OS Activities - Part II

I decided to speak with a "techie" and called my friend John. He works in the tech department at a Hospital in Madison. I asked him which is his largest frustration about the OS they use at the hospital. He said they use Windows XP and gets frustrated by people who do not try to think of the simple reasons their computer has an error. Usually he wouldn't need to come if the users would know some simple maintenance. He also does not enjoy how frequent problems pop up, but it keeps him in business.

The next activity I did was update and install an OS patch for my computer. This is very easy to do on the Mac because you just simply click on the apple and then select "Software Update." The update that it cam up with was an update to JAVA so that it is more compatible with the OS X operating system. It took less than 2 minutes to do and as so as it was done, my time machine automatically started to back up the update.

The final activity I did was learn about different features of my operating system. I learned about the ability to set parental controls on the Mac (OS X 10.5.8). By creating an account for the child, you can limit the amount of time they can use the computer as well as what is the computer will log them off. You can also limit the websites they visit as well as who they can chat with and email. I also learned about expose. I have accidentally clicked on the of the F3 button and the any windows I currently have open snap into a grid on the screen. You can sort them alphabetically as well as by what type of application it is. Spaces is great because you can manage all of the windows that you have on your desktop without having to move them over and minimize them. While expose just shows what you have, spaces allows you to work. The next feature I investigated was VoiceOver, this application allows individuals with visual impairments to scroll over text and hear the words. This would be great for students with disabilities as well as ELL students. File sharing is another handy feature in the Mac. This allows you to share documents with other Macs and PCs without sharing a google.doc. We have used this with out in-laws as an easy way share pictures. Another features is Spotlight. This allows you to search your Mac for documents easily with key words as well as pictorally with thumbnails of documents.