Based on the experience of hundreds of students over more than two years, we have found that the actions on the following checklist fix the a large percentage of irritating problems that occur on the web in general.

There are problems other than those fixed by this checklist. If the checklist doesn't fix your problem (see #6, below) click on the Emergencies and Frustrations button on the Important Resources page and contact technical support. Technical support will do it's best to work with you to solve the problem.

SHIFT/RELOAD: This is simple to do and costs little time, so it's worth doing first when something does not work on the web. Hold down the Shift key and click Reload on the bar along the top of Netscape. The Reload button is next to Home and Search on Netscape.

In Explorer hold down the the Control key and click Refresh.

In this class, and in general on the web, Shift/Reload causes your browser to go back out on the internet and re-download the page. So any momenty glitch on the internet will not be stored for months in your browser's "cache" memory and continue to cause you problems that have long ago been fixed.

RE-LOGIN: Leave this online class web site and re-login. This only takes a minute and it will fix many problems quickly.

Our login process automatically re-starts the StatCenter server which runs this class. So, if the class itself has "crashed," logging in again will start the class back up. If that is the case, a little box will appear telling you that your log in is restarting the class.

COOKIES: Your "cookie" only lasts 2 hours. After you have been logged in to the class for more than 2 hours nothing will work and you have to log in again.

(When you login to class you send us a "cookie" which identifies you so we can give you credit for you work. Your cookie expires in 2 hours.)

When you get back to where you were working, remember to Shift/Reload the problem page.

CLOSE BROWSER--RESTART BROWSER. Close Netscape or Explorer or whatever browser you are using. Browsers are very complicated programs and sometimes they get glitches. Best way to get rid of the glitch is to close the browser and re-open a fresh version of it. We find that the more consecutive hours you are using a browser without restarting it, the more likely it is to get glitchy or even crash.

Shift/Reload when you get back to the page with trouble if it still is acting up.

SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPUTER AND RESTART. Sometimes the operating system on your computer gets glitches. This seems especially true of PC's with Windows operating systems. PC's with Linux or MAC's seem more stable. Properly shutting down your computer will generally reset the operating system so that things work more smoothly.

Shift/Reload when you get back to the troublesome page.

CHECK THE UTAH SERVER. Go to the main home page of the University of Utah (www.utah.edu). If the University of Utah's main page is not available, then the Utah server is down. This class lives on the Utah server. So when Utah is down, this class is down. Utah is seldom down for more than a few minutes, so take a break and try again in a little while.

U-Online lives on a different server than this class does. So U-Online may be running when the Utah server and therefore this class is not. So don't check U-Online. Best to check the University of Utah home page.

CHECK YOUR ISP SERVICE. ISP stands for Internet Service Provider (e.g., xmission, aol, uswest, att, etc.). Your ISP is the company that connects you to the internet.

Try to go anywhere on the web, for example, click on "Search" on your browser. If you can't get anywhere on the web, then your internet service is interrupted. Generally, just wait a while, but your ISP will have procedures for reporting service interruption.

Obviously, if you can't get on the net, then you can't work in the class. Try again in a little while.

TRY ANOTHER COMPUTER. This is less a solution for most people than it is a diagnosis. If the class works on other computers but not on yours, then we need to make an adustment in how your computer is set up. Knowing that will help technical support help you set up your computer properly.

On the other hand, if the problem occurs on more than one computer, knowing that also helps technical support find the problem and start problem-solving with you.

PROBLEMS NOT ON THE LIST. In the complexities of computing, especially on the web, any number of problems can occur. We will do our best to solve them in partnership with you. We are in this together.

GIVE US IMPORTANT INFORMATION. If you contact technical support please tell us if you have a PC or MAC, what operating system you are using (e.g., Windows 98, OS 8, etc.), time and date that the problem occurred, what part of the course you were on (e.g., Normal Tool, Web Text, Desk, etc.), and what you were doing at the time. Also include, if you can remember, any error mnessages that came up.

Feel free to contact us even without the "important information," but the more we know, the faster we can work with you to solve the problem.