Before following the configuration directions for Windows 7, have your UDel NetID and password ready. If you have an older UDel NetID password–one that is not six to eight characters–you will need to reset it at the network page before you can access UDel Secure.

For more information on UDel Secure, visit IT’s site on how to configure your computer to use the UDel Secure wireless network or contact OET for assistance.

As always, if you are a staff or faculty member in the College of Education and Public Policy with questions on computer security, write to OET.

Some OET clients have needed to change their UDel NetID passwords to meet current requirements before connecting to UDel Secure. An indication that you may need to change your password is that your computer does not connect to UDel Secure after enter your user name and password in the UDel Secure Enter Credentials box.

Passwords must be six to eight characters in length and must not contain dictionary words. To change your UD NetID password, log into the UD network page.

Online tools such as Sakai, Jing, VoiceThread, Yodio and Google Docs can help you instruct your students at a distance. To learn more about these and other tools, CEPP faculty and staff are invited to attend a distance-learning workshop in 206 ALW on Sept. 30, 8:30-11:00 a.m. Topics will include how to organize information on the web, how to collaborate, and how to create a central meeting point for your class. To register, send an e-mail to Alice Daugherty.

In addition, Academic Technology Services offers Technology Options for Course Continuity in Event of H1N1 Outbreak.

To do this, they should log onto the UD Network Page with their UD NetID and password. After logging in, they should click on the Forward Your Email link, enter their OET user account name (e.g., name@oet.udel.edu) in the box, and click Submit. These clients will then be able to read and send messages by logging into OET webmail.

Updates on the availability of the Exchange server will be posted at this site. Anyone who has contacted OET personally will be informed when the Exchange server is available and when they can turn forwarding back on.

If you have any questions, write to oet-help@udel.edu.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

To check your McAfee version, right click on the red, white, and blue “V” shield in the system tray, the lower-right corner of your display. Select “About VirusScan Enterprise”. The dialog box that opens will report at the top what version you have. If you have version 8.5, you do not need to do anything, but if you have version 8.0, you will need to upgrade.

Please follow the directions at http://www.udel.edu/topics/virus/mcafee/win/vscan85.html to upgrade, including step 2. Step 2 tells you that some other virus programs conflict with McAfee and recommends that you uninstall them. We recommend that you uninstall version 8.0 of McAfee as well before you download and install 8.5 to prevent conflicts with other software, including Office and your operating system.

To uninstall McAfee 8.0 in Windows XP follow these directions:
1. Click Start in the lower-left corner of your computer’s monitor.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Double-click Add or Remove Programs.
4. In the Currently installed programs box, click McAfee VirusScan, and then click Remove.

As always, if you have questions, please contact oet-help@udel.edu.

OET recommends that you download and install a little utility called iKill that will warn you when a flash drive is attempting to install a program on your computer. You can get it from the CNET download site, http://www.download.com/iKill/3000-2239_4-10843779.html

Although the total length of a course may span several hours, courses are broken into smaller, more manageable video segments that allow users to target information that interests them, and users can bookmark a section to return to later.

Information on how to access these services, which require a login and password, is available on IT’s web tutorials site. In addition, this site lists a variety of online Office 2007 tutorials from Microsoft.

These programs are not just an annoyance: many of them will bury themselves deep in your operating system, steal personal information like passwords, and beam the information back to a central collecting point.  Almost all of them will use your computer as a launching pad to attack other networked computers. As always, the best advice is to think twice before you go to a website that looks at all suspicious, and NEVER click on a link in an e-mail unless you’re sure it’s taking you somewhere safe.

George Mulford

Over time, the list can become rather long and might contain addresses that you no longer need in the list. 

To delete an address from the list:

• Open a new message and begin typing an email recipient’s name or address in the “To:” box.  Keep typing until the address you want to remove appears in the autocompete list.
• Using your arrow keys, highlight the address you want to delete.
• Hit the Delete key.

