Three Tips to Keep Your PC Safe

These are good reminders that you can’t just plug a new PC in and expect it to work as advertised. Before you go online to download updates, music, online programs (like Printkey, Jing, or other programs I can’t live without), install the alarm systems:

Keeping That New PC Clean and Pure

By RIVA RICHMOND

Published: September 2, 2009

School starts soon, and many people are getting spanking-new computers. Ah, the joy of a new and more powerful toy — and a clean slate.

Illustration by Randall Enos

A new PC, whether you know it or not, may well have freed you from many malicious programs that steal credit card numbers and other valuable information or otherwise obstruct your safe and private use of the Internet. Now is the time — while you’re getting everything set up just the way you like it — to take some steps to keep your new machine clean and free of malware. Here is what you need to do before you do anything else.

CHECK YOUR FIREWALL SETTINGS

Do this before you even connect your computer to the Internet. Firewalls prevent certain unwanted traffic from reaching your computer, including worms that spread through network connections. New laptops and desktops with Windows Vista (and, come Oct. 22, the next version of the operating system, Windows 7) and netbooks using Windows XP SP2 or higher have a firewall that is built in and turned on by default. You can make sure all is well by going to the Windows Security Center, clicking Start, then Control Panel, then Security Center and Windows Firewall.

Mac users can check and adjust their firewall settings by clicking on the Apple icon and going to System Preferences and clicking on Security and then Firewall. At a minimum, choose “allow only essential services.” A better option is to select “set access for specific services and applications” and play gatekeeper, allowing programs to connect as you need them, said Rich Mogull, founder of the security consultant firm Securosis.

UPDATE YOUR SOFTWARE

Even though you have a new machine, chances are that security fixes have been issued since the manufacturer loaded the software, so you will want to download those as soon as you get online.

Your new PC may prompt you to check for updates from Microsoft, but, if not, open Windows Update by clicking the Start button, then All Programs and then Windows Update. On the left pane, click “check for updates.” (For more information about Windows Security, see microsoft.com/protect.)

To help you keep Microsoft products up to date, Windows will prompt owners of new machines to sign up for automatic updates. You will see a screen asking if you want to “Help protect Windows automatically.” Choose the first option, “Use recommended settings,” so you get everything and don’t have to worry about it again.

Barring an urgent problem, updates come out on the second Tuesday of the month. To schedule exactly what time your updates are installed — say at 3 a.m., when you are asleep — open Windows Update and select Change Settings and make your choices. This is also a good time to turn on the Internet Explorer Phishing Filter, which can help keep you from turning over personal information to the wrong people.

For Mac users, your computer will automatically check for updates once a week. If you are a paranoid person, have it check more frequently by clicking Software Update in the System Preferences panel and then choose Daily.

ADD SECURITY SOFTWARE

Firewalls won’t help fend off viruses or Trojan horses that can come through e-mail messages, Web sites and pop-up ads. Given the frightening number of malicious programs that aim for Windows PCs, owners of these machines really need to use some security software. There are several free antivirus programs, like AVG 8.5 Free, Avast Antivirus and the forthcoming Microsoft Security Essentials, so even penniless students have no excuse to go without. Note that Vista comes with Windows Defender, which blocks spyware and pop-up ads, and that program can be downloaded free by Windows XP SP2 machines.

Since a lot of malicious programs now come through Web sites, you will also want to use one of the many free tools available to help you avoid malicious sites. Microsoft’s newest browser, Internet Explorer 8, will warn you if you try to visit sites it deems unsafe, deceptive or carriers of a common Web attack type called “cross-site scripting” attacks. Other browsers, including Chrome, Firefox and Safari, also warn users about potentially unsafe sites, using a blacklist kept by Google. There is also McAfee’s SiteAdvisor, a free add-on for the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers (the latter works on both Windows and Mac), that shows site reputation information within search results pages, including warnings about potentially dangerous sites.

There are few malicious programs that aim for Macs, so an antivirus program isn’t essential at this point. That said, some Mac experts think that the days of peace and security for Macs may be waning. There have a been a few Trojan horses recently, and some Web attacks don’t care which operating system you use. If you frequent file-sharing sites, or your employer requires it, buy a Mac antivirus program.

