Navigating Forensic DNA Data Analysis at Home | Uninhibited Ep #1

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(upbeat music)

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- Hey everyone, welcome to Uninhibited,

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a new web series dedicated to forensic DNA analysis

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brought to you by me, Peter John McNanny,

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and my fellow field application scientist,

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Nick Andrews over here.

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We're both former DNA analysts turned

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field application scientists for thermofisher scientific.

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- So Nick, novel coronavirus.

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- The coronavirus causing us to shelter in place.

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- I've been doing holding up in the house for this long.

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I've been, it's been challenging.

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- Yeah, what have you been up to?

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- Oh, funny last, but I have been.

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(upbeat music)

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- How was your shower today ratio going?

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- Well, we should probably just be thankful

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that this isn't smell-a-vision.

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- Yeah, I hear you.

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I'm not doing so good myself.

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- I noticed.

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- But hey, we wanna take a moment to recognize

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you guys out there, the forensic DNA analysts

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are doing a fantastic job either at the workplace

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or at home, working remotely,

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and dealing with all those challenges.

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- Yeah, I wanna second that we know

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that the work has to continue.

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You guys are essential.

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There's cases that need to get processed,

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there's victims that need their answers out there.

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And we know you're facing a lot of challenges

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and you're having to come up with these

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creative ways to get your work done.

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I've heard from a lot of people

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that analyzing data is probably one of the challenging things

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'cause they can't really do that from home right now.

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- Yeah, definitely.

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Just like differential extractions

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have to tie you to the lab.

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So can your DNA analysis software,

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if you can't use it at home or outside of the lab?

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So we wanna take today to talk about that.

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- So what would that be?

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What would that work?

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- You're all familiar with

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Applied Biosystems GMAPR IDX software,

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but you're probably familiar with the workflow

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where you have a full installation at the agency,

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at your work, and you use your client installation

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to connect to that data.

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What we're gonna talk about today

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is downloadable full versions of GMAPR IDX

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that you can install on your portable laptop today

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in order to create projects, analyze data,

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and even export that data and share for our technical review.

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- That would be perfect.

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Like what versions are available?

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- We're offering three different versions,

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1.4, 1.5, and the newest version,

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1.6, of the GMAPR IDX software.

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And these are the full versions,

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so each version has its own database

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that will allow you to analyze data

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independent of any other computer.

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- How does that work in terms of a lab

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when you have your analysis method that's set at the lab,

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you have your panels, your bins,

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everything like that?

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How does that work from this side?

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- Yeah, so it's really important

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that you wanna make sure or maintain

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your analysis method that you normally use at work.

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So you can either copy that or you could recreate it,

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but it's way easier to copy that from work

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or have somebody that's at work copy it and send it to you.

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And then you can easily import that

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into the full version that you install on your laptop.

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And the same thing can go with table settings

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or plot settings, size standards.

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- So it would be exactly the same

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as what you're doing in the lab.

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- Yep, that way you don't have to worry about any differences

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and analysis between individuals.

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And it's just like you were at work

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doing data analysis on GMAP or IDX.

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- That's awesome.

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- First thing you wanna do is download the installation files.

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Those are gonna be available through a web link

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that can be provided to you either by myself,

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Nick, another FAS or the HID tech support personnel.

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Once you have that link,

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it's gonna be a direct download to a folder

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that's gonna have all of the installation files.

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A couple caveats here,

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you're gonna wanna make sure that that downloaded folder

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and those files don't have any special characters

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or spaces as the downloadable versions might have those.

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But we'll go through that a little bit later.

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Once you download it,

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there are a few prerequisites that you wanna do.

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And again, we'll go through those

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in more detail a little bit later.

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But it's basically just an installation file

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that you double click on

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and then go through all of those steps.

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- Yeah, so it's pretty easy

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and then people can be analyzing it.

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Oh, yeah, pretty straightforward.

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Once you're done with the installation,

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you're of course gonna wanna import

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that analysis method that we talked about

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so that you're doing the same type of analysis

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that you would be doing at the lab.

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And then when it comes to technical review,

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you can export them as a .ser file,

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send them via email or through a cloud service

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or some kind of VPN network that your agency might allow.

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And that technical reviewer can import that project,

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verify your calls, send it back to you, et cetera.

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And then you have your finalized, analyzed DNA

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that can then go through interpretation and reporting.

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- Oh, that's great, that's perfect

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and that's what everyone needs.

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So they can just export the validated analysis parameters

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that they've been using

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and assuming that this fits in with their standard operating

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procedures, they could just install that

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or import them into the trial version

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that they've downloaded on their laptops at help.

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- Yeah, and it really takes away some of those limitations

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to getting more DNA analysis and testing done

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by a laboratory when a lot of those employees

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are working at home.

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- Right, so validation, standard operating procedures

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are the main things that you take into account.

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But so the biggest thing about this

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is installing the software

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and it's something I struggled with in the beginning.

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So can you take us through that installation?

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- Absolutely, so here we are on the Windows desktop.

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I have just downloaded the GeneMapper IDX software files.

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Let's take a look at that.

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I've placed this folder, GeneMapper IDX V1.6 files

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on the root drive or C drive of my laptop.

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You'll notice that this file name for the folder has spaces

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and it also has a period.

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These might not be acceptable for the installation to run.

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This may not be the exact same file name that you download,

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but as an example, the best thing to do

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is to remove illegal characters

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would be rename this installation folder,

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something as simple as possible.

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I like to use GeneMIDX.

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So now that we've renamed that folder,

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if we double click inside of it,

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you'll see a number of files.

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Included in these files is setup.exe and executable.

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If we have already gone through the process

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of the prerequisites for installation,

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we would then double click on that setup file.

