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Bits & PCs Archives |
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News Items for 2008 April Update your voice mail for vacation If you are going on vacation, you may want to record an extended absence voice mail to let callers know that you are out of the office. To record the greeting: 1. Dial “1-9595” (on campus) or “215-204-9595” (off campus) to enter the voice mail system. To remove the extended absence greeting, follow the first three steps. You will then hear a message reminding you that you have an active extended absence greeting. Press “2” to delete the message and restore your standard message. Let TUmail reply to your e-mail while you’re away When you go on vacation, consider adding an automatic e-mail reply. An automatic e-mail reply, sometimes known as vacation message, is a short message that notifies anyone who sends you e-mail that you are not available to reply. In the message, for example, you can list the dates you will be away and, if you wish, name a backup contact person. To create an automatic reply message in TUmail: 1. Click “Options” on the left of the TUmail window and select “Automatic Reply.” Now, when e-mail is sent to your account, the sender will automatically receive your reply. If you want, you can check that this option is working by sending yourself a test message. You will see that the test message will arrive in your Inbox as well as your automatic reply. Note that if a sender sends multiple messages to your account during a seven-day period, he or she will receive only one automatic reply. To stop the automatic reply option, follow the first two steps and then click “Stop.” TECH Center open 24 hours a day for final exams To accommodate students finishing end-of-semester projects and studying for exams, the TECH Center will be open 24 hours a day, including Saturday and Sunday, starting on Sunday, April 27, at 11:00 a.m. and continuing through Wednesday, May 14, at 9:30 p.m. Starting May 15, intersession hours will take effect. For more information about the TECH Center, go to the TECH Center web site. Microsoft software available for home Through the Microsoft Campus Agreement's Work-At-Home Software Distribution Program, eligible Temple University faculty and staff can install one copy of selected Microsoft software at no charge on a personally-owned computer, for work-related purposes only. The program pertains to the following software products:
Students and employees who work in departments where a computer is not necessary to perform their regular job duties are ineligible to participate in this program. In addition, employees who leave the University must cease using the software and remove it from their home PC. The software is distributed by Computer Business Services, University Services Building, 1601 N. Broad St, Room 402, every Tuesday and Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., excluding holidays. You must come in person, with your Temple ID and one completed copy of the Work at Home license agreement. To print out the agreement and get more details, please visit Computer Business Services Microsoft Work-At-Home Software Distribution Program web page at www.temple.edu/cs/business/sslp/msworkathome.htm. Students can purchase “clickers” online TurningPoint is a classroom performance system that enables instructors to obtain immediate feedback from their students. By using a response pad, also referred to as a "clicker," students can answer questions, respond to surveys, take opinion polls, and much more. Instructors can also use this technology to take attendance. Tip: Quickly capture and crop a screen shot If you are creating a Word or PowerPoint 2007 document and you need to quickly include a screen shot, follow these instructions: ITUG to feature a preview of Blackboard 8 On Thursday, April 17, the Instructional Technologies Users Group (ITUG) will present “Preview of Blackboard 8.” Blackboard 8 includes a redesigned Grade Book, called the Grade Center, that provides the ability to edit grades in a spreadsheet, filter grades by section number, and generate reports. Additional enhancements to Blackboard will also be discussed, such as SafeAssign, a new plagiarism detection feature, and Blackboard Scholar. Faculty and staff are invited to attend the ITUG presentation in the TECH Center, room 111, from noon to 1:00 p.m. For more information, visit the ITUG web site. For additional information or to receive notifications of upcoming ITUG events, contact Johanna Inman at: jinman@temple.edu When you first get a new PC, it boots up instantly and pops up screens almost immediately. As you use your computer, however, certain characteristics inherent to the Windows operating system cause your system to slow down. Fortunately, you can help reverse the process by tuning up your PC. The hard drive on your computer stores the operating system, programs, and documents as well as a number of temporary files used by Windows, web browsers, and other applications. Some of these temporary files are deleted, some are kept for future use, and some unnecessary files remain on your computer. To improve system performance, you should periodically delete temporary files from the hard drive. In addition, you should also run the Disk Defragmenter. The Disk Defragmenter utility rearranges files which have become scattered on your hard drive and makes them contiguous again. To delete temporary files:
