ASMS Dragon Mail has arrived. You can find the instructions for activating your account here. The account, once activated, will not expire and you will be able to use it even after you graduate from ASMS. Unclaimed accounts will be deleted upon your graduation from the school. If you want to close your account you can email the IT department and request to have your account removed from the system.

Any alumni interested in getting a Dragon Mail account can contact the helpdesk.

Posted: April 15th, 2009 under Uncategorized.
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Here are the steps you need to connect a SharePoint calendar, or any other SharePoint folder, to Outlook 2003 or outlook 2007:

Open a browser and go to the SharePoint folder. For Master Calendar go to: http://sharepoint/sites/asms/

Click on Master Calendar listed under Lists in navigation pane.

(Note: If you get an error when you open the above link, just refresh the page (F5) and the error will go away)

Once you can see the calendar on the page open the Actions menu and select Connect to Outlook.

You will be able to see the ASMS Master Calendar listed under your Outlook calendars.

You will not be able to make any changes to the calendar if you are not given the contribution rights for the calendar. If you have contribution rights, you can make changes to the calendar on the SharePoint site or through Outlook 2007. Connected calendars (SharePoint Folders) in Outlook 2003 are read-only.

Posted: November 12th, 2008 under Tips.
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Almost all new computers that ship these days come bloated with software that you are never going to use. Many of these applications, and many applications that you install yourself, are set to start up whenever the computer is started. These apps take up your system’s RAM which can adversely affect your system’s performance.

To keep tabs on these applications that start up automatically each time your computer is started, you can utilize the software explorer tool included in Microsoft Windows Defender. Windows defender is included with Windows Vista and can be downloaded free of charge for Windows XP SP2 from Microsoft website (http://www.microsoft.com/spyware)

In Windows Vista, and in Windows XP after you download and install it, Windows Defender can be launched by going to startmenu -> programs-> Windows Defender. Once the program launches click on Tools in the top menu. In Tools and Settings window you can click on options to set preferences for the program. You can change the time for or disable the Automatic Scanning feature, set default actions for when threats are discovered, and even disable the Real Time protection.

After you have set the options you can click on Software Explorer icon in Tools and Settings Window. Software explorer will list all the programs that are set to start automatically on your computer. You can go through the entire list and disable all programs that you think do not need to run in the background. Please not that disabling programs here will not uninstall the program. You will still be able to use the program whenever you start it up from desktop, start menu, or the program directory. Disabling programs will only result in them not being loaded into your system’s memory at start up. You should disable all the programs that you think are unnecessary. If you later decide you want any of these programs to load at startup you can get back to the software explorer and enable the program again. After you have made sure you are not going to need the program you can actually remove it from the start up list as well.

Please take care not to disable your antivirus program’s real time protection (resident shield) as that will leave your computer exposed to malware.

Depending on how long your list of start-up programs is, disabling them can significantly increase your computer’s performance.

Posted: August 26th, 2008 under Tips.
Comments: none

Many incoming students and parents have questions about Edline access. Here is some basic information for accessing the Edline portal.

Student schedules for all incoming students are uploaded to Edline at the beginning of the first week of school year. Edline accounts for all new students are created during this upload.

Student Edline Activation Codes and signup instructions are placed in student mail boxes.

Once the student accounts have been created (that is at the start of first week and not before) parents can be issued activation codes for parental access to Edline. Parents can submit the following information to the helpdesk email to request activation codes:

1. Full name of the parent(s)
2. Full name of the student
3. preferred email address of the parent

Parents can share a single account or can request individual accounts by submitting information separately.

An activation code can be used at  www.edline.net to activate an account.

All parents and students are encouraged to keep their Edline profile updated with their current email address as most teachers and administrators will not maintain separate email lists and will primarily use Edline to send emails.

Posted: August 6th, 2008 under Announcements.
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Network folders can be mapped as drives for easy access in Windows.  To map a new drive all you need is the address of the folder and access permissions. Follow these steps to map a network drive:

• Start by opening My Computer.
• From the tools menu choose Map Network Drive.
• Once the Map Network Drive window opens you will have the option of selecting which drive letter you want to assign to the drive. Choose any available letter for the Drive field.
• For the Folder field, enter the address of the desired folder. On our network it will be something like \\Server\path\FolderName.
• You can leave the Reconnect at logon option checked if you want to have the drive available next time you log on to the computer. 
• Click finish.

The new drive will be visible in My Computer and it can also be referenced in the address bar by using the assigned drive letter.

Posted: July 18th, 2008 under Issues.
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