If you have any questions, contact OET. Following are links to directions from Information Technologies on how to reconfigure the various e-mail clients.

Thunderbird for Windows
http://www.udel.edu/topics/e-mail/thunderbird/accountsettings.html

Mozilla 1.7.x  for Windows
http://www.udel.edu/topics/e-mail/mozilla/mailprefs.html

Mozilla 1.7.x  for MAC
http://www.udel.edu/topics/e-mail/mozilla/mailprefs.html

MacOS X Mail
http://www.udel.edu/topics/e-mail/macosxmail/index.html

Thunderbird Mac
http://www.udel.edu/topics/e-mail/thunderbirdmac/accountsettingsmac.html

Outlook Express
http://www.udel.edu/topics/e-mail/oex/oexwin/oexconfig.html

Recycling the power might be the answer.  For many printers this apparently fixes a multitude of problems.  However, it’s not good enough to just turn the printer off and back on.  You must remove the power souce from the printer, wait roughly 10 seconds and then replug the power source.  Sometimes unplugging the power cord from the back of the printer is sufficient, and sometimes not.  If the power cord has an adapter box between the printer and the power source, you will probably need to unplug the cord from the wall or surge protector, thereby resetting the circuitry in the adapter. 

Of course, this will not fix all printer problems but it’s worth a try before calling in the experts.

Recently installed in buildings across campus by Information Technologies (IT), the UDel Secure access points encrypt data and they require staff and students to enter their UDelNet IDs and passwords for access. Encryption and authentication prevent unauthorized access to data.

Since access to UDel Secure is not automatic, wireless devices must be configured. Once configured for UDel Secure, a wireless device should automatically connect again when a UDel Secure access point is available. When connected to UDel Secure, wireless devices will have access to OET servers.

For more information, visit IT’s site on how to configure your computer to use the UDel Secure wireless network or contact OET for assistance.

The seminar, next offered to CHEP faculty and staff on Thursday, November 13 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in 007 PRS, will give you strategies to increase your computer’s speed. Designed primarily for Windows users (although Macintosh users will benefit as well), this seminar reviews steps to increase your computer’s speed, most of which are free.

If you would like to attend, send a note to oet-help@udel.edu to register. So that we can address your specific experiences or concerns in the seminar, feel free to post them as a comment to this blog entry.

To prepare for installation of SPSS 16 and to prevent possible software conflicts, first uninstall any previous versions of SPSS on your computer. Next, install in order, SPSS 16, the latest patch for SPSS 16 (currently 16.0.2), and the Legacy Viewer (Windows only). The patch, available from UDeploy, fixes performance and usability issues found within SPSS 16. The Legacy Viewer, available from the SPSS install menu, allows you to view and edit files created in previous SPSS versions.

Completing these few extra steps will insure that your installation of SPSS 16 runs smoothly. As always, if you need assistance or have questions, contact oet-help.

The Open XML Converter allows Office 2004 users to open Excel, PowerPoint, and Word files created in Office 2008 (Macintosh) or Office 2007 (Windows). In addition, to enhance Office stability, Microsoft recommends that Office 2004 users install an Office 2004 for Mac Update.

There are some known issues with the file converter for working with Excel, PowerPoint, and Word files in Office 2004 and only specific file types are supported. See the Microsoft article, Information about how to work with Open XML Format files in Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, for further information.

Example:  When you’re in OET Webmail, your address line will show as follows:

https://webmail.oet.udel.edu/exchange/ 

After the final slash, key in: Smith/calendar

Like this: https://webmail.oet.udel.edu/exchange/Smith/calendar

Where Smith is the Windows user name sharing the calendar.

If you have part-time employees or students who need to log onto computers on the OET network, contact oet-help@udel.edu to request OET user accounts for them.  

These individual accounts will allow staff to log onto computers and access files in any folders that you designate. If you need to share documents with one or more staff members, request a shared network folder to allow all staff with the appropriate permissions access to the same data.

