Use of the Access List allows others to see and update Calendars, Mailboxes, etc.  But be careful!

Brian Wilson, Systems Manager

    GroupWise, in addition to being our e-mail system, has the capability to share resources such as messages, calendars, tasks, notes, etc.  You can grant other users proxy-access rights to your mailbox using the Access List.  Your Access List shows all of the message types you can share.  To reach the Access List, click on the File menu in GroupWise and choose Preferences.  Double-click on the Access List icon.
 
    Read and Write check boxes appear next to each message type.  The Read access right enables the specified user to read that type of message. If I give Britta read access rights to my appointments, she can view my calendar.  The write access right enables a specified user the ability to create new messages in my name. If I give Britta write access rights to my calendar, she can place new appointments on my calendar directly.

    Let me state right here that you should be VERY careful about granting write access rights to any user.  Users who have write access rights can send messages in your name.  The recipient sees your name in the From box and would have no way of knowing that the message may have come from a proxy user.  You should reserve write access rights for highly trusted users.
 
    When you bring up the Access List for the first time, you will notice that the only user listed is named “<Minimum User Access>”.  Enabling rights to this user gives the right to every user of GroupWise on our system.  This is probably something you do not want to do.
 
    To give rights to a specific user, first click on the Add Users button and choose their name from a list.  Then click on the rights you wish to give to that user.  You are the only person who can grant control access to your GroupWise mailbox.  Not even your system administrator has the capability.
 
    There are also a group of five choices below the read/write categories.  We recommend that you do not enable these choices as we have seen problems occur.
 
    If you have any questions about setting up Access Control to your GroupWise information, please call us at 8-5635.  We will be happy to walk you through the process safely and correctly.

Britta Dahl, Systems Specialist

    I have been bombarded with questions about those files we sometimes see in our directories that begin with “~$” and then have the remainder of one of your document names.
 
    Where do they come from?  They look similar to Microsoft Word documents and have the same icon associations.  These files are temporary files that are created when you open an existing document.
 
    Why does Word create temporary files? For two reasons: speed and data integrity.  The use of the temporary files speeds performance by allowing the program to access data more quickly.  Word also uses temporary files as a “safety net” to protect against system errors in its file saving scheme.  Word uses the temporary file to protect against problems such as a power failure that might occur while the file is being written.
 
    These files should delete themselves after you have closed the existing document.  If you see a temporary file, but are sure the Word document is not open, it is permissible to delete the file.  Don’t forget to empty your Recycle Bin after deleting the files.

Brian Wilson, Systems Manager
 
    The College of Medicine and Public Health’s  Information Systems Office continually evaluates new technologies to provide our users with the best possible equipment.  One recent change adopted by the IS Office has been the change to Dell computers for all new workstations.
 
    The reasons behind the change were numerous and compelling.  The first was a lack of cooperation from the Compaq corporation concerning the operating systems installed on business machines.  To place Windows 95 on the machine was taking an extra two weeks of time to accomplish as the IS Office was forced to send for Windows 95, only after the machine had been received.
 
    Second, Dell allows our office to become certified repair technicians, which will reduce the amount of the time we must wait for parts and service on malfunctioning computers.

   Finally, Dell machines are very friendly to upgrades as their hardware is not proprietary, meaning that Dell uses common parts available to all manufacturers.  Please note that the IS Office evaluates its hardware specifications on a regular basis.

Brian Wilson, Systems Manager

    A 40-year old mother in Orlando, Florida gave birth as tens of thousands of people tried to watch live via the Internet.  The cameras in the delivery room were placed in such a way as not to show the actual birth.
 
    A Westerville woman also gave birth across the Internet the next day, although her video was delayed for a couple of hours after the birth.  The parents said they wanted faraway friends and family to be able to witness the birth.

    Computers are revolutionizing education, sometimes in surprising ways.  A program, called “Secret Writer’s Society,” is meant to help seven to nine-year-olds learn to write by, among other things, reciting their compositions back to them in a computer-generated voice.
 
    But a strange bug sometimes causes the program to do some creative rewriting and vocalize streams of obscenities before reciting the child’s own words.
 
    One parent who tested the program for SuperKids, an educational-software review Web site, describes the foul language as the sort heard in a “slasher flick.” Another says “This goes way beyond George Carlin’s seven banned words.”

Robert McKenney, Director, FAAMA

    The IS Office has been working to address any known issues as we approach the year 2000 (Y2K).  We will work with campus in their efforts and will include articles as appropriate in “The Word Is..”.  Let us know if you have a particular Y2K concern.