This week, we will use a tool provided by Cisco, a 'Virtual Laptop' computer that provides a simulation that allows you 'remove and replace' hardware components for the virtual laptop computer.
Cisco says the system requirements to run this program are Windows XP or Windows 2000, but I have also been able to run it on a Windows 7 PC. I have not tried it on a Vista PC. It did not seem to run on a Mac.
Use the link in the Week 1 Online Activities folder in Blackboard to save the file "en_ITEPC_VA_Laptop_v40.zip" to your computer. The file is almost 40MB in size, so it may take a little while to download, depending on the speed of your internet connection.
Once the file is downloaded to your local drive, right click on the file and 'Extract All'. If you accept the defaults, it will create a folder called "en_ITEPC_VA_Laptop_v40". Open that folder, then click on the file 'Index.html'. This should launch the Virtual Laptop simulation in a browser window.
Explore the Virtual Laptop program, then answer the following questions:
1. What Operating System do you have on the computer you used to install the Virtual Laptop program?
2. Were you able to install the Virtual Laptop program? If you were not able to install the program, provide details on the problems encountered during the installaion?
3. Were you able to read through the Introduction that opens the Virtual Laptop? Did the layout of the program make sense? If not, what