Strong passwords

The first, and often the last, line of security for your computer accounts is your password. Your login to your home computer, your work network, your email, social network and other websites is protected by the password you have set. Choosing a strong password is essential. But this simple task is complicated by one small thing - the need to remember that password :)

Be aware of spoof email

Spoof Email is email that appears as though it is from a well-known, trusted, company or a friend when it is actually from a spammer or other person/company with malicious intent.

Most email services have excellent detection of this type of email but it is always wise to be vigilant when reading email you have received.

Lanschool software for monitoring IT lab computers

As a teacher running an IT lab with 24 students logged in at the same time can be a bit challenging. Keeping students on task is a challenge in a regular classroom but with the distractions that the web, games and chat provides on a computer this challenge is magnified.

Converting from Wordpress to Blogger

In the past I always recommended that clients go with a self hosted rather than hosted solution for everything from email, applications and especially websites. However I have changed my tune in the past few years about email (nightmare to manage -> go to Google Apps) and applications (ditto on Google Apps!). But it has taken me a long time to admit that sometimes a hosted website is a better option than one that you build and host yourself.

Sharing a computer and security

Recently the issue of security on a computer that is being shared has come up. This is not an issue with computers that are on a network where everybody logins in with their own username and password. It is the issue of security on a computer that is being used by several people with only one user account i.e. no login - the computer is turned on and there is no need for each individual to use a different username or password, it logs in automatically or a password is entered once.

Bekonscot Model Village

Something that I have used with my fifth graders each year when we finish our module on Graphical Modelling is a class spent building virtual villages at the Bekonscot Model Village website.

Forwarding your Google Apps mail

My personal email account is with Gmail. But I also have a lot of other email accounts for work and for projects I am working on. I find it time consuming to login and check each account seperately. Thankfully there is an easy answer for this problem. I can forward the email from these accounts to my regular account. In this way I can check one email account and see messages from all the other accounts that I have. Setting it up is quite simple. Here are the instructions for setting it up in Google Apps. Other services may be slightly different but the basic idea is the same.