So you're working on a PowerPoint presentation for class, and you want to make sure it plays properly on any computer...not just your Mac or PC. What to do? Here's a short list of tips for making sure your presentations operate with minimal fuss in a cross-platform world.

Users upgrading to Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) will find that their Cisco Clean Access login agent no longer functions. ITS is investigating solutions to this issue.

Faculty and staff Mac users connecting to the wireless, as well as students using residence hall ports or wireless, should use the CCA login page to connect. After selecting DavidsonWLAN (wireless) or plugging in your network cable (residence halls), open a browser and enter your username and password on the presented login page. This will connect you to the network and you may work as usual.

Note: This applies to personally-owned computers only. ITS is not upgrading College-owned machines to Leopard at this time.

As you may know, Congress passed a law that changes the start and end dates for Daylight Saving Time (DST). The end date for DST is Sunday, November 4th, 2007.

Microsoft released the patch for the Daylight Saving Time change in August. ITS has already applied the necessary update to all campus servers and college owned computers. As a user, the update should be transparent to you and requires no additional action. Campus Apple computers did not require any updates for the DST change and are unaffected.

More information about the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Daylight Saving Time change is available from the US Department of Energy http://www.energy.gov/about/EPAct.htm

Apple, Inc. today confirmed plans to release Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) to the public on October 26. This is a pretty exciting upgrade, including a claimed 300 new features and abilities. ITS has been tracking Leopard's progress for more than a year now, and based on the previews we've seen, we expect the new Mac OS to improve campus computing for Mac users substantially.

Testing the release version of the product, developing new master images and generally getting the new OS ready for deployment will take some time. For stability and security, ITS will likely wait until Apple issues at least one update to 10.5 before we release it to campus. In the meantime, watch this space for more news about what you can expect from the next big cat.

This may be the Office 2008 update most of you have been waiting for. Today over at Mac Mojo, Microsoft serves up the straight dope on the new Entourage 2008 mail client. Today, they're mostly discussing calendaring (since that was one of the biggest sources of user complaints). What's so great about the new version, you ask?

• Set your meeting status directly from the calendar
  
• Improved meeting organizer tool for updates to meeting status, etc.
  
• Reply, Reply to All and Forward meeting information (and access these options directly from the calendar)
  
• Better handling of stale invitations
  
• Better notifications of conflicts and adjacent appointments
  
• With our new Exchange 2007 server, better handling of the "Automatically accept meetings as tentative" feature
  
• Better resource booking

Continuing their efforts to publicize the new features and technologies in Office 2008 for Macintosh, Microsoft's Mac team have posted up a bit of information on the new version's improved Toolbox feature, which gives you access to a host of formatting features in a single, collapsible window. Check it out.

The Mac team have also provided a spiffy update to the Charts function of Excel. The new version will have a more polished presentation and new tools. More information at Mac Mojo.

Sophos Anti-virus Home Use Option enables Davidson College faculty and staff to install Sophos Anti-virus on one personally-owned Mac OS computer (PowerMac, iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Pro or Mac mini). These instructions will walk you through downloading and installing the software, which will then update itself via the Internet at regular intervals.

Microsoft's Mac Mojo blog continues to put out new information about the forthcoming update to the Office suite. Today's entry from User Experience lead Han-yi Shaw talks about the new Elements Gallery feature.

So, what is this new Elements Gallery? Well, it’s a visually rich gallery that allows you to quickly find commonly used, but often times hard-to-create elements. For example, many users know that you can create beautiful tables, charts and diagrams in Office, but not everyone knows where to find or create them. The Elements Gallery is intended to unlock the power of Office by making our rich functionality more discoverable and accessible. No longer do you need to search through hierarchical menus and tunnel through dialogs only to find another sea of commands. With the Elements Gallery, you can focus your time on exploring and perusing the collection of professional and attractive designer content. “Great looking Office documents made easy” is an important pillar of Office 2008 and the Elements Gallery is a cornerstone to this effort.

Microsoft yesterday opened a new Mac Office 2008 preview website, with extensive video documentation of the new suite's interface and features. Take a minute to check it out. (Warning: The entire site is Flash-based, and can be quite slow to load.)

Microsoft's Mac Business Unit yesterday posted the first in a series of teaser information releases regarding their forthcoming Office 2008 for Macintosh product. In this first post at Mac Mojo, the MacBU team talks about the unfortunately-acronymed OOF (Out of Facility) feature -- more commonly known as Out of Office. For years now, Mac users have asked for an easy-to-use, flexible tool for setting Out of Office notifications without using Outlook Web. With Office 2008, Microsoft promises to deliver just that. Check out Mac Mojo for full details.

