Island of Misfit Software

Record your entries using the form on Harriet.  Be sure to submit when you are done.
Pharos

Pharos is the booking system used at most branches to make reservations on the public computers. Information on Pharos can be found on Harriet in the Network Services section.  Customers use their library card number or a visitor pass to log into the system.

1. When printing visitor passes, what fields MUST be filled in?
2. How many times a day can a customer login to a public computer?

Ticks

Ticks is used to submit a ticket to the Network Services Help desk.  You can find a link on Harriet and more information in the FAQ.   The serial number, machine name, and a descriptive title are very important when submitting a ticket.  

Serial numbers (or service Tags) can be found in various places depending on the model of the computer.  On laptops, they're generally on the bottom; on desk tops on the back or side.

Machine names are on the sticker on the computer.  However, if the sticker is gone, you can find the machine name by

• Clicking Start
• Right clicking on My Computer
• Clicking Properties
• Clicking the Computer Name tab.  

On public machines, the machine name can be found on the Pharos screen.

Descriptive titles help Network  Services staff assign priority to tickets.  For example, if this is the description: "Computer freeze at DOS screen. Will not boot up."  then ADM53 Computer Freezes at DOS Screen is a better title than Computer Will Not Boot.

3. What is the name and serial number of the machine you are using right now?
4. The machine is displaying several errors. Main error is that it is out of virtual memory. Some times when clicking to close the error message, the computer will kick you out of Horizon and display the regular desktop screen.  Which of the following is the best title for this problem:
• DOS will not boot
• I virtually forgot
• FB25 Virtual Memory Error affecting Horizon
• Brrrr, Horizon froze on my computer

Technical Problems
Ticks is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think about technical problems.  However, some other departments and/or people handle some other areas.  Who to contact is covered in Who Does What.

5. Who would you contact for questions about the Digital Media Catalog?
6. If Horizon goes down, what is the best way to contact the Help Desk?
7. List the contact names and method of contact for pull list problems.
8. If you're having problems with the website, to whom do you send an email?

Drives

We have access to multiple drives at HCPL.  Drives are a storage mechanism for data and can be something you hold, such as a USB Flash drive or a diskette that is used in a disc drive or they can be on the computer, such as the hard drive, or the server such as the S drive.  The main drives we have access to are:

"C" Drive - This is the hard drive inside your computer.  It is only available on the individual computer.

"P" Drive - This is your branch or department's shared drive. Note: It might have a different letter than P.  You and members of your branch/department have access to this drive.

"S" Drive - This is the HCPL shared drive and is used to share large files.  It is not permanent storage and you should only put copies of files on the S drive.  All staff have access to this drive. More information may be found in the FAQ.

"Z" Drive - is your network drive.  Only you have access to it.  It is the best place to store your documents as it can be accessed from anywhere in the system.

9. Create a document.  Include your name and branch code in the document's file name and save it in your Z drive.  Go to the S drive, locate and open the Treasure Hunt - Software folder.  Place a copy of your document in the sub-folder labeled Drives.  What is the name of your document you copied to the Drives folder? (Note: Your File will be deleted after you get your key).

File Extensions
Extensions are suffixes to file names and indicate the file format of the contents.  The extensions often correspond to a specific program that creates or opens that type of file.

Documents: The most commonly seen extensions for documents are

.doc for MS Word "documents" (.docx for Word 2007)	.xls for MS Excel spreadsheets (.xlsx for Excel 2007)	.pdf (Portable Document Format) for Adobe Acrobat files Note: PDF files  are not easily edited, and are used  as a way to present information  with a fixed layout similar to a paper publication.

Images: Three of the most common image extensions are:

.jpg  (Joint Photographic Experts Group) Generally used for photographs	.gif  (Graphics Interchange Format) Generally used for illustrations	.bmp  (Bitmap Image ) Tend to be large files, so used infrequently

For the difference between JPG and GIF see eHOW.

Media:
Music files are usually either:

MP3  (Moving Pictures Experts Group)	WMA  (Windows Media Audio)

Video files are

.mpg (Moving Picure [Experts] Group)	.mwv (Windows Media Video)	.mov  (MOVies from QuickTime)

10. Look in the File Extensions sub-folder of the Treasure Hunt-Software folder on the S drive.  What are the file extensions for each of the items in the folder?

Congratulations! Searching for the answers to these exercises and submitting the form has earned you a Software key to the Treasure Chest!