Technology Tips for Teachers

Cleaning the Keyboard & Monitor

It is very important especially during the cold and flu season to keep your keyboard and computer screen clean and germ-free. The easiest way to do this is to wipe your computer down. You need to be careful not to use anything with alcohol in it on your screens. A damp cloth will wipe off smudges, but doesn’t do much for germs. The Clorox or Lysol wipes are great for the keyboards. You can use them and scrub hard on the keyboards. (when the computer is off) You will be surprised how much dirt is on the cloth when you finish. This needs to be done on a regular basis to continually keep germs and dirt from building up. DO NOT USE Clorox or Lysol wipes on computer screens they contain alcohol and are not good for them. The newer computers especially need a different kind of care. You can use baby wipes or the best product out right now to use is a type of electronic wipe found at WalMart in Electronics called Anti-Static Wipes or Electronic Wipes. These are good because they contain no alcohol and are safe for all LCD/plasma screens and electronics. May your keyboard be clean and your screen be clear!

EMAIL - Cleaning out your email folders

From time to time you need to clean out your email folders. There are a lot of emails that we do not need to hold onto. So my suggestion is each month to clean out your email folders.

#1 Open your email account and start by cleaning out your SENT folder. This folder holds a copy of all emails you have responded to or sent to others. Just simply highlight the ones you don’t need and drag to trash.

#2 Clean out your JUNK mail folder. Simply highlight all and drag to trash. If you are receiving a lot of JUNK emails, you may want to UNSUBSCRIBE to these by searching at the bottom of the unwanted email for a link to unsubscribe. This should stop that particular email from coming again.

#3 Go to your INBOX and delete any email you don’t need or want to keep for some reason.

#4 Go to your TRASH folder and go up to MAILBOX on the toolbar then pull down to ERASE deleted messages in all accounts. This will empty out your TRASH folder. REMEMBER: YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET THESE BACK SO DOUBLECHECK BEFORE YOU TRASH THEM AND EMPTY TRASH.