More Tech Tools at Your Fingertips Than You May Know What to Do With

Something I learned fairly recently, that I thought would be worth sharing is related to the plethora of tech tools (i.e. software programs) that you have at your disposal as a faculty member here at USF. I was introduced to a wonderful area under the control panel, called Run Advertised Programs, that contains quite a hefty list of software programs that you are entitled to download (for free, or at least free to you) and use. The only caveat is that you must be on a computer that is hardwired (i.e. connected via an Ethernet cable, not wirelessly) to the USF network

Please note that this package of programs is only accessible on university PCs that are hardwired to the USF network. So, what do you do if you are using a Mac, or are working from home on a laptop computer? You can set-up the Remote Desktop Connection and login to your USF computer and access the programs that way. This is not a perfect solution since you will still be downloading those software programs to your USF computer, but it does allow you to access the programs you might need from a distance or on another platform.  

To access Run Advertised Programs, click on the Windows Start icon  and then on click on Control Panel. Next click on Run Advertised Programs and wait for another Windows Explorer window to open (this may take a couple of minutes). You can now scroll through the list and select the program you wish to download. Once the program you selected is highlighted in blue, click Run and the software will begin downloading to your computer. Depending on the size of the program, this may take a while (a few minutes up to a few hours). Once the download begins, you can minimize or close the Run Advertised Programs window.  The program will appear in your list of Applications when the download has finished. 

Here is a small sampling of the more than 200 programs available through Run Advertised Programs:

ActiveState Komodo Edit 7.0.0

Adobe Acrobat X Professional

Adobe Captivate 5

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection

ATLAS.ti Scientific Software 6.2

Audacity 1.2.6

Chemstations ChemCAD 6.4

DiscreteWavelets for Mathematica 7.0

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010

Microsoft Photo Story 3

SAS Institute SAS 9.3

--Nicole M. West