Staff News – Page 26 – Beatitudes Community

Tech Tip Tuesday: You’re Invited!

Tue, February 16, 2016 Published by Beatitudes Campus

Meetings, meetings, meetings, we all have meetings. Have you ever forgotten a meeting? Yeah me too. To remedy this we use calendars. Calendars not only track our personal events but scheduled events with others as well. This is why I try to live by my calendar. But sometimes when I tell people to shoot me a meeting invite, I get a blank stare. So today I’ll give the quick and easy steps to creating and sending a Calendar Invite in Outlook.

First thing’s first. Click on your calendar link at the bottom of your screen in Outlook. At the top left you’ll see “New Meeting”. Click this and a new “Untitled-Appointment” window will pop up. This is similar to a new email with a few differences. You’ll give it a subject and then a full description in the main body (the big blank area), plus you’ll have to assign a location and Date/Time as well. If this is just a personal reminder for something like a birthday, you can click the “All Day” box and not assign a specific time. Next you should pay attention to the “Show As” button and choose whether you’ll be busy, free, out of office, etc. Then assign a reminder. I usually choose 15 to 30 minutes for meetings depending on travel time and 24 hours for all day events. If this is an event that occurs on a regular basis at the same time and same place, click the “Recurrence” button and choose how often this appointment occurs. Now you’ll need to consider if you want to invite others to your meeting. If this is just a personal reminder, click “Save and Close”. If you want to invite others, click “Scheduling Assistant”. Here you’ll see your name to the left and a timeline showing availability to the right. Click the “Add Attendees” button at the bottom and an Address Book window will pop up with all of the campus names listed. Scroll through or use the search window to find who you want to invite. Click on their name to highlight it and then click “Required” or “Optional” at the bottom. When you’re done click okay and you’ll be back at the Scheduling window. Hopefully there won’t be any time conflicts with other appointments for anyone but if there is you can look for a time that’s available for all. Now you will notice that a “Send” button has appeared to the top left of the name list. If you’re sure everything is set, click send and each recipient you chose will receive a calendar invite. They now have the choice to accept, decline or propose a new time. Hopefully everything works out and you have a good meeting. 🙂

Here’s some quick reference steps:

Calendar/New Meeting
Subject/Location/Time/Date/Description
Show As/Reminder/Recurrence
Scheduling Assistant/Add Attendees
Save and Close/Send

Interesting Tidbit – Julius Caesar introduced his own calendar around 45 BCE. to better align the months with the lunar cycles and the seasons. The Julian Calendar uses 365 days, 12 months, and a leap day every four years.

Tech Tip Tuesday: How Do You Do? I Mean Undo?

Thu, February 11, 2016 Published by Beatitudes Campus

Ever make a mistake? Yeah me neither … NOT! Don’t you sometimes wish you could just click a button real quick and undo what you just did? Well guess what. You can! At least when it comes to Microsoft Office anyways. 🙂 There’s a simple little command that I actually use very often called “Undo”. And just in case you Undo something you really wanted to do but don’t realize until you Undid, there’s a “Redo” for you too. Sounds like a Dr. Seuss book, huh?

So let’s say you’re typing along in a new email and accidentally misspell a word. It’s pretty easy to simply backspace a few times and retype it. Right? But what if you just cut and pasted a whole paragraph or maybe just applied a font format you decide you don’t like. All you have to do is “Undo”. You don’t have to select or highlight anything. Clicking the “Undo” button reverses the last action you made no matter what it was. And it works more than once. You can actually click it up to 100 times. And once you’ve clicked the Undo , a Redo appears. Or if you really like what you did and want to do it again and again you can click Repeat . You can access these commands via several options in any Microsoft Office product. The keyboard commands are Ctrl+Z to Undo and Ctrl+Y to Redo and Repeat. Otherwise you can find them in the menu bars depending on your version of Office. I’ll leave a couple of examples below. Happy editing.

Tech Tip Tuesday: What Is “Etiquette” Anyways?

Tue, February 2, 2016 Published by Beatitudes Campus

Etiquette relates to the ethical properties of social behavior and professional practice when dealing with one another. Especially at your work place and more specifically, digital communication. Yes that’s my sly way of introducing Email Etiquette. Which now days includes texting as well. It is very important to remember that in written text the communicator loses 3 of the 5 forms of communication. And those 3 account for about 93% of all communications, as reported by some experts. That leaves you only 7% of the ability to communicate your thoughts and meanings to your recipient via typed words. It also places your level of success 100% within their perception. Sounds like a lost cause to me but it’s a part of life now and we must learn to navigate it effectively.

