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SkillSoft FAQs

A SkillSoft Orientation FAQ

  • Who is entitled to access the 2,500 SkillSoft online courses?

    All ACM Professional and Student members are entitled to access the 2,500 SkillSoft IT and Business Courses.

  • What is the difference between SkillSoft and SkillPort?

    SkillSoft is the name of the company and SkillPort is the name of their LMS (Learning Management System).

  • What's the best way to begin using these courses?

    You should click on Catalog (in the black horizontal band) and that will take you to the Course Curricula. Clicking on the Course Curricula will bring you the names of the SkillPort libraries:

    • Business Skills Curricula
    • Business Certifications
    • IT End-User Curricula
    • IT End User Certifications
    • IT Professional Curricula
    • IT Professional Certifications
    • Knowledge Centers
    • Express Guide View
    • Test Prep View

  • Are any certificates/diplomas issues for the courses made available through SkillSoft?

    Once logged into SkillSoft at http://pd.acm.org/skillsoft.cfm, you would print your Certificate of Completion. If you scored at least 70% on a course test, or an average of 70% or greater on the lesson tests, you have the opportunity to print out a Certificate of Completion (for each course.) You may do this via the Shortcut menu link titled "My Progress Report"; you can view/print the certificate by selecting the scroll icon located inside the Control column.

  • What broad topic areas does "Business Skills for the IT Professional Solution Area" include?

    IT Business; Project Management; and Team Building.

  • What broad topic areas does the "Enterprise Database Systems Solution Area" include?

    IBM & Lotus - Enterprise Database Systems; Microsoft SQL Server 2000; Oracle Database Systems; Oracle 9i; Oracle 10g; Systems and Database Design; and Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

  • What broad topics does the "Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Solution Area" include?

    Oracle 11i and SAP R/3 Release 4.6.

  • What broad topics does the "Internet and Network Technologies Solution Area:" include?

    BCMSN2; CCNA/CCNP; Cisco; Cisco ARCH; Cisco CIPT Specialist; Cisco CIT; Cisco CCSP; Cisco Design; Cisco ICND; CompTIA Networking, Internetworking and Security Technologies; Data/Telcomms; I-Net+; Internetworking Essentials; ISC 2; Network Protocols; Networking and Telecommunications Fundamentals; Security Principles; Security Procedures; Security Solutions; Security Technologies; Telecommunications; WAN Technologies; Wireless Communications; and Wireless.

  • What broad topics does the "Operating Systems and Server Technologies Solution Area" include?

    CompTIA A+; CompTIA Server+; IBM Websphere; Novell SUSE Linux; Linux: Basic System Administration; Linux LPI; Lotus Domino R6; Microsoft – SharePoint Server 2003; Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003; Microsoft .NET Server; Microsoft Application Center 2000; Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000; Microsoft Commerce Server 2000; Microsoft Enterprise Servers; Microsoft Exchange Server 2003; Microsoft Exchange Server 2000; Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0; Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000; Microsoft Small Business Server 2000; Microsoft Support Technologies; Microsoft Windows 2000; Microsoft Windows Server 2003; Microsoft Windows XP; Operating Systems; Oracle Operating Systems and Servers; Sun Solaris 9; Using and Administering UNIX; and UNIX Essentials.

  • What broad topics does the "Software Development Solution Area" include?

    Generic Languages; IBM Websphere; Java 2 Programming; Java Web Servers; Lotus Notes Domino 6.0; Microsoft .NET; Microsoft .NET for Developers; Microsoft .NET Software Development Tools; Microsoft C#; Microsoft VBScript; Programming Best Practices; Software Design; Software Programming Fundamentals; and Software Development Principles.

  • What IT Certifications does the IT Professional Certifications Library include courses for?

    (ISC)2; Check Point; Cisco; CIW; CompTIA; EMC; IBM; Information Systems Examination Board (ISEB); Linux Professional Institute (LPI); Macromedia; Microsoft; Oracle; Project Management Institute (PMI): and Sun Microsystems.

