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June 11, 2007

Remote Desktop Connection

This entry describes how to connect to Southbank's Terminal Services using Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) using a Mac or Windows-based computer.

What are Terminal Services?
Terminal Services is a component of Microsoft Windows operating systems that allows a user to access applications or data stored on a remote computer over a network connection. For staff and students, this means that you can log into the school's network from home, and work as if you were physically on-site at one of the campuses, with a range of programs at your fingertips.

How can you connect?
The program for accessing Terminal Services is already installed on computers with Windows XP or Vista. The program is generally accessible from Start > Programs > Accessories > Communications > Remote Desktop Connection. The address for connecting is terminal.southbank.net

By default, RDC is set up with some very basic options - low screen resolution, and 16-bit colour. You can set some of the more advanced options from the RDC program at your leisure.

How to get Remote Desktop Connection if it isn't installed.
Windows 2000 and lower will have to download the program seperately from here. Macintosh users can do the same thing too - download a Mac version of RDC from here.

Errors when connecting over Remote Desktop Connection
Some staff and students have on occasion been unable to remotely connect to our services and are shown:

"The remote computer disconnected the session because of an error in licensing protocol."

This link to Microsoft Support details how you can resolve the issue and connect to Southbank's Terminal Services again, but this method involves modifying the registry on your Windows computer, which is not something you should do without knowledge of how the Registry works, nor without the permission of the owner of the computer.

Southbank International School accepts no responsibility for modifications that you make to your personal computer systems.

June 7, 2007

Email Cleanup

It is important that you clean up your Inbox and Deleted Items from time to time as all mail is stored on a central server. Please read this entry for instructions on cleaning up your account using Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Entourage.

If you have a large amount of emails that you would like to back up, please ask the IT Staff to find out what options are available to you. Users with a large amount of attachments should consider saving these files locally to your Documents folder, or backing them up to recordable media before purging them from your mailbox.

Microsoft Outlook

In Outlook, you can get an overview (in kilobytes) of how much space your mail is taking up on the server. Select Mailbox Cleanup from the Tools menu to see this overview. Clicking 'View Mailbox Size...' will display your Mailbox in detail.

You can see that there are other options on the Mailbox Cleanup panel to be explored as well. You can use this panel to empty out your deleted items.

We recommend that you utilise this panel to empty out all of your Deleted Items.

It would also be prudent to check the size of your Sent Items and delete unnecessary mail items from there as well.

Please remember that by default, items that you delete are moved to Deleted Items, rather than being removed from your mailbox straight away.

Microsoft Entourage

Microsoft Entourage offers a more basic method of clearing out your files. Simply hold down the Control key (CTRL) on your keyboard and click on your Deleted Items folder. Select 'Empty Deleted Items' from the context menu.

As above, remember that your Sent Items can accumulate as well. Please take the time to clear out older and unnecessary from the Sent Items and your Inbox before you empty your Deleted Items.

If you need further assistance, please contact a member of the IT Department.