Part 1: The Necessities
1. Laptop (preferably a mac).
It is nearly impossible to function in college without a laptop handy at all times. E-mail is the number one form of communication on college campuses. The internet is the place for checking grades, submitting homework/projects, contacting teachers, communicating with friends and classmates, doing research and of course... for watching youtube videos and using Facebook.
Aside from the internet having a laptop handy is very useful for note-taking. It can keep all of your notes very well organized. (The newest versions of Microsoft Word have a built in notebook layout. If you have a mac there is a very useful app called notebook available online @ circusponies.com for about 35$).
2. Printer
Once your projects are done they need printed out. Most campuses have computer labs where you can print (sometimes not for free) , but if you are a procrastinator you most likely wont have the extra 10 minutes to run to the lab and print it out before class.
3. Digital Camera
College only happens once, and after four years are up you wont be attending many more wing nights or foam dance parties... so these memories need captured. Not to mention the fact that your Facebook will be very boring if you don't upload thousands of pictures a day and tag all of your friends.
4. Flash drive
Floppy disks are long gone and constantly burning/carrying around CDs is annoying. The easiest way to transfer media to friends' computers, take projects to class, or store a few important documents is a flash drive. They have gotten relatively inexpensive and are highly useful for storing and transferring anything from pictures to powerpoint presentations (nice alliteration eh?).
5. TV
Video games, DVDs, Sports and The Office...nuff said
6. Coaxial cable
This is very easily overlooked when packing up for school, but without it you cant watch TV. Dorm rooms dont normally come with anything more than a jack to plug your TV in to. This cable is inexpensive and easy to find, but it can be annoying if you forget about it until move-in day. (But you'll be running out to walmart that night anyway so i guess it doesnt really matter)
7. USB Cables
Yet again, cheap, easy to find and annoying if you forget them. Everything you want to plug into your computer needs a USB cable... and for some reason almost nothing comes with one. Pick a few extra up if you can swing it. They get used often.
8. External Hard Drive
Viruses and computer crashes happen (unless you have a mac ;-]) and with so much valuable media being stored on computers these days losing your hard drive can be devastating. The easiest prevention is to get an external hard drive and be sure to regularly back up all of your information. The hard drives can be expensive, but they are invaluable as far as security goes. If something goes wrong with your computer all you have to do is dump it and restore it from one of your previous backups. All of your information will be put back in place and you will have lost nothing more than time
9. iPod (or other mp3 player)
With all music being stored on computers the need for cd players as a portable media device has gone way down. CDs have been replaced by mp3s and the radio has been replaced by podcasts. It is no secret that vast quantities of music files are "shared" at college and you need a way to listen to all of the music that you acquire throughout your 4 years. The easiest way to listen to music is by uploading it to an iPod or other digital media player. These devices have gone from being thought of as a luxury(which the still are if you think about it) to a near necessity especially among young people and college students.
Part 2: Keeping your tech-stuff safe
1. Passwords
You need a password for everything you access online. Making them something hard to guess at, but easy for you to remember is crucial to keeping your digital media safe. It is also important to use different passwords for each site just in case one is cracked. And don't just write the passwords down and leave it in your dorm. Regardless of how much you trust your roomie anyone can walk in your room and mess with all of your stuff online.
2. Virus Protection
College students send each-other everything from projects and papers to mp3s and funny videos and e-mails. This makes it very easy to pass along viruses and wipe out everyone's computers at once. That makes having anti-virus software essential at college. The software isn't too expensive and most schools have something specific that they will install on your computer at the IT office. Check in to that before buying anything.
3. Backup
I discussed this before when talking about buying an external hard drive... do it... you'll thank me later.
Part 3: Living a happy and healthy college life on the web
1. Facebook, Myspace and other social networking sites
These websites have become very effective forms of communication and have completely revolutionized the way that people communicate. These have also become very useful tools for employers and colleges to keep tabs on potential workers and students. So be smart with your online profiles. As cool as it may be to put funny quotes and pictures on your main page it may not make you very appealing. The best bet is to keep your profiles limited to be viewed only by your friends, and make your main page as if it was part of a resume'. First impessions made online are just as important those made in person.
2. E-mail
Yet again, something i have already discussed. Just be sure to keep your accounts looked and clear out your inboxes often. An e-mail doesn't take up much drive space individually, but with as many as you receive each day your inbox can soon become a space-hog on your computer and your online storage might fill up and lead to the loss of important messages. Keep what you need and delete the rest or just archive it onto your hard drive somewhere else.
3. Blackboard (or whatever your school uses)
Online grading tools are marvelous forms of communication if you use them right. Be sure to check these often and check with each teachers page regularly. I had a few classes where Blackboard was the only way to get assignments and grades, so if you forgot to check it you wouldn't get the assignment in and fail... and college is hard enough as it is. You don't need to fail just because you didn't check up online.
4. Online Banking
This resource has developed a lot in the last couple of years. It is a very easy way to keep track of bank accounts and is a great way for your parents to keep track and help you out when you need it.
Part 4: Getting the Most Out of Your Digital Media
1. Keep it organized
Having thousands of songs and pictures is great, but you won't use them to their full potential if you fail to keep them organized. Most people tend to just upload pictures onto their computer and leave them in a my pictures folder. This is easy, but there is no way to quickly find what you're look for. If you are a Mac OSX or Windows Vista user your system comes with some sort of media viewer. Take advantage of this by keeping all of your pictures and uploaded videos organized by date, keyword, event etc. As far as music goes music management software is a must. The best application available currently is iTunes and anyone with an iPod will already have that installed. Keep your music organized on itunes by ensuring that all songs have proper artist/album names and they are all stored in an organized fashion on your hard drive. I have my iTunes library set to automatically copy all songs into itunes library folders. If i downloaded the songs i can delete the originals and my music stays nice and organized in the iTunes folders.
2. Avoid P2P
I know that without Limewire and software like it most students would not have half of the music that they are currently listening to. Besides the obvious downside that this form of file sharing is illegal when it comes to music/movies, it is also hazardous to your machine's health. These "free" programs contain adware and are constantly invading your system. P2p sharing is responsible for the trafficking of a good majority of the current viruses affecting student's computers (p2p software can even slow down a mac if you aren't careful). With media stores providing music for as little as .99 cents per song and $10.00 for full albums sharing has become almost unnecessary. There also services available such as Rhapsody that allow the user to listen to anything and just pay a monthly fee.
3. Keep your computer on a diet
Pictures, music and movies especially will take up your computer's space very quickly so you'll need to manage what you put on your hard-drive to avoid slow-downs and crashes. The best way to save space without losing your media is to store it on an easily accessible external hard-drive(not the same one you use for backups though). I currently have an 160gb portable hard-drive where i store all of the movies that I copied from home. I just plug it in and play them through iTunes. This takes up none of my computer's memory and is easily accessible wherever I take my laptop. If a hard-drive is too costly another option is to use disks or just get rid of the stuff that you never watch or listen to. If you run out of space and don't want to use CDs or buy a hard-drive another option is to compress large files into zip folders. This is easily done, but takes some time and is not useful for media that you want to access often. This option is best for storing all of those pictures you never look at but cannot stand to part with.
Well that's all for now. I know that much of this has probably insulted your intelligence(if you even read this far), but I hope that you learned something. I'm sure I will post more tech-geek articles in the future and will happy to discuss any questions you have. I will also be posting some how-to's (maybe even videos) involving some of the techniques that I discussed in this article.
God bless and enjoy your digital college life!
-Brandon
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