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Although the University will be closed December 26-30, the Mail Services staff will come in so that you may receive mail. The post office will be open Tuesday December 27th and Thursday the 29th from approximately 9:00 a.m. till noon for package and mail pickups.

There will be some intermittent outages for the computer/telephone systems. Department heads: if you are scheduling any year-end projects during this week, please notify the Helpdesk so that we can communicate any last-minute announcements regarding downtimes.

Be sure to log off (not turn off) your computers before you leave for the holiday week.

Before You Buy (or Sell)

If you need a new printer, computer, or other technological accessories, please do a Work Order through the Helpdesk or online at SamWeb. Several departments have recently purchased printers that are not compatible with our SHSU local area network. We will be glad to work with you to try to meet your specific departmental needs. Think of Computer Services as your local Consumer Reports advisement center.

If you have obsolete computer equipment and would like to transfer it to Property for resale, delete any departmental information on the hard drive. Next, do a Computer Services Work Order. We will take the extra steps to ensure all data and programs are removed.

Going, Going, Gone

Supervisors: If an employee gives you notice that they are leaving, spend time evaluating what computer programs and files that they have that you will need after their departure. Ensure that files that are needed departmentally are stored on your departmental T: drive space. Discuss with them the programs that they have on Nell or Sam Menu, and how they are used, so that you can know specifically which programs must be provided for their replacement.

Staff/Faculty: If you plan on leaving, review your SHSU computer account and e-mail. Delete or save offline items which relate to you personally.

Converting from Nell to Sam Menu

The moves continue with GUI programs replacing Nell programs. There are two programs scheduled to be removed from Nell December 15th.

• APPR01M, Departmental Approval Maint
• APPR01R, Report of Approvals by CID#

Both programs have versions available on the Sam Menu under Student Records: APPR01MG, Departmental Approval Maint and APPR01RG, Students Approved for Course.

The T:/ Drive as it's Commonly Known

The May Update mentioned the T: Drive folder named "Common Area" would be renamed the "Unrestricted Area". Unfortunately, we forgot to do that!

So the new plan is to rename it at the end of the Fall Semester. This folder is a temporary storage space only, and files in it can be saved, read, edited, and deleted by anyone. This flexibility was designed to allow it to be a short-term spot to share files.

To improve security, all files in this Unrestricted space will be deleted each night at midnight. Any official business files that are now being stored there will be available either through the specific department's T: drive folder, or from the Intranet. For instance, the File Maker Pro forms will be downloadable from the Forms page.

As a thank-you for your reading the Update, you may request any of the following for your department's printing use: Canon NP 6000/7000/8000 Toner, 98A HP LaserJet Series 4 & 5 Toner, M4683G/A Apple LaserWriter 12/640 PS Toner, or Epson Black Cartridge T003 011.

Training

Individual one-on-one training is always available. If this next month allows you any free time as the students leave campus, please contact the Training office at 294.4357 to set up an appointment.

Blackboard: What a Day!

The faculty attendance and commitment to a day of learning on November 29th was phenomenal. The Blackboard staff had asked SHSU to commit to having twenty people attend. Thanks to all 52 of you that did attend!

The Bb team was extremely complimentary and admiring of the turnout, intellectual curiousity, and attentiveness of Sam Houston's faculty. Special thanks to Carol Ritter and Rebecca Schlosser of Ed Leadership and Counseling and Tom Chasteen of Chemistry for being guest speakers.

Congratulations to the following winners of memory sticks: Joe Muller of Agriculture, Victoria Titterington of CJ, Carol Nardone of English, Jennifer Roberts of Ed Leadership, Chi-Sing Li of Ed Leadership, and. And a drumroll please ..... Special congratulations to Gene Young of English: the grand prize winner of the San Diego trip for the Bb Conference in February.

What's Good, What's Not?

The Helpdesk provides support for university equipment and software on the local area network. Each month's Update will now 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. The supported version of Microsoft's Operating System is Windows XP.
• Software Packages: The supported versions of Office suites are Microsoft's Office 2003 and WordPerfect Office 2000 for PC's and Microsoft Office 2004 for Macintoshes.
• Hardware Configurations: The minimum requirement for SHSU Local Area Network support for a PC is a 1Ghz processor, with 512mb RAM, and a 40GB disk. The minimum requirement for a Macintosh on the LAN is a 733 mhz processor, with 512mb RAM, and a 40GB disk.

Approved for campus-wide e-mail distribution by Associate Vice President Jim Stevens