OCIO provides office PC for staff members to meet the office automation needs (e.g., word processing, email, etc.). Now, all office PCs provided by OCIO are running Windows 10. The following aims to provide you with some useful information about using an office PC provided by OCIO.

To use a PC installed with Windows, you need to either login the Microsoft Active Directory network or logon 'Workstation only'.


Login Microsoft Active Directory (AD)

Logging in the Microsoft Active Directory Network allows you to use some special network resources, which include accessing the network drives and using the departmental network printers. You will also need to login the Microsoft Active Directory Network to gain access to the special network teaching software running over the network. Please refer to Software Applications for details about network teaching software.

To login the Microsoft Active Directory Network, follow the steps:

  1. Press "Ctrl + Alt + Del" when you see the "Welcome to Windows" to invoke the screen.
    Welcome to Windows screen.

  2. Choose "Other User"from the bottom left. Then type your network account username & password in the Username and Password fields respectively.
  3. Click OK.
    Login page

For details on network accounts, please refer to the document on Computer Accounts.

 

Login 'Workstation only'

Login 'Workstation only' allows you to use the most common software (e.g., MS Office, MS Outlook, Internet browser, etc.) installed in the local hard disk as well as getting access to the Internet.

To login 'Workstation only', follow the steps:

  1. Press "Ctrl + Alt + Del" when you see the "Welcome to Windows" to invoke the screen.
    Welcome to Windows screen.

  2. Then choose "Other User" from the bottom left.
  3. Type " .\ " with the local user name (e.g. You can use "EdUHK" as the local user on OCIO provided notebooks or lab PCs as the Username) and leave the Password field blank. Login to local user screen

  4. Click OK.

 

Printing

To meet the printing needs of staff members, OCIO provides various departments with black & white laser printers and colour laser printers. Some of them are local printers connected directly to office PC while some are network printers connecting to the network for sharing among users in the same department.

To save the environment, print only when necessary. When you print, select the appropriate printer (see Figure below). No matter it is a local or a network printer, it is always a good practice to do a preview before actual printing. Usually this can be done by choosing File -> Print from a software application such as MS Word. Moreover, if you are going to print a large document, you are recommended to print only a few pages for checking before proceeding to print the whole document.

select the appropriate printer image

If necessary, you may cancel the print job through the Control Panel.
printer setup windows

To better utilise our limited resources, network printers are setup for sharing by a large number of users. To use the departmental network printers, you will need to login the AD Network. In addition, each network printer has a unique name to identify itself in the office and you will need to connect to the specific network printer before you can use it. For more details, please refer to the document about Network Printing.

 

Shut Down the PC

To save energy, you are recommended to shut down the PC when you leave the office or if your PC will be unattended for a long period of time. Please do not just power off the PC by pressing ON/OFF button. To avoid possible file corruption or system failure, you should shut down the PC by the following steps:

  1. Select Start -> Power Button -> Shut Down on the taskbar. You are recommended to close all applications such as MS Word, Outlook and so on before shutting down the PC.
  2. A window will pop up. Select Shut down from the list. 
    the steps of shut down the PC


Data Storage & Backup

There are many different ways to store your valuable data files. To avoid data loss due to hard disk failure, file corruption or other unexpected reasons, it is essential to perform data backup regularly.


Data Storage

Below are some common ways of data storage available for the staff members:

Local Drives
  • All office PC have local hard disk drives (e.g., C: or D: drives) installed, providing a large amount of storage space. One should note that working with data files stored in local drives are faster than working with files stored in network drives or removable media.
  • To facilitate regular data backup, you are recommended to store data in only a few directories (e.g., D: drive or My Document folder). If your PC have D: drive, it is good to save all data in this local drive.
Network Drives
  • Each user has a personal network drive (N: drive) for storing his/her own data on the network. After you login the AD Network, you will be able to access your personal network drive and also some other network drives. For example, S: drive is a network drive for sharing among staff in the same department.
  • Storing data files in a network drive allows users to access the files in different machines. It also enables sharing the same files with different users. For example, you can store a file in your personal network drive so that you may retrieve it in a classroom PC during a class. You will also be able to get the file stored in your personal network drive from home (see Assessing Network Drive outside Campus for details).
  • To ensure a fair use of our resources, there are quotas on the usage of the network storage. Network disk space are precious computer resources. Users should check and remove obsolete files regularly.
  • To grant various permission on the network drives, you can refer to Access Rights Setting in Network Drives
Removable Media
  • To allow user to carry the data files from one place to another or to perform data backup, users may make use of removable media. The most common removable media is USB thumb drive or external hard disk, which can be used with all PC with USB port. Other removable media include CD/DVD-RW disc, which can be used with PC comes with writable CD/DVD drive.
  • To store a large amount of data, external hard disk is highly recommended.

Data Backup

As mentioned above, it is essential to have regular backup to protect your valuable data. To perform backup, you may use CD/DVD disc, USB thumb drive or external hard disk. External hard disk is recommended if the overall data size is large.

You should backup all user data but if you are not sure what files or folders to backup, you may refer to What Files in My PC Should I Backup? for a suggested backup list. Note that the suggested list is not a comprehensive list, it only gives you an idea of what to backup.