Academic Computing December 2007 Newsletter - PDF version

New Computing Newsletter

Academic Computing is publishing a new newsletter for the campus. It will be distributed twice a year and will cover specific areas, such as:

• Highlights and Announcements from Academic Computer
• Computing Status Report
• Computer Do’s and Don’t
• Resources Available to the Campus
• Information and Training

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Safe Computing at CoeCollege

• Passwords – They are your front line defense for keeping control of your personal information, campus data and all the important documents on your computer and in your accounts.
• Change the default password as soon as you get an account
• Change passwords at least once a year
• Don’t post your password anywhere in your office!!
• Do not share your passwords with anyone, ever, under any circumstance. No student /employee should ever ask for your Coe password and you should never give it out to anyone even if they do ask.
• Do not let anyone use a computer that is logged in under your account (faculty, staff or students) unless you are willing to take responsibility for any misuse that is carried out while the computer is logged in with your username.
• Never take any files off campus (on your laptop, PDA, USB drive, etc..) that contains non-public personal information of any students, faculty or staff at the College. Ask us how to secure this data if you must take it off-campus with you!!!
• Think before you click! Beware of fraudulent phishing emails – don’t click on links in messages that you receive, even if they look authentic. No reputable bank will contact you via Coe College email to confirm your personal information. When in doubt, delete the message or telephone the sender to confirm its validity before running attachments or clicking links.

Safe computing is everyone’s responsibility…no one is the exception!

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Instructional Technology and Campus Support…

It is our department’s mission and intention to support Instructional Technology and the technology needed in the classroom, in your office and on this campus.

From time to time we may fall behind in updating to new equipment or the latest software version, but we will do our best to address your needs.

In addition to the meetings we normally have with the academic departments, this year we will also meet with administrative departments.

In February we will start to schedule those meetings. We will send out an email to the department heads to ask you to contact us “if you’re interested” in meeting…Thank you!

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Computer Sale and other information…

Coe College is a reseller for Apple products. Please contact Lydia Quaid (x8319) or Mike Flender (x8877) if you’re interested in prices on laptops or desktop models.

We can help you order your Apple product online with Coe’s discount.

We are selling 10 HP-NX 9020 laptops. The laptops are in great shape and will be available on December 14 th. Cost is $300 each. They will have Windows XP, Office XP and antivirus installed.

These are cash-n-carry only! Sorry, but we cannot hold any! We can take cash, check or credit card. Please contact Lydia if you have any questions – x8319.

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Saving your files correctly and safely…

Files that are saved to your network drives are on state-of-the-art equipment and are routinely backup to disk and tape. How are the files you save to jump drives or the hard drive on your laptop or desktop backed-up?

Are they backed-up at all?

All equipment will fail at some point! Even new equipment or computers will fail. Please copy those files to CD or the network. Label the CD or backup folder with the description of what you’re backing up and date it. Doing so will help ensure you have your files safe and retrievable for when your jumpdrive or hard drive fails. Contact us – we’ll show you how to get started!!

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Anti-virus Software

Coe has purchased new antivirus software for the campus. Our new license allows Faculty, Staff and Students to use the software on their home computers for FREE.

There is a $1.00 deposit for the SOPHOS antivirus CD. Please stop by to pick one up. The CD has the software and instructions on how to install it.

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Microsoft OS and Office Software

Coe College has a campus agreement with Microsoft that allows for Coe employees to load XP or Vista and the MS Office Suites at home at no cost to the employee.

The limitation on this is that the software be loaded on employee-owned computers only. So if you have a computer or computers at home and in need of the OS or Office software please contact Lydia x8319 or email o-computer@coe.edu and arrange to borrow the CDs for loading the software at home.

The CDs are loaned out for 2-3 day periods.

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Network Access Control (NAC)

In January we will start to roll-out a new network security appliance that will help ensure a clean and stable network.

This software and equipment will require that all computers connecting to the wireless or wired network have the current anti-virus updates and windows updates installed. If they are not current… the computer will not be allowed on the network.

This NAC will allow for approved Guest access. More information on how that will work and other rollout information is coming soon!

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About This Newsletter…

This newsletter is published by Academic Computing, Coe College , Cedar Rapids , Iowa 52402 , 319-399-8877. The newsletter is also produced as a set of Web pages and Acrobat PDF files at: http://www.coe.edu/studentlife/compservices . A text version is emailed to all faculty, staff and students at Coe College . Printing this is optional…save a tree.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Please contact Academic Computing, Stewart Memorial Library, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402; 319-399-8877; email o-computer@coe.edu .