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When Bits Byte!When Bits Byte!Tips for Proficient And Optimal Use Of Your Computer And Tips for Proficient And Optimal Use Of Your Computer And Effective Collaboration With Your IT PersonnelEffective Collaboration With Your IT Personnel

Gene Glasco, JrPC Consultant - Information Technology

gglasco@vcu.edu 804-628-3289

Charles Janus, DDS, MS, MSDepartment of Prosthodontics

cjanus@vcu.edu (804) 628-2243

Course Outline• About Computers• Mega what?• Hot Keys You Should Know• Making Screen Shots• Proper Computer Hygiene Avoiding Viruses • Ghost Writer – restores everything• IT Irritations – what to avoid what to do if they aren’t available• Security Software – before installing check with IT• Pop-ups - The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly • Information Security• Converting Presentations To Secure Pdfs• Common IT Service Requests• Here’s A Problem• Here’s What I Can Do• Here’s How To Describe The Problem To IT• Eyestrain and 10 / 10 / 10 • Questions & Answers – Other Tips

Course Outline

• How to trouble shoot the problem before calling IT• List of problems – what to do• Know how to contact IT – voice mail vs email• Language used to describe the problem details to IT

– Viruses that redirect web pages– Internet won’t work? What are the details.– How to do a screen shot to communicate the problem to IT to

decrease response time – How to email a screen shot to IT– The difference between a User Account and an Administrator

Account and when and how to set up the appropriate account for family members

– Firewalls how to protect your machine

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A Little History

• 2400 BC First known calculator the Abacus was invented in Babylonia - initiating computinghttp://www.buzzle.com/articles/computer-history-full-timeline.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus

A Little History

• 1622 William Oughtredinvents the slide rule

• http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=slide+rule

A Little History

• 1937 John V. Atanasoff devises the first digital electronic computer

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer

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A Little History

• 1958 Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce perfect the first silicon chip

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit

A Little History

• 1973 “Xerox Alto”introduces the minicomputer a milestone in the development of personal computers

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto

A Little History

• 1975 Altair introduces the first portable computer

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_computer

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A Little History

• 1983 Time magazine nominates the personal computer ‘machine of the year’

• http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19830103,00.html

A Little History

• 1990 the World Wide Web is born

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_World_Wide_Web

• The NeXTcube used by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN became the first Web server.

A Little History

• The development of newer computer systems and processing speed

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Transistor_Count_and_Moore's_Law_-_2008.svg

• http://video.pbs.org/video/1754649512/

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The Present

• Ubiquitous • Complex

– Circuit board with numerous electronic parts

– Resistors controlling the flow of electrical current

– Capacitors dumping their charge in a fraction of a second

– Diodes protecting circuits by controlling current direction

– Ocillators moving energy back and forth in waves

– Integrated circuits (chips) millions transistors amplifying & switching current on and off

– The CPU microprocessor executing millions of calculations/sec

• http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic/computer-parts/electronics-parts-pictures.htm

The Present

• Powerful– Stuxnet - cyber-weapon

computer worm that appears to have wiped out roughly a fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges

– IBM Watson – the first “AI computer” 15 terabytes of RAM

– In only 50 years if everything had improved like computers houses would cost $200 cars would be 4x faster than the space shuttle http://video.pbs.org/video/1754649512/

The Future?

• Graphene– An allotrope of carbon,

whose structure is one-atom-thick

– Processing speeds and memory continues to grow at a staggering rate.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

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Binary Digit

• The smallest possible unit of information in digital computing

• All data is stored in binary numbers based on binary digital logic

• http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-are-binary-numbers.html

1 0 1 = 1*22 + 0*21 + 1*20

= (1*4) + (0*2) + (1*1)= (4) + (0) + (1) = 5

Place 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0Binary 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2Value 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 136 = 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0

Byte = 8 Bits

Byte

• Equals 8 bits• With 8 bits 256 values

ranging from 0 to 255 may be represented

0 = 000000001 = 000000012 = 00000010. . . . .

