Course connections

The course I'm taking right now, Computers and How They Work, connects to me in a few different ways. First, I've always been very interested in technology. In my house, I'm definitely the administrator, and I have to be on top of things in order to keep our PC and laptop running smoothly with no interruptions. At work, I'm kind of a go-to person on staff. The things I've learned in this class will definitely help me do a better job in both of these roles. I've learned a lot about good computer maintenance, and things I would need to know when troubleshooting problems. I think all of the information I've acquired will be helpful to me in the future. Especially if I continue getting new technology assignments at work, or if I someday become that tech person who is responsible for making big tech decisions for the district. Either way, I have learned SO MUCH in six weeks, and I will never regret having taken this class.

Managing a computer

If there's one thing I have learned through managing my computer, it's that it is definitely a complicated task. I am the sole person managing my computer at home, because although my husband uses a computer daily, he is not up on the management part of it. I am the person who takes care of cleaning up the system, virus protection, troubleshooting, hardware and software, and data security and backup. It's kind of nice at school, because the tech person takes care of all of these things for me, so I can kind of take a break from my management role at work. However, it's a different story at home. In order to be an effective manager, I need to know what hardware and software I need and how to run it, how to defragment and clean disks when things get sluggish, what virus protection is best and how to use it, what to do if a virus is detected, how to fix common problems and where to go if I can't fix it, and how to backup our information so we don't lose everything in case of a system crash. All of it can be very overwhelming, and you really have to stay on top of it daily in order to be an effective manager with a smooth-running system.