The easiest path to our hearts

Keeping up with social networks trends #bringdonuts

Bring Donuts

We are constantly joking  about feeling unappreciated, I guess it is part of working in a service department. Nobody remember us when everything is going "peachy". In fact there is people that don't know who we are and what we do. 

So yesterday we took this picture as many people do on social networks. David decided to make the "O" look like a donut.

It is ok to have fun at work, makes the days go smother. 

School has started ...... call tech support

School has started and we are flooded with requests.

tech team

A positive attitude always makes the job easy. The school year just started and even though we try to be as much prepared as we can, there are always some loose ends.

We are handling the requests as they come and we recommend using the ticketing system to our users.

It's going to be a great year.

Gearing up for next school year

During summer we get ready for next school year.

working during the summer

While students and most of the staff takes the summer off, we technology people and other staff (maintenance, grounds, board office, etc) stay working through the summer to make sure we are ready for the next school year to start.

I am sure pretty soon there will be teachers coming in and out of their classrooms as the month of july goes by. I have worked in the school system for almost 10 years and it is always exciting for me getting ready for the first day of school. It is stressing too :) but we have survived it every time.

My tip for today is:

Enjoy your summer students, in the mean time we will get ready for the next school year!

By-By old Technology......

You did a great job but now it's time to part ways.

With the school year over, we start our summer replacement projects.

By by E-scrap 

So long old technology, a new windows is on its way and you won't be able to handle it.  Microsoft just announced yesterday that they will release Windows 10 to the public in July 29th.  We can't wait for it!

Looking at this pile of workstations reminds me of many users and friends that won't part with their old workstations. After all they have put hard earned money on it.

Unfortunately technology never stops, so even when the hardware part is still on running conditions, if we want to be productive and able to accomplish some work, we must depart from old technology. I know of people still holding up to Windows XP.

So my tip for today,

Whatever old technology you have in your house that is just collecting dust and using space, it is time to move on. The old excuse that 'we can let our kids to play with it', it is not realistic since most games are online and need updated browsers and plug-ins. Say by-by to old technology and have a great summer 2015!

See you soon with more technology tips.

 

Managing power and electical cords NO NO 's

Avoid damaging your equipment - manage your cords properly.

When setting up our office and desk, it is important to take in count that most of our office equipment requires electricity.

Consider this when placing your desk on your office. Unfortunately most of the power cords have a limited length making us basically solve a puzzle when setting up equipment. I understand we need space on our desk to write and to work but the computer and electronic equipment is very costly too.

 Stretching and bending cords damage them and in the long run they will damage our computers / electronics.

So my tip for today:

Avoid twisting, bending and stretching power cords or cables. Put the power cords on a place that it is not crowded and make sure they are not going to be mashed or bent by other piece of furniture. When rolling up the cable of an adapter procure not to bend it. Take care of your investment.

see you soon with more tips.



 

A list of passwords to avoid.

The list of the most common passwords and thus the easier to hack.

Last night I was watching the news while cooking dinner and there was this news that capture my attention.

worst passwords of 2014

It was a list of the worst passwords for the year 2014 and the number one was "123456" and second in the list was "password". The worst part was when Ryan Williams said that those where the perennials in the list. The list is published by Splahsdata and company dedicated to security applications and services.

They came out with such a list by compiling from more than 3.3 million leaked passwords during the year 2014. The compiled info came mostly from North America and Western Europe.

My tip for today:

Although  the name password suggest "word" it is better if we think about a pass phrase. That means 2 or 3 words and numbers to make a most secured password. For example 2hot2handle or AuntLucy0hi0. Use phrases that mean something to you so you can remember them and include numbers or symbols to add difficulty.

see you soon with more tips.

what career or major to take?

Being prepared for the future includes having technology skills.

#futureready

I was checking on my twitter and I came across the hashtag #futureready.  It is related to a president initiative name ConnectED. The main idea of this initiative is to prepare american students with the skills they need to get good jobs and compete in the global economy demands.

That really captured my attention. It is really important for students to be ready to face a labor force that will require them to have technology skills.  Not only be able to use iphones and ipads and all those devices they comfortably use but to be able to be productive with them.

I have heard young people make comments that they don't like technology or computers because they don't like math or feel that they are inadequate because their grades in math are not as good, etc. Also, students are picking a career or major basing their decision on those fears.

Independently of what career path students chose, they will have to have computer skills. We all need to encourage kids to be future ready and in fact to select technology or any other STEM career.

