Vol III. No. 4 Information
Systems Office, College of Medicine and Public Health
December, 1999
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
New Training Classes Being Planned
The Race for the 1GHz Processor
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Robert McKenney, FAAMA, Director
The College of Medicine and Public Health’s Information Systems Office has been working diligently over the past year to prepare all operations for Y2K. Necessary upgrades have been performed to all of the College’s file and GroupWise servers, as well as all Web servers. Also, software upgrades have been implemented to important College wide applications such as GroupWise, Office 97, and Netscape.
Additionally, we have valued the information and feedback from Campus and the College/OHS Y2K Task Force.
Currently, staff of the Information Systems Office is working to visit each and every one of our networked workstations to confirm our readiness for Y2K and, of course, we are using such visits to do any routine upgrades. When your machine is visited, the following steps will be taken to ensure we are best prepared:
1. The removal of the Windows 3.1 version of File Manager. This program is non-compliant according to Microsoft. If you use the Windows Explorer to find and move your files, this will have no effect on your computing habits.
2. Checking the Windows Regional Settings. Windows defaults its display of dates to a two digit year. Earlier this year, we sent out instructions on how to change this to a 4 digit year. We are confirming that this has been changed correctly.
3. Checking the computer BIOS. The BIOS contains the hardware and clock settings for the computer. We have already run PC Check 2000 on machines to determine that these settings are correct. We will be running a second program during this visit just to be safe.
4. Windows 95 patches will be applied to each workstation. There are three patches from Microsoft that will make Windows 95 fully Y2K ready. (Note: we are also loading patches for Windows 98 on units that are running that operating system).
5. Virus protection upgrades will be made. Most likely, the largest threat from Y2K will come from virus programmers looking to prey upon peoples fears. We are installing the latest virus protection files to ensure all new viruses are detected when a user’s machine is scanned.
6. Netscape will be upgraded to version 4.7. Netscape has recommended that all software should be moved to at least version 4.6. We are installing the latest version of the software, 4.7.
7. Internet Explorer 5 will be installed if the user chose not to install earlier in the year. The Windows 95 patches discussed earlier require the download of IE5.
8. Finally, we are leaving an instruction sheet for changing the Real Time Clock on your machine. This must be done after January 1, 2000. The Real Time Clock is basically the same clock as the BIOS clock. However, some programs read the time from the Real Time Clock directly instead of from the BIOS.
We are very confident that our measures of precaution will pay dividends in the new year. Also, a big "thank you" is owed to everyone who participated in this endeavor. If you have any questions about Y2K, please call our office at 8-5635.
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM EVERYONE IN THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS OFFICE!!!
New Training Classes Being Planned
Brian Wilson, Systems Manager
Following the success of our introductory classes on Microsoft Office 97, many people asked us to develop an intermediate-level class for the popular database application, Access. The curriculum is currently being developed. This class will focus on Access 97, which remains the standard in the College of Medicine and Public Health. However, in anticipation of an upgrade to Office 2000 later in the year, we will spend a period of time discussing the changes in Access 2000.
In addition, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of departments and faculty members creating their own web pages. In response to requests, we are also developing a class that will be a beginner’s guide to web page creation. We will discuss the best way to create a web page, how to get it published on the COM&PH website, and how to work with images.
Both of these classes will be designed to last 2 hours. We know you are busy, and probably do not have the time to devote an entire day to a computer class.
We will be sending out more information soon about
dates and times for these classes, as well as information on how to register.
The Race for the 1GHz Processor
Brian Wilson, Systems Manager
The computer industry is continuing its breakneck pace as processor speed continues to grow at a staggering rate. Intel began the year with its fastest processor being the Pentium II 400 MHz chip. As we head for the year 2000, Intel has already announced that a Pentium III 800 MHz chip will be shipping in January.
Prototypes of a 1GHz (1,000 MHz) processor have
already been displayed at computer conferences, and experts are confident
that this processor will be available to the public sometime in 2000.
What does this mean for consumers? Basically
more bang for the buck. As new and faster chip become available,
older yet still very capable processors drop dramatically in price.