{"id":18321,"date":"2012-01-16T16:23:46","date_gmt":"2012-01-16T06:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/power-up.space\/?p=18321"},"modified":"2012-01-16T16:23:46","modified_gmt":"2012-01-16T06:23:46","slug":"back-to-school-presents-an-ideal-opportunity-for-preparing-the-family%e2%80%99s-online-devices-for-the-new-academic-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/?p=18321","title":{"rendered":"Back to School Presents an Ideal Opportunity for Preparing the Family\u2019s Online Devices for the New Academic Year."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Tips from AVG (AU\/NZ) to protect home computers, school laptops and mobile devices<\/strong><strong>. <\/strong><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>MELBOURNE, 16 January 2012<\/strong> \u2014 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.avg.com.au\/\">AVG (AU\/NZ) Pty Ltd<\/a>, the distributor of the award-winning AVG Internet and mobile security software in Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, knows that lists for \u2018back to school\u2019 have expanded beyond new shoes and exercise books. It now covers preparation of home computers, school laptops and mobile devices for the upcoming academic year. <\/p>\n<p>Michael McKinnon, Security Advisor at AVG (AU\/NZ), said: \u201cBack to School presents an ideal opportunity to engage with your children about their online activities and to look at updating systems, software versions and the passwords on every device used by every family member.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.avg.com\/\">AVG Technologies<\/a>\u2019 recent instalment of its <a href=\"http:\/\/www.avg.com.au\/news\/11_year_olds_have_adult_technology_skills_but_not_the_maturity_for_safe_internet_use\/\">Digital Diaries<\/a> revealed that only two-thirds of Australian and New Zealand parents know their kids\u2019 passwords. McKinnon said: \u201cWhile there is a fine line between what your children see as caring and snooping, it is vital that ground rules are established to ensure parents can take the necessary responsibility over their children\u2019s online practices &#8211; for the safety of the whole family and essential communications equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AVG (AU\/NZ) offers these tips for preparing your computers and devices for Back to School:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cleaning up the home computer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During the holidays the home PC will have had a good workout by the kids, and probably their friends. It\u2019s time to clean it up and remove anything that may be slowing it down.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Do a full <\/strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.avg.com.au\/products\/avg-internet-security\/\">anti-virus<\/a><\/strong><strong> scan<\/strong> with AVG\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.avg.com.au\/products\/avg-internet-security\/\">Internet Security 2012<\/a> to see if any nasties have been introduced to the household. Check that all computers are configured correctly to automatically perform at least one full scan every week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Update, update, update.<\/strong> Most malicious software is designed to take advantage of poorly maintained computers. Mitigate your risks by keeping your applications and your Operating System up to date at all times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Optimise your PC<\/strong> to peak performance with a product such as AVG\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.avg.com.au\/products\/avg-pctuneup\/\">PC Tuneup<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Protecting mobile devices<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mobile devices<\/strong> &#8211; iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets are easily lost or stolen. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.avg.com.au\/products\/avg-for-smartphones\/\">Mobile security<\/a> solutions such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.avg.com.au\/products\/avg-for-smartphones\/\">AVG\u2019s Mobilation<\/a> allow devices to be remotely wiped and even tracked using GPS location technology. Devices should also be secured with a PIN so they can\u2019t be used without permission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>USB memory sticks<\/strong> are highly convenient for students to transport files but if lost or stolen, private data and assignments may end up in the wrong hands. Investing in a memory stick that allows you to put a lock\/PIN or encrypt data to restrict access is worthwhile. Put all your sticks through regular anti-virus scans. Keep backups of all files to avoid getting caught by stick corruption. And, attach memory sticks to brightly coloured, individual lanyards, along with your kid\u2019s name and school, so they are not so easy to misplace or forget.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Labelling or marking equipment<\/strong>. Many parents take great pride in labelling school clothing, lunchboxes and bags but often forget to label technical gadgets. Doing this can make returning misplaced items easier and avoid confusion when classmates arrive with identical looking devices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Community awareness<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Community awareness<\/strong> is vital. If you see something that isn&#8217;t right, discuss it, bring awareness to it, and this way you will raise the online safety standards of your community as a whole.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Make yourself aware<\/strong> of the IT security and codes of practice used at your children\u2019s schools and reinforce them at home.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Unfortunately, <strong>cyber bullying<\/strong> is a growing threat to the positives of online social networking. With new classmates and new relationships developing from the start of the school year, you and your children should be aware of the recommended tactics to combat any nasty behaviour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Reputations can last a life time<\/strong> in cyberspace. With the combination of school antics and social media, a great narrative can form online that may not be well received by future employers, so students need to be made aware of the long lasting effects that may arise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For the series of informative security tips, how-to and fact sheets see:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.avg.com.au\/resources\/security-tips\/\">www.avg.com.au\/resources\/security-tips\/<\/a>. For video tips from AVG (AU\/NZ), see: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/avgaunz\">www.youtube.com\/user\/avgaunz<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Keep in touch with AVG (AU\/NZ)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For breaking news, follow AVG (AU\/NZ) on Twitter at <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/avgaunz\">twitter.com\/avgaunz<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Join our Facebook community at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/avgaunz\">www.facebook.com\/avgaunz<\/a><\/li>\n<li>For security trends, analysis, follow the AVG (AU\/NZ) blog at <a href=\"http:\/\/resources.avg.com.au\/\">resources.avg.com.au<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tips from AVG (AU\/NZ) to protect home computers, school laptops and mobile devices. MELBOURNE, 16 January 2012 \u2014 AVG (AU\/NZ) Pty Ltd, the distributor of the award-winning AVG Internet and mobile security software in Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, knows that lists for \u2018back to school\u2019 have expanded beyond new shoes and exercise books.<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/?p=18321\">Read More\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18321"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18326,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18321\/revisions\/18326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.impulsegamer.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}