Microsoft continues to cite a December/January time frame for the release of the new version. ITS will work to get Office 2008 to the campus community as quickly as possible following that release.

We are pleased to announce that ITS will be supporting the new Apple iPhone connected to Davidson's Exchange 2007 e-mail system and our newly expanded Wi-Fi network.

Most new gadgets, including laptops and cellphones, use lithium ion (LiON) batteries. While these batteries are far lighter and far more powerful that the previous generation of nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, they do suffer their own unique set of problems. Iron Cook at Spicy Gadget Roll recently published a quick list of tips for overcoming or avoiding these problems. I've condensed the list below; follow the link for full details.

I know how it is. You download a file from the Internet, and it's simplest just to drop it on the desktop. That file you're always working on, well -- easiest just to put it on the desktop where you can find it, right? Text clippings, URLs, video files you need to watch. Anything and everything tends to accumulate on your desktop. (I've see this happen to the point where the desktop simply fills up and icons begin stacking on top of one another at the top right!)

Very possibly, yes. Entourage, Address Book and iCal are all compatible with Apple's built-in iSync technology. All that remains is to figure out if your phone, PDA or other external device is also recognized by iSync. Luckily, Apple keeps a list of compatible devices!

They also have a comprehensive list of help articles for connecting particular devices to your Mac. With iSync and your mobile device, your data can go everywhere you go.

Apple's Bluetooth wireless keyboard and Might Mouse are great accessories, ridding your desk of wires and freeing you to rearrange your desktop as you like. Unfortunately, they also eat batteries. Worse, if you don't pay close attention to your menu bar or go through an annoying series of clicks and windows to check their battery level, they'll drop dead unexpectedly.

To help avert that annoyance, Jack Starmer has put together a quick, clean and simple battery monitor widget called Mighty Monitor. Once it's installed, it makes monitoring your wireless accessory batteries as simple as pressing F12. To get it, follow the link, scroll down to the Download link, double-click the download zip file, and then double-click the unzipped widget to install it. Handy!

Apple, Inc. announced late yesterday their plan to delay the release of the next version of Mac OS X until October, 2007. The company cited the need to devote software engineering resources to the new iPhone.

Apple's official statement, and ITS' take on the implications for Davidson, after the jump.

Portable computers like the MacBook and MacBook Pro get more popular every day. In addition to being powerful and flexible tools, they're nice looking machines. When you travel frequently with your machine, though, keeping it spiffy can be a problem.

WIth that in mind, I recommend three accessories for your MacBook/MacBook Pro to help keep it looking good.

I'm a speed nut — when I'm working at the computer, I do everything I can to save time. That includes using a lot of keyboard shortcuts to avoid using the menus. Still, there are always some commands that don't have keyboard shortcuts. Getting to those means taking your hand off the keyboard, grabbing the mouse, finding the cursor, and then finally going to the menu bar to access the command.

Until now.

Apple and Scott Kelby just pointed out this super-handy timesaver (note that this trick requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later). To activate the menu bar, just press Control-F2. The Apple menu icon will highlight. Now you can move left and right using the left/right arrow keys to select the menu you need. Press Return to drop the menu down, then type the first letter of the command you need, and the selection will jump to that command. Pressing Return selects the command.

No mouse involved! Perfect...fast and simple.

Beginning in October, ITS will make Dreamweaver 7 and Adobe Acrobat 7 available to faculty and staff for both the Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Please watch the top level ITS Web page under “News and Events” for the official announcement on how to request these software products.

Adobe has recently announced the addition of Acrobat Professional 8 to their software line but has not made the product available for use. When Acrobat Professional 8 is officially released, individuals using version 7 will have the option to upgrade.

If you are backing up your computer with the Maxtor OneTouch drive, you should check at least once a month to ensure your backups are taking place.

To check if your backups are running on a Dell with Windows XP: click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Scheduled Tasks. Locate your Weekly Backup task and ensure the “Last Run Time” date listed is no later than 3 weeks ago. If your system indicates a date older than 3 weeks ago, please email the Help Desk and request that someone check your backups.

The Mac backup is an exact duplicate of the user's home directory, so verifying is just a matter of checking that the contents of the backup drive match the contents of the backup source (i.e. the home directory). You can also open SilverKeeper and look at the Status tab for a summary of the date and outcome of the backup attempt.

