ITS Computer Buying Guide

Step 4: After your computer arrives

Phew! That's over! You are now a few hundred (or thousand) dollars poorer, but one computer richer. Take a break, bookmark this page (Favorites/Bookmarks > Add this page..), and come back here in a few weeks after your computer arrives in the mail.

A few weeks later...

Okay, your shiny new machine has arrived, and if you're anything like me, you can't wait to start surfing the internet, installing programs, and checking your e-mail. However, before you do this, please, please, please read this page:

Safer computing

It won't take very long and can really save you a lot of headaches down the road, some of which may be serious enough to require completely erasing your computer's hard drive and reinstalling all your software.

Relax, computers are cool!

Okay, now that we've got that messiness out of the way, you may want to start taking advantage of, you know, that computer thing you just ordered. Go surf the web, check your e-mail, play a game, have fun! Speaking of e-mail, here are instructions for setting up your e-mail, along with other common tasks, as well as some useful links:

How to:

How to set up your Pomona e-mail account (you need to know your Pomona username and password)
Getting the mostest from Firefox
How to connect to the network once you get to Pomona
How to print to Pomona network printers (from your dorm room)
How to save files to your Pomona userspace (from your dorm room)
Come up with a data backup system

Useful sites:

Google - If you want to search the web for, well, just about anything, Google is the answer.
The Wikipedia - The largest free encyclopedia on the internet. It's actually pretty rare to find something the Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for. (Note to Firefox users: just type "wiki your_word " into the address bar to automatically search the wiki)
Dictionary.com - Searches many online dictionaries and displays the result for you. Also has a thesaurus. (Firefox users can type "dict your_word " directly into the address bar).
IMDB.com - Ever thought an actor in a movie looked familiar, but couldn't remember what else he's been in? The Internet Movie Database is the answer (Firefox shortcut: "imdb your_search ").
The Pomona ITS Wiki (you are here)
Pomona Webmail - Allows you to check your Pomona email account from anywhere, just by typing http://mail.pomona.edu into a web browser. NOTE: for "Username", enter your Pomona email address in "xyz01234" format (e.g. ces02004, not cecil.sagehen).
My.Pomona.edu - A good place to check your classes, GPA, and the official course list.

FAQ