Password deadline is Feb. 14 (one week away)
by B. Edwards, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Feb. 6, 2007
Wednesday, Feb. 14, is the deadline for all K-Staters to change the password on their eIDs for spring semester.
This includes individual eIDs as well as group accounts.
To change your eID password, go to the
eid.k-state.edu site, sign in to your eProfile, and
under Password Settings, click "Change your eID password or password-reset
options." For security purposes, passwords cannot be reused within a two-year period.
See the Password FAQs for more details.
If you need assistance, contact the IT Help Desk at 785-532-7722.
K-State units: Need to shred old magnetic tapes?
by J. Bell, Computing and Telecommunications Services
published Feb. 6, 2007
CTS
has made arrangements for a certified-secure shredding company to be on
campus during the last week of February. If your unit or department has
magnetic tapes (DLT, AIT, Reel to Reel, DAT/DDC, LTO) containing backups or
other sensitive data that needs to be properly disposed, you may want to
take advantage of this opportunity. The cost is 8 cents per pound.
All materials you want to destroy should be boxed and
clearly labeled with your department/unit name and billing contact
information. CTS will rebill you for your share of the cost. Boxes
should be delivered to Hale Library basement no later than Feb. 21.
A certificate of destruction is available on request.
Questions about tape shredding should be sent to Julie Bell, 785-532-4904,
jbell@k-state.edu.
Sites blocking more K-State-forwarded e-mail
by L. Albertson, Computing and Telecommunications Services
published Feb. 6, 2007
Central IT staff have noticed an increase in blocking of K-State-forwarded
e-mail by sites such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, and Comcast. When this
happens, it takes time to get K-State e-mail servers unblocked at those destinations and to
deliver e-mail to forwarded e-mail accounts. During the time we are
blocked, the e-mails are queued for delivery once those sites allow
us to send e-mail to their servers again.
Some reasons K-State is getting blocked include:
- Forwarding e-mail that is spam
- Sending excessive e-mail to non-existent users
- A high rate of e-mail coming from one source
K-State e-mail administrators are implementing changes to slow the amount of spam
relayed off-site due to people forwarding their e-mail. They are also
implementing checks to find forwarded e-mail that's bouncing back and to disable
those forwards. K-Staters who get their forwarding disabled as a result
can easily point their e-mail to a different address that works,
through their eProfile settings. For the future, K-State is working to get included on
"white lists" to ensure we don't get blocked at some sites.
We will continue to provide updates on the forwarding issues. Note that the
best solution is to turn off e-mail forwarding. If a K-Stater indicates
they want to forward their mail, and their mail is blocked by the
e-mail destination's provider, there will continue to be delays.
See the related Feedback article in this issue.
TechBytes lineup for the spring semester
by C. Rodriguez, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Feb. 6, 2007
Mark your calendars for these spring TechBytes sessions:
| TechBytes topic | Time/date/location |
| Google Tools | 1:15 p.m. Wed, Feb. 7, Union 213 |
| Podcasting and You: Easy Podcasting through K-State Online | 1:30 p.m. Wed, Feb. 14, Union 213 |
| Taking Your Digital Photos from the Camera to the Web | 1:30 p.m. Wed, Feb. 21, Union 213 |
| Collaborating with IRC (Internet Relay Chat) | 1:15 p.m. Wed, Feb. 28, Union 213 |
| Creating Community with a Community Blog | 1:15 p.m. Wed, March 7, Union 213 |
| Record, Edit and Share with Camtasia Studio | 1:15 p.m. Thu, March 15, Union 213 |
| Transitioning from the PC to the Mac |
1:15 p.m. Wed, March 28, Union 213 |
"Google Tools". 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, Union 213.
Josh McCune will explore the fun of easy-to-use, innovative, integrated, free tools from Google that
can make your life easier and your work more productive. See last week's
article for details.
"Podcasting and You: Easy Podcasting through K-State Online". 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14, Union 213.
Brent Anders will answer these questions and more: Why make a podcast? What are the pros and cons?
How are other universities using podcasts? How does one make an
audio podcast? How does one make a video podcast? What are the
costs associated with each? Once I make a podcast, how does
K-State Online come into the picture?
SIRT Roundtable discussion Friday, Feb. 9
by A. Hagedorn, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Feb. 6, 2007
SIRT
will host another roundtable discussion on Windows Vista 9:15-10:30 a.m. Friday,
Feb. 9, in Union Staterooms 1 and 2 to clarify K-State's position
on Vista, and provide a forum for K-Staters to share their experiences,
ideas, and concerns about deploying the operating system. Discussion topics include:
- Reasons for delaying deployment of Vista
- Challenges to delaying deployment
- Options for purchasing a new computer
- Availability of a supported production version of Trend Micro OfficeScan for Vista
- An antivirus solution to allow system administrators to test Vista with their applications
- Application compatibility issues
- Considerations to make when planning your department's transition to Vista
This session will be a discussion, not a formal presentation. K-Staters are
encouraged to bring their ideas, questions, and concerns to discuss and help
find solutions to this challenge. Harvard Townsend, interim IT security officer, will moderate.