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But just to go through those other prereqs

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beyond renaming the installation folder,

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we also want to disable virus scan

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and disable Windows Firewall

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just for the purposes of installation.

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So I will search for firewall

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and you'll see several things where we'll pop up here.

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If I click on firewall and network protection,

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you'll see that I have firewall turned off

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for every option here.

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You want to make sure this is turned off

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and the button says turn on.

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That was Windows Firewall.

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If we go back, excuse me,

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and search for our virus scan settings,

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if you have a secondary application,

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such as Norton Antivirus,

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you can use the application to disable

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or turn off virus scan settings that way.

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Or you can search in the Windows settings

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for virus and threat protection.

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Here you'll see that I have virus

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and threat protection settings turned off.

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So the button says turn them on.

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Those are the two things that you want to disable

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as far as Windows settings

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to ensure a good installation of GMapper IDX software.

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So to begin the installation process

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for GMapper IDX software,

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I want to double click on the setup.exe file

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located inside of the installation folder.

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In doing so, it will begin the install shield wizard

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and you might see a pop up window here

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that wants to confirm uninstall of any previous version.

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If you have already restarted your computer,

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following uninstall of a previous version

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or if there were no previous version installed,

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you could click okay here

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and continue on with the installation process.

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However, if you have not restarted the computer

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following a previous uninstallation of GMapper IDX software,

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you could hit cancel here,

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ensure that you uninstall the software

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followed by a restart of the computer

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and then relaunch of the setup.exe file

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to continue with installation.

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And that is pretty much it.

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- Wow, yeah.

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Well, thank you very much for taking us through that.

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That's a really good resource

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for anyone who's never installed this software before

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or for myself who always needs reminders

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on how to do it.

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But for one last closing thing,

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if you had top five tips and tricks

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on how to make sure your installation was always successful,

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what do you think they would be?

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- If I were gonna guarantee a successful installation,

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my top five tips and tricks would include

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(upbeat music)

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number one, after downloading,

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make sure there are no special characters

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in the folder that you have downloaded that file into.

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The best thing to do is to copy it into the root drive,

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like a C drive of that computer

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and ensure that the folder, you can even rename it,

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is short and doesn't have any spaces, dollar signs,

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any illegal characters, because it won't harm your system,

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but it will halt the installation

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if it doesn't like the directory or the file path.

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- Right.

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- Number two, always disable for installation your virus scan.

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So if you have a separate application for virus scan

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or you're using the built-in virus scan

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and threat detection for Windows,

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you wanna disable that for installation.

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That will definitely halt an installation

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of the GMAP or IDX software.

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Number three, very similar to number two,

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disable for the purposes of installation,

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your Windows firewall.

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That's wanting to prevent any major changes

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to the software, but also connections to the software.

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And even though you're installing this on your laptop

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and it's not really connecting to any other computer,

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the software still wants to be able to connect

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to other computers, even if we'll be doing that.

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So disable that firewall, that Windows firewall.

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These are all easy things to do to disable

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within the Windows software.

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Next, you're gonna want to import your approved

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or validated analysis methods, display settings,

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plot settings, all of those objects

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we talked about before to ensure

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that you're following your laboratory's

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standard operating procedures for data analysis.

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And then lastly, number five,

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follow the recommendations in the installation guide.

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So we will provide for you the GMAP or IDX software

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installation guide, which actually goes through

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all of these different tips and tricks,

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but in a slightly different way,

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we wanted to provide you this information

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to ensure a successful installation

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of your applied biosystems GMAP or IDX software.

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- That's great.

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And obviously never forget that your FAS and HID tech

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support are here to help you if you need anything.

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- Yep.

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And we can be contacted via email,

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via the phone numbers that are in our email signatures.

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You can contact your local field application scientist

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or FAS, your local account manager,

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or even your HID technical support specialists

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at the email that Nick is gonna provide you.

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- I think that covers everything then, right?

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- Sure does.

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Before we go, just wanna say we really miss you guys.

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We miss seeing our customers.

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We hope you're staying safe.

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And Nick, any last words?

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- I just wanna reiterate what you're saying.

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I'm missing all of you.

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I'm so sick of talking to my plants

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that they've never talked back to me.

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I can't wait to see you all at the next conferences

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that we can actually get to.

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You probably won't recognize me the next time you see me

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with my full beard.

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And you know, send us in your sourdough recipes.

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Open on a bread.

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- Please, that's it for our first episode of Uninhibited.

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All right, stay safe, keep your masks on.

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We'll see you next time.

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- Bye-bye.

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(upbeat music)

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(upbeat music)

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(upbeat music)

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- But there's no reason why you can't do data analysis at home.

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- Assuming you're protocol sake.

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(laughing)

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- Shut up, Nick.

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Shouldn't tie you to the lab.

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You should be able to analyze data at home,

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at home, where you analyze data.

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It's gonna be really challenging to get your work done

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if you're working at home.

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So.

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- So what does this mean?

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(laughing)

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- Should we do a much more subtle British accent

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the whole time?

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- Oh, that would be lovely.

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That would be quite nice.

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I like it.

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All right, here we go.

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All right.

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But.

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Just like differentials have to keep you into the lab,

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data analysis does not mean that you have to be at the lab.

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So you can't do differential analysis at home.

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Start over, totally wrong.

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- I would love it if we can just get an excellent version

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of gene mapper audio onto my laptop at home.

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- I don't guess the IDX version 1.6 is quite lovely.

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- For a minute.

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- I didn't start with actually, Nick.

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- You used it again.

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- Pretty much everything we can talk about

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this episode, right?

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Nailed it.

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(laughing)

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- I was gonna say absolutely.

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- Up to me, I'm lonely.

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- Making me nauseous.

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- There's a cat on my table behind my computer.

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- Hello.

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