To run the Disk Defragmenter:
If you need assistance with this process, contact the Help Desk at 215-204-8000 or help@temple.edu. On Friday, April 4, Michael Wolk, senior systems engineer at Apple, will be at the TECH Center to demonstrate iPhoto. iPhoto automatically organizes your photo library and makes editing as easy as clicking your mouse, so you can get the most out of even the biggest collection. Using iPhoto, you can create and share albums via e-mail or create web pages, cards, and calendars. The event will take place in the TECH Center, room 109, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and is open to students, faculty, and staff. Take advantage of the “Ultimate Steal” Through a new Microsoft promotion called the “Ultimate Steal,” Temple students can now purchase a copy of Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 for only $59.95. Included in the Microsoft Office Ultimate software suite are the following programs: Word 2007, Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager, Access 2007, Publisher 2007, OneNote 2007, Accounting Express 2007, Groove 2007, and Infopath 2007. The “Ultimate Steal” ends on April 30, 2008. To learn more about this exciting promotion and to purchase the software, please visit www.theultimatesteal.com. Note that the $59 price is for a downloaded version of the software only; a DVD option is available at time of purchase for an additional fee. There is also a limit of one purchase per eligible student. TUportal offers tools for employees TUportal offers employees a single sign-on gateway to multiple administrative applications and systems. By clicking on the Staff Tools tab, employees can access and complete interactive forms online, view current leave balances, and view organizational hierarchy information. In addition, there are direct links to Official University Class Lists, Employee Self Service, Effort Reporting, Org Chart, Performance Development System, SIMS, Time Collection, and Workflow. To access TUportal, go to tuportal.temple.edu. Increase your TUmail viewing space You can easily increase the number of messages displayed on the TUmail screen. The default option is 20 messages, but you can increase the number to a maximum of 500 messages. To change the number of messages that appear on each page of your message list, click on the Preferences option on the left of the TUmail window. In the Message Count box, enter the number of messages and then click on OK. March Be aware of Temple's file-sharing policy It is important for students, faculty, and staff to remain in compliance with Temple's peer-to-peer file-sharing policy. The policy states that it is strictly prohibited to use "Temple University's computer network to illegally download or share copyrighted materials, including music, games, and videos." The peer-to-peer file-sharing policy is available online at www.temple.edu/cs/policies. If your computer has illegally downloaded files or file-sharing programs, such as Limewire or Ares, please remove them. Computer Services will not provide support for computers with peer-to-peer file-sharing software. Free up space in your TUmail account With the change of season, it’s a good time to do some spring cleaning on your TUmail account. The easiest way to create additional space in your TUmail account is by deleting the largest messages. These messages typically contain attachments such as Word and PowerPoint files, as well as .jpg files. To remove large attachments from your e-mail account: 1. Click on “Size” to sort your messages. If the largest messages do not display, click on “Size” again. Delete the messages that you no longer need, especially the large ones. Then, delete the messages from your Inbox. If there are attachments you wish to keep, save them to your computer so they do not take up space in your TUmail account. Don’t forget that you can also store files using the mybackpack.temple.edu web site. If you have any questions about using TUmail, contact the Help Desk at help@temple.edu or 215-204-8000. Tip: Remove headers and footers on web printouts Did you know you can remove the headers and footers when you print web pages? To remove the headers and footers in Internet Explorer 7: 1. If the menu bar is displayed, you can skip this step. If you don’t see the menu bar, click on “Tools” and then select “Menu Bar.” To remove the headers and footers in Mozilla Firefox: 1. Click on “File” and then “Page Setup.” Through a new initiative from Microsoft called DreamSpark, Temple students can now download a suite of professional Microsoft software developer and design tools at no charge. These tools include Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, Expression Studio, Windows Server 2003, and XNA Game Studio 2.0. Students can obtain this software from a special page on the Journey Ed web site (www.journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?ItmNo=11111726). On this web page, click on the Add to Cart link and then click on Checkout. You will then be prompted through a check out process and will verify that you are a current student. When the Checkout process is completed, you will receive an e-mail with a link and access code that