How can I leave a telephone message for the instructor?

 

  BCC has a modern voice mail system that is also connected to our E-Mail system.

My office telephone is 778-5122; I share this with Professor Antonakos.  If you call

this number and no one is there, press 2 to leave a message for Professor Dixon.

Ah ha!  There’s another way. 

 

            Call 778-5700, and as soon as the attendant answers, press 7122.

 

            You’ll be able to leave a voice message for me immediately!

 

The E-Mail system will turn your message into a .wav file and E-Mail it to me.

 

How do I ... Check my E-mail on the BCC server?

Student E-mail is available through BCC’s “ Web Mail “ system.  I will be sending you

E-mail through your BCC account  and also to your outside
'worldly' E-mail if you have asked me to. ( but not AOL )

    Go to https://webmail.sunybroome.edu/  and enter your (smithj, etc)
account name ( twice ) and then your password.  You'll be able to read
your BCC E-mail, delete it, and create new E-mail.

 

NOTE:  The Webmail address begins with https   …  the ‘s’ means ‘secure’

Why do I have BCC E-mail?

    BCC E-mail allows you to send mail anywhere in the world.  You can
communicate with friends or businesses on the Internet worldwide. 

How do friends send you E-mail?

 

  Your world wide E-mail address uses your BCC account name.

For example, friends can send you E-mail at smithj@acad.sunybroome.edu
if ‘smithj’ is your account name.

How do I contact the instructor?

    I have two 'worldly' E-mail addresses:   dixon_a@sunybroome.edu and
adixon@stny.rr.com

    My software checks both of these, use either one.  I'll also be checking
the WebCT E-mail for messages.

How do I send a file using E-mail?

    This will be called an 'attachment' to your E-mail message. To send a
file, you will 'attach' it to the E-mail.  You’ll usually see a paperclip symbol. 

Click this, and then find the file you want to attach and send along with your email. 

 

This brings up the subject of file types – how

information is stored by the computer.

 

What are different file types?

    When you create a document in Word, it has a .doc extension.  For
example, when you create your resume and save it, you might call it
resume01.  Word saves your file as resume01.doc

   There are quite a few extensions.  If you ever see a .eml extension, this is
a file that 'annimates'.  Usually these are cute files people send to one
another.  Unfortunately, they also can contain computer viruses that can
damage your computer.  Be very cautious about opening E-mail that has a .eml
file attached.

   Other extensions or file types are .txt ( simple text file ), .jpg or .gif or
.tif or .bmp ( graphics files), .exe ( an executable also could contain a
virus ),  .zip ( compressed file to save space ), .ppt ( a power point
presentation, .wav ( voice or music file ), .mid ( midi music file)

and many more.

How do I save files on a college computer?

    When you have logged on to a college computer using your
account name, space is reserved on the 'server' for you to use in storing
your work.  A computer has several storage areas.  A floppy disk uses the a:
drive of the computer.  The computer's main files are stored on a 'hard
disk' referred to as the c: drive.   If you look at 'My Computer', you will
see these drives.  On a college computer, there will also be either a z:
drive, or an m: drive.  You have 50 Million Bytes of storage space on this
drive.  You can save things there.  We do not save things on the c: drive as
this is a particular computer.  If you use a different computer next time,
your work wouldn’t be there.

    If you DO use exactly the same computer in a lab every time, you could
save things in the folder called My Documents.  This shows on your desktop
and will be available to you every time you log onto that computer. You do
take the risk that you may lose your work from My Documents in the event
that the particular computer has some hardware problem.  It's better to use
your z: or m: drive.

How can I move my files from one computer to another?

    When ever you log onto a college computer, the work you saved on your z:
or m: drive will be available to you. You can always save your work on a
floppy disk in the a: drive and walk away with it.  I have found that I am
more often E-mailing files to myself as attachments.  I can work at school,
and then receive the files at home later.  This works well with a higher
speed Internet connection at home, like Road Runner.

 

 

Can I use BCC software on my home computer ?

 

The answer is yes thanks to a new innovation on campus called the Citrix Server.

‘Citrix’ will let you connect to BCC and access Microsoft Office from home.

