Easy Speed Up For Your Computer

A prospective student came in today and as part of the interview asked what can be done with an old computer.
While they old joke is true, your computer is obsolete by the time you get it home and out of the box, there are some things you can do.
The first one is run a disk cleanup. You can buy a program like CCleaner to help but there's a built-in utility in Windows to help you clean up. It's under the "Accessories" folder and will usually clean up things like all the little bits that are stored during web searching.
The next handy utility is the disk defragmenter. Right-Click on the drive that needs cleaning and run the tool. It may take a little while but it will run through and reorganize the drive to make it run more efficiently.
The other easy (and pretty inexpensive) way to speed up any computer is to add some RAM. RAM prices have come way, way down. If you want to save even more money, buy used RAM from a reputable dealer. We use The Computer Guy which is right next door to one of the Community Business College classrooms. He has been really good at finding the right part

What To Do When E-mail Goes Down

With the surprising down time for Gmail, some are asking what do you do when your e-mail program goes down? The best thing is to have a backup. At the school, we've had glitches with Microsoft Outlook, servers hiccupping and power outages by crews drilling through fiber optic cables downtown.

So, what do you do when you have to have e-mail? As always when it comes to computers, it's a good plan to have a backup. Gmail down? Have a Yahoo account to use in the meantime. DSL Internet down? Make sure you have the dail-up connection to your ISP as a backup (sure it's slow but it will get the e-mail job done - plus it gives you a health reminder of the "bad old days" and to be thankful for what you have). Outlook causing problems, go to the webmail version of
your account.

When working with computers, we remind our students that it's not if a computer will fail, it's when it will fail. Having a backup plan can be a life saver!

Student Recipe For Car Tea

This is an awsome idea submitted by one of our students. She taught us how to make tea while she's learning in the classroom. Talk about a multi-tasker! Thanks for the great tip, Sandy!
Here's the recipe:

COMMUNITY BUSINESS COLLEGE CAR TEA

Ingredients
One summer day, over 90 degrees
A vehicle at least 90 degrees inside car
North side of the parking lot of Community Business College
1 gallon Community Business College tap water
3 Red Rose Original Tea Bags
1 Stash Premium chai spice black tea bag

Add water and tea bags to a transparent container with tightly closed lid
Place on front seat of car in direct sunlight
Roll up car windows, lock doors.
Check continuously, and move from seat to seat if necessary to keep in direct sunlight.

When the liquid becomes dark, unlock and open door, remove transparent container carefully. Refrigerate for an hour.

Hint: Any vehicle will work, but I prefer using a 2002 Honda Accord with beige leather seats.