Creating a Mac OS 10.11 bootable USB thumbdrive

Credit to HongKiat.com's blog article here for directions on creating a bootable Mac OS on a Thumbdrive, which allows for installation of the OS when there is no recovery partition available.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/clean-install-mavericks/

Their directions appear to work for both 10.10 and 10.11 as well, with very few modifications.

In a nutshell, you download the installer on a working computer through the App store, save it to the desktop, format a thumbdrive as OSX journaled, install to the thumbdrive, and then boot the target computers from the thumbdrive.

Here are more specific steps.  If you need screen shots, the link above offers really great step by step guidance.

Download the installer on a working computer through the App store and prior to letting the installer run (it deletes itself after finishing), you copy the installer from the Applications folder, where it is downloaded, to the desktop.

You then format a USB thumbdrive with enough capacity for the OS, usually at least 7 GB, as Mac OS X Journaled, which  you can do using Disk Utility.

Then you use the Terminal command line to do an installation from the installer.  The syntax looks like this:

user# /pathtoinstaller/installer name.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/nameofthumbdrive --applicationpath /  /pathtoinstaller/installer name.app --nointeraction

An easy way to get the paths right is to find the files/folders/volumes in the finder, and to drag them into the Terminal window as you type the command, it'll automatically add any characters needed for things like spaces in filenames, etc.

Once you've created the USB drive with the installer files on it, you can boot from it.  Plug it into the target Mac, restart it, and hold down the option key as it turns on.  It should boot up into a screen that lets you choose the startup disk. The USB drive should show up with Install Mac OS X as the name, and you can click it.

The bootable Thumbdrive will have some utilities built into it that let you format the disk if needed, as well as running Disk Utility for "First aid" on your drive, as well as repair permissions.  The default installation is not a "clean" install, so it upgrades the existing OS without disrupting end user files, however, I'd always suggest doing a backup of the user's data before doing this.

eVAL - multiple administrators at same building can see summary for all teachers at that site

When you log into eVAL, and look at the Observation Dashboard, in the upper left corner, under Observation Sessions but above the column of teachers there's a "Filter" drop down, which is probably set to "Assigned Teachers Only"

Click it, and choose "All Teachers" and you should see all of the teachers at your site.

Here's an important note from the eVAL support desk:  

The evaluators won’t be able to add to each other’s observations, though they can each create their own for the same teacher. Each evaluator can view what the other has done by going to the Summary page and clicking on Build/View Report for the teacher.

Tech eNews for December 10, 2015

In this Tech eNews for December 10, 2015:

1. What to do with devices over the break
2. Printing emoji makes Konica copiers angry
3. Phishing attempts – keep your personal info safe
4. Creating a great password
5. Tech Fund Project overview
6. Report a Problem with a Google App
7. Updates for Teacher iPads
8. SBA Compatibility and iOS 9 - resolved
9. Every-other-year inventory work starting soon
10. Use SchoolDude to report problems

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1. What to do with devices over the break
Our Tech Support Staff are hoping you have a wonderful, restful winter break and get to spend time with family and friends enjoying the holiday. As you get ready to head over the river and through the woods, here are some tips for ensuring your electronic devices like laptops, Chromebooks and iPads are nestled away for the long winters nap:

Chromebooks and Laptops:  Try to charge the battery to 100%, then turn the laptop or Chromebook off (make sure you shut it down using the menu, don't just close the lid to put it to sleep).  Then unplug the device from power.

For iPads - charge the iPad all the way up and then make sure you turn it off (don’t just put it to sleep).  You can turn your iPad off by pressing and holding the iPad's power button for about 7 seconds, then sliding the switch that shows up on the screen. Don’t leave it plugged into the power cord all of break, either.

Please do not leave the iPads, laptops, or Chromebooks plugged into power while you’re gone for an extended period of time, this can damage the battery and prevent it from holding a charge!  For teachers with an iPad cart, make sure your iPads cart is locked before you leave for break.  If you have a laptop or Chromebook and are leaving it in your room, consider storing it in a cabinet or drawer to keep it out of sight to prevent theft.

2. Printing Emoji make the Konica copy machines angry!
If you try to print a document that contains an emoji (the small happy/sad face icon set) from Google drive or other web based services to one of the Konica copiers, the copier will not print the document.  The document will get stuck on the copier, and the copier will have a blinking blue light on the front that never stops.  Eventually, they have to be restarted.  If you need to express yourself, you’ll have to use your words, not emoji.

