Turn off your Computer and put in the Closet

Years back, I used my phone only for calls and some texting with family and friends. I didn’t have e-mail and I did not know how to use it. I used to think e-mail was a waste of time, and besides, I had better things to do. Time has proven me wrong. In today’s world, we all need technology for most of our daily activities: computers, smartphones, and apps. There is also a need to learn how to keep this hardware and software secure so that we don’t have to turn them off, and put them the closet to keep them safe and secure.

I had to come out from home and start working again at Coach for women in the Jersey Garden Mall. There, I started to feel the pressure to use Smartphones for translations and iPads for product searching to help some of the clients; and computers to print out missing labels and receipts. I realized I needed to learn technology and learn it fast if I wanted to continue a career in business. I enrolled in college classes and learned Microsoft Office Suite and was certified. I took then a class in Computer Technology. I used the book “Understanding Computer, Today and Tomorrow” by Deborah Morley and Charles S. Parker. This book is a great tool for a person that knows a little bit of computer technology but wants to learn more.

It’s just a 13 chapters paperback and an interactive eBook, both can be used to practice each lesson, watch interesting videos, check your understanding and take tests. Morley explains each subject in such simple words that I found easy to understand it. My favorite part was chapter 9 which was about Security and Privacy. From it, I learned how to protect all my devices and my private information from computer crimes. I learned the importance of setting strong passwords and changing them often, signing out every time I used public computers, installing antivirus and cleaners, and using encryption which “is a way of temporally making data unreadable in order to protect that data from being viewed by unauthorized individuals” when I save or send files over the internet.

Morley mentions tools like tracking software to get back a stolen computer or smartphone. She says tracking software uses GPS information and can locate the device; it can take photos and videos and can sound an alarm to let the individual that stole it know, he’s been tracked. There is one tool called a kill switch that tracks a stolen phone, locks it up, erases its data and even can damage the device forever. I think this is useful because in college class last year, one of my former classmates went out of the classroom and left her phone on her backpack. A man took her phone. She had her phone set up with the tracking software on. She was able to track the phone with the help of Apple; she took a remote picture of the man with the same phone, and she along with the police confronted him. He returned the phone and apologized. She didn’t press any charges because was a young man studying and trying to get back to work and he had a criminal record already.

Morley says there are also issues about privacy and how businesses handle the type of data they get from their customers and share with other companies. If an information leak happens, a business can get into legal problems. We all have a digital print or a digital profile that is being put together by tracking software used by the businesses that deal with in our daily lives.

I watched a tv commercial, and I ordered glasses from an online website. I received an empty bag. When I called them, the way the woman handled the call was unusual. She didn’t confirm my personal information; she talked like she knew about it, and she just told me to take a picture of the bag and send it via e-mail. I went the bank and canceled the transaction, got a new debit card, and found out the bank had a digital debit card (throw away) that doesn’t give away my real information to any website to protect my data.

I found this book very engaging. Because we use technology everywhere, we go. It allows you to enter the unknown world of computers and technology.

I absolutely recommend it, because the clear and simple vocabulary and examples which make technology easy for a beginner like me. Chapter 9 is useful if you need to learn how to protect your computer devices and personal data so that you don’t have to turn off your computer or smartphone and put it in the closet to keep it safe.