SORT OUT THE APPLICATIONS

New Windows PCs typically come loaded with all kinds of third-party programs, many of which you will never use.

“In a lot of cases, that’s extra software that might have vulnerabilities” that hackers could exploit, says Chad Dougherty, a vulnerability analyst at the CERT Program at the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute.

To avoid problems, eliminate the programs you don’t need by clicking the Start button and choosing Control Panel and then Programs to see a list of what is on your machine. Select unwanted programs and then hit the Uninstall button at the top of the program list.

Then sign up for automatic updates from the makers of any software you intend to keep — or that you later install yourself, for that matter. To help you make sure you have checked out everything, download Secunia PSI, a free tool that will help you make sure that all the programs on your PC get security patches.

Speaking of that, always be careful about which software you install from the Internet, whether you have a PC or a Mac. These programs can contain vulnerabilities, and pirated programs and random add-ons may be outright malicious.

How Obama Is Changing Education

I wanted to discuss the results of NCLB, now that we’re leaving it behind and moving on to what Obama calls ‘Race to the Top’. I started with a Google search for stories, data, apocryphal results. By the time I read the heading and the first few sentences, I could tell if it would be pro or con. Whatever stories were available or data out there, it would end up proving the author’s purpose in their article. See if you agree:

Words like:

abysmal, ‘the realities left behind’, crucial, –these are all hyperbolic words, emotional statements, intended to insight feelings in lieu of necessary data

Words like:

released the data’, ‘accountability system’, ‘we have a lot more work to do’, –these are denotative words (not intended to draw on emotion), fact-based, good-with-the-bad approach

The following two stories draw dramatically different conclusions from President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. See which word grouping you think they belong to:

How Communities, Parents and Students Assess the Impact of the NCLB Act 2004 – 07: The Realities Left Behind

• NCLB has been imposed on a public school system that remains unequal. From one end of the country to another, witnesses described inequities in resources that made the federal mandates not only onerous but also exceedingly unfair. Moreover, the failure of policymakers to increase the capacity of state education agencies and districts to carry out reforms has allowed them to avoid responsibility and accountability. While these inequities stem from state and district policymaking, the federal government can leverage incentives or Title I formulas to encourage the reduction of disparities in resources between districts and schools.
• NCLB rests on a faulty measurement capacity. The quality and reliability of tests need improvement. In addition, the public wants a broader purpose for assessment systems. Beyond the acquisition of basic skills, assessment systems should measure student and school achievement in other areas, including fostering of citizenship, preparation in “soft skills” valued by employers and colleges alike, and the development of all talents, from technical to artistic. Admittedly, some of these aspects are not easily measured, but that should not be an excuse for ignoring them or minimizing their importance to student success.

More schools earning As, state report cards show

By Lori Higgins
Free Press Education Writer

Fewer schools are failing to meet state and federal academic goals, more are earning As, and more are pulling themselves out of trouble. That’s the story behind the release today of state report cards for every public school in Michigan.

• The number of schools that met the academic goals rose from 3,003 last year to 3,147 this year.
• The number of schools receiving As on their state report cards rose from 1,526 to 1,680.
• More than 35 schools that have been consistent failures managed to show enough improvement in the last two years that they are safe from sanctions. Sixteen of those schools are located in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.
• The number of schools that fail to meet the standards because of the performance of minority, economically disadvantaged, special education and limited English speaking students is on the decline.
• Of the 524 schools statewide that didn’t meet the academic goals, about 100 are located in Detroit Public Schools and another 142 are in the tri-county area.

It’s a tale of two debate techniques, one inductive and one deductive. Read the data and draw your conclusions or read the accept the reviewer’s early-stated conclusion and see how they arrived at their end point. If you’re pro NCLB, you’d say those against didn’t look at the data. If you’re against NCLB, you’d say the reporting agencies ‘taught to the test’–twisted the data to fit your needs.

How do we know if the program worked or not? It comes down to us, as citizens soldiers of the American political system, just trying to give our kids a better life than we had. We believe education will do that. Most of us like our schools, but think the rest of them suck.