So what do you do? There are a few simple guidelines that you can apply that will help you send more clear and concise emails in a more professional manner. No, I’m not just talking about the highly emotional rant from an incredibly disgruntled coworker with ALL CAPS and lots of multiple !!!!!!!! and ??????? and lots of intended sarcasm. Those fall into the Common Sense category. If you wouldn’t say it face to face, don’t send it in a text or email. If you’re angry or emotional, keep your fingers off the keys. Common sense, right? So here’s a few more you might not have thought of that fall more into the Professional category. Happy typing. J

Always use your work email address for work. It’s typically not desirable to receive business correspondence from “lovekitten@” or “partyman@”.
Never use your work email for personal communication. Kind of a no brainer. Gmail is free.
Always include a Subject line. Preferably one that relates to the email. Don’t put your message in the subject line.
Don’t always “reply all”. The context of the email will hint towards a singular reply or a reply all.
Use professional common courtesy like Hi and Hello, Mr. and Mrs. And Thank You, Sincerely, Best Regards.
Be cautious with humor. What you find funny, others may find offensive. If in doubt, leave it out.
Refrain from formatting emails. Big bold purple letters in a custom font on a funky background may not even display or can even get blocked.
Don’t use old emails to start new communication. Gives the perception of laziness. Start a new one.
Down edit replies. Don’t include the previous message text unless it’s necessary.
Use a short and clean signature. Avoid personal quotes that aren’t business related.
As always, proof read and spell check before sending.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Just Reboot It!

Thu, January 28, 2016 Published by Beatitudes Campus

How many times have you made a support call for a computer or electronic device only to be faced with the question, “Did you reboot/reset it?” For a lot of people this is annoying. Especially when it fixes the problem. Lol. However, it is typically the first and most basic of all troubleshooting steps because of what it does. It truly isn’t just intended to annoy or frustrate the user. There are many benefits to a reboot and if done on a regular basis, it may make your day go smoother.

Any electronic device has a basic operating system coded into the chips in its circuitry to control what the device does with the electricity flowing through its parts. This operating system sets up the communication between the parts in a very specific order. Add to that a secondary operating system like Windows, Apple or Android and you have an even larger set of specific instructions intended to set up your device to be ready for whatever you want to do with it. This can even apply to applications running on an OS like Word or iTunes. The problem is, nothing in electronics is perfect every time, forever. Parts degrade or malfunction, electricity surges, programing code conflicts, drivers crash, memory leaks, CPU overload, overheating, had a bad morning, not enough sleep, didn’t hold your mouth right, etc. You don’t really need to know or understand all of that. All you really need to know is that a reboot resets your device to a clean and ready state. Whatever the errors were should be fixed and realigned. If not, there are likely other bigger problems which require further investigation.

There is, however, a risk to consider with a reboot. If you are in the middle of something and have not saved it, a reboot may cause you to lose your work. Some applications have auto save and can recover what you were doing but if you’re working on something important, it’s always a good idea to save regularly. Unfortunately if your whole system crashes you may not be able to do this. That always makes for a bad day.

So as a regular practice recommendation, while it’s not necessary to reboot your computer every night, doing so at least once per week will help to keep your system functioning at its best. Consider it a good night’s sleep for your computer that only takes a few minutes. And the next time you’re having some issues with your computer, phone, tablet, etc. Try a reboot/reset first. That way when you call support, the first thing you can say is, “I already tried a reboot!”

WIG Update – January 2016

Wed, January 20, 2016 Published by Beatitudes Campus

Regarding the Campus-wide WIGs (War and Battles), here’s how we’re doing:

WAR: Increase Campus Operating Income from $2M to $2.5M by 9/30/16. To date,
Battle 1: Increase DCOH (Days Cash on Hand) from 65 to 73 by 9/30/16. To date,
Battle 2: To increase Resident Satisfaction from 87.6/88.4/88.0 to 89.3/89.7/90.0 for IL/AL/HCC residents respectively by 9/30/16. To date,
Battle 3: To increase Employee Satisfaction from 83.3 to 85.1 by 9/30/16. To date,

Regarding WIGs in your departments, how are you doing? What’s going well? What is challenging? We know Buddy the Elf is enjoying WIGs, but I’d love to hear more! I’d also love to hear where you are seeing successes so that we can celebrate your department. I have giveaways that are gathering dust in my office waiting for a chance to be given out to staff that are meeting or exceeding their WIGs! Let me know at x6114 or email me at [email protected]. Thanks! Tara

Tech Tip Tuesday: Don’t Go Phishing

Tue, January 19, 2016 Published by Beatitudes Campus

The act of sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. I’m sure you’ve seen them. And curiosity may have even prompted you to click on a few of these before. And with the millions of these types of emails sent out every day, you can imagine the potential success rate for these con artists. The most successful phishing emails are the ones received by people who actually have accounts with that company, so they blindly click on it thinking it may be something of interest. A global study released by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) in 2014 suggests that 54% of phishing emails targeted major bands including Apple, PayPal, and Chinese marketplace Taobao. I’ve even seen one from Bank Of America where at least 5 people on campus answered with their account information before anyone contacted us in IT. That can empty a bank account REAL fast.

