UNCG Online Help Desk

Telephone: 336-334-9782 or 1-866-940-6247

Email: onlinehelp@uncg.edu

AIM Live Chat: uncgischool

UNCG Online Help Desk Hours (Spring 2010):

Monday - Thursday: 7am - 9pm
Friday: 7am - 5pm
Sunday: 4pm - 7pm

Computer Requirements

To succeed in online classes at UNCG, you must have proper set-up for your computer.

Hardware and software

*To check your computer set up, go to this link http://www.supportdetails.com/ to find out.

Web Browsers

To use the Blackboard software and navigate online course material successfully, your browser must meet our minimum requirements (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher for PC, Safari 1.2 for Mac. However, if your school permits Firefox as a browser for either PC or Mac, it is preferred).

To work properly with your Internet-supported courses, your browser must be configured (set up) so that Java and JavaScript are enabled and your software will accept cookies. This is generally already set up for you unless you have changed your default settings.

Blackboard is not designed to work with the AOL browser, the Opera browser, the CompuServe browser, or some other browsers. If you use AOL or CompuServe, you can still connect to your account, but we strongly recommend that you download and install the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. Once you have connected to AOL or CompuServe, you can then minimize AOL or CompuServe and launch one of the other browsers to access your course content.

Note: At this time Internet Explorer version 8 is not compatible with UNCG Blackboard.

Sometimes, you will need to clear your cache to get the most up-to-date site or fix some bugs. To clear your cache:

Firefox

• Select Tools on the menu bar and click Clear Private Data.
• In the Clear Private Data window, check the items you would like to clear. The Cache is your stored temporary Internet files. When you have checked all that you wish to clear, click Clear Private Data now.

Internet Explorer

• Select Tools on the menu bar and click Internet Options.
• Select the General tab from the tabs running across the top of the Internet Options box.
• Locate the section in the middle of the box that refers to Temporary Internet Files and press the middle button Delete to empty your temporary Internet files. Be patient. This may take a while. If it's been a while since you've performed this task, your computer may freeze. Simply restart if this occurs.
• Locate the section in the bottom of the box that refers to History, press Clear History button to clear the History.

Safari (on a Mac)
Clearing browser cache in Safari is a simple process. To do so, locate the “Safari” menu on the main toolbar. The next step is to click on “Empty Cache”. Notice that a keyboard shortcut is also available : OPTION + COMMAND + E

A window will appear asking you to confirm the action. Click on “Empty”:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plug-ins

Depending on the file formats used by the instructor, the plug-ins listed below may be necessary to access course content in Blackboard and course content websites. Follow the URLs and download plug-ins according to the easy instruction steps for single software packages.

• latest Adobe Acrobat Reader (click on Get Adobe Reader)
• latest Adobe Flash Player (click on Get Adobe Flash Player)
• latest QuickTime Player
• latest RealPlayer (be sure to locate the free RealPlayer link)
• Windows Media Player
• Microsoft Office viewers