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This Week's Topic Coping with Technology Glitches in Software Handling software problems requires preparation, prevention, and a willingness to contact technical support. This week we will discuss various practices that can help you minimize and avoid software problems. This Week's Tips Using Software in the Classroom (Monday) When using software in class, include an exercise that illustrates how the software works. As you prepare your exercise, consider the following: Reserve equipment early. Prepare the exercise in a format suitable for your presentation technology (e.g., data projector or other tool). Before the class, test the software, the presentation technology, and your exercise in the classroom environment. When accessing the Internet, prepare back-up data in case a particular Web site is not available.
Software Glitches—Contact Technical Support First! (Tuesday) When software is not working properly, contact technical support before trying to fix it. As the experts, they will (hopefully) solve your problem quickly and easily. To help, technical support will usually require: registration information that identifies you as a registered user, the type of computer you are using, the operating system (e.g., Windows), and the name and version of the software. You will also need to explain the specific problem in detail. Software Glitches—The Readme File and Customer Support (Wednesday) Software manufacturers typically include last-minute software problems and fixes in a readme file and/or on its Web site. These resources are worth exploring when your software is not operating correctly. The readme file (titled “readme.txt” or “readme.doc”) is usually copied onto your computer during installation, or it will be on the installation diskette. Open the readme file in Windows Notepad or your word processing program. You can also try visiting the manufacturer’s Web site and searching the customer support page. Software Difficulties—Losing Your Work (Thursday) Prevent accidentally losing or altering your documents when mastering new software. Try these tips to avoid wasting your time and effort: Save documents early and often. Before trying something irreversible, save the current file with a new filename. If your changes don’t work, you can always open up the old file and try again. Learn how to use the "undo" and “redo” features of your software. Software Glitches—Short-term Fixes (Friday) Sometimes you can't reach technical support, or you don’t have enough time to pursue help due to an impending deadline. Here are a few suggestions that may cure your software problem in the short term: Uninstall and reinstall the software without changing any of the standard installation options. Work around the problem (i.e., find another way of doing the same thing). Create a whole new data file, because the problem may be with the original file. |