directs you to the Microsoft DreamSpark download site. For more information about the exciting new DreamSpark program, including a list of all available products, go to the following Microsoft web site: https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com. Note: Students should not attempt to order from the Microsoft web site, but only through the Journey Ed web site. Don't Get Hooked by Phishing Scams Along with spam and viruses, a new online danger called phishing has emerged. The term phishing (pronounced fishing) is used because scammers try to reel you in to take their bait. “Phishers” present themselves as familiar, legitimate businesses in order to first gain your trust and then acquire your personal information. Phishers send out e-mail messages that look official because they use the stolen logos and mimicked patterns of banks, credit card companies, and brokerage firms in an attempt to direct you to their web site. For example, the messages may appear to come from banks such as Mellon, Washington Mutual, or Citibank or businesses such as PayPal or e-Bay. Often, the messages request that you update your information by clicking on a link. Once you go to the bogus site that looks legitimate, you will be asked to enter passwords, credit card, bank, or Social Security Numbers, or other personal information. If you enter this information, scammers will have access to illegally use your account. For more information on phishing and ways to protect yourself from this scam technique, please go to www.temple.edu/cs/security/phishing. Take the fast lane to web sites If you use Internet Explorer or Firefox, you can get to a .com web site quickly by minimizing the web address that you enter in the location box. To go to a .com site, you need only type the domain name, such as cnn or staples, and then press the Ctrl + Enter keys. The browser automatically enters the full address and takes you directly to the web site. Temple network upgrade continues Computer Services continues to work on the multi-year project to upgrade the entire Temple University network—TUnet. The goals of this project are to increase bandwidth and eliminate any single point of failure, resulting in a network with increased performance and reliability. It is vital to our mission to ensure that the telecommunications infrastructure functions reliably, stays up-to-date, and remains capable of supporting the rapid growth in technological advances. Throughout the upgrade, the Office of Telecommunications has been keeping the University informed about areas affected by the scheduled work. During February, the following upgrades took place:
Computer Services is aware of the critical nature of the network and thus performs the majority of work in the middle of the night. We will continue to do everything possible to minimize interruption in network service. We apologize for any inconvenience that you may experience and will continue to keep you informed of our progress and notify you in advance of scheduled work and maintenance periods. ISC to present technology symposium During spring break, the Instructional Support Center (ISC) will sponsor “Teaching with Technology Symposium 2008: Tools and Techniques to Deliver and Manage Instruction.” This event will take place on Tuesday, March 11, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Tech Center, room 111 The Teaching with Technology Symposium is designed to encourage and help faculty find new ways to incorporate technology into their courses. This session will explore a variety of topics such as podcasting, blogs, wikis, online library resources, classroom response systems, online assessment tools, and other tools and tips to broaden the learning experience for students. For additional information or to register for this event, visit the Computer Services Training web site or contact the ISC at 215-204-0789. Employee Self Service hours extended The hours that you can access the Employee Self Service (ESS) web site have been extended. Through the ESS web site, employees can view their pay stubs, check current leave balances, enroll in and manage direct deposit, and more. To access ESS, go to http://ess.temple.edu and log in with your AccessNet username and password. You can also access ESS through TUportal. The new hours are as follows:
February Upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007 Microsoft Office 2007 contains many new enhancements. If you haven’t yet upgraded, now is a good time to consider doing so. To start, verify that your current system meets the requirements to run Office 2007 by going to www.microsoft.com/office/products. Faculty and staff can obtain Office 2007 Enterprise for their work computers at no charge by submitting a request to http://tuhelp.temple.edu. Eligible faculty and staff are also entitled to a copy of Office 2007 Enterprise for their home computer for work-related purposes. For more information, go to www.temple.edu/cs/business/sslp/msworkathome.htm. Students can obtain Office 2007 at a significant academic discount from Journey Ed (www.journeyed.com/select). Before upgrading to Office 2007, please keep the following items in mind:
