Millions of kids in the US are returning to the classroom in-person, full-time, part-time, or as needed. Are you prepared?
Managing the business devices with school-issued devices, and mix with personal smartphones, iPads, and laptops.
Keep the nline available for family members steadily connected throughout the day for work, schooling, and entertainments.
Secure the home computing to prevent accidents.
Whether working from home or attending school at home, it becomes our responsibility to provide a productive place and protect our information and systems.
ITensure understands this need. We help remote workers and learners with proactive device protection and security that keeps businesses and schools safe in-person or remote.
Below are a few of our top tech tips to prepare for the 2021 BACK-TO-SCHOOL BELENDED season.
1. Protection Starts at home.
Many school-age children are learning how to navigate new devices for the new school year; let’s keep the school-issued devices in good working condition in its cases, with screen guards and keyboard covers.
Strong passwords are a must, whether a device is kept at home all week or transported to and from school every day.
That goes for Wi-Fi networks as well. Secure high-speed wireless connections and Internet hotspots are keys to make school and office work smoother, but make sure they’re password-protected to prevent security vulnerabilities.
2. Be wary of unsolicited requests for information or too-good-to-be-true offers.
No matter it is adults, kids, at home, at school, or work. Phishing attempts and scam emails continue to increase while we learn the new platforms and navigate unfamiliar business and education systems.
Bad actors may try to impersonate school contacts to glean important user information. At the same time, spam messages and malicious ads promoting back-to-school technology deals and virtual education services could entice users to click on illicit links.
3. Take extra precautions with unfamiliar emails.
Remind everyone in your household to be wary of email messages that look suspicious or don’t seem normal.
Regardless of how compelling the message may be. never open ANY attachment or click on ANY link if the sender is not recognized and if you weren’t expecting the email and attachment.
And even if you do recognize the sender, be careful with links to Google Docs or other shareable files.
Hover over all links and look for legitimate web addresses, not a string of random characters or unrecognized addresses.
4. Know and coordinate everyone’s schedule.
Popular programs like Microsoft 365 and its built-in email, calendar, and contact management in Microsoft Outlook can keep the work, home, and school schedules in sync with little planning and training.
You can synchronize the calendars of everyone in the family, sharing everything from contacts to updated to-do lists while checking email anytime, anywhere, on any device.
That means everyone knows their online appointment, videoconference, or virtual classes.
5. Back up important data with a trusted cloud service.
With more people than ever working and learning from personal devices, school-issued laptops, and even smartphones, accidental data loss is inevitable—even if it’s in the cloud.
That’s why reliable data backup is crucial for day-to-day success.
Solutions will vary for personal and business needs, but when you work with a trusted IT provider like ITensure, you get a personalized, professionally managed data protection kit that meets your needs.
Maybe that means automatic processes that perform regular data backups without disrupting your workday. Perhaps it’s extra layers of cloud-based accessibility to separate school and business data. Whatever your home or office requires, please don’t wait until it’s too late to secure your information.
6. Talk to your kids about parental controls, screen time limits, and other online activities.
We think the most important tip is to communicate with your kids, either an eager teen or a hesitant tot.
That means understanding device permissions, screen time allowances, and web-surfing protocols. Most school-issued machines will have built-in parental controls and limits on non-educational activity. But make sure you and your student both understand how that extends to non-school hours, personal Internet use on personal devices, and the healthy boundaries around screen time that can help kids of all ages at all times.
Well-known Internet browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Internet Explorer offer security options and content filters.
Of course, it is not to say that you can consider allowing extra screen time for the use of parent-approved, kid-friendly browsers, apps, and social media networks.
7. Secure the entire home network.
Unmanaged computers and mobile devices can harbor dangerous malware that can jump onto other computers on your home network, including your remote work machine.
Schools have limited resources for such IT protection, and most cannot afford the security layers needed to keep malware off devices.
We suggest you separate your home network for the work-at-home machine from home and school use computers, home smart devices, and entertainment.
Contact your IT professional and ask about segmenting your home network.
These back-to-school tech tips focus on remote work at home, online learning, and hybrid schedules that mix in-person and virtual interactions.
Do you need help navigating new devices and new networks?
Are you unsure where to start with data protection that fits educational and business needs?
Don’t have school-age kids but still need assistance with remote work protocols?
Contact ITensure today. We can harness evolving tech solutions to boost productivity, enhance efficiency and keep everyone safe online.
Susie Chow – ITensure
Call/Text: (714) 633-9454
