Question: I’m trying to use Accelerated Reader/Star Reading, but it tells me I have to install software. What do I do now?
Answer: In most cases, this is a problem with your Flash player. Accelerated Reader and Star Reading are very goofy as far as this is concerned, because it has, several times, required us to upgrade to the same version we had installed. Basically, if you go to http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/triggerpages_mmcom/flash.html and follow the instructions, it will probably work.
However, if that doesn’t work, you can login as a teacher, and then go into Product Administration, and install the necessary client plugins from there.
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Question: How do I get my computer fixed?
Answer: If your computer is giving you problems you need to fill out a computer repair request form online. The requests are assigned and processed in the order that they are received. This responsibility falls under Computer Support Services and not my department, though I am happy to help whenever possible.
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Question: I was trying to get to a website and got a message from 8e6 that says it is blocked. What can I do?
Answer: The 8e6 Internet filter is the software that Watertown USD uses to remain CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act) compliant. It is required in order to qualify for federal funding. That warning is telling you that you cannot go there for a some reason.
However, it is often the case that valuable teaching resources are mis-categorized or blocked for everyone even though it may be appropriate with teacher supervision. As a classroom teacher, you are able to bypass this filter by logging in using your email password. Once you login, you are able to visit any site on the Internet with the exception of sites that are labeled as pornography. Once logged in, all sites that you visit are logged under your name, so make sure you do not give out your password.
If you find a site that is blocked, but shouldn’t be, you may then contact CSS and request that the site be unblocked so that your students can go to it. If you find it useful, but do not need to have the students go to it, do not bother unblocking it as you can get to it whenever you wish with your login.
Students should not request sites to be unblocked directly, but should instead go through you. We trust you to teach the kids, and we trust you to make reasonable requests for unblocking material. Unblocking requests are reviewed weekly, and approved requests are added to the database on Fridays.
If you have questions regarding the procedure or technologies involved, please contact Bob Logan at the ESC (920-262-1460) or Sharon Zastrow in Computer Support Services (same number).
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Question: When I put my USB drive into the PC, sometimes the drive won't show in My Computer. What am I doing wrong?
The problem exists because of how your computer logs in to the Novell network. When you logon to Novell, it automatically maps a system drive to the first available network drive. By default this is drive F:. Unfortunately, F: is what your USB drive is expecting to receive, and therefore, there is a conflict.
Before you ask, YES that is stupid and any Macintosh or *NIX box avoids this problem entirely. Still, I don't make the problems, I solve them, so please don't shoot the messenger.
To solve the problem, we need to either reassign the network drive, or reassign the USB drive. Some solutions follow.
Solution 1: Open up My Computer. Chances are that your F: drive is mapped to something like "Sys on Building_server". Right click on it and 'disconnect' it. Your USB drive should now pop up in My Computer.
Solution 2: Solution 1 is a pain as you will have to do it every time you login or restart your computer. A more permanent solution is to change the first network drive on your Novell login.
At the bottom right corner of your screen, you should see a big red "N" in the taskbar. Right click on that and select "Novell Client Properties". Select the tab called Client and change the "First Network Drive" to H:. That frees up F: and G: for USB drives upon the next restart.
Solution 3: Reassign the drive letter of your USB drive manually. You can do this in Windows by right click on "My Computer" and selecting "Manage". Click on "Disk Management" and in a few moments, a list of the attached drives will show up. They will be listed 'Disk 0 Basic (C:) 74.56 GB', 'CD-ROM 0 DVD (D:)', 'Disk 1 Removable (F:)' etc. If you right click on the removable disk corresponding to your USB drive, one of the options is to "change your drive letter or path". Set the USB drive to an open value and it will keep that letter as long as you plug it into the same computer.
Solution 4: Use this file to reassign your USB drive automatically. Download the file, open the zip file, and then run the program and it will find your removable drive and ask you what you want the drive letters to be for each of them.
Any of these options will work. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to email me.
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How do I know if the page I'm visiting is safe to download things?
Have you ever downloaded files from a site only to find out that you have just installed spyware or viruses on your computer? Well, me neither, but there are those out there who do such bonehead things.
McAfee’s SiteAdvisor is a free plugin for Internet Explorer or Firefox that can warn you when you are on a site that is disreputable. It can be downloaded for no charge from http://www.siteadvisor.com/. I highly recommend it!
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