Category Archives: Make Tech Easier

Powerschool & Schoology –> Apps and Phones

We have recently received several emails and comments stating that getting into Schoology and Powerschool has been a bit flaky.

All of the commenters were using their phones and the respective apps to try and access their accounts.

MDS Tech’s advice:

When the apps refuse to work, fire up a web browser and access the information that way. You get the same info, just via a different route.

Powerschool: sis.mountdesales.net

Schoology: lms.mountdesales.net

MDS Tech logo - making technolgoy work well at Mount de Sales since computers were rare.

How and why to customize the iPadOS 16 Control Center

Original article is at

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/customize-ipados-16-control-center/

The iPadOS 16 Control Center

What it does –> Gives you quick access to controls and information on your iPad. Control volume, screen brightness, wireless radios, set an alarm or timer, start an Airplay session, and more

How to get to it –> Swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen.

Why use it? –> SAVE TIME. You can make these changes without diving into the Settings app.

How to customize it

in iPadOS 16, open Settings –> Control Center

  • Turn on “Access within Apps” and “Show Home Controls”
  • Delete or Rearrange the “Included controls”
    • Click on the “minus” symbol to delete a control.
    • Click and drag the three-lines icon on the right to change the order.
  • in the “more Controls” section are other controls you can add. Be careful, though – don’t make it too cluttered!
Changing the Control Center, inside the Settings App

Top Tips for staying secure online

Top tips for staying secure online, borrowed from https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online

While you can find a TON of articles explaining how to stay safe online, many are either too wordy, take too long to get to the point, or are annoying in other ways.

Here, borrowed from https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online, are some pretty easily do-able things you can do to stay safe online.


  • Use a strong AND SEPARATE password for your email
    • After all, you probably stash a LOT of personal information in your mailboxes. Don’t reuse that password – that is just asking for trouble.
  • Install the latest app updates and software
    • Yes, there are a LOT of them, and they are constant [especially if you use a lot of software]. But update anyway – MDS Tech suggests starting updates before you go to sleep, so you are not aware of how long it takes.
    • Seriously – update. You’ll save headaches!
  • Turn on MFA/2FA – i.e. that thing where you get a text with a code when trying to login to an account.
    • Turn that on where you can – no, it is not perfect, but it is a bit like adding another lock on the door so the “bad guys” can’t get in.
  • Use Password Managers
    • This way you can have all of your passwords stored in one [VERY secure] place…. but make sure you have that one password stashed somewhere safe. There are lots of options out there.
  • Back up your data
    • Your computer WILL die [just like your car or refrigerator]. It is inevitable [see Murphy’s Law] that it will happen at the worst possible time. SO make sure you have backups of your data.
    • The hard part is figuring out how – and that is well beyond the scope of this article. Do a web search – something like ‘how backup [your operating system]”. For example – “how backup mac”.
  • Three Random Words
    • This is some advice that has changed over the years. Using three random words is FAR more secure than using just a few letters or numbers, and MUCH harder to guess. Some examples of decent passwords:
      • threerandomvehicles
      • FredGeorgeLIzrds [note the deliberate misspelling!]
      • IhaveNOidea!
    • Some website will require numbers, special characters like a period or an exclamation point, etc. The common theme here is to mix up type [upper case, lower case, number, characters] and make it as long as practical. 12 characters is far more secure than 8. 24 characters might be too aggravating to type in!

Thanks to Britain’s Nation Cyber Security Centre for posting the article serving as the source for this posting.