Technology Update

Bloomingdale Public Schools    Volume 7 Issue 2                      November, 2005

 

 

Over the last couple of years, I have given you various tasks that you should perform on a regular basis to keep your computer as up-to-date and secure as possible. I will repeat those key tasks in this update. I’m not able to personally visit each of the 350 computers in the district and perform these tasks myself. The more of this responsibility you are able to take on yourself, the better your computer will run and the more secure it will be. If you cannot perform these maintenance tasks yourself, check with your building computer person for assistance.

 

Virus Checking – (Once every couple of weeks) Most of the computers in the district have their antivirus software automatically managed by a central computer.  When a virus is found on your machine it is put into quarantine. We don’t currently have a way to delete those quarantined files centrally and so they stay in your personal quarantine area. Consequentially the antivirus software keeps finding the virus and sending me alerts, even though it is quarantined. See Quarantine Cleanup on next page for instructions on how to clean up your quarantine area.

 

Windows Update – (Once a week) This is a very important operation. They have made it so that it can be done automatically, but you may have to go through some steps to get it set up.  See Windows Update on the next page for instructions.

 

Spyware Checking – (Once every week or two) Spyware can make your computer almost unusable!   Our virus checking software takes care of some of this, but you also need to run a couple of programs every week or two. See Spyware Checking instructions on the next pages.

 

Important Reminders – Computers are to be left on Monday – Thursday nights. Turn them off over weekends and holiday breaks. Many, many people are not doing this. Please follow this procedure always!  Leave computers on every night except weekends and holidays.

 

Always log out of Kresa, AR, etc. every night. Leave your computer on, but log out!! Every time I begin to do a Kresa update, I find that several people are still logged in to Kresa – even at 10 o’clock at night. This takes me extra time to verify that no data is going to be lost.

 

 
Quarantine Cleanup

 

  1. Go to Start à Programs à Symantec Client Security à Symantec Antivirus client
    (If you don’t have the Symantec client security links, read below.)
  2. The window that appears has two sides to it. First look at the right side. Under Program versions, the program should be 10.0.1.1000. If it is 8.something, call me and let me know. The Virus Definition File should be some relatively recent date – within the last week. If not call me and let me know.
  3. Look at the left side. (Notice the scan a floppy disk feature. We’re not going to do anything with that now, but this is where you go if you want to check a floppy for viruses.)  Click on the + sign next to View.
  4. Click on Quarantine If no items show up on the right side in the quarantine window, you are finished. You have no Quarantine items to delete.
  5. If there are items showing in the right side quarantine window, highlight all of them and then click the red X above the window.
  6. The system then does a status check on the files and so you will see a new window with all of the files listed. There is a button there that says “Start Delete” 
  7. The window will then show which ones were successfully completed.   Close the window and then close the Symantec AntiVirus Window and then exit and you’re done.

 

 

What if you don’t have the Symantec client security software on your computer?

 

  1. I need to know the name of your computer. To find it, follow the following steps
  2. If it is an XP computer:  Right click my computer, then properties, then the Computer Name Tab.  I need to know the Full computer name listed there.
  3. If you have a windows 95 or 98 machine, right click network neighborhood.
  4. Click on Properties
  5. Click on the Identification Tab.  The computer name is located there. Please email that to me.

 

Windows Update

 

    1. Check to see if your computer has been updated recently enough to do automatic updates.

a.       Click on Start, then Settings, then Control Panel

b.      Look for Automatic Updates. It will be toward the beginning of the list since it begins with “A”.  (For screen shots of this process see bdalecards website, technology, windows update.)

c.       If you have it, double click it. Make sure Automatic is selected and it has Every day at 3:00 AM listed.

d.      If these things were all there as described, you are finished with the updates issue. If you didn’t have the choice of automatic updates or you couldn’t set a day and time, continue with step 2.

    1. Close Control panel. Then open Internet Explorer
    2. Go to Tools at the top and then down to Windows Update
    3. The next steps now differ depending how out of date your computer is. The first screen that usually comes up has a choice for Express or Custom. You should use Express. If you don’t have this choice, you should basically accept and agree to all options given to you as you work through these screens. (The main screens that you will see in most cases are shown on our website under technology, important information, windows updates.)
    4. If your computer is severely out of date, there will be many restarts required during this process and it could tie up your computer for a couple of hours.
    5. Each time you restart, you need to go back to Internet Explorer, choose tools and then choose windows updates and go through the process again.
    6. When you are completely finished, you should check to make sure auto updates has been set by going back to step 1 and seeing if things are set from now on.

 

Spyware Checking

 

 

There are a couple of key spyware checking programs. The first is from Microsoft.

    1. Go to the S drive and open the folder called “virus info”.
    2. Find the file called MicrosoftAntiSpywareInstall. Don’t run it!
    3. Copy it to your desktop.
    4. Now run it and accept and agree to all prompts.
    5. Screen shot pictures and some more detailed instructions can be found on the website under technology, then Microsoft Antispyware Program right at the top.

 

The second spyware program you should run is called “Spybot”. You will find it on the S drive under “virus info”.

1.         Go to the virus info folder

2.         Find the file called spybotsd14.exe. Don’t run it!

3.         Copy it to your desktop

4.         Now run it and accept and agree to all prompts.

5.         Screen shot pictures can be found on the website under technology, then Spybot