Sharing Microsoft Office 2007 files If you can’t upgrade to Office 2007 at this time, you can obtain a free converter for Office 2003 and XP that will enable you to open and save files in the new Office 2007 format. This converter is called “Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats.” To download it, go to www.microsoft.com/downloads and click on the link under “Popular Downloads.” If you use Office 2007 and are sharing files with someone using an older version of Office who does not have the free converter, you can specify that files be saved in an earlier format. To save a file in an earlier version of Office:
To specify that all files be saved, by default, in an older format:
Recycle old University-owned computer equipment There's a home for all of your old computer equipment — the Computer Recycling Center (CRC). All departments with a budget code are eligible to submit surplus computer equipment to the CRC. To recycle equipment, complete the online Computer Surplus Form and the CRC will pick up your University-owned equipment. The surplus form as well as information about recycling personal equipment is available on the CRC web site. For additional information, contact the CRC at 215-204-4749 or crc@temple.edu. ITUG to feature TurningPoint On Thursday, February 28, the Instructional Technologies Users Group (ITUG) will present: "Classroom Response Systems: Encouraging Student Interactivity." This ITUG seminar will highlight TurningPoint which enables instructors to display questions, surveys, opinion polls, and complex problems through a PowerPoint presentation. Using a response pad, also called "clicker," students can answer questions, respond to surveys, take opinion polls, and much more. The responses are then tallied and displayed on the screen. Faculty and staff are invited to attend the ITUG presentation in the TECH Center, room 111, from noon to 1:00 p.m. During this time, a webcast of the event will be presented on the HSC campus in Kresge Hall, classroom D. A webcast of the ITUG seminars will also be available at: http://breeze.temple.edu/itug For more information, visit the ITUG web site. ITUG is a forum for Temple faculty to learn about and share their experiences using the latest computer technologies in an educational environment. These forums, which take place on Main Campus during the fall and spring semesters, are typically held on the third Thursday of each month from noon to 1:00 p.m. For additional information or to receive notifications of upcoming ITUG events, contact Johanna Inman at: jinman@temple.edu Tip: Converting Office 2007 files to PDF Office 2007 enables you to export most files into Portable Document Format (PDF). To do this: 1. Click on the Office 2007 logo in the upper left portion of the screen. ITUG event to focus on Podcasts On Thursday, February 21, the Instructional Technology Users Group (ITUG) will present its first event of 2008: “Finding Podcasts to Enhance Course Content.” ITUG is a forum for Temple faculty members to learn about and share their experiences using the latest computer technologies in an educational environment. Podcasts are a great way to enhance learning and expand course content. However finding relevant and effective sources for this technology can seem daunting. This ITUG session will explore a variety of places to find podcasts as well as tips for integrating this media with course content. Topics include: definition of a podcast, finding high quality podcasts to enhance course content, how to use podcasts in a course, why podcasts can be a valuable learning tool, and licensing/copyright considerations. Faculty and staff are invited to attend the ITUG presentation in the TECH Center, room 111, from noon to 1:00 p.m. The event will be presented by Paul Muller, Senior Technical Support Specialist & Independent Media Producer. For more information, visit the ITUG web site at isc.temple.edu/itug. TECHminutes debut at the TECH Center Interested in learning about a computer-related topic during lunch? Then stop by the TECH Center for TECHminutes, a new Computer Services event where you can get a 15-minute demonstration of technology topics, such as:
TECHminutes takes place during the first Tuesday and third Wednesday of each month on the 2nd floor lobby of the TECH Center during the fall and spring semesters. There are four sessions between 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. Each session includes a door prize giveaway, so don’t miss out. For more information about TECHminutes, to sign up for automatic e-mail reminders, and to suggest future topics, go to www.temple.edu/cs/training/techminutes. Security Tip: Purchase Symantec AntiVirus for Home Temple University is offering Symantec AntiVirus software to Temple students, faculty, and staff for home use at a minimal cost. Under Temple's current agreement, you are eligible to use this software and obtain virus definition updates through June 30, 2009. Current students, faculty, and staff are eligible to purchase one Symantec Antivirus Software CD for each home computer. The cost is $8 per CD payable by employee payroll deduction or added to students' tuition bill. Note that you must present a valid Temple OWLcard at the time of purchase and also sign a form acknowledging purchase. For more information and a list of purchase locations, go to www.temple.edu/cs/security/virusinfo/antiviruscd.htm. Spring '08 "Technology at Temple" guide available For an overview of the University’s computer