The old saying goes "Feed a cold and starve a fever." Or, is that "Feed a fever and starve a cold?" I never was quite sure about that. What I am sure of is that the best course of action when it comes to spammers is starvation. Spammers need information. The less you give them, the better your life will be.

• Spammers like mailing lists: When using a mailing list or signing up for some online service, if possible don't provide an email address. If you have to give them something, either sign up for some "disposable" account somewhere such as Yahoo!, Hotmail, or some other free service, or make something up. Idontwantany@leavemealone.com, for example. Even if you think the company or service you're submitting your address to is on the level, spammers may sign up for those same lists just to see who else is on them.


• Spammers love forwarded messages: We've all been guilty of sending on the occasional inspiration chain letter, which in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sending them on with the dozens of other recipient's email addresses intact is. If you must forward a message, or send a letter to multiple recipients, trim out all the old headers and use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) function of your email client. That way the recipient of the messages sees only your address and theirs in the headers. That's just a matter of courtesy, really. No one wants their personal information flung around the globe indiscriminately.


• Never open spam: If you get a message that you suspect is spam, delete it unread. A common tactic of spammers today is to use "Web bugs" to track their messages. These are embedded, often invisible image in the body of the message that are unique to each user. The spammer can simply check his logs to see which of those images have been downloaded, and he knows he has a "real live" address. Some mail clients, such as Microsoft Outlook "preview" messages for you, before you even open them. If yours does that look for a way to turn that off. If the message is never read the spammer can't know which of the addresses in his file are legitimate. (Note: SquirrelMail, the web mail system we use here in Honey Grove, automatically disables images that the system considers suspicious, and replaces them with a "this image has been removed" message,)


• Never reply to a spam: If you're faithfully following the guidelines above this one won't even come into play, but I'm going to say it anyway. All bulk mail originating in the U.S. is required by law to have an opt-out option. Don't use it. First off, spammers don't care about the law anyway, but if one does honor his legal requirement to remove you from that particular spam list, he still has a known-good address to focus on for all of his other mailings. Not only does he know that it's a valid address, but he also knows that you read and are even willing to respond to a spam. That's a spammer's Holy Grail.


• Use the tools at your disposal: If you use a Web-based mail service such as Hotmail, Yahoo!, or Gmail, use the included anti-spam measures. Those systems learn collectively. When you tell them that a message is spam, everyone else on that service benefits. Don't just roll your eyes and delete the message. Take the time to actually classify the message. It's for the greater good.


• Never, under any circumstances buy anything from a spam: This should be a given, but the fact remains that spam is a business. If no one ever bought anything from a spammer, they would have no reason to do what they do. Believe it or not, there are people out there who buy "GenE.r!c C!al-is" from email and look to their inbox to find The B3st Mort:g@ge Ratez." The reason you have spam in your mail box today is that someone bought something from that same email yesterday.

      Being a technology professional, my friends, family, and coworkers often seek me out for advice when they decide to buy a new computer. I'm often asked what I think the best vendor is, or what sort of specifications I think people should look for when they buy a new machine. I thought I'd take a moment to address a frequently-asked question here in the Tech Notes blog. Below is a fictionalized version of the type of email I often receive along with my answer to it.

Mark,
      My daughter will be starting college soon and needs a laptop. What would you recommend? What should I look for, and how much can I expect to spend? Is there a particular brand or model you like? What about this new Windows Vista? Should I get that or stick with Windows XP, since that's is what's on our computer at home?

