Category: Tech Tips

Tech Tip of the Week: Hold for Authentication when Printing

Oftentimes the root of Mac printing issues relates to the keychain. An incorrect password might have been typed and saved or you may have changed your UIUC password and now your device is repeatedly trying to print with the wrong credentials. If this is the case when you print you will likely see “Hold for Authentication”.

To fix this you can go to Keychain Access then look for any credentials including printer names or ischoolprint and delete them. Then try printing again. Hopefully, at this point, it will pop up asking for credentials. You should enter your current netID and UIUC password, but do not save these credentials to the keychain to avoid this issue in the future.

This is a more common issue with Macs, but when it occurs on Windows machines the program is called Credential Manager as opposed to the Keychain Access program on Macs.

As always if you need help troubleshooting, please visit us at the Help Desk!

Tech Tip of the Week: 2FA Non-Illinois Recovery Email

This Tuesday’s Tech Tip is about 2-Factor Authentication!

Making sure you have a recovery email tied to your 2FA account that is not your Illinois email account is very important, since your Illinois email requires 2FA to log in. If you don’t do this before your phone meets tragedy, you may have issues setting up a new device because you need to use  2FA to access your 2FA account.

You can make sure you have a non-Illinois recovery email set up at this link!

Tech Tip of the Week: Tech Zone

The Tech Zone is the official computer store of the University of Illinois and is located in the Illini Union.

The Tech Zone sells and services various computers and can help make sure you have the technology to succeed no matter what your program may be. They even have a trade-in program to allow you to trade-in old Apple devices for a gift card.

If you are looking for new technology or your current technology is in need of repair, check out the Tech Zone!

Tech Tip of the Week: Halloween Edition

Many of us carry our smartphones around every day but on Halloween, these little devices can be put to even more use than usual.

If you are going trick-or-treating, your phone can be an exceptional tool. You can use the GPS to plan your trick-or-treating route, you can use the flashlight to light up the streets after the sun goes down, and don’t forget to get some pictures with your phone’s camera to show off your costumes later. Outside of trick-or-treat, your phone’s app store gives you access to all sorts of Halloween-themed games!

And those are only a few ways your smartphone can play a role in the scariest day of the year.

If you’re interested in how your phone can be used to stay safe during Halloween, check out this news article.

But if you’re more interested in the spookier potential of your phone look no further than these novelty phone numbers you can call for a fright. Call at your own risk!

Tech Tip of the Week: Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows

Some of the most common and helpful Windows keyboard shortcuts are:

Ctrl+C will copy a selected item to your clipboard
Ctrl+V will paste the item in the clipboard
Ctrl+Z will undo the previous action
Ctrl+P will print the current page/document
Ctrl+S will save the current page/document
Ctrl+F will open the search to find a term in the current page

A full list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows can be found here.

Tech Tip of the Week: Keyboard Shortcuts for Macs

Another Tuesday, another tech tip! Check out some of these shortcuts more Macs!

Some of the most common and helpful Mac keyboard shortcuts are:

Command+C will copy a selected item to your clipboard
Command+V will paste the item in the clipboard
Command+Z will undo the previous action
Command+P will print the current page/document
Command+S will save the current page/document
Command+F will open the search to find a term in the current page
Command+Spacebar will open the spotlight search

A full list of keyboard shortcuts for Macs can be found here.