The punch line today, while I was encouraging a student to pick computer science as his major instead of social studies, it was the fact that many people complain about calling tech support of any kind and always getting someone with a foreign accent, so I told him,  you have to power to change it! you all need to pick computer science.

So my tip for today:

Don't be afraid of technology, stay on top of it!

:)

see you soon.

The problem with the chromebooks.... is it really a problem?

The biggest complaint about chromebooks.

The problem with the chromebooks?

The biggest complaint people have made about chromebooks is that they only work with an internet connection. That is not true. There are some things that can be done offline. Yes it is very limited what you can do off line but to be honest, i don't know many people that owns a computer, ipad, etc. that uses them to work offline.

The other complaint I have heard is from the people that travels a lot and want to get some work done while flying. That is not a problem anymore because airlines offer wi-fi internet on their flights nowadays.

I our school district we have deployed 500+ chromebooks to students. We have wifi coverage on all our buildings. The students love them and can actually produce finished products on them like presentations, videos, documents, websites, blogs, etc. The price is very accessible, they come with a keyboard and webcam and they are so easy to use.

Are they the same as a PC? of course no, that would be comparing apples to oranges. 

Are the iPads cooler than them? maybe, but their price by the time you include a keyboard is almost un-affordable in this economy.

So my tip for today:

Don't let the fact that chromebooks need a internet connection to work best make you ignore its advantages. Christmas is coming we all need to be wise with our budget too. 

see you soon with more tips.

Can we go back to the old phone system???

The user resistance to change. 

We just updated our old telephone system to a new voice over IP telephone system and it has been a nightmare. Not only dealing with the telephone company but with resistant to change users.

I know its different, its going to take some time to learn it but at the same time the old system was literally  falling apart and we needed a new one.

Telephone systems cost a lot of money and it wouldn't be wise to replace an old system with another already obsolete system. It would be like buying a new PC and installing Windows ME on it.


So my tip for today:


Give yourself time to learn the new system and allow yourself to make some mistakes. You will learn to love the advantages of this new technology sooner than you think.


see you soon with new tips.

The infamous ticketing system .. a necessary evil

What happens when the telephone system goes down.

So today, i had to send a email to all our employees to inform then that our telephone system is down. We are in the process of changing the old telephone system to a new Voice over IP system ( which means telephones that use our data network), and the telephone company is still working to fix a few unforeseen issues.

the infamous ticketing system a necessary evil

And now we have users knocking at our door asking for help!

I understand it is much easier to pick up the phone and call than filling a service request. However, when using a ticketing system allow us to serve the users better as it gives us a way to track our work, we get some important information we need beforehand, gives the supervisor an opportunity to assign jobs to the right help desk person and the ticket just need to be submitted once instead of calling and getting a busy tone and having to call back.

My tip for today:

Use the ticketing system, once you do it one or two times, you will realize it is not that hard and it is fair for everybody.

See you all soon with more tips.

It's like magic....isn't it?

When users see the computers just as a black box.

It's like magic

For some users computers are like a black box that works like :

input -> blackbox -> output.

They don't really know how it works or what make things work the way the do. I remember meeting a young lady that said to me "computers are like magic to me". I guess it gave me a lot of insight of what some users perception of computers is.

It does seem like magic now with the new operating systems, but there is a lot of engineering inside those black boxes and a lot of processes going on before and after every click the user makes.

What to learn more about what goes on inside the black box?  then keep reading my blog.  :)

See you soon.

Who you gonna call?

When facing computer problems, Who you gonna call?

As a user myself, I sometimes face issues with software I am trying to use or deploy. As part of education system,  we tech people also have a helpdesk support in Frankfort we could call if needed. However, it is important to know whom to call. When it is a internal operations issue we call our helpdesk, otherwise, when it is a software application issue, then we need to call the software company support.

I  know it is a fine line and I guess as a user calling your own tech support would be the first option for most users and that is ok. 

My Tip today : There are several sources of help we could use.

• GOOGLE IT. Don't underestimate the power of "googleing".
• FAQ. In most websites they have a FAQ (frequently asked question) sections where they have posted questions and answers to common questions.
• FORUMS.  most software companies also have forums where users can go and post issues they are experiencing and they get answers from other users.

Of course when all this options fail, call me :D, but don't be like some users that work for 2-5 days and call everybody on their contact list and then, when the level of frustration is 200 (on a scale from 1-10), they call tech support.... It is hard for us too.

Hope these tips help you and I'll be back soon.