      First off, my advice on laptops has always been to get as much as you can possibly afford. They're difficult and expensive to upgrade later, so you're better off maxing out your budget now. As for what she needs in a laptop, that depends on what she'll be doing with it. If she really needs portability, meaning she'll be carrying it around with her all day from class to class, go with something small and light- maybe a 12” display. If it'll be used most of the time at her desk in a dorm room, then spring for the 17" or larger display with a full-sized keyboard. The reality is that most people buy a laptop when what they really need is a desktop. Consider carefully whether you truly need a laptop, because they generally cost about twice as much as a comparable desktop machine. Also, laptops are inherently fragile. They're designed to be light and portable, and that always means less durable.
      As for brands and models, the truth is that they're all about the same. In reality there are only a very few companies in the world that make laptops, no matter what label is on the cover. If you have a Dell and your neighbor has a Compaq, they were most likely manufactured on the same assembly line somewhere in Japan. What differentiates one company from another are price and service. Price literally varies from day to day, but as I've indicated before, it shouldn't be a major factor in your buying decision.
      For years I've recommended Dell computers for the simple reason that their service and support was clearly superior to the other major manufacturers. Today, however, that just isn't the case. Again, due to global outsourcing your support call on your Dell laptop and your neighbors call for his IBM desktop are likely to be answered by the same call center in India. There's just not anything right now to distinguish one vendor from any other.
      Personally I'm a big fan of the Tablet PCs for versatility and portability. A Tablet PC is a special type of laptop with a few extra features. First off, the screen will rotate 180 degrees so that when the machine is in the “closed” position the display is on top, rather than facing the keyboard. It will also have a special stylus that allows for hand-writing on the screen. With the display in the tablet orientation a student can lay the machine flat on a desk and take notes by hand, rather than typing. Later the included software can translate the hand-written notes into standard text. This allows for a more intuitive use of the computer.
      Recent research indicates that when a student takes notes by hand she is forced to pay more attention to the lecture. Since hand writing is slower than typing, it's virtually impossible to “zone out” and simply become a passive transcriber of what's being said. The student must select and synthesize key points, thus resulting in a more engaged learning experience.
      As far as the operating system is concerned, I'm still advising people to stay away from Windows Vista. I've been using it on my office computer for several months and, frankly, it's just not as good as Windows XP. I have no doubt that in time Vista will become a solid, reliable, multifaceted operating system, but in my opinion it's not ready for the masses just yet. It may be difficult to find Windows XP from any major vendor, but if you can find XP, it's what I recommend.
      Since the next question I'm usually asked is “What kind of laptop do you use?” I'll answer that now. I have a Toshiba Portégé Tablet PC, and have been using it for just over a year. It cost me around $1,500 and I think it was worth every penny. I've used big, bulky, heavy laptops before and while they're great when sitting at a desk, they quickly begin to seem like anvils when being carried around a campus all day. For me, smaller is better, and the 12.1” display with a total weight just under five pounds makes it virtually effortless to carry with me.

As almost anyone who has ever created a document on the computer will tell you, sometimes the mouse just gets in the way. This is really true on a laptop, and if you have one, you know what I mean. I know that it is very helpful when editing your work. But when you are in the middle of typing and want to move or highlight a sentence or word, it can be a hassle to leave the keyboard and drag the mouse all over your desk just make a couple of changes. So I have a list of keyboard shortcuts you will grow to love. They work in Microsoft Office and OpenOffice. Some you probably already know about, but hopefully there will be at least one new one in here for you.

Ctrl + Z = undo (works in office documents as well as Spider Solitaire)
Ctrl + Y = redo (puts back the thing you just undid)
Ctrl + B = Bolds the text (if the text is already bold, it will return it to normal)
Ctrl + U = Underlines the text (if the text is already underlined, it will return it to normal)
Ctrl + I = will turn the text into italics (if the text is already in italics, it will return it to normal)
Ctrl + Enter = will insert a page break
Ctrl + Backspace = will delete one word at a time (Backspace does just a letter)
Ctrl + right or left arrow = will allow you to move one word at a time rather than just a letter
Ctrl + up or down arrow = will allow you scroll one paragraph at a time rather than just a line
Ctrl + Shift + up or down arrow = allows you to highlight one paragraph at a time
Ctrl + Shift + left or right arrow = allows you to highlight one word at a time
Ctrl + P = Print

      As some of you already know, Adam Lejeune, our district technician, will be leaving us at the end of this week to pursue a career in the classroom. I'd like to publicly wish him well as he begins this new career path, and thank him for his excellent work this past school year. It's been a pleasure, Adam.
      Starting July 2nd Seth Anderson will be joining our staff as our new Technician. I've known Seth for almost 20 years, and am excited about the expertise that he brings with him. Like Adam, Seth will serve as first-level technical support for our students and staff and I'm confident that you will find him more than up to the task.

