Ohio - Technology Planning

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-05-21T20:51:52Z

Congrats to Ross for his prize-winning list of tips! I have created a document collecting all 12 of his tips and associated them with a number of topic areas on the site. Here's the document: 12 Tips for Managing Public Access Computers.

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-30T14:28:31Z

Suggested reading

I recommend reading Windows Secrets (http://windowssecrets.com/). They have a free version, but I'd recommend the paid version.

Although it has a broader security focus than just computers, I also like to read Bruce Schneier's Crypto-Gram (http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram.html). And, if I get a chance, I like to browse ZDNet Tech Update Today newsletter (http://nl.zdnet.com/acct_mgmt.sc?brand=zdnet and CNET Digital Dispatch newsletter (http://www.cnet.com/newsletters/).

I'd be interested in hearing other recommendations, too.

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-29T14:14:22Z

Web-based instant messaging (IM)

We point our patrons to the web-based versions of popular instant messaging (IM) programs instead of trying to deal with installing and upgrading the standalone client(s). Here are the web addresses for some of the popular IM programs as well as a couple that provide access to several of them:

AIM Express (AOL) -- http://www.aim.com/aimexpress.adp

eBuddy -- http://www.ebuddy.com/

ICQ -- http://www.icq.com/download/icq2go/

meebo -- http://www.meebo.com/

MSN Web Messenger -- http://webmessenger.msn.com/

Yahoo! Messenger For the Web -- http://webmessenger.yahoo.com/

IM is also available from within several of the web-based email versions including at least Gmail, Hotmail (this may not be fully implemented as it was only recently added as a feature), and Yahoo! Mail.

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-23T13:34:32Z

Safely Remove Hardware shortcut (placing on the desktop)

We do not allow access to the system tray on our public access computers, so patrons do not have access to the Safely Remove Hardware icon when they need to remove their USB devices (e.g., flash drives). So, using the instructions from this WEB4LIB post, we added a shortcut to this command on the desktop where patrons can access it instead:

http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/web4lib/2005-February/035911.html

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-22T15:19:38Z

Hard drive erasing tools (free)

Before recycling / discarding obsolete computers, you can erase the hard drives using one of these tools:

CopyWipe -- http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/copywipe.php

HDDErase -- http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

HDDErase only works on newer ATA/SATA hard drives (usually greater than 15 to 20 GB that support ATA Security Feature Set). It does not work on SCSI or most USB drives.

CopyWipe may be able to erase other types of drives as long as they are detectable by the software [e.g., older drives, USB, or IEEE 1394 (FireWire)]. With CopyWipe you can "wipe" the drive more than once which may provide more security. The tradeoff, especially for larger drives, is that it takes proportionally longer for each additional wipe.

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-16T13:47:22Z

Java - verifying installation and version ; standalone (offline) installation

You can verify the installation and what version of Java you have by visiting:

http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp?detect=jre&try=1

If you do not have the current version, there is a standalone (offline) version available here:

http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

Unless you have an application that requires a specific version of Java, it is recommended that you uninstall any older versions of Java. Instructions for removing older versions can be found here:

http://www.java.com/en/download/help/uninstall_java.xml

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-15T14:36:12Z

Adobe Reader -- standalone installation

You can also download a standalone installation version of Adobe Reader from Adobe's FTP (file transfer protocol) page:

ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/9.x/9.1/enu/

Please note this is the folder for the current 9.1 version. If you need a different version, move up to the next higher directory (more than once if necessary), find the correct version folder, and then move back down again.

Note that there are actually several files to choose from. The *.msi is the Microsoft Installer package version (if you want to read more about msi files -- which is way over my head! -- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc978328.aspx). It and the Std version both include Adobe Air and Adobe.com. The other one contains just Reader. You may notice that it is also a smaller file [26 MB vs 40 MB].

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-13T15:34:56Z

Hi Chris,

No, I have not used Jing, but I took a quick look:

http://www.jingproject.com/

The free version also has limited screencasting capabilities. Certainly worth keeping in mind :-)

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-13T15:30:47Z

Adobe Flash Player -- version and installation check ; standalone ActiveX installation ; settings manager ; "cookies"

You can check to see if Adobe Flash Player is correctly installed and that is the most recent version by visiting this page:

http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/

I usually update the Flash Player on multiple machines. It is easier for me to do this with the standalone installer. Flash Player for Firefox is already standalone. The standalone ActiveX installer for Internet Explorer can be reached from the link on this page:

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_19166&sliceId=1

The link is located down the page under the heading, "If the ActiveX Control for Flash Player fails to install, download the executable installer." (Currently this is located just before section 4.) Please note that it is a *.zip file (a compressed file) that you can "unzip" using Windows XP by right clicking on the file and choosing the Extract All option (and following the prompts -- just remember where you have extracted it to).

