Last Blog.........

This is the last blog for my technology class and I must say, I have mixed feelings. I will miss the actual act of blogging. But with this also being the last class I need in order to complete the MAT program, I cannot help but scream YEAH ME!!!!!! This week’s learning centered in on computer viruses and “netiquette”. I have never heard of the term “netiquette” prior to this lesson. I realize why such a term was created. It is so easy for miscommunication to occur in the age of emailing and texting. I have had a couple of “run-ins” with computer viruses. Luckily, the most serious problem was losing technology use for a couple of days. I only have my computer and one other classroom computer in my classroom. Our district has a very strict policy in place. We are not allowed to access sites that could put our computers at risk. Most sites are blocked. There are many YouTube videos that are educational that I would like to use in class, but I am afraid of losing my job! We are told over and over again that it we are found accessing a site such as eBay, or facebook, or another email account, our job is at risk. We are not allowed to stream in any video or music. Our new email system even has chat available, and we are NOT allowed to use that either. I am not sure what kind of security is in place for our district, but I guess it is a good thing that they are so strict with usage. Otherwise, there would probably be viruses infecting our systems daily. For my personal laptop, I use Microsoft Security Essentials. It scans my computer daily and gets rid of any risks that may be lurking. It is difficult many times to identify a virus. Many times, they look just like your security scan popping up to identify viruses. Clicking on the wrong button can cause serious damage, even causing computers to crash. This is an area of concern for me because many times I get so busy doing whatever it is that I am doing, I do not pay attention when a window pops up. So, I just click, trying to get rid of it so I can go back to doing what I was previously doing. I have learned to be more careful with this to protect my computer. I hope that if this happens, my security will catch it before it is too late!