Computer equipment, including laptop batteries, monitors, and circuit boards contain hazardous materials, and procedures are in place at the University of Delaware to recycle this equipment. 

For example, to have your old laptop battery picked up for recycling, complete the chemical waste pickup request form at http://www.udel.edu/OHS/wastepickup.html. For a list of how to recycle other computer equipment, visit the Occupational Health & Safety website at http://www.udel.edu/OHS/comprecycle.html.

Remember to contact OET at oet-help@udel.edu to erase all data on hard drives, if you plan to send computers to Surplus.  

1. On the Outlook file menu, choose Import and Export…
2. In the Import and Export Wizard select Export to a file.
3. On the first Export to a file window, select your file type.
4. On the next Export to a file window, locate and select your Contacts item under Mailbox – yourname.
5. On the next Export to a file window, key in or browse to a place to save the file.
6. On the final Export to a file window you have a chance to Map Custom Fields, in case your new email system requires different field names for the contact information.  If not, just hit Finish, and you’re done.

In August, Dell plans to release the E Ultraportable Notebook that is a tiny 8.9” in diameter, weighs just 2.2 pounds, and starts at $299. Although details on system components have not been released yet, since it will carry the Dell name, parts should be able to be replaced easily by OET’s Dell-certified technicians while under warranty.

Lightweight laptops such as the Dell E Ultraportable offer increased portability for less, balancing cost with available system components. Configuration choices for RAM, processor speed, hard drive capacity, optical (DVD) drive, and warranty length are usually limited but within normal ranges. These laptops may be perfect for someone who only wants use minimal processing power (e.g., to surf the web or to do word processing).

Other popular mini notebooks include the ASUS Eee PC that offer several configurations from $199 to about $399 and the HP Mini-Note which runs from $500 to $750. These laptops offer configurations with various operating systems including Vista Business, which is supported by OET, and Linux and Windows XP Home, which are not supported by OET.

If you are thinking about purchasing a laptop, OET will be happy to assist in configuring the one that’s right for you. Just write to oet-help@udel.edu.

This will affect your “H: drive” however you access it (uno.oet.udel.edu) and your Exchange mail (which you read using Outlook, Entourage, or webmail.oet.udel.edu).  If you read mail using http://mail.udel.edu, your mail will be unaffected. It is unlikely that your mail correspondents will receive non-delivery or delayed-delivery reports for mail they send you during this period.

These will be unaffected: web sites, login to desktop computers in CHEP offices, Child Plus, the ERC catalog, lab accounts and printing in 006-007 PRN, 190 GRM, 203i WHL.

This scheduled down time is for the purpose of moving our servers to the equipment room at Chapel Street, where IT will house them in a better-protected physical and electrical environment than we have enjoyed up to now. The payoff should be better continuity of service in the future for CHEP computer users.

When updates are ready for installation, Windows XP users will see a yellow shield with an exclamation point on it in the system tray (right-bottom corner of your desktop), and Vista users will see a similar shield near the shutdown option in the start menu.

Windows users have some leeway as to when updates are applied. If you see that updates are ready to be applied, you can click on the shield to apply the updates which may require a shutdown or restart of your computer. Depending on an update’s critical nature, it will automatically install, possibly during the work day, if not given the opportunity to do so within a certain time frame.

If you want to prevent updates from interrupting your workday, you can apply updates at shutdown by selecting the option to apply updates and shutdown. Updates will then be applied before your computer turns off. Another option is to log off your computer and leave it on overnight, when you either see the yellow shield or receive notification through the shutdown process that updates need to be applied. Updates will be applied and your computer will reboot overnight. When you next log onto your computer, you will receive a message that updates have been successfully applied.

1. On the View menu, select Arrange By.
2. On the Arange By submenu, select Custom…
3. In the Custom View dialog box, choose Other Settings…
4. The Other Settings window has options for changing the fonts sizes by Column, Row and the AutoPreview pane.

This works the same way in Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007.

