Malicious Software and Spyware

As my time in educational technology comes to a close, I am reflecting upon how much I have learned in this area. I have not been exposed to much online communication tools being used in the classrooms. Therefore, I tend to think inside of the box when thinking on how I will use online communication tools in my own classroom. It's not that I don't want to use more technology in my classroom. I just wasn't aware of how many ways I could use technology in my future classroom. I had used the basics: PPT Presentations, word documents, and some educational websites. For this class, I had to create a blog and a webquest which forced me to step outside of my box. Now that I am more familiar with these resources, I am gladly going to incorporate them into my teaching! I also became more familiar with DTP, PPT presentations, educational websites, spyware, and ways to grow as a teacher in general! I have been exposed to so many more educational technology resources, and I will gladly use them in a future classroom to improve my teaching, motivate and engage my students!

This week, we discussed malicious software and spyware. My personal computer's hard drive was almost attacked by several viruses. I was unaware that the security on my computer had ran out several months earlier. We had been downloading onto our IPhones from Itunes, and allowed my computer to be exposed to several viruses. My computer suddenly began blocking me from the internet. Something started popping up about not being protected, and showed several viruses! I immediately took my laptop to a friend that knows how to deal with these things. He installed new virus and spyware protection! He told me I was extremely lucky, because my previous virus and spyware had been out for a very long time!! He believed downloading the music had let the viruses in!

While at school Thursday, I spoke with our tech person about the virus and spyware on the school's computers. I was told we had the same virus and spyware the state of Kentucky had. I believe it is Malware. Each student and faculty member has a username and password, so the school knows who has looked at what. Also, certain sites like Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, etc... are blocked. All computers are scanned periodically for viruses. So far, this has worked very well! There was an issue last spring with some software the state was using. The spyware was reading it as a virus and was blocking all computer use. Since we use the same as the state, it affected us too.