Forgot your Project Vincent password?

Want to connect your home or office computer to the campus network?

Want to create a web page?

Afraid you have a computer virus?

Have no fear, the Solution Center is here.

The Solution Center at 195 Durham Center provides “one-stop shopping for computing needs of the students and faculty at Iowa State,” said Dorothy Lewis, associate director of Public Services.

It brings together services from groups spread throughout Durham Center, such as User Services, Telecommunications, Reference and Supplies, Access and Accounts, and the Student Network Access Project (SNAP).

Staffing for the Solutions Center is provided by employees of Telecommunications, the Computation Center and Administrative Data Processing staff, Lewis said.

Their commitment has been instrumental, Lewis said, now that there is a high demand for computing assistance.

The Solution Center staff is currently emphasizing “connectivity.” While connectivity isn’t a word found in the dictionary, it’s heard all through Durham.

It means “getting connected to campus by phone, at the office or at home,” said Frank Poduska, consulting and publications manager at User Services.

Connectivity can be anything from requesting Ethernet to running applications, in addition to the delivery of these services, he said.

The Solution Center also helps students set up e-mail, newsreaders, Telnet and File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

“The Solution Center will constantly be changing focus; we will be concentrating on the needs of this campus. Right now, it happens to be connection to the network,” Lewis said.

The center offers several handouts and “do-it-yourself” advice, and appointments can also be made with the SNAP team if there are complications.

SNAP team members make campus house calls to assist with the installation of network cards and software so students can connect their personal computers to the campus network. They also provide help to off-campus students by phone.

The SNAP team’s 12 student assistants also troubleshoot problems users may be having while using the network, said SNAP Coordinator Cyndi McClendon.

SNAP is funded by student computer fees and provides its services free of charge, McClendon said.

One student praised the Solution Center for the help she received.

Sue Wernimont, junior in agricultural biochemistry and nutrition, was having trouble with the Ethernet card and a lack of computer memory while running Netscape in her residence hall room — until she called on a SNAP assistant.

“He was able to solve the problem,” she said. “He explained the problem to me and answered all my questions.”

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Where to go for computer help

Computing assistance is also available in the Help Room, 138 Durham Center.

A student staff provides application support on all four operating systems supported by the Durham Center — Macintosh, DOS, Windows, and Unix. However, the future of the Help Room is unknown.

Assistant Director of User Services Mike Bowman said he would like to move some Help Room staff into the Solution Center at 195 Durham Center. The Help Room is currently across the hall from 139 Durham Center, a large computer lab of Macintosh, PC and Project Vincent stations available for use 24 hours a day.

“Things will be kept flexible,” said Dorothy Lewis, associate director of Public Services. “We don’t want to limit any future possibilities.”