Here’s a few things to look for if you ever get suspicious of an email:

Many phishing attempts originate from outside the U.S. so they often have misspellings and grammatical errors. Some have an urgent tone and they seek sensitive information that legitimate companies don’t typically ask for via e-mail.
Check the sender information to see if it looks legitimate. Criminals will choose addresses that are similar to the one they are faking. Google the real name of the sender and compare to their website. Maybe even give them a quick call to verify.
Legitimate companies tend to use customer names or user names in the e-mail, and banks often will include part of an account number. Phishing emails typically offer generic greetings, like “Dear PayPal customer.”
Inspect the hyperlinks inside the body of the e-mail. Phishers typically will use subdomains or letters or numbers before the company name, and sometimes the words in the links are misspelled. By mousing over the link you can see the real address on the bottom of most Web browsers.
Don’t open e-mail attachments that you did not expect to receive. Don’t open download links in IM. And don’t enter personal information in a pop-up window or e-mail.
Make sure you are using a secure Web site when submitting financial and sensitive information. That means https:// will be seen in the URL address bar instead of just http:// and usually there will be some other change in the address bar. For instance the first part of the URL will be highlighted green.

As a general rule, if you are entering sensitive, personal or financial information on the web, you should have been the one who initiated the process. If not, stop and re-establish communication on your own via publicly published means like the company website or phone numbers. Please be aware that the dangers are real. Identity theft can cause you major problems.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Folders Aren’t Manila Anymore

Tue, January 12, 2016 Published by Beatitudes Campus

I’m sure we all know what a manila folder is right? I’ll even bet a few old school diehards still use them today. The word Manila actually refers to the manila hemp that they were originally made from. These days they also come in the form of strings of ones and zeros grouped together in a computer’s memory representing an image of what we have always known and recognized. By itself it does nothing more than hold a few papers which are likely related to a similar topic. But combine them with tabs, dividers, larger folders, drawers and file cabinets and you have what is the most common means of record storage of this century. If you don’t believe me go look in Accounting. The same can be done on your computer and even influenced the way computers are set up today.

First thing is first, it’s important to understand where things are stored on your computer. To see this in Windows you will need to open up Windows Explorer. This program is represented by a small folder icon and can be accessed via your start menu or your quick launch bar at the bottom of your screen. When it opens you will see a list of folders and drive letters on the left and other icons representing different locations on your hard drive. Pay attention to the one named “Documents”. This is the default location where all of your personal data is stored. By clicking on Documents, you should see the default folders created by Windows and possibly other folders you may have already created. On the Campus network, this folder is actually redirected to a server where this data can managed and backed up but that’s a whole other unnecessary level of understanding. To create a new folder in your documents you can either right click with your mouse and click New Folder or click New Folder from the menu at the top of the screen. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+N. Once you have created your folder you need to give it a name. If you don’t and accidentally click off of it, it will still show up with the name “New Folder”. To rename it, right click on it and click Rename. Now to store things inside that folder simply double click it or hit Enter with it selected and it opens to see the contents. If you want to go back up one level, you can either click the Up Arrow at the top of the drive list on the left or use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Up. Now you can create subordinate folders here and continue until your heart’s desire. However, always keep in mind that simple is better. If you don’t really need to separate something then don’t. You don’t want to get confused by your own organizing efforts.

To make things easier, I’ll pretend I’m an online student with four classes in which I need to save and organize assignments, notes, research, tests, etc. The main difference to realize with file and folder organization on a computer is that every level is still a folder. Meaning there is no picture of a drawer or file cabinet. They’re all just folders. So you want to start out with your top level of organization. For this example I’ll call it “College”. Then under college I’ll make folders for each class: “Math”, “English”, “History” and “Science”. This sets up my main organization structure in which I will save and organize things. When I want to save something for Math, I will click save and if the location does not default to my Documents folder, I will click Browse and follow the same process as above until I see my College and then Math folder. After double clicking on the Math folder, I can click save and see that my Math file is now organized in my Math folder inside my College folder inside my Documents folder on my hard drive. Hopefully that sounds simple. 🙂

I’ll leave an example picture of what this might look like. Best wishes on being more organized.

Opportunities Created

Mon, January 11, 2016 Published by Michelle Just

As I sat down to write this week’s article, I found myself thinking about the amazing energy a new year brings. There is something very special about it- it’s a blank page, a new chapter, some even consider it a new book. Whether you set resolutions, goals, or simply an intention for the coming 365 days, the new year brings motivation and creates new opportunities. Below is an article that was shared with me by Valerie Cantrell, my executive assistant, and I share it with you today. We, as a community and as individuals, have many opportunities in 2016 and I look forward to the journey with all of you.

