INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR PROGRAMS ON YOUR CVC COMPUTER

(Updated August 15, 2006 by Bill Drennon)

Most of the classrooms received new computers for the 2005-2006 School year. If not, your computerw were probably upgraded this summer. These computers have Pentium IV processors, 512MB of RAM, large hard drives, AGP video, 100Mbps Ethernet cards, DVD-ROM and CD-RW combo drive (It can play DVDs and record or play CDs), built-in speakers, USB ports, Windows XP professional operating system, and useful software that was installed. Please seek permission BEFORE installing any specialized programs from Bill Drennon, Director of Technology. Sometimes software can interfere with other processes running on your computer. Specialized software has been installed on computers such as resource teachers. Below are examples of software found on most CVC computers.

PROTECTIVE SOFTWARE

FARONICS DEEP FREEZE.. DeepFreeze is the most important protective software on your computer. You will see a polar bear icon on the lower right-hand corner of your desktop, showing that you have Faronics Deep Freeze protection. Basically, whenever, you turn off your computer (or when it is automatically shut down), it looses all memory of changes to the hard drive. Any viruses or spyware are gone on the next bootup. However, anything you might have saved on your C-drive will also be gone, along with any history of what you did on that day. Thus make sure that everything you save is in your “MY COMPUTER” folder which is on the thawed T-drive. That will remain in the computer’s memory. If your computer should start acting strange as though it picked up a virus or spyware, simply reboot it to remove the infection. Note that you can NOT update any virus definitions or spyware definitions when Faronics Deep Freeze is active. All updates are done at night automatically by your computer.

ADAWARE SE. build 1.06 for detecting spyware and adware. You no longer have to update and run this weekly since you are now under the protection of Deep Freeze.

GRISOFT’s AVG is anti-virus software. Auto-updates and runs every night when your computer is started by Deep Freeze.

SPYBOT. This software is another Anti-spyware/adware program that compliments Adaware, Spywareblaster, and Microsoft AntiSpyware nicely. It runs in the background as prevention. We will periodically update this for you.

SPYWARE BLASTER. This software is another Anti-spyware/adware program that compliments Adaware, Spybot, and Microsoft AntiSpyware nicely. This program helps guard against malicious changes in your web browser. We will periodically update this software for you.

WINDOWS UPDATE. All computers have Windows update running automatically at night when the computer is turned on by Deep Freeze. We will come by and check your computer periodically to make sure this updating has indeed been kept up to date. 

TEMP DIRECTORY should be cleared often. The TEMP directory can house malicious processes. It can also clog up your computer’s RAM and misguide your computer. For example, if you try to print to a printer but fail, there is often a file placed in the TEMP directory to make you always fail unless it is cleared out. Many programs throw their garbage in the TEMP directory and then do not clear the TEMP directory when finished. When the computer reboots, the TEMP directory is emptied by DEEP FREEZE. However, you may wish to empty it periodically during the day.

WINDOWS DEFENDER… yet another protection program for spyware that complements the others.

If you do NOT have Deep Freeze on your computer, it is important to keep all of the protection programs up to date and keep them running.

PRODUCTION SOFTWARE

POWERPOINT is the presentation software of Microsoft Office XP pro.

MICROSOFT ACCESS is the data base software of Microsoft Office XP pro.

EXCEL is the spreadsheet software of Microsoft Office XP pro.

FRONTPAGE is the web authoring software of Microsoft Office XP pro.

WORD is the word processing software of Microsoft Office XP pro.

PUBISHER is Microsoft�s publishing software for newsletters, calendars, etc.

INSPIRATION is software for organization and flow charts.

PAINTSHOP PRO (version 7) is graphics editing software.

STARWRITE (on elementary computers only) is software for early writing techniques.

PC STUDY BIBLE is software for Bible study and for utilizing to place Bible verses into documents.

BIBLE-STUDY-READING is software to help you organize your Bible study.

MICROGRADE is a gradebook program. It is not the official one that we use at CVC, but many staff members prefer it. You can record grades here and then transfer them over to Gradequck (grades 5-12) later.

WINPLOT is a simple program for making graphs.

COOL EDIT is audio editing software.

NERO BURNING ROM is software for writing to CDs. You can create data CDs, audio CDs, or video CDs.

A shortcut to T:\MY COMPUTER containing your personal files. Remember to save all of your files to the MY COMPUTER folder on the T-drive. Anything that you save to your C-drive will be gone on the next reboot.