      Having made the decision to do away with the classical stand-alone computer lab, and having determined that laptop-based mobile labs were not a viable option, I began to look for ways to bring standard, desktop computers into the normal classroom. Clearly doing this would require some specialized equipment. It wouldn't be possible to outfit the standard classroom desk/chair combination unit with even the smallest desktop computer.
      I had seen labs in magazines with specialty tables that housed the computer under a glass top. This allowed the user to have a full desktop workspace and still have easy access to a computer. While this option looked appealing on the surface it quickly became apparent that there were some significant design flaws. Firstly the glass top was prone to glare, making it difficult to see the computer screen below it. The companies that sell these desks also offer partitions that can be placed on top of it to block out the glare, but they take up valuable desktop space and contribute to another problem with this desk design. With the computer placed below the desk, teacher supervision becomes almost impossible. Not only can the teacher not see what's on the computer screen, they can't really know if the computer is even powered on.
      That led me to two different pop-up style desks from two different companies. The first was the Evolution Flat Panel Desk from Spectrum Furniture and the second was the Flip Top series of desks from Electronic Classroom Furniture Systems. Both of these desks hide the computer under the desk when it's not in use, providing a full-sized desktop- more than twice the size of a typical student desk/chair combo. When the student needs access to a computer it simply pops up from inside the desk. These desks allow for better teacher supervision of computer use (you can't use the computer without it being obvious that you're using it) and eliminate the glare inherent in a glass-top desk.
      I asked each of these companies to provide a sample desk for our planning committee to inspect, and both were happy to do so. After almost of month of hands-on experimentation our teachers decided they liked the flip-top model from E.C.F.S. the best. They decided that it offers a cleaner line-of-sight than the Spectrum desk and it's flip-top compression hinge design is less likely to be abused by the students than the pneumatic push-button assembly of the Spectrum design. Both desks were superbly designed and solidly built. Both companies offer outstanding warranties and both were willing to tweak their designs to produce a custom model specifically for our installation. In the end, I think it really came down to the collective personal preferences of our staff.
      The architect firm that is handling the design and construction of our new campus provided a very nice scale drawing of what one of our 750-square-foot classrooms will look like with these desks installed. The rooms are designed to accommodate up to 32 student desks, and will be initially outfitted with 24 desks, with the understanding that we can pull desks from rooms with fewer than 24 students to put into rooms with more than 24 students. Each wall will have enough network and electrical connections to feed the rows of computers, and the desks will have built-in power and network extension channels. This should keep all of the wiring completely out of sight (and out of reach) and produce a clean, professional-looking classroom/lab setup. Preliminary estimates show that we should be able to install 16 of these technology-heavy classrooms, including the desks and the computers, for less than the construction cost of the five labs that were originally proposed.

