Greetings to all students, new and returning. The semester starts up on Monday and that may mean starting your ramen noodle-only diet. Hopefully it also means being ready to hit the floor running by having your laptop and software ready to go. If you don’t have your laptop or software yet, take a look at the recommended laptop (click the Recommended Laptop button on the right), and the recommended and required software that’s divided by major. Lots of software is offered at greatly discounted prices for students. Just be ready to verify your student status with your student ID if companies need it.
See you soon!

(Always remember to backup all of your files) Please keep in mind that information stored on MIAD computer’s hard drives may get wiped over break.

Sadly in the past students have lost tons of work. Hard drives fail, CDs break, and external hard drives crash. Students have lost literally years of their art. This has all been preventable too. Simply back up your data, and back up your backups. It may seem like a pain, but you’ll be glad you did if something unfortunate happens to one of them. Don’t lose your portfolio, don’t lose your thesis, don’t lose your mind! Just back up.
For some more details on why or what to backup to here’s a short article: The Computer Backup Rule Of Three.

If that’s not enough, maybe this nifty video from MIAD’s IT department will do the trick:

Don’t let your career end before it begins!

Heads up to everyone looking to purchase software!
Protect yourself from identity theft by shopping online only at reputable sites. Some websites, such as Soft Buy and Applications Outlet, are scams and will just take your money and personal info.

Shop smart.

A laptop is an expensive and important investment. If it is lost, stolen or broken it can set you back monetarily and academically. So think about ways you can protect your investment.
Look into coverage like
– Apple Care
– Square Trade
– Worth Ave Group
– In some cases homeowners insurance may cover certain laptop misfortunes as well

Different plans cover different things, like mechanical failure or theft, so before purchasing coverage decide what coverage is best for you.

So we’re a laptop school now, and making sure your $2000+ investment doesn’t disappear is important. If you have to leave your laptop while you go to the printer, or the bathroom, or anywhere away from it make sure it is secure. Utrecht is having a sale on their Kensington laptop locks to help you do that. They’re usually $44.99 but on sale they’re only $35.99 (sale ends on 2/20).
That may seem like a lot to a starving artist and poor student, but compared to how much you’d have to pay to buy a new laptop if yours got stolen, it’s a wise investment.
Check out more ways to keep your laptop safe at safety .

A new forum has opened up on the Moodle titled Ideas and Suggestions Forum. You can access it through the Open Book (Laptops) course that you’re auto-enrolled in. This forum is meant to be a place for ideas or suggestions on how to improve the Laptop Learning program at MIAD.
For any other comments please use the General Discussion Forum.

Scanners are located in 250c and various classrooms. Click here here to see the instructions of how to scan using Preview, as well a links to scanner drivers. Students can download and install these drivers on their laptops so they can plug into the scanners via their USB 2.0 ports and scan.

A cheat sheet to many laptop questions, and an application to set up printing, install Cintiq drivers and more on a MAC is available here:

Cheat Sheet Linking

click me!

If you are operating a Windows machine please stop by Technology Services on the 2nd floor to set up all this manually.

Keeping your laptop safe is your responsibility. Please check out the Open Book Safety page for tips on how to keep your property safe from theft and damage.

The Fall 2011 required and suggested software list has been compiled and reviewed by MIAD faculty. Please take some time are review the list and be prepared for the upcoming semester. Have a great spring break!

Fall 2016 Software List