Watch What You Eat
Eating in front of your computer is about as common these days as eating in front of the television. Unlike the television, crumbs can easily get into unwanted places, particularly your keyboard. If you decide to eat at your desk, make sure to not take bites and chew over your keyboard particularly if you’re eating something that makes a lot of crumbs.

Spills are even more devastating and most often end up on your keyboard. If you spill something on your keyboard turn your computer off right away and then turn the keyboard upside down. Shake the upside down keyboard gently over something that you don’t mind if it gets wet. Keeping the keyboard upside down, clean off what you can with a dry cloth. Then leave your keyboard unused and upside down overnight to dry.

More Keyboard Tips
For cleaning crumbs out of your keyboard you can use a can of compressed air or a vacuum attachment. Spray the compressed air between the keys to dislodge crumbs, dirt, and other particles. If you use a vacuum make sure that your keys do not pop off easily as they could get sucked up!

If your keyboard is used by multiple people it’s a good idea to disinfect it occasionally. Spray disinfectant on a cloth or dampen a cloth with rubbing alcohol and then gently rub the keys. Always unplug your keyboard before cleaning it.

Keep Your Monitor Shiny
When cleaning your monitor, make sure you never spray it directly with water or any cleaning solution. Usually a dry cloth will do the job. Use a microfiber or any lint free cloth. Special cloths designed for cleaning electronics are available.

If your monitor is particularly dirty, you can use water or rubbing alcohol. Just make sure you dampen the cloth first and then wipe the monitor down instead of applying the liquid directly to the monitor. You do not need to drench the cloth; a tiny bit of moisture will do.

A Clean Mouse is a Happy Mouse
Mice can get gunk built up on the bottom which causes them to run less smoothly. The best thing you can do to clean them off is first unplug the mouse from the computer. Then dampen a lint free cloth with rubbing alcohol and wipe the gunk off the bottom of the mouse. If you use a mouse pad, you can wipe it down as well.

Today most people use optical mice that light up on the bottom. If you have a mechanical mouse with a ball inside, here is an excellent video on how to clean it.

Cleaning the Inside
The internal components of your PC can easily get dusty. Cleaning out the dust helps your computer to run more quickly and quietly.

Important: Make sure your computer is turned off and unplugged before you clean it! You do not want to disrupt any of the components while they are in use.

Once the computer is powered down you will need to open up the case. Different brands and models of PC open in different ways. If you feel uncomfortable opening your computer or are unsure of how to do so, ask your systems administrator to take care of this for you.

Use compressed air to spray the dust out of your computer. You do not have to touch any of the internal components. Unlike a keyboard, using a vacuum to clean the inside of your computer is not a good idea as it could generate static electricity and damage your computer. You might want to wear a mask if the inside is particularly dirty to keep from inhaling the dust.

The outside of your computer can be cleaned as well. Simply wipe it down with a damp cloth.

Keeping your computer clean is easy. It not only keeps your computer running more efficiently but it can also keep you healthier. It looks much nicer, too!

(source for portions of this blog: http://www.computerhope.com/cleaning.htm)

If you currently do not have password protection enabled on your blackberry it’s very easy to do.

• Instructions for a blackberry Tour or blackberry Curve 2
• Instructions for an 8830 World Edition blackberry or a blackberry Curve
• More password options

Instructions for a blackberry Tour or blackberry Curve 2

1. Go to the options on your blackberry. This icon usually looks like a wrench.

2. Scroll down and select Password.

3. Click the menu button on your blackberry and select Set Password.

4. You will be prompted to choose a password. We suggest making passwords that are at least four characters long. You can use numbers, letters, and symbols in your password.

NOTE: When creating a password, you automatically use the letters on the blackberry keyboard. If you want the password to be numbers, you must hold down the “alt” key when you type the numbers you want. If you hold down the capital key, the letters will be capitalized, and passwords are case sensitive! It may seem like it doesn’t make a difference, but it will make a huge difference when you sync your blackberry with your computer!

5. Enter the password you just created a second time.

6. Hit the menu button and click save when you’re finished.

Instructions for an 8830 World Edition blackberry or a blackberry Curve

1. Go to the options on your blackberry. This icon usually looks like three controls in green, red, and blue, as shown below. Sometimes it looks like a wrench.

2. Scroll down and select Security Options.

3. Select General Settings.

4. At the top you should see the word Password followed by the word Disabled. Click where it says Disabled and change the option to Enabled. Click the menu button and select save.

5. You will be prompted to choose a password. We suggest making passwords that are at least four characters long. You can use numbers, letters, and symbols in your password.

NOTE: When creating a password, you automatically use the letters on the blackberry keyboard. If you want the password to be numbers, you must hold down the “alt” key when you type the numbers you want. If you hold down the capital key, the letters will be capitalized, and passwords are case sensitive! It may seem like it doesn’t make a difference, but it will make a huge difference when you sync your blackberry with your computer!

6. Enter the password you just created a second time.

7. Hit the menu button and click save when you’re finished.

More Password Options

You can change your password options in the password tab on the blackberry Tour and blackberry Curve 2 and in the general settings tab on the 8830 World Edition blackberry and the blackberry Curve:

Number of Password Attempts: This selects how many incorrect attempts you are allowed before the blackberry wipes itself. We suggest allowing for 10 attempts. It’s easy to make typos on the blackberry’s small keyboard.

Security Timeout: This is how long you can go without using your blackberry before it prompts for your password again. Keep it at 10 minutes at most.

Prompt on Application Install: Selecting “yes” will tell your blackberry to ask for your password anytime you try to install a new app.

Lock Handheld Upon Holstering: This will turn on password protection as soon as you put your blackberry in its holster regardless of how long it has been since you used it.

Allow Outgoing Calls While Locked: If you have phone service enabled on your blackberry this setting determines if you can make calls when the blackberry is locked. Keep this set to No. You do not want someone else using up all your minutes or calling your contacts!

Be sure and hit the menu button and click save when you’re finished.

Having a password on your blackberry may seem annoying at first, but having someone with malicious intentions accessing your information is much worse. You will get used to putting your password in soon enough. Your fingers wont even have to think about it!

Despite the protection that has been deployed, one potential vulnerability found is when staff introduce infected USB keys or external hard drives and iPods to the network.  If they do not have necessary protections on their home computers and they are infected, there is a chance the virus can be transferred to a removable hard drive and that hard drive could infect a work computer when it is plugged in.  We strongly encourage staff to be careful on their home computers, especially if there is a data thread that can link the home computer with a work computer by way of a removable storage device.  Please recommend your staff install the patch below on their home computers if the are Windows-based and to be careful with what they put on removable data drives.  I recommend that a removable drive only be plugged in when it is needed, to save or transfer a file from the computer to the device; then remove it immediately.  This won’t completely protect you, but it could minimize exposure.

Ideally, staff should consider not using removable drives with computers that are not on their work network or have not been configured to comply with their organization’s security, wherein we have a controlled environment. The exception is if they have assurances that the non-work computer is completely protected with bellwether antivirus, antispyware and firewall products.  At this time, even work laptops should be considered a risk unless they are on the organization’s network often enough to update remotely.  If you have any laptops at staff homes, may I suggest you ask them to bring them in so we can make sure they are up-to-date?

Patch for home computers: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx