You can access Blackboard using most web browsers but it performs best with Internet Explorer version 6 or higher, Mozilla Firefox 1.0 or higher Safari 1.0 or higher. Note: Cookies and JAVA Script must be enabled within the Web browser. You may need to install software plug-ins depending on the course content, listed below are a few examples:

• Acrobat Reader - Allows you to view Adobe Acrobat files.
• Apple Quick Time - Allows you to play online audio and video content.
• Shockwave, Flash – Allows you to view certain multimedia files.  
• Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint Viewer - Allows you to view Microsoft's WORD, EXCEL and POWERPOINT  files if you do not own the programs - Do NOT install if you have these programs on your computer.

The following hardware and software are minimum system requirements to work with the Blackboard application:

Platform: Windows 2000, XP, Vista; Mac OS X
Hardware: 512 MB of RAM, 1 G of free disk space
Modem: 56 K
Anti-virus Software:  Make sure that you have a reliable anti-virus program and that its virus definitions are kept up-to-date.