Campus help pages/FAQs
 There's a lot to take in when you start a new course and the information provided here will help. Registration and logging in is actually very simple and straightforward if you follow the steps below. If ever you get stuck, simply click on the 'a' in 'campus' at the top of the page, and you'll be right here.
Top tip!
 Two of the most common problems encountered are lost or wrong usernames and passwords, so golden rule number one is to record these somewhere safe. Please don't rely on the original email notifying you of your username and password, nor on your memory. They can/will get lost, deleted or forgotten, so it's far better and will save you a lot of potential trouble in the future if you write them down somewhere straight away.
Good luck and enjoy the course!
- How do I access the my course area?
- How do I access the Practice Lab
- How do I access the forum/message areas?
- Help - my password doesn't work!
- How do I start a new thread?
- How do I reply to a thread?
- How do I subscribe to a thread?
- How do I subscribe to a forum?
- How do I protect my PC from viruses?
- How do I give my PC a clean up?
(Clearing your PC, including cache/temporary internet files etc, is important from time to time and failure to do so can cause your PC to run slowly or cause password problems)
- Uploading Word files to the message board
- Accessing the chat room
FAQ 1
Accessing the course area
Once you have enrolled and been accepted for a course you will be provided with a username and password. This will ensure access for you to the relevant area of the campus, which is reached by clicking on the title as in the picture below. Obviously, the example is for the General Certificate area and this will differ according to what course you're on.
When you click on 'General Certificate' in the example above, you will see the screen below. This is where you enter the username and password sent to you by your course tutor. The username always begins with the letter 'p'.
top
FAQ 2
Accessing the Practice Lab
Once you're in to the your course area you then need to access the practice lab, where there are registration and weekly practice forums. The process is simple but requires initial registration:
- Click on the 'Register' tab
- Choose a username
- Choose a password etc
Complete the various registration fields and, when registered, if you tick the 'remember me' box, you won't need to complete the log-in every time you visit. However, never do this on a shared computer where security might be an issue.
top
FAQ 3.
Using the Practice Lab
Having accessed the practice lab, to ensure maximum security, all students on your course will be required to enter one simple, shared password to access the various forums/message areas. This password will be given to you once you have enrolled and been accepted for the course. If you tick the box shown in the image below you will be remembered each time you return. However, never do this on a shared, public PC.
top
FAQ 4
Help - my password doesn't work!
Sometimes students encounter password problems, which can be very frustrating for them and time-consuming for everyone as we try to figure out the cause. It's worth noting that, on almost every occasion when this has happened, the problem has been down to a local issue, so it's always worth double checking a number of things before you seek help:
- Are you trying to access the correct forum?
This might sound like a silly question but, as courses end and new ones begin, we do move them around and so it's important to check that you're knocking on the right door!
- Are you spelling the password correctly?
It's easily done so make sure that you've witten the password exactly as it was given to you i.e. if it was Sn0w it wouldn't work if you rewrote it as snow.
| Clearing your PC, including cache/removing temporary internet files etc, is important from time to time and failure to do so can cause your PC to run slowly and sometimes be a cause of password problems. See FAQ 10 for information on how to do this. |
top
FAQ 5.
How do I start a new thread?
You can only start a new thread when you are at the 'beginning' of the forum - i.e. you can see the various thread titles but not the individual messages, as in the picture below.
If you then click on the 'Forum Tools' tab on the left at the top, you can choose 'Post a New Thread', as shown below.
top
FAQ 6.
How do I reply to a thread?
You can reply to a thread using the 'Reply' tab on the right hand side of the top and bottom of a thread as in the picture below.
(NB The picture of the page is cut down and only shows the top and bottom threads. This is to save space and is just to show you where the reply tabs are).
top
FAQ 7.
How do I subscribe to a thread?
 Login to your message board account and click on the title of the forum within which the thread is situated. Click the title of the thread to which you would like to subscribe.
Toward the top left corner of the thread you will see a 'Thread Tools' link. Select the 'Subscribe to this thread' option as illustrated.
top
FAQ 8.
How do I subscribe to a forum?
Login to your message board account and click the title of the forum to which you would like to subscribe.
Click the 'Forum Tools' link located toward the top left corner and select the ' Subscribe to this forum' option.
top
FAQ 9.
How do I protect my PC from viruses?
Antivirus software is used to prevent, detect and remove malware, including computer viruses, worms and trojan horses. Such programs may also prevent and remove adware, spyware and other forms of malware. It is essential that you have effective, up to date protection. For more information on the subject please visit this Wikipedia page.
Free Virus Protection Programmes
Paid for anti-virus software can cost anything from £30 to £50 per year but there are free alternatives.
Microsoft Security Essentials
Microsoft's security essentials package is free to users of 'genuine Windows machines' ( it will verify your copy ). Three versions are available, for XP, Vista and Windows 7. It works well and is used on several PCs by our webmaster, Andrew.
Avira Antivir
Antivir has won many technical publications' free antivirus testings by providing fast and thorough protection.
Avast! 4.8 home edition
Alwil's Avast! home edition offers good detection of known malware but it is usually beaten by Antivir in tests. The latest version provides a range of features similar to those one would have in a paid-for program.
AVG Free
AVG has been around for a while and so has undergone several modifications leading to its position now as a good all rounder, although technical support could be improved.
AVG's quite unintrusive, does not use too much PC power/resources and regularly auto-updates. It includes LinkScannner, a threat detection tool, which checks links (Firefox and IE only), and marks unsafe ones with red flags. It is also available separately as a plugin for anyone already using another anti-virus suite.
Important!
New viruses and bugs are developed and unleashed on a daily basis and it is essential that protection is updated regularly to reflect this. It is good practice to undertake a full scan of your PC once a week and more often if you suspect that you may have been infected.
top
FAQ 10.
How do I clean up my PC?
Clearing your PC, including cache/removing temporary internet files etc, is important from time to time and failure to do so can be a cause of a slow-running PC, as well as access/password problems. Clearing the cache
Every web browser stores a cache of the websites you visit to reduce future bandwidth usage and server load. This is called the browser's cache and clearing it occasionally can free up space on your PC's hard drive and remove old passwords and older, since updated versions of web pages etc. This can also help speed up your PC, so it's well worth doing anyway. Following the links below will take you to pages that outline the steps that you'll need to take to clear the cache for several of the main browsers and to clean your PC etc (all of the links are to external websites and the pages will open in a new window).
FAQ 11.
Uploading Word files to the message area
Unfortunately, the message/forum areas do not currently accept documents created in the latest version of Word where the saved file ends with the suffix 'docx'. This can be overcome by saving in an earlier version of Word or simply by saving as 'doc'; i.e. by taking off the 'x'.
We hope to be able to resolve this issue soon.
FAQ 12.
Accessing the chat room
Not all courses need to access the chat room but, if you do, you will need to ensure that you have Java installed on your PC. This is a free, easily acquired programme. If you'd like to find exactly what Java is and what it does follow this link. To install java on your PC please follow this link.
You can ensure that java is enabled in your browser by following these instructions on the java.com website. One thing to note, even if Java is enabled in the browser, it can sometimes be blocked by security software such as ZoneAlarm Pro or in a browser extension such as NoScript. The Adblock browser extension can also cause Java to stop working if OBJ-TABS are enabled. After enabling Java, restart the browser and then make sure that java is working by following the verification instructions below.
It is possible for your installation to fail if you do not have proper privileges on the computer you are using. Once you have installed Java, you can verify your installation to ensure that it was properly installed. You can also use this link to check that you have the latest version on your PC (you simply click on a button and your PC will be checked automatically ).
top |