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Intro to Excel: Winter Semester 2023

Some people have expressed interest in enrolling into my “Intro to Excel” course, which is starting on Thursday, January 5th, 2023. Here are the details below. If you’re not already enrolled as a student at UDEL, please scroll to the bottom for registration details. UDEL students just need to find my course in the course catalog to register.

UAPP 467/667 – 014:  Intro to Microsoft Excel

Instructor:  Mr. Demetrius Pinder

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Intro to Excel, is a course designed to develop your familiarity with this spreadsheet software. During the semester, you will be exposed to Excels basic data entry functions, creating appealing charts, creating graphs and tables. This course includes usage of Excel simulations, videos, audio PowerPoint and in class assistance from the Instructor.
By the end of the semester, you are expected to be able to competently use Microsoft Excel.

Class location:
Pearson Hall Room 305
101 Academy St, Newark, DE 19716, United States

Class time and date:
Winter (1/5/23 – 2/2/23): 4 weeks
Thursday nights from 4-5pm.

Please contact Mr. Pinder with any questions or for more information!

E-mail: dpinder@udel.edu
Telephone: Office (302) 831-2903

Office Hours: By appointment only
Zoom Registration Link:  Join the class for the link.

Course Syllabus:
Click here to view the Syllabus (.pdf format).

If you’re not an UDEL student, please read this below:

Whether you are interested in taking individual courses to fulfill personal, educational or professional goals or looking to take classes prior to admission or readmission to a degree program, you may enroll in UD courses as a non-admitted student. You do not need to be officially admitted to the University to take credit courses. As long as you meet course requisites, many University of Delaware courses are available to non-admitted students on a space available basis. Non-admitted students are designated as Continuing Education Non-Degree (CEND) if they are taking undergraduate courses or as Graduate College Non-Degree (GCND) if they are taking graduate courses.

Register for classes here: https://www1.udel.edu/registrar/course-info-registration/register-for-classes.html

If you’re interested in attending my in-person or online course, please email me at dpinder@Udel.edu or demetrius@nabwd.com (or via social media), if you run into trouble registering.

-Demetrius

Parental Controls in Online Gaming

Table of Contents:

What are Parental Controls in Online Gaming?

Parental controls in online gaming are software and tools that allow parents to set controls on their children’s online gaming platforms like Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, etc. They are designed to help protect children from such kind of content, which is not suitable for their mental health. These controls can be used in many ways, e.g. to help ensure that your children access only age-appropriate games, to set usage times, and to monitor activity, etc. It allows the parents to have an eye on their children’s online gaming activities like where they are spending their money and time.

How Microsoft Helps in Parental Controls

Microsoft helps the parents in Parental Controls in different ways. It not only has a family plan about it but also provides some different controls on every game it offers. It has many parental control plans for child health care. Microsoft owns the XBOX brand.  Some of the major Microsoft family features are as follows:

  • Set screen time limits
  • Set app and game limits
  • Require kids to ask a parent before buying any stuff
  • Set age limits
  • View child’s activity report
  • Have a fund account for your child

How Sony Helps in Parental Controls

Sony offers parents Parental Controls in different ways. It also has a family management tools where you can assign roles to yourself, other adult family members and child family members under the age of 18.

Sony’s Parental Controls allows you to:

  • Restrict your child’s access to the PlayStation web browser
  • You can set monthly spending limits to specify how much children can spend at the PlayStation store each month
  • Set up layers of pass code protection, allowing you to disable guest logins and prevent changes to parental control settings.
  • Set age restrictions for Games, Blu-Ray Discs and DVDs
  • Disable Chat, messaging and content sharing

How Fortnite helps in Parental Controls

Fortnite is one of the highly-rated games in the world and a huge part of its massive fan base are children. To let your kids enjoy their childhood with these amazing games without inappropriate content, Fortnite also provides parental controls. Fortnite is a multiplayer game, which implies your children may wind up playing with complete outsiders notwithstanding their companions.

You can disable all in-application buys on your kid’s iPhone and iPad* through its settings. You can even keep unknown individuals from seeing your kid’s in-game name. In addition to controls designed to prevent your child from interacting with unknown people, parental control likewise allows you to view time spent playing on a daily or weekly basis to monitor how much time your child is sinking into the game.

