grabbing your big hard drive on the way out. Think about cloud storage for things you can never replace.

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    2. Abby - If you are a student and would like to be entered in the drawing we need to know your real (full) name. Use your EVSC gmail to post. Share your name here so we make sure you get credit for this post! If you are not an EVSC student, welcome to the conversation!

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  67. Well my files are really organized. But they set the files where they want to be. But i do know how to do go to it, it pretty well organizes them sometimes i might change the files where they were default at. And with viruses its easy just get AVG its free and Malwarebytes they detect viruses and its there both really good. Its really noticable what sites not to trust and what to thee way the design of the website looks like you can also look up videos or look up on yahoo answers to see if it has viruses.

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  68. Everytime I create something I am always sure to save it. When our french class does bellwork in the morning we save it on google docs.

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    1. Elaina - If you are a student and would like to be entered in the drawing we need to know your real (full) name. Use your EVSC gmail to post. Share your name here so we make sure you get credit for this post! If you are not an EVSC student, welcome to the conversation!

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  69. Central
    When i'am organizing my documents i put them on my hard drive that says my name. The reason why i put my documents on my hard drive is becuase if my computer crashes i can get on another computer and be able to get on them on that other computer.

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    1. Well Cory, sometimes. If you hard drive crashes a lot of time you lose everything on it. So you need to store your important stuff someplace else, like a copy on Google Drive.

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  70. I dont really do much to keep my stuff save and organized to tell the truth. I save all my files with names i know i will remember and put them in file folders but thats about all that i do. I will start getting file savers to save my files.
    Central High School, Lauren Kellough

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    1. The EVSC gives you 5 gigs of Google Drive storage for free. That's huge. Start using that.

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  71. I keep all of my things on my netbook on angel or my big campus. They are very good in keeping your things organized.

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  72. Central_
    I put my documents and pictures on the internet. On websites like Instagram, Facebook, and sometimes Twitter. I think you could use hardrives if you are responsible.

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    Replies
    1. Just make sure you are following the other advice about what kind of material you are posting online to social media sites like that. That is very important.

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  73. I like to use the SkyDrive to store all my data. Stuff that I can only work on at school I use the H Drive. These things always let me have what I saved to them at all times.

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  74. Central High School

    To stay organized and keep my stuff safe on my iPhone, I use iCloud. Anthing I have on my phone is backed up on the iCloud Servers. It would be very rare for the iCloud Servers to crash, so I feel like it is reliable.

    To stay organized and safe on any computer I always save my stuff in organized folders. I use dropbox so my documents are safe. At all times I have my files saved to atleast 2 computers so I can ensure that I don't lose my stuff.

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    1. Central High school- I agree with Ayden Noyes because you should stay organized and keep your stuff safe on all of your phones .

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  75. CENTRAL- The best way to store infomation for a divice is in the cloud. It's ok to put stuff in your computer, but if you do write it down or back it up later.

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  76. Central High School- I use dropbox to save all my pictures and assignment on. I have dropbox on my phone so whenever i take a picture it automatically uploads it. Its such a great website to back up your files.

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  77. Central High School.

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  78. Yes i think it is good we have this technology. It helps such as my band class we have to send practice reports for how much we practice that week. Without net books I don't know how we would send them

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  79. I put all my homework that I use on my net book on Google docs so it saves to the website and no my computer. If i dont need it to long i will keep it in a file.

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    Replies
    1. i go to thompkins middle school

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  80. Hello its me I have not been blogging because I no longer wish to win. I want Ashton to win he deserves it. I have too much technology at my house anyway. He is a good blogger. I hope you choose him. This might not get posted but just read this. Let him have a chance :)

    Sincerely
    John David Williams

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    1. oh John even if my post are great or stupid. It's a drawing so anybody could win. SO you better post something about this or i will during next period...Never mind i'm getting of discussion.

