Your essential guide to student IT services @ QMU QuickstartIT Your essential guide to student IT services @ QMU

Logging on to the student workstations Before you can access any student IT services, you have to logon first. To logon, you need to know 2 things: Your username Your password Before you can get a username and password, you must be a matriculated student. You can matriculate online at the QMU student portal Find the student portal here: http://u.qmu.ac.uk

How to login on campus(1) When you sit down at any workstation on campus, you will see this screen: Click on QM desktop to select it.

How to login on campus (2) When the login screen appears: In the username box, type in your username. In the password box, type in your password. The first time you login, use the password you got when you matriculated. Click OK.

About passwords The first time you login, you will be prompted to change your password. You won’t be able to finish logging in until you’ve chosen a new password. There are some special rules about the kind of password you can choose.

More about passwords Your password must be at least 7 characters long. QMU password ‘rules’: Your password must be at least 7 characters long. Your password must contain 3 of these types of characters: Uppercase letters (ie A, B, C etc) Lowercase letters (ie a, b, c etc) Numbers (ie 0, 1, 2 etc) Non-alphabetic characters (ie $, !, £, % etc) An example of a suitable password might be: Fr@nce98 Remember these important points: Your password cannot be the same as your username. Your password cannot contain your full name or part of your name.

Activity 1 Log on to a QMU student workstation. When prompted, change your password.

The QMU student desktop The QMU student workstation uses Citrix thin client technology. This state-of-the-art technology is more secure than traditional PCs and is much “greener”. It is easier to upgrade to the latest software. All the workstations on campus have the same standard desktop. The desktop is based around Microsoft Windows XP.

Getting around the student desktop Click on the <Start> button at the bottom left of the screen. Click on <All Programs> to see all the applications you can use. You will find the Microsoft Office applications (eg Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc) under Microsoft Applications. Find out more about the student desktop here: About the student desktop Getting started with the student desktop

Activity 2 From the student desktop, find the application Microsoft Word. Then find Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Answers to Activity 2 From the student desktop, find the application Microsoft Word. Click on Start > All Programs >Microsoft Applications > Click on Microsoft Word. Then find Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click on Start > All Programs > Acrobat Reader

Student email @ QMU All matriculated students are given their own QMU email address and mailbox. Staff will use your QMU email address to communicate with you about your studies, or about other aspects of campus life. You need to check your QMU mailbox regularly for important information about your studies.

Your QMU email address Your QMU email address is based on your QMU student number. If your student number is: 09001234 Then your email address will be: 09001234@qmu.ac.uk

Using your QMU mailbox On campus, you can access your mailbox via Microsoft Outlook, or via Webmail. You will find Outlook in the Microsoft Applications folder on the student desktop. Webmail is accessed via an internet browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox. All QMU staff and students are listed in the Global Address List (GAL). You can use the GAL to select the names of people you want to email.

Sending emails with Microsoft Outlook To send an email: Click on <Start> Choose <All Programs> Select Microsoft Applications and click on Microsoft Outlook Click on your Inbox Click on New to open a new message. In the To field, put the name of the person you are sending the email to. To enter the name, you can: Type it in the format: 09001234@qmu.ac.uk Click on the address book icon to open the Global Address List (GAL). You can then choose the person’s name from the list. Give your email a subject. Type your message. Click on Send to send your message.

Activity 3 Open Microsoft Outlook. Click on your Outbox. Use the GAL to send yourself a message.

Answers to Activity 3 Open Microsoft Outlook. Click on your Outbox. Click on Start > All Programs > Microsoft Applications > Microsoft Outlook Click on your Outbox. In the left-hand pane, click on Mailbox – “Your name” Use the GAL to send yourself a message Refer to the slide: Sending emails with Microsoft Outlook

Manage your QMU email inbox Your QMU mailbox has a size limit This limit is currently set at 50MB for undergraduates. Postgraduate students have a limit of 100MB. This means that you must manage your mailbox. There are a few ways you can do this: Delete all the messages you don’t need. This includes emails you have received. Emails you have sent (Sent Items). Remember to empty the Deleted Items folder. You can also save space by saving any email attachments sent to you elsewhere.

Activity 4 Open the email you sent to yourself in Activity 3. Click on Reply. Send yourself a reply. Highlight the original message by clicking on it once. Click on the ‘X’ button to delete the message. Go to the Deleted Items folder. When prompted, click on Yes. Go to the Sent Items folder. Delete both messages which you have sent. Delete these from the Deleted Items folder as well.

More about QMU email If you have lots of messages in your QMU mailbox which you must keep, then you could set up a personal email folder to store. This is also known as a PST file. It is stored in your home directory. To create a new email personal folder: In Outlook, click on Tools on the top menu bar. Choose Email accounts. Make sure the option View of change existing accounts is selected and click Next. Select New Outlook data file. Office Outlook Personal Data Files should be highlighted. Click OK. At the Create or Open Outlook Data File dialog box, make sure you select your home directory (or Z:\ drive) as the location. Outlook suggests that you call your new folder Personal Folders. Click Open to accept this and create the folder or else give it another name.