Citrix will load a program on your PC the first time you use it.  It’s about 1Meg so

it could take ten minutes on a dialup.

 

You CAN ftp files in and out of your z: or m: drive   ( What’s FTP ? )

 

 You can transfer files from home to/from

your z: or m: drive from the Citrix server.

 

When connected, look for the WSFTP icon.  This will get you into

your z: drive.

 

            (ftp stands for file transfer protocol )

  

What is Hypertext ?

 

Hypertext is a section of text that has an Internet address associated with it. 

You can tell it’s hypertext when your mouse pointer turns into a hand. 

Look at the bottom of the screen and you can often see where a click

will take you.  For example…

 

There have already been examples of hypertext on this page.  My E-mail address for one!

 

How can I protect my home computer from computer viruses?

 

  BCC Computers already have anti-virus software running on them.  And the

BCC E-mail system also scans all incoming mail for viruses.  If you are not

already running anti-virus software at home, you are open to receiving a computer

virus from the Internet.  This almost always occurs when receiving an infected E-mail

attachment.  We could just outlaw attachments, but then we wouldn’t be able to share

files with one another.  There is free antivirus scanning software available.  I’ve used

it and it’s pretty good.  Go to http://housecall.antivirus.com/ and select ‘scan without

registering’    If you are connected to the Internet with a telephone Modem, this may

take a little longer to load than I have experienced myself.  But it will be worthwhile

to know that your computer is free of computer viruses.

 

What are Operating Systems?

 

A computer’s operating system is the software that makes a computer function.  It lets you access files, run programs, and connect to the Internet.  In this course, we’re using Windows 2000.  The first Microsoft Operating system was written for the first IBM personal computer and is called the Disk Operating System or DOS.  Then Microsoft came out with Windows 3.1, followed by Windows 3.11, then Windows 95, then Windows 98, then Windows 98se, then Millennium Edition (ME), then Windows 2000.  Microsoft also has Windows NT, used mainly by large concerns.  Phew, now on the market is Microsoft Windows XP.  I loaded XP on a computer recently without problem.  However, there are a lot of people with older equipment having a lot of trouble with the newly announced XP. You can read about this out there in cyberspace.

 

There are other operating systems!  UNIX was developed by Bell Laboratories.  There is a version of this called Linux that is very popular.  And the Apple MacIntosh computer line has a very popular operating system just called OS.  Actually Mac has OS 10 out now.  I have an iMac running OS9 very happily.

 

How can I learn more about DOS?

 

>So far, you can still get a DOS window in Microsoft Windows.  It’s now called the ‘command prompt’.  The fastest way to find this feature, is to use the Start Button, and Select Run.  Enter the word ‘command’ in the window and click OK.

 

>First things first.  To properly close the window, type ‘exit’.  Try this a couple of times.

 

>A faster way to get to the ‘run’ window is using the Window Key on your keyboard. Most keyboards have a key with the Microsoft Windows logo to the left and right of the space bar.  Press the Windows key + the R key.  ( Windows + R) and the run window will come up.  Type command, and the DOS window should open for you.

 

>When I open the DOS window, I’m in the Windows directory.  C:\Windows

 

>To see a list of files, type DIR for a directory.  Since there are a jillion of them, it’s impossible to read these as they fly by. 

 

>Try dir/w for a wide directory.

 

>Try dir *./w for a directory of file folders

 

>I’ll add more material related to the DOS window later. For the moment, please know that it is a powerful and dangerous way to see the files on your computer’s hard drive.  You have to be careful!  Type exit to close the window.

 

What other Windows key shortcuts are there?

 

Windows + R  =  Run window comes up        ( Put a period or dot in the window to see the desktop!)

 

Windows + F =  Find files window comes up

 

Windows + Break Key = System Properties window comes up

 

And there are other shortcuts:

 

            Alt+Tab lets you cycle through loaded applications.

 

            Alt+F4  ( the F4 key )  lets you close an application immediately

 

            Alt+Enter  Toggles the DOS screen from a Window to Full Screen

 

Updated Jan 17, 2004

acd