Tech Tips and News for September 13, 2019

Flickr/Dennis Skley

OK, so now that the school year is well underway, I can come back up for air and resume the tech blog. Some of these bits of news and tips are a little old, but hopefully still helpful. As usual, some are cautionary tales, and some are useful tips. Hopefully there is something here to help you further your tech knowledge and comfort level. Happy Friday the 13th, my friends, don't let those paraskevidekatriaphobia superstitions get you down!

• Tricky Scam Plants Phishing Links in Your Google Calendar
• 7 Ways Hackers Steal Your Identity on Social Media
• Say Goodbye to In-app G Suite Training
• How to Properly Clean Your Gross Laptop
• Why Do Phones Explode? (And How to Prevent It)
• 5 Helpful Gmail  Features for Teachers
• Google Docs Help:  How To Restore Your Original Version After Collaborators Make a Mess
• Google Forms Now Has a Native Function to Import Questions From Other Forms
• How to Use Macros in Google Sheets
• How to Use Quillionz - Quiz Questions Automatically Generated from Documents

Tricky Scam Plants Phishing Links in Your Google Calendar

Tricky Scam Plants Phishing Links in Your Google Calendar, from Wired by Lily Hay Newman
This is truly tricky! It's too bad scammers can't use their skills for something good. The bottom line of this article, is that scammers are taking advantage of a default setting in Google Calendar to send a calendar invitation with with phishing links in it. This default setting allows any invitations you receive to automatically be put on your calendar, even if you haven't accepted the invitation. You then begin getting notifications about the event that look legitimate because they are coming from your calendar. To protect yourself, you need to change that setting in Calendar:  Settings > Event Settings > Automatically Add Invitations. Select "No, only show invitations to which I've responded".

7 Ways Hackers Steal Your Identity on Social Media

7 Ways Hackers Steal Your Identity on Social Media, from Make Use Of by Simon Batt
Social Media is a wonderful way to keep current with your real friends, but as with any other online activity, we must be careful.

Say Goodbye to In-app G Suite Training

If you were used to using the colorful question mark button in G Suite to get help while in an app, I'm sorry to break the news...it's going away. It was so handy to get Gmail training while in Gmail, or any other G Suite app. Instead, Google has unveiled their G Suite Learning Center. Yes, there's a bookmark for it in the magic ASA bookmarks folder. You can either follow along as a new user, or you can search for training modules by product (app). Of course, there's always the support button - the black and white question mark in a circle. You can click or tap the support button and select help or training. In both you can search for the topic you need help with.

How to Properly Clean Your Gross Laptop

How to Properly Clean Your Gross Laptop, from How-To Geek by Andrew Heinzman
A dirty, dusty or clogged laptop will not run well. Help it out by giving it a good cleaning.

Why Do Phones Explode? (And How to Prevent It)

Why Do Phones Explode? (And How to Prevent It), From How-To Geek by Andrew Heinzman
We've all heard the horror stories. How does it happen? Are we all at risk?

5 Helpful Gmail  Features for Teachers

5 Helpful Gmail  Features for Teachers, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
These features take very little time to set up, and will save you so much time.

Google Docs Help:  How To Restore Your Original Version After Collaborators Make a Mess

Google Docs Help:  How To Restore Your Original Version After Collaborators Make a Mess, from ZDNet by David Gerwitz
Not only does this post explain how to get back to your original version of a doc, there's also the suggestion for a best practice to make it easier to find your version.

Google Forms Now Has a Native Function to Import Questions From Other Forms

Google Forms Now Has a Native Function to Import Questions From Other Forms, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
If you ever reuse questions from one form to another, you've either needed to use an add-on to recycle the questions, or manually copy and paste the text. Google Forms has now built in the ability to recycle questions from your other forms. Read the post to see how.

How to Use Macros in Google Sheets

This video gives a quick demonstration of how you can record the common tasks you do when setting up a spreadsheet, so you don't have to do them manually every time. You can record a macro to handle any tasks you routinely do in a spreadsheet, such as sorting, freezing or formatting your column headings, etc.

How to Use Quillionz - Quiz Questions Automatically Generated from Documents