Category: Tips

Tips

Learn “Things Everyone Should Know” by David Pogue at The New York Times

MK

If you’ve ever been working with your smartphone or computer and thought, “there has to be an easier way to do this”, it turns out you’re most likely right. David Pogue’s recent articles at The New York Times, “Ins and Outs of Gadgetry” and “25 More Things Everyone Should Know” offer tips and tricks to make the technology-related aspects of your life easier. In these articles Pogue covers a wide range of topics from filling out online forms, to spotting “phishing” attemps in your inbox. Below Pogue addresses the practice of capturing screenshots on both Windows and Mac OSX platforms: … Continue reading Learn “Things Everyone Should Know” by David Pogue at The New York Times

Accounts and Passwords, Students, Tips

Make sure you back up all your important files and email before graduation!

Seth

Congratulations Swarthmore class of 2011! It is time to prepare for your upcoming account expiration on June 15th. We know this is a busy time in your life, but that makes it all the more important that you read the attached web page carefully. Now is the time to be saving all the work you have completed while at Swarthmore and transitioning to a new email address. What will happen to my accounts? The following Swarthmore accounts will be disabled on June 15th: * Voice Mail * Email (ability to check, receive, or forward your Swarthmore email) * Network (userfolders, … Continue reading Make sure you back up all your important files and email before graduation!

Academic Technology, Faculty/Staff, Google Apps, Students, Tips

Ideas for Summer Projects and Research

Andrew Ruether

We are only a few weeks away from the start of the summer research season.  Are you trying to accomplish more with your projects this summer?  Do you find that documenting summer projects has been difficult, time consuming, or ineffective?  If you are looking for ways to improve how you document, publicize, or carry out your research projects, ITS is here to help. Wikis – Wikis are ideal for documenting group projects because they make it easy to create and update web pages that link to one another and keep a history of all the contributions of each member.  Instead … Continue reading Ideas for Summer Projects and Research

Email, Security, Tips

Reading Your Email the Plain Ol’ (Safer!) Way

Nick

Many of us receive our email in what’s known as HTML format.  In other words, when you receive an email, it can display multiple fonts, colors, pictures, etc.  It’s nice to look at.  Unfortunately, the technology that allows your email to be formatted in an aesthetically pleasing way also provides holes for malicious attackers to abuse. So, to make your email safer to read, it needs to be uglier!  This is simply accomplished by reading your email in plain text format.  Below is an example of an email (supposedly from Facebook) in HTML format followed by the same exact email … Continue reading Reading Your Email the Plain Ol’ (Safer!) Way

Email, Faculty/Staff, Security, Software, Tips

Tips for Avoiding Malware Infections

Nick

Below are some recommendations for reducing the risk of malware infections to your PC or Mac.  Many of these were discussed in the recent Staff Development Week presentation on “Immunizing Your Computer in Today’s Online World“. General Keep Patches Up to Date Operating system –AND- applications e.g., Adobe Reader & Flash, QuickTime, Java, etc. Use latest browsers with patches up to date – Currently (1/12/11):  Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 9.0.1, Safari 5.1.2 – Don’t run Safari on Windows Use Anti-virus  -AND-  Anti-spyware Keep signatures up to date Run scans regularly Macs Too!!  (Sophos.com has free A/V for Macs under “Free … Continue reading Tips for Avoiding Malware Infections