Desktop Folders vs. Desktop Shortcuts to Folders

We have seen a few cases where users have icons on their desktop that they believe are shortcuts to network drives, when in fact they’re not shortcuts at all – they are completely separate folders sitting on their desktop. This can be incredibly bad if you are part of a group of people editing documents in a particular network folder. Your edits will be completely separate from the network folder. Only you will be able to see those edits, and in the worst cases, there will be two different working copies of the same document.

Please ensure that the icons on your desktop are shortcuts and not separate folders. You can tell just by looking at them:
Shortcuts have the little arrow in the lower-left corner of the icon, as in the icon above on the left. The icon on the right is for an actual folder sitting on the desktop…notice no arrow.

Spoof Email

Sometimes spammers will send spoof emails that appear to come from our Information Services office. You may receive an email with a message such as:

• “You have successfully updated the password of your Necc account. If you did not authorize this change or if you need assistance with your account, please contact customer service at: ___@_____”
• “Dear Member, Your e-mail account was used to send a huge amount of unsolicited spam messages during the recent week. If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and confirm the attached document so you will not run into any future problems with the online service. If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choice but to cancel your membership.”
• “Subject: Email Account Suspension Please confirm the attached document!”

These are all spoof emails. Here are some clues that should make it obvious to you when you receive a spoof email:

1. We don't send emails from an administrator account. We only email from our personal email accounts.
2. We never refer to ourselves as "The Support Team".
3. The email probably tells you to open an attached file (which was stripped away by our eSafe server). This is a trick to get you to open a file that almost always contains a virus/worm/trojan horse.
4. The email may also tell you to click on a link to a website to "verify" or "update" personal or password information. Never, ever submit personal information to a website unless you know for certain that the website is from a trusted source.
5. They spoofed an anti-virus message: "Attachment - No Virus found". Never trust this -- always run antivirus scans yourself if you're unsure if an email attachment is genuine.

Getting Your Network Drives Squared-Away

Are your network drives set up correctly? Many users have outdated network drives set up in their profile, prohibiting the server system from setting up the current network drives for them.
Go to “My Computer” and take a look. If you are unable to get into to any of your network drives, those drives need to be disconnected. Most likely, the servers that those drives once resided on have since been retired.

To disconnect a network drive, simply right-click on that drive in the My Computer window and select “Disconnect”. (There may be a lag of up to a minute…this is normal.) The link will be removed from your profile. Now, the next time you log in, our servers will be able to map the correct network drives for you.

Outlook vs. Outlook Express

Despite their similar names and the fact that they’re both made by Microsoft, “Outlook” and “Outlook Express” are completely different programs. Outlook has an orange icon; Outlook Express has a white-and-blue icon. We only use Outlook. Do not under any circumstances run Outlook Express. Doing so will make configuration changes to your email account that will make it impossible for you to access e-mail, contacts, calendar, public folders, and the Global Address List. We recommend deleting any Outlook Express icons that you might have in your Start Menu to ensure that you don’t accidentally run Outlook Express. To do so, simply right-click on an Outlook Express icon and select “Delete”.

SmartBoard Dos and Don'ts

The SmartBoard is not to be used as a dry-erase board. Please do not attempt to use markers of any kind (dry-erase or otherwise) on the SmartBoard surface. If you would like to use the board for illustration, simply turn on the PC and projector and log in as “powerpoint”. Then you can draw on the screen using the special SmartBoard “pens” that are in the SmartBoard tray. It isn’t necessary to launch any particular program to do this.

"I can't print!!!"

We did some major upgrades to our server structure this weekend that included address changes to all of the network printers. If you now find yourself unable to print to a network printer, you will need to reconnect to it. Here's what you need to do:

1. Go to Start / Printers and Faxes
2. Select Add a printer in the left column
3. The "Add Printer Wizard" will start. Click Next.
4. Ensure "A network printer..." is selected and click Next.
5. Ensure "Find a printer..." is selected and click Next.
6. Now we’re going to search for a printer, but we’re not going to enter in any search criteria, so click Find Now.
7. A list will appear that contains most of our network printers. Double-click on the network printer you want to connect to.
8. It will now ask you if you want this to be your “default printer”. Select Yes or No as appropriate. (In most cases, this will be your default printer.)
9. Click Next, click Finish, and you’re done!

If you are still unable to print after doing the above 9 steps, please let me or one of my identically-named cohorts know about it.

Shared Inkjet Printers

Inkjet printers aren’t "network printers" like most of our LaserJet printers are. However, in certain offices, one person’s inkjet printer is "shared" with other people. If this is the case in your office, you need to ensure that the computer that the printer is connected to is turned on. It isn’t necessary to log anyone into that computer, but it must be on in order for its printer to work with other PCs.

"Reading Layout View" in Microsoft Word

We have received numerous complaints about the default way that Microsoft Word displays certain documents, particularly e-mail attachments. By default, Microsoft Word 2003 displays these documents in the quirky, new "Reading Layout View". Many have found it annoying to have to click View/Print Layout on the menu bar to switch to a more normal (and printer-correct) view every time they open a document.

Here's the fix:

Go to Tools on the menu bar and select "Options...". Click on the "General" tab. Then uncheck "Allow starting in Reading Layout". Click "OK" and you're all set!

Locally-Cached Email Addresses

Some of you may be experiencing problems sending e-mail to certain employees. The problem comes from the cache of email addresses stored on your individual computer. The stored email address is no longer valid. Here's the way to fix the problem:

If an email to Person X "bounces back" to you, re-send the email...but this time, instead of typing their name in the "To:" field, hit the "To..." button and select the Person X's name from the list. Do this even if you're just replying to an email from Person X.

You will only have to do this once. After that, you can resume using the "To:" field in emails to that person as you did before.

This will fix the problem with your computer sending to that user only. You will need to do this again for any other users you have trouble emailing.