April 2007
Grade Us on the Grade Program 
The Grade Entry program will have some modifications made before the end of the Spring Semester. For instance, you will no longer have to type in the slash marks in the date. If you have other changes that you feel would make this program easier during your stressful end-of-the-semester, please forward them via e-mail to the Helpdesk.
Payroll Stubs
Need to provide proof of employment for financial reasons? Access the SamWeb system, select Payroll, Pay Stubs. You can print your pay stubs for your specified pay date. The Payroll Office (Estill 228 or extension 41094) is ready to assist with any questions.
Mail Now and Save 
The U.S. Postal Service has received approval to increase postage rates. The first class postage rate will go to 41 cents onMay 14th. Periodical rates will increase substantially; that price hike has been postponed until July 15th. Beat the price increase with any large mail-outs beforehand.
Software
New mathematical and statistical software has just been installed campus-wide: HLM (Hierarchical Linear and Nonlinear Modeling)
LISREL (Structural Equation Modeling),
MPlus, and
STATA. We will begin testing Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional in one of the Newton Gresham labs, and if successful, we will install it throughout campus soon thereafter.
We need feedback regarding your use of FileMaker Pro; the upgrade price is over $3,000. Please let us know if FileMaker Pro is essential for your office use. We will use your responses to determine if it is needed, and if so, how many licenses must be purchased.
Who, What, Where, How, and Why?
We know the "when" is always ASAP. In order to help us ensure your purchases are made "as soon as possible," we need details for who needs the item, what the item is (naturally), where it will go, how you will pay for it, and why you need it. If there is ever a case, where you do not require it immediately, please let us know that too.
In many cases your college, VP's office, or the Office of Graduate Studies may be purchasing items for your department. For inventory purposes, the actual receiving department must be noted on the purchase order. If you are buying equipment that will be placed on inventory such as computers or printers, include the person, building and room number, and department inventory name. The Computer Services Payment Authorization Form has been modified to request the necessary info. We will send you the form for signatures when we have the quotes prepared. We are offering training this month to ensure you can help track and approve your technological purchases.
Blackboard
Another opportunity for change is the revamped Blackboard Wiki. (Bit of history: the first wiki site was created in 1995. So this new technology is really old!) Training will be offered on April 17th and 19th. Please take an hour to learn how to use this collaboration tool.
The upgrade to the newer version of Bb is now planned for Memorial Day Weekend. Due to the May mini-sessions, the window of opportunity is very limited. We do not have a definitive time estimate for the disruption of Bb during this time. Unfortunately, this creates a last-minute roll-out of Bb's version 7.0 only days before Summer I. At SHSU, it appears the availability of scheduling downtime is disappearing!
Training
A one-hour session is being offered especially for academic support staff. Many of you are tasked with purchasing the equipment needed for classrooms and your faculty. Please attend a hands-on session designed especially for your particular office needs. This class will be April 13, from 2-3 pm , in the Criminal Justice Building, room A111.
Organizing your records for the Document Imaging System will be a training option this month. This training is also April 13th; it will be from 10 a.m. till noon in AB1 213.
Please register so we can plan accordingly.
We have four used HP4050 printers available free of charge, first-come, first-served. Send us a note telling us why your department needs a printer. This month we are also giving away four cases of paper. Just tell us you would like a case and we will deliver the paper to your department. Thanks for reading the Update.
An Update Repeat From The Archives
- Don't space out! Have you noticed that filenames may default to the first line of the document when you're initially saving? That default option will take the initial line and save it as the file's name. That means a number of spaces are included. Virus scanners recognize a large number of spaces as a red warning flag. The "bad guys" frequently name a file and then deceive the recipients by having an *.exe at the end of all those spaces. Therefore, the University mail scanner will quarantine your attachment if it has too many spaces.
- Do not use periods in your filename. Since the naming convention adds a period with the file extension, make that the only period in the name. The University's mail scanners also quarantine attachments that have multiple periods in the name. Again, this is a safety measure to ensure a harmful file isn't being allowed through where it can damage your system, your Contacts' systems, or the University system.
- Faculty: If you're having papers submitted through e-mail, please inform your students of these name security safeguards.
Staff Changes
Assistant Director Robert Thompson (ucs_rat) will be leaving SHSU this month. He has accepted a position in Houston. Robert's contributions to Computer Services during the past ten years have been tremendous. We will definitely miss him and we wish him all the best.
What's Good, What's Not, and What's Happening When?
The Helpdesk provides support for university equipment and software on the local area network. Each month's update will include the versions of software and minimum requirements for hardware with the new or changed information highlighted and bolded.
Memory Sticks: Purchase (and encourage your students to buy) flash drives that are USB Mass Storage Compliant.
Operating Systems: The supported version of Macintosh machines is OS X, versions 2, 3, and 4. The supported version of Microsoft's operating system is Windows XP. Tentative plans are to move to Windows Vista Summer 2008.
Software Packages: The supported versions of office suites are Microsoft's Office 2003 and WordPerfect 12 for PC's. This fall Microsoft Office 2007 will replace Microsoft Office 2003. The supported version of an office suite for Macintoshes is Microsoft Office 2004.
Hardware Configurations: The minimum requirements for SHSU local area network support for a PC are a 1Ghz processor, 512Mb RAM, and a 40Gb disk. The minimum requirements for a Macintosh on the LAN are a 733 Mhz processor, 512Mb RAM, and a 40Gb disk.
Computer Services may schedule significant periods of downtime for major system upgrades and maintenance. For your planning purposes, the weekend following each graduation will be set aside for scheduled outages.
All offers, training, or software above pertain to faculty and staff at SHSU only. If you have any questions, kudos, comments, or concerns, please let us know.
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