February 2021 Technology Newsletter
By: Michael Kealy
Classlink: Password Resets and One Stop For Software Access and Login
Classlink gives students and staff the ability to reset their BCSD computer password from any web connected device.
To access software and set up password recovery go to:
https://launchpad.classlink.com/beaconk12
Login using your current BCSD username and password.
You will be prompted to set up your password recovery options, you must setup 2 of the 3 options.
- Security Questions
- Email (Not your BCSD email)
- Mobile Phone number
Once password recovery is setup and is complete users will be able to click the Help, I forgot my password link from the login page. They will then be taken to a page to reset their password.
Within Classlink students and teachers will see a menu of software that the district has made available to them. For many of these programs users will just need to click the program to sign in without having to remember individual username and passwords. This will hopefully prevent anxiety and lead to the use of more instructional time.
Employees Reset Your Password By: 3/5/21
To access software and set up password recovery go to:
When Prompted Setup Password Recovery, or click on the silhouette in the upper right hand corner, and select settings
Click on the recovery tab, and select reset password. Follow the prompts.
Check Out The 20 Most Common Passwords Found On The Dark Web By Clicking The Article Below
Update Chrome OS To Version 88.0.4324.150 or Higher
Earlier this month we learned of a Vulnerability in Google Chrome that Could Allow for Arbitrary Code Execution.
OVERVIEW:
A vulnerability has been discovered in Google Chrome, which could allow for arbitrary code execution. Google Chrome is a web browser used to access the Internet. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the browser. Depending on the privileges associated with the application, an attacker could view, change, or delete data. If this application has been configured to have fewer user rights on the system, exploitation of the vulnerability could have less impact than if it was configured with administrative rights.
THREAT INTELLIGENCE:
There are currently reports of this vulnerability being exploited in the wild.
SYSTEMS AFFECTED:
- Google Chrome versions prior to 88.0.4324.150
While our systems should automatically update your Chromebook and web browser to the latest version it is always good to check and make sure you are up to date especially if you computer has been turned off for a prolonged period of time.
Manually check and install Chrome Updates by following the directions below.
- Click the bottom right corner of the Chrome OS desktop.
- Select the Settings icon.
- Click About Chrome.
- Click Check for updates.
- To apply the update, click the arrow icon and select Restart to Update.
* Some older Chromebook models may not be able to update to version 88.
Mute all Google Meet participants at once
What’s changing
Meeting hosts in Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals and Education Plus domains can now mute everyone all at once in Google Meet.
Who’s impacted
End users
Why you’d use it
This change gives the host more control by helping them prevent or stop disruptions coming from unmuted users.
Additional details
The meeting host is the only user in a meeting who can use the “mute all” feature. Once all participants are muted, the meeting host cannot unmute them. However, users will be able to unmute themselves as needed.
The mute all feature will only be available for hosts who are joining from a desktop browser, but will be launching on other platforms in the coming months.
End a Google Meet video call for everyone at once
What’s changing When a Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals or Education Plus host leaves their meeting, they can now choose to keep others on the call or to end the call instead, ejecting everyone else. We’ll launch this feature to additional Google Workspace editions in the coming months. Who’s impacted End users Why you’d use it In some cases, a host may not want people to continue a meeting without them present. For example, teachers may want to prevent students from having unsupervised meetings. Additional details When a host is done with a meeting and wants to leave, they now have two options:
Google recommends that, after ending a meeting, if a host wants to meet with a new group of people, that they create a new meeting. This can help prevent previous participants from joining.
More options for sharing your availability in Google Calendar
What’s changing Google is adding two new options in Calendar, which will help you better communicate your work availability to your colleagues. Specifically, you can:
At the moment, working hour segments will only be available on the web and repeating out of office entries on the web and Android devices. See below for more information on these features, including rollout details.
Who's impacted
End users
Why it’s important
As many people have experienced changes to their working environments in the past year, their work schedules have also changed—and are now often mixed with personal commitments and other obligations. We hope that with the addition of repeating out of office entries and segmentable working hours, you can better organize your time and communicate availability to your colleagues.
You can use segmentable working hours to indicate when certain blocks of time are outside of your working hours. Working hours are visible on your calendar when someone schedules a meeting with you.
In addition to using repeating out of office entries for vacation time, you can use them to indicate time when you need to handle personal commitments—like childcare, exercise, and more. They can also be used to better communicate part-time availability or certain days when you're consistently unavailable.
Additional details
Repeating out of office entries and declining meeting behavior
If you create a repeating out of office entry and select “Automatically decline meetings,” a decline meeting notification will be sent to the organizers of any meetings scheduled during your repeating OOO. If the declined meeting is a recurring meeting, those organizers may get multiple notifications—these emails are bundled for Gmail users, but not always for users of other email services.
Improvements for locating new comments and important conversations in Google Docs
Quick launch summary
New comment activity since the last time you viewed a document will be “badged” with a blue dot. Additionally, when you hover over the blue dot, you’ll see a “New” banner.
A blue dot emphasizes the new comment activity since the last time you viewed the document.
In the Comments history dialog, we added new filtering options. You can sort comments by: “For you”, “All comments”, or “Resolved”.
Select “For You” in the comment history dialog to view the comment threads and action items involving you.
Google Rebranding and Changes
Michael Kealy
Beacon City School District
Email: kealy.m@beaconk12.org
Website: https://www.beaconk12.org/domain/24
Location: 101 Matteawan Road, Beacon, NY, USA
Phone: 845-838-6900
Twitter: @techkealy