3. Phishing attempts - new ways to steal your info!
As always, there are a number of ways that bad guys (and gals) trying to get your information!  New “phishing” attacks, which are tricky ways that hackers and would-be identity thieves are trying to get your personal information, are impersonating Microsoft and other companies, and may pop up an error message saying that “Microsoft has found a virus on your computer” and will ask you to call a number to get help.  If you get a notice like this, you may be on a website that is not a reputable place to be, and you should consider closing all of your browser windows and going else where on the Internet.

Note that WSD Tech staff will never ask you to call a non-local phone number for us to provide support for your district equipment.  If you get a message like this on your home computer, please be aware that it is a scam.

Note that the “old” tactics of trying to claim that you’ve won the lottery in another country, even though you didn’t enter it, or asking you to send an anonymous benefactor a “down payment” and you could have millions are still out there. There are many, many schemes going on to try to get access to your bank account, e-mail accounts, and your hard earned cash.  If you get an e-mail that doesn’t sound right, or asks for your password or login info, please don’t reply.  Be a wary web surfer and e-mail user, remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

4. Picking a great password and keeping it secure
Upper, lower, letters, numbers, symbols, what diabolical sadist came up with these rules for creating passwords?  We just want to get logged in!

Everyone knows that our WESPaC passwords need to be kept secure - they provide access to confidential student information including health, discipline, and grade data.  But, now that you can retrieve passwords for just about every web service you use, including WESPaC and EDS, via your e-mail, it’s more important than ever that you have a strong e-mail password, and that you keep it secure.  Coming up with a great password is sometimes a very frustrating experience.

Here are some ideas on creating a great password.  Use a favorite song lyric or book title as the starting point, something with 4 or 5 words.  A phrase like this will make sure your password is long enough to meet the requirements of the various systems we use. Next, add some capital letters, and change at least a few of the characters to a number. Something like “And The Band Played On” can be AndthebandPlayed1 which is a really hard to guess, but still easy to remember password.  Keep in mind that details about you that are easy to find online or through social media, like your address, date of birth, or names of family members, aren’t good starting points for a password.

Another important note is that you should not use the same passwords for both work and home use.  Ideally, you’d have at least 4 passwords that you use on a regular basis.  You should have a strong password for your access to WESPaC and E-mail.  You should have another password that you use for signing up for online systems for work, but which is not the same as your WESPaC password or e-mail, so that if another online system you use gets hacked, you don’t have to worry about your confidential work data being compromised.  Finally, although our tech staff are incredibly trustworthy, we don’t want to know the passwords to your online banking, Amazon.com accounts, investments, or other online systems you use at home, so please us a different set of passwords for your home use.

It is also super important to make sure that you are safe guarding these passwords, and that you don’t have them on a sticky note next to your monitor.  While we like to assume that no one would ever use this kind of information for nefarious purposes, these things do happen!  Please don’t keep your passwords written down in your work space. Once you create a great password, keep it safe!

5. Update on Projects Funded by the Technology Fund
The District Wide Technology Committee has created a one page guide to the Technology Levy and the projects we are funding.  You can find a document which outlines the replacement schedule for different devices, as well as the roll out plan for the 1:1 initiative on the Tech website.

6. Reporting a problem with a Google App
If you’re annoyed by an issue you’re having with a Google app, did you know you can report the problem to Google?  If you’re in Drive, Calendar or E-mail, Click the Sprocket for settings, and then choose “Help.”  Scroll to the bottom, and click “Send Feedback.”  If you’re in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, click the “Help” menu, then choose “report a problem.” This will help Google improve the apps you use in your work and provide a better experience for you.

7. Waiting for your support staff to update your iPad? 
Teacher iPads are not managed the same way as the student devices, you don't have to wait for the Tech staff!  When you have a red number on the Settings app, or the App store on your iPad, it means you have updates you need to install.  Installation is very simple, just click the App store, scroll to the bottom, and click updates.  You can use the “Update All” button in the upper right, and the App store will let you know when it is done.  Some apps may be quite large, so updates can take a couple minutes to download.  If your battery is low, the App store may tell you that you must charge your device or have it plugged into power.

8. SBA testing should be compatible with iOS 9 by the end of December
The folks at AIR, the company that produces the Smarter Balanced Test, have finished testing and implementing compatibility fixes for iOS 9.  It is no longer necessary to hold off on this update.

9. Every other Year inventory starting
The every-other-year inventory will be starting soon.  As we begin having staff verify the location of district equipment, they will notify your school of a timeline for when they’ll be in your building.  These staff are happy to work with you to schedule a time to do this work, if you would like to be there while they complete the inventory.  If you have personal items that are the same as district items, please put a sticky note on them letting us know that they are personal equipment, so we don’t accidentally tag your stuff.  If the inventory person is unable to locate your equipment, they will leave you a note asking you to help locate that equipment.  If you have any items checked out, they will also want to see them during the building inventory, and will work with  you to find a time that you can show those items so they can be accounted for.

