Technology Support

Our CIO has utilized a variety of antimalware products during his 30 years of experience. The following information is his professional opinion based on his experience. Any advice you decide to use is at your own risk.

At this time, he highly recommends Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus. It must be stated that one can never be 100% sure about any antimalware software because new malware is released and modified frequently.  However, one should select the best available product at any given time. Our CIO’s experience is such that he has never experienced a virus infect a computer which was running Webroot SecureAnywhere. 

Over the years, as he has worked on computers for friends and colleagues, while running the antivirus systems mentioned below, he has found the presence of many viruses remain on the computers immediately following a full scan. How did he find the malware?  By using either Webroot or PCMatic.  PCMatic does a lot more than serve as an antimalware defense. Although he does not necessarily recommend PCMatic as a stand alone product for antimalware, he is highly confident in that product as well.

He feels the best, although not perfect recommendation for antimalware is:  Webroot SecureAnywhere

Examples of anti-malware that he will not use include:

Symantec
Panda
AVG Free
McAfee
Microsoft Secure Essentials
TrendMicro
and many more (that he will not use).

Ken Stokes

Chief Information Officer

My Blackboard menu disappeared—what now? (View Video Link)

My courses are not appearing in Blackboard?

Answer: There are several possible answers, but most likely, one of the following explanations is your answer.  

1. You courses have not been approved due to lack of payment or payment arrangements. (Contact the business office to remedy this issue.)

2. Courses will not appear in Blackboard until 1 or 2 days prior to the semester actually starting.  Sometimes, they don't appear until the actual first day of the semester.

3. You may have an issue with your internet cache.  On the page where your courses should appear, press the F5 key on your keyboard to "reload" a fresh copy of the page.

4. If you still don't see your courses, try another computer just to be sure.  Then email Infotech@LutherRice.edu and we'll see what we can do to help you.

I took a quiz (or test), and I didn't complete it.  What do I do now?

Answer: In the event that "something" happens while you are in Blackboard and you are unable to finish a test, a quiz, or other assignment, the first thing you should do is attempt to contact your professor and explain what has occurred. The professor's contact information is in his/her syllabus.  Also, all faculty email addresses can be found on our website.

We are not able to offer technical support on the app at this time, but you can test drive it and see if you like it. It is free to you, under our license with Blackboard.

Download Blackboard Mobile app from your phone's app store - Android & iPhone/iPad only.  (Note: There is not a Mobile App for Blackberry or Windows MOS.)  

Your device's internet browser (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc...) must be configured to accept 3^rd Party Cookies (Videos will not play without 3^rd Party Cookies enabled.) 

If you download the app for your device, and enable 3^rd party cookies, all should work well.

Your Luther Rice email account is a special Gmail account through Google Apps for Education.   If you currently use Gmail for a personal account, be sure and SIGN OUT (Log Off) of your personal Gmail account before trying to access your Luther Rice student account.

Google Apps Email Access

Setting up your Luther Rice email in OUTLOOK.
Google Apps Email Access using Microsoft Outlook client

Setting up your Luther Rice email on your cell phone:  
Google Apps Email Access via iPhone, Android, Outlook, etc.

Resetting your Luther Rice password:
Reset Password in the MyCampus Account Menu

The following generally applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Required Applications

It is important to have the latest versions of these applications on your computer:

Adobe Flash on your computer (http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer)

Mozilla Firefox on your computer (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US)

Windows Media Player - Provides the ability to listen to audio & video files.

Quicktime Player - Provides the ability to listen to audio & video files. 

How to Clear Cookies and Internet Cache

Firefox - How to clear Firefox cookies and internet cache.

Internet Explorer - How to clear I.E. cookies and internet cache.

Google Chrome - How to clear Chrome cookies and internet cache.
 

Enable 3^rd Party Cookies (required to watch videos)

By default, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Google Chrome, install with 3^rd party cookies enabled.