* Please note that as of August 2020, Fortnite isn’t available via iOS. View more details here:  https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/free-fortnite-faq

How Roblox helps in Parental Controls

Roblox is an online video game that energizes inventiveness and correspondence between players, of all ages. There is no age limit for playing Roblox, which implies that gamers will conceivably be connecting with others in various age gatherings and witness content that might not be appropriate for their mental health. Roblox offers various extraordinary highlights that permit guardians to restrict who their children cooperate with while yet giving them an opportunity on the stage. In this screen-centered world, kids love gaming and guardians should attempt to make a solid screen time balance as video gaming has both advantages and disadvantages.

As a feature of Family Zone’s numerous useful highlights, they can block Roblox from your youngsters’ gadgets, without obstructing different games they might be permitted to play. The absence of control (despite language filters) in the visit highlight and transferred client content leaves kids in danger of openness to a stressful scope of unseemly grown-up substance, harassing, and misuse.

I also have my own avatar in Roblox and will join in my childs gaming sessions. This is a good way to monitor their activity in Roblox and to also spend time with them playing the many games that Roblox has to offer.

How Nintendo helps in Parental Controls

Just like the Nintendo 3DS parental controls before it, the Nintendo Switch’s parental controls empower a parent to limit their youngster’s time or primarily screen what they have been utilizing it for. Here area unit a little of its elementary highlights:

  • Keep a watch on playtime – set screen limits
  • Decide that game they will play – you will set custom choices based upon the age of your child
  • Customize online options – Limit sharing of in-game text or pictures per game, limit the flexibility to post screenshots to social media

Microsoft Family Plan

The Microsoft family plan is the best plan for parental control. It not only ensures the children’s mental health but also finds the location of children if they are apart from their family by Microsoft family map. It also filters out all the appropriate games according to the age of users so that they can play the games that are relevant for their growing health. It limits the screen time of device usage. It also provides the weekly report of children’s activity and shows the screen time of their device usage.

  • Set screen limits

Learn how to set screen time limits on your child or family member’s Xbox and Windows devices. See how much time they have left for the day, give them more time, or decide time’s up. You can set limits on https://family.microsoft.com or the Family Safety app.

  • Set app and game limits

On the off chance that your child is investing an excess of energy in certain applications or games, you can draw certain lines on that application or game to assist them with accomplishing a good arrangement. Application and game cutoff points are accessible on Windows 10 and Xbox gadgets, alongside Android gadgets with Microsoft Family Safety, introduced.

When you set a boundary, that cutoff will work across the entirety of their gadgets. (For example, if you give them two hours on YouTube, they can spend a total of two hours on YouTube across Windows 10, Xbox, and Android.) Always allowed games will appear in the apps and games card. If you get a request for your kid or relative to download an application or game that is over their age limit, it will show up in the allowed section.

  • Require kids to ask a parent before buying any stuff

You can set up a family member’s account to require adult approval for the things they want to buy in the Microsoft Store—except for what they get with gift cards or money in their Microsoft account. Only organizers will be able to approve. Parents should get an email or any message whenever the child tries to buy any stuff from online gaming websites or apps. Therefore, parents should know that what kind of stuff their children are using or buying to use. This will help the parents to be updated about their children’s activities and will know what their children are currently doing.

  • Set age limits

XBOX also provides an age limit for everyone to play by setting the age limits and other settings on the family settings group, it will provide its users a more comfortable and reliable platform. The user will only be able to see the games according to his/her age. Other games will be filtered out. This will help the parents to be more satisfied with the health of their child and do not have to keep a parent’s control on their children every time they use it.

  • View Child’s activity report

When you add your child to your family group and turn on activity reporting, you will get weekly activity report emails that show you a summary of their activity on Microsoft Edge and Windows 10, Xbox, and Android devices that have Microsoft Family Safety installed. The reports include games and apps they used websites they visited, terms they searched for on search engines like Bing, and how much screen time they had.

