New campus computer repair service for K-Staters
by A. Phillips, Computing and Network Services
published Nov. 22, 2005. updated 4:07 p.m. Nov. 23, 2005
K-State faculty, staff, and students can now obtain warranty and non-warranty repairs on campus for their
personally owned Apple and Gateway computers. This is an expansion of the same type of service
currently available to university departments.
The new program is due to an arrangement between the K-State Student Union Computer Store and the
CNS Technology Service Center.
Depending on campus response to this new program, other manufacturers such as Dell and Acer may be
added in the future.
If you know your computer is in warranty and that the problem you are having is covered
by your warranty, you can take your computer directly to the Technology Service Center (121 East Stadium) during
regular business hours (or to the computer store if its hours are more convenient).
If you have questions about what work is covered and what type of work we can do,
call 532-6314 or e-mail techservices@ksu.edu.
If your computer is out of warranty,
you must take your machine to the Union Computer Store. They will handle the billing process to
charge you for the repairs and may charge a nominal handling fee.
Call the store at 532-7319 or e-mail computerstore@ksu.edu.
K-State Internet connection has many potential points of failure
by H. Townsend, Computing and Network Services
published Nov. 22, 2005
Last week's article
about a faulty network card that caused K-State's entire Internet connection to be down seven hours
caused one reader to ask 1) whether our Internet connection is fragile, and 2) whether built-in redundancy
(alternate routing) exists. The answer to both is "yes". But it's more complicated than that.
The card that failed in the Cox Communications
device last week is one of many single points of failure in K-State's connection to the Internet,
Internet2, Great Plains Network, KanREN, and Kan-ed. It was only a matter of time before a
failure occurred in one of the vulnerable spots. And it's equally likely that a failure
will eventually occur when classes are in session, rather than a Sunday afternoon like the last one.
However, considerable progress has been
made in the past few years to provide redundancy -- to the point that
several service failures have occurred but were not noticed by the campus.
Also, IT staff work many long hours to keep the network running despite its fragile state.
Without their tremendous dedication to K-State, we would have many more outages.
What more can we do? Providing complete protection for all points of failure
is enormously expensive, especially since back-up bandwidth and equipment sits idle until it's needed
(typically, once or twice a year).
For example, last spring KanREN's board of directors and members -- of which K-State is one -- decided they were
willing to pay more to have extra bandwidth available in case
of a failure in one of their two Internet providers (Qwest and Cox).
That's helped K-State a few times when one or the other ISP has failed.
Our long-term goal is to provide redundancy/protection that approaches
100 percent reliability for off-campus network connections.
We've been working with Cox and KanREN for quite some time to
get dual physical fiber paths between campus and Cox's network.
This would have protected us from last week's equipment failure, and is a
cost-effective way to get some additional protection. For now, negotiations are still in progress.
Ideally, we'd also have a second KanREN connection of equal capacity from a completely different
provider, but the cost is prohibitive at this time.
These are only two of many remaining, potential single
points of failure, both on our campus and as our packets traverse other networks to get to the Internet.
We'll continue to make incremental progress to improve the
reliability, but for now it's unfortunately going to remain fragile due to funding limitations.
I'm optimistic that the campus network will eventually receive enough
funding to provide the reliability required for a university in this day and age.
Central e-mail gains two new servers
by J. Bell, Computing and Network Services
published Nov. 22, 2005
On Sunday, Nov. 20, Computing and Network Services installed two new
servers on the central e-mail system. These servers are designed to balance the load of
local and forwarded e-mail, and are part of continuing efforts to manage K-State's
increased e-mail load.
Since this week many users are leaving or have left for
the holidays, K-Staters may not notice the positive changes in e-mail delivery and handling. Mondays
and Tuesdays after the holidays are heavy e-mail traffic days and will be a true
test of the load on the system.
AntiVirus Corporate Edition 8 not protected after Nov. 30
by B. Edwards, Computing and Network Services
published Nov. 22, 2005
Nov. 30 is the last day that Symantec will support its AntiVirus Corporate Edition 8.0 software.
Thereafter, updates for that version will not be available, and it will become more vulnerable to
viruses over time. K-Staters who have this version on their computers should update by Nov. 30
at the latest. See the Aug. 9 article
for details.
