Preparing your computer for online exams

Before Class

• Restart your laptop a day before your exam - You should do a restart once a month at minimum, but doing it a day or two before the exam is needed. There are several things a restart does that helps to improve overall performance, including installing updates.
• Make sure your operating system and browsers are updated
  • Operating System Updates:
    • This can take some time, so plan updates when you’re doing something else that doesn’t require your laptop
      • Windows Update - How To
      • MacOS Update - How To
  • Browser Updates:
    • While Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari work with Canvas, we recommend using Chrome because it supports all Google Workspace features and because Honorlock (the campus remote proctoring solution) only works with that browser.
      • Is My Browser Up to Date for Canvas?
      • Update My Browser - How To
  • Clear your browser cache and cookies
    • Clear cache and cookies - How To for Windows
    • Clear cache and cookies - How To for macOS
  • Manage unnecessary Chrome extensions
    • Turn off extensions - How To
    • Be sure to leave the Honorlock extension enabled
• Set up your laptop so you can connect to the eduroam wireless network. Note: Do this when you are on campus. Contact the DoIT Help Desk for support on installation if needed. See https://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/.
  • While there are other benefits to using eduroam, the simple issue is that we are “crowding” around UWNet. We need to diffuse this crowding by getting more of you to connect to eduroam in the classroom.
    • Connect to eduroam - How To
• Restart your laptop again - Always do this after installing updates of any kind. Your computer should do an automatic restart after installing an operating system update, but it’s still good practice to do so after updating applications, drivers, etc. 

In Class

• Open your laptop. Turn off your wireless network connection. Turn it back on and make sure it reconnects to eduroam.
• Once connected, check to make sure you can get to a few websites
  • wisc.edu – University site in our domain.
  • google.com - Or some site outside of the wisc.edu domain
• Turn off any notifications on your computer so you aren’t distracted
• Turn off your phone’s wireless and turn on airplane mode, or just turn off your phone. This is to reduce distractions but also keep unwanted devices off the network during the exam. Let your instructor or TA know if you need to keep your phone on for emergency purposes.

During Exam

Quick Fixes from Honorlock - https://honorlock.kb.help/test-taker-quick-fixes/