You can also view activity reports and turn the setting on or off from the web or in the Microsoft Family Safety app. Along with the activity report, you will also be able to see the screen time of your child’s devices. For a breakdown of your child’s overall time spent on each of their devices, the Screen time section indicates when and for how long your child used their devices throughout the week. You will see a list of how much time they spent on their devices overall by each day, and how much time they spent on each device during the entire week.

  • Have a fund account for your child

Microsoft allows you to fund an account for your child, avoiding the need to store a credit card. You can share the benefits of a single Xbox Live Gold subscription with anyone who uses your Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S console. This feature does not allow others to buy content while using the credit card that’s linked to your subscription. If you are concerned about access to your profile and billing information, ensure that, everyone who uses your console signs in with their own Xbox profile. Following are ways to prevent unauthorized purchases and changes to your Xbox profile and Microsoft account:

  1. Create and manage a passkey for your XBOX Console
  2. Require a passkey for purchases on your XBOX One Console
  3. Make a profile for everyone who uses your console
  4. Control your payment info
  5. Add money to your child’s Microsoft account
  6. Manage kids in your Microsoft family group by using the Xbox Family Settings app and set limits on how much kids can spend in the Microsoft store
  7. Turn on Ask a parent
  8. Sign out when you’re done using your console. 
  9. Add a guest account.

How to activate Microsoft family safety parental control in Windows 10

To set the most recent Windows Parental Controls and Microsoft Family Safety features, both parent and child need to have a Microsoft Account.

The following steps are only applicable if the child logs into the Microsoft account:

  • Select Start and choose Settings to launch the Windows Settings app.
  • Select Accounts.
  • In the left pane, select Family & Other Users.
  • Select Add a Family Member if your child does not have a separate account on your device. This step launches a Microsoft Account wizard.
  • Select Add a Child the either enter your child’s email address or select The Person I Want To Add Doesn’t Have An Email Address.
  • Read the information offered (what you see here depends on what you selected in Step 5), and choose Close.

Conclusion

Families have responsibilities and duties of taking precautions for their children to balance their physical as well as mental health. The Parental Control feature in online gaming effectively prevents children’s attempts to access unwanted content of games that are inappropriate for their age and can cause serious mental issues. Of course, only parents can decide which categories of games are off-limits to their children.

Online gaming is here to stay, but it has a lot of disadvantages. Parents should set up parental controls and monitor their children’s online behavior. As a parent, I make sure my child’s online experience is monitored closely. I have enabled the following parental controls on my child’s devices and I figured other people would find this information to be helpful.

Happy Gaming!
– Demetrius

 