Excerpts from Inspiring Success Blog

Opportunities Created

A new year always brings new opportunities. The beginning of the year brings a special atmosphere that motivates action, and that’s – an opportunity!

Here are some opportunities that I strongly recommend:

Self-examination

This is one of the major tools that will allow you to grow and develop. The best way to make a new year better than the previous year is through self-examination.

What did you do better? Where did you failed?

Who do you have to thank? Who do you need to forgive and to whom should you apologize?

Where you stand in terms of realizing your goals and dreams?

Try new things

Who doesn’t want to “collect” new experiences? The beginning of a new year is a great opportunity to make a change and gain new experiences with which you build the history of your life. Such experiences can be spiritual or material, they can be large or small. These experiences are of the things that make a new year, a great year.

Try old things once more

Sometimes the difference between success and failure is just trying one more time. A new year brings a different perspective. A new year can bring a new approach. “If something is not working for you, leave it, relax, rest and then come back to it.” A new year is a good opportunity to “attack” a stubborn difficulty; a new year is a great opportunity to change your approach and turn the difficulty into a challenge.

Keep in touch

We all have a family member, friend, colleague, or mentor we haven’t been in touch with for a long time.

I’m sure there are many reasons…Routine and a busy schedule. The end of one stage in life and the beginning of another. The New Year is a special period of time in which you leave the reasons a side and move into action.

Set new goals

Setting goals is as important as breathing oxygen. Setting goals focuses you and gives you the strength to continue in spite of the uncertainties and difficulties. Many successful people say that setting goals “is one of the main reasons that allow you to get up in the morning with a smile on your face, even when the situation is not that good.” The beginning of the new year is the perfect time to set new goals.

For the full article go to: http://inspiring-success.info/index.php/articles-section/110-new-year-new-beginning#.Vo7IMnop1uM.email

Current Open Positions

Wed, January 6, 2016 Published by Beatitudes Campus

ASSISTED LIVING:
Med Tech/Caregiver (on-call) Caregiver Certificate required, 1st Aid, CPR, Fingerprint Card
BEATITUDES AT HOME:
WELLNESS NURSE (Part Time), 1st Aid, CPR, Fingerprint Clearance Card, Valid Arizona Driver’s License,
HOME COMPANION (Per Diem) 1st Aid, CPR, Fingerprint Clearance Card, Valid Arizona Driver’s License, Insurance, Registration, Flexible Hours/Overnight Shift
DINING SERVICES:
COOK (Full Time)
DIET AIDE (Full Time & Part Time) **In-house posting only**
DINING ROOM SUPERVISOR (Full Time, Bistro) **In-house posting only**
LEAD SERVER (Full Time & Part Time, Bistro) **In-house posting only*
LINE COOK (Full Time)
SERVERS (Part Time, All Venues)
UTILITY/DISHWASHER (Full Time)
WEEKEND SET-UP (Part Time) **In-house posting only**
- Current/Valid Food Handlers Card Required for All Dining Positions
FUND DEVELOPMENT:
DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR (Full Time)
HEALTH CARE CENTER:
CERTIFIED NURSING ASSISTANTS (3rd shift, Full-Time & On-Call) Valid, verifiable AZ C.N.A. License, Fingerprint Card
LPN (PRN, Part-Time) Valid, verifiable AZ LPN License, Fingerprint Card

CURRENT EMPLOYEES WISHING TO TRANSFER MUST COME TO THE HR OFFICE.

TO APPLY: Go to jobs.beatitudescampus.org.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Keyboard Shortcuts – A New Way Around

Tue, January 5, 2016 Published by Beatitudes Campus

While your keyboard is typically your main interface with your computer, if you think about it, using your computer without a mouse or touchscreen would be impossible. Right? Well believe it or not, you can actually navigate around all aspects of your computer using just your keyboard. This is possible because every click of your mouse or touch of the screen correlates to a keyboard command or “keyboard shortcut”. Honestly, if you truly wanted to learn ALL of these and utilize only a keyboard, get ready to learn a new language. Heck, you may as well become a “programmer”. Ugh!

For the majority of us users, the mouse is the key to efficiently moving around the screen, selecting, clicking etc. and I don’t think that will change soon. However, there are a few common actions that we use multiple times per day that keyboard shortcuts may help with. For instance the simple Copy/Cut and Paste. These commands are typically initiated via right and left clicks of the mouse. But sometimes you might find that having to continuously move, click, move, right click, left click, move, click, click, click … well you get the picture. So by keeping your non-mouse hand on the keyboard you can now use both hands for navigating and initiating commands much quicker. For instance, select some text using your mouse click and drag feature. With your other hand hit “Ctrl + C” on the keyboard to copy that selection. Move to another location and click to place your cursor there. Then hit “Ctrl + V” to paste what you copied. Don’t like what you just did? Hit “Ctrl + Z” to undo the action. Do you work with multiple windows/apps open at the same time and need to switch between windows quite often? Use “Alt + Esc” to switch between open windows or “Alt + Tab” to show all windows and choose which one. Use Tab to move forward when filling out a form. Misspelled something? Hit “Shift + Tab” to back up. And lots more. If you’re really ambitious, just Google “Keyboard Shortcuts” and go crazy.

