Adobe Acrobat Reader issue and fix

After a rash of calls today about Adobe Reader, it looks as if there was an update released overnight that is hampering our system. Here's how to fix it:

If you cannot open a pdf file or get an error that says something about "the current adobe reader cannot open pdfs in your browser...",

1. Close all browser windows and tabs. (Internet Explorer and Firefox)
2. Go to the Start button, then All Programs (Windows 7) or Programs (Windows XP) then find Adobe reader 9 and open it.
3. Wait for it to finish installing itself, then you can go back to your preferred browser and function again as expected.
3A. you can close reader if you want either before or after starting a browser again

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Voicemail issues

During regularly scheduled voicemail system maintenance last night, the system failed to reboot properly. So, if you were trying to access your voicemail between 10 PM and 2 AM, you were not able to. Also, you should really consider some sleep remedies.

Many thanks to Tim "Night Owl" D'Antoni and our friends at ESG and Mountain Dew for getting the system running again. After the system came back up, it reverted back to Dec. 8, 2000. So, some voicemail messages left this morning incorrectly say they are over a decade old.

Sorry for the confusion.

Safe URL shorteners

This is an announcement from Lightspeed about two new URL shorteners that are safe, and will therefore not be blocked by the content and security system on our campus network.

In late 2009 Lightspeed Systems noted an increase in the misuse of URL shortening/redirect services (e.g. Tinyurl.com, bit.ly, cli.gs). These are services that take lengthy URLs - often with descriptive attributes embedded by web developers - and make the associated pages available through a shortened web address.
Unfortunately, these services create a couple of problems for school networks. First, they make it possible for users to access proxy servers and circumvent the filter and your policies. Second, these links are used by spammers to hide the true destinations of links in their messages. As a result, Lightspeed Systems changed the category for these sites to the normally blocked Security.proxy category.
Of course, we recognize that there are several reasons that URL shortening can be useful, so we are providing an alternative that schools can use safely: lsurl.me and mbcurl.me. To remain CIPA compliant, we check all submitted URLs against our database and will not shorten URLs that are in our porn or security categories.
Also our shortener works as a re-director, not a proxy, so all shortened URLs are redirected to the requested site and will fall prey to any applicable content filtering policies.
Review "URL Shortener Redirects" on the Lightspeed Wiki to ensure lsurl.me and mbcurl.me are in an allowed category - and that all other URL shortening websites are in a custom-blocked category that redirects access attempts to either lsurl.me or mbcurl.me.

Desktop computers to shut down automatically at 6:00 PM

To save electricity, money, and the environment, all desktop computers will shut down automatically at 6:00 PM. Laptop computers will not be affected.

As a general rule, please remember to shut off all electronics when you are done using them. The 6 PM shutoff is just to catch any desktops that were accidentally left on.

If you happen to be working on a desktop at 6:00 PM, you'll get a nice message telling you that it's planning to shut down, but you can keep working if you want.

Multiple Sign In for Google Accounts

If you have a personal Google account, you may notice that you are unable to sign in to both your personal account and your Google Apps account in the same web browser simultaneously. This has some people asking if the accounts are somehow merged or something.

Rest assured, your accounts are still separate. In fact, Google is protecting that separation by keeping you from logging in to both accounts at once. I think they do this so that there is no confusion about which account you are using, so that you don't accidentally share data from one account to the other.

However, you can change your preferences to allow you to be logged in to both accounts simultaneously. This is called Multiple Sign In. Instructions for enabling Multiple Sign In are available at http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=181599

Alternatively, you can sign in to your Google Apps account in one browser (e.g. Firefox) and your personal Google account in another browser (e.g. IE, Chrome).

Hopefully that helps. Sorry for the confusion.

Google Apps Sign In

Depending on how you log in to Google Apps, you may encounter a generic login page. If you are trying to access your own personal (not OSD) Google account, you should enter your personal email address and password. To access your OSD Google Apps account, you need to enter your full OSD email address (as illustrated below), not just your initials.

This lets Google know that you are trying to log in to the Oregon Google Apps domain, and it will take you to the OSD Google Apps Login page, shown below, where you can login normally with your initials and password.

Transitioning all staff accounts to new Google Apps infrastructure

In the next couple days, all staff will have their Google Apps accounts upgraded to the new Google Apps infrastructure. This will provide you with access to many more Google Apps, such as Blogger, Picasa, and Google Voice, through your OregonSD.net account.

A few people have conflicts, which means that your "@oregonsd.net" email address is linked to a personal Google account that is not part of the oregonsd.net domain. When you log in to the personal account that has the conflict, you will be prompted to choose a new email address to associate with that account. Other than that, you don't need to do anything, and all your data associated with your personal account will remain there.

You can view more information about conflicting accounts here.