TIMING

We initially thought that the ordering and recieving the computers could present a problem. We ordered the computers before spring break, and thankfully they had arrived on time, directly after spring break.

HARDWARE

Because we received new computers for our site, hardware problems weren’t initially an issue.

SOFTWARE

The Roxio creator program that was installed as part of the OS reported a driver that had an incompatibility problem with the system. We had some problems diagnosing and finding the correct driver. It was eventually found in the Roxio help site, somewhat hidden in the site- marked as a DLA patch. We also discovered that the computers did not have anti-virus software the day before we were leaving for East St. Louis. This fact was surprising because the computers came with anti-spyware and anti-adware software. Martin downloaded an anti-virus program from Cites and we used the CD he burnt to install the software on all of the computers. We also had to update the anti-spyware and anti-adware software which was already loaded and make sure the computer was automatically checking for updates (by checking the appropriate boxes in the set-up menu)

SET-UP

On the day of the set-up we had problems getting our computers online. We did some troubleshooting of the issue by checking to see if other computers in the building were connecting to the WAN. We determined the internet connection in the building was fine and eventually discovered the 4 port hub was not working. Martin graciously spent a large amount of time standing in line with less than friendly fellow customers at Best Buy to buy a new 8 port hub. On site, T, one of the class volunteers, asked us to create a separate Administrative user account (with the initial General User accounts having more limited access), we were able to do this while showing the morning class of teens what we were doing and having them assist us with the process. We had a brief moment of trouble when one of our passwords was slightly different than the others, but this situation was quickly resolved by Natalie figuring out the typo.