Lesson 01 - Extreme Temperatures and Electronics.

Best advice I can give is: do not leave your computer electronics in a vehicle.

Firstly: Batteries

Batteries in electronic devices today are primarily composed of Lithium.
Lithium is an alkali metal and as such it is highly reactive and even flammable.

Therefore, I would like to take this time to remind everyone about proper battery care in these cold times,
granted extremes in the other direction are equally as bad if not worse…

Our lithium-ion batteries rely on a chemical reaction to create their current and therefore as the temperature decreases so does the ability of the reaction. 

It is best not to let your electronics sit out in the cold for any length of time, especially if avoidable.

BUT, if you do happen to leave it out, for whatever reason.

DO NOT bring it straight into a warm environment, without taking proper precautions. 

If your device containing a battery gets too cold, upon bringing it into a warmer location seal it in a plastic bag and allow it to naturally return to room temperature before removing it. Condensation is your enemy. By putting it in plastic, we are allowing any humidity in the room to condense on the outside of the bag and not on the cold delicate electronics of your device.
It is helpful to note here as well, you can use this technique to protect other valuable equiptment as well, such as cameras, lenses, or binoculars. 
Any Item that could be ruined by water, I suggest implimenting this technique in your daily life to prevent unnessisary headaches.

And perhaps most importantly of all.

DO NOT plug a cold electronic device in. You will ruin your battery. 

Remember, we talked about the slowing down of the chemical reactions due to temperature.
This compounds when you try to push current into the battery and it is incapable of storing it. technically: 'lithium plating'. here is an excerpt:

"When charging at above-freezing temperatures, the lithium ions inside the battery are soaked up as in a sponge by the porous graphite that makes up the anode, the negative terminal of the battery. Below freezing, however, the lithium ions aren’t efficiently captured by the anode. Instead, many lithium ions coat the surface of the anode, a process called lithium plating, which means there’s less lithium available to cause the flow of electricity and the battery’s capacity drops. Charging below 0°C at an inappropriate charge rate, also causes the battery to become less mechanically stable and more prone to sudden failure."  - relionbattery.com

Second: LCD screens

LCD's or liquid crystal displays, need care and should avoid the cold weather:

“Cold weather can still cause problems. Most laptop computers have LCD screens. LCD stands for liquid crystal display. When temperatures dip below 32-degrees Fahrenheit, liquid freezes which can cause permanent damage to your LCD screen. That’s the number one reason to make sure you never leave your computer in a cold car or even on a cold floor overnight.” - giveitgetit.org

TLDR: 

Do not let your electronics get cold/hot. If you do, get them properly adjusted by using a plastic bag to prevent condensation and give them time to come up to room temperature (it can take several hours).

Above all:

• Do not charge a cold/hot battery.

• Do not power on your device while if it is cold, this can accelerate condensation.

• Do not Leave your Computer in your car, it will ruin it.
  
  

More Info on batteries and extreme temperatures. 

Even more information than that

Lesson 2 - Malware/Virus Avoidance.

Follow these simple steps to avoid a serious headache.

In today's lesson we will be learning about a recent incident that occurred. It is a prime example of Typosquatting, or URL Hijacking.

What happens is this:

Student goes to navigate to a legitimate website, in this case it is turnitin.com and types the address in so fast they forget the second 'i' (turnitn.com <hard to catch typo!). And now we have our problem in its full glory. Our unsuspecting student is whisked away to an illegitimate site.

We have taken steps to mitigate this on our network, but students could run into it at home or elsewhere. 

Ways to avoid[Malware/Viruses/Trojans]:

1. Use only trusted sources for Software. 

• Do not acquire software from: filehippo, softonic, cnet, etc…

• Use Trusted sources. aka  VLC Media Player is published by VideoLan, and The Java Runtime Enviroment is published by Oracle. 

Even with trusted sites like Adobe you need to be careful of piggyback applications and adware. 

• Find legitimate open source alternatives to popular software: alternativeto.net  (GIMP2 = a photoshop replacement)

• If you have any questions about software please ask

2. Turn on file extensions and know what they are. 

(e.g. .exe .msi .pdf .xps .doc .docx . odt )

3. Avoid someone from physically having access to your PC. Best practice: always lock your PC whenever you leave your desk. A simple easy way to prevent unwanted access to your files, email, etc. press: Win+L (for lock)

More info: typosquatting malware

-add info for extension changing (.pdf.exe)
-wepage redirect (bad links)
-microsoft will never ask you to call them.

-w/e else you can think of...

Lesson 3 - Passwords and Basic Security

The word of the day is: operation security (OPSEC) - failure.
That being said. You do not want to commit and ‘operation security fail’.

Examples thereof:

•  Leaving one's pc logged in unattended.

• Disabling password protection or using a blank password.

• Writing down one's password and leaving it in an easily accessed location.

(e.g.  a sticky note on your monitor.) 

Utilizing google's ability to remember your passwords is a fabulously convenient.
But leaving your PC logged in so anyone can access your active logins… is a huge liability…

There are a few simple things you can do to bump up your security while impacting your day to day life very little:

1). Always utilize a secure password.

2). Use ‘WIN+L’ to lock your computer whenever you step away, for any amount of time.

Passwords:

Most importantly, create passwords you can remember.
And oddly enough passwords with capitals and special characters are not the most secure. 

Length creates a more secure password, capital letters and special characters only help.

One of my favorite tricks is to pick a memorable quote or exerpt and use that as jumping off point.

e.g: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.
Becomes: iafydstta

And you can strengthen that up by changing a few characters
e.g: I@fydstt@ 

Swap out the a’s for @’s and capitalize the first letter or maybe just randomly capitalize the t’s because it is the only other letter that doubles up.

e.g: i@fydsTT@ 

At first glance it seems gibberish, but if you know the key, its simple and even easily remembered. :D

Another fun way to change up a password, is to use 1337 (Leet) an internet alphabet where you change the letters out for numbers and similar characters.

e.g: kingsland 

becomes: k!ngsl@nd

If you have trouble swapping your own here is a leet converter.
I find 30% leet to be a good place to start. Anything more and it’s hard to type because of all the special characters.

Here is an article on the matter if you wish to go more in depth on creating strong passwords.
And also a basic password generator if you prefer to memorize one and not come up with your own.

Another excellent tool to use in these modern times is a password manager. 

There are quite a few to choose from, I personally utilize: Bitwarden
As it is free, open source, and cross-platform compatible (meaning it works on multiple operating systems. e.g: Windows, Mac, and Linux).

The advantages are simple, in that you only really need to remember one password; the one that you use for your password manager, and as long as that one is secure and memorable. You’ll be able to access all of your other passwords when you need them. Safely and securely.