I’ve included a list of the most common and helpful keyboard shortcuts below. Look through them and make a goal to learn one per week. I’ll be honest, it takes some practice at first. But before you know it you’ll be working both hands constantly and navigating like a pro.

Alt+Esc	Cycle through items in the order in which they were opened
Alt+Left arrow	Go back
Alt+Right arrow	Go forward
Alt+Page Up	Move up one screen
Alt+Page Down	Move down one screen
Alt+Tab	Switch between open apps
Ctrl+A	Select all items in a document or window
Ctrl+C (or Ctrl+Insert)	Copy the selected item
Ctrl+D (or Delete)	Delete the selected item and move it to the Recycle Bin
Ctrl+V (or Shift+Insert)	Paste the selected item
Ctrl+X	Cut the selected item
Ctrl+Y	Redo an action
Ctrl+Z	Undo an action
Shirt + Delete	Permanently delete the selected item
Tab	Move foreward from one window element (buttons, links, text fields and so on) to another
Shift + Tab	Move backwards from one window element (buttons, links, text fields and so on) to another

Tech Tip Tuesday: JUST GOOGLE IT!! – A Little About Web Browsing

Tue, December 29, 2015 Published by Beatitudes Campus

I’m sure many of us using computers today can remember back when you had to go to the Library to research a foreign topic. When was the last time someone actually used their Library card? I wonder if they even still teach how to use a card catalog in school these days? Then along came the Internet, and it has grown and grown and grown. Internet Definition: The global communication network which allows all connected computers to exchange information. That simply means that you can use your computer to send an email to your friend in China. I remember before the Internet gained popularity my stepdad would “Dial In” to dashboards to exchange files and programs. Things have gotten a lot better these days. Thankfully.

A little possibly confusing but interesting techno garble, each device communicating on the Internet needs what’s called a “Public IP Address”. The current version in use is IP Version 4 or IPV4. This version provides about 4.3 billion IP addresses. Well, they ran out back in January of 2011. Luckily someone came up with the idea of using “Private IP Addresses” and with the use of a routing protocol “NAT”, Network Address Translation, you can network thousands of devices behind a single Public IP. So one can only imagine how many computers and devices there are actually connected to the Internet. Among all of these devices are Web Servers. Web Servers are the computers which house the majority of publicly available information or “Web Pages”. In order to view these web pages you need a “Web Browser”. The powerhouse in the beginning was Microsoft with “Internet Explorer” and now you have many choices like Apple’s Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox and more.

Anyways, so now you have a web browser. You have access to billions and billions of pieces of information at your fingertips. How do you find what you’re looking for? The answer: Search Engines. Without search engines the Internet wouldn’t be as effective as it is today. The top 4 search engines are Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask. Google has become so popular the phrase “Just Google It” refers to any search on the Internet. A Search Engine takes a simple request that you type in and compares it to all of the billions of records out there and delivers you possible choices called “Hits” to review. The more general your request, the more unrelated hits you will get. For instance, the difference between searching for red flower as opposed to Red Rose. While you will still get millions of hit’s for Red Rose, the more you can specify what you are looking for, the more useful your hits should be. You can really drill it down by searching images for long stem red rose with a butterfly. I just searched that and got more pictures of long stem red roses than I did butterflies. To tie this back in to the Library, it’s the equivalent of visiting every main Library in the world in a matter of seconds. Pretty amazing, huh? What’s even more amazing is that now days you can also do that from your phone!!

In the end it’s difficult to quantify the value of this information overload. The beauty is that it’s mostly free. The danger is that it’s mostly unregulated. Just because you “saw it on the Internet” doesn’t actually mean it’s true. So be diligent about checking sources and as always a little common sense goes a long way. Even still, the next time you have a question or are pondering something, I recommend you Google It!

Tech Tip Tuesday: BCC Me… PLEASE!!!

Tue, December 22, 2015 Published by Beatitudes Campus

I’m sure you’re all very familiar with getting emails that have multiple recipients in the address field. The typical scenario is sending an email to recipients who are directly involved in the discussion with possible indirect participants who are CC’d or “Carbon Copied”. However, when someone wants to share news or information they can get a little overzealous with the “To” list. Then when each recipient “Replies All” everyone gets a copy. Like a group text! Ugh! While there is good purpose and intent with the Reply All command in certain situations, an email with 50 or more recipients can become quite annoying to some. Not to mention how much email it builds up in people’s Inbox and in the email server database. Well there is a better way!

