Some Macintosh users discovered that they could not print to their HP network printers unless their Mac was also wired to the network. They were using the standard HP print driver selected by the printer installation dialog. This driver apparently does not support wireless printing, but we found one that does. If you see this problem, install the printer using the Mac’s “Generic PostScript Printer” driver.
A number of CEPP faculty and staff have received a note from news@udel.edu requesting that they click a link to read the latest UD news. It is signed, “Regards, The University of Delaware.” This is a phishing scam. A closer look at the link provided in the note reveals that it will take you to a non-UD site. This is a sign not to click! Please delete the message.
If you have any questions, write to oet-help@udel.edu.
Panic usually sets in when the file that you carefully worked on all day suddenly is corrupt, accidently modified, or deleted. For Windows users, all is not lost though–the previous versions feature allows you to turn back the clock to restore an earlier version of the file.
The previous versions feature works off of shadow copies, essentially snapshots of files or folders that Windows saves at different times as part of a restore point for your computer. Windows Vista users can envoke this feature for files stored on their computers’ hard drives or on their OET network drives. Windows XP users can use this feature on any file stored on their OET network drives.
To restore a file to an earlier version in Windows Vista, right click on any available file and select Restore previous versions. In Windows XP, right click on any file stored on your OET network drive, select Properties, and the Previous Versions tab. You will see a list of any available previous versions and have an option to open, copy, or restore each file. To avoid accidently overwriting a file, OET recommends that you choose Copy and Make a New Folder to keep the restored file separate from any current file.
To restore a deleted file, right click on the folder that it was saved in and select Restore previous versions in Vista, or within XP, select Properties and the Previous Versions tab. You will restore an entire folder in this case, so choose Copy and Make a New Folder so that you do not overwrite the current folder with the restored version.
It happens in a blink of an eye–if you click on a link, attachment, or file that downloads an exploit–your computer is infected! Some signs that a computer is infected include a browser home page that you did not select, sudden slowness, unexplained hard drive activity, or the inability of your computer to access the network. If you notice any of these symptoms, contact OET immediately, and disconnect your computer from the network by unplugging the Ethernet cable or disabling the wireless adapter.
To get your computer back on track, OET will run antivirus and anti-malware software to determine if an infection exists. We also will search the hard drive for personal nonpublic information (PNPI). If no PNPI exists, we will either clean your hard drive or, more likely, reformat it. If we reformat your drive, we will back up your files, wipe you current hard drive of all information, and restore your applications and files. This procedure usually takes a day or less. If PNPI exists on the hard drive, we will contact IT to determine if any further action is necessary. During this more extensive investigation by IT, expect not to be able to access your computer for several days.
To insure that your computer is exploit-free and always up and running, keep virus protection up to date, apply operating system and application updates, avoid clicking on links or attachments that you were not expecting to receive, and follow IT’s guidelines for storing PNPI.
With so many phones available, it’s important to choose a phone with the options you need including the ability to synchronize with the OET server, if you are an Exchange client. If you can access your mail through OET webmail, then you are an Exchange client, and you should look for a phone that runs Windows Mobile or an Apple iPhone. These phones can synchronize with OET’s Exchange server and give you access to your mail, calendar, and contacts on the go.
Although Blackberry phones will connect to the OET server to allow you to read mail, they will not allow you to synchronize your calendar or contacts. To access calendar items and contacts on a Blackberry, you would need to log onto OET’s webmail through the phone’s browser.
CHEP policy, simply stated, is that every administrative computer, including those used by faculty, should be reformatted before being turned over to the next user. The purpose is not only to make sure no sensitive records are being retained without the next user’s knowledge, but also to make sure no malicious software survives the transfer. A side benefit not to be lightly dismissed is that the computer will be faster after a reformat and the operating system and all the standard applications will be up to date, and so more secure.
The wisdom of this approach has been born out by two recent malware cases (yes, in CHEP!) that could have been prevented by timely reformatting. The damage unwanted programs can do by compromising sensitive information, launching attacks on other computers, overwhelming network resources, and of course making the infected computer nearly unusable, is hard to overestimate.
Some of our clients nevertheless fail to report that a computer is changing hands; some report it but ask us to skip the routine reformat, either to save time, or because there’s something on the hard drive they think they might need, or because there are applications on the computer they aren’t sure how to replace. None of these is an adequate reason to forgo a precaution as sensible as keeping school kids from sharing hats. You really don’t want to live through a cootie outbreak!
Write oet-help and we promise we will work with you to minimize the impact of this necessary intervention. Please, please, don’t let a computer go uninspected through two or three years of revolving-door users. It’s those computers that are generally the scariest to examine closely. Call them in! We’ll clean them up.
Some OET clients have received a phishing e-mail from news@udel.edu that requests that they click on a link and enter in their UDNet ID and password to read urgent UD news. Upon examination of the link, it will take anyone who clicks on it to a site outside of the University of Delaware. Delete this message if you receive it and do not click on the link. It is a scam to obtain your UD login credentials.
Clearing the cache within Entourage occasionally may assist Exchange clients who experience mail or calendar synchronization problems with the use of multiple devices such as an iPhone and Macintosh laptop.
To clear the cache, open Entourage (log off any other instances of Exchange on your iPhone, for example) and verify that you are connected to the Exchange server. Within Entourage, on the left, mouse over the name of your Exchange account and press the Control key and the mouse button together to get the “right mouse button” menu. Select Folder Properties. Under the General tab, which opens by default, click on the Empty button to empty the cache.
Adobe announced today that there is a problem with all versions of their Acrobat and Reader programs that could compromise your system. Unfortunately, there will not be a fix available for the software until March 11th. Since the only way to be affected by this bug is to open a PDF file that is designed to exploit it, our advice to users of Adobe software is to be very careful only to open PDFs that were created by people and organizations that they know and trust. We also advise everyone to make sure that they are running the most current version of McAfee.
If you run ArcGIS, you will need to reconfigure the license file to reference another license server. Directions on how to reconfigure the server are available from IT’s How to Install Desktop Products for ArcGIS 9. If you have any questions, please contact OET.
