ISD 200 Tech Blog

Windows 7 SP1 Coming February 22nd

Derek — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:14:03 +0000

The official Windows blog today announced that Windows 7 SP1 will be available February 22nd. The service pack will contain a lot of previously released patches. I haven’t not heard anything about major upgrades or updates so it probably won’t be a major release like XP SP2 was.

Where To Recycle Your Old Electronics

Derek — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:13:25 +0000

I occasionally get asked about donating or recycling old electronics and computers. I usually recommend Best Buy because they have a fairly good policy and will take almost everything. Lifehacker has come up with a nice list of 4 other places that will take your old electronics devices and recycle them for you. The comments on the article list even more places to take your old unused electronics. Some places will even pay you if the item your donating is still useful or resellable.

Five Easy Places to Recycle Your Old Gadgets And Computers

Malware Posing As Windows Update

Derek — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:08:49 +0000

Network World has a short article warning about a new but rather obvious malware scheme. The malware appears to be a update for Windows but it is quite obviously fake as it comes via an e-mail with broken English and spelling errors. Microsoft never sends out updates via email and I’m fairly sure they would know how to spell Microsoft.

Worm Planted in Fake Microsoft Security Update

More Schools Embrace The iPad

Derek — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:49:23 +0000

The New York Times has an interesting article about schools adopting the iPad for classroom use. The article goes over the benefits and disadvantages of using iPads with most of the disadvantages being the steep initial cost. And the advantages being that the iPads get the kids more engaged and interested in learning. In my “IT Guy” opinion I can see the iPad being a great tool in classrooms and I could see it or some other tablet technology beginning to replace textbooks but if Apple really wants to capture the education market they need to do four things:

1. Substantial discounts for schools. Any school that is ordering iPads in bulk should get a bulk discount. offering 10% off each iPad is a joke when dealing with the education market.

2. Make management of iPad’s easier. Setting up iPads, or iPods for use in schools is currently a mess. Apple offers no good way of configuring devices or managing devices once in the field. iTunes is no longer a sufficient solution to managing these devices. Apple needs to develop some sort of easy to use program that would allow IT departments to manage iPad’s and control them remotely just like any other computer.

3. Along with making management easier Apple also needs to figure out a different way to handle app purchases for school districts as the current system is convoluted.

4. Enable video output for all apps and menus too. Currently video out supports videos, music, Keynote, and a few apps. How is a teacher supposed to demonstrate an app to their entire class with a 9″ screen? Apple needs to make it so that when you connect the Dock-to-VGA adapter the iPad outputs everything.

More Schools Embrace The iPad

Microsoft Security Essentials 2 Released

Derek — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:00:12 +0000

Microsoft Security essentials, the best free anti-virus software available has just been updated to version 2.0. As of writing the in-program upgrade isn’t working but you can download the upgrade from the Security Essentials website. The new version includes better integration with Windows Firewall, network traffic inspection, and a heuristic scanning engine. Don’t waste your money purchasing subscriptions to Norton’s or McAfee. Microsoft Security Essentials is free, works great, and doesn’t bog down your machine.

Microsoft Security Essentials 2

Yahoo! Is Selling Del.icio.us [UPDATED]

Derek — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:00:07 +0000

CORRECTION 12/20/10: Yahoo! Selling Del.icio.us

Yahoo! is merging and shutting down a number of their products in an effort to streamline. One of the products set to close is Del.icio.us a popular social bookmarking tool. The other products listed as “Sunset” are Altavista, MyBlogLog, Yahoo! Bookmarks, and Yahoo! Picks.

Is Yahoo! Shutting Down Del.icio.us?

Yahoo! Shutting Down Del.icio.us

Derek — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:00:07 +0000

Is Yahoo! Shutting Down Del.icio.us?

VGA Ports Being Phased Out

Derek — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:19:27 +0000

Intel today posted a lengthy press release about their (and other large tech companies) plans of dropping VGA ports on new technology and moving towards all digital ports like HDMI or DisplayPort. The plan is to have VGA phased out by 2015. This could affect a number of business and even here at the school were 99% of all displays and projectors utilize a VGA port. It’s an easy problem to overcome though with numerous adapters and converters available. I wouldn’t be surprised if this changeover started happening much more rapidly. The computers we get from HP currently have both VGA and DisplayPort ports built into them and I wouldn’t be surprised to start seeing new monitors from HP having both ports as well.

Leading PC Companies Move To All Digital Display Technology

New Ransomware in the Wild

Derek — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:30:42 +0000

Network World has a article up talking about 2 new types of Ransomware that AV firms are seeing int he wild. These programs exploit since patched vulnerabilities in PDF files to encrypt files on your HDD and demand money for the key to decrypt them. The best defense is of course staying alert while browsing the internet and upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Reader which features a “sandbox” mode to prevent these sort of attacks. You can find the link to download the newest version under the Recommended Software Heading on the right side of the page.

Ransomware Rears Ugly Head

25 Worst High-Tech Habits

Derek — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:32:47 +0000

Network World has a nice list of the 25 worst high-tech habits. It’s a good read and definitely made me think about some of my own personal high-tech habits. I’ve started to become more secure with my data and information lately but I can say that I’ve done at least 8 of the 25. And no I won’t say which ones.

The 25 Worst High-Tech Habits