As of April 1, 2005, Dell has issued all new quotes for CPSB computer configurations. It is very important that all purchase orders for Dell computers issued on or after April 1, 2005 have one of these new quotes attached. If a purchase order is sent in with an older quote, the processing of your purchase order at Dell will be delayed. Please destroy any older Dell quotes that you have in your school or department as these are no longer valid. 

To obtain copies of the new Dell computer quotes, go to the CPSB Tech Help website at http://help.cpsb.org and click on the “Tech Purchases” link. You can then view the current Dell desktop and laptop configurations and print the current quote. For all future computer purchases, you should always go the CPSB Tech Help website and print the quotes found there. The current available configurations to be found there are:

• Multimedia Desktop ($1222.47)
• Basic Desktop ($907.54)
• Basic Plus Desktop ($993.12)
• Office Desktop ($1125.09 – This is for school & department office use)
• Multimedia Laptop ($1967.79)
• Basic Laptop ($1336.83)

Please note that these are now the standard configurations for all school and department CPSB purchases. These standardized configurations are part of the long term CPSB technology goal to reduce the support costs and turn around times in supporting computer hardware in the district.

It is also important to note that the new quotes include a special CPSB hard drive image that will be placed on the computer during its manufacture at Dell. When the computer arrives at your school or department, you will now need to make sure the computer is plugged into the CPSB network before turning the computer on. During its first startup, it will complete the image configuration started at the Dell factory and join itself the CPSB domain. If you do not connect the new computer to the network during its first startup, you will not be able to log on to the computer with your user name and password. If you forget to do so, turn the computer off, connect it to the CPSB network and then turn it back on to complete the configuration.

If you have any questions regarding this notice, please contact the CPSB Tech Support Center via email at tech.help@cpsb.org or call 491-1690.

Microsoft offers these five tips for safe Internet surfing on public computers.

• Don't save your login information - Always logout of Web sites by pressing logout on the site, instead of by closing the browser window or by typing in another address. This will help keep other users from accessing your information.  Many programs (especially instant messenger programs) include automatic login features that will save your username and password. Disable this option so no one accidentally (or on purpose) logs in as you.
• Don't leave the computer unattended with sensitive information on the screen - If you have to leave the public computer for any amount of time, logout of all programs and close all windows that may include sensitive information.
• Erase your tracks - When you're done using a public computer you should delete all the temporary files and your Internet history.  To delete your temporary Internet files and your history
  • In Internet Explorer click Tools and then click Internet Options.
  • On the General tab, under Temporary Internet files click Delete Files and then click Delete Cookies.
  • Under History, click Clear History.
• Watch for over-the-shoulder snoops - Because there's so much in the news about how hackers can digitally sneak into your personal files, we sometimes forget about the old fashioned version of snooping. When you're using a public computer, be on the look out for thieves who collect your information by looking over your shoulder or watching as you enter sensitive passwords.
• Don't enter sensitive information into a public computer - The measures listed above will provide some protection against casual hackers who use a public computer after you have. However, an industrious thief may have installed sophisticated software on the public computer that will record every keystroke and then e-mail that information back to the thief. Then it doesn't matter if you haven't saved your information or if you've erased your tracks. They still have access to this information.

If you really want to be safe, avoid typing your credit card number or any other financial or otherwise sensitive information into a public computer.

When saving new files, Office will automatically default your save to the My Documents folder. However, this may not be the location you want to save all your files. If so, you can change the default location for all your saved files.

• Click on Tools | Options in the menu bar
• In the "Options" dialog box select the "File Locations" tab
• Under "File Types", click "Documents", and then click the "Modify" button
• Use the "Modify Location" dialog to browse your hard drive to select the new location to store your saved documents
• When finished, click "OK"
• Now when you click File | Save As, your new location will appear in the "Save As" dialog

Search the Web to learn more about the stories behind the stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service, commemorating the people, places, events, and trends of the first decade of this century. Explore Web sites related to the Wright brothers and Frank Lloyd Wright, Ellis Island and the St. Louis World's Fair.

Search the Web for U.S. History of the 1900s:  http://www.usps.com/images/stamps/ctc.htm
Scavenger Hunt Link: http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson130.shtml

It can drive you mad ... you're surfing away when you get a message saying there's an error on the web page and what Script Debugger do you want to use. Here's how to get rid of it. Mostly these web page bugs won't effect your use of the page, it might but usually won't. The intrusive 'script debugging' errors are a nuisance. That nuisance is made worse by many of these bugs generated by pop-up web ads. Sometimes the same message comes up again and again for the same web page (one for each separate error).  To stop the script debugging dialog in Internet Explorer:

• In Internet Explorer choose Tools | Internet Options | Advanced
• Near the top of the long list is the Browsing section.
• In that section are two items:
• Disable Script Debugging - should be ON
• Display a notification about every script error - should be OFF
• Click OK to finish.

It's that simple!

The latest OfficeScan pattern as of 4-07-2005 is pattern 2.532.00. Please check your pattern by placing your cursor over the OfficeScan icon and viewing the pop-up window that appears. If your pattern is significantly LOWER than this (A HIGHER PATTERN NUMBER IS OK), please email tech.help@cpsb.org regarding this or any other question you have regarding OfficeScan.

The information shows the name of the virus, the number of infected files found, and the percentage of the virus from the total.  ALL school board employees need to ensure that their Dell, Compaq, HP, IBM or other PC classroom computers stay virus free. Go to the following link to download the district copy of OfficeScan: http://teacherlink.cpsb.org/officescan and your computer will automatically be updated daily to scan for the latest viruses. You must install the software using Internet Explorer 4.0 or later (Netscape will not work!!!!!) Please answer "Yes" to all prompts as the software installs. If you have any questions, please contact the CPSB Help Desk at tech.help@cpsb.org.

Featured Sites: (These sites were submitted by teachers in Calcasieu Parish)

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