It"s that time of the year again Ð that time when the rain turns to sunshine and little ducklings break out of their shells and waddle across campus. It"s also that time when this year"s gaggle of thesis-writers crawl out from under their laptops and flock to the labs to print their masterpiecesÉ or try to, at least. Every year, numerous students" efforts are thwarted by a few common problems Ð most of which are easily avoided. While WCTS and the lab Consultants are ready and willing to assist with technical problems with thesis printing, here are some tips on how to avoid the most common thesis-printing nightmares.

1. As always, save early, save often, and save to several different media! There"s no better way to lose a thesis than to save it onto a single floppy disk. Unfortunately, floppy disks are terribly unreliable Ð count yourself in the lucky few if you have yet to lose a paper to a bad floppy disk. If you absolutely must save to a floppy disk, be sure you have a very recent backup on another media (preferably not just another floppy!). Zip disks are a relatively safe bet, as are personal computers" hard drives. However, none of these media are fail-proof, so always save several copies of a recent version of your thesis (or any document) on several different storage media. Our favorite combination is a hard drive (not a lab machine hard drive) and two zip disks.
2. Occasionally scan all storage media for virus infection. Word macro viruses are the most common viruses. While many macro viruses are relatively innocuous, some can wreak havoc on your documents. Avoid this problem by periodically scanning all of your media with a recently updated virus-scanner. And if you start noticing anything strange happening to your document, report it to a lab Consultant or WCTS before attempting to use one of your backup copies. It may be possible to avoid damage to backup copies if we can determine the root of the problem from the infected file.
3. When printing your thesis, use the Thesis Printer in the Olin computer lab. WCTS maintains an additional printer in the Olin computer lab during this time of the year for thesis printing. Please make use of this thesis printer so people printing other papers and materials do not have to wait for your masterpiece to clear the printer. If you need help selecting the Thesis printer from your workstation in the lab, ask the Consultant on duty for assistance.
4. Do you need to print on special paper? If you have special paper, talk to one of the lab Consultants. They can show you how to manual feed that paper so other people"s documents are less likely to be printed on your expensive paper.