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    2. I never said i'm not competing still I still wanna win. mwhahahahahahahahaha

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  81. Yes! My favorite topic so yet. Well I do a lot of my storage on a flash drive.My flash drive holds about 11gig bytes.Gb.If not that i use some anti virus protection. Some anti virus's are like Norton or McAfee. Some virus's can sometimes shut your whole computer down and infect your computer files. One virus is called a Trojan horse. It's basically what the Greeks used as a so called "gift offering" filled with Greek men. The horse was very big and was a very good tactic's that the Greeks used.The virus does the same thing. Thing it's a really cool game and shut your computer off. But the next time when you log in it might give you fake websites and inappropriate websites.
    Some people can save it on your hard drive. It's basically your main saving facility. You can save photos video's pictures all of that stuff can be organized. Files. I keep everything on my personal computer. Everything is organized with files. Within that file i create another one.You get the point. The grown up's (old people haha) used floppy disk drives. They were kinda like a flash drive but bigger and well basically a CD. You can store a lot of stuff everywhere on your computer. But I mean are you always gonna rely on your flash drive or your h drive?
    You always have to have a backup plan. Besides the flash drives are so tiny and so easy to break. That's what i use though flash drive, flash drive, and flash drive. It seems a little over rated but I mean come on i know they break and you can lose them but it's so much storage on a device no bigger than your pinkie. Technology has changed this world a lot. You can have photo's from the 1930's all the way to the 1999's now just with the price of 12$ for a U.S.B flash drive.U.S.B stand for universal serial bus. That's pretty awesome. So next day you go to school and you have a U.S.B flash drive just say hey look at my BUS.
    Everything you have worked for can be destroyed just bye a clumsy fall or a trip. Crash your Netbook goes. Sometimes technology just doesn't want to work. We've all had that day , like a teacher frustrated with the Promethean board to come on. Or a student when his netbook isn't charged and dies , and takes FOREVER to actually get to your desktop. Usually there's always an explanation for technology because were the ones who made it. Not particularly but us humans are pretty TALENTED for doing such things.
    So next time when you see a other student classmates, and they don't like the computers or netbooks just say these two words. Were LUCKY.
    By: Ashton Schierbaum
    From: Thompkins Middle school
    Indiana Evansville

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    1. Good thoughts Ashton! What is your advice for those times when technology just fails us? Like when you can't get your presentation to work on your netbook right as you are about to present to the class? It happens to everyone, so sharing your advice might help some others out!

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  82. I thin if have a dream or a talent ,but you are afraid that people will laugh at you still show them what you got.

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  83. You need to stay organized with computers.I don't really think that computers are important other than to do projects or for research but you need to stay organized for that.Kylie Dixon Thompkins Middle School

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  84. My best to keep stuff from getting lost is in all ways possible. I put all my stuff on cloud storage, USB, hard drive, and my dads computer that for some odd reason is water proof doesn't loose memory etc etc. All my super important will go on cloud so if my computer crashes I have a backup with all my important files. USB is for my less important stuff and I have this drawer that I keep all my USB s in so they never go in the wash. Also hard drive for all my basic needs, Important on cloud and hard drive, less important on USB and hard drive. ta daaaa. Yes I am a tech geek thank you

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    1. Remember, John, that sometimes simpler is better. Don't make your back-up plan so complicated that recovering your files becomes a nightmare!

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  85. THANK YOU FOR TEACHING US THESE REALLY IMPORTANT THINGS.AND THIS WAS IMPORTANT FOR ME BECAUSE I CAN'T FIGURE OUT THE INTERNET,I'LL NO WHAT TO DO IF MY BFF'S IN TROUBLE,I RESPECT EVERYONE MORE THAN I DID BEFORE,SO THANKYOU.

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    1. You are welcome! Keep learning!

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    2. You are welcome Daphne. Read as much as you can on this blog - there is a LOT of great information.

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  86. The way i keep my files safe and more more organized is to have certain folder for each class and then put that assignment or whatever it is for that class in that folder.

    Plaza Park International Prep Academy

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    1. Kayla - How do you handle backing up your files in case of a hardware failure. You should read some of the other comments that have some interesting solutions to this.

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  87. I usually save my stuff to a flash drive and on gmail. That's how I keep my stuff organized. If I lose anything,then I will havea back up on my flash drive and on gmail.

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    1. LaKeiya - If you are a student and would like to be entered in the drawing we need to know your real (full) name. Use your EVSC gmail to post. Share your name here so we make sure you get credit for this post! If you are not an EVSC student, welcome to the conversation!

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  88. Something that has not been mentioned much is secure passwords. Your backups, when placed in the cloud, are only as secure as your password. Your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites are only as secure as your password.

    I recommend LastPass for managing your passwords - Jim might challenge me on that. LastPass will remember all of your passwords but more importantly, will generate secure passwords for you. It will then remember them and enter them automatically as long as you remember one master password. This keeps all your sites secure with randomly generated passwords that make hacking much more difficult, while allowing you to remember all of these random passwords with one strong master password.

