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Register now for Winter/Spring
classes.
The ACE Classes catalog is available at Fairfax County public libraries, county offices, job-placement centers, and ACE customer service centers.
A PDF of the catalog is available on our Website.
Did you know that parking is free at course locations and there is no difference in tuition for out-of-county residents?
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New courses this winter/spring
A+ Certification Prep
Linux: An Introduction
Linux Command Line Basics
Digital Illustration and Design 1
New courses this summer! Registration starts March 9.
Create Your Small Business Website
Digital Illustration and Design 2
HTML5 for Mobile Websites and Devices
SEO: Improve Your Website's Visibility
Certificate in Web Writing/Editing - online
Windows Server 2008 Active Directory - online
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IT Career Descriptions
If you're in the market for a new or different career and technology interests you, check out the five IT career descriptions to get a picture of what's involved and how to get started.
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Instructor Profile
Patrick Kuesters
Patrick is a native of Northern Virginia, and he has also lived in San Francisco, Seattle, and Philadelphia at various times. A Herndon High School graduate, he holds degrees from the University of Virginia and the University of Phoenix. Clearly a lover of learning, he has two Masters degrees and A+, Net +, MOS, MCP and MTA certifications, along with several CompTIAs.
Patrick strives to make instruction fun and keep students engaged with content. He combines hands-on exercises with lecture to ensure that students will leave the classroom empowered with the knowledge they were seeking.
Patrick teaches Basic PC Maintenance, Linux, A+: Troubleshooting Your Computer, and Advanced PC Maintenance and Repair.
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Find Us on Facebook!
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Greetings!
The world of technology is changing at ever greater speed. How to keep up? The answer lies in a willingness to learn continuously. Sometimes we can piece together what we need to know by getting on the Internet, slogging through a book, or leaning on our friends, family, and co-workers. At other times we hit the proverbial wall and have to seek a more formal solution to the knowledge gap. When that happens, ACE is here for you.
Whether it's for the job, for personal advantage, creative endeavors, or fun, make 2012 the year you master a new technical skill. You'll be glad you did! Browse our IT course offerings for ideas.
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 What are Those F Keys For?
Get Function in 2012
There are 12 keys, F1-F12, at the top of your PC keyboard that have various uses (and in some cases, none) depending on the operating system you have. Let 2012 be the year you use function keys to be more efficient! Here's a quick rundown of the most common tasks they perform in the Windows operating system.
- F1 Opens the Help screen.
- F2 Renames a highlighted icon or file.
- F3 Opens a search feature in many programs; shift + F3 changes text from upper to lower case and title case in MS Word.
- F4 Opens the Find window or repeats the last action performed; Alt + F4 closes the active program.
- F5 Refreshes or reloads the page or document window; opens the Find-Replace-Go To window in MS Word.
- F6 Moves the cursor to the address bar in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox; Ctrl + Shift + F6 moves to another open MS Word document.
- F7 Engages spell check and grammar in MS applications.
- F8 Enters the Windows startup menu.
- F12 Opens the Save As window in MS Word; shift key + F12 saves the document.
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News Bytes
A speed demon debuts
Virginia Tech has launched HokieSpeed, a new supercomputer that has a single-precision peak of 455 teraflops, or 455 trillion operations per second. HokieSpeed ranks 96 on the industry's list of 500 fastest supercomputers and is the highest-ranked commodity supercomputer in the United States on the Green500 List for energy efficiency. For more information see the ScienceDaily article (Dec. 21, 2011). Go Hokies!
Get smart about smartphones
PopSci.com posted an article by Darren Murph (Dec. 28, 2011) on ways to slow down expensive data flow from your smartphone. Murph writes, "... the era of unlimited data is almost over as, more and more, cellular carriers are instituting tiered pricing plans. To avoid overage fees, you'll need to rein in data consumption." Read the Cheap Tricks article to find out how.
The price of privacy
Talk around town is that Facebook will go public, and its initial offering will be based on the estimated worth of all the personal data it holds - think $100 billion. Facebook users will not see a dime of that though, because they gave over access to the data when they joined. According to Jacob Aron, so long as Facebook users are happy to give away their data for free, we will never be able to turn the true worth of our personal details into cold, hard cash. Read his short Billion Dollar Price of Privacy article (New Scientist Dec. 30, 2011), and ponder the merits of differential privacy.
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Adding a Dimension to Your Technical Skill
3-D Software Within Reach
Everyone knows about AutoCAD, a powerful, expensive imaging application used by architects, engineers, and other professionals to give visual form and concrete numbers to their ideas. Now you too can give three-dimensional design a try at a fraction of the cost and time that learning AutoCAD requires. There are a good number of free downloads for producing 3-D renderings. Just use your favorite search tool and you'll be surprised at the free options at your disposal.
One such "freebie" is Google SketchUp, which can be used to create 3-D models and share with others electronically and on paper. While SketchUp's absolutely amazing, it can be daunting to learn on one's own. Not to worry: this summer ACE will offer a 4-session class to help you hone your SketchUp skill. Stay tuned! You'll find it online March 9 when the summer schedule is posted.
Want to play around with designing your dream house? Trying to figure out if your furniture will fit in a new place? Want to add something cool to your website? 2012 might be the year to add another dimension to your skill set - it's just a free download away.
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