254 = 11111110255 = 11111111

Name Value Usage

kilobyte (kB) 103 210

megabyte (MB) 106 220

gigabyte (GB) 109 230

terabyte (TB) 1012 240

petabyte (PB) 1015 250

exabyte (EB) 1018 260

zettabyte (ZB) 1021 270

yottabyte (YB) 1024 280

Byte

• Equals 8 bits• With 8 bits 256 values

ranging from 0 to 255 may be represented

0 = 000000001 = 000000012 = 00000010. . . . .

254 = 11111110255 = 11111111

• Http://www.google.com/images?q=the+matrix&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=yoxITev8Msys8Abu4eD3Bg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=8&ved=0CH8QsAQwBw&biw=1552&bih=836

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Computer Hygiene

• Shutdown computer to empty cache files

• Install Only Needed Software

• Never Pirate Software

• Avoid “Add” Software Support

• Update Software Regularly

Computer Hygiene

• Never Store Data With Applications– Partitioned The Hard Drive

– External Hard Drive

– Drop Box

• Use a Current “Net”Browser– IE9

– Chrome 9

– Opera 11

– Fire Fox 4

Computer Hygiene

• Lockup, freezes, and blue screens of death.

• The computer spontaneously reboots or turn itself off.

• Strange noises and vibrations.

• Your home page, default search engine, or web browser has changed itself.

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Increasing Performance

• Adjust your computer’s Visual effects– Start, My Computer, right click

• Defrag your hard drive– Open the Start Menu

– Click on My Computer

– Right Click your C: drive or your hard drive image

– Click "Properties"

– Open the "Tools" menu.

– Choose Defragment Now.

– In the menu - click "Defragment"

Increasing Performance

• Use a Registry* Cleaner– CCleaner– Registry Patrol– ReImage– *Contains configuration

settings for low-level operating system components

• Scan for Adware/Spyware and Viruses– Microsoft Security Essentials– Avoid Free Antispyware the

software can not usually keep up with current technology because producers lack of financing. Its a real gamble to use freeware.

Hot Keys You Should Know

• http://www.seoconsultants.com/windows/keyboard/#WindowsKey

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Hot Keys You Should Know• Ctrl + Mouse scroll wheel =

change the size of display• Windows Logo Key = Displays

the Start Menu• Windows Logo Key + D =

Minimizes windows shows the Desktop (toggle)

• Windows Logo Key + E = Opens a new Explorer Window

• Windows Logo Key + F = Displays the Find all files dialog box

• Windows Logo Key + Tab = Cycle through the Task Bar

• Ctrl + Shift + Esc = Quick Direct launch of Task Manager ( no need for ctrl+alt+del and then choose Task Manager from the list.

• Shift + Delete = Permanently Delete the selected item

• Windows logo key + T= Cycle through taskbar

• Alt + Tab = displays a list of open application windows

• Logo Key + L = Lock your Windows XP computer. Logoff in Windows Pre-XP.

• Windows Logo Key + M = Minimizes all open windows.

• Windows Logo Key + Shift + M = Restores all previously open windows to how they were before you Minimized them.

• Windows Logo Key + R - Displays the Run command.

• Windows Logo Key + F1 = Displays the Windows Help menu.

• Windows Logo Key + Pause/Break = Displays the Systems Properties dialog box

Hot Keys You Should Know• Ctrl + A = Select All items• Ctrl + B = Add/remove bold formatting• Ctrl + C = Copy, selected text or figure• Ctrl + C + C = Opens the clipboard.• Ctrl + F = Opens the Find dialog box • Ctrl + H = opens Find and Replace

dialog box• Ctrl + I = Add or remove Italic

formatting.• Ctrl + N = Opens New Window, Mail

Message, New Document• Ctrl + O = Open, brings up a browse

dialog to select a file to open.• Ctrl + P = Print• Ctrl + S = Save• Ctrl + U = Add or remove Underline

formatting.• Ctrl + V = Paste, inserts the copy on

the clipboard• Ctrl + W = Close, close the document

currently open

• Ctrl + X = remove selected/highlighted copy and places it on the clipboard.

• Ctrl + Y = Redo last command, offer multiple by pressing Ctrl + Y + Y + Y...

• Ctrl + Z = Undo last command, offer multiple by pressing Ctrl + Z + Z + Z...