New administration. New ideas. Here comes Obama’s Race to the Top:

California Actions on ‘Race to Top’ Scrutinized

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs an order in Sacramento last month calling for a special session of the legislature to consider a basket of education improvement proposals.
— Rich Pedroncelli/AP

By Alyson Klein

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to call a special session to better position California for Race to the Top funds may be the highest-profile test yet of whether proposed federal requirements for the coveted grants are likely to significantly reshape state policy.

The Republican governor last month directed the Democratic-controlled California legislature to consider enacting a package of education redesign measures—including scrapping a law blocking the state from linking student and teacher data—in hopes of improving the state’s competitive posture.

Under draft criteria for the Race to the Top Fund, released July 23, states that have such a data “firewall” on the books would be automatically disqualified from getting a portion of the $4.35 billion fund, which was created under the American…

Did Your Computer Freeze? Read This

Enjoy these, from Fun Day: Computer Humor.

13 Cool Win 7 Tricks

Win 7 isn’t out until October unless you have an on-the-ball tech director like my school. This means, I have to train my students in the changes pretty quick. Because I teach K-5 technology, I try to keep information to what will make sense to that age group and present it as they might run across it in daily use.

Putting aside the geeky-stuff that IT sort are excited about, I’ve distilled my tips into 13 tricks that will excite K-8 students:

Watch ‘getting started’ videos

Just like with XP, there’s a ‘Getting Started’ section, but this is a series of videos on a bunch of topics. Depending upon the age, have them watch some, all or those of their choice.

Taskbar

• The Quick Start is gone, but most students didn’t use it much, so that’s not a big deal. What is a big deal is the ease with which students can now pin a program to the task bar or the start menu (with a right click). This is great for when desktop icons disappear (students think it’s funny to hide or disappear them from their fellow users). Now, they’ll be able to quickly replace them. Since many adults don’t know how to add a task to the start button, this will be a chance to wow their parents, too
• Tasks open are now small squares, grouped according to programs. Multiples tasks under the same program show as shadows behind the original. The older the student, the more programs they operate at once. This will be a change they’ll learn to love.

Aside from these changes in appearance, there are new shortkeys that your kids or students will quickly fall in love with. I don’t know if it’s because knowledge is power or they inherently hate wasting time, but they’re always proud of every keyboard shortcut they can teach a friend. Here are a few that will be hits with them:

In Windows, in any program

To maximize a window, double click title bar

For a quick Exit, use  Alt+F4 (this isn’t new, but still works and still thrills students)

Windows key +tab

If you’re in a program and want to zoom in/out, use WK and + or –

To show the desktop, use  WK+M

To merely peek at your desktop, use WK+spacebar

To walk through the taskbar, use WK+Tab (arrived with Vista, but if you skipped Vista like I did, it’s new to you). Alt+tab still works, but not as much fun

To open multiples of the same program, click mouse scroll on the taskbar program you want to duplicate

To minimize all but one open window, shake the window you want maximized (called the aero-shake)

To open the task Manager, use Ctrl+Shift+Escape

To arrange desktop icons, push F5 from the desktop

 

*          vulcan nerve pinch–Keyboard commands that tax the hand’s ability to reach all of the appropriate keys.­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Follow me

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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and author of two technology training books for middle school. She wrote Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education. Currently, she’s working on a techno-thriller that should be ready this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office, WordDreams, or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

#112: 10 Ways Twitter Makes You a Better Writer

I wrote a post on how Blogs and Wikis make students better writers–teachers too for that matter–and wanted to follow it up with how tweeting improves writing. Then I found Jennifer’s summary. It pretty well covers what I’d say:

• You learn to be concise
• You learn to be focused
• You have time to check for grammar and spelling

But, the more I thought about it, the more reasons I came up with–well beyond my original three:

1. Writing short messages helps you perfect the art of “headlining”
2. Just 140 characters per message builds discipline. You can’t ramble
3. Your message is seen by tweeple that expect brief, bright, pithy, pointed tweets
4. You quickly learn that PhD words are  great for Scrabble but horrible for Twitter and its reading world
5. It often only takes a few words to make our point
6. Tweets need to be written knowing that tweeple can @reply
7. Your messages may be part of a larger theme via #hashtags

If you’re in a hurry and want a quick version, here’s the concise, pithy version by Jennifer:

How Twitter Makes You A Better Writer

By now you’ve most likely joined Twitter (and if you haven’t, you need to, pronto!). Twitter is not only a great place for businesses and marketers, but it’s also a great place to spruce up your writing skills.

