Macintosh Computer Care & SPS Refresh

Slow computer? Spinning rainbow? There are steps you can take to improve the operation of your computer.

The Backstory: Technology Services staff periodically do an analysis of how staff computers are working. Some of the findings include:

• Computers that are not turned off each night. 

• Computers that have almost completely full hard drives.

• Computers with malware or viruses.

• Computers that have been turned into "wireless hot spots."

• Computers that have never had their cache cleared.

• Computers have non-school related software installed. 

These things cause a number of issues, including overall slowness. Read on to see what you can do to improve your computer's performance.

General Good Practices

There are several things that you can do, in terms of good computer hygiene, to increase the speed of your computer and/or web browsing. A few suggestions include:

• Turn off your computer each night. 

• Run the SPS Refresh app weekly. An easy thing to do would be to run it each Monday morning before you do anything else. If you don't know what the SPS Refresh app is, click here or talk to your school building Ed Tech Leader.

• Be aware of what applications are running on  your computer and quit the ones that you are not using. You can see what's running by looking at the Dock; open applications will have a small, light blue dot under their icons. In the images below, Acrobat, Firefox and Chrome are running.

• • Quit apps that you are not using by typing ⌘ Q. Clicking the "red dot" in the top left corner of a window closes the application, but general does not quit the application.

Professional Use of Equipment

Please remember, your work computer is just that. It's your work computer and you have signed off on SpringNET to indicate that you understand that your use of district network and equipment is specifically for your work use — it isn't a family computer and it isn't for personal business. 

If you have a new computer, please do not store personal photographs, music, videos, bookmarks, etc. that do not belong to the district or are not directly related to your instruction.

Below are a few reminders about removing multimedia, programs, and apps, that do not belong to the district or are not directly related to your instruction.

If you are unsure if you can use your computer for a specific activity, ask yourself, "Is what I'm doing directly related to my job?" If the answer is no, then you should probably use your personal device to accomplish the task.

• • Remove personal photographs. These use space on your hard drive and can cause problems (especially when your hard drive is getting full...everything slows way down). Plus, personal photographs shouldn't be on your work computer in the first place...remember SpringNET?

  • Remove personal music. Again, takes up space on your hard drive and can cause problems. Plus, personal music collections shouldn't be on your work computer in the first place — school computers are not personal devices and copying your personal music collection to them is a violation of copyright laws. 

  • Remove personal videos. Again, takes up space on your hard drive and can cause problems.

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  • Remove your personal bookmarks/favorites. School-related Bookmarks and Favorites can be helpful, but please don't put your personal ones on your school computer.

If you don't know how to remove photos, music, video, or personal bookmarks/favorites, contact your school Ed Tech Leader or file a Help Desk Ticket. No questions asked!

Get Help

Tech Services staff is here to help out. Here are some things that you might want to get help with.

• • Remove any old accounts on the computer. When you log in to your computer, are there still accounts for staff members who used the computer before you got it? If so, you can have them removed. This will free up hard drive space. You will need to submit a HelpDesk ticket to request that old accounts be removed.

  • Remove (or get help removing) duplicate applications. Over the years, various software gets installed on a computer. Take a look at your Applications folder. Do you see any duplicate programs? If so, put in a HelpDesk ticket to get the old removed (of course, this is provided you are not still using it).

  • Report things that seem odd. Often times, we click past those pesky messages that keep popping up just to get our work done. If you are repeatedly clicking past the same annoying messages, ask your Ed Tech Leader about how to get them to go away. If the response is anything less than satisfactory (meaning you still have to click past them over and over again), put in a HelpDesk ticket. In some cases, it may be that you have inadvertently installed malware or have a virus, and your Ed Tech Leader can't help you. Your computer is your work tool — it should operate properly so that you can get your job done.

Be Smart

• • Be a savvy internet user. Anytime you see "Download Now" ask yourself, "Am I clicking on what I really want to download or is this an advertisement that will download something I do not want?"

• Avoid using your computer as a wireless server. Displaying your iPad to the class requires that you do this. However, there is no other reason that you would want to set up your computer as a wireless access point.

• Avoid streaming music. Streaming services that run in the background (e.g., Pandora) can use system resources and district Internet bandwidth.

Browser Tips

• Use Chrome to access Google Docs, Atomic Learning, and the Synergy Grade Book.

• Use Firefox to access your email.