SMARTHINKING Technology for PC Setup

This document is intended to provide a checklist of technical requirements that need to be met before students can use a PC to access SMARTHINKING services through www.smarthinking.com. The intended audience is technical personnel who are already familiar with PC configuration changes. General setup requirements and other technical FAQ are available online at the following location: http://www.smarthinking.com/static/customerSupport/technicalRequirementsFAQ/

I. Basic Setup

1. Hardware recommendations

   a)     Windows

o        16MB available memory for the application

b)     Macintosh

o        32MB available memory for the application

2. Operating System Requirements

a)     Windows 98 or higher

b)     Mac OS9 or higher

NOTE: The Java-based (current) whiteboard does not work in OSX.

NOTE: The Flash™-based (new) whiteboard may not work for OS9 users on Internet Explorer.

We are actively troubleshooting this issue.

3. Browser Requirements and Settings

a)     Internet Explorer

o         Version 5.1 or higher

o         Java, JavaScript, Cookies, and ActiveX enabled

o         JVM (Java Virtual Machine) version 5.00.3167 for Windows but the latestversion is recommended

o        MRJ (Mac Runtime for Java) version 2.2 for Macintosh but the latest version is recommended

o        For Windows, Flash™ Player version 7.0.19+

o        For Mac OS X, Flash™ Player version 7.0.24+

b)     Netscape (Windows only)

o        Version 6 or higher

o        Java, JavaScript, Cookies enabled

o        For Version 6.x and higher, the Sun Java plug-in is required.

o        Flash™ Player version 7.0.19+

NOTE: Netscape on Macintosh is not supported by SMARTHINKING

4. Internet Connection

 A 28.8K connection is the minimum required speed per machine. For better performance with the whiteboard application, we recommend a 56K connection or above.

II. Networking Considerations

Tcp/80 (HTTP) and Tcp/443(HTTPS) are the only ports that need to be open for access to our site. In order to advantage of the whiteboard application, firewalls will need to permit the passing of Java applets. For enhanced whiteboard application functionality, Active-X objects or plug-ins (depending on the browser type) need to pass through the firewall.

III. Content Caching

The SMARTHINKING site marks some of its content to expire immediately and leaves the remaining content to be handled as seen fit by remote caching equipment. Caching equipment sitting between user workstations and our site should honor content marked to expire immediately. If these pages are cached despite being marked to expire immediately, unexpected site behavior for the end user can be the result. If schools encounter problems they should try disabling caching of content from www.smarthinking.com as part of their troubleshooting efforts.

IV. Popup Blockers

Several parts of the SMARTHINKING site rely on the use of popup windows. No popup browser windows from the SMARTHINKING site should be blocked from coming up.

V. Time Settings on PC

In order for cookies to operate properly, the time settings on a PC must be set to the correct time, date, and time zone. Software such as “DeepFreeze” can sometimes cause time settings to be incorrect.

VI. Testing

To test the basic PC configuration outlined above, please visit the following link. It will interrogate your PC and check to make sure all critical areas are configured properly: http://www.smarthinking.com/systemcheck/startcheck.cfm

To test to make sure the PC is working with the whiteboard technology:

1.      Logon to the site using pc-setup-student / password

2.      At the student homepage, click “cust. Support & faq” on the left

3.      Click on “Whiteboard Practice” at the top right of the page

4.      Click the “click here” link in the middle of the page

5.      In the window that pops up, click the link where it says “If you have already logged in, click here”

These steps will launch the whiteboard Flash™-based application. If you run into problems during this process, please record any behavior you see, error messages you get, and at what point in the process the problem occurred.

VII. Contacting Support

For technical assistance, please contact us at support@smarthinking.com or at 888-430-7429, option 1. Phone support is available Monday through Friday, 8AM to 6PM. Please be sure to include a detailed description of the problem. If you’ve received an error message from the website, please include that information as well.