We (including myself) do not always remember to "logout" of GroupWise WebAccess. Consequently, computer resources are permanently dedicated to that connection and not available to a new WebAccess user. To help make better use of this resource we have now set a 60 minute timeout period for GroupWise WebAccess.
This 60-minute timeout is set to insure the security of your email. If the time out was not in place, and you were to forget to log out, there is a risk someone else might be able to gain access to your email session and email. If the 60 minute timeout has elapsed, the next time you press a link or send a message, WebAccess will ask you to login and your work will be lost.
If you work on a message longer than the timeout, without contacting the server, GroupWise WebAccess will log you out and you may lose your work. There are workarounds which I have listed below.
Workarounds....
"Contacting the WebAccess Server"
So remember to update your connection regularly and to logout to keep your GroupWise WebAccess session secure.
Centra Central
Jan. 19 – Active Learning Online (Jennifer Jahedkar)
Jan. 26 – Enough lecture! Active learning with Centra (Jennifer Jahedkar)
Feb. 2 – Repurposing PowerPoint (Jennifer Jahedkar)
Enroll or browse upcoming events or learn more about Centra by clicking the Centra Symposium link from the EIT webpage or going directly to http://eit.tamu.edu/centra.html. Playback any of the 250+ recorded sessions from the Public Recordings link at http://centra.tamu.edu/main/tce. For more information, go to http://eit.tamu.edu/Centra/frionline0607.pdf.
Web Tips – Had Enough Dancing Silhouettes?
by Greg Thomas
In the beginning were pop-up advertisements and the marketing industry was pleased. Once turned loose on the web browsing community, they paraded unwanted advertisements before our eyes with impunity. Then came pop-up blockers - software designed to limit or eliminate the nuisance of unwanted on-line advertising. These were very effective, but only for a while. Now arriving on the web scene is the latest version of invasive on-line advertisements – Flash media.
This method includes animation capability that not only places ads on the screen, but also allows them to dance around demanding attention. Perhaps you’ve seen the dancing cowboy silhouettes or the roof top tip toe through the moonlight ads. Both are good examples of the current genre. If we remove all advertisements from the typical web page, there’s not much left except, of course, for the information you originally were looking for. It’s all about mind space.
According to marketing experts; “Winning mind space means acquiring the best real estate inside the minds of potential customers. It means implanting minds with an awareness that a product exists, convincing them that a product is worth trying out, then convincing them that a product is worth buying - in many cases, not just once, but again and again.”
If you use the Mozilla Firefox browser (found on the latest County Support CD), then eliminating these unwanted intrusions on mind space is simply a matter of installing a browser extension called Flashblock. This program blocks flash media additions to whatever web page you’re tying to view and replaces them with empty spaces containing an “F” icon. If you wish to view the embedded flash media, placing your pointer on the icon changes it to an arrow that when left clicked allows the flash media to play.
However, not all Flash media is unwanted advertisements; some are actually necessary parts of a web page. Having the ability to accept or reject individual Flash items on a page is useful.
Flashblock is a small program that is downloaded and automatically installed as part of the Firefox browser. It can be found at http://flashblock.mozdev.org/installation1.html . There are different versions for older copies of Firefox, but this would be a really good opportunity to bring older versions up to date before installing Flashblock. The entire process is quick and not at all difficult.
If you have questions about installing or using Flashblock, please contact any of the friendly folks at EIT for assistance.
Have a web tip you’d like share? Send it to ajhughson@ag.tamu.edu ! Please be aware that if a tip doesn’t make it in right away, we’ll save it for future use.
Helpful Links
Possible URLs to link from your Websites this Month:
Other useful links:
Tip of the Month: What’s Up DOCX?
by Jim Segers
Microsoft Office 2007 is now available. For those who are using it, one new “feature” to be aware of is the new file format type. Microsoft included an “eXtended” file format. It is used when you create new files. For example, the default setting in Microsoft Word for newly created files is docx. That’s great, but if you send this new file type to someone using an older version of Word, their Word will choke on it and give you this message.
If you click ok, and you are online, it will walk you through downloading a 2007 File Compatibility Pack (file size is 27MB). Once that is downloaded and installed, you can open the DOCX files. Considering it will be a while before everyone has 2007, it might be kinder to save the files in the older, more common format (doc). You can do either by remembering to use File>Save As, and select “Word 97-2003 Format.” You can also set MS Word to do that for you - here’s how:
Then click OK to save the change. This procedure also works in the other Office 2007 applications.
Take the time to set this and save yourself and your coworkers any confusion.