Unlike most programs, Flash Player's settings are accessed through a web page:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html

and more specifically:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html#117118

And, finally, I mentioned Flash "cookies" in another post -- "Adobe Flash "Cookies" / "LSOs" (Local Shared Objects)" http://www.webjunction.org/tech-security/resources/discussion/25921021

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-11T17:53:21Z

Ross,

Have you used Jing? It's a free screen capture program from TechSmith (makers of Snagit and Camtasia). Very simple, and beautifully designed. It makes it easy to capture a small region within a window (e.g. you only want to show one button or one toolbar, not the whole window). You don't have to capture the whole window and crop it down I don't know if it works well on public computers though. Has anyone in this forum tried installing Jing on a public PC?

Chris

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-11T14:35:34Z

Replacing the Print button with the Print Preview button on Internet Explorer's (IE6) toolbar

Our reference librarians were becoming increasingly frustrated with the amount of wasted paper from unwanted print jobs. One of them came across this tip which we implemented. It hasn't stopped all of the problems, but it did help reduce them.

In a previous post in this thread (Screen Capture), I mentioned using Print Screen to capture screen shots to use with instructions. As an example I have uploaded a Word document with screen shots included here:

http://www.webjunction.org/techplan/articles/content/54672038

Here are the instructions without the screen shots:

1. Open Internet Explorer, and click on the View tab, then highlight the Toolbars option. If the Lock the Toolbars option is checked, highlight it, then click on it to deselect it. It's a toggle switch -- clicking changes it back and forth between being checked or unchecked.

2) With the Lock the Toolbars unchecked, go once again to the View button, highlight Toolbars, and highlight Customize, then click on it. This will bring up a new window -- Customize Toolbar. Under the Current toolbar buttons column, highlight a button that you would like to remove, in this case, at least the Print button (I usually remove everything after History, too). Once a button is highlighted, click on the Remove button.

3) Once you have removed all of the buttons that you want removed, then move over to the Available toolbar buttons and scroll until you find the Print Preview button, highlight it, then click on the Add button. Then click on the Close button. You can go also back to 1) and reset the Lock the Toolbars option to locked.

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-09T14:43:11Z

Microsoft Software Donation Program

This is mentioned elsewhere on WebJunction, but I think it is worth mentioning again. The Microsoft Software Donation Program (http://www.techsoup.org/stock/microsoftprogram.asp) allows qualifying public libraries to receive up to six software titles and 50 licenses per title for public access computers for a modest administrative fee. Quite a few rules apply, so read the FAQ well (http://www.techsoup.org/stock/ms_program_faq.asp). We have used this program primarily to get upgrade licenses for Windows operating systems and for providing Microsoft Office on most of our public access internet computers and word processing stations.

Staff computers are eligible for Microsoft academic discount pricing (http://www.microsoft.com/Education/Eligible.mspx). If you need to order a minimum of 5 licenses, then Microsoft Open License for Academic (http://www.microsoft.com/Education/open.mspx) is the way to go. After ordering an initial 5 licenses, then you can re-order as few as 1. Again, we have done this primarily for Windows OS upgrades and MS Office for our staff computers.

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-08T15:45:33Z

Screen Capture (using Print Screen, Alt-Print Screen, a digital camera, or screencasting software) for copying settings, tech trouble shooting, and for instruction (handouts, tutorials, vlogs, etc.)

This Microsoft article, "Take a screen shot" (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/tips/screenshot.mspx) gives a good description of using Print Screen and Alt-Print Screen to capture either the entire desktop (Print Screen) or the active window (Alt-Print Screen) to the clipboard. The screen shots can then be pasted into Paint, Word, etc., and be forwarded in emails or included in handouts, tutorials, etc. I've used it to capture error messages to send in (or attached to) emails to vendors for help in troubleshooting software / hardware problems, for printing out settings (rather than trying to write them down), and for including screen shots in handouts and tutorials (e.g., for a user guide when we started using a reservation system for our public internet stations ; for a tutorial for our reference staff when we need to manually install flash drives ; etc.).

As the article mentions, Print Screen (and screencasting software) doesn't always work (e.g., before you are logged in, full screen DOS, WMP, etc.). A digital camera (still or video) can work for those situations. For example, if you want a copy of your BIOS settings before you make changes, you can use a digital camera to take pictures of the various screens. Also, Print Screen may not capture everything that you want to (e.g., mouse movement and clicks).

Screencasting software (screencasting -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screencasting ; screencasting software -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screencasting_software) can be used to capture entire screen sequences instead of just individual screens (similar to the difference between a digital camera taking single shots versus taking video). And you can often add audio, so it can be narrated.

With either a digital video camera or screencasting software you can create vlogs for training / instructional purposes and a whole lot more!

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-08T15:25:41Z

Autologon (Windows XP)

All of our public access computers logon to a limited user account (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/advanced/useraccount.mspx). We have set them to logon automatically using the instructions "How to turn on automatic logon in Windows XP" -- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231.

The ForceAutoLogon key is important for us because we do allow patrons to logoff (and some of our software logs off, too). This key enforces that the computer logs back on again as the set up limited user account.