Yes. You read that correctly.

Twitter can make you a better writer. Here’s how.

Twitter forces you to be concise

If you’ve ever used Twitter, you know that you have 140 characters to say whatever you want to say. Now keep in mind, I didn’t say 140 words—or even 140 letters—I said 140 characters.

That’s not a lot of room. Letters, numbers, symbols, punctuation and spaces all count as characters on Twitter.

What all of this means is, you have to be concise. You have to know exactly what you want to say, and say it in as few words as possible.

Many writers, however, are “wordy” and often have long, drawn out descriptions and sentences, so it can be pretty difficult to create a message that’s only 140 characters.

Here’s where Twitter comes in again.

Twitter forces you to exercise your vocabulary

Since you only have 140 characters to get your message across, you’re forced to dust off your dictionary and thesaurus and find new words to use—Words that are shorter, words that are more descriptive, and words that get the job done in 140 characters or less.

Crafting a message for Twitter requires you to “pump up” your verbs (replacing adverbs and adjectives with them), and discover a better, clearer and more concise way to say what you want to say.

Now most people won’t hit 140 characters right away. No, they’ll end up with 160 or 148 characters to start out with (Twitter tells you how many characters you need to remove to make your message fit).

This is the final way that Twitter makes you a better writer.

Twitter forces you to improve your editing skills

Every writer needs to be able to edit their work. And by using Twitter, you can really hone your editing skills and make them top-notch.

It’s almost like playing a game; trying to write a 140-character message and still get your point across in a way that inspires your followers to take action, to click on your link or to “retweet” your post.

I like to think of it as a brainteaser, forcing me to think hard and dig deep down into my vocabulary to find a way to shorten my message.

I’ve been using Twitter since January, and my writing skills have not only improved, but I’ve been writing better copy as well.

Yet another reason you should be using Twitter. Not that you needed one.

–from 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom. Preview available on Amazon.com and Scribd.com

Is Handwriting Like Camera Film–So Last Generation

Studies show one in three children struggle with handwriting. I’d guess more, seeing it first hand as a teacher. Sound bad? Consider another study shows that one in five parents say they last penned a letter more than a year ago.

Let’s look at the facts. Students handwrite badly, and don’t use it much when they grow up (think about yourself. How often do you write a long hand letter?). Really, why is handwriting important in this day of keyboards, PDAs, smart phones, spellcheck, word processing? I start students on MS Word in second grade, about the same time their teacher is beginning cursive. Teach kids the rudiments and turn them over to the tech teacher for keyboarding.

I searched for reasons why I was wrong. Here’s what I found:

• 1 in 10 Americans are endangered by the poor handwriting of physicians.
• citizens miss out on $95,000,000 in tax refunds because the taxman can’t read their handwriting
• Poor handwriting costs businesses $200,000,000 in time and money that result in confused and inefficient employees, phone calls made to wrong numbers, and letters delivered to incorrect addresses.

Read on:

Schools: Less cursive, more keyboarding

BROWNSBURG, Ind., Aug. 28 (UPI) —

Officials in an Indiana school district said cursive writing lessons will be scaled down this year in favor of computer keyboarding.

How to Stop Hating Your Computer

Photo credit: Public Domain Pictures

Believe it or not, most computer problems are simple. I can say that because I’ve run a computer lab for almost ten years. I’ve seen just about every problem there is and have learned this: If you believe your life with computers is a constant state of civil unrest, you’d be right.

 

Hardware

The computer/monitor/keyboard/mouse doesn’t work	Is the power cord plugged in?Is the keyboard/mouse/monitor plugged into the CPU? Is the computer/monitor power button on?
The sound doesn’t work	Are the speakers plugged in—correctly—to the CPU?If you have headphones, are they plugged in—correctly—to the CPU (match the colors) Is the volume up? Is there any sound playing?
Monitor went black	Is it still plugged in? Is it seated correctly (wiggle and push—make sure it’s really plugged in)

Windows (Before you start a program)