If you do not have a Maxtor OneTouch drive, please email your request to the Help Desk. This option is available to both Mac and Windows XP users. If your computer's operating system is Windows 2000 and if it has a Davidson College property tag over 4000 you will need to upgrade to Windows XP prior to the installation of your Maxtor drive. You will need to submit both a Maxtor drive request and a Windows XP upgrade. Please use davidson\username when prompted.

Apple, Dell, and other laptop manufacturers voluntarily recalled millions of batteries last month. Because these batteries may overheat and cause a fire, they will be replaced at no-charge to their customers.

Learn more about the recall, determine if your battery has been recalled, and how to request a replacement.

Apple

Dell

In addition, Toshiba America today announced a voluntary exchange program for Sony-made batteries in select Dynabook and Satellite models sold in the United States between March and May of 2006. This does not affect any College-owned machines, but if you use a Toshiba Dynabook or Satellite at home, you may wish to contact Toshiba support at (800) 457-7777 to determine if your machine is part of the recall.

It’s probably a sign of the times that security updates for computers are now national news. Read any of the Internet news outlets—The New York Times, CNN, or MSNBC—and you’ll see stories about security vulnerabilities in our software and what the vendors are doing about it. During April both Apple and Microsoft released sets of patches deemed “critical.”

Automatic Updating

Whether you use a Mac or a PC for your personal use, patch distribution can be handled either automatically or manually. For Davidson-owned Windows systems, patches are pushed out by a system called “Windows Server Update Services” or WSUS. The WSUS server synchronizes its patch inventory with Microsoft. After a period of testing and evaluation, most patches are approved for distribution. If your system ever asks you if it’s ok to apply patches, you should save your work first, and answer "yes." Automatic updates may also be configured on non-Davidson Windows machines. It’s one of the property settings of “My Computer.” On April 11 Microsoft released several critical patches, one in particular that addresses vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. Whether your system is Davidson-owned or not, you don’t need to visit the Microsoft Update site yourself; your system can handle updates automatically for you.

On the Macintosh side, the security patches were bundled into a “point upgrade” of OS 10.4—specifically 10.4.6. These point upgrades are more like the service packs periodically released by Microsoft for its Windows operating system. Various Macintosh support programs also received minor upgrades making the complete suite of updates over 100 MB. Like a Windows machine, there are various ways of handling updates, the most common is by configuring the “Software Update” application under “System Preferences.” The Apple updates were released on April 5.

Exploits Typically Addressed

Often the types of updates released by Apple and Microsoft are very similar in the types of exploits that they address. The two main categories that they address the most often are buffer overruns and privilege elevation. The buffer overrun vulnerability can allow savvy attackers to execute their own programs that might attack your computer or take control of it. The privilege elevation vulnerability can allow an attacker to gain administrative control of your computer and cause further damage. At Davidson we make every effort to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to patching. The modern operating systems we use the most, such as Windows, OS X, and Linux, are extremely complex so vulnerabilities are bound to crop up. Staying up to date on security patches, like staying up to date on virus scanning software, is an important way to ensure the integrity of your system.

Problem: By default, documents created in Word, Excel and PowerPoint may contain revealing information regarding the document's author and/or commenters/editors.

Cause: This is the default behavior for Office applications.

Solution: The solution varies slightly for each program, but all are generally similar.

Important Caveat: These procedures do not anonymize tracked changes or inserted comments in a document. These items are attributed by their nature, and must be manually modified.

Mac OS – Office 2004

Word

Open Word and choose Word | Preferences | Security.
Under Privacy Options, check Remove personal information from this file on save. This will strip author name, initials, etc.
If you wish to be alerted when a document contains trackable information such as comments or edits, check the box marked Warn before printing, saving or sending a file that contains tracked changes or comments.
Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Note: The command to remove personal information is not "sticky." It must be enabled for each document you want information stripped from.

Excel

Open Excel and choose Excel | Preferences | Security.
Under Privacy Options, check Remove personal information from this file on save. This will strip author name, initials, etc.
Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Note: The command to remove personal information is not "sticky." It must be enabled for each document you want information stripped from.

PowerPoint

Open PowerPoint and choose PowerPoint | Preferences | Advanced.
Clear the fields marked Name and Initials.
Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Note: This action is not "sticky," and must be performed for each new PowerPoint file.

Windows – Office XP, Office 2003

Word

Open Word and choose Tools | Options | Security.
Under Privacy Options, check Remove personal information from this file on save. This will strip author name, initials, etc.
If you wish to be alerted when a document contains trackable information such as comments or edits, check the box marked Warn before printing, saving or sending a file that contains tracked changes or comments.
Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Note: The command to remove personal information is not "sticky." It must be enabled for each document you want information stripped from.

