HELPDESK TECHTALK NEWSLETTER
Winter, 2005-06

Using Multimedia Classrooms

Did you know that many of our classrooms are media equipped? Projectors, computers, document camers, and more. Of course, you know this. BUT, did you know that there are detailed instructions and videos on the web that explain all of this equipment and teach how to use it? Check out http://www.tcnj.edu/~mtss/buildings/index.html to see what we mean. Select the building and classroom in which you teach, and you'll see options for either printable instructions, or training videos. Pick the one you want, and you're all set. Additional training can be requested by going to the MTSS webpage and clicking on the "Training Request" link on the left.

Email "Tone of Voice"

Ever read an email and wondered whether the sender was being sarcastic? Or sincere? Or worried whether an email you had sent might be taken by the reader as insulting? You're not alone. According to an article published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the average person has, at best, a fifty percent chance of mis-interpreting the tone or mood of the sender of an email. Want to learn more? Click here.

New Reference Guides Available

New at the Help Desk, "Quick Reference Guides", are available to anyone who needs some readily available assistance with commonly used programs. These guides are filled with images, tips, and loads of helpful information to help you function better in front of your computer. Currently stocked program guides include:

• Windows 2000
• MS Word
• MS Excel
• MS PowerPoint
• MS Front Page
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• MS Presentations
• and more.

Interested? Come visit the Help Desk in Green Hall 6 to pick one up!

DeskJet Printer Tips & Tricks

• Turn the printer off using the power button on the printer - switching off a power strip/switch does not allow the printer to properly shut down and could result in printing problems
• Only use manufacturer ink cartridges - third party ink cartridges use improper ink that results in printing problems, Epson ink is available through Office Max

Energy Conservation

In order to help conserve energy, the Information Technology department reminds all faculty and staff to shut down computing equipment at the end of the day. Powering off your computer, monitor, speakers, lights, and so forth may not seem like it saves much energy, but when we all make the effort, the savings add up. Please do your part!

Mac and Windows: Working together in MS Office

Mac users are accustomed to creating files without extensions of any kind. Extensions are those three letter suffixes that are tacked on to the tail end of a file name that tell a computer what program opens it. In Microsoft Word's case, the extension is usually "doc". Very often, this is the only roadblock on transferring Macintosh-created files to Windows computers. Newer versions of Microsoft Office for Mac will automatically add the appropriate extension, but many people have old files that never got the extension.
In order to increase compatibility with your Windows-using colleagues it may be a good idea to add the appropriate suffix to your files, especially before emailing/transferring the files to someone else. To add the extension, click on the file's name ONCE and wait a moment until the name is highlighted and has a border around it (You can avoid the wait time by clicking on the file once and pressing the Return key.)You can use the mouse or the arrow keys to place the cursor at the end of the name and type in the extension. Extensions are always preceded by a period. Example: file.doc. The appropriate extensions are:

• Powerpoint: ppt
• Word: doc
• Excel: xls
• JPEG images: jpg
• GIF images: gif
• Adobe Acrobat files: pdf

SpamCop

Information Technology recently began using real-time block lists, also know as RBLs, to pre-filter emails sent to the campus.  RBL sites maintain lists Internet servers commonly used by spammers.  These sites tend to be poorly support or virus infected residential computers that have been turned into spambots.  By blocking these sites, we hope to eliminate a good amount of spam from ever reaching your inbox.  If you find that a colleague is unable to send you email because it says their site was blocked by Spamcop or Spamhaus, please contact the Help Desk with your colleagues email address so it can be added to our "whitelist." This is a manually maintained list that overrides the RBL listings.

Quick Links
Here are some of our favorite links.  Keep this handy for easy reference.