SHSU Information Resources Update

Let's Go Surfing

New Home Page for Sam: Thank you for your comments on the web site designs. We are still reviewing your ideas in hopes of incorporating aspects of each that you like and discarding the things you don't.

Since the campus will be coping with new versions of Blackboard and Microsoft Office with the start of a new fiscal year and academic year, we have decided to postpone the new web site for a couple of months. Enough change!

Can't Get No Satisfaction?

Are you frustrated because your PC response time is slow? Consider these points.

On-campus PCs: Run the SHSU Check Computer Utility to see if it meets the current standards. That option is on the Start, All Programs, SHSU Utilities. Do this with your classroom machines to ensure they are up to snuff too. If the machine does not meet the basic standards, do a SamWeb Work Order to get the workstation replaced or upgraded.
On-campus PCs: Take into account whether you've ever logged in on that machine before. The machine has to process and store your entire profile if it's the first time and that will lengthen the process.
On-campus PCs: Review your profile and clean it up. It will slow you down considerably if your profile has ballooned.
Off-campus PCs: You may be experiencing a denial-of-service attack or have spyware on your machine. Refer to Understanding Denial-of-Service Attacks and Recognizing and Avoiding Spyware for more information.
We appreciate your reading the Update. This month you can enter a drawing for one of five surge protectors. You will have until Thursday, August 2nd at 5 pm to enter by this e-mail link.

It's a New Day; It's a New Office

On August 10th, Microsoft Office 2007 will replace Office 2003. This month's training calendar has classes on Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook to help familiarize you with the new look. A PDF class is also offered. Register now.

Gonna Take Some Time

This fall will bring some pain as compatibility for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access files will take extra effort.

Macintosh users will have to wait a bit longer for the new Office. The Microsoft Office 2008 for Macintoshes is still in beta testing.

The University Center is not installing Office 2007 at this time. So faculty, save your on-campus documents in the format compatible with 2003 so that you can open them while down at TUC. Also, please work closely with your students. If they are also taking classes on-campus here in Huntsville, they will need to take advantage of the Save as Word 97-2003 option.

Blackboard of My Heart

Wow! There's been a terrific faculty response to the August 13th Bb Day. All 100 spots for the lunch session and the complimentary flash drives are now taken. If you haven't signed up, there is still space in the remaining sessions. Be sure to register for each session online.

All throughout Blackboard day, support staff will be available in the CJ computer lab (A111) to help you create your courses in Blackboard.

If you already had travel plans for the 13th, we are offering repeats. A number of the sessions will be offered the final week of August.

So Long, Farewell
This month we say auf wiedersehen to two of our systems administrators: Will Bending and Steven Frey. We are grateful for the years that they've been at Sam. Their creativity and dedication were remarkable; we will miss them.

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 replace XP with Windows Vista Summer 2008.

Software Packages: The supported versions of office suites are Microsoft's Office 2003 and WordPerfect 12 for PC's. As of August 10th, 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. With next summer's Vista roll-out, the minimum configuration will be a 2GHz processor, 1GB memory, and 80GB hard drive. 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. Additionally, certain systems may be unavailable on Friday nights after 6 p.m.

All offers, training, and software above pertain to faculty and staff at SHSU only. If you have any questions, compliments, comments, or concerns, please let us know.