SHSU Information Resources Update

Cutting the Junk

Tired of being slammed by spam? We were too so we tightened the spam filters. The spam assassin filters are set based on a weighted count for specific things in an e-mail. This includes common profanity, exclamation points, uppercase letters (yelling), and other keywords. In the past, the filter labeled it as spam if it tallied a minimum of 5 and blocked it completely if the count was above 12.

Last week, we lowered the minimum for the spam label to be 4 and the minimum to block it as 10. This has significantly dropped the amount of junk mail getting through. We will continue to evaluate the labeling and blocking.

It's Macintosh Time!

The Leopard operating system is now available. If you would like to be one of the first testers of the system, you may do a SamWeb WO requesting it be installed. There are minimum standards for moving to the new system. Please check this node list to see if any of your department Macintoshes do not meet the specifications needed for the new OS. You can do a SamWeb WO purchase/quote request to add memory or to replace your machine.

Spring Breakers

Before you head out to the beaches and relaxation, you need to do some housekeeping. Physical Plant has announced a power outage for Saturday, March 8th, from 6 a.m. till 8 a.m., that will impact 13 campus locations.

Please shut down (power off) your computers and peripherals before you leave if you are in the following buildings:

Academic Building 1

Counselor Education Center

Dan Rather Communications Building

Lowman Student Center

Marks Administration Building

Music Building

Newton Gresham Library

Recital Hall

Sam Houston Parking Garage

Sam Houston Village

Smith-Hutson Building

Teacher Education Center

University Theater Center

Power outages can cause unexpected problems, as you are well aware. Therefore, when you return to work, allow extra time in your schedule to get logged in.

On Saturday, March 14th, the UCS-Systems department will be continuing the move of equipment from the Telcom center to AB1. Internet connectivity for the entire university will be down from approximately 8 a.m. till 4 p.m. on the 14th.

Classroom Clickers

Academic Instructional Technology's Techheads Group is recommending e-instruction Classroom Performance System classroom clickers. These are handheld devices that look like TV remote control units. Clickers are used in the classroom to facilitate discussion, take attendance, give exams, take polls, and the like. For example, a professor may insert a slide into PowerPoint that presents an instant pop-quiz during the lecture to see if an item needs to be revisited based on immediate answers from the students. Scores or results are logged within the software.

The receivers are the size of a USB flash drive and plug directly into any
computer and cost $250. Individual clickers cost about $22 per course or
between $40 and $50 for lifetime use. Instructors who decide to use this technology will need to take a few minutes at the beginning of the semester to link the clickers to the receiver.
For more information contact the Director for the department of Academic Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, James Van Roekel.

USPS Price Increase

First class mail will increase to 42 cents on May 12th. Postcards will be 27 cents.

Blackboard Upgrade Scheduled

The Bb experts are coming to campus to help rebuild Bb and provide the much-needed load balancing solution. They arrive March 10th, and Bb will be down during the week of spring break for the upgrade. Check out the Blackboard blog for all the details.

Training

Special training is being offered this month by Payroll.

Still struggling with the online Payroll Action Form? Help is available! The Payroll Office is now offering individual or group training tailored for beginners or as a refresher for those that handle department payroll items. Payroll Action Forms, time sheets, leave reports, leave without pay, and specialty leave items are just a few of the topics that can be presented. Call Wanda Bleekman (ext. 4-3248) to schedule a customized presentation.

Classes this month from Computer Services are PDF form creation, InDesign for documents and brochures, Contribute for editing web sites, and Blackboard test creation. Check the Calendar for class times and sign up now to reserve your seat. You may also request one-on-one training or training for your department. Just e-mail the Helpdesk.

While You're Out and About

Many of you will be traveling this month with conferences in full-swing and spring break. Be especially conscious of protecting your laptop and its information during this time. The Texas Department of Information Resources has posted a number of security reminders just for laptop users.

People

Anne Robbins is joining the UCS-Systems department as a system administrator. Anne is a graduate from SHSU's College of Business and we are delighted that she is returning and bringing several years of corporate experience.

Adam Miller has joined Systems. Adam is completing his B.S. in Computing Science/Math here at SHSU.

Rick Gattis is switching from the maintenance team in Client Support to a system administrator position in Systems.

Khris Coffey will be a new member of the UCS-Client Support department. Khris is also an SHSU graduate with a BS in Computing Science. He will be working with the Operations/Helpdesk section.

We are still interviewing for a number of new positions. Please recommend and refer applicants to the HR site to apply.

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 will be OS X, version 5 after the Leopard conversion. That conversion will begin this month. The supported version of Microsoft's operating system is Windows XP. We are still evaluating the timeline for the move from XP to Windows Vista.

Software Packages: The supported versions of office suites are Microsoft's Office 2007 and WordPerfect 12 for PC's. The new version of an office suite for Macintoshes is Microsoft Office 2008 and is currently being packaged for installation on campus machines.

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.