I can’t find my MS Office program	Did you look on the desktop? The Start button? Under ‘All Programs’?Right click on the desktop; select ‘new’. Pick the MS Office app you need Push the Start Button and Search for any file ending in .doc or docx (depending upon which version of Word you own). Your search should read: *.doc or *.docx. When it finds a data file (a document created in MS Word), open it. That will open Word
The Start button is gone	Push the Flying Windows key
The Taskbar is gone	Hover over the bottom of the screen. Did it reappear?Is it on the side of the screen? Push the Flying Windows (85% of taskbar tasks are to open a new program)
The Taskbar was moved	Drag and drop it back to where you like it
The Desktop icons are all messed up	Right click on the desktop. Select ‘arrange’ and how you want them sorted
The screen says ‘Ctrl-Alt-Del”	Hold down Ctrl+Alt with your left hand, and push ‘delete’ with your right

From Within a Program

I can’t find the file	Search for it (see instructions above)Open the Recycle Bin. Is it in there?
I need today’s date	Hover over the clock in the lower right corner. It’ll show the dateStart typing the date (you probably know the month) and Word usually fills it in for you Shift+Alt+D is the keyboard shortcut for date
I erased my document/text/paragraph	Ctrl+Z will undo one step at a time for up to 200 steps
A toolbar is missing	Right-click in the toolbar area. Select the toolbar you need. The most commonly used ones are ‘Format’ and ‘Standard’. If you’re missing some icons, they’re probably on one of those two
Some of the icons are missing from the toolbar	See above
The program disappeared	Is it on the taskbar? Click to re-activate
The program froze	There’s probably a dialogue box open somewhere. Look around the screen. When you find it, it’ll want you to answer a questionYou might have gotten out of it. Re-select it on the taskbar
A menu command I need is grayed out and won’t work	You’re probably in the middle of something you don’t even know about. Push ‘Esc’ (for ‘escape’) four times and try again
I can’t exit a program	Alt+F4 closes most programs.Ctrl+Alt+Delete and then select the Task Manager. From there, pick the ‘applications’ tab and close your program.
The double-click doesn’t work	Click and then push enter.
My shift key won’t capitalize	Is your Caps Lock on?

From the Internet

The top toolbar disappeared

Push F11

What You Need to Know about Kidproofing the Internet

Keeping your child safe online is a constant question from my parents. They ask about firewall, filters, kidsafe desktops. The only solution, truly, is to pay attention to what’s going on. Here’s some guidance from my friend, Coolcatteacher. She says it better than I could:

Steps to monitoring for parents to consider:

1. Use a filter with some sort of parental control. You know the password and decide what types of activities you will allow them to do.I filter all pornography. After all, what little boy can resist typing “sex” into the Google box. Otherwise, I’m pretty lenient on my filtration. I currently block myspace and such but when they are ready, we will unblock it together and set up the profile together. My children are young for that right now but when they are ready, I want them to ask me so I know that they are using it.
2. Discuss with your child what they can and cannot do online.(more on kidproofing the internet)

The 25 Best High-Tech Pranks (16-25)

Ten more high-tech pranks to play on your fellow teachers who refuse to add technology to their class lesson plans. Show them how its done!

The 25 Best High-Tech Pranks

by JR Raphael

16. Bluetooth Blues

“The Office” popularized our next prank, and man, is it ever a winner. Grab your co-worker’s cell phone when they leave it sitting around and pair your Bluetooth headset up to it. Now you can take and make all their calls. Jim Halpert, you are one wise dude.

17. Customized Commotion

Know anyone with the kind of cell phone that displays a customizable message on the main screen? This next one’s for them. When you can, go into their phone’s settings and change the message to “NO SERVICE.” Guaranteed reaction upon their return.

18. Remote Control

Back to the computer for some more advanced antics. This one may be more suited for a close friend or significant other, as you’ll have to install something, and you could probably get fired for doing it at work. Set up a VNC (virtual network computing) server on their system. You can find free ones like TightVNC for Windows or OSXvnc for Macs. Once you get through the configuration, you can click, type, and do anything on their system from your own computer. Do some subtle things like occasional keypresses or program launches and see how perplexed they become. We don’t recommend keeping this up for long, though, or you may suffer serious consequences with their anger (and you may also witness some disturbing pornographic habits as an unintended side effect).

