Weekly Tech Tips and News for June 1, 2018

pixabay.com

It's amazing that we have already reached the last week of school. The finish line is in sight! Friday afternoon the victory lap begins. Beginning next week, these posts cease to be weekly during the summer months, as I dive into tech maintenance mode. I will continue to post periodically during the summer, as topics appear in my feeds, or if something time sensitive arises. Summer is a terrific time to tackle a new tech idea you didn't have time for during the school year. Take a look at previous posts in the right column,  you can search by date or by topic. If you need help with anything, feel free to contact me. I wish all of you with summers off, a safe and relaxing break.

• Comcast Leaked Customer Wi-Fi Logins in Plain Text, Change Your Passcode Now
• Chrome Has a Built In Malware Scanner, Here's How to Use It
• How to Reverse Picture Search With Google Images
• How to Easily Password Protect a Google Form
• How to Stop All of Twitter's Annoying Emails
• How to Create, Edit, and View Microsoft Word Documents for Free
• New Common Craft Video - Digital Footprints Explained
• Adobe Spark:  Creativity with Visuals (It's Free)

Comcast Leaked Customer Wi-Fi Logins in Plain Text, Change Your Passcode Now

Comcast Leaked Customer Wi-Fi Logins in Plain Text, Change Your Passcode Now, from How-To Geek by Justin Pot
If you use Comcast/XFinity for your home Wi-Fi - you will want to read this post to change your Wi-Fi passcode. Bad things can happen when your Wi-Fi passcode falls into the wrong hands.

Chrome Has a Built In Malware Scanner, Here's How to Use It

Chrome Has a Built In Malware Scanner, Here's How to Use It, from How-To Geek by Justin Pot
If you're running Chrome on a Windows device, here's how to speed it up and remove any malware that may have accumulated. I ran it on my Windows 10 laptop - it took about 7 minutes, but I was able to work while it was scanning.

How to Reverse Picture Search With Google Images

How to Reverse Picture Search With Google Images, from How-To Geek by Brady Gavin
This is so useful, I've used this trick numerous times to find the location of a building in a photo, what kind of insect is on my plants, what that flower or bird is, etc. It's also helpful for finding the source of a photo in an article to see if it has been manipulated or is being used out of context.

How to Easily Password Protect a Google Form

How to Easily Password Protect a Google Form, from Schooled in Tech by Dave Carty
This tip is perfect for when you want to give a quiz in Google Forms, but you don't want students to take it, or review it, before class starts.

How to Stop All of Twitter's Annoying Emails

How to Stop All of Twitter's Annoying Emails, from How-To Geek by Harry Guinness
Twitter can be a very useful social media tool for sharing information, as well as learning, catching up on news, and keeping track of what your friends are up to. It can also be an oversharing pain sometimes with all the notifications it sends. Learn how to ease your pain with this post.

How to Create, Edit, and View Microsoft Word Documents for Free

How to Create, Edit, and View Microsoft Word Documents for Free, from How-To Geek by Yuvraj Wadhwani
What to do when we don't have Microsoft Office and someone sends us a Word doc? There are three choices:  Word Online, Google Docs and Libre Office.

New Common Craft Video - Digital Footprints Explained

New Common Craft Video - Digital Footprints Explained, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
This is a good one to both share with students and watch for your own benefit. See exactly how our online information is used and shared.

Adobe Spark:  Creativity with Visuals (It's Free)

Adobe Spark:  Creativity with Visuals (It's Free), Teacher Tech with Alice Keeler
This is a free, easy and G Suite compatible tool for creativity. I love the suggestion that teachers give students time to explore new tech, teach a skill they discovered, then if there are still skills they didn't discover, teach them.