Software at the U of M

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COMP1260 > Software at the U of M



Introduction

The University of Manitoba provides its students and faculty members with a wide range of software products to facilitate the education process. Many of the applications you may need to successfully complete your assignments and prepare for class are already installed and available in the numerous computer labs. Furthermore, the University of Manitoba maintains a rich website with information and software which you can download and use on your personal computer or laptop. Some of the products available via this channel are “Site licensed”, which means that you can benefit from commercial products for free while on-campus. So let’s begin our journey through the U of M software.

 

...by students

How to set-up your UofM e-mail in Gmail?

I use Gmail for my correspondence. However, I also know that it is important not to miss any e-mails sent to my U of M account. That's why I have set up Gmail to check my U of M e-mail and send messages as if I was using the U of M website. Here is how to do it:

  1. Log-in to your Gmail account
  2. Click Preferences
  3. Go to the Accounts tab
  4. Click on "Add another e-mail account" and fill in the required information. You will be required to verify your U of M e-mail. Just follow the directions and check your U of M e-mail by clicking here.
  5. Click on "Add additional messaging account" under Retrieve messages from different accounts.
  6. Fill in the information as required. The POP server address is: mail.cc.umanitoba.ca and port: 110

Test if everything is working by sending an e-mail to YourUofMaccount@cc.umanitoba.ca . It will take a few minutes to get to your Gmail. Also when sending an e-mail you should be able to choose the e-mail to be sent from your U of M account.

Congratulations, now you don't need to open the U of M e-mail page every day and you can check your e-mail on your Android (HTC G1) phone on the go!

In the labs

As you probably already know, there are a number of computer labs all around campus. These facilities are intended to give you all the tools you need to make it through university with a big smile on your face. :)
If you need a program for an assignment or class, you will find it in the lab. Here are just a few of the applications available to you on-campus:

  • Microsoft Office 2007
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader
  • Matlab
  • etc.
University of Manitoba lab

To use them, all you have to do is to log-in with your UMnetID. If you don’t have one, just follow the simple ClaimID procedure.


Web-based

The university provides some web based applications which you can use to access your U of M account on your PC (on campus or at home), or on your laptop (while connected to the free on-campus WiFi).

U of M e-mail account

As a student at the U of M, you'll need your university e-mail account. You automatically get an address of the type: umSomething@cc.umanitoba.ca when you claim your UMnetID. Some professors may send e-mails to their students’ U of M accounts. In addition, they may also only accept e-mails from these accounts. That’s why you should always check your U of M e-mail. You can do so by following 3 simple steps:

Make sure you log-out from your e-mail when you are done using it.

Your H: drive

Your H: drive is your “on-line USB stick”. Although USB memory sticks are very accessible nowadays and you probably already own one, there is always a risk that you may forget it or lose it. To avoid the awful feeling of losing an assignment you have been writing for a week, you can simply store it on your H: drive and access it from everywhere. While in a lab, simply save or copy the file you are working with on drive H: instead of on the desktop. To access this file from your laptop or home computer, simply open this address in your browser:

You will be prompted for your UMnetID and password (the same ones you use to log-in in the computer lab). After submitting this information, you will gain access to all your files and folders. Do not forget to Log-out after you finish using the system.

Print on-campus from your laptop

Sometimes you may forget your printed assignment at home on the due date. As you can imagine, that would certainly not be a pleasant moment, especially if you can’t open it on the campus computers. Nevertheless, if you have it on your laptop you can easily print it on-campus by using the following web tool:

You will be prompted to install the iPrint client software for Microsoft Windows. After that you can print on any printer on-campus from your laptop. You can also print from home; however, you carry the risk that someone may “recycle” your assignment before you get to campus. :)

Softwarexpress

The University of Manitoba offers a website from which students and faculty can download popular applications on their Windows or Mac computers. You can find it by opening this web address:



The first thing you have to do to access the software collection is to choose your operating system. Windows 2000/XP/Vista and MacOS X are supported. When you have made your choice, just click “Continue”. You may be asked to log-in with your UMnetID and password. Most of the applications you will find on this website are distributed for free. Nevertheless, Softwarexpress gives you a convenient list of links to most of the software you may need on one page. A few of the programs you should certainly consider installing are:

Softwarexpress website

Antivirus Suite

You should definitely protect your computer with a modern antivirus program if you are using Windows operating system. If you don’t already have a program like the commercial Norton Internet Security (and for some reason you cannot install the free AVG Internet Security), then you can try Trend OfficeScan AntiVirus available through Softwarexpress. It may not be the best option[1], but it is certainly better than having no antivirus program at all.

Compression/Extraction (ZIP and RAR files)

All Microsoft Windows operating systems, beginning with Windows XP, include support for compressed (zip) files. However, you may find that a file you need to open is compressed with WinRAR and you cannot open it with Windows Explorer. In that case, you can use a program called PowerArchiver which is available through Softwarexpress. Although it cannot compress in RAR format, it can definitely help you if you ever need to open a RAR file.

OpenOffice (a Microsoft Office alternative)

Nowadays computers and laptops ship with Microsoft Windows or MacOS X installed. However, you will rarely find Microsoft Office included in the bundle. You may find that you often need Word, Excel and PowerPoint to do your assignments, open notes or do research. One option is to purchase a discounted Student copy from the BookStore. If you are on a tight student budget, this may not be something you can afford. In this case you can either use Microsoft Office on a lab computer on-campus or you can download OpenOffice for free from Softwarexpress. It can open and save Microsoft Office files as well as accomplish some of the basic tasks you may need - but be prepared to spend some time getting used to the different interface.

Further Readings

  1. http://mail.cc.umanitoba.ca/ - U of M e-mail control page
  2. http://webmail.cc.umanitoba.ca/ - Direct access to check your e-mail
  3. http://ins.umanitoba.ca/netstorage/ - Your network storage (drive H:)
  4. https://iprint.cc.umanitoba.ca/ipp - On-line access to U of M printers
  5. http://webapps.cc.umanitoba.ca/software/ - Softwarexpress (U of M software collection)

References

  1. ↑ Mitchell, D. 2003. Corporate anti-virus software (PC Pro Magazine, Issue.100, February 2003, pp.193) Available on-line at: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/36766/trend-micro-officescanserverprotect.html Accessed: 23 November 2008.

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