Excel

Open Excel and choose Tools | Options | Security.
Under Privacy Options, check Remove personal information from this file on save. This will strip author name, initials, etc.
Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Note: The command to remove personal information is not "sticky." It must be enabled for each document you want information stripped from.

PowerPoint

Open PowerPoint and choose Tools | Options | Security.
Clear the fields marked Name and Initials.
Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Note: This action is not "sticky," and must be performed for each new PowerPoint file.

Here's a quick quiz on passwords.

Do you share any of your passwords?
Do you use "password" as your password?
Is your password the same as your username?
Is your password something that would be easily guessed, like your last name, a pet's name, or "1234."
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions it is important that you read up on Password Security. Even if you think your password is secure check out the article to review your responsibilities for your accounts and passwords.

Davidson's virtual private network (VPN) service is now available to Macintosh users. This service allows computers that are not physically wired to the Davidson campus network to be treated as if they were, with full access to all network resources -- email, file servers, etc. In this way, off-campus computers can function as full members of the College network.

To use the VPN connection software, you must have a Power Macintosh computer running Mac OS X 10.2 or better (10.3 or better is recommended). To request the connection software, please complete this form. ITS will send you a service agreement to be signed and returned. After the agreement is on file, you will receive instructions for downloading and installing the software -- a simple six-step process.

Once the VPN software is installed and your computer is connected to the Internet, three clicks will tie you into the Davidson network and open up your computer's access to our network resources!

As always, if you have any questions about this service, please contact Brian Little.

ITS is pleased to announce wide-scale availability for the newest revision of Mac OS X, version 10.4.5 -- also known as Tiger. This newest version of the operating system offers several news tools, including Widgets and the new Spotlight search tool, as well as the usual crop of speed and stability enhancements.

This upgrade is not currently required, but is highly recommended for all users. To upgrade, your machine must be at least a PowerMac G4 running at 450MHz or faster. You should have a minimum of 512MB of RAM, and at least a 20GB hard disk. Not sure if your system meets the specifications required? Call Brian Little at x2429 and he can help you find out.

If you're ready to upgrade, service is on a first-come, first-served basis. Request the upgrade by completing this form, and someone will contact you to schedule your install. If you have questions, please contact Brian Little, and he'll be happy to help.

ITS offers three methods to faculty and staff for getting to your important information from off-campus. That information can be your email using the Outlook full client, files on Louise, or confidential information on Banner or another server. All of these methods provide secure access for your connection. Note: Entourage does not need any special configuration to access the email server from off-campus.

Methods for secure remote access:

RPC over HTTP - Remote Procedure Calls over HyperText Transfer Protocol - allows use of the full Outlook client.
WebDAV - Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning - provides access to files on Louise.
VPN - Virtual Private Network - gives you access like you were on campus.

Apple Computer began a two-year transition from PowerPC to Intel CPUs last week with the announcement of the MacBook Pro and the Intel iMac. This transition process is expected to last well into 2007. ITS is looking into acquiring one of the new models for testing.

With respect to software, finalizing the transition may take longer. Apple currently provides a technology called Rosetta, which allows PowerPC-based software to run under OS X for Intel. Predictably, this involves a reduction in performance. While we have not actually seen this firsthand, the numbers being bruited about are in the 30% range. With this in mind, users of high-performance computing applications, graphics software, and similar CPU-intensive programs should consider waiting until their software is converted fully to Intel before looking into a switch to the new hardware.

For standard and supported applications like Office, performance under Rosetta is said to be acceptable — a claim ITS will verify as soon as possible. Thus far, the only campus application known to not work at all under the Rosetta compatibility package is VirtualPC, which Microsoft has committed to updating.

Apple is, thus far, not forcing the transition. The new Intel-based units are being offered alongside their predecessor G4- and G5-based machines. ITS will test the new products thoroughly, and will notify the campus community when they are available as supported computers.

Following a successful test period last semester, ITS is ready to begin deployment of Mac OS X 10.4, also known as Tiger. This newest version of Apple's operating system offers an array of new and improved features, from better Windows interoperability to Widgets. Along with the new operating system, ITS will provide an improved version of our ADmitMac login software.

Minimum system requirements for getting Tiger your Mac are: 450MHz or faster G4, 512MB of RAM, and a 10GB or larger hard disk, with at least 5GB free. The upgrade will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and Tiger will now come standard with all new Macintosh computers. At this time, Tiger is classified as a noncritical update -- none of the features it provides are required for campus computing.

If you're interested in discussing an upgrade to Tiger, please contact Brian Little or the Help Desk.