19. The Modern-Day Poltergeist

The less invasive alternative to that idea is a program called Office Poltergeist, and it’s now available as a simple Firefox extension. Once you get this baby installed, you can play annoying sounds, load new web pages, shake windows around, and send popup messages on someone else’s computer. It even has a feature to replace every instance of a word on a web page with another word of your choosing. We suggest swapping “internet” for “intercourse.”

20. Printing Power

If you’re network-savvy, jot this next one down. Do a little investigative work and figure out where your office’s network printer folder is located. Once you have that nugget of info, you’re golden. Navigate over to that path, select any printer, and click connect. You now have the power to print and send random paper messages to other areas of your office with no explanation.

21. Screen Scream

Our next prank comes courtesy of Microsoft, surprisingly enough. The programmers there released an office “Blue Screen of Death” simulator. Install the screensaver on an unsuspecting IT guy’s PC and see the feared symbol of system error pop up after a few minutes of inactivity.

22. Bad Vision

On the subject of screens, the Windows Control Panel provides our next opportunity for mischief. Go into the advanced settings and try shifting the brightness all the way down and the contrast all the way up if you really want to mess with a visionary’s vision.

23. Crazy Keys

Want to drive your friend crazy with his own keyboard? Visit the Regional and Language Settings under the Windows Control Panel for some fun. An arguably insane guy named August Dvorak created an alternate keyboard layout that — big surprise — never took off. But you can still access it and make normal typing impossible. Just go under the Languages tab, click Details, then Add, and you’ll find the option to completely remap the keyboard.

24. Rules of Pranking

Outlook Rules, as a general rule, can make for great pranks. Try setting up one on your co-worker’s computer so that any email from you causes a festive sound to be played, a hard copy to be printed, and a copy to be instantly forwarded back to them for extra emphasis. There are plenty more variations you can try once that combo gets old.

25. Hotkey Hell

Our final prank may be the most tortuous of all. A little program called AutoHotKey — quite the handy utility for legitimate purposes — lets you assign all sorts of macros to key combinations of your choosing. You don’t even have to install anything on anyone else’s computer, as you create the scripts on your own system and can then convert them to executable files that you simply run on another machine. With some very basic scripting, you can cause any string of text to be automatically replaced with something else, regardless of what program the person is in. You can also remap basic hotkeys like Ctrl-P to do anything you want — like open Outlook and send a message to you letting you know how awesome you are. Spend some time with this one and you’ll find enough pranks to keep your hijinks on high output.

So there you have it: the 25 best high-tech pranks. Use them well and use them wisely — and don’t come to us if anyone inflicts physical harm upon you as a result.

Click for pranks 1-15

How to Protect Your Computer–for Free

Great list from my fellow-blogger, WhatsonmyPC.

FREE Online Virus and Malware Scanners

Listed are FREE online virus and malware scanners that can be used to compliment the scanner(s) already installed on your PC.  Some only scan individual files that you upload to the scanner; while others are full blown scanners that will scan your entire computer.  Keep in mind these are not substitutes for the virus or malware scanner on your PC that have the ability to perform real-time detection.  My favorite on the list is Trend Micro’s Housecall.

Microsoft Professional Software Free to Students

Microsoft has a great program for student techies. It’s called Dreamspark. It offers 12 different professional-level Microsoft developer, designer, and gaming software to students for FREE.It’s aimed at high school and college, but any students qualify.

Microsoft wants to focus on the areas of technical design, technology, math, science, and engineering, but it really doesn’t matter what classes you’re taking right now, just as long as you’re a current student in a verified, accredited school and use the tools in pursuit of advancing your education in one of these areas. Though the site concentrates on the twelve shown, they offer even more on Microsoft‘s main site:

• SQL Server 2008 Express Edition
• Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition
• XNA Game Studio 2.0 (with 12-month Creators Club Student trial membership)
• Virtual PC 2007
• Visual Basic 2005 Express
• Visual C++ 2005 Express
• Visual C# 2005 Express
• Visual Web Developer 2008 Express
• Visual Basic 2008 Express
• Visual C++2008 Express
• Visual C# 2008 Express

I’ve always been impressed with Adobe’s educational discounts, but Free is better, although this list is for serious students of IT.

For more information, check out the Dreamspark website and this article from James at Technology for the Masses.

Microsoft Dreamspark: Students can jumpstart their learning with free software.