SkillSoft Technical FAQ

Do I need to install the Download option to play a SkillSoft course?

No. SkillSoft courseware is designed to be played using the Java technology in current web browsers, and does not require any software be installed to actually play a course. If you want to take a course off-line, then you will need to install the SkillSoft Course Manager.

Does the SkillSoft courseware support proxies and firewall securities?

Yes. In general, if you can view the SkillSoft web site http://www.skillsoft.com, then you can play a course from the Extranet server. The only exception to this is if the firewall or proxy server at your site is filtering Java applets or compiled code. In this case the SkillSoft course Player will not be able to load properly. Check with your Network Administrator to see if this applies to you. If using the Download option, the SkillSoft Course Manager will need to be configured to properly identify the proxy server.

How do I access online help in SkillSoft applications?

  • From the SkillSoft Course Manager (SCM)—Press F1 or click the Help button in the right panel of the screen.

  • From the SkillSoft Course Player—Click the Help button in the right panel of the screen.

  • From SkillPort End-user or Administrator UI—Click the Help text link in the top, right corner of the screen.

How do I access the Extranet?

To access the SkillSoft Extranet, click the link below and follow the prompts to log in. http://netuniversity.skillsoft.com/skilloft/welcome.html

 

How do I contact SkillSoft Support?

In North and South America:

Email: support@skillsoft.com
Telephone: (603) 324-3000
Toll Free from within the United States: 1-866-276-8310
Fax: (603) 324-3009
Support is available 24 hours a day.

In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region:

Email: emeasupport@skillsoft.com
Telephone: +44 1483 795207
Fax: +44 1483 795240
Support is available between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

In the Asia Pacific region including Australia and New Zealand:

Email: apsupport@skillsoft.com
Telephone: +61 2 9960 0040
Toll Free from within Australia: 1-800 111 215
Fax: +61 2 9960 0180

Support is available between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Australia Eastern Standard Time (AEST)

How do I know what version of the Java Virtual Machine I am using?

Follow the directions in the links below to find the Java Virtual Machine version installed with your web browser.

If you are using Internet Explorer

  1. Open a MS-DOS window:

    a. Click on the start button.
    b. Click on Programs.
    c. Click on MS-DOS Prompt.

    Or

    a. Click on the start button.
    b. Click on Run.
    c. Type "command" and press Enter. (NOTE: this will not work on WinNT-you need to type "cmd")

  2. Type "jview" at the DOS prompt. The Java Virtual Machine version is listed on the first line. It appear similar to the following.

Microsoft(R) Windows 98
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1998.
C:\WINDOWS>jview
Microsoft (R) Command-line Loader for Java Version 5.00.3167
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1996-1999. All rights reserved.
Usage: JView [options] <classname> [arguments]
&ldots;
C:\WINDOWS>

In this example above the Java Virtual Machine version is 5.00.3167.

If you are using Netscape

  1. Open Netscape Navigator/Communicator Web Browser.

  2. Click on Window or Communicator from the browser menu.

  3. Select Tools:Java console. This will open the Netscape Java console, which will display text that is similar to the example below.

Netscape Communications Corporation -- Java 1.1.5
Type '?' for options.
Symantec Java! ByteCode Compiler Version 210.065
Copyright (C) 1996-97 Symantec Corporation

In this example the Java Virtual Machine version is 1.1.5.

How do I know what version of the SkillSoft application I am using?

When you start the SkillSoft Player or Course Manager, you can access the version information from:

  • The SkillSoft Player screen's title bar in the top, left corner.

    For example, 2.6.5.21 (1.11); where 2.6.5.21 is the Player version and 1.11 is the SCM version.

  • The Course Manager screen's title bar in the top, left corner in the same form shown above.

  • The Player and SCM help systems. The first topic in each help system shows the product version number.

How do the SkillPort LMS and SkillSoft Course Manager (SCM) detect each other?

