Issue 49, September 20, 2022

Please help ITS welcome Jesse Halsted to our Service Desk! He's training for the next few weeks but will be answering phones soon, so be sure to give Jesse a warm UTHSC welcome if you talk to him!

Do you like TechConnect? Do you hate TechConnect? Do you use TechConnect? Do you even know what TechConnect is?

It doesn’t matter because we want to hear from you!

TechConnect has been available to the campus for over a year now, and it’s not worth anything if it doesn’t help you, our users.

Please take a few minutes to take our TechConnect survey to let us know what you like about TechConnect, what you don’t like about it, or why you don’t use it so we can make TechConnect a better tool for you!

P.S. thanks to everyone that came to the Madison Plaza to see our demos last week! If you couldn’t make it and have questions about TechConnect, contact our Service Desk at 901.448.2222.

Microsoft has some excellent FREE training courses we recommend. As UTHSC faculty or staff, you can access all Microsoft 365 apps listed. Students may not have access to all these apps.

Get Started with Microsoft Excel
In this training, you will learn to navigate the Excel ribbon, format workbooks, spreadsheets, and cells, work with data, formulas, and functions, and explore display and print options. Register

• Sep 23 - 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
• Sep 26 - 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Sep 27 - 9:00 am - 10:00 am

Get Started with Microsoft Word
In this training, you will learn to navigate the Word interface and view available options, use rich formatting and layout options to express ideas in writing, understand how to jump-start documents with modern templates, themes, and style sets, use editing tools to review your document and get intelligent suggestions, and learn to share files to quickly invite others to edit or view your document. Register

• Sep 23 - 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
• Sep 26 - 9:00 am - 10:00 am
• Sep 30 - 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Get Started with Microsoft Planner
In this training, you will learn to understand Planner navigation and Microsoft 365 integrations, see how to create and organize a plan, share a plan and assign tasks, learn to stay on top of tasks assigned to you, and learn to stay on top of the project using charts, calendars, and specialized views Work with Planner in Teams or SharePoint Online. Register

• Sep 28 - 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Oct 03 - 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
• Oct 05 - 10:00 am - 11:00 am

Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed at work? Are there too many things you need to do that leave you with no time to do what you want to do? LinkedIn Learning to the rescue with it's What to Do When There's Too Much to Do. This 8-minute course guides you through a few techniques and ideas to prioritize your workload and create realistic daily, weekly, and yearly work schedules by decluttering your files and inbox, identifying what’s really important, streamlining your workload, and making more effective decisions.

To get to these courses:

1. Go to the UTHSC LinkedIn Learning site.
2. Enter your NetID/password (Duo authentication may be required).
3. If you have linked your LinkedIn Learning account to your LinkedIn account, you will be asked to log into LinkedIn and then be taken to the LinkedIn Learning main page.
   If you have not linked your LinkedIn Learning account to your LinkedIn account, you will be taken to the LinkedIn Learning main page.
4. Visit the What to Do When There's Too Much to Do course page.

Does remote work have you working non-traditional hours, and you wish you could schedule something to send in the morning instead of 10 pm? Do you want to write something today, but want to have it sent in a few days? Outlook makes that possible with the Delay Delivery/Send Later option!

Windows Users:

1. Draft an email as usual.
2. Click the Options menu.
3. Click Delay Delivery on the Outlook Ribbon.
4. Under Delivery Options, choose your desired date and time.
5. Click Close.
6. Click Send.

The email is now in your Outbox folder. You can edit the Send options by double-clicking the email in your Outbox folder, clicking Options, clicking Delay Delivery, and changing the date/time if you do it before the time you specified the email be sent.

Mac Users:

1. Draft an email as usual.
2. Click the down arrow on the Send icon.
3. Choose Send Later.
4. Choose your desired date and time.
5. Click Send.

The email is now in your Drafts folder. You can edit the Send options by selecting the email in your Draft folder, clicking Cancel Send, then Yes if you do it before the time you specified the email to be sent. This opens the email so you can send it immediately or choose a new date/time.

You can extend the life of your battery by turning on battery saver mode.

