Maki & Brian DeLaet EduCyber founders

May 2004 EduNotes

EduCyber is pleased to present the May edition of EduNotes. Recycling computers, Automatic updating, Googling and the Top 10 computer problems are all a part of this month's newsletter. Enjoy and as always, send feedback to edunotes@educyber.com .
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Responsible Management of Old Computers and Electronics
Another dilemma for today's homeowners:
Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) found in color televisions and color computer monitors contain significant amounts of lead. Central processing units (CPUs), keyboards and other computer equipment contain printed circuit boards and other complex circuitry that frequently contain lead, chromium, silver and other metals. In addition, some older computers contain mercury switches, and all CPUs contain a battery such as nickel-cadmium, lithium or sealed lead acid. As a school, business or government agency, you are responsible for ensuring that your used computer equipment is managed properly once you determine that it no longer meets your needs. Non-household facilities cannot dispose of any hazardous wastes in Colorado solid waste landfills. Therefore, your color monitors and televisions, CPUs, keyboards, printers and other computer equipment can no longer be accepted for disposal at municipal solid waste landfills. Instead, your facility can send end-of-life computers to someone that can reuse or recycle the computer, or your must send it to a hazardous waste landfill for disposal.
What's the preferred way for you to handle your end-of-life computers?
The state of Colorado strongly encourages (but does not require) reuse and/or recycling of end-of-life computer equipment. Several charitable organizations accept working computers that they then re-distribute to individuals that could not otherwise afford them. These organizations may or may not charge a fee to accept working computer equipment. In this case, the computers are still considered to be useful products and are not covered by state disposal regulations. A searchable list of electronics recyclers is available at http://www.colorado-recycles.org/
Households
The state of Colorado also strongly encourages households to recycle their old electronic equipment, but they are not required to do so. Unwanted electronic equipment from households is exempt from state hazardous waste regulations and associated requirements even though they contain hazardous materials. Therefore, households may choose to recycle their end-of-life electronic equipment or dispose of it in the trash. “Household” includes single-family homes, apartments, university dorms, hotels and motels, retirement homes, bunkhouses, ranger stations, and crew quarters.
End-of-life electronics are a growing portion of Colorado 's waste, and a growing environmental problem for the state. The table below illustrates estimates for 2003 of the number of computer systems that became obsolete in the state. If all these had been disposed of in our landfills, it would have added 9,200 tons of lead to the environment.

*Special thanks to EDS Waste Solutions for putting this information together from the http://www.colorado-recycles.org/ web site.
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Updates and Patches
Just a few months ago we wrote about turning on Automatic updating in Microsoft Windows computers. Now it is more important than ever. With this weekend's discovery/release of the Sasser virus, you need to keep your computer up-to-date with the latest fixes and patches. You could do this manually on a daily or weekly basis but who has the time? You'll quickly “forget” to do it and then, before you know it, it will be too late.
To turn on Automatic updating in pre-XP computers, go to the Control Panel and open the Automatic Updates applet. Configure it as desired. For Windows XP computers, right click on My Computer, click on Properties and then click on Automatic Updates. Configure as desired.
Our recommended configuration for always on computers and Internet connections is to “Automatically Download and Install Updates” and then set the schedule to do this at 3 AM every day. It should be noted however that if an update requires your computer to be rebooted, it will reboot automatically so you should not leave any programs or files open over night.
Concerned about Sasser? First make sure that your antivirus program is up-to-date and then make sure your Windows system is updated. This should protect you. If your computer is rebooting itself frequently and/or if the lsass.exe program has been unexpectedly terminating, you are probably infected. Call us for further instructions at (720) 275-4646.
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Google This
No this is not another article about Google's filing for an Initial Public Offering though we will continue to watch this story as it unfolds. The furor over their business plans has overshadowed some of their new developments in technology.
Just in the last week it appears as though Google has begun indexing text it finds in Flash objects. “Ho Hum, who cares?”, you ask? If you have flash on your site or have considered it, you now have even further incentive. Previously Flash could lend some aesthetics to a site but otherwise made sites heavy (slow loading) and the front page, where Flash objects typically appear, wasn't ranked as highly in search engines because of the Flash. Now that the text is being indexed in the Flash as well, we will almost certainly see more Flash being used.
In other Google news, have you Googled yourself lately? In the latest trend, anybody and everybody can (and probably should) look themselves up in Google. Why bother? Google knows more about you than you might imagine. And if Google knows (and is serving it up to searchers) then you ought to know what Google knows. Simply visit Google.com and type in your first and last name. It works best if you put quotes before your first name and after your last name.
You might just find your phone number. I googled my grandmother and found she owned the cemetery plot where her father is buried. I googled myself and, in addition to many links to the EduCyber.com web site, found that there are many more DeLaet's in this world than I originally believed. I even found someone with the same name as myself.
If you believe someone may be saying something bad or incorrect about you online, googling yourself is probably the fastest way to find out.
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Top 10 Computer Problems
The following is a list of the problems our clients face most often with technology:

1. Antivirus protection – Finding a cost effective way to keep all computers protected from viruses with as little user interaction as possible
2. Spyware – Keeping unwanted software / cookies out of the system while being able to use those programs that increase efficiency.
3. Hacker Protection – Having some kind of firewall between “us” and the outside world.
4. File Management – Understanding where important files are kept and why they can't just be put “wherever”.
5. Regular backups – If your backup system isn't automated, it probably isn't happening. If you think a windows feature called system restore is backing up your data, you could be in for a rude awakening.
6. Old technology – Don't forget the 3 and 5 rule – Purchase a mid-range computer and plan on using it for three years. If you are lucky, it will last five. In other words, if your computer was bought in the ‘90's it's time to upgrade. Same for technology like printers and other devices.
7. Over-purchasing – Why buy a brand-new, off-the-shelf software package that does the same thing a program you already own can do perfectly well?
8. Un-planned purchasing – When you do upgrade, figure out what you need and why. Similar to 7, many clients buy a computer and then realize it doesn't have a feature they need. A common occurrence of late has been clients getting computers with XP Home edition when they needed XP Professional edition.
9. Not budgeting for training – Imagine if NASA spent billions building craft to send astronauts to Mars and beyond but didn't budget for training the astronauts. We've seen clients layout $10,000 and more for new software and not spend anything on training. And then they end up losing money or losing clients because they aren't using the software properly.
10. Playing Mr. Fixit – New clients often spend two to three times as much as existing clients for the initial consultation period because they tried to fix a problem and very quickly got in over their heads.

If you have concerns that you might be “guilty” of one or more of these, you can contact us via the information below.
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© 2004 EduCyber, Inc. This newsletter is brought to you by EduCyber, Inc. EduNotes can be viewed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online at http://www.educyber.com/edunotes/ . Visit us on the web at http://www.educyber.com or call us at (720) 275-4646. Permission is hereby granted to redistribute all or part of this newsletter as long as this entire copyright message is included.
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