Computer Labs - Frequently Asked Questions
Following are answers to some frequently-asked questions relating to the two computer labs located within the George Mason School of Law. Click on the question heading to see the related answer.
Please note that these questions and answers are meant to provide basic information about the environment of the computer labs. This information should not be construed as official policies or regulations of the School of Law or any program or department at George Mason University.
List of questions:f
Combined questions and answers:
What software is loaded in the computer labs?
Following is a list of the major software that is installed in the computer labs:
Adobe Acrobat (reader only)
Alladin Expander (for extracting Zip files)
CALI (current year)
Instant Messenger Clients for AOL, MSN, Yahoo!
Internet Explorer (current version)
Microsoft Office XP Professional: Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint
Micfosoft FrontPage
Mozilla Firefox (current version)
Norton Antivirus
Real Player (current version)f
WordPerfect 12
WestCheck
Windows Media Player (current version)
Windows XP Operating System
Secure Shell (SSH) File Transfer
SPSSOther programs available as a part of the Windows operating system are not listed here in detail.
return to top If there are software programs that are required to support curriculum needs for courses in the School of Law or other disciplines (mostly on the Alrington campus), it is possible that additional programs can be loaded. Before any title is considered, proper licensing must be verified. Contact lawsupport@gmu.edu with questions.
At any individual computer workstation, the pay-for-print system works essentially like a normal printer. You simply issue a standard print command, and the print job can then be released from the print station, upon payment for the job. Jobs stay in the print queue for two hours and then they disappear forever. For more information, see Pay for Print.
Yes. Please see the Law School Computing Support, Law Library 362.
The easiest way to save files and any documents you may download is to save them directly to a diskette, USB drive or Zip disc. The computers are set up to allow you to save files directly to these "removable media". If you want to save a file to the local computer, you need to put files into the "My Documents" folder. Please note that while we do provide ample storage space to temporarily store files on the local harddrive, we make no guarantees that these files will remain there for any length of time. If there are ever problems with a given system, one of the most common remedies is to simply re-image the system, which removes all all data stored on the local system.
It is no longer possible to save documents to the computer desktop, as this was causing some security and confidentiality issues.
Each computer has a sound card in it, and you should be able to listen to music CDs from the CD-Rom drive. You can also listen to Internet news broadcasts and streaming audio/video using an available media player. You must supply your own headphones. Since this activity is not considered essential to any particular program, technical support for problems with sound files is very limited.
Security software is installed on all computers in the labs, which limits some of the functions of the operating system. This has been done for reasons of stability and security. Functionality of things like Windows Explorer, "My Computer", Control Panel and the command prompt are either very limited or else they are completely unavailable.
Law School Computing has made every effort possible to balance security needs with ease-of-use for end-users. If there are productivity problems, let us know.
Lab 342 and Lab 350 are both open computer labs for George Mason University students. This means that currently-enrolled students can use the labs irrespective of program or discipline. By and large, the labs are most frequently used by law school students, as they are in the law school's library.
Both computer labs have code-activated locks on the doors, and codes are being issued on an individual basis for currently-enrolled students. Codes can be obtained from the circulation desk in the law library. In order to obtain an access code, users must sign a very brief agreement letter as follows:
Access Agreement (PDF format)
No.
Food and drinks (even in protected containers) can not be consumed in the computer labs.
Computer labs open when the library opens and close 15 minutes before the library closes.
Lab 350 is staffed by DoIIIT during the following hours:
Sunday- Thursday 12:00 Noon - 6 PM, 7 PM - 10 PM
Friday 12:00 Noon - 6 PM
Saturday 12:00 Noon - 5 PMLab assistants should generally be your first point of contact for any problems or questions that arise in the lab environment.
If you are currently enrolled in a program at George Mason University, and you have a question about the computer labs that is not addressed in this document, please send an email message to: lawsupport@gmu.edu.