Month: September 2020

Is your child put in danger by mobile software?

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Mobile Phone Dangers for Teens

Tech TuesdayToday’s teenagers spend around nine hours each day using social media, consuming popular apps content and communicating behind a glass display ‘s borders. The problem is a number of such apps, whether audio , video or text, put children at risk of being targeted and groomed by predators through chat and messaging features.

Although most programs require users to be at least 13 years old, to be able to combine these sites, children can easily lie about their age, risking exposure to activities and content only suitable for a more adult audience.

Here are few programs that police say people used to contact minors for exploitation. The goal of the apps are to meet new people, but often this goes badly for kids and teens. In addition, it shows the location of a user so that individuals can meet.

– Meetme: It is a social media relationship app that allows users to connect with individuals based on geographical proximity. Users are invited to meet each other in person, as the name of the program indicates.

– Snapchat: It is among the most popular programs in recent decades. While the program promises that users can send a photo or video and it will disappear, this does not prevent screen capture and recording.

–Tiktok: A massively popular, kid-friendly mobile app that is used to share and create short videos. This app has been accused of spying on user’s data by China by the Trump Administration.

But these are just a small sample. There are hundreds of popular apps that can be a danger in not monitored by parents.WIFI CONNECTION HELP FOR BUSINESS

Teenagers (and certainly not children under 13 years of age who should not be on those programs because of the age limitations of the program) spend enormous amounts of time communicating with other people on a daily basis, putting them at greater risk than ever before of being preyed upon.

Parents must be careful about what kids do on all their Internet-enabled devices. When they insist they will “be fine” and understand what risks and red flags to look for, do not take their word for it. The grooming techniques of a manipulative predator can not be taken care of by kids and young people. What’s more, don’t fall for your child’s trap insisting “every child in my school is about this program” and assume everything is going to be fine.

Before allowing your child to download any programs, make sure that parental controls are set up and that privacy settings are used on almost any device your child uses that connects to the worldwide web

Monitor the access of your child to other people over the net.

On an iPhone or Android device, it looks like an innocent calculator program, but can be used to conceal photos, files , videos, and even browser history.

And don’t become too complacent just because you’ve familiarized yourself with a program and prepared the necessary settings and parental controls.

Technology can offer children incredible possibilities for interaction, learning, research and research. An all-access, free rein pass to the electronic world, however, can open exceptionally dangerous doors to nefarious individuals, including criminals and hazardous content for kids and teens.

  • Do not forget to secure the security of your child in the electronic world.
  • Establish an ongoing dialogue and keep open communication lines.
  • Supervise the use of devices enabled by the Internet.
  • Make sure your kids use privacy preferences on all platforms for social networking.
  • Check your child’s internet activity periodically by seeing the history of your browser.
  • Use applications for monitoring and list your parent-approved games and apps.

Tech Tuesday is heard each Tuesday on Mix102.5 with Big Poppa and CCNY Tech’s Marketing Guru Daryl Ledyard. Since 1988, CCNY Tech has been an IT Hardware Sales and Services company. Ten years ago, CCNY Tech has added IT Asset Disposition to it’s offerings.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Video Conferencing

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Video conferencing etiquette and tips

With more digital classrooms and more jobs working remote than ever before, we wanted to pass along some key Do’s and Don’t for Video Conferencing — both etiquette and security. Following these tips will help you to have more effective meetings and appear more professional and engaged.

Don’t delay start times, or waste time throughout the meeting by being unprepared.
Do:
Test Your Technology
For virtually any meeting involving technology, it is important to test the equipment setup. Typically, there’s a test process you can run to make sure your app or browser interface are connecting properly to your camera and any other attached equipment like speakers and microphones.

Keep microphone mutedDon’t leave your Microphone On
Do:
Check to be certain that your audio and video settings are what your desire them to be — whether or not unmuted; turned off or on. If you are not talking, it’s usually a good idea to mute yourself so that others don’t get a lot of background noises.

Do not allow your camera positioning to become a distraction to other participants in your video meeting.
Do:
Be sure that your camera is properly positioned on the primary monitor you will be using for the video conference. A camera that is pointed too low on your body or pointed somewhere else in the area can be both distracting and unflattering. Make sure that the camera is in a secure position and focused at your eye level. Doing this allows for more direct engagement with the other meeting participants. Also, be certain that you have good lighting; natural side lighting is generally the best. Without proper lighting, you may be ghosted out (too much light from the wrong angle), or too dark to see if there isn’t enough light in the room.

Do not leave public access open during the meeting
Do:
Lock the room after you have all of the intended attendees for security and to reduce vandals from invading your conference for kicks.

Do not forget that appearances matter in video meetings.
Do:
When attending a movie meeting while working remotely, dress as if you were in the office or classroom. In addition, it is important to remember that appearances aren’t limited only to you.

Don’t Ignore Your Surroundings
Do:
Know about the condition of your surroundings. Messy piles of paper on your desk? Piles of laundry? Stack of dirty dishes? To the people on the opposite end of the camera, an untidy work area can cause a significant distraction.

Don’t multitask during meetings
Do:
We’ll point out the obvious here: while we’re all guilty of occasionally multitasking through audio and web conferences, in a video conference, everyone can see you. Responding to another email? Checking your cell phone? We can see you doing that also. Eliminate distractions and concentrate on the meeting. Turning off notifications, closing or minimizing running programs and muting cell phones, streaming radio, etc., are all basic etiquette rules.