• Ctrl = dragging a file to copy the file.• Ctrl + Shift = dragging a file to create a

shortcut.• Ctrl + Tab = toggle) from one open

window to the next open window.• Ctrl + F4 = Close a window in an

application without closing the app• Ctrl + F5 = Internet Explorer, Ctrl + F5

will Refresh the web page• Ctl – End• Ctl – Home• Ctl-Print Screen - Quick screen shots

Hot Keys You Should Know• Alt + F4 = Closes the current active

window. If there is no active window this opens the Shut Down dialog box (use for pop-ups)

• Alt + underlined letter in menu = To carry out the corresponding command on the menu

• Alt + left/right arrows = In a browser moves forward or back through the pages visited in a window.

• Alt + Space Bar = Displays the current window's system menu. This is the same as left clicking on the application icon at the top left of the window.

• Alt + Enter = Displays a selected items properties. This can also be done with Alt + double-click.

• Alt + Print Screen = Captures the top window of the active application.

• Alt + Space Bar + C = After the system menu is displayed (see above), this combination will close a window. This works the same way as Alt + F4 but requires less stretch.

• Alt + - (hyphen) = Displays the current window's system menu. This is the same as left clicking on the application icon at the top left of the window.

• Alt Ctrl = The Application key has an image of a mouse pointer on a menu (between the Alt and Ctrl keys () to the right of your Space Bar). Depressing this key will display the selected item's shortcut window. This is the menu that is displayed by right-clicking

• Alt + Space Bar = Displays the main window's system menu. This is the same as clicking on the application icon at the left end of the title bar.

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Hot Keys You Should Know• Esc = Equivalent to clicking the

Cancel button. In PowerPoint the Esc key will stop a running slide show. On a web page with animations, the Esc key will stop the animations. On a web page that is loading, the Esc key will stop the page from loading

• Ctrl + Esc = opens the Start Menu.• F1= While working in an

application, depressing this key will bring up the applications help menu. If there is no open application F1 will open Windows Help.

• F2 = Choose this key to rename a selected item or object.

• F3 = Depressing this key will display the Find: All Files dialog box.

• F4 = Selects the Go To A Different Folder box and moves down the entries in the box (if the toolbar is active in Windows Explorer)

• F5 = Refreshes the current window. In Internet Explorer, F5 will Refresh the web page.

• Tab = This key can be used to move forward through options in a dialog box.

• Ctrl + Shift + Tab = move backward through the options.

• Ctrl + Tab = movement from one open window to the next in an application with more than one open window

Information Security Best PracticesProtect yourself and your data VCU Information Security Office

• Protect your personal information.To minimize your risk of identity theft, don’t share your personal info. unless you know how it will be used and protected. Use discretion when sharing information on social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Your birth date, address & other personal info. can be used for identity theft.

• Protect your passwords.Create easy to remember, hard to guess passwords and never share them with other people. Don't use the same password everywhere. And if you write them down, keep them in a secure location.

• Protect your computer.Implement a login password to access your computer. If you leave your computer unattended, lock it or log off – don't rely on it to lock on its own. Never leave your laptop unattended in a public place.If leaving it in a vehicle, hide it.

• Protect your paper documents.Limit printing of sensitive data. Lock sensitive documents in a drawer or cabinet. Shred sensitivedocuments that are no longer needed.

• Backup your important files.Backup your important files to external media and store it in a safe place, preferably off-site. Updateyour backups periodically and be sure to test restoration from backups periodically.

• Don't open untrusted files and don’t install untrustedsoftware Only download and install reputable software from authoritative sources. Don't open email attachments if you don't recognize the sender or you weren't expecting an attachment.

• Keep your operating system and software current.• Configure your operating system to install security

patches automatically. Check the websites of other installed software periodically for security patches and updates.

• Use antivirus, antispyware and firewall software.• Use antivirus software to protect you and your

computer against viruses. Use antispyware software to protect against spyware. Use a firewall to protect against intruders and attacks. Since threats are always changing, keep your antivirus, antispyware and firewall software current.

• Don't store unencrypted sensitive data on portable storage media. Laptops and portable storage media like USB flash drives are convenient, but are easily lost. Use encryption software to render sensitive data unreadable by an unauthorized person.