Connecting to the server:

1. While in the Macintosh Finder, select “Connect to Server…” from the Go menu
2. Enter Server Address: smb://OET;username@uno.oet.udel.edu/sharename – where username is your OET Windows logon name and sharename is your share name mentioned above
3. You will be asked to authenticate before you can make the connection.  Enter your OET Windows password and hit OK
4. A new window will open on the Mac with your “H: Drive” files

Office is available for download by faculty and staff from UDeploy software distribuition site at https://udeploy.udel.edu/. Students are not covered under this license agreement. For further information on the details of the license agreement, see UDaily or contact oet-help@udel.edu.

If you are an Exchange client, the OET mail storage limits are set to warn you when your mailbox reaches 1.4GB in size. If your mailbox continues to grow, you will not be able to send mail when your mailbox reaches 1.75GB, and you will not be able to send or receive mail when your mailbox reaches 2GB. However, you can easily manage your Exchange account within Outlook.

For details on how to manage your Exchange account e-mail within Outlook, see How-to-clean-up-your-exchange-account (PDF). If you’d like to meet with an OET technician to manage your Exchange account, just send a note to oet-help@udel.edu.

Since this orientation generally occurs during their first week in a new job, people typically forget that it happened. They may be unaware that OET or their CHEP affiliation has anything to do with their mail service. The dark side of the picture is that their e-mail account will be terminated when their employment by the particular CHEP unit is over. Often, in fact, they have been away from the campus entirely for several days or weeks when OET gets the termination notice and pulls the plug. Panic! My e-mail disappeared! So OET is left to pick up the pieces, corresponding at a distance with an angry and bewildered ex-client who is no longer even affiliated with CHEP. This is unfortunate and need never happen.

If OET is notified BEFORE a person’s affiliation with CHEP ends, we can arrange a phone call or a visit to stop the forwarding. We can show them with remarkably little fuss or stress how to transfer their saved mail folders to another account or package them for travel. In extreme cases, we have made differential e-mail archives so that one or more of an employee’s successors have access to the history of their e-mail pertinent to the responsibilities being passed on.

If you are a temporary employee or student worker who reads mail using Outlook or webmail.oet.udel.edu, you need to know this: check in with OET before you leave. If you are the supervisor of such a person, you can do us and your workers a big favor by bearing it in mind and making it part of your exit debriefing.

If you are a CHEP faculty or staff member who needs a printer recommendation, write to oet-help@udel.edu.

If you suspect that you have received fraudulent e-mail, do not reply to it or click on any links within the message; delete it.  If you are unsure whether an e-mail is fraudulent, send a note to oet-help@udel.edu. The Office of Educational Technology and Information Technologies (IT), the central computing support organization at UD, will never ask for any information online to keep your accounts active. 

For more information on phishing schemes and how to protect yourself, see Information Technologies’ Phishing Alert;  Microsoft’s site on how to recognize phishing scams and fraudulent e-mail; and the Federal Trade Commission’s site on how to protect yourself against identity theft.  Also, check for news on the latest phishing scams at the University on UDaily.

The UD Dropbox allows you to drop off  files for (and pick up files from) UD and non-UD staff.  In addition, you can use the UD Dropbox to send file types that would regularly be stripped from e-mail due to security concerns. So if you have a colleague across the country or across campus, the UD Dropbox is an excellent way to send and receive files.

If you have Office 2007 installed on your Windows XP or Vista computer, a free add-in from Microsoft allows you to save files in PDF or in XML Paper Specification (XPS) format.  This add-in works with eight 2007 Microsoft Office programs, including Word, Access, Excel, Publisher, Visio, InfoPath, OneNote and PowerPoint. Files saved in PDF format can then be read by Adobe Reader.  Since this add-in does not come with Office 2007, you can download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en.

In Office 2008 for the Macintosh, there’s nothing additional to download; the PDF file format option is available in the Save As dialog box on the file menu in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

If you would like OET to install the software for you, or if you have questions about system requirements, contact us!