All posts by Josh Reynolds

How-To Guides

2021-2022 Staff Computers

It’s official, we have entered the 2021 – 2022 school year. On your newly imaged computer, you will find some new features and possibly some missing ones. This year, all staff members will have admin rights on their machine and can install software and customize their computer to their liking. In addition to this change, the district will be utilizing Software Center (Windows) and Self Service (Mac). 

We’ve added the district’s most popular software titles to these portals so that they are easily accessible to everyone. In addition to that, via the software center and Self Service, we will be able to remotely push out updates, scripts, and fixes to common issues. You can also find information on how to get in touch with the Help Desk or an IDS team member.  Please take a few moments to check out the guides below to get started on your new computer! 

Continue reading 2021-2022 Staff Computers →
News

Dell Education Store

This year for the device refresh, we purchased over 21,500 Dell branded computers and accessories. This partnership with Dell included some additional benefits beyond just the equipment we purchased. One such benefit is a District Dell Education Store where staff, students, and parents can purchase equipment from Dell at a discounted price. If you are looking for a new computer over the next few years, it might be worth checking out!

Announcements

Jan 17th Help Desk Hours

January 17th, 2020 the Help Desk will be closing at 1:00 PM but will remain reachable by chat and email until 3:00 PM.

Announcements

Help Desk Live Chat

Starting at 11:00 AM today, the Help Desk can be reached by phone at x4357, by email at helpdesk@iowacityschools.org, or by live chat.

In order to start a live chat access the ticketing system or the Tech and Innovation Blog and in the bottom right corner click on “Chat with Us”.

Once you fill our the contact infromation and hit “start a live chat” you will enter the Help Desk queue and we will be with you as quickly as possible.

Announcements, News

EMAIL SPOOFING ON THE RISE

Good Afternoon,

I’m sure by now you are all familiar with and have experienced email phishing, but today I’m reaching out to discuss another very popular tactic called email spoofing.

Email spoofing is a type of forgery that makes the email look like it’s from a boss or colleague in need. They will often send a short, vague and sometimes desperate email in attempt to get you to reply to the message. Recently, school districts (including ours) have been hit hard with these attempts. Just in the last week we’ve seen five building administrator’s accounts spoofed.

You can generally tell that these are fake emails by looking at the email address the message is being sent from.  For example, the account doe.john@iowacityschools.org would be someone from the district and should be safe to reply to. However, an email from johndoe12@gmail.com, principaljohndoe@yahoo.com, or even doe.john.iowacityschools.org@gmail.com are fake and potentially malicious. These are only examples and this is not an exhaustive list.

Here are few email best practices put together by the Help Desk.

  • Do not send confidential or sensitive information via email.
  • Do not send money or gift cards via email.
  • Always verify the sender’s address.
  • Keep an eye out for a yellow or red warning across the top of an email.


As always, if you have questions or suspect a spoofed email, contact the Help Desk.


Thanks,

Josh Reynolds
Client Services Manager