• Report data breaches and missing computers & data storage devices.Immediately report data breaches and lost or stolen computers & data storage devices (including,but not limited to USB flash drives and CDs). If VCU devices or data are involved or if a loss occurs on a VCU campus, notify VCU Information Security. Otherwise, contact local law enforcement.

Storage of Confidential Information

• Confidential Information includes:• Protected Health Information• Student Education Records• Financial Records• Contract Information• Employee Personnel Records• Research and Intellectual Information• Technical Information

• Safeguard confidential information:

• Store confidential information on network drives (I:, L:, etc.) instead of local drives (C:, D:, E:, or the Desktop.) A personal computer or laptop can be stolen

• Network drives are more secure.• Files may be encrypted file storage area on all laptops purchased for faculty or staff.

All documents should be saved in encrypted storage.• Never store confidential information on USB drives, CD's, DVD's or other removable

media.

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PaSsw0rds

• Create Strong Passwords• Use the browser’s password

saving system– Firefox - enable the Master

Password– Chrome - protect passwords

with a passphrase– IE9 – toggle only

• Use a Password Manager– KeePass– Lastpass– Firefox's Password Manager– Sxipper– Utilizes Secure Multi Factor

Authentication

• Last Pass• https://lastpass.com/features_f

ree.php• Lifehacker• http://lifehacker.com/#!576092

2/secure-your-online-life-the-easy-way

Eyestrain 10 / 10 / 10

Every 10 minutes

For 10 seconds

Look at an object

>= 10 feet away

20 / 20 / 20

10 / 20 / 10

It’s worth the time!

Common IT Service Requests at VCUAnd Time It May Take To Correct Them

ProblemAccount Locked Out 3.2 hoursPassword Reset 16.5 hoursKeyboard/Mouse Will Not Work 2.2 daysE-mail Problem 2.4 daysMicrosoft Office 2.5 daysInternet Problem 2.7 daysConvert Data or Files 3.4 daysNetwork Problem 3.8 daysOther Hardware/Software Related Problems 3.8 daysVirus, Spyware, or Malware 4.1 daysApplication Software Will Not Work 4.1 daysPrinter Problem 4.8 daysSoftware Upgrade 4.9 daysInstall Miscellaneous Hardware 5.0 daysTransfer or Backup of Files 6.3 daysInstall or Move a PC 7.4 daysInstall Software 7.7 daysInstall or Move a Printer 9.3 daysStudent Laptop Drop Off 10.0 daysSystem and/or Application is Sluggish 14.2 days

Time

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Security

Preventive measures for your protection

Easy Steps to Protect Your Computer

It takes only a few minutes but if not done might take days to fix.

Installing Critical Patches

• Adobe Flash

• JAVA

• If offered, always choose Custom installation.

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Windows Updates

• Set to download and automatically install.

Windows Defender

• Comes standard with Vista and Windows 7

• You can also download Defender for other Windows versions.

User Account Control

• Will prevent questionable programs from installing.

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Guest Account Setup

• For children or others who you don’t want to give administrative rights to their account.

• Will prevent software from installing on it’s own.

Email and Other Scams

Email Scams

• Your password has expired.

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Emails sent for you to change your account

• Emails are sent to users in order for them to change their passwords.

Google

• Home Phone Number Search

• Search will provide current address and map it

Secure Web Sites

• HTTPS

• Lock Symbol

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Public Places

• Choose Public Network for networks in places such as coffee shops or airports. This location is designed to keep your computer from being visible to other computers around you and to help protect from any malicious software from the Internet.

• Fire sheep

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Choosing-a-network-location

System Performance

• Ready Boost

• System Rating

Computer Management

• Disable services you don’t need running.

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msconfig

• Shows you what starts after Windows launches.

Temporary Email Accounts

• MailExpire Provides throwaway address, and allows you to have a temporary inbox from 12 hours to 3 months.

• http://www.email-unlimited.com/stuff/temp-email-address.htm

HP Learning Center

• Free registration

• Classes offer downloadable PDF files

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Facebook

• Edit your privacy settings to “Friends Only”

• Edit your profile so anyone who is not a friend and wants to see your profile, must first send a friend request.

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