Windows
XP Professional
PC
XP Professional
PC
|
|
Windows
XP Professional PC |
Learn how Wellesley's computer network facilitates communication among faculty, staff, and students using networked computers and networking software.
Return to Welcome to Windows XP at Wellesley College
CONTENTS
1. What is the Campus Network?
Wellesley College, like most colleges and universities around the world, uses a network of underground cabling to connect hundreds of computers to each other. This network is an "Ethernet" network, which uses high-speed technology for fast data transfer among computers within the college community. All buildings, including dorms and satellite buildings, are connected to the campus network, and each room usually has several network connections, which resemble phone jacks but are used as computers jacks. In residence halls, there is a "port per pillow," implying a network drop for every student.In addition to this "local area network," Wellesley also has a high-speed cable connection to the outside world through a commercial carrier. These technologies, in combination, allow members of the college community to send and receive e-mail messages both within the community and externally, to browse the World Wide Web (a graphically-based interface to the Internet), to read newsgroups, and to share data files.
2. Using Electronic Mail and Conferences
Faculty, staff, and students at Wellesley all have e-mail accounts (also called their FirstClass account). Through this, they can access electronic mail and conferences. There are many other useful functions that you can perform in FirstClass. You can access basic information on other users with the Directory, check who is logged on with Who's Online, organize your mail into folders, and put conferences on your FirstClass desktop to notify you when there are new messages on them.For information on using your FirstClass account, refer to http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/FirstClass/firstclass2.html.
3. Browsing the World Wide Web
Internet Explorer is an application for browsing the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web is merely a vast collection of informational sites, stored on computers and linked together by references to other sites. For example, the Wellesley College website has a link called "Computing and Library". This page has a link to the Wellesley College Library homepage where you can search for books, magazines, and videos. The Computing and Library page also has links to other online college library catalogues. The possibilities for locating information are endless.
For information on setting your default browser to Internet Explorer, refer to http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/Netscape/Browsers/browsers.html
For more information on Internet Explorer, refer to http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/Iexplorer/ieguide.html
For more information on Netscape, refer to http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/Netscape/Netscape7/netscape7guide.html
4. Sharing Files over the Network
My Network Places allows you access to shared files on different computers. You can download useful software from Community, set up a folder for many people to access and submit documents, and even access your hard drive while away at another computer.
While it is not necessary to know many of the capabilities of My Network Places until you need to use shared files, Info Services manages some very useful files with which you should be familiar. Double click on My Network Places. Under the Other Places section in the left panel of the window, click the link Entire Network. Double click on the icon Microsoft Windows Network > Wellesley > Ntm, and finally Community.
Community is accessible to the entire Wellesley College community, and can be used on Macintosh and Windows 98 computers. This versatility allows it to house various folders for working with web pages, downloading software, and temporary file-sharing.
The 24 Hour Drop folder in Community is used mainly if you are away from your computer and don't have a floppy disk to save your work. Simply drop the file in 24 Hour Drop and take it off 24 Hour Drop when you are back at your computer. To get to the 24 Hour Drop, double click on Community. Double click on the file to open it. Be warned: All documents on 24 Hour Drop are deleted daily. They are also accessible to the entire college. Therefore do not leave important or confidential documents on 24 Hour Drop.
You can also set up file sharing from your computer in My Network Places. The folder of files that you wish to share can be made accessible to anyone with a PC on the Wellesley campus network. For more information on setting up your computer to share files, refer to http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/FileSharing/Windows.
5. File Transfer with FTP
WS_FTP stands for WinSock File Transfer Protocol. It is an application that allows you to transfer files or information between your hard drive and the Internet. At Wellesley College WS_FTP is most often used to upload files to the CWIS.
For instructions on how to install WS_FTP, refer to http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/wsftp/wsftp.html#install.
For instructions on configuring and using WS_FTP, refer to http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/wsftp/wsftp.html.
Meeting MakerŪ is a personal, networked scheduler program which allows faculty and staff to maintain their own calendars, and it allows other users to read or read/write to your calendar. This is very useful for scheduling meetings.
For instructions on how to request an account, install and configure, and use Meeting MakerŪ, refer to http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/MM/mm.html