Getting Your Computer Ready for Blackboard

(PDF version)

Browsers

Browser	Windows	Mac (only OS X)
Internet Explorer	6.0 SP2 (recommended)  7.0
Firefox	2.0, 1.5	2.0, 1.5
Safari		2.0 (recommended)
Mozilla Suite	1.7 (not 1.5,1.6)	1.7 (not 1.5, 1.6)

Trusted Sites

PSU must be setup as a trusted site if the user is using Internet Explorer (version 6 or 7) in order to download files.

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click on Tools in the Menu Bar
3. Choose Internet Options from the drop down menu
4. In the Internet Options window that appears, click on the Security tab
5. Click on the Trusted Sites icon
6. Click on the Sites button
7. In the Trusted Sites window that appears, uncheck the checkbox next to the "Require  server verification (https)..."
8. In the "Add this Web site to the zone:" text box , enter *.plymouth.edu
9. Click the Add button
10. Click OK
11. Click OK
    
    

Tool bars

Make sure popup blockers in toolbars are off or toolbars are removed.

To turn off popups for Yahoo toolbars (recognized by red Y at left):

1. Click on the icon that has the small shield on top of the window.
2. If Enable Popup Blocker is checked, click Enable Popup Blocker to remove the checkmark.

To turn off popups for Google toolbars (recognized by Google icon at left):

1. Click on the Google icon.
2. Choose Options
3. Uncheck the box for Popup Blocker and click OK.

To remove the Yahoo toolbar:

1. Click on the Settings link located in the right side of the toolbar
2. Choose Help
3. Click on the Uninstall toolbar link

Try this method, if you were not successful in removing the Yahoo toolbar

1. Click on the Start menu located in the lower left corner of the window
2. Choose Control Panel
3. Click on the Add/Remove Programs
4. Click on the Yahoo toolbar to select it from the list of your programs
5. Click the Remove button to uninstall it

To remove the Google toolbar:

1. Click on the Settings link located in the right side of the toolbar
2. Choose Help
3. Click on the Uninstall toolbar link
4. Click on the Uninstall the Google Toolbar button

Try this method, if you were not successful in removing the Google toolbar

1. Click on the Start menu located in the lower left corner of the window
2. Choose Control Panel
3. Click on the Add/Remove Programs
4. Click on the Google toolbar to select it from the list of your programs
5. Click the Remove button to uninstall it

Pop up blocker

Make sure browser pop-up blockers are either off or configured to allow learn2.plymouth.edu  Each browser has it's own configuration set.

For web browsers Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher...

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click on Tools in the menu bar to drop down the Tools menu
3. Click on the Pop-up Blocker Settings
4. Locate the "Address of Web site to allow:" box and type the URL (*.plymouth.edu)
5. Click on the Add button
6. Click on the Close button

For web browsers Mozilla Firefox 1.0 or higher...

1. Open Firefox
2. Click on Tools in the menu bar to drop down the Tools menu
3. Click on Options
4. Click on the Content icon
5. Click on the Exceptions button located to the right of Block Pop-up Windows
6. Locate the "Address of Web site" box and type the URL (*.plymouth.edu)
7. Click on the Allow button
8. Click on the Close button
9. Click on the OK button on the Allowed Sites window
10. Click on the OK button on the Preferences window

For web browsers Netscape 7.2 or Mozilla 1.7 or higher...

1. Open Netscape or Mozilla
2. Open the Preferences dialog box under the browsers Edit menu
3. Scroll down to the Privacy & Security category in the left column and expand it by clicking on the arrow
4. Click on the Popup Windows topic
5. Locate the Option selected to block unrequested popup windows
6. Click to check the Allowed Sites button
7. Click in the Add field and type the URL (*.plymouth.edu)
8. Click on the Add button
9. Click on the OK button

For web browsers Safari 1.2 or higher...

1. Open the Safari menu
2. Locate Pop-up Blocker Window Option and checkbox
3. Click on the checkbox to uncheck it
4. Click on the Continue button located at the bottom of the page
5. If the checkbox was not originally checked, the pop-up is being blocked by some other tool, such as a Google toolbar

Java Runtime.

The JRE version must be at 1.5 or better. The quickest way to get a free version is to just go to Java.com. Click on the Download Java button.