Secure Email

I downloaded the Thunderbird application but all my mail is already being forwarding to microsoft outlook. So i sent all my mail through outlook :-) (below)

The following article discusses how a growing need for patient feed back through e-mail is growing. The article (or Blog) wants to know your feelings on this new doctor patient interaction and if you would use it or not, so that these new usage for secure email can take off or plummet to the ground. The patient - doctor confidentiality is a huge concern especially now with the ever so growing popularity of e-mailing. It is talking about how patients are communicating through secure email to their doctors. They can e-mail concerns and with in the business day the doctor can respond accordingly to that patient. Eliminating the face to face interaction. It opens a lot of doors through detailing medicines and prescribing prescriptions if a person does not have to go into the office it would be "spoiling" the client, but it would save huge minutes in a work day.Since secure e-mail is secure it would be a great revolution in the patient-doctor confidentiality and a revolution for time savers everywhere. It does however say to make sure of the prices when switching to an e-mail form of interaction as to be careful the it is more beneficial to you and not just your doctor.

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/healthmatters/2010/04/13/patient-feedback-needed-as-use-of-electronic-health-records-grows/

Week 14: Muddy

This week was really hard for me. I have to be honest I am still befuddled in what i read watched and took a quiz on. I understand that you should always back up your work but besides saving it to a flash, CD, etc., I really would not know where to begin. I do understand that this chapter was more pushed towards the business perspective, I am still not completely sure what it is I learned. It would be good for hospitals, banks and businesses that hold major security details on people to back up their data to another drive so that information would not be lost or damaged. But that is really all I got out of this week. I think that if i ever need more help on this situation i will definitely be hiring an IT person :-).

Week 13: Clear

Security risks are a very scary thing for computer users, especially those that work on confidential information for example, like the IRS (since tax day is approaching :-)). It is possible that all the information on your computer could be "hacked" by a hacker. The term hacker used to have a good meaning, now it is referred to as an unpleasant one. A hacker, or cracker, is a person that breaks into a computer. Some hackers now create virus's (programs that damage files mostly through email), worms (programs which duplicates itself multiple times making your computer run slower), and Trojan horses (which is non-replicating but acts like it is useful while letting unauthorized access to your computer). Security breaches happen most often through this hazardous viruses and cause huge risks for you and your computer. Not only could you loose all the data which your computer holds, but, it could also fall into the wrong hands and cause serious infractions for either a business or ones personal life.

It is strongly suggested that you use a anti-virus software on any computer you may use. not only if it is holding sensitive data but any kind of data that would be harmful if was linked, i.e., online banking information. You can purchases anti-virus software online or buy it in stores to bring home and upload to your computer. I use McAfee, http://us.mcafee.com/root/landingpages/affLandPage.asp?affid=0&lpname=19329b_perf, but there are a ton of different types out there. Also, I suggest backing up your data on a flash drive, CD, or whatever you prefer so that if your data is lost of destroyed you always have a copy readily available.

*The Picture is of "The Beast" a type of Windows-based backdoor Trojan horse

Week 12: Clear

This week information and systems development was pretty much what i was expecting it to be. It was all about systems. A system is a set of components that interact to achieve a common goal. In the book they gave examples of a highway and how we do not realize that we use system all the time. As some of us may realize the systems when using that portion of us may or may not realize that behind every system there is a business creating it and with that business holds a team and key individuals to organize, research and develop this system.
A business working on a project, i.g. a highway, needs a main system developer also known as a program manager, is the key person in the system development cycle. A system development project usually needs a project team which is developed by the company. A project team works on the project from beginning to end and is made up of at least one person from each different area. The team usually consist of users, systems analyst, and other IT people. For each system development project you need to create a team consisting of this people to complete the project efficiently.
The development cycle is split into five phases.
1. Planning
2. Analysis
3. Design
4. Implementation
5. Operation, Support, and Security
Each phases also consist of a series of activities that the developers go by. There are also three guidelines to follow during the phases.
All this put together creates our systems that we use daily, most of the time without realizing. It is pretty interesting, and if you are caught captive and wanting to know more check into the engineering department on campus.

Database Project

I learned A LOT about Access during this project. I literally did not know anything before starting this project, so it was really eye opening. I learned how to do all the reports, forms and queries and found that I like using this a lot better then using Excel. I learned how to group data, validate data and sort out what I do not need to view only what I would like to see. I found that these skills are going to be very helpful in my work life and can not wait to make people jealous with my skills.
I way i would enhance the functionality of the database would be to be able to edit feilds by clicking on them to rename. That way you could rename a feild while out of design view. You would have to create a locking mechanism so only the editor would be able to edit, but I found that I was editing a lot and sometimes it was a pain to keep switching view. Also in design view for the table you should have different options on feilds. They could be just basic options like gender, and then to specify have an option for Male/Female. Having basic options would save a lot of time in most cases and time=money. Just a thought.

Avatar Adventure

I created my avatar using the portrait illusration maker. I was quite fun actually! I kept playing around with all the different types of hair does and things. I got a kick out of the wrinkles and after much consideration decided to skip out on that part. It would not let me save the image to my desktop, but I was able to screen capture the image and upload via paint to my blog. It was pretty easy, now I have my friends creating them to!

Week 11: clear

This week was pretty smooth sailing. I have used acess at a previous work place, but this has really helped me understand it. In most cases it seems the a database would be much more pratical to use then excel. It is great to use if you have large inventory, and need to now when, how much and etc., when you need to re-order. You can create a table that lets you know exactly where you are on usage, for ordering information. A table is a set of important inforamtion, it is all the data that you are using depending on the data type you have to name it a unique name so that the database can recognize it. If you have a ton of different information you can use a query to help identify what exactly you are looking for throughout your tables. A query will find the exact data you are looking for (e.g. alll students named Alexia), you can change, sort or combine data from different tables as well. A lot of memebrship companys use this to delete memebers that have been inactive for a extended period of time. Microsoft is a great tool for those of us who are not computer programmers and need a visuably pleasing and not to advanced program.
Access is not the only database program out there, sunbase star, dBase, Alpha Five, and many others. You have to pick which is confortable for you. Access is helpful to me becuase there it is so widely used that you can always find help.

The photo above is of a query. It is pulling all the inventory from that certain month in that certain year. A database provides data integrity meaning the data is valid, accurate, complete, verifiable, and formatted correctly. A database should also avoid data redundancy and no duplication of data, and provide data security.