      When the idea of bringing computers into the classroom first arises, most people immediately turn to laptop computers to do the job. Indeed there are a number of one-to-one laptop initiatives currently underway all over the country. The idea is to give every student a laptop that they can take with them from classroom to classroom, and even take home with them in some cases. This allows any standard classroom to become a computer lab with very little modification. Honey Grove has a number of such "mobile labs" in our Elementary and Middle School campuses. The trouble is they're not as mobile as they're cracked up to be.
      The biggest problem with laptop computers is that even the best laptop can't make it through the average school day on a single battery charge. At some point they have to be plugged in to recharge. There are a few ways to go about this. One way is to buy an extra battery for each laptop and a charging station for each classroom. That way when a battery dies the user can simply but the dead battery on the charger and pop a charged battery into the laptop. This works really well, but adds to the cost of a mobile lab by a large margin. Another way is to see to it that there are ample electrical outlets available in each classroom. The biggest problem with this method is that there are often electrical cords scattered throughout the room, which can lead to a much higher rate of accidental damage.
      Another problem with mobile labs is that laptops simply aren't as durable as a desktop computer and are more difficult to repair when they break. Laptops are designed to be lightweight and portable, and it's these very design attributes that makes them inherently more likely to sustain damage during day-to-day use. Replacement parts are rarely available from any source other than the original manufacturer, and even then there's no guarantee that the parts will be available in a couple of years. Manufactures continually roll out new models, and it would be impractical for them to keep warehouses full of parts for older models. Even when the necessary parts can be procured they're often very labor-intensive to replace, and often doing so in-house will void the manufacturer warranty.
      Finally, laptops are very expensive. A single 24-unit mobile lab complete with extra batteries, external chargers and a storage cart can cost three times as much as 24 desktop computers. After the initial purchase price is considered, the cost of repairing them is often many times the cost of repairing a typical desktop computer. Factoring together the high initial cost, the cost of ongoing maintenance and the fact that the average usable life expectancy of a laptop computer can be half that of a desktop computer, it was clear that mobile labs were not the solution for our new High School.

      Early on in the process of planning our new High School, the Superintendent came to me with a definitive mandate: Design a school that will serve as a benchmark for other schools in the area of technology integration.....and do it as inexpensively as possible. This was no small task, but one I was excited to tackle.
      One of the primary complaints that our teachers have in terms of technology in our current building is the somewhat limited access to computers. Currently we have two dedicated computer labs and a library/media center equipped with 24 computers that serves as a third lab. The scheduling of our technology-centric classes, such as Business Computer Information Systems and Digital Graphics and Animation ensures that our two dedicated labs are filled most of the time. That leaves essentially one lab available to meet the research needs of the core classes (Math, Science, Languages, etc.) This simply is not enough.
      At first blush the answer seemed simple- add more labs. In the early planning meetings we began throwing out numbers- four labs minumum, five would be better. That would provide the necessary access for our technology classes and provide two (or three) additional labs to be used for research and testing. With the proposed mandate of online testing in the future, we would need far more capacity than we have now. We could make do with four labs, and could be comfortable with five. Then came the price tag. The Texas Education Agency requires that a computer lab be a minimum of 900 square feet in size. At an estimated cost of $125 per square foot the total cost for for the construction of a single computer lab would be $112,500. Five such labs would cost $562,500 just to build. That doesn't include equipping them with computers or the ongoing costs of heating and cooling such large spaces throughout the school year. In short, computer labs are expensive.
      So, I began looking for alternatives. I needed to find a way to provide our students and staff with the technology they needed at a price the taxpayers could actually afford. The answer was to eliminate the computer labs entirely. Instead of creating a handful of very large rooms with many computers, maybe it would be better to bring the computers into the classrooms. If we could do that, then we could provide ubiquitous access to computers without the construction costs associated with building computer labs, or their continual upkeep. This was clearly the best course of action. The next hurdle was figuring out how to bring computers into the classroom in a way that was cost-effective, sustainable, and functional.

      This section of the Tech Notes blog will contain posts related to the planning and construction of the new High School campus of Honey Grove I.S.D. Planning began in the spring of 2007, with ground-breaking scheduled to begin in the summer.

      One of the questions I'm often asked is why we erase and reprogram all of the classroom and lab computers every summer. The answer is rather simple- computers, like hall closets, tend to collect miscellaneous items. Anyone who's had a computer for more than a couple of years can attest to the fact that they tend to become bogged down over time. Various fragments of programs you thought were removed long ago stick around and get in the way. Over time your computer starts to develop certain idiosyncrasies, little things that are kind of annoying but aren't big enough to warrant a call to tech. support. A common complaint among owners of aging PCs is that they “just run slow.”
      While there are certain moving parts on a computer that can simply wear out over time, for the most part a well-maintained computer will run as well when it's seven years old as it did when it was seven days old. It's that maintenance that is the key factor. By erasing all existing data every summer and reinstalling new, updated software we're able to provide our students and staff with a “like new” user experience year after year. On the first day of school our students get to sit down at a pristine, updated, and refreshed computer, without having to deal with the missteps of those who used that computer the year before.
      A side-effect of this process is that it requires the technical staff to interact with each computer at least once during the summer. This is when we find most of those minor hardware problems that no one has thought worth mentioning. This is when we find the broken speaker, or the blurry monitor, or the sticking mouse. It's during this refresh process that we find and repair the majority of physical problems with your computers.
      The end result of this annual refresh process is that you get a more reliable, and more functional computer for a longer period of time. In an effort to see that our students and staff have modern equipment on which to learn and practice, we make every effort to replace our classroom and lab computers every five years, and the annual cleaning and repair cycle is crucial to ensuring that our computers are as functional on the fifth year as they are on the first.

