Specific hardware and software requirements are detailed under the heading "System Requirements" on the bottom of each of our course descriptions; please refer to them before applying. In general, most PCs made since the year 2000 should be able to run our courses. All of our courses require familiarity with standard computer operations (e.g. browsing, email attachments, cut & paste, etc).

Most of our CD-based courses support Windows and MacOS; however, a few are Windows-only. Phone modem internet access is sufficient unless otherwise noted.

Most of our web-based courses should run on any system (including Linux et al) which can play Flash or QuickTime video; however, a few are Windows-only. Broadband internet access (e.g. cable, DSL, etc) is required.

Note for international students: most of our courses require the US-English character set.

• Students in our distance courses must be able to communicate with their instructor via email.
• Frequent changing of student screen name or email address is inversely proportional to success. If your email address changes during the course, contact your instructor right away.
• Filtering software (such as Parental Controls or spam blockers) must allow connections with jhu.edu, ctyjhu.org, and other domains as specified by the course.

• Many of our course material downloads require Adobe Reader (or other PDF viewer).
• Our software and web sites work best with an up-to-date browser.
• Recent versions of AOL should work, but please read our AOL Help page.

We recommend you install the following programs, update them at least monthly, and run them at least weekly:

1. Microsoft Automatic Updates
2. Anti-virus, such as Avast or AVG
3. Anti-spyware, such as AdAware, Spybot, and/or Windows Defender

If you have installed internet security software (such as Zone Alarm), you may need to reconfigure it to allow our courses. Some of our students have encountered incompatibilities with such programs (particularly Norton or McAfee products other than anti-virus). Security software must not block access to jhu.edu, ctyjhu.org, and other domains as specified by the course.

Descartes Cove

The Descartes Cove CDs are designed to run on Windows 95 or higher, and Mac OS 9 or X.

General Technical Support

If you have technical problems of any sort, please contact your instructor and fill out the Tech Support Request Form.