# Essential Tech Tips for a Successful Academic Year
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Chapter 1: Preparing for a New Academic Year
As the academic season approaches, students everywhere are busy getting ready for school and university. This period often involves organizing new schedules, buying fresh supplies, and squeezing the last moments of summer enjoyment. However, in our tech-driven world, it’s crucial to ensure that your technology is ready for the challenges of the new year.
Whether you are a newcomer to campus or returning for another year, having an efficient tech setup can significantly impact your educational experience. Drawing from my past as an IT professional at a university, I’ve encountered common tech issues like forgotten passwords, lost assignments, and malware. With that in mind, here are three essential tech tips to kickstart your academic journey:
Section 1.1: Invest in a Reliable Laptop
Surprisingly, I advise that unless your coursework specifically requires a Mac, you should consider acquiring a quality Windows laptop.
There are several reasons for this suggestion:
- Compatibility with Coursework: Most classwork and assignments will likely be completed on Windows, and if you’re enrolled in a technical field, your instructors may not be familiar with macOS, limiting their ability to assist you.
- Access to Specialized Software: During my time as a student, many educational institutions provided software that was exclusively compatible with Windows. This scenario is not uncommon and can hinder your work if you’re using a different operating system.
- Affordability and Repair Costs: Should something happen to your laptop, replacing a Windows device is generally more budget-friendly than a MacBook. Accidental spills, drops, and hardware malfunctions occur frequently, so it’s wise to prepare for such possibilities.
Section 1.2: Maximize OneDrive Usage
Most educational institutions offer Microsoft 365 subscriptions, granting access to essential tools like Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. A particularly useful feature of this suite is OneDrive, a cloud storage solution that can be invaluable for students.
I recommend saving all your work in OneDrive. This way, if your laptop fails, you’ll still have access to your documents from another device. Additionally, when you save your work in applications like Word or Excel to OneDrive, it can automatically save your progress, reducing the risk of data loss from forgotten saves.
Many students I’ve encountered often neglected to save their work, resulting in the recovery of outdated document versions.
Section 1.3: The Importance of Backups
While OneDrive provides a robust storage solution, there’s still a risk of data corruption or loss. Therefore, regular backups are essential.
During my university days, I invested in a portable hard drive, which cost around £40 and offered 500 GB of storage, along with a 32 GB USB flash drive for smaller backups. My strategy was straightforward: I stored all my work in OneDrive and backed everything up to the USB drive at the end of each day. Then, weekly, I transferred that data to my portable hard drive.
This may seem excessive, but it saved me from losing critical work on multiple occasions when my laptop's hard drive failed or files became corrupted. For added security, consider backing up your portable hard drive to a separate cloud service. I used KnowHow Cloud (not sponsored, just a recommendation) during my studies, which provided me with 4 TB of online storage, effectively safeguarding my data.
Chapter 2: Final Thoughts
From my experience in university IT, these three tech tips have proven invaluable to many students. Whether you’re starting a new academic journey or returning, these strategies will benefit you greatly.
What tech tips do you have for school or university? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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