Finals are almost here! Computing Services has a few helpful hints to keep in mind as the end of the semester nears.

Back up your files!

Please remember to backup any important documents that you might need for your classes!

Always keep important files stored in multiple locations. Having the only copy of an important file only on one computer or a thumbdrive could lead to data loss if that location gets corrupted or lost.

Your campus network drive, Myfiles.adams.edu, is backed up every evening by Computing Services. For more information about using the network drive, please visit this link:

https://howto.adams.edu/index.php/Student_Network_Drive#MyFiles.adams.edu

Beware of malicious software!

Computing Services has seen several instances of fake-antivirus infections on personal computers on campus. These are malicious programs that simulate legitimate anti-virus software, but instead will cause your computer to become more infected with other forms of spyware and malware.

Another malicious program called Cryptolocker will go as far as encrypt your personal data, making it unreadable.

Be suspicious of unfamiliar applications or anything that asks for your personal information! To protect against these kinds of software, be sure to run your Windows Updates, update your AntiVirus, and update any third party applications, such as Adobe Flash or Java.

If you have any questions please contact the Computing Services Helpdesk at 19-587-7741 or email us at computingservices@adams.edu.

Computing Services is still working through problems with our faculty and staff email server.  Due to unexpected hardware issues and failures, we have decided to migrate to a new email server in order to make email stable again.

Computing Services staff will begin the migration of email data today at 5:00 PM. During this migration, faculty and staff email will be unavailable until sometime on Saturday (11/23). This is due to the large amount of data that must be transferred to the new email server.

We sincerely apologize for the major inconvenience this has caused and we really appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to resolve these continuing stability issues. We will work as quickly as possible to restore this critical campus service.

If you have any questions, please call the ASU Computing Services Helpdesk at 7741 or contact us via email at computingservices@adams.edu.

Thank you,

Computing Services

After discovering further problems this morning related to a suspected hardware failure of our email storage yesterday afternoon, a full file system repair completed successfully at 12:55 pm today.

Email access from Thunderbird and Squirrel Mail should now work as expected.

Feel free to call the Computing Services Helpdesk at 7741 if there are any further problems accessing email today.

Repairs of the faculty and staff email server storage are still ongoing as of 11:30 this morning.

Our new estimate is the service will remain down through the lunch hour today.

Thanks again for your continued patience,

– Computing Services

A small number of students who have older Playstation 3s on campus reported having issues connecting to the ASU wireless network. Computing Services is pleased to say that we believe we have resolved this issue. If you have an older PS3 and are still having trouble getting it connected to asuwifi, please contact the ASU Computing Services Helpdesk at x7741 or via email at computingservices@adams.edu

Thanks!

Computing Services

The following maintenance activities will take place tonight, Thursday November 14^th, 2013 during our normally scheduled maintenance window beginning at 9:00 PM:

Employee and TEC Classroom computers will receive critical security patches for Firefox, Windows, and Office beginning at 9:00 PM. Employees are encouraged to log out and leave their computers on when leaving for the day. This will enable these updates to run overnight and minimize any impact to our users.

Also beginning at 9:00 PM and lasting roughly 3 hours, all Banner systems will be temporarily unavailable due to a required upgrade to the campus VMWare storage upgrade.

Lastly, beginning at 9:00 PM there will be very brief reboots to various campus web and networking services as CS installs critical security and Windows updates to our campus servers.

Computing Services thanks you for your patience and understanding as we perform these critical maintenance activities. As always, if you have any questions, please call the ASU Computing Services Helpdesk at 7741 or contact us via email at computingservices@adams.edu

Thank you,

Computing Services

The following maintenance activities will take place tonight, Thursday October 31st, 2013 during our normally scheduled maintenance window beginning tonight at 9:00 PM:

Employee and TEC Classroom computers will receive critical security patches for Flash, Skype, and iTunes beginning at 9 PM. Employees are encouraged to log out and leave their computers on when leaving for the day. This will enable these updates to run overnight and minimize any impact to our users.

Computing Services thanks you for your patience and understanding as we perform these critical maintenance activities. As always, if you have any questions, please call the ASU Computing Services Helpdesk at 7741 or contact us via email at computingservices@adams.edu

Thank you and Happy Halloween!

Computing Services

Thanks to everyone who participated in National Cyber Security Awareness Month this October! Cyber security is a shared responsibility of all who use web resources.

We covered many security topics this month! Here is a short summary:

Passwords – When was the last time you changed yours?

Passwords are critically important to protect your data. Make sure your password is strong and never share it with others.

Have you tried KeePass or Password Gorilla yet? To have a technician assist you call the Helpdesk at x7741 or email us at computingservices@adams.edu

http://howto.adams.edu/index.php/KeePass_Password_Manager

Mobile Device Security – Secure your mobile devices. Use pin codes and enable remote wipe.

Did you take the risk calculator quiz?

The higher your risk score, the more important likely you are to be targeted. It is important that you STOP.THINK.CONNECT!

http://staysafeonline.org/ncsam/resources/online-identity-risk-calculator

Remember, each and every one of us needs to do our part to make sure that our online lives are kept safe and secure. We need to keep security in mind all year long, not just in October.

Stay safe, and Happy Halloween!

NCSAM Website

http://www.staysafeonline.org/ncsam/about

Presidential Proclamation for NCSAM 2013

http://www.staysafeonline.org/ncsam/about

Free Computer Checkup Links

http://www.staysafeonline.org/ncsam/free-security-check-ups/

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact the ASU Computing Services Help Desk at x7741 or via email at computingservices@adams.edu

The following maintenance activities will take place Thursday October 17th, 2013 during our normally scheduled maintenance window beginning tonight at 9:00 PM:

At 9:00 PM, all Banner services will be unavailable while we perform a critical upgrade to the Financial Aid module of the Banner system. Services should be restored by roughly 10 PM.

Computing Services thanks you for your patience and understanding as we perform these critical maintenance activities. As always, if you have any questions, please call the ASU Computing Services Helpdesk at 7741 or contact us via email at computingservices@adams.edu

Thank you,

Computing Services

The following maintenance activities will take place Thursday October 3rd, 2013 during our normally scheduled maintenance window beginning tonight at 9:00 PM:

At 9:00 PM, all Banner services will be unavailable while we perform critical security upgrades to the Banner system. Services should be restored by midnight.

Computing Services thanks you for your patience and understanding as we perform these critical maintenance activities. As always, if you have any questions, please call the ASU Computing Services Helpdesk at 7741 or contact us via email at computingservices@adams.edu

Thank you,

Computing Services