Viruses

Apparently, I am a terrible role model for protecting against viruses.  I have always just used whatever virus software came with my computer, and I only updated it when the update reminders became annoying enough.  In college, I used file-sharing programs like Napster, Morpheus, and Limewire.  (To share public domain audiobooks only, of course.)  Yet, I never had a problem with my computer that I could point to and say "See, that's a virus."

Sure, the little Dell I had at the time slowed down a lot over my years of college, but I usually chalked that up to the hard drive being nearly full.  But I've never had any popups at weird times, never had the computer shut down randomly, or really do anything on a regular basis outside of what I told it to do.  But the certainty of the "Windows?  Yup, you've had a virus,"  stance expressed in class has me a little concerned now.  I hadn't really thought that beyond just making my computer do random things, viruses could also be stealing my passwords.

So I suppose I can file this one under "should have known better, do now".  Right after class I updated my virus protection software and plan to go through and strengthen my passwords.  After all, I do my banking online, and if my password gets stolen, I could lose the dozens of dollars I have in there.

Computer History for Rob Granger

My first computer was a Commadore 64.  I know it was likely bought at some point after my birth, but I don't really remember- it was always just there.  It really functioned only as a word processor.  When I became old enough to write papers for school, that's what I used.  We didn't have any games for it, nor did anyone in the family use it for anything other than typing and printing.  My parents wanted to be sure we could also use a typewriter, so my first few essays were clumsily typed out that way.  The computer was much more convenient for making revisions and correcting mistakes.  However, I remember associating the computer with difficulty rather than convenience.  Any time I was using the computer, it was for an important assignments.  And important assignments meant my father would make me proofread and revise it a few times, rather than just filling out a worksheet or doing simple bookwork.

When I was in about 5th grade, we got a new computer and internet access.  I remember playing games on Prodigy with my sisters and downloading all types of shareware games.  I rocked at Commander Keen, and that's a fact.  We tried a few other service providers, and eventually stuck with AOL for a while when the 1500 free hours disks showed up everywhere you looked.  Through school, I dabbled with computers, but it never really stuck with me as a hobby.  As a result, I never turned into any sort of computer wizard, but I was always fairly comfortable picking up new skills or troubleshooting typical problems.

It wasn't really until I started teaching that I made a concerted effort to start learning how to effectively use technology.  I find the "digital native/digital immigrants" metaphor a little tiresome, but I wanted to find a way to engage my students.  Plus I was sick of them being better at Power Point than I was.  I took a few classes on the basics of some common programs, talked to some co-workers, and eventually got comfortable adding new skills again.  Plus, the tools in Microsoft Excel really sparked my interest when I started trying out different types of record-keeping with my students.

While I can't say that I've ever felt inspired by a computer itself, I do feel that this is a pretty exciting time to educate myself about technology.  I'm always excited to share a new tool with co-workers or show an interesting website to friends.  But I'll still rock out a little Commander Keen every once in a while.