Bcc stands for “Blind Carbon Copy.” This means that if you add 20 recipient names in the Bcc box, each recipient will only see their own. Then if they choose Reply All, only the sender will receive a copy. As I said before, if you’re addressing a small group where each recipient needs to view the collaboration of the email, this is useful. But if it’s sharing some personal news or advertisement, Bcc is a good way to curb the potential Email Gone Wild scenario. You may also want to use Bcc to keep other recipients email addresses private to the group. Respecting peoples private information is very important these days.

As useful of a tool that Bcc is, you may experience a few problems. Bcc is widely used by spammers. For that reason some junk email filters may flag them as junk when an email arrives with the recipient name in this field. Making sure you’re on the Safe Senders list of whoever you are sending to will keep this from happening. Here on campus this will not be a problem. Another possible problem is using distribution lists in the Bcc field. If a recipient has any rules in place to sort emails by recipient, this will cause them problems. However, sorting is usually indicated where repetitive emails arrive for a specific reason. And lastly, many email providers limit the number of recipients to try and repress spammers. You will get errors and warnings if this is the case.

So how do you use this field? Each email client is different, including the many webmail options, but the CC and Bcc options are usually very obvious and easy to get to. On campus we use Outlook for email. At first glance when you open a new email you won’t see the Bcc option. But if you click the “To” button, a dialogue box will appear with the whole campus list of email users and distribution lists. At the bottom of this box will be the “Bcc” field. Use it the same way you would the “To” and “CC” fields. Maybe practice using it with a few coworkers or friends. So the next time you want to send out some cool info, the Bcc field will prevent you from becoming the origin of an EMAIL STORM! Lol!

HDD: Hard Disk Drive, Disk Drive, Hard Drive

Tue, December 15, 2015 Published by Beatitudes Campus

Everything you install and save on your computer is stored on your hard drive. Operating system, applications, emails, pictures, songs, documents, etc. all live on small metallic disks spinning inside the hard drive enclosure. As with all other computer components, there have been many advancements in hard drive technology. Because of this, we have several options available for consumer PC’s. It’s very easy to get overly technical so I will keep this simple. Luckily there’s only a few things to consider when deciding on which one you want.

SIZE or CAPACITY

No matter what the manufacturer, hard drives are typically referred to by their main characteristic, SIZE. The size is measured in units of Gigabytes (GB) and Terabytes (TB). For example 180 GB HDD, 500 GB HDD, or 1 TB HDD. Keep in mind that a Terabyte is 1000 Gigabytes and a Gigabyte is 1000 Megabytes. With some pictures taking up 3 to 5 Megabytes of space or more, you can see how important it can be to be sure you get enough storage space depending on your intended use. The good thing is that most hard drives sold today usually start out at 80 to 120 Gigabytes and are more commonly sold at 1 Terabyte. That’s way more storage than the average consumer will ever use.

SPEED

The internal disks I mentioned earlier are constantly spinning while your computer is turned on. There are only two speeds available in most consumer PC’s, 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM, while server drives spin at 10,000 and 15,000 RPM. Because your data is being stored and retrieved on these spinning disks, the speed affects the data transfer rate. So obviously the faster the drive, the faster the data transfer, the better the performance. But for the budget minded, typically the 5400 RPM will come with a lower price tag.

LATEST AND GREATEST

As hard drive technological advancements continue, the latest competing technology is “Flash Memory” in the form of “Solid State Drives” or SSD. In these new drives there are no moving parts. They use the same storage technology that’s found in small Thumb Drives or USB Drives. The data transfer is faster and they are more reliable. However, as with everything else, this new technology comes with a premium price tag. Where you might find a 7200 RPM, 1 TB HDD for just over $50.00, a 1 TB SSD will set you back $250.00 or more.

SUMING IT UP

The good thing is that 9 times out of 10 you will be looking at pre-built computers for purchase. As you compare prices notice that the size and speed of the hard drive does affect the overall price. So again, keep in mind your intended use, how much data you plan to store, and your budget and go for the best you can afford.

***************************

This concludes the three part series on RAM, Processor and Hard Drive. While there are many other technical specs found in consumer PC’s, these three components are the most important when it comes to computer performance. I hope I’ve given you enough basic information to understand each one’s association to the other without a lot of confusion. If you’d like to understand more and really dig into the technical side of things, there are tons of articles and videos that go into much greater depth and detail on the Internet. Just Google It!

CPU, Processor… COMPUTER BRAIN!!

Tue, December 8, 2015 Published by Beatitudes Campus

All three of these words actually refer to the same part in a computer. Definition: The electronic circuitry within a computer that carries out the instructions of a computer program by performing the basic arithmetic, logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions. Yeah, how does that help you? I’ll give you some explanation of more common terms you will come across regarding processors when considering a new computer that will hopefully help you make a better choice … for you.

