Time Machine: Everything Old is New Again

Some topics of interest from this week's classes.

We discussed the Do Not Call Registry, which was a way to prevent telemarketers from calling you. Someday, we may see a Do Not Email Registry, but I wouldn't expect that for a while. I remember telemarketing being annoying in the 80's, and it took them until 2003 to do anything about it. Here's my original post about how to get on the registry and save yourself from telemarketers.

Second of all, passwords came up in one class this week. Microsoft has a free password strength checker on their Web site, where you can see how strong or weak your password is. Here's the link. We also discussed passwords, and how you can make a better password. I discussed the mnemonic device method for creating and remembering a password in class, and here is my original post on that.

Of course, for people majoring in the IT area, it's always a struggle to find a balance between security and ease of use. If you require difficult passwords, your users may end up writing them on a sticky note, or putting them in a passwords document.

Interesting Computer Stuff Wayback Machine: 4/17/2010

Trent at The Simple Dollar does this thing where he looks back and says "what was I doing at this time last year".  I thought I might check it out for my blog and see what happens.

Wayback to one year ago (April 2009):
Just because security is an illusion doesn't mean you can't be safer
How readable is your Word document?
Nissan vs. Nissan
I discussed how motivated hackers can get in to most any system, and how your goal should be to not be the weakest link.  I also discussed "readability statistics" in Word (which I recently demonstrated in my CIS 125 classes).  I also discussed the case of Uzi Nissan, who owns Nissan.com and is constantly sued by Nissan, the car maker.

Wayback to two years ago (April 2008):
Secure, Random Passwords
What not to do in PowerPoint
People want passwords that are easy to remember.  Sometimes, for security's sake, it is worth it to memorize a difficult password.  PC Tools has a link that will create a difficult to hack, random password.  And when I say "memorize", I don't mean "write it on a sticky note and put it on your monitor".  I also had found a PowerPoint video that I still use today: "Life After Death by PowerPoint".  This is a comedy routine that a comedian does to show common presentation mistakes.

Wayback to three years ago (April 2007):
Massacre of Virginia Tech
Wow.  The College was in the middle of closings due to the flooding of downtown Paterson (sound familiar?), and the Virginia Tech shootings had just happened.

Wayback to four years ago (April 2006):
Hello World
The blog had not been created yet, but it was close.  I started the blog on May 6, 2006 after attending a conference at NJCU.

PRISM Handouts

I wanted to make this information more available to all my PRISM workshop attendees from the last two days by bringing this to the top (hi, all!).

Here are the handouts, slightly updated, available for viewing and download. Don't be shy, tell your friends!

PowerPoint 2003/2004 Tips & Tricks

Google Tips & Tricks

Free Government Services: Annual Credit Report

You can request a free copy of your credit report each year.

I'm not talking about one of those ads that require you to sign up for something to get it free - DO NOT USE the "freecreditreport" site - Congress passed a bill a few years back that required this. There are three credit reporting agencies, and all Americans can get one for free from each credit agency each year.

With the rise of things such as identity theft, it is critical to pay attention to your credit report.

When I first got my free credit report I had credit cards open that I didn't even remember - they always had a lot of people giving away t-shirts at Montclair State if you signed up for a credit report, and what did I know?

The information on this site is the same information that people use to determine if you are a good candidate for a loan, and at what rate.

annualcreditreport.com

Rate Your Professors

Yes, I've mentioned this before, but who REALLY goes back through the archives, right?

I think education is very valuable. I hope those of you who are students feel the same. I think part of that value is in the person you have teaching a class. It's sad, but sometimes you have people who are not very good teachers. Even if you end up with a decent grade sometimes, just because you get an "A" in a class doesn't mean it was a worthwhile experience.

Anyway, the ability to find out how good a professor is is nothing new. People have been passing things along verbally forever. It can be done online for free as well now, at the site ratemyprofessors.com.

One bad rating does not make a bad instructor, and likewise, one good rating doesn't make someone a great instructor. However, if you see many ratings, the truth usually rises out.

Take, for example, Professor Mosley. He's strict, but a great professor - ask around. He has had more than 50 students rate him on the site, and he's rated a 4.8 out of 5.0. That tells you something right there, that the man has the respect of his students.

On the other side, there are other professors who have consistently poor ratings.

Check it out for yourself. Here's a direct link to PCCC on RateMyProfessors:
http://ratemyprofessors.com/SelectTeacher.jsp?sid=2651

For those of you on MySpace, there is also a professor ratings page, but it is not nearly as complete as RateMyProfessors.

Deal of the Day

Woot.com is a Web site that does one item each day. One day, one deal, that's it. An interesting take on electronic commerce, to say the least.

I had discussed them a few years ago here - the reason I bring them up today is that they have a Roomba today - the little vacuuming robot - at a great price, with the special pet attachments.

From the Archives...Rate Your Professors

This came up in one of my classes today...the ability to rate your professors, and read what other people think of the same professor, are available on ratemyprofessor.com.

http://profcameron.blogspot.com/2007/07/rate-your-professors.html

Get rid of telemarketers...from the archives

I posted this last year, but it came up again today in class. The US Government set up a Web site where you can enter your phone number, and telemarketers (those people who call and annoy you with sales calls) are supposed to not call you.

Does it work? It has drastically decreased the number of unwanted calls I get.

http://profcameron.blogspot.com/2006/10/telemarketers.html

Microsoft Word Shortcuts...From the Archives

I posted this link last year to a Web site I found that has literally hundreds of keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Word.

http://profcameron.blogspot.com/2006/09/word-shortcuts.html

From the Archives posts

I am realizing that as time goes on, people are not going to read the entire archives and will miss some of the interesting things in the archives. At the suggestion of one of my students, I will do a "From the Archives" feature, where I redirect you to an older post once in a while that is still interesting.