PC LAB SERVICES

The MERC computer lab consists of 41 PC's, 2 networked black and white printers, 1 networked color printer, and 3 scanners. We also have 2 photo copiers. The PC's are intended for general use by the COP student body. Please see the MERC Rules page, for MERC and university rules and guidelines concerning computer use.

A few helpful notes regarding computers in the lab:

The H: Drive is your friend ; Every student is assigned space on the H Drive upon entry to the college. This is essentially a giant networked hard drive on which all students get space. The drive can be accessed from any computer in the college, and allows users to safely store their work at the college and open it when needed. The drive can even be accessed from home using FTP. (See Sarah Jones or Russ Palmer for FTP instructions

Don't save to the C: Drive!; This is kind of a corallary to the previous tip. If you're saving to your H: drive this won't be a problem. The C: drives on the MERC computers are frequently wiped clean, and no information that you save there can be retrieved once this has happened. Of course, another popular alternative is to bring your own removable storage device to save your work to.

Throw away your floppy disks: Floppy disks are the dinosaurs of the removable storage world! We've too often seen students lose important data due to a malfunctioning floppy disk, not to mention the fact that they store a pitifully small quantity of data. Invest in a removeable usb drive of some kind. It could save you a lot of work.

If you have any questions regarding the use of any equipment in the MERC don't hesitate to ask Sarah or Russ for help.