If you need to logon as a different user (e.g., as an administrator to do updates, etc.), please note this part of the instructions:

"If you want to bypass the automatic logon to log on as a different user, hold down the SHIFT key after you log off or after Windows XP restarts."

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-08T15:25:20Z

Disabling Autorun

When you insert a flash drive, DVD, etc., into a computer, autorun is the function that automatically runs a specific program (if it is set up to, or it may run a related function -- AutoPlay). Malware writers have corrupted this functionality to spread worms, etc. (e.g., Conficker). Microsoft has revised a patch to address this vulnerability, but it isn't one of the easier patches to implement -- after you apply the patch you need to either use Group Policy settings or manually edit the registry to adjust the settings to your desired level.

Microsoft's KB article and instructions are here -- http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;967715

Please note, when manually entering the value for the NoDriveTypeAutoRun key, 0xFF hexadecimal is equal to 255 decimal (to turn off autorun on drives of all types).

Windows Secrets had this article, "AutoRun patch a long time coming for XP users" -- http://www.windowssecrets.com/2009/03/05/02-AutoRun-patch-a-long-time-coming-for-XP-users

I ran into several computers that I could not apply the patch to because of a conflict with Roxio's DLA (see the responses to this blog post -- http://www.askwoody.com/2009/autorun-patch-kb-967715-mess/)

Finally, this may be more of an issue on staff computers than public access computers depending on what security precautions / software you are already using on your public access computers.

See also:

"What's the difference between AutoPlay and autorun?" -- http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-us/help/a19ac945-1007-4638-9615-e2c3bfd92b751033.mspx

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-03T19:08:50Z

Ross and Daniel!
These are excellent tips. Thanks so much for sharing them.

I want to be sure folks know that the tips can be short and sweet too. I heard at a CiL breakfast this week, an IT librarian for a school system talk about how excited her school librarians were to hear about this shortcut:

ALT+TAB: Switch to another running program (hold down the ALT key and then press the TAB key to view the task-switching window)

I think keyboard shortcuts are a great example of those simple yet powerful tips to be shared!

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-04-01T18:04:08Z

Hi Jennifer -

Here's something we do on our public computers (running XP Pro SP3). Since we use Meebo for IM, there's no need for installing separate IM apps, which just slow down the bootup and clutter up the screen with their pesky pop-ups. The MySpace IM, though not on Meebo, is the worst of all. Plus there are other sneaky guys that install themselves on the PC even though it's on a limited account. So we click over to C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts, open it with WordPad, place the cursor under 127.0.0.1 localhost, and add stuff as follows -

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 imupdate.myspace.com
127.0.0.1 aim.com
127.0.0.1 www.aim.com
127.0.0.1 dashboard.aim.com
127.0.0.1 messenger.yahoo.com
127.0.0.1 messenger.msn.com
127.0.0.1 messenger.msn.ca
127.0.0.1 download.live.com
127.0.0.1 limewire.com
127.0.0.1 www.limewire.com
127.0.0.1 imvu.com
127.0.0.1 www.imvu.com
127.0.0.1 downloads.bigfish.com
127.0.0.1 d.trymedia.com
127.0.0.1 games2download.com
127.0.0.1 frostwire.com
127.0.0.1 www.frostwire.com
127.0.0.1 bittorrent.com
127.0.0.1 www.bittorrent.com

Each line blocks that domain. Other libraries may have different villains. It works!

Yours, Daniel

RE: 101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-03-27T23:57:07Z

Let's give this a hash tag too. So if people mention the project off of WJ on other sites (facebook, twitter, etc) they ad this bit of text to show it is a part of this project. Really helps with sharing and searching! Let’s have the hash tag be:

#WJ101techtips

The WebJunction Twitter stream is here:
http://twitter.com/WebJunction

Let the tips fly!

101 Tech Success Tips in 30 Days

2009-03-27T22:40:37Z

Computers for public use are among the main attractions that bring people into the library. Public computing has come a long way since its introduction in the mid-90s. In addition to rapidly changing technologies, the public's use of computers puts extra and unique demands on the setup and maintenance of hardware, software, networks, and security. Part of technology planning is staying up to date on these tasks. Help us build a fresh list of tips for those managing their library’s public access computers by sharing your top tech success tip today!

Let’s use this discussion to collect, for example:

tips for installing and configuring public-access computers and networks
tips for maintaining and troubleshooting computers, networks, and security
tips for computer policies and practices

Don’t worry about fitting your tip into a specific category; just post it today! We’ll review the list when we reach our goal to group the tips by category for easy access. Post just one, or as many as you have, and stay tuned…members with winning Tech Success Tips will be recognized in the May issue of Crossroads and awarded prizes for "best" and "most" tips posted.

Re: Grants for laptops

2007-11-28T22:26:11Z

Hi -

It would be helpful to know where you are - which state at least, since there are many organizations that are regional or local.

The Gates Foundation is currently running a hardware grant program that is going state by state, so it may be coming or already passed by. My understanding is that you would need to contact you state library agency to find out if you are eligible.

Dale