Protecting Your Computer During Portfolio Day

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Many of you will be using your own laptops, desktop computers, or tablets to show animation, a demo reel or other artwork.

We have a few guidelines we would suggest, in order to keep your device and the information on it as safe as possible, and for it to work as expected when left unattended.

Physically secure your computer to the tables.

There are security solutions from many companies available for nearly every computer or tablet on the market. A quick web search will turn up multiple options. We suggest getting something with a long enough cable where one end can be easily looped around a table leg. This will vary depending on where you set up your computer, but we’d suggest a minimum of six feet (or two meters).

Set up a separate account in your device.

Setting up a separate account for Portfolio Day will prevent people from accessing your personal account, and potentially looking through files you don’t want them to. We strongly suggest setting up a separate account that does not have administrative privileges, and that the Portfolio Day account has its own password that’s different from your personal account’s.

iOS doesn’t support guest accounts, but you can limit a guest user’s activity to a single application using Guided Access. 

Once the Portfolio Day account is created, copy only the files needed for your presentation to it, and be sure to test it to make sure it works. If possible, make the Portfolio Day account automatically login, in case the computer gets restarted.

If you’re uncertain about how to set up an additional account on your computer, please visit the following links:

Mac OS has an option called “Guest Account”. However, that account’s contents are deleted at every logout. Setting up a Standard or Managed account is preferable when creating an account for presentations.

Turn off auto-updates for the day.

To make sure your computer runs uninterrupted, we suggest temporarily turning off all operating system and application updates. Computers will often interrupt playback in order to stop and install a software or security update. Turning off screensavers or auto-sleep for the day is something to consider as well.

Bring your own power strip

While each group of tables will have a power strip accessible, you should bring your own power strip to plug into it, just in case your own computer’s power cord isn’t long enough to reach, or if you need to plug in multiple devices. Wal-Mart and Harbor Freight Tools (near the mall) carry inexpensive power strips. If possible, we’d suggest getting one that’s actually a surge suppressor, to provide additional protection for your computer.

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