Online Course

Hardware & Software Recommendations


For Thomas College online courses, we recommend the following minimums in computer hardware and software:

Hardware Recommendations
Computer/CPU speed 486DX (or better, Pentium or equivalent recommended), MacIntosh equivalent (or better).
Memory (RAM) Enough to support your operating system. General guidelines are: a bare minimum of 16 MB for both Windows '95 or MacIntosh. More memory will provide better performance.
Modem 28.8K (or better, e.g. 33.6K, 56K, ISDN, Cable Modems, ADSL - utilization of these higher speeds depends on whether your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can support them).
Software Recommendations
Operating System Windows '95 or better, MacIntosh equivalent
Web browser Netscape Navigator 4.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 (or better).
Email You must be able to receive and send email. The browsers mentioned above have this ability or you can use another mail program.
Your email program should not break large messages containing attachments into smaller messages which need to be reassembled.
Mac E-mail users: you should disable compression (this causes .sit files). If the file formats below still can not be read by the instructor correctly, cut & paste the file into the body of the e-mail message.
Word Processing MS Word 6.0 (or better) or equivalent. Files are also accepted in the following formats (in order of preference): .htm, .wpd, .rtf, .pdf, .txt.
Graphics Files are accepted in the following formats (in order of preference): .jpg, .gif, .pdf, .bmp, .pcx.
Presentations Many presentations are given in MS PowerPoint 97. Windows users and Mac PowerPoint 4.0 users can get a free PowerPoint 97 viewer or converter at http://www.microsoft.com/powerpoint/internet/viewer/default.htm.
Other Recommendations
Internet Service Provider (ISP) We recommend you find a good local ISP. National ISPs are also options, but the quality of service they provide varies greatly depending on the number of users they support and other factors. You can have problems with local ISPs, as well, but it is generally easier to solve problems quickly with them than with the larger ISPs (e.g. AOL).
When looking for an ISP, it is often helpful to talk to others currently using that service.