Latest Computer Info

Last Friday, I visited the computer help desk in Patterson 100 to ask some questions about printing and other computer-related issues. Here is what I learned, in no particular order.

Printing

• They no longer recommend printing from your personal computer. The official computer application you must use is unreliable. Instead, they recommend printing from a university-owned computer, which is connected more directly to the printer. One way to do this is to save your file to a flash drive and plug it in. Another way, if you are using Google Docs or Microsoft Word Online might be to simply open the file on the college computer and print from there. (I have no way to test that out.)

Microsoft applications

• Microsoft Copilot: When the new Microsoft setup was rolled out a couple of years ago, we were told that Copilot was the only real way to get into your email, Word, etc. I was totally unthrilled by the idea that your first encounter with the word processing program was a suggestion that you should use Artificial Intelligence to write your papers. That is why I steered you away from Microsoft. The IT guy claimed that using Copilot is totally YOUR choice (I didn’t buy that) and that your can jump into MS Word, OneDrive, and other programs directly from the Internet without going through Copilot. (News to me!) I checked it out, and it does work.
• Outlook: Google microsoft outlook login and use your university email address and password to log in. It seemed to go faster than going through Copilot.
• Microsoft Word Online: It is possible to enter MS Word by Googling microsoft word online. You still have to search carefully for the MLA template, and when you find it, the template still looks like a paper on exotic birds, but it is there. The Works Cited page format is still wrong.
• Microsoft OneDrive: Google microsoft onedrive login and use your AU email and password. Going directly from the web is much more straightforward and faster than digging through Copilot, but file management is still a nightmare. The main menu (Home) is still strictly chronological in order of most recent access, and contains everything that ever had any relation to you. I tried setting up a file folder and could not find it for a while. Turns out that the newly created file folder lands in a different directory (My Files). That sort of makes sense, though there does not seem to be a way to create a folder for everything from, for example, Dr. Grady. After I set up the new file folder, I tried moving a file there to see how well that works. No luck. I clicked “Move to,” and nothing happened. An hour later, it worked. (Interestingly enough, “Move to” does not actually move the file from the Home menu; it copies the file.) Verdict: strange and frustrating.

My recommendations

The whole printing thing is outside our control, so I suggest you use a school computer to print and allow plenty of time before you need the copy. (I cannot see any of the screens that you need to navigate.)

I was pleasantly surprised that Outlook email is much better with a direct entry—you get in much more quickly.

As for Word and OneDrive, the entry is slicker, but old problems remain. I still think you will suffer less if you use Google Docs or a word processing program that lives on your computer (Apple Pages or LibreOffice are excellent choices, and they do not cost you extra.)