FINALE is music editing and writing software.

POWERDVD. You can play video DVDs with this software.

ADOBE ACROBAT will allow you to make pdf files and pdf forms, including pdf online forms. You can edit pdf files with this software. It is very useful. A connecting icon should have been placed in MS Word so that you can “print” word files as an Adobe Acrobat pdf file.

ADOBE READER is utilized to read pdf files. All computers can convert any file to pdf format by printing with Cute-pdf printer selected or through Adobe Acrobat..

VIRTUAL DRIVE . The icon in the lower right corner of your computer allows you to use virtual CDs which are faster and more reliable than real CDs. For example, when using templates for MS Publisher, you will need to right-click this icon and insert the MS Publisher disk. Many computers can also utilize virtual DVDs with this program.

ATHENA. Athena is our library program. You can place an icon to this server from the Athena server at 10.10.10.253 (L) and select books from our library or survey student usage.

ACCELERATED READER STUDENT is used for students when taking Accelerated Reader Tests. It is mapped to the AR server on 10.10.10.143 (R). Make sure you are connected to the R-drive (10.10.10.143) first by clicking on the R-drive icon in MY COMPUTER before you open the accelerated reader program.

ACCELERATED READER MANAGEMENT is used by teachers for generating reports, checking on student work, and generating reports. It is mapped to the AR server on 10.10.10.6 (R). Again, make sure you are connected to the R-drive (thorugh MY COMPUTER) before you open this program.

GRADEQUICK is the official grading program for grades 5-8 (Gradequck ms) and grades 9-12 (Gradequck hs). It is also used to take attendance. Questions regarding Gradequck should go to Phil Byrd while computer, networking problems should be brought to Bill Drennon. It is mapped to the HS Gradequick server, hsgq, on 10.10.10.18 (J) or the Middle School Gradequick server, msgq, on 10.10.10.19 (Q). This is installed on grade 5-12 teacher computers and administration computers only.

HUNTER SCHOOL MINDER is administrative software which installed only on administration computers. It is mapped to the server on 10.10.10.50 (X). This software is NOT installed on classroom computers.

STUDIO 8 was installed on computers requesting video editing capabilities. Most of these also have real producer and other video editing software.

INTERNET and COMMUNICATION� SOFTWARE

MOZILLA FIREFOX is web browsing software. It is faster and safer to use than Microsoft Internet Explorer. Please use this software to surf the web. Please keep the homepage at http://www.cvc.org to prevent malicious changes to the start page.

CVC LAN EMAIL (Microsoft Outlook). Use this software to send and receive LAN email. Do not use Microsoft outlook for Internet email. We use Outlook express for Internet email. Outlook express can be used to store your appointments and contacts. You should open it at the beginning of the school day and keep it open but minimized when not using. Do NOT shut it down. A notification box should appear when you have new mail. Please do not abuse this software. Send mail only pertaining to school. Try to send mail only to those who need it. Be polite. Do not scream with all CAPs email.

MAILWASHER When receiving internet email, first receive and open mail through Mailwasher. You can bounce, delete, and blacklist spam with this program. Open Microsoft Outlook Express with this software. When you expect email, open mailwasher first, not Outlook Express. Always close outlook express when you are not busy readying or sending internet email.

WS_FTP.You can backup your personal files and transfer files between computers, on our LAN (local area network), our WAN (wide area network), or the internet.

WINSCP. This program allows you to load pages/files onto our website via the secure shell, SSH.

SHARPREADER is an RSS reader/digester. It is the best way to get the latest news from almost all organizations, including newspapers and magazines. CVC also has an RSS feed at www.cvc.org/rss/rss_feed.xml

ATOMIC CLOCK SYNC keeps your computer clock accurate. You can update it periodically when online. This is especially important for Accelerated Reader Users.

Other multimedia software, include Real-player, Microsoft Media Player, Apple’s Quicktime, and other popular software.

OTHER HELPFUL SOFTWARE

RECOVER MEMORY NOW. Click on this to recover memory. You will not see anything happen, but your computer will speed up as a result. Some programs hog memory and then don�t give it back.

PAPERPORT 9. (This software is only on computers with scanners unless a faculty member requested it.). You can request it to put on your if you use scanning a lot. You can fill out forms easily and convert between formats.

REGCLEANER is a program that helps you keep your registry clean, cleanly uninstall programs, and remove startup processes that you do not want. If you don’t know how to use it, don� t use it. Email Bill Drennon for help.