Changes to Public PCs

This information came from ERIT about two weeks ago but I didn't see it posted here, so apologies if I have missed it, but I think it is important to note:

We are preparing to replace the Internet Only Public PCs. There are a few changes to the way the Internet Only PCs function.

First, they are no longer Internet Explorer only. In addition to Internet Explorer, we have installed Firefox and Chrome on these machines. This was done in response to request by patrons for access to other browsers.

Second, no browser is open by default. This means that when a patron walks up to a Internet Only PC they will need to open the browser of their choice before they start working. This change was made due to the fact that multiple browsers are now available on the machines. Also, this will resolve the issue of large numbers of Internet Explorers being opened.

Third, there are no Microsoft Office viewers installed on the PCs. Unfortunately, Microsoft stopped supporting the viewers with Office 2010. The newer versions of Office are no longer supported and compatibility issues occur when attempting to view and/or print newer versions of Office with the old viewers. To help assist patrons with using Office documents on these PCs, a icon has been placed on the desktops that links to a help file containing the following information:

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Accessing Microsoft Office Documents

Microsoft Office documents that are saved to an external drive maybe accessed using one of the options below. Microsoft Office documents on the Internet must first be saved locally.

UNCG Students, Faculty, and Staff may access Microsoft Office documents using the online versions of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. Click the link below to go to the UNCG Office 365 portal and login using your UNCG username and password.

http://office365.uncg.edu

Users not affiliated with the University may access Microsoft Office documents using their own personal of business Office365 account. Click the link below to go the Microsoft Office 365 portal and login using your personal or business account.

http://portal.office.com

Users may also be able to access some Microsoft Office documents using viewers provided by online services such as box and Google Drive.