      Each summer we take every computer in the Distrct outside and blow the dust out with an air compressor. I've been asked from time to time why we go to all of this trouble, and the best answer I can give is that dust kills. In fact, in the PC world common, household dust accounts for more component failures than any other issue.
      You may be wondering at this point just why dust is such a big problem for electronics anyway, and the answer is twofold: it can cause a short circuit, and it can contribute to overheating. First off, dust can be electrically conductive, which means that if enough of it builds up on a board it can literally rewire the circuit, potentially causing a lot of damage. It's the second aspect, however, which is the more common, and the more destructive problem.
      Any electronic device creates heat as a byproduct of its operation, and modern computers are jam-packed with millions of microscopic electronic devices all working together at once. This clustering of various devices generates a lot of heat, as anyone who's been couped up in a lab full of computers with a faulty air-conditioner can attest. The typical computer today has three or four fans built into it to help move heat away from the sensitive electronics and out into the room. Dust in the fans causes them to work less efficiently, while dust accumulated on the circuitry (as shown in this picture of one of the computers at the Elementary campus) acts as a nice, warm blanket. This dust blanket prevents the heat from escaping into the air where it can be evacuated from the case.
      You can help prevent this on your computers at home by periodically using the hose attachment on your vacuum cleaner to suck dust out of the fan grates and other openings in the case. It's also a good idea to remove the case and blow the dust out once a year. You don't need an air compressor to do this, and in fact using a shop compressor without the proper filters that we use here at the school can do more harm than good, but you can buy cans of compressed gas at pretty much any office supply store for a few dollars. It's a small investment that can save you a lot of frustration in the future.

      For the last few weeks I've been working with a new (to me, anyway) Linux distribution called PCLinuxOS, and I really like it. It was designed right here in Texas, and seems to be a good blend of performance, eye-candy, ease-of-use, and stability. Right now I'm working on a prototype system that we'll deploy in strategic locations this summer. If these systems work as well as I think they will, then we'll use something similar to them in the new High School building when it's constructed.

      We try to replace our primary systems every five years (more often, if possible) and this summer it's time for our teachers at the High School and Middle School. I'll be putting out Requests for Proposals this week and have set the bid opening date for June 27th. Currently the plan is to purchase 40 new workstations, which we hope to have installed around the middle of July. Here are the specifications I'll be requiring.

• Chassis – Ultra Small Form Factor with 220 Watt power supply (12” Max Length, 12” Max Width, 3.5” Max Height)
• Processor – Intel® Core 2 Duo 2 GHz 2 MB Cache
• Memory – 1GB DDR2
• Hard Drive – 80GB SATAII 7200RPM
• NIC – 10/100/1000 NIC
• Keyboard – 104+ key Logitech Keyboard
• Mouse – Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse
• Video – PCIe Graphics Accelerator with 128MB RAM and Dual DVI/Analog outputs
• Sound Card – 32 bit Creative Labs Sound Blaster or 100% compatible
• Optical Drive – DVD±RW Drive with burning software (Ahead Nero preferred)
• Ports – USB 2.0 (2 front, 4 rear), IEEE 1394, Headphone, Mic, RJ-45, VGA, DVI, Audio x 6
• Monitor – 17” LCD with integrated Speakers
• Operating System – Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2