Students worring about spending hundreds of dollars on computer repairs can now breathe easy because there is a resource on campus available to help them out for free.

As a part of the Division of Information Technology, the Help Desk in the administration building provides students, faculty, and staff with resources and repairs on laptop and desktop computers. The resources offered may otherwise cost students hundreds of dollars, yet, many students are unaware that it even exists, according to the help desk staff.

Since many SF State students are still unfamiliar with the existence of the Help Desk, Geneive Jaramilla, 21, an English major and Mina Fujimoto, 18, a hospitality management major, said students might know about the Help Desk if flyers were posted on bulletin boards to inform the campus about the services offered. Both students said they had never heard about the facility.

“That’s really how word really gets out,” said Jaramilla. “It’s in everyone’s view.”

Student assistants and staff are available to provide resources ranging anywhere from antivirus installations, spyware software installations, to trouble shooting programs related to the computer software. The staff is also available to help set up new computers according to David Middleton, who is the Lab coordinator for the John F. True 24-hour computer lab in the library, as well as the Help Desk. Students can drop in or make an appointment anytime.

The Division of Information Technology also provides students with free training on courses in Photoshop, PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and various other courses, said John Williams, an Information Technology Training Specialist who teaches the courses.

“It’s pretty much unheard of you know,” said Help Desk student assistant Bo Kim, 25, an information systems major. “We do pretty much anything. There’s really not much that we can’t actually put our input or suggestions into.”

The Help Desk has provided antivirus software to the entire campus community for close to ten years,
according to Help Desk consultant John Tait.

With a staff of approximately 21 student assistants combined, the Help Desk in collaboration with the John F. True computer lab, also work together to answer technical questions related to SF State email account passwords and campus wireless connection. The phone calls from the Help Desk are filtered through to the lab in the evenings from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m, after the facility closes.

Help Desk student assistants, like David Frank, 22, computer science graduate student and Matt Smith,18, a product design major, also assist people with questions on common programs such as Microsoft Word and Outlook Express. If the Help Desk is unable to fix a problem with a computer, students are recommended to take their computers elsewhere.

“They have access to a resource that can directly impact their ability to be successful in their studies, because they are so dependent on their computers now...” said long time Help Desk consultant Sterling Shanks. “If the computer goes down, their ability to be productive goes down.”

Although no real advertisement or outreach programs are offered to inform students about the Help Desk, Shanks said students hear about the facility mainly through word of mouth or faculty members who spread the news to students. International students are also informed at orientation about the facility. Shanks said that at the moment, no future plans have been made to better advertise the facility.

“The division of information technology feels that by fixing students machines that have viruses and trojan horses and so on, it helps the university network to continue to run better, it keeps us cleaner,” said Middleton.

According to Shanks, the services offered at the Help Desk are among the few departments in the CSU system. He said other universities such as San Diego State University may have similar services, but SF State is among the very few that provides such in depth solutions on computer repairs. The services, originally available to faculty and staff members merged into one facility in the mid-1990s and allowed students to get technical support as well.

Prior to that, students were referred to the computer lab for support with technical problems, which was originally located in the administration building, Tait said.

“I think it’s great,” said graduate student Skylar Sergeevna, a graphic design major. “It’s really great, because it’s here on campus, if you have a problem, you can always go in and ask a question. I think it’s very helpful.”

For more information on the Help Desk, log on to www.sfsu.edu/~doit.com, or for training courses, www.sfsu.edu/~training.com.