PTA Technology Corner

Recently I was asked if I knew any good places to go to read about children and their use of technology. As a part of my job, I read a great deal about the Millennial Generation (those born between 1982 and 2001) and those coming next in the yet-to-be-named youngest generation (hint: might be called something like the “9-11 Generation”). So, I thought I’d take this month to lay out some resources you might consider checking out.

There’s a great deal of research and studies on today’s teenagers and “tweenagers” regarding how unique this generation is from previous ones - particularly on their use of technology. Probably the best and most recent resource is from The Pew Internet and American Life Project called “Teens and Technology” (http://www.pewinternet.org/report_display.asp?r=162).

Another good resource is from Harris Interactive and their monthly newsletter called “Trends and Tudes” (http://harrisinteractive.com/news/newsletters_k12.asp).

If you’re interested in learning more about your own “Millennial”, two gentleman wrote a series of books about this generation - Neil Howe and William Strauss. Probably one of their best books is called Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (http://www.lifecourse.com/products/millennialsrising.html).

Did You Know?
7.8 - the number of hours each week children socialize with friends online (compared to 10.3 hours socializing in-person)

Just about everyone has at least one computer in the house, there’s a 90% chance it’s a Windows machine, there is nearly a 100% chance if you make over $75,000 that you have broadband access and many folks have setup a wireless access too in their house. And while this all sounds good, it’s a recipe for disaster if you are not fully protecting yourself from viruses, spam and other malicious computer attacks.

A reporter last year from the BBC sought the assistance of a computer expert to determine how fast a computer could become infected if not protected. They took a brand new computer out of a box, plugged it into the Internet and waited to see what happened. It didn’t take long at all for the first malicious attack to happen. Would you believe 18 seconds??

So, what should you do to protect yourself? First, if you are running Windows XP, make sure you have it updated to Service Pack 2 and have your computer set to install new updates automatically. This is all managed from the Security Center located from the Start Menu, under All Programs, Accessories, System Info. Make sure you have the Firewall turned on also.

Second, you also need to install at least two important programs. One is an anti-virus program and one is an anti-spyware program. Microsoft has a program currently called Windows Defender Beta 2 that is free - see the link at the bottom of the article. To protect your computer from viruses, my favorite application is AVG from GriSoft. It’s less than $40 and updates automatically when needed - link is also at the bottom of the article. There are many other applications available that claim to do both, but I’ve had great success with these two in combination.

Fourth, you’ll want to install some type of anti-spam software. There are a bunch available and frankly none of them are great. If you use Outlook or Outlook Express for email, I recommend checking out Qurb (see link below) - they have a trial version available and if you like it, it’s less than $30.

Finally, if you are using a wireless network in your home, make sure you have turned off the SID (which will not show your network to others) and turn on the encryption settings. Each wireless router is different, so make sure you read the instructions that came with it. If you’re unsure, contact their customer support as this is an important thing to do to protect your computers in your home.

A note to Apple Mac users: Just because there hasn’t been a real virus attack on Mac OSX, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t protect yourself. Keep the system up-to-date by using the “Software Update” in the Apple menu and follow steps four and five above.

Microsoft Windows Defender Beta 2
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/support/howto/download.mspx

GriSoft AVG Anti-Virus
http://grisoft.com/doc/Single/lng/us/tpl/tpl01?prd=sng.1.0.0

Qurb
http://www.qurb.com/