District Technology
Welcome to the Monticello Central School Technology Portal
Tech Alerts!
Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) - Some websites, including GroupWise webmail, do not display correctly in IE8. Click the Compatibility View toolbar button to display the website as viewed in Internet Explorer 7, which will correct display problems. When you click on the Compatibility View button for a site, you don’t need to do it again as the next time you visit that site the browser will show it in compatibility mode. If for some reason you’d like to go back to browsing with Internet Explorer 8 functionality on that site, simply click the Compatibility View button again.
Try clicking the "Compatibility View" toolbar button to fix the problem. It's located next to the Refresh button on the Address Bar.
You can maintain a list within Internet Explorer 8 for sites that should be displayed in Compatibility View. From the Command Bar, select Tools, and then select Compatibility View Settings to add and remove sites from this list. There are also options for viewing all websites and intranet sites in Compatibility View.
Add and remove websites to be displayed in Compatibility View.
***Source: Microsoft.com
Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> General
Tab -> Browsing History
Click on the Delete... button and make sure
that the first item ("Preserve Favorites website data") is
CHECKED, then make sure that that the item "Cookies" is
UNCHECKED... (See the screenshot below...)
Click Delete at the bottom of this Delete
Browsing History page, and then OK again to exit Internet
Options. Exit and restart Internet Explorer...
New internet filtering system – The Monticello Central School District technical services department installed a new system that will be more responsive to the needs of the staff and students. This was based no feedback from all of you.
There is a new process in place to accommodate your filtering requests. Please work with your building administrator to get information concerning procedures. We have created a tutorial.
Virtualization – During the past school year we designed a new software distribution system that will enable us to respond quickly to your requests along with improving performance on your machines. The software does not currently run from your machine. It is in a central location. When you request it the icon will be placed on your desktop so you can access the program. The program is still not there but will be launched when you double click on the icon. When you close the program the program capabilities leave the machine. This should improve the performance of your machine.
Your new image has the basic software on it that included Internet Explorer version 8, Google Earth, Microsoft Office, Smartboard, and Photostory. We looked at data concerning use last year and found that many of the programs offered were not being used so we devised a new system to only have those that need the software access to it.
If you need something in addition to these programs please put in a work order with the machine name.
Global Village has been enhanced to house tutorials and pertinent information for all users. Please visit the staff resources section.
Quick Links
Groupwise E-Mail
iKeepBookmarks
Global Village
My Learning Plan
Monticello Multimedia Portal
Technical News
FBI Warns Public of E-mail Scams
The FBI today warned the public
against three separate Internet scams that continue to flourish
through spam e-mails. The warning comes after the FBI's Internet
Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received a rising number of
complaints from citizens over the past few weeks.
In one scam, an e-mail recipient receives an electronic greeting
card containing malware (malicious software). The cards, which
are also referred to as e-cards or postcards, are being sent via
spam. Like many other Internet fraud schemes, the perpetrators
use social engineering tactics to entice the victim, claiming
the card is from a family member or friend. Although there have
been variations in the spam message and attached malware,
generally the spam directs the recipient to click the link
provided in the email to view their e-card. Upon clicking the
link, the recipient is unknowingly taken to a malicious web
page.
In another scam, fraudulent e-mails misrepresent the FBI and/or
Director Robert S. Mueller III and give the appearance of
legitimacy due to the usage of pictures of the FBI Director,
seal, letter head, and/or banners. The types of schemes
utilizing the Director's name and/or FBI are lottery
endorsements and inheritance notifications.
The third is spam e-mail which claim to be from an official of
the U.S. military sent on behalf of American soldiers stationed
overseas. The scam e-mails vary in content; however, the general
theme of each is to request personal information and/or funds
from the individual receiving the e-mail.
These spam e-mail messages are hoaxes and should be immediately
deleted. Consumers need to be wary of unsolicited e-mails that
request them to take any action even if that means just clicking
on an attachment. It is possible that by "double-clicking" on
attachments to these messages, recipients will cause malicious
software — e.g., viruses, keystroke loggers, or other Trojan
horse programs—to be launched on their computers.
For further information on computer safety tips please visit the
FBI website at
www.fbi.gov and the IC3 website at
www.ic3.gov.
Source: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel07/emailscams071707.htm
Helpful Hints
Winston Churchill once said, "A
lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance
to get its pants on".
Wow, isn't this statement so true when it comes to the Internet
and email these days.
Ok..we've all received them in our email in boxes at one time or
another. A forwarded email from a friends, sisters, Aunts
brother. Some of us believe if we forward this email to "at
least 15 people in our address books", we will soon have a
tremendous windfall or have good luck for all of eternity, etc.
So, before you forward erroneous email information, no matter
how good it looks, you must ask yourself two questions:
1. Where do I find the truth online?
2. How do I check the facts?
Here are a couple of websites that can help you sort fact from
fiction and outright lies:
For sorting through urban legends and dubious emails there is no
better website than:
http://www.snopes.com/
This site is dedicated to stomping out “eRumors” that show up in
your email:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/
So, the next time you receive one of those emails, especially
the ones that sound WAY too good to be true, now you know where
to look to find the truth before you decide to forward.
*Courtesy of the Mid Hudson Regional Information Center
How to Clean Your SmartBoard
You can use any non-abrasive cleaner (such as Windex glass cleaner or Expo cleaner) and a soft cloth/rag. Spray the cleaner on the cloth/rag and then wipe (as opposed to spraying the board directly). Many people use standard dry erase board cleaner. For stubborn stains, use isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to clean the writing surface. Never use abrasive chemicals or cleaners to clean your interactive whiteboard.
Excel's Autofill*
One of the best tools in Excel is
Autofill.
If you are not familiar with Autofill, try this:
- Open up Excel and type Monday in any cell.
- Now, being very careful with the mouse, (you should still be
on the Monday cell) put the mouse pointer exactly on the bottom
right of the cell where you see a small dot. You should get a
"hair line cross", when you see this click and drag with the
mouse to the right about 7 cells.
- You should get Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday, etc.
But what if you only want Weekdays? You can Autofill using the
Right mouse button! Autofilling using the Right mouse button
will give you a menu of options where you can choose "Fill
Weekdays". Autofilling a date using the Right mouse button will
give you options to fill: just weekday dates, increment the date
by month, or increment the date by year. Autofilling the series
1,2... using the Right mouse button will give you options to
continue the series linearly with 3,4 etc. or fill using
exponential growth where the numbers double each time:
1,2,4,8,16,32....
Here is an answer to a very common question:*
Question: I have about 4,000 sites
bookmarked and arranged into folders etc. The problem is that I
want them arranged alphabetically. I can arrange them any way I
like in Windows Explorer, but that arrangement does not affect
them when I click on the "Favorites" in IE. I think they did it
automatically in 5.5, but it is really cheesing me off having to
keep dragging them manually into alphabetic order.
Answer: You'll be delighted to hear that there is a fast
shortcut to accomplish this task, a way that you can very easily
sort your Favorites in Internet Explorer. This will also work in
Firefox's Bookmarks folder. Here's the trick:
1. click on the Favorites menu in Internet Explorer.
2. Right -click on one of the Favorites menu items
3. See that bottom choice? Choose Sort by Name and voila!
That's how you do it. You can also do this within individual
folders (I hope you don't have 4000 bookmarks in one massively
long list!!) and solve your challenge.
Hope that helps you out!
PS - This trick will also alphabetize your programs in the Start | All Programs list. Just right-click on one of your programs and select Sort By Name. Folders will be sorted first and then individual program names.
*Courtesy of the Mid Hudson Regional Information Center
Other Helpful Hints