Helpful Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut Keys System
CTRL+A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Select All
CTRL+C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Copy
CTRL+X. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cut
CTRL+V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paste
CTRL+Z. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Undo
CTRL+B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bold
CTRL+U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Underline
CTRL+I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Italic
F1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Help
F2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rename selected object
F3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Find all files
F4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opens file list drop-down in dialogs
F5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Refresh current window
F6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shifts focus in Windows Explorer
F10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Activates menu bar options
ALT+TAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cycles between open applications
ALT+F4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quit program, close current window
ALT+F6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Switch between current program windows
ALT+ENTER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opens properties dialog
ALT+SPACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . System menu for current window
ALT+¢ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . opens drop-down lists in dialog boxes
BACKSPACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . Switch to parent folder
CTRL+ESC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opens Start menu
CTRL+ALT+DEL . . . . . . . . . . Opens task manager, reboots the computer
CTRL+TAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Move through property tabs
CTRL+SHIFT+DRAG . . . . . . . Create shortcut (also right-click, drag)
CTRL+DRAG . . . . . . . . . . . . . Copy File
ESC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cancel last function
SHIFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Press/hold SHIFT, insert CD-ROM to bypass auto-play
SHIFT+DRAG . . . . . . . . . . . . Move file
SHIFT+F10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opens context menu (same as right-click)
SHIFT+DELETE . . . . . . . . . . . Full wipe delete (bypasses Recycle Bin)
ALT+underlined letter . . . . Opens the corresponding menu
PC Keyboard Shortcuts
Document Cursor Controls
HOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . to beginning of line or far left of field or screen
END . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . to end of line, or far right of field or screen
CTRL+HOME . . . . . . . . to the top
CTRL+END . . . . . . . . . . to the bottom
PAGE UP . . . . . . . . . . . . moves document or dialog box up one page
PAGE DOWN . . . . . . . . moves document or dialog down one page
ARROW KEYS . . . . . . . move focus in documents, dialogs, etc.
CTRL+ > . . . . . . . . . . . . next word
CTRL+SHIFT+ > . . . . . . selects word
Windows Explorer Tree Control
Numeric Keypad * . . . Expand all under current selection
Numeric Keypad + . . . Expands current selection
Numeric Keypad – . . . Collapses current selection
¦ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Expand current selection or go to first child
‰ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Collapse current selection or go to parent
Special Characters
‘ Opening single quote . . . alt 0145
’ Closing single quote . . . . alt 0146
“ Opening double quote . . . alt 0147
“ Closing double quote. . . . alt 0148
– En dash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0150
— Em dash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0151
… Ellipsis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0133
• Bullet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0149
® Registration Mark . . . . . . . alt 0174
© Copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0169
™ Trademark . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0153
° Degree symbol. . . . . . . . . alt 0176
¢ Cent sign . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0162
1⁄4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0188
1⁄2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0189
3⁄4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0190
PC Keyboard Shortcuts
Creating unique images in a uniform world! Creating unique images in a uniform world!
é . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0233
É . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0201
ñ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0241
÷ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . alt 0247
File menu options in current program
Alt + E Edit options in current program
F1 Universal help (for all programs)
Ctrl + A Select all text
Ctrl + X Cut selected item
Shift + Del Cut selected item
Ctrl + C Copy selected item
Ctrl + Ins Copy selected item
Ctrl + V Paste
Shift + Ins Paste
Home Go to beginning of current line
Ctrl + Home Go to beginning of document
End Go to end of current line
Ctrl + End Go to end of document
Shift + Home Highlight from current position to beginning of line
Shift + End Highlight from current position to end of line
Ctrl + f Move one word to the left at a time
Ctrl + g Move one word to the right at a time
MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® SHORTCUT KEYS
Alt + Tab Switch between open applications
Alt +
Shift + Tab
Switch backwards between open
applications
Alt + Print
Screen
Create screen shot for current program
Ctrl + Alt + Del Reboot/Windows® task manager
Ctrl + Esc Bring up start menu
Alt + Esc Switch between applications on taskbar
F2 Rename selected icon
F3 Start find from desktop
F4 Open the drive selection when browsing
F5 Refresh contents
Alt + F4 Close current open program
Ctrl + F4 Close window in program
Ctrl + Plus
Key
Automatically adjust widths of all columns
in Windows Explorer
Alt + Enter Open properties window of selected icon
or program
Shift + F10 Simulate right-click on selected item
Shift + Del Delete programs/files permanently
Holding Shift
During Bootup
Boot safe mode or bypass system files
Holding Shift
During Bootup
When putting in an audio CD, will prevent
CD Player from playing
WINKEY SHORTCUTS
WINKEY + D Bring desktop to the top of other windows
WINKEY + M Minimize all windows
WINKEY +
SHIFT + M
Undo the minimize done by WINKEY + M
and WINKEY + D
WINKEY + E Open Microsoft Explorer
WINKEY + Tab Cycle through open programs on taskbar
WINKEY + F Display the Windows® Search/Find feature
WINKEY +
CTRL + F
Display the search for computers window
WINKEY + F1 Display the Microsoft® Windows® help
WINKEY + R Open the run window
WINKEY +
Pause /Break
Open the system properties window
WINKEY + U Open utility manager
WINKEY + L Lock the computer (Windows XP® & later)
OUTLOOK® SHORTCUT KEYS
Alt + S Send the email
Ctrl + C Copy selected text
Ctrl + X Cut selected text
Ctrl + P Open print dialog box
Ctrl + K Complete name/email typed in address bar
Ctrl + B Bold highlighted selection
Ctrl + I Italicize highlighted selection
Ctrl + U Underline highlighted selection
Ctrl + R Reply to an email
Ctrl + F Forward an email
Ctrl + N Create a new email
Ctrl + Shift + A Create a new appointment to your calendar
Ctrl + Shift + O Open the outbox
Ctrl + Shift + I Open the inbox
Ctrl + Shift + K Add a new task
Ctrl + Shift + C Create a new contact
Ctrl + Shift+ J Create a new journal entry
WORD® SHORTCUT KEYS
Ctrl + A Select all contents of the page
Ctrl + B Bold highlighted selection
Ctrl + C Copy selected text
Ctrl + X Cut selected text
Ctrl + N Open new/blank document
Ctrl + O Open options
Ctrl + P Open the print window
Ctrl + F Open find box
Ctrl + I Italicize highlighted selection
Ctrl + K Insert link
Ctrl + U Underline highlighted selection
Ctrl + V Paste
Ctrl + Y Redo the last action performed
Ctrl + Z Undo last action
Ctrl + G Find and replace options
Ctrl + H Find and replace options
Ctrl + J Justify paragraph alignment
Ctrl + L Align selected text or line to the left
Ctrl + Q Align selected paragraph to the left
Ctrl + E Align selected