    Check it out. Its free, and cross-browser.

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  89. I would save my things in folders and on a flash drive. I mean you have to be a careful person to not loose or mess up your flashdrive and not get your folders mixed up.

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    1. Monique - Read the article again and pay attention to the information on flash drives. They are fine for short term, but not a safe option for things that are really important! Read some of the other comments for some cloud solutions like GoogleDrive and SkyDrive and DropBox.

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  90. I learned to make everything private where only i can access it, and then to save everything multiple times to multiple different sources. I will save it to my computer and also send it to my email so i will have it that way too. I will also save everything to a flash drive.

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    1. Bo - Your email is not really the best storage option. Use GoogleDrive instead.

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  91. I usually save my files on the computer and to a flash drive so that just incase the computer breaks down I will have another source. I also send my work to gmail to have another back up source.

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    1. jazzy - If you are a student and would like to be entered in the drawing we need to know your real (full) name. Use your EVSC gmail to post. Share your name here so we make sure you get credit for this post! If you are not an EVSC student, welcome to the conversation!

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  92. I've found that using google drive is a lot safer and more reliable than using microsoft word or open office. That is how I keep all of my digital files saved. It becomes a lot easier when you are trying to access the document from a different computer. It's easier than typing a document and then having to find a flashdrive to put it on other computers. It keeps all of my documents in folders that I have named for each class period that I have. Most of the time I write all of my work down on paper first before I transfer it to a digital document.

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  93. Well, if be good at saving stuff on computers is considered a form of talent, then I must be the must untalented person in the EVSC when it come to computers. I always try to back up projects on flash drives (also called thumbdrives), but I usually forget to eject the flash drive from the computer. Therefore, anything on the flash drive usually gets deleted that way. I've ruined countless flash drives this way. Since the beginning of this year though, I have gotten better with computers. My English teacher was a school tech last year, so I have learned a lot about computers from her. I now know how to back up documents on Google, and I know how to eject flash drives! I also empty my trashcan regularly so the documents don't get piled up. I still am not the best with computers, and I will say that I am one of those people who is thirteen and couldn't answer a common question about computers, but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to learn about computers!
    (I attend North Junior High School.)

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    1. Well Rachael, Windows XP was a little touchy about ejecting flash drives sometimes but the later systems such as Windows 7 and Windows 8 are much better behaved about it. Using Google Drive will solve this frustration for you.

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  94. Thank you for this important information. In the past, I have been pretty responsible about naming my documents in a way that I won't forget them and saving them to my computer or flash drive. However, I did not know there was a storage option on google and this blog has prepared me for future assignment mishaps. Now, I am able to be an even more prepared and responsible to student than I already am.

    -Magan Leystra from North Jr. High School

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  95. A way that I organize my documents is that I have a flash drive for every class. The flashdrives are color coded so I know the flash drive I have for every class. I also save a copy on whatever computer that I am using while also saving it on a flashdrive. I also double save on the computer so I know for sure that they have been saved. I have saved a document before and then the document has accidentally been left out. I was left having to rush to get an assignment due the next day. So now I make sure that I have it saved.

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    1. Hi Kelsey, you do sound very organized! Just keep in mind that you can lose those flash drives so consider some sort of cloud storage for really important things you want to keep permanently.

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  96. When I have documents or presentations, the first place I save it to is my computer. Next I have a flash drive and I save it also to that. Finally to be safe I save it to my H drive so then even if the computer crashes it will permanently be there. Keeping things organized and neat is the key to keep your computer from crashing, so remember keep it clean.

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  97. When I need to save something that I can't possibly lose I save it to my flash drive. I never save anything to my netbook because somthing can happen anyday and all things on my netbook could be lost. :(

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  98. First, I save it to my computer. Then, if it is really important, to a flash drive. I know I should probably put it on Google Drive or Cloud. I have never lost anything important on my computer, but I probably will some time. Maybe I should start saving my documents in safer places.

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  99. I put all my things in documented and then put it in my net hard drive and then turn it in online if I have to or what ever I got to do .

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  100. I think it is important for you to be organized especially in high school because if your not organized than you can loose your homework and anything else that you need.

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  101. I keep my stuff safe pretty much the same way. I make back up files and name them acording to each assignment so that I can find them without trouble. I also never do work on a flash drive because I have done that once before and I have lost all of my work. Just like how the writer of this article said might happen.

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