Cayton Associated Students Computer Lab

Funded by the Associated Students (the student association of SMC)

The lab's computers and printers are restricted to students enrolled in current semester SMC classes who have agreed to pay the semester's optional $19.50 Associated Students (A.S.) membership fee. Lab staff can help non-members of the Associated Students with various problems related to SMC technology, such as forgotten passwords.

LOCATION

The Associated Students Computer Lab is located in Cayton Center Room 209, on the second floor. This is the cafeteria building.
 

HARDWARE

The lab has 92 student computers, all running the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.

The lab has high-speed Internet access.
 

STUDENTS MUST SAVE THEIR OWN WORK ON THEIR OWN MEDIA

Any files left on the computer hard disks are automatically erased at logout.

Students should bring a USB flash drive or other USB media in order to save their files every so often. (Suggestion: put a label on the flash drive and write your name on the label.)

The lab does not have floppy disk drives or ZIP drives. The CD/DVD drives will write CDRW disks but not DVD. It takes several minutes to write a file to a CDRW or CD-R disk, so almost nobody does it.

Students may also use Google Docs or attach documents to an e-mail and send the email to themselves.
 

HOURS

Lab hours are subject to change without notice, but these are the normal hours:

There are other SMC computer labs.
 

HOLIDAYS

The lab is closed on all college holidays, between semesters, and on any day when no classes are being held:

SOFTWARE AND DATA FILES

Software includes Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access from the Office 2010 suite.

Data files for many classes are stored on various computers (servers) on campus. These are only accessible inside the college's labs or through the wireless network.
 

PRINTING

Limited laser printing is provided by the Associated Students Board of Directors, using Associated Students membership fees. Each student computer lab account has a maximum print limit of 150 pages per semester. After reaching the limit, a student may go to another lab to use a pay-for-print system.
 

STAFF

Trained student lab assistants and a professional instructional specialist are available to provide limited technical support within the lab, for software and hardware owned by the college and installed in the lab (except wireless access). This assistance is available to all currently enrolled SMC students, whether the student is a member of the Associated Students or not.

Lab Specialist (days):                         Lee Peterson
Lab Specialist (nights):                       Ramon Salcedo

Dean of Information Technology         Jocelyn Chong
 

LIMITS ON TECHNICAL SUPPORT

All technical support is provided in person in the lab, during normal lab hours. No technical support is provided over the telephone or via e-mail. Technical support is limited to software and hardware owned by the college and installed in the lab.

The lab is not able to provide technical support for equipment owned by students. Please seek information about personally-owned equipment from the manufacturer, a private computer repair company, or books or magazines.
 

WIRELESS HOTSPOTS ON SMC CAMPUSES

The lab does not provide support for college wireless connections. The wireless system is administered by another department, which does not provide user support.

Wireless users must obtain a current SMC computer network username and password in order to log on to the SMC wireless system. Usernames and passwords may be obtained in any SMC computer lab. It's a good idea for students to verify that they can log on using a lab computer before trying to log on using their personal laptop computer and the wireless system.

The college's current wireless hot spots are all on the main campus (Pico Boulevard):

• Cayton Center first floor cafeteria,

• Cayton Center second floor study and meeting area, and

• inside the SMC library. The library hot spot extends to most of the benches just outside the library entrance. The library also has hundreds of fast, reliable ports where an Ethernet cable can directly connect a laptop to the college's wireless network.

Printing is not available through the wireless system. Students generally use flash drives or e-mail attachments to transfer their files, and then print either at home or in computer labs.

Wireless access instructions are online, published by the SMC Library. Limited technical support for SMC wireless access  is provided by the SMC Library staff through online links at the end of the instructions. The Associated Students Computer Lab staff does not provide one-on-one support for wireless access
 

COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS, AND COMPLAINTS

Comments are welcome. Student feedback is helpful. Ask the lab assistants in the Cayton 209 for a paper comment form for suggestions, complaints, or just general comments. The lab assistants can also provide an email address if you prefer to send an email.

Last update: 08/30/12