810 PC Maintenance and Security Lab

The first tutorial I viewed was "Installing RoboForm" because it was categorized under "Organizing your Computer," a topic I find especially helpful not just in teaching, but also in managing my personal life. The whole concept of RoboForm is something I will definitely share with others because more often than not, passwords slip people's minds. I hate to admit it, but I used to be "that person" who utilized the same (or a few of the same) passwords for the very purpose of being able to easily recall them. My mom had the same issue of remembering passwords (however, she attributed it to old age and not a hectic work schedule), but chose instead to write down all her passwords in a hidden notebook. Using a program like RoboForm can help address the issue of safely managing one's passwords online. 

Additionally, because this topic piqued my interest, I also watched the tutorial "Managing your Web passwords with RoboForm" for additional information on the program. Overall, I guess something that surprised me (although the lab is labeled PC Maintenance, not Mac Maintenance) is that I would have to use Mozilla Firefox to run this program. Though I typically use Safari on my Mac, I do occasionally use Firefox, especially when using ANGEL.

The second tutorial I viewed under a different topic was "Using Sandboxie for browsing safely." What I found especially helpful was that this program helps web surfers feel confident as they search for information on the Internet. Though the Internet is a vast digital universe with seemingly endless amounts of information, it's important for all web users (especially our students) to be aware that not all information out there is reliable and that viruses and other destructive softwares can be attached (typically without any indication) to many files downloaded from the Internet. Teaching students to use a program like Sandboxie will help them research while surfing the net. When using Sandboxie, temporary files are NOT saved to the hard drive, but are stored in a "digital sandbox" instead to ensure that the hard drive is protected from possibly harmful files. 

I didn't find any particular information in this tutorial to be surprising; however, I do think that it's important to share the reasoning behind Sandboxie with others. From my perspective, many people don't even realize that temporarily files are saved to the hard drive (which is why viruses are able to spread and wreak havoc). So, with that being said, I think students (or whomever one shares the program with) need to also learn about temp files and "malware" in general, which brings me to my next tutorial.

Though my third tutorial seems less beneficial in terms of becoming more "tech savvy," I do think it's important for anyone using the Internet to understand net "lingo," which is the very reason why I clicked on the tutorials labeled "Defining malware" and "Understanding how malware spreads." Though it seems fairly simplistic, I wasn't positive what malware entailed. Like the tutorial said, most people have heard of viruses or spyware, but there are also many other programs that can "wreak havoc" on a computer. Similar to what I shared above in regards to using Sandboxie, other than sharing Internet/technology terminology with others, I think that it's important that people understand issues related to their computers. I don't think that just defining words for students (or any web user) is enough, rather, understanding different types of malware and the destruction they can cause is more important. I suppose something that did surprise me to some extent was that I didn't realize the various ways in which a PC can be "attacked." For example, many students who use P2P (Peer to Peer) Software such as Limewire, Bear Share, etc. (i.e. illegal music downloading) may not be aware that what they're downloading could essentially destroy their hard drives.