Tech Tips and Resources
This page is a resource for general tech tips and basic tech training. For further assistance please submit a ticket at https://helpdesk.pittsburg.k12.ca.us/ or contact the tech help desk at (925) 473-2468.
QUICK HELP GUIDES
QUICK HELP GUIDES
On-Site Technical Support
Remember you can reach us from any school phone at 2468. We strongly recommend all PUSD staff submit a ticket for all tech support needed.
Student Logon Issues
All technology staff will assist with most issues with logins for Clever, Google Classroom, or Aeries. If you are experiencing an issue, please call us between 7 am - 5 pm at (925) 473-2468 for immediate assistance.
Chromebook Support
For all scholars and staff using Chromebooks, we would like to provide you with some quick fixes for many problems you may experience. If you attempt these quick fixes before contacting us, we are confident that many of you will be able to provide your solution to the problem. If your attempt at a quick fix fails, it is strongly recommended you take your Chromebook to your school's librarian and acquire a replacement.
Home Network Security
There seems to be a significant disconnect between what the average home user knows about security and what people are expected to know at work. One of the significant threats often overlooked is the security gap when corporate employees are given VPN access and allowed to connect through their home network, which these days will almost always include wireless. Here are some recommendations for security on your home networks and computers.
- If you’re using wireless, use WPA or WPA2. In addition to that, make sure you pick AES as the encryption instead of TKIP. Your WPA2 passphrase should be more than 20 characters. Also, turn off DHCP and use static IP addresses. If you only have three or four computers connected to your wireless, you don’t need DHCP. Next, you’ll want to enable MAC Address filtering on your wireless access point. Only allow your devices’ MAC addresses. Read your vendor documentation for a step-by-step on how to do this part. Last, place your wireless access point as close to the center of your home as possible. Try to stay away from doors and windows. This might require running a cat five cable, but it’s worth it.
- Make sure you keep up to date with the latest security patches for your operating system AND other applications that might be running on your operating system.
- Ensure you have anti-virus software installed and keep the signatures up to date.
- When shopping online, be smart. For one, always verify that the URL you THINK you’re looking at is the URL you’re supposed to be at. Phishing attacks are rampant. For example, if you’re supposed to be on www.chasebank.com, you can’t just assume you’re there because the page looks like it’s Chase. Verify the URL!
- Don’t use REAL credit cards, and indeed not your bank card, to shop online. Use a prepaid Visa/Mastercard/American Express to do all your online shopping. You can pre-load these with as much money as you need to do your shopping. Also, they are, to say the least, very relaxed about verifying who you are when you purchase these cards, so you have a little flexibility in protecting your identity as well.
- When using Facebook, don’t accept friends you don’t know. Don’t EVER click on links that people post in their status updates. These could easily be links to malicious sites or data.
- Turn on the firewall. (Instructions for Windows. Instructions for Apple.)
- Turn on the firewall on your wireless router. Even the cheapest consumer wireless routers have at least some firewall capabilities now. Check your router vendor’s website for instructions and documentation on this. Another often overlooked thing here; check with your ISP to verify that the router they provide you DOES NOT have wireless turned on by default. Some well-known ISP's ship routers with built-in access points turned on and using wep. I’ve seen customers who didn’t even know it was turned on.
- Keep your firmware up to date on your router. This doesn’t mean installing the firmware as soon as it’s released. But give it about a week. During the first week, check the vendor forums and the web, in general, to see if there are any major user complaints about issues arising from the firmware being applied. When the coast is clear, then update yours.
- Give them a minimal user account if you have kids, and don’t share admin credentials with them.
My Chromebook wont power on, even when plugged in. What can I do?
My Chromebook wont power on, even when plugged in. What can I do?
My Chromebook wont power on, even when plugged in. What can I do?
Hold the Refresh button and tap the Power button (Chromebook should be plugged in to a charger). Release the Refresh button when the Chromebook starts up. Your Chromebook should now power on.
