Tech Tip Tuesday: Find your stuff!

The end of the school year is fast approaching, and many teachers are packing away boxes of handouts, activities and lessons.  Books and materials get packed into their own box, crayons and markers in another.  What about your files on your computer.  Managing your files can be a lesson in itself, but there are some easier ways to work with your digital cupboard.

If you are a Mac OSX user, you need to know about Spotlight.  Spotlight is the all purpose search tool on the Mac.  In the toolbar upper right hand corner, you find a tiny magnifying class.  This is your Spotlight.  Clicking on this brings up a search box just start typing and you will see results.

WIndows users aren't left behind either.  In Windows XP there was a pretty good Search function. It was enhanced for Windows Vista and again for Windows 7.  Now the Search box is right on the Start Menu. Do you have dozens of programs and don't remember quite where your Calendar 2.0 is found?  Start typing in the search box and your computer will help you find it.

Learn more about the Windows 7 Search features.

For the true digital packrat with so much stuff they can't find any of it, you can go all out and install Google Desktop.  This uses Google's technology to search the files on your computer. There's a version for Mac and Windows.