10. How does using School Dude help you? 
Besides keeping your tech staff happy (which is a wise thing to do), using SchoolDude to report problems with your technology helps you! Once you’ve put in a request, you’ll get an automatic e-mail response letting you know it’s been entered. The system will update you whenever Sean, Linda, Brian, Jeraby, or Mat makes any changes to the work order. You can log back into the SchoolDude system to view the status of all of your tickets, which can be helpful if we’ve given you steps on how to resolve something. The SchoolDude system helps the district track time spent on problem machines. Also, if you’ve been having a problem with a computer, make sure you’re keeping track of it in School Dude. Problem machines are identified by the number of tickets assigned to them, and get replaced when we have the opportunity.

To get started, visit the “STAFF” page on the WSD Site, then click “Technology/Maintenance Requests” in the right sidebar.  Contact your building tech person if you need the password to submit a ticket. 

MacBook with loud fan and sluggish performance

If your Mac laptop is running very loudly (the fan) and everything seems sluggish, you might have an application running in the background that's causing the machine to slow down, and to run at higher CPU speeds than normal (which makes the fan run faster and more loudly). 

You might be able to find the application causing the high CPU utilization by doing this:  

• Hold down the option key on the keyboard
• Click the battery symbol in the menu at the top of the screen
• Wait for 5-10 seconds for it to gather power information (will show up in the middle of the menu)
• Look at the list of applications using significant power.  See if you can quit any of the apps listed that are using a lot of power.  If you can't make it quit, try Force Quitting (on the Apple menu) that application, and see if this helps.  If the only app listed is your web browser, look at the tabs you have open, and see if a webpage is stuck in one of the other tabs.  

Request eVAL role in EDS

Teachers new to the district need to request an account in the eVAL system we use for the TPEP/PGES professional growth system and evaluations.  

Here are directions:

Visit the EDS system here: https://eds.ospi.k12.wa.us

You may already have an account.  If you worked in another Washington district, or have started work with OSPI on your teacher certificate, you should log in with the account you already have, and use the directions starting with "If you already have an EDS account".

If you do not have an EDS account: 

Visit the EDS system here: https://eds.ospi.k12.wa.us

• Click the dark green "Create an Account" button
• Fill out all the info
• Please out all of the information on the page, and please make sure to use your WashougalSD.org e-mail account as the "contact email"
• Click Register at the bottom

• Once your account is created, you should get a button asking if you want to request a role.  Click that button.  
• Choose the roll "eVALSchoolTeacher" from the drop down menu
• Choose Washougal School District as the Organization
• Choose your individual school as the school.  If you teach at more than one school, you may need to work with your admin to figure out who will be evaluating you. 
• Click Save.   

Boo Stevens here at District Office will receive a request, and will approve it, giving you access to eVAL through the EDS system.  

If you already have an EDS account:

Log into EDS via this address: https://eds.ospi.k12.wa.us

• Click "Profile" from the three tabs near the top in the light green bar
• In the left sidebar, click "Request Access"
• Click the button to "Add Role"
• Choose the roll "eVALSchoolTeacher" from the drop down menu
• Choose Washougal School District as the Organization
• Choose your individual school as the school.  If you teach at more than one school, you may need to work with your admin to figure out who will be evaluating you. 
• Click Save.   

Boo Stevens here at District Office will receive a request, and will approve it, giving you access to eVAL through the EDS system.  

A longer version of directions, with screen shots, is available here:

http://www.k12.wa.us/EDS/pubdocs/RequestAccess.pdf

Word count in Google Docs

reposting from Google help

Word count

You can count the number of words in a document in Google Docs. At the moment, this feature isn't available for spreadsheets or presentations.

1. Open a document.
2. Click the Tools menu.
3. Select Word count.

This is what you'll see in the window that appears:

• Words
• Characters (no spaces)
• Characters (with spaces)

If you've selected specific text in your document, look under Selection for the numbers that apply to the selected text. Otherwise, look under Document for information on the entire document.

Citrix client won't load - error on ports

I had a Mac user today on 10.9.5 on a laptop who was trying to open the Citrix receiver, and wasn't getting it to come up. She was able to download the .ica file, and the receiver app was launching, but not proceeding at all.  She quit it several times and tried in a different browser, same issue.

After looking at a bunch of things, and then downloading the receiver again, I realized that the receiver had finally given an error on connecting for one of them, saying it couldn't get a response from the server:port.  I checked her wifi, and she was on our guest network, which blocks all non HTTP or HTTPS traffic, which was keeping her from being able to get online.  Switching the computer back to the regular network fixed the issue.