The Banner recently sat down with Harriton science teacher and tech expert Ms. Vogel to learn some tips and advice for students to make the most of their one-to-one laptop program. Read on to see how you, too, can become a savvy tech user.

Connecting to the projector

We’ve all been in a classroom where no one is able to hook up their laptop to the projector. To turn on a projector in a classroom, head to the black box and choose “proj on.” To mirror your laptop screen, choose “present mode” and then “PC1” or “PC2” on the projector screen when prompted.

Restarting your laptop 

It’s tempting to hit “OK” and ignore the message imploring you to restart your laptop, but it really is important to do so every two weeks. Otherwise you’ll miss out on automatic updates that will speed up your laptop.

Bookmarking

Using browser bookmarks allows you to reach your go-to sites quickly. To bookmark a page in Chrome, click “Bookmarks” in the top left of your screen. You can also create folders to store several pages under one bookmark. To do so, right click on a bookmark and click “Add folder.”

Keypad preference

To tap on your trackpad rather than pressing down to click, head to System Preferences and select “Trackpad.” Then select “Tap to click.”

Change highlight and accent colors

To switch up the highlight and accent colors from the default blue, go to “General” in System Preferences. There you can choose from a variety of colors, including pink, green, or yellow, to give a different look to your documents.

Password troubles

If you forget the password to your laptop or LMSD Google account, head to the Tech Center on the first floor and they’ll reset it for you.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Lastly, here are a few of Ms. Vogel’s favorite keyboard shortcuts:

Screenshot: Command + shift + 4

Copy text or image: Command + c

Paste text or image: Command + v

Open closed tab: Command + shift + t

Close all tabs: Command + q