Don’t interrupt other speakers
Do:
Wait for a pause before speaking. You’d hopefully do this in person, so do the exact same here. It’s even worse on a video call because it is not as simple to see everyone to know who has interrupted the conversation.

don't record meetingDon’t record the meeting without permission
Do:
Request people in the session’s permission to record and be clear on how it will be shared.

Don’t Go Too Long With Your Meeting
Do:
Take Breaks & end the meeting on time. Everyone is busy and have many meetings or classes scheduled. People also require a rest between all of these video meetings. Sometimes these meetings are even tougher if you are standing all day or cooped up in one room and not getting any exercise. Taking a short break in between is actually needed.

And do not forget to smile! 🙂 With each of these video meetings taking over our lives, a sense of humor and a smile can go a long way to making the meetings more pleasant for everybody!

 

Tech Tuesday is heard each Tuesday on Mix102.5 with Big Poppa and CCNY Tech’s Marketing Guru Daryl Ledyard. Since 1988, CCNY Tech has been an IT Hardware Sales and Services company. Ten years ago, CCNY Tech has added IT Asset Disposition to it’s offerings.

20 Simple Ways to Take Care of Laptops & Chromebooks

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How to take care of laptops

With so many taking classes and working online today, it is essential that you take good care of your laptop to keep it working well. Following these easy steps will ensure that your laptop lasts longer and requires less maintenance. As an added bonus, many of the steps will also maintain your laptop’s speed.

 

avoid food or drink near computer work areaLAPTOP HARDWARE
Keep liquids away from your laptop – Spilled liquids may damage the internal microelectronic components or cause electrical damage. Short circuits can corrupt data or even permanently destroy some parts of the laptop. The solution is very simple: Keep your drinks away from your computer.

Keep food away from your laptop. Don’t eat over your laptop; the crumbs can fall between the keys and provide an invitation to small bugs or damage the circuitry.

Do not use your computer in a room where animals are. Their fur and hair can get into the internal workings and damage them. Also larger animals (e.g dogs) can damage them by thinking they are a toy to chew on

Keep your hands clean – clean your hands before you use the laptop or Chromebook, you will reduce wear and tear on the coating caused by contact with sweat and small particles that can act upon the laptop’s exterior.

Avoid placing heavy materials, such as books, on top of your laptop. This can push the LCD screen into the keyboard, and will eventually damage it.

HEAT & COLD
Don’t expose your laptop to rapid temperature changes. When bringing your laptop indoors during winter, please don’t turn it on immediately. Instead, let it warm to room temperature first. This will avoid any potential for damage from condensation forming inside the machine. Avoid heat from sunlight as well.

don't leave a laptop in a very hot or cold car

Have the unit cleaned annually to remove internal dust. Get this done by a computer professional, or do it yourself if you can. If dust accumulates, the system will not be able to cool itself correctly. Heat can destroy the motherboard.

Don’t leave your laptop in a car. Not only do the insides of cars experience large temperature swings that could damage a laptop, but a laptop (or laptop bag) is an inviting target for a smash and grab thief.

Keep the computer in a clean and dust-free room – Dust can be major issues for computer and laptops. They can especially cause malfunctions due to overheating components.

Don’t use your laptop on the bed. Repeated use of a laptop on the bed will cause the fans to suck up the dust and debris in the bed and ultimately blocking the fan.

LCD DISPLAYS
Protect the LCD display monitor. When you shut your laptop, make sure there are no small items, such as a pencil or small ear-phones, on the keyboard. These can damage the display screen if the laptop is shut on them. Always hold and lift the laptop or Chromebook by its base, not by its LCD display. The display is also easily scratched or damaged by direct pressure.

POWER CORD
Don’t pull on the power cord. Tugging your power cord out from the power socket rather than pulling directly on the plug can cause the cord to break off from the plug. Also, make sure you place the cord where you won’t accidentally trip or kick it.

Don’t roll your chair over the computer cord. Try to place the cord behind your desk or table so that it is out of the way from your chair or someone else’s.

ACCESSORIES
Be sure to plug accessory devices into their proper slots. Always look at the symbols on the laptop carefully before inserting devices. Never “force” a plug into a jack or connection port. Make sure you have enough light to see what you are doing and never force something.

Be careful with USB drives and small components – proper care of earbuds, USB drives, mouse and connectors are also important because without these small things you may lose files, your microphone for a zoom conference, oh have over difficulty using your device.

SOFTWARE
Antivirus software – Anti-Virus Software is the best defense against a virus. Viruses can cause identity theft, privacy issues, and can slow down the performance substantially.

bloatware that slows down PC

Make sure that while downloading stuff from the web you do not download unwanted installers. Also, take your laptop in for a checkup to check for bloatware or memory killing software that runs in the background causing annoying popups and ruining performance overtime.

Do not try to run large or unsupported multimedia files or graphics-intensive programs over your computer if your computer does not meet the specifications as it usually damages the computer in the long run.

If possible, do a clean install of the operating system you use once every 2 to 3 years. This will help the laptop to start from scratch and maintain everything in a very organized and effective manner.

Most importantly, look into getting a laptop bag. Many breaks happen because laptops are dropped or bumped. A bag significantly reduces the risk of damage.

Tech Tuesday is heard each Tuesday on Mix102.5 with Big Poppa and CCNY Tech’s Marketing Guru Daryl Ledyard. Since 1988, CCNY Tech has been an IT Hardware Sales and Services company. Ten years ago, CCNY Tech has added IT Asset Disposition to it’s offerings.