History

As with most things, long ago computers were more simple and there were less choices. I remember Dick Lawless telling me he once worked on a computer that was built inside of a good sized room! Years later Allen Bloch was a sophisticated young accountant sporting one of the first portable computers … about the size of an old sewing machine. These days your cell phone has a ton more computing power than any of those early computers. With technology advancements moving faster and faster all the time, everything is getting smaller, faster and “smarter”. The main ingredient in all of this … The Processor.

Manufacturer

There are many different manufacturers of processors for many different equipment applications but for retail personal computers you will likely only come across two mainstream products: Intel and AMD. This is truly a Ford vs Chevy situation where some people will swear by Intel while others will argue the benefits of AMD. You can find benchmark tests on websites that show a bunch of confusing statistics of each ones performance given a certain application. This tends to make the competition pretty fierce so each of them work to come out with a new model line seemingly with the changing of the season’s. So what you end up with is a plethora of choices that can befuddle the typical laymen. Aye Yai Yai!!

Clock Speed

While there are other factors that affect the overall speed of a computer, this is where the rubber meets the road. The clock speed refers to how fast a processor can perform all of the operations listed in the afore mentioned definition. How does this help you? Well, the higher the clock speed is, the better the performance you will get out of your computer when comparing the same model processor. It will seem faster because it’s actually processing faster. Clock speeds are shown as a decimal and generally range from 2.1 GHz to 3.8 GHz. Unfortunately, this high performance is always synonymous with higher prices as well. $$$$ So as any good manufacture should do, they each offer a budget class and a premium class. AMD’s premiums are their A-Series, E-Series and FX and their budget class includes Phenom, Athlon and Sempron. While Intel has the “i7”, “i5”, and “i3” for their premium and Core 2, Pentium and Celeron for their budget class. Each one of these has multiple models with different specs and generations. A little Google research shows that the FX models are AMD #1 and the “i7” models are Intel’s best. With Intel currently showing as the strongest in most current benchmarks.

Other Specs

You will also see 32 bit or 64 bit processors and possibly L1, L2 Cache. The bit rate essentially refers to how much RAM the processor is capable of utilizing. 32 bit is good for computers with 4 GB of RAM and less while 64 bit is good for 4 GB of RAM and more. It’s important to point out that a 64 bit processor must be matched to a 64 bit operating system and a 32 bit to a 32 bit OS. But that will likely be taken care of for you. Also, software applications are written in 32 or 64 bit. A 64 bit computer can use 64 or 32 bit applications, but a 32 bit is restricted to only 32 bit applications. And finally, the L1, L2 Cache refers to what can be considered as the processors own built in personal RAM. Simply said, the more the better.

Summary

So as with everything else, what it boils down to is your own personal needs for computing and your budget. Sure, if money was no object I’d say go out and buy the most expensive and advanced computer you can buy. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. However, I believe the majority of us can’t do that. Once again, think about what it is you want to do with your computer. Web browsing, emailing and general use does not warrant the best performing computer available. But at the same time an online gamer is going to be disappointed if they go with a bare bones budget computer. I’d say look at your needs, look at your bank account, and find the best deal that you can afford. Given the details I’ve shown in this three part article of course. 🙂

“RAM” – Noun or Verb? Animal or Action?

Tue, December 1, 2015 Published by Beatitudes Campus

Neither! At least when you’re referring to computers. 🙂

RAM is actually an acronym which stands for “Random Access Memory”. Because of this, it’s reference is typically shortened to “Memory”. For example, How much memory does your computer have? It’s size or capacity is measured in powers of 2 and these days the increments are in Gigabytes or “GB”. For example, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB etc. Without a doubt, RAM has the greatest effect on computer performance. If there’s not enough, it can choke and slow your computer to a crawl no matter how fast the processor is. The processor actually relies on RAM to do its job. Imagine RAM as being the top of your desk. The bigger your desk is, the more things you can work on at the same time. If you have a tiny little desk, chances are you can only work on one thing at a time. So still the question remains, HOW MUCH?? To be honest, there’s no exact science for determining this. It’s kind of up to you and your intended computer use. But here’s a road map to help.

All software programs and applications loaded on your computer will take a bite out of available RAM while in use. Including your operating system and antivirus which are always running many services in the background. So if you add to that by opening more programs and applications, you continue to subtract from available RAM. This means the biggest consideration when determining the amount of RAM you may need is how many applications do you intend to use “at the same time”. The most typical user will have email open while browsing the Internet or social sites like Facebook (4 to 8 GB). A more heavy user may do that but add to it heavy word processing, PowerPoint presentation or publication creation (8 to 16 GB). And an even heavier user may be a photographer or graphics artist engaging in heavy duty photo editing and movie creation (16 to 32 GB). So you see, while I’m sure any salesman can convince you that more is always better, in the end only you hold the answers to “How Much” RAM you really need. Be aware, It’s possible to reach overkill if you don’t truly need it and additional RAM seems to come with a pretty hefty price tag. The beauty is that it can be upgraded later if you find you really need it. So don’t stress. Think about what you might need and go for it.