"Tell IT" online discussion starts Feb. 8
by R. Caffey, Office of Mediated Education
published Feb. 6, 2007
Tell IT -- a dialogue with IT staff about computing concepts, issues, and
innovations that impact all of us -- kicks off 1:30-2:30 p.m. Feb. 8 from your
desktop. To join in the conversation, you never have to leave your desk, just
e-mail TellTuesday@k-state.edu to be added to
the roster in the "Tell IT" K-State Online course.
- Feb. 8 topic: Transaction Hub: Architecture for Integration?
An overview of the components, capabilities, recent projects, and an
introduction to how webMethods can help facilitate enhancing our Service
Oriented Architecture.
- Next week: Technology Classrooms
If you miss the live session, sign in to "Tell IT" in your Course Organizer in K-State Online
and review the Archives.
Labs, InfoCommons to delay Windows Vista install
by E. Dover, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Feb. 6, 2007
Currently, there are no plans to install Windows Vista in the university
computing labs or K-State InfoCommons until Service Pack 1 is
released and technical staff have had a chance to ensure that all applications
and educational resources work properly with the operating system.
The reason to wait for Vista's Service Pack 1 is that with each operating system release,
most issues are not discovered until after the release
of the new operating system into the consumer market. It is best to
let these issues be fixed before moving
an enterprise-level infrastructure to the latest operating system.
iTAC's
goal is to keep technology in the labs and InfoCommons as current as possible while maintaining a
stable and functional technology environment.
LASER Project: Admissions module goes live in June
by A. Hagedorn, Information Technology Assistance Center
published Feb. 6, 2007
The LASER Project team continues work on the development and implementation
of the student information system. The Admissions module will be completed
for administrative staff to begin using this June for processing fall 2008
applicants. Visit the LASER Project website at laser.k-state.edu
for up-to-date information about implementation and training plans.
Survey link on PCs in university computing labs
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published Feb. 6, 2007
This spring, K-State is participating in the National Survey of Student
Engagement (www.nsse.iub.edu),
which assesses student participation in activities during their undergraduate
experience. A sample of 5,000 K-State freshmen and seniors will be invited to
complete the NSSE online during the first part of February. A link to the survey is available
on the computers in the university computing labs and K-State InfoCommons.
For more about the survey, see Media Relations'
Jan. 25 news release.
Security tip: Carefully plan your Windows Vista strategy
by H. Townsend. interim IT security officer
published Feb. 6, 2007
Two previous IT Tuesday articles have advised K-Staters not to install
Windows Vista on computers because Trend Micro has yet to provide a
supported, production version of OfficeScan antivirus software. However,
Trend Micro is not the only reason to delay deployment of Vista:
- Any application that relies on the OpenGL standard for graphics will
likely have problems. This includes ESRI products, AutoDesk products,
SPSS, SAS, and many popular games.
- In many cases, an upgrade will need to be purchased for the
application once it is available (and many are not). Departments and units
should consider this expense in their budgets.
- Any new software will have bugs and security vulnerabilities, and
hackers are feverishly analyzing Vista for those weaknesses. Microsoft is
already planning for "Service Pack 1" (SP1) to fix known
problems, so waiting until SP1 is released to deploy Vista is recommended.
- The user interface has changed substantially, so users may need
training. The learning curve will be steep for some.
- Current PC hardware may need to be upgraded for Vista to run
properly. Vista requires considerably more resources than Windows XP.
- K-Staters can order new computers with Windows XP from Dell until
February 2008. We are checking with other PC vendors as well.
- There are many versions of Vista available. K-Staters should make informed
decisions to know which version fits their environment best, including
supporting required functions such as Active Directory.
- Vista has many configuration options, especially related to security,
that may require changes to work effectively in your environment.
While Windows Vista has many desirable new security features, it is in the
best interest of the university to delay the purchase and installation of
Vista. System administrators should start testing Vista now, and carefully
and thoroughly plan your department's transition to Windows Vista. Most
importantly, make sure every application used by the people you support will
work in Vista. Note that if you decide to upgrade early, the IT Help Desk
will not provide support at this time.
To facilitate this testing, a beta version of Trend Micro OfficeScan ("beta"
means it is still under development, so it is unsupported and may have bugs)
will be available to system administrators only for testing purposes. It is
not to be used on production Windows Vista workstations. A notification will
be sent to the ANTIVIRUS-L mailing list when the beta software is available.
IT by the numbers: Password reminders sent to K-Staters
by J. Morrill, Computing and Telecommunications Services
published Feb. 6, 2007
- 25,880 people were e-mailed a password reminder last week.
- 8,000+ people then changed their passwords in the past week.
- 17,803 K-State eIDs were e-mailed last night that they haven't changed their passwords.
- 2,400+ then changed their passwords in the next 15.5 hours (by 3 p.m. today).
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