Laptop Repair: DC PowerJack replacement

Laptop Repair: Dell Precision 5510 DC PowerJack replacement

This Dell Precision 5510 needed a new DC Powerjack after some wear and tear from over the years. After using my multi-meter I determined that the battery was not getting enough charge because the DC jack was just too damaged to make a good connection to charge the battery.

This type of repair should only be attempt by experienced techs with proper tools.

Here are some pictures below of my work:


We are licensed and insured to handle IT support and Tech repair as well as create websites! IT support is a by-appointment only service for the time being.  General Liability, Errors and Omissions and Data Breach insurance certificates available upon request.

Updated SEO Tips

Updated SEO Tips

Search Engine OptimizationThe web is constantly evolving so your SEO (search engine optimization) plan needs to be revisited occasionally to make sure that your content marketing strategy as well as your traditional marketing actions remain relevant.  Here are some updated SEO tips to help in this regard.

Social Media Content

The line between the ‘web’ and social media content is fast becoming blurred.  Statics indicate that over 75% of the marketers now use social media as a promotional tool.  The thrust is on to make every tweet or Facebook post get higher ranking on SERP (search engine results page).  Currently, a brand name search is more likely to find the company’s Facebook or Twitter page before you find the website.  The social media effect on SEO is still well regarded so it is important that the relevant links are incorporated and managed as part of your SEM (Search engine Marketing) strategy.

Optimizing Mobile traffic

Having a mobile friendly site is vital and research has indicated that one in five persons possess a smartphone or tablet. Where your site does not support mobile you would be severely restricting your marketing reach.  Your website should be accessible and readable on any multi-media platform and device and should be SEO optimized as well.  With all the new technologies and process integrations now available, it has become obvious that mobile traffic has far exceeded desktop traffic.

Keywords and Phrase

Make your keywords and phrases more conversational. This means that the focus is on a set of words sometimes described as a long-tail or conversation.  This allows the SERP results to be more meaningful and accurate when matching consumer actions.  The focus is no longer on keywords but on important elements of what the browser is searching for.

Links and Brand mentions

Brand mentions are words on another site, not hyperlinks, that mentions or refers to your webpage.  These implied links and band mentions, inbound links, are highly considered when analyzing page ranking.   Marketing and establishing your brand is therefore crucial. A simple link would be creating a mixed URL structure (www.yoursite.com vs.www.yoursite.com) and adding the appropriate keywords.

Content

This is still the most important aspect of SEO optimizing.  The search engines need to make sense of your content so that it can deliver the most appropriate response to browsers.  This also includes the content on the related social media pages.  The new technique of content aggregation will now have the desired effect. *iMedia Connection describes Content aggregation as a practical way of finding, collating, amassing, consolidating, presenting, sharing, and displaying content around pre-specified set of criteria to appeal target audience”.

Voice search and video SEO are two other methods of SEO optimization that are now trending and it would be wise to engage in the research to have these incorporated in your SEO campaign.

*http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/33784.asp#singleview