Passwords, Passwords, Passwords!!!

Tue, November 24, 2015 Published by Beatitudes Campus

Never before has so much information been so accessible to so many people electronically. Welcome to “The Internet”. In many ways the “Information Age” is a wonderful time to be alive. But as is often the case, there is a dark side. The same technology that makes it really easy to store, search and view all of this information also makes it possible for others to get hold of personal information. When it comes to using computers and the Internet, we are challenged to create a plethora of user names and passwords to protect our information. But how do you make up a username and password that will be easy for you to remember but impossible for anyone else to figure out? Here’s some advice…

First of all, there are good passwords and bad passwords? An example of a bad password is any word that is in the dictionary or a name. If someone wanted to “crack” your password using computer software they would probably start with lists of common passwords like that. So don’t make it easy for them. For the dedicated “password cracker” there are actually huge lists of common passwords available online. Also, when you hear on the news that the accounts of the XYZ Company or the ABC Website have been hacked, those passwords can end up on websites where other hackers can access them.

So what makes for a good password? Here are some basic suggestions:
DOs:

Avoid common names, dates, phone numbers or things easily associated with you.
Avoid common words or phrases as they would be the first thing checked by password cracking software.
Use a combination of numbers and letters. For example, substitute numbers for letters and letters for numbers in a word or phrase. “H!Th3r3!”
Make it something you can remember all by yourself. Think of a sequence or acronym.
Try to make it at least 8 – 16 characters long. Obviously the longer the better. Cracking gets exponentially harder with each additional character.
Plan on changing your password often. Experts suggest changing your passwords at least every 6 months. Your employer may require it more often.

DON’Ts:

Don’t use naturally occurring keyboard sequences like “qwerty” or adjacent combinations.
Never share your password! Protect them like you do your SSN. With either one, anyone can pose as you.
Don’t write it down anywhere! That’s just a given. Once again, don’t make it easy.
Avoid using the same password for multiple sites or applications. Cracked once and they have everything.
Avoid saving passwords. What’s convenient for you is convenient for a hacker.

Whether it’s about protecting the money in your bank account, restricting access to your email, or protecting employer information, you’ll need to have good usernames and passwords to protect yourself. Choose wisely.

The View from a Kaleidoscope

Mon, October 26, 2015 Published by Peggy Roberts

When I was a kid one of my favorite toys was the Kaleidoscope—a cardboard tube filled with colored glass, mirrors, and designs, which when you look through it and turn it, it changes into a myriad of beautiful designs and patterns. It makes magic with light and mirrors. The name Kaleidoscope comes from Greek words meaning beautiful, form, and view. Part of what makes a Kaleidoscope so fascinating is that as you turn it, the contents shift and you look at them from a different perspective. You see something you hadn’t seen before. Perspective is one of the strongest powers of the mind and spirit. It can affect our mood, how productive we are, how we tackle obstacles and much more. In times when we struggle to keep life in perspective, it can be helpful to remember that it’s all in how you look at things. Turn the kaleidoscope clockwise and see a wave of geometric shapes and a splash of blues and greens. Twist it the other way and you find yourself staring at a completely different pattern of reds and yellows. The different views represent your life; it’s just a matter of finding the right angle from which to look at it or at least see that everyone’s life holds within it beautiful complexity and some chaos too.

Another way of keeping life in perspective is to see that our perspective is not the only one. We each see the world from our own perspective given our own background and life experiences. However, it is helpful as we go through life to learn to see the world through other lenses, from other perspectives. Often it takes just a slight shift or turn to begin to see through someone else’s eyes, to see the world in a new light. When we value and respect the uniqueness in people we live and work with, it becomes easier to be less critical and judgmental. We begin to understand and appreciate that the people we’re close to see the world in their own unique way, which may or may not be similar to our own view of the world. This leads to more tolerance and acceptance in relationships and can heal many rifts. Curiosity, respect, an open mind and a generous heart tries to understand life from someone else’s perspective. When you view our Beatitudes Campus as if through a kaleidoscope, you see an amazing array of humanity, richly diverse and beautiful. Each person brings their own unique design and pattern. What a blessing!

Welcome to the Employee Portal!

Wed, October 21, 2015 Published by Beatitudes Campus

Welcome to the all-new snazzy Employee Portal, where all your resources are available and easily accessible from anywhere! This is the very beginning of this part of the site, so please send us your feedback with what you think we should include! As it stands now, this will be an instant overview of what is available in printed form inside the Teamtalk! employee newsletter.

We’ll have more information from our wonderful HR department coming soon – in the meantime, have a look around – and definitely let us know what you think!

Category: Staff News