It's that time of year again, so it's time for another reminder.
Cold weather and laptops do not mix. As much as many of us may be in denial for a few more weeks, the weather is starting to change. It's time to winter up!
Remember: Laptops kept at a cold temperature for more than a few minutes are at risk of significant damage. For every hour a laptop is left out in the cold (below 50 degrees), it requires at least another hour of rest at room temperature.
When temps are below zero, it's good to double the time. The recommended way to warm a chilled computer is slowly in a normally heated room and away from direct heat. DON’T PLACE IT NEAR A HEAT SOURCE OR TRY USING A BLOW DRYER. Don’t plug it in or turn it on until the laptop is at room temperature. Attempting to use a cold computer can cause hardware damage and is likely to break the display.
It's also important to note that most technologies (those which aren't specifically designed for sub-zero outdoor use) are sensitive to temperature extremes. Use outdoors or after exposure to cold is not ideal. Prolonged exposure to extreme cold can result in long-term damage to the device(s) used.
Middle School Families,
I'm writing with a tech request best done outside of school hours to minimize downtime in classes. It should be done sometime in the next two weeks or so (by November 5th), so with long weekends coming up, I'm hoping it won't be difficult for MS students to find time to complete (with your guidance if needed).
In order to prevent issues during the recent CTP assessments, we instructed Middle School students to pause Windows Updates on their Lenis. During this time, Microsoft released, then pulled back Windows 10 update 1809 (most students are at some version of 1803). Once the issues detected by Microsoft are resolved, they’ll release it again, and we need to make sure updates are re-enabled so student devices stay protected and reliable. When updating is re-enabled, updates should download in the background, but it’s a good idea to check periodically (at least once a month) to make sure updates are current so the computer is reliable and protected against possible security risks.
Who: All Middle School Students, with parent support if needed
What: Unpause and run Windows updates
Where: At home (or an off-campus location with reliable internet access for 2+ hours)
When: Ideally before November 5, 2018
Why: To ensure devices are responsive and well-protected
How: See instructions below
To check for updates now, select the Start button, and then go to Settings (sprocket) > Update & security > Windows Update, and select Check for updates. If Windows Update says your device is up to date, try anyway as it sometimes needs a nudge to see the Microsoft servers.
To unpause updates if they're paused (paused updates will have a pause symbol and say they’re paused), click Resume Updates. This should prompt the computer to check for updates.
This video will walk you through the process described above.
Why don’t we do this at school?
The full update process can take two or more hours if updates haven’t been done recently. If we tried to update every Middle School student during a school day, it could easily take everyone offline for the entire day. For this reason, we’re asking families to do this at home, ideally during a time when students will not need the device.
Pointers:
It's always a good idea to back up any local data (Desktop, Documents, etc.) regularly, if not already in Drive, should issues arise. For most of our students, the majority of schoolwork already "lives" in Google Drive, so backup is rarely needed.
Updates may take an hour or more to complete, so plan ahead. If it’s been over a month since your last update was run (you can check the Update history to find out), it can take several hours.
It’s ok to use the computer while updates are downloading, but some applications will be slow and/or glitchy if a large update is downloading.
Make sure the computer is plugged in when updates are running.
Updates typically don't need supervision, so they can be done overnight or during another time when the computer isn't in use. It just needs to stay on with a reliable power source.
Check power settings to keep the computer from going into sleep/standby during updates. Although sleep/standby won’t hurt the update, it will slow the process.
Don’t be surprised if you have another update immediately after running updates. Sometimes Microsoft sends one update that must be done prior to the one that follows. It helps to plan ahead. Another update - Version 1809 - will be showing up shortly; anticipate this one to take at least two hours to complete - at least an hour to download (likely more) and another 30+ minutes to install (it will let you schedule a time for that to happen once the download is complete).
If a computer says something to the effect of “Working on Updates - Don’t shut down”, believe it. Shutting down may result in corrupting the operating system and require a reimage (wiping the machine completely) by our tech department to repair.
For more info, see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12373/windows-update-faq or contact Tami Brass tbrass@spa.edu .