Free "iPod rescue" service through computer store
by C. Loehr, K-State Student Union Computer Store
published Nov. 22, 2005. updated Nov. 23, 2005
The Union Computer Store is offering a new, free service in conjunction with iPodResQ, a vendor out of Kansas City.
iPodResQ repairs out-of-warranty iPods and, if you don't want your broken iPod repaired, they will buy it from you.
Several people have already taken advantage of this free service and sent in their iPod.
If you visit iPodResQ's website (www.ipodresq.com), you'll see that
for overnight shipping both ways and a diagnosis of the problem,
the fee is $29. However, as a service to the education community at K-State, iPodResQ is waiving the $29 fee.
iPodResQ has also provided the computer store with a number of boxes with a DHL shipping label.
The process is simple. Once you get the box from the store:
- Pop the ipod in the box.
- Fill out the form and put it in the box.
- Seal the box.
- Attach the label to the outside of the box.
- Drop it in a DHL mailbox (like the one by the Union's ATM machines).
Items in the DHL mailbox by pick-up time go out on overnight shipping, so your box
would be at iPodResQ the next business day. iPodResQ will call you that day and give you a cost
to fix your iPod. If you want it fixed, they will fix it that day and get it back to you the next day.
If you choose not to get it fixed, it is free shipping back to you or they will offer to buy it from you.
Is your iPod not broken, but you want to sell it anyway? Same routine. Get the box from the computer store.
Fill out the form, and checkmark the box "Make me an offer on my iPod!" Seal the box, and send it on its way.
Questions about this service can be referred to the Union Computer Store
(532-7319, computerstore@ksu.edu).
K-State Calendar: How to disable the e-mail notice
by S. Silva, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Nov. 22, 2005
When scheduling a meeting in the K-State Calendar, here are the steps to disable the e-mail notice:
- From either your agenda window or your in-tray window, click Options on the Tools menu,
- Click the plus sign (+) next to Scheduling to expand it.
- Click Send Notification.
- Uncheck the notification-sending options you don't want, and then click OK.
The three options are:
- Ask to send e-mail to attendees when you create an Entry.
- Ask to send e-mail to attendees when you edit an Entry.
- Ask to send e-mail to attendees when you delete an Entry.
Questions about the K-State Calendar can be sent to the IT Help Desk,
helpdesk@ksu.edu.
Use holiday time to send IT award nominations
by the IT Awards and Recognition Committee
published Nov. 22, 2005
All K-Staters can submit nominations for the IT Awards and
Recognition process through Dec. 1. Take a minute
to nominate a colleague or IT team for their outstanding
contributions to the university.
Go to the IT Awards website and click on
the word "Nominations" at the top of the page to access the nomination
form. See the Nov. 1 article
for more details.
IT by the numbers: Tegrity
by B. Vandivere, iTAC/OME
published Nov. 22, 2005
Number of instructors using Tegrity is 198.
Number of Tegrity lectures is 6,000.
| Q/A: IT questions from K-Staters |
by B. Edwards, Computing and Network Services,
and L. Robertson, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Nov. 22, 2005
How can I stop getting e-mail phishing messages?
The standard approach is to just delete e-mail phishing messages. But if you want to
be more proactive, check out the Federal Trade Commission's recommendations for other things you can do.
How Not to Get Hooked by a ‘Phishing’ Scam
is a consumer alert that includes these further actions:
- Forward phishing spam to spam@uce.gov and
to the company, bank, or organization being impersonated in the e-mail.
Most organizations have information on their websites about where to report problems.
- If you believe you’ve been scammed, file a complaint at ftc.gov,
and then visit the FTC’s Identity Theft website at www.consumer.gov/idtheft.
Victims of phishing can become victims of identity theft.
- Visit ftc.gov/spam to see
other ways to avoid e-mail scams and deal with deceptive spam.
Have a question or comment?
TellTuesday@ksu.edu.
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| Web watch |
Froogle is Google's search engine for shoppers
by A. Hagedorn, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Nov. 22, 2005
Use the "Froogle" button this year for online holiday shopping. Go to
google.com and search
for any particular brand or specific product. Once you get the
search results, click on the Froogle button and see what happens.
You get a list of all the different places that sell the item
you're looking for, and can compare prices as well.
Find a good site? TellTuesday@ksu.edu.
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