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New Year's Resolutions for UNT General Access Computer Lab UsersBy Dr. Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Student Computing Services ManagerA little while ago I came across this article I wrote in the year 2000 on the top ten gripes of UNT General Access Computer Lab Managers. It was a great deal of fun strolling down memory lane and recalling the days of floppy disks with viruses and AOL Instant Messenger Yellow Men and Napster kitty-cats appearing mysteriously on lab machine desktops. While that article is more than just a little out-of-date, in the spirit of the season, I invite users to once again review lab policies and procedures and perhaps - just perhaps - make some of these resolutions about their computer lab use. Hey - it sure is easier than giving up donuts or french fries! The following resolutions are updates from the 2000 Top Ten article.Resolve not to attempt to install third-party software, plug-ins etc on the lab machines. Actually, the lab managers now have all sorts of software in use that prevents this kind of stuff from happening but those 'attempted user modifications' still occasionally slip through. Really - other customers are not interested in being the victims of spyware abuses because of some plug-in you just HAD to have on a lab machine. Likewise - they really aren't interested in having that photo of your dog centered on their lab machine home screen. Resolve to follow all printing policies in the labs. If you are unaware of the printer policies of the general access computer labs, amazingly, THIS article - also from the year 2000 - remains relevant and timely today. Remember, if enough paper and toner is wasted and used up, it will end up costing the labs so much money that the wonderful FREE printing that is offered to students at this time will have to go away. Note that a SUB-resolution to the one above is: Resolve to only print to a color printer if you absolutely HAVE to have a color document AND only print single-sided if you absolutely HAVE to in order to fulfill an assignment requirement. Resolve to not come into the lab with a flash USB drive that has a virus on it. This should be self-explanatory. Resolve to not have really loud conversations with other patrons in the lab because it disturbs everyone else. Resolve to not use your cell phone in the lab. Also - turn off the ringer before entering the lab. Resolve to not clog up the print queue. This happens sometimes when someone is printing a very large Powerpoint or PDF. Here is the scenario straight from my 2000 article and it hasn't changed: A patron tries to print a document and it won't print for some reason. Rather than asking his friendly lab staff about the problem, the patron sends the document to print again. It still doesn't print so he sends it again..... All this does is jam the print queue (the "line" in which all documents wait to be printed on a specified machine) and make matters worse for everyone. By the way, these are the same people who punch the elevator button several times thinking that it will make the car come faster. Everyone just wait patiently - that PDF or Powerpoint WILL eventually come out of the printer! Note that a sub-resolution of this one is: Resolve NOT to print Powerpoint slides one to a page. Set the page to print multiple slides to a page. Resolve not to waste General Access Computer Lab machine time playing games. This is actually not such a bad thing when it is slow but you will be loved by no one during October midterms when a long line of term paper customers are waiting while you play Yahoo Checkers. Resolve to be very nice to the lab personnel. That should be self-evident. Remember The Golden Rule! Resolve to save your work regularly. And furthermore, if you DON'T save regularly and your lab machine freezes and crashes and you lose all your work, don't yell at the lab personnel about it. The General Access Labs are public labs. With so many users on the machines, occasionally the poor computers do give up the ghost and Murphy's Law says that this will occur at around page 19 of your unsaved 20-page term paper that is due in a half hour. Save your work early and often. Resolve that if a General Access Computer Lab has some sort of highly specialized equipment in it, you will become fully versed in how to use the equipment and all the policies and procedures around it before diving in and possibly mucking it up! The lab personnel will be happy to help you learn specialized equipment and software - because that is how they earn their paychecks and also because they are such nice people!  This recording studio is some highly specialized equipment in the College of Music General Access Computer Lab AND FINALLY....Resolve to NEVER say, "This lab really sucks and nothing ever works" when ONE machine is out of order!
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