The first HTML page after logging in to SkillPort checks to see if the SCM is installed on the client. If it is, then it will ping the SCM to attempt to synchronize any off-line course results from the client back up to the server. You should first see the browser's download dialog box as it attempts to process the SSO file, and then see an SCM dialog box that says, "Please wait while course results are synchronized...."

If the SCM is not installed, then none of the previous should happen. The Course Player should immediately display. If you don't have the latest SCM installed locally and you access SkillPort, then the SCM will come up after logging in to SkillPort and you are prompted to download the latest available SCM version.

What browsers are supported for playing courses?

Supported browsers include:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 4.x or greater
  • Netscape Navigator™, version 4.06 - 4.7x.

What is the Internet Explorer Script error?

At times, you may click the Play, Performance Hints, SkillSoft Course Catalog or Help button, and the new window may not open or you may receive the following (or similar) error message:

Internet Explorer Script Error

An error has occurred in the script on this page.
Line:
Char:
Error: No such interface supported
Code: 0

Do you want to continue running scripts on this page?

Steps to understanding and resolving this issue

This is a known problem with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and 4.01. (See the Microsoft Knowledgebase article: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q180/1/76.asp)

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, and then click Run.

  2. In the Open box, type: "regsvr32 actxprxy.dll" (without the quotation marks)

  3. Click OK, and then click OK again when you receive the message:

    DllRegisterServer in actxprxy.dll succeeded.

  4. Click Start, and then click Run.

  5. In the Open box, type: "regsvr32 shdocvw.dll" (without the quotation marks)

  6. Click OK, and then click OK again when you receive the message:

    DllRegisterServer in shdocvw.dll succeeded.

  7. Shut down and restart your computer.

This problem no longer occurs in Internet Explorer 4.01 with Service Pack 1 or 2.

To obtain Internet Explorer 4.01 Service Pack 2, please visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/ie.

What is the Invalid page fault error?

At times, you may click the Play or Download button on a Course Summary page and receive the following (or similar) error message:

Invalid page fault in module awt3240.dll 01f4:600EF69F

Steps to understanding and resolving this issue

Local system information:

  • Netscape Communicator 4.07. 32mb ram, P-100

  • Applications open with the Course Summary page are Windows Explorer & Systray open.
  • Free resources are normal.
  • System is a HP Vectra VE series2 5/100.

 
Possible explanation:

According to Netscape documentation, there is a possible display adapter problem with Netscape Java DLLs. However, the local system did not have a display adapter loaded, which may cause problems with Netscape Java implementation.

 
Recommendation:

Resolve the display adapter conflict with Netscape requirements and update to a newer version if Netscape Communicator problems persist.

What is the java.lang.NoSuchMethodError error?

At times when opening the SkillSoft Player, you may receive the following error message:

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: com/skillsoft/player/PlayerAppletContext: method beginResultsLoad()V not found

Steps to understanding and resolving this issue

This exception error is appearing in your Java Console because your local system has explicitly defined a CLASSPATH as an environment variable. This error prevents the Player from displaying course content and causes it to hang. The CLASSPATH environment variable specifies the default value of the property java.class.path. If this environment variable is not set, then the default value for java.class.path is set to the current directory.

To prevent this error you need to make sure your local system does not have a CLASSPATH pointing to any of the Player .zip files. To check this:

  1. Click Start -> Run, and then type REGEDIT in the Open field. You see the Registry Editor screen.
  2. If any of the listed paths directly under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Java VM\ folder have
    ..\ *.zip file, then double-click the path. You see the Edit String screen.
  3. In the Value Data field, delete just the portion at the end of the path that includes the .zip filename (i.e., player.zip).
  4. Re-start your computer. The Player should now correctly play course content.

Why does the Player content look unstable after resizing the window?

from http://www.webreference.com/dev/menus/stable.html

Steps to understanding and resolving this issue

For pages with dynamically generated HTML using the document.write('') command, resizing the page caused problems:

  1. wysiwyg://3/http://www.webreference.com code overwrite. The "wysiwyg" is actually Netscape using the cache to redisplay the page. This is not serious.