resources, explore the current edition of the “Technology at Temple” guide. The guide offers a snapshot of TUportal features, a Checklist available for a smooth move If you are planning a move to another office, you will probably need to relocate a number of resources, such as your computer and telephone. In addition, you may have to change your personnel data and information in the Cherry & White pages, as well as your parking lot assignment. Computer Services has compiled a Checklist for Relocating Resources to help you coordinate the changes affected by moving to another office. This list includes service departments, charges, and time frames for completing requests as well as links to forms that you can download or submit online. Creating a mailing group in TUmail If you frequently send the same message to more than one individual, consider taking advantage of the group feature in TUmail. When you create a group, you create a name for the group and select the addresses from your TUmail address book. To create a group: To send mail to a group: For more information on using TUmail features, go to www.temple.edu/cs/tumail. January
Now that Temple has selected SunGard’s Banner as the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, the project is quickly moving forward. This $38 million initiative, now called “Enterprise,” will have a major impact on all aspects of the university and will streamline and enhance Temple’s administrative functions. An Executive Steering Committee comprised of high-level and senior Temple management has been meeting on a regular basis to provide direction for the project and make major decisions. Full-time project managers for Temple and SunGard have also been appointed. Working project teams representing academic and administrative units throughout the university are also in place. Project Enterprise team members have attended training sessions on analyzing and diagramming business processes. Members of the finance, human resources, and the student project teams are now in the process evaluating and documenting current business processes in their functional areas. Space on the 4th floor of the TECH Center will be available soon to allow dedicated project members to focus and collaborate. The space includes a thirty-seat training room for training project team members, as well as the Temple community, on using the Banner system. Over the winter break, the computer hardware was installed, including approximately 60 Dell Windows and Linux servers. The project will be implemented in a series of major modules (such as finance, human resources, and student) and will take four to five years to complete. A high-level overall project plan is being developed and will be released in February. The first application planned for launch is “fsaAtlas,” which will be used to store information about international students. Computer Services will continue to keep you informed of the status and major milestones of the Enterprise project. A Project Enterprise web site is under development and will be announced soon. Update Your Emergency Contact Information Last semester, Temple implemented an emergency notification system, called MIR3. This system is designed to quickly broadcast alerts to the campus community via e-mail, text messaging, TDD/TTY, land lines, and cell phones. If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to enter your information by following the instructions below. If you are a faculty member, please encourage your students to update their information. Faculty and Staff: Students: Special Adobe Discounts Available for Faculty and Staff For a limited time, Temple faculty and staff can take advantage of discounted prices on selected Adobe software for personal use. The offer is comparable to student prices with savings up to 85% off commercial prices. For example, Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, and Acrobat), which lists for $1,799, is available for only $309.98. Typical educational pricing ranges from $590–$640. This special offer is scheduled to end on March 15, 2008. To view the available Adobe products and to place an order, go to the JourneyEd web site. If you have any questions, contact Journey Ed at 800-874-9001 or Computer Business Services at 215-204-5000 (1-5000). Blackboard and TurningPoint Upgraded During the winter recess, the Blackboard system was upgraded to version 7.3 and the TurningPoint (clicker) software was upgraded to version 2008. The new version of Blackboard improves the Discussion Board interface and resolves an issue related to the appearance of Discussion Board posts. This upgrade also provides customized enhancements to the following tools:
The TurningPoint upgrade ensures compatibility with Office 2007 and also offers enhancements such as plug and play hardware setup, expanded reporting options, and multiple language support. TurningPoint 2008 is available as a free download from the Help Desk web site. Note that electronic user manuals are included with the downloaded software. Additional information about Blackboard and TurningPoint is available on the “How-To” page of the Instructional Support Center (ISC) web site. You can also contact the ISC at the following locations: Main Campus, TECH Center, room 110 (215-204-8529)
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