Using Webmail Webmail lets you check your QMU mailbox from anywhere via the internet. You need a computer with an internet connection and internet browser software. The QMU webmail internet address is: https://mail.qmu.ac.uk/exchange You will need your QMU username and password to login. Once logged in, you can use Webmail to send and receive emails. It looks much like Microsoft Outlook.

Activity 5 Open Webmail. Send an email to your QMU mailbox. In Outlook, check the size of your Inbox folder. In Outlook, right click once on Mailbox – Bloggs, Joe. Select Properties for Mailbox – Bloggs, Joe Click on the Folder Size button. This will show you how much data is stored in each folder in your Mailbox.

Answers to Activity 5 Open Webmail. Send an email to your QMU mailbox. See the slide: Using Webmail Send an email to your QMU mailbox. Click on the New icon and complete the To: and Subject: fields then type your message. In Outlook, check the size of your Inbox folder. In Outlook, right click once on Mailbox – Bloggs, Joe. Select Properties for Mailbox – Bloggs, Joe Click on the Folder Size button. This will show you how much data is stored in each folder in your Mailbox.

Other Microsoft applications Microsoft Word is a word processing application. You use Microsoft Excel to create spreadsheets. Microsoft PowerPoint is used for presentations. To access all Microsoft applications: Click on <Start>. Choose <All Programs>. Select Microsoft Applications. Choose the application from the list.

Activity 6 Using Microsoft Word: Open Microsoft Word. It will open to a blank document. Type this: This is my first document. Save the document. To save, click on File and then choose Save. Or click on the Save icon. You will be prompted to give your file a name. Call it: myfile By default, your files are saved in your home directory.

Managing your file space All students are given a home directory. Only you have access to this area. The area appears as the Z:\ drive in My Computer. It also appears as the [My Documents] folder. All work saved in this folder can be accessed from any student workstation you logon to. You should save all your important work and data to this folder. By default, most applications will prompt you to save your work here. Your Z:\ drive is held on a central QMU file server. Your data is backed up daily. You have a total of 130MB of space available in your home directory. For students on most courses, this should be more than adequate. If you need more space for your coursework, ask your lecturer to request this from Information Services. If you need to share work with others – incl your lecturers – again ask your lecturer to request this from Information Services. Your Z:\drive must only be used to save course-related documents and files. You are not permitted to store non-work items, eg MP3, WAV etc. Not only do these take up space, by having these you may actually be breaking the law.

Activity 7 Managing your file space: Click on <Start> and choose <My Computer>. Find the Z:\ drive and double click on it. Find the file called myfile which you created in Activity 6. Click once on the file to highlight it. Delete the file. To delete the file you can either click on File and choose Delete. Or you can right click once on the file and choose delete. Once the file has been deleted, it is stored in the Recycle Bin on your desktop. The file will stay there until you empty the Recycle Bin.

Accessing the internet All student workstations have access to the internet via the QMU local area network. The standard internet browser is: Microsoft Internet Explorer It is accessed via the [Start] menu. The browser is configured to start at the QM:u student portal home page: (http://www.qmu.ac.uk/portal/default.htm). This page is also accessible from any internet-enabled computer outwith QMU.

Using the internet If you know the address (URL or uniform resource locator) of a website: Type it in to the address bar, and click Go. Or, you can also use an internet search engine. Possible search engines include: Google (www.google.com) MSN (www.msn.com) Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) Lycos (www.lycos.com) etc.

Activity 8 Find the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. Next: Type in www.google.com. Search for Queen Margaret University. Use the links to go to the QMU website. Next: Type in www.yahoo.com Search for BBC. Use the links to go to the BBC news website. See if you can find local (ie Edinburgh / east of Scotland) news.

QM:u – student portal QM:u is the student portal. You can access it from: http://u.qmu.ac.uk It is also the internet ‘home’ page when you are on campus. The portal is used for online student matriculation. You can use the portal to check and amend your personal details. It is also used to publish exam results. Access to QM:u is available only to matriculated QMU students.

Activity 9 Access QM:u student portal. Login using your QMU username and password. Check that your personal details are correct.

About WebCT WebCT is QMU’s virtual learning environment. Most courses use WebCT to publish lecture notes and other learning materials. Some courses undertake online assessments via WebCT. Your LRC induction material is also published on WebCT.

Accessing WebCT WebCT is available online at: http://learn.qmu.ac.uk It is also available via quick links on the main QMU website and the QM:u student portal. To login to WebCT, you must be a matriculated QMU student. You login using your normal QMU username and password.

Activity 10 Accessing WebCT: Open Internet Explorer. Go to: http://learn.qmu.ac.uk Login with your QMU username and password. Access the LRC induction material.