Mayasapig

Friends

Final Reflection: This J-Term has been a mix of emotions. I came in knowing very little about computers, and now I feel like I can actually take one apart, put it back together, and even solve a few basic problems. It's been a great learning experience. One issue I encountered was that everything was extremely slow; my computer started to feel sluggish. If that happened now, I wouldn't just restart it and hope for the best. My first step would be to open the system monitor, such as Task Manager on Windows or Linux, to see which processes are consuming the most resources. I'd close any unnecessary applications or browser tabs. If it's a traditional hard drive, I'd consider defragmenting it. If there is still a problem, I might reinstall the operating system for a fresh start. I remember one time when my game was lagging really badly, and it turned out I had accidentally set the graphics settings way too high. Lowering those settings made a huge difference. Before this J-Term, I felt pretty clueless about a lot of things. Now, I'm much more confident with: Installing an operating system from scratch using Linux Understanding the process of when you turn on a computer and how the operating system loads. Comparing Linux with Mac is interesting. On Linux, you can customize almost everything to your liking. However, it can also be more challenging to set up and maintain, especially for beginners. Mac, is generally easier to get things done quickly. I like the customizability of Linux, even though it can be a bit hard and might need a bit of help to set up. If an 8th grader saw my computer at the showcase and was excited to try this next year, I'd give them this advice: Start with research: Learn as much as you can about computer components and how they work together before you start buying anything. Be patient and ask questions: Building a computer can be challenging, and you'll probably run into problems along the way. This J-Term has been an amazing experience. I've learned so much about computers, and I'm excited to continue exploring more about it. I feel much more confident in my ability to build, troubleshoot, and maintain my own computers, and I'm looking forward to using these skills in the future.