Tag Archives: 201304

Online Training Now Available via lynda.com

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Simmons Technology is pleased to announce our partnership with lynda.com, a provider of online training tools. This investment provides Simmons students, faculty, and staff with 24/7 online access to 1,400 training modules on more than 150 topics, including web design, Microsoft Office, photography, mobile app creation, social media, and much more.

The tutorials include in-depth training and practice exercises that can help you gain new skills or improve existing knowledge. Students and staff can use lynda.com to gain job-related skills and faculty can use it as a resource to supplement or even replace textbooks and online materials.

To get started, visit lynda.com and click log in, then enter simmons.edu on the right side of the login screen. You’ll be directed to a Simmons login page and returned to lynda.com after entering your Simmons username and password. Now you’re ready to learn!

To find out more about lynda.com, please visit servicedesk.simmons.edu. If you need assistance, call the Service Desk at 617-521-2222.

Google Apps Training and a Note About the New Compose Experience

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google_apps_smAs of Friday, April 18th, the faculty and staff migration to Google Apps for Education is more than eighty percent complete. Because so many faculty members have been migrated in the last month, we want to remind you that we’re holding Google Apps training every week on Tuesday and Thursday. You can find the full schedule here. There’s no need to sign up, just drop in and get answers to your questions about creating, collaborating, and sharing with Google Apps.

Many of you may have noticed that Gmail now has a new compose window that you’ll see when writing an email. The new compose setup features a few advantages, including the ability to minimize drafts in progress and to open the email you’re composing in a separate window. To find out more about the new compose experience, click here.

That brings us to our tip for this month. During training, many people have asked us if you can automatically open a new email in a new window, and the answer is yes. If you hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard and click COMPOSE, a blank email will open in a new window in front of your inbox. You can find additional tips for making the most of the new compose experience over at the Chronicle of Higher Ed.

Being Aware: Spam, Phishing, and You

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Though spam, phishing, and other attempts to obtain personal information via email are nothing new, we’d like to remind everyone that these types of threats are real and that Gmail is not immune to the most sophisticated attempts.

When using your Simmons email, please be aware of these threats. If you receive an email that you know is suspicious, you should report it to the Service Desk and click SPAM in the Gmail toolbar above the email.

For more information about safe computing, please read this FAQ and, for more information about phishing scams in particular, please see this FAQ on the Service Desk website. If you have questions about phishing or need guidance in a particular situation, please contact the Service Desk at 617-521-2222.

REMINDER: Simmons is Moving from Sophos to Kaspersky Antivirus

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Kaspersky Sticker Icon 256Recently, you should have received a notice that beginning on May 6th at 5pm, Technology will automatically replace Sophos antivirus with Kaspersky antivirus on all Simmons-owned computers. Once the installation of Kaspersky is complete, you will be prompted to restart your computer. If you will not be in the office or using your computer at the time of installation, we ask that you save all files you’re working on but leave your computer on. This will allow the installation and restart process to happen automatically. Going forward, you should notice little to no change in how your computer handles antivirus scanning and security.

If you are currently using Sophos on a Windows computer that you own, you should replace it with one of the other free options now available at servicedesk.simmons.edu. If you use Sophos on a Mac that you own, no action is required. Please remember that it is important to protect your computer while accessing the Simmons network or any other network you use.

For more information on this change, click here. If you need assistance, please contact the Service Desk at 617-521-2222.