1. Open your device's Settings app and tap Battery.
2. In the top right of your screen, tap the menu with three dots then tap Battery saver.
3. At the top of your screen, set the switch to on. As soon as you turn on the battery saver, the top and bottom of your screen will turn orange.
4. To turn on the battery saver automatically when your battery is low, tap Turn on automatically and select At 5% battery or At 15% battery.

Ever need a measuring tape when you didn’t bring one with you? Do you have your iPhone? Because if you do, chances are you have a built-in measuring tape (as long as you are using an iPhone 6S or later or an iPhone SE or later).

1. Open the Measure app that can be found under the Utilities folder.
2. Make sure the Measure icon at the bottom is highlighted.
3. If the lighting is too dark or you are too close, it may give instructions such as “Move your phone around" or "Move further away."
4. You will see a white dot in a circle appear when your iPhone is ready to begin measuring.
5. Move the white dot to the beginning of where you would like to measure and press the + sign.
6. Move to the end point of your measurement and tap the + sign again.
7. The dotted line gives you the measurement in inches.

If you use a computer or mobile device long enough, sooner or later something will go wrong. You may accidentally delete the wrong files, have a hardware failure, or lose a device. Even worse, malware may infect and wipe or encrypt your files. At times like these, backups are often the only way you can rebuild your digital life.

Backups are copies of your information stored somewhere other than on your computer or mobile device. When you lose, or cannot access, valuable data on your device, you can recover your data from backups. Many of the files we create today are already automatically stored and backed-up in the cloud, such as Microsoft Word documents stored in Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive, or personal photos stored in Apple iCloud. But there may be files you create that are not automatically stored in the cloud; or perhaps you want additional backups for personal use.

What, When, and How

The first step is deciding what you want to back up: (1) specific data that is important to you; or (2) everything, perhaps including your entire operating system. Many backup solutions are configured by default to use the first approach and only back up the most used folders. If you are not sure what to back up or want to be extra careful, consider backing up everything.

Second, decide how frequently to back up the data. Built-in backup programs such as Apple’s Time Machine or Windows Backup and Restore allow you to create an automatic “set it and forget it” schedule. Common scheduling options include hourly, daily, and weekly. Other solutions may offer “continuous protection” in which files are immediately backed up as they are edited or saved. At a minimum, we recommend automated daily backups of critical files.

Finally, decide how you are going to back up. There are two ways: local or cloud-based backups. Local backups rely upon devices you physically control such as external USB drives or network accessible devices. The advantage of local backups is that they enable you to back up and recover large amounts of data quickly. The disadvantage is that if you become infected with malware, it is possible for the infection to spread to your backups. Also, if you have a disaster, such as fire or theft, you could lose your backups as well as your computer. If you use external devices for backups, store a copy offsite in a secure location and make sure your backups are properly labeled. For additional security, consider encrypting your backups.

Cloud-based solutions are online services that back up and store your files on the internet. Typically, you install an application on your computer. The application then automatically backs up your files either on a defined schedule or as you modify or save them. Some advantages of Cloud Solutions are their simplicity, automation of backups, and the access to files from almost anywhere. Also, since your data resides in the cloud, home disasters such as fire or theft will not affect your backup. The main disadvantage is the bandwidth it consumes. Your ability to backup and restore depends on how much data you are backing up and the speed of your network. Not sure if you want to use local or cloud-based backups? Be extra safe and use both.

With mobile devices, most of your data such as emails, text messages, or photos you take are automatically stored in the cloud. However, your mobile app configurations, system preferences, and other files may not be stored in the cloud. By automatically backing up your mobile device, not only do you preserve this information, but it is easier to transfer your data when you upgrade to a new device.

Additional Key Points

• Regularly test that your backups are working by retrieving and opening a file.
• If you rebuild a system from backup including the operating system, be sure you reapply the latest security patches and updates before using it again.
• If you are using a cloud solution, select one that is easy for you to use and research the security options. For example, does your cloud backup vendor support two-step verification to secure your online account?

Backups are a simple and low-cost way to protect your digital life.