On occasion students, staff and faculty may have issues using or getting to commonly used webpages that aren’t run by Roanoke like My Spanish Lab, Mastering Chemistry or even none school work related sites like Netflix and other video players. This sort of thing usually happens for a few common and easily fixed reasons.

The browser you’re using isn’t supported/compatible:

It may be that the browser you’re using like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, or Google Chrome isn’t supported by the company who make the website you’re trying to get on/use. Trying switching to a different browser than the one you’re using and see if that fixes whatever problem you’re running into. 9 times out of 10 that will fix the issue right away.

You tried a different browser and it didn’t fix the issue:

You switched from Internet Explorer to Google Chrome and you still weren’t able to use the page like you need to. It could be a number for a number of reasons. If it is a website that isn’t run by Roanoke College then you’ll probably need to contact their support team. Look for a help or support button. If you’re having trouble finding the contact info for the websites support team stop by or contact IT and we’ll be able to help you find it.

It says I need to download Java/Silverlight/Something else:

Some websites use “plugins” like Java or silverlight. If it is recommended by a site you trust go ahead and download the plugin. If you’re unsure that the site is trustworthy, you may not wish to download the plug in. If you have any questions, you can always ask the Helpdesk.