We’ve created a running list of future topics that we are planning to write about. Please feel to suggest additional topics.
spam filtering
How to configure your server-side spam filtering at Wesleyan. Specifically describing the settings, possible configuration errors, and ways to improve SpamAssassin’s effectiveness. Perhaps with the addition of how one can also use (Outlook, Eudora, etc..) filtering rules to supplement or replace.
Creating .pdf files for posting documents to the web
As we add more and more content to the web, often in the form of .pdf files, it would make sense to offer some guidance on good practices, especially around issues of security. What are the options for securing, signing, and protecting .pdf documents. How careful do we need to be? And what are the risks?
ricoh privacy feature
Copying, printing, or scanning sensitive materials? Your departmental copier has privacy features that can protect your documents.
vista - upgrade info
How should you approach upgrading your home machine to Vista, microsoft’s latest operating system?
browsers
While Wesleyan attempts to support a broad number of browsers, it is not always possible to provide a high level of web page functionality and maintainability for multiple browsers. Which browsers work best on which platform?
backups
How to approach backing up the ever increasing amount of digital information on your various computers?
Creating web forms using Adobe .pdf or Microsoft Word .docs
Using web forms can be an effective way to manage surveys, applications, and other kinds information gathering. Writing forms in HTML takes some expertise, and with the FrontPage form GUI on its way out (eventually), we might find it useful for some purposes to use the ‘form’ functionality of Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Word. How do these tools stack up? What kinds of constraints do they have? How can users organize their data automatically?
office 2007
What are the new and useful features in Microsoft’s latest version of its productivity suite.
home theater
There has been a large increase in the number of ways people watch movies and television in the home. With technology becoming more and more advanced, it’s very easy to make a theater like atmosphere in your own house. Computers are starting to play a large roll in the theater setup.
security
As more of our lives become digital, we need to understand what our options are for protecting our personal information, and for protecting the information about others that we are entrusted with.
lyris lists
With a lyris list you can email to a group of email addresses. Lists have many options including allowing only members to read allowing anyone to read and allowing postings to be searchable on the web.
tips for laptop users
Laptops are wonderful things, but they have their own set of quirks and problems as well. We’ll provide a list of useful hints about how to get the most out of your laptop.
google calendar
Wesleyan now maintains a publicly available Google Calendar version of Wesleyan’s University Calendar. If you have a Google account, you can integrate these Wesleyan Events into your personal Google Calendar.
proxy
With a Proxy server current Wesleyan students, staff, and faculty can access items only accessible through the Wesleyan network like the Library’s online journals and subscription databases from off campus.”
media database
The Media Database is used to create and review collections of images, video, audio and animations on the web.
versioning in word
For people who collaborate on documents with others, microsoft word has powerful features to keep track of who has contributed what, and when.
cds & dvds
Not everything has made it to the web. And in recent years there has been an explosion of formats for those shiny disks. We’ll help you figure out what is what in this area.
eudora settings
Eudora has many, many powerful features to help you tame the email beast. In this article, we’ll help you figure out what your options are.
telephone technology
WesTel is Wesleyan University’s telephone service. It offers various services like voicemail and long-distance and is also very easy to use
listening to voice mail
blog/wiki features in Blackboard
Our current installation of Blackboard includes blog and wiki tools that make it easier than ever for the participants in a blackboard to generate collaborative content. These tools can be of use not only to classes, but to any groups that have set up a Blackboard as a kind of shared working space.
viruses
Worms, Virus and Trojan Horse are different types of attack that can affect many computers. A worm executes code and then spreads itself to other hosts in the network. A virus is malicious software that executes unwanted program on the computer. A trojan horse is a program designed to look like something else but in the background is attacking the computer. These types of malicious programs can infect computers through web pages, email attachments, network connectivity and unauthorized access to the machine.
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