For Safari browser (Mac, iPad, iPhone Users):
1. From your Safari menu bar click Safari > Preferences then select the Privacy tab.
2. Either select "From third parties and advertisers" or "Always."
(Allow 3^rd party cookies).

Help Videos

Firefox Browser - Video

Internet Explorer Browser - Video

Is your Windows computer slow? Our IT staff highly recommends these two applications:

Webroot Antivirus at www.webroot.com *

PCMatic available at www.pcmatic.com

This process is for students having problems with Blackboard, Videos, Internet Access, etc. Since your problem could be a number of issues, I recommend that you do the following in order. Do not skip any steps.  Some steps may require a small purchase. That is entirely your choice. 

A healthy running computer is the student's obligation. We offer this process below as a proven way that may help your problem too. We have the testimony of many students who have followed this process successfully. This solution is designed to help resolve a variety of issues, but obviously can't fix everything. But if you follow all these steps, you should be back up and running in most cases (although this does not help with hardware problems.)

Disclaimer:  Luther Rice does not offer any reimbursement of software fees involved. A properly operating computer is the responsibility of the student. Luther Rice is not obligated to offer technical assistance or advice. All efforts we make to assist are voluntary efforts only.

1. Restart your computer. (See if your problem is resolved.  If not, continue.)

2. Verify your Antivirus protection is live, and that your subscription is current. I strongly recommend that you use Webroot Secure Anywhere ($40)

3. After you have verified that you have strong Antivirus protection on your computer, proceed.

4. Uninstall Mozilla Firefox.

5. Restart your computer.

6. Using either Google Chrome, Safari, or another internet browser, go to mozilla.org, then download and install Mozilla Firefox.  Be sure you only download from WWW.MOZILLA.ORG.  Do not download from anywhere else. (Free download.)

7. Using the Mozilla Firefox browser, point your browser to:  https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and download and install Adobe Flash Player. Be careful, on the page, you will want to Deselect the OPTIONAL OFFER in the middle of the page. (Free download.)

8. After installing FLASH, you can try and see if your problem is resolved, however I highly recommend the next step as it will really help your computer if your computer is slow.

9. Point your browser to  http://java.com/en/download/uninstallapplet.jsp and follow the steps to uninstall ALL insecure versions of JAVA.

10. Then from JAVA.com, install the latest version of Java for your computer. 

11. Install PCMatic. This product will fix minor (non-hardware) issues throughout your computer. It will also defragment your hard drives, remove temporary internet files, fix registry problems, and optimize your computer settings. I have used this product for more than a decade. The manufacturer is constantly making the product better. I use this application, PCMatic, on every computer at Luther Rice. Students, friends, and family, who have taken my advice and purchased this product are quite happy after doing so. PCMatic is $50, and that price allows you to install the product on five computers.

We use a media streaming server called ShareStream to manage all of our videos within Blackboard.  It is both separate from Blackboard and integrated into Blackboard. 
 

Videos won't Play (but I see the word "here" appear in the player)

In 99% of these calls, the problem is simply that the student has not installed free Adobe Flash software.  Be sure to install Adobe Flash as our videos will not play unless Flash is installed.

The links below are provided for the benefit of our students. Most downloads are free and easy to use. The respective websites will direct you on how to download their software.

Adobe Acrobat Reader - Provides the ability to view PDF documents.
Mozilla Firefox - Internet Browser
Java - Latest version
Windows Media Player - Provides the ability to listen to audio & video files.
Quicktime Player - Provides the ability to listen to audio & video files.

Recommended Applications

You must have a virus-free computer when accessing Luther Rice network. 

IMPORTANT: Luther Rice DOES NOT sell or distribute software. Students must acquire own software according to their individual needs.

Webroot SecureAnywhere - Antivirus/Anti-spyware Software ($40)

PCMatic - Software both protects against viruses and optimizes your computer to run faster. ($50)

Microsoft Office - Office University edition (Reduced price $80)