  2. When we did a view source on the cached wysiwyg page we found that it was corrupted. This is more serious. When this cache rewrite occurred we sometimes found that the end of our static HTML was overwritten by our dynamic HTML. This usually happened when the menus were towards the end of the document. We tried a number of unsuccessful fixes: sacrificial tables, adding document.open() and .close(), and dummy single-line scripts. Netscape claims that version 4 fixed the "wysiwyg" resize bug.

The only solution was to avoid the problem entirely and write out the initial menus with static HTML. This solved the stability problem but introduced another. Static HTML is... well... static. You can't dynamically generate browser-specific code with static HTML, so we are left with a JavaScript/no JavaScript mode.

Why is bolded text appearing higher that plain text?

Systems using Netscape 4.0.2 only, 640x480 display resolution only, Windows '98 and possibly Windows '95 may occasionally see a minor rendering problem with bold text embedded between plain text. The bold text's baseline will be slightly higher than the surrounding plain text's baseline. No content is lost. This rendering problem seems to be localized to this browser and resolution.

Why, when attempting to Play a course, is it taking an unusually long time for the course to start?

Do you use McAfee VirusScan version 4.x or higher, and do you use VShield with Download Scan set to scan All Files? This has been found to slow the download of the Java Applet when starting the course. You can set the VShield Download Scan to Scan Program Files only instead of All Files. This will speed up starting a course.

Why, when I try to play a course, nothing happens or it appears to hang?

The most common cause of a slow startup when trying to play a SkillSoft course is the speed of the Internet connection. Typically a SkillSoft course will take 1.5 minutes on a 56k-modem connection to start playing, and 15-20 seconds on a T1 to start playing. The startup times for a course can vary due to busy Internet Service Providers, or high levels of traffic on a T1 line. If the level of traffic in either of these cases is at a high level for an extended period of time, it may take longer than the times stated above for a course to play.

Another cause of this is that the Java components of the web browser may be broken or missing. In most cases, updating or reinstalling the web browser or Java Virtual Machine fixes the problem.

Another possibility is that the Java functions of the web browser have been disabled.

To ensure that the Java components are enabled, follow the directions below to enable the Java components installed with your web browser.

For Internet Explorer

  1. Click View from the browser menu.
  2. Click Internet Options.
  3. Click the Advanced tab.
  4. Scroll down to the Java VM section.
  5. Check Java JIT Compiler and Java Console if they are not already checked.
  6. Click on OK.
  7. Exit and restart Internet Explorer.

For Netscape:

  1. Click Edit from the browser menu.
  2. Click Preferences.
  3. Click the Advanced Category.
  4. Check enable Java if it is not already enabled.
  5. Check enable Java Script if it is not already enabled.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Exit and restart Netscape.

What does the Download button do?

Click the Download to download content to your local hard-disk drive so courses may be taken when disconnected from the network. This is accomplished by installing the SkillSoft Course Manager and Player application.

Can you give me detailed instructions for downloading course content and launching courses off-line?

If you have downloaded a version of the SCM that prompts you for a username and password when you try to launch courses off-line, you first need to uninstall and reinstall the SCM:

1. Click on the "Uninstall" option under the SkillSoft folder in your "Programs" menu to run the uninstall process.

Then, proceed with the steps below:

2. Log in to SklillPort with your ACM Web Account username and password at http://pd.acm.org/skillsoft.cfm, and browse the Catalog for a course of your choice.
3. From the Course Information page, click on "Download (Optional)".
4. Follow the prompts to install the SkillSoft Course Manager.
5. Once the SCM has been installed, close your browser.
6. Reopen your browser and once more, locate the course you want to download.
7. Click on "Download (Optional)" to download the course content.

(Please note that steps 4 and 5 are one-time events.)

Once the course has been downloaded, you may close your browser and get off-line. To launch the downloaded course:

1. Open the SCM off-line.
2. In the dialog box, enter your acm.org forwarding, and submit.

Copyright © 2002, SkillSoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.