There are four key elements you need to know to be able to effectively communicate with the Help Desk or anyone who asks about your Internet connection. These are:

Your type of computer
Your Internet Service Provider
Your connection speed or service type
The browser you use to connect to the internet

Your type of computer - you are using either a MAC or a PC. MACs are built by Apple and have names like I-MAC, MAC book, MAC book Pro, and MAC Pro. PCs are built by everyone else, and come with Windows or Linux. Although both MACs and PCs have similar functions, KCMA only supports PCs. This does not mean you need to run out and buy a PC, but you do need to know how to get help with a MAC or Linux PC on your own if there is a problem.

Your Internet Service Provider (ISPs) - Knowing who provides your Internet service can sometimes help resolve problems. For example, if you use AOL, it is often necessary to open an additional browser and minimize AOL to have full access to some websites. Other ISPs can have other types of issues that the help desk can work around, if they know your ISP. You can tell who your ISP is by thinking about who you pay for monthly internet access. If you are using a computer in a public place, such as the library or your school, you can ask at the desk or ask your information services administrator. They will know what to tell you.

Along with your ISP, you should know your data connection speed. This is the rate the data travels to get from one place to another. Most data travels as megabytes per second (Mbps) but some dial up networks and wireless networks might be as slow as kilobytes per second (kbps). The slower the speed, the longer it will take to download things from the Internet. The speed can especially be significant if you are in a chat room or other real time activity (these are called synchronous activities). Luckily for you, most connection speeds are identified by other letters, which indicate their speed. Broadband, cable modems and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) are high speed connections. Dial-up and Wireless are often slow. So, you should know which of these 5 you are using. KCMA recommends you use a high speed connection to optimize your online experience.

Last, but not least, you should know which browser you are using. A Web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network. Some of the Web browsers available for PCs include Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Netscape. Knowing your web browser provides information about access to websites and allows the help desk to direct you. KCMA prefers you use Internet Explorer, but they support the others pretty well.

NOTE: AOL users should know that they access the Internet from AOL's site and will need to have an additional way to get to Angel once they have created the access to the Internet. You can download the software for any of these browsers from the Internet.

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