Academic Computing Services

Computer Hardware vs. Software:
Hardware - the solid, physical computer and all its parts and peripherals (modems, printers, monitors, scanners, keyboards, etc…).
Software - the programs that you run on the computer (like WordPerfect, Photoshop, Netscape, etc…)
Interface: refers to how you interact with the computer, and is made up of both hardware and software components.
Hardware interface components may include a mouse, a keyboard, a monitor, a joystick, a trackball, a video camera, a drum pad, etc. Read the rest of this entry »

We recommend every student should have a USB drive to store copies of their files.

What is a USB drive?
A USB drive is a portable memory device, similar to a floppy disk or a CD-ROM, that plugs into the USB port of any computer. The file storage capacity is significantly greater than a floppy disk, and the storage medium is much more reliable than a floppy disk or CD-ROM.

They vary in size starting at 32 MB to several Gigabytes. Recent operating systems, such as Windows Vista and Macintosh OS X, automatically recognize these devices and allow you to move files to them.
Read the rest of this entry »

One of the advantages of Web 2.0 is that people who come to your web site can write messages, too. This web site is set up to accept comments, just like the rest of the web sites made on project.dyc.

You can continually develop and maintain a great web site with these Web 2.0 tools. Here are some simple guidelines:

• Write often. Don’t write just for the sake of writing, though. Make your updates meaningful.
• Write back. When someone leaves a comment, respond. You may be surprised by what you can learn through a discussion with your peers.
• Read often. You can learn a lot from other writers. (Even other web sites!)
• Link back. Show us web sites you’ve found that are related to your area of expertise.

Using a feature called RSS feeds, we can write blog entries that are syndicated for others to read. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it really is simple.

The URL to subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed is feed://helpdesk.project.dyc.edu/feed/. If your web browser supports RSS feeds, you can bookmark that link, and whenever this blog is updated, you’ll know, because your bookmark will indicate there’s a new entry.

Here’s a short description from wikipedia: Read the rest of this entry »

A recent report on cnn.com shows that people will download viruses, even when the download itself is presented to them as a virus. Read the rest of this entry »