IT events this week
by B. Edwards, Information Technology Assistance Center
published March 6, 2007
Daylight Saving Time starts Sunday, March 11
by E. Dover, Information Technology Assistance Center
published March 6, 2007
Daylight Saving Time moves to March 11 and is extended to Nov. 4.
To install the DST patch on your computer, go to the following site and follow the directions:
support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst.
For best results, select "Home User" as it will provide you with the information on
how to install the patch yourself.
Your computer will adjust to the new Daylight Saving Time period if you are running
the latest version of Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and all the updates installed.
Your computer will not change on Sunday if you are running an earlier version of an operating system.
If this is the case, and you have a Windows 2000 workstation, you will need to install the patch at
theoracle.itac.ksu.edu/dstfixforwin2k.zip.
For Windows 95, 98, or ME users, there is no fix available, so you'll need to manually change the
time on your computer.
To manually change your computer's time:
- Double-click the clock in the bottom-right corner of your screen.
- Click on the Time zone tab.
- Unclick "automatically adjust clock for daylight savings changes".
- Then "spring forward" by adding an hour under the Date and Time tab.
(On Nov. 4, you'll also have to "fall back" an hour.)
University computing labs unavailable during DST updates
by E. Dover, Information Technology Assistance Center
published March 6, 2007
To prepare for the Daylight Saving Time change this weekend, automated maintenance will be
performed in some of the university computing labs.
During these maintenance times, the computers in the scheduled university
computing labs below will be unavailable:
- Dickens - 3-6 a.m. Wednesday, March 7
- Justin - 3-6 a.m. Thursday, March 8
- Seaton - 3-6 a.m. Friday, March 9
- Union Copy Center - 3-6 a.m. Wednesday, March 7
- Union Station - 3-6 a.m. Wednesday, March 7
- 24 Hour Study Area, Hale Library - 3-6 a.m. Friday, March 9
Death of the desktop
by R. Gould, Information Technology Assistance Center
published March 6, 2007
The University of Virginia recently published a report on changes in computing practices of students.
Ninety of the 3,000 first-year students brought a desktop computer to campus, the rest brought laptops.
According to the "Death of the desktop" article in the March 2 Chronicle of Higher Education,
five years ago the
number of students bringing laptops and desktops was about even. Another change in the computing environment
at the University of Virginia is that one in five students own an Apple computer and about 77 percent
of the students own a digital music player. More statistics are available in the university's
First-Year Student Computer Inventory Comparisons.
Summer and fall course schedules online
by E. Heller, Registrar's Office
published March 6, 2007
The summer and fall 2007 course schedules are now online at
courses.k-state.edu.
March 26 is the first day of fall/summer enrollment, which continues through Aug. 31.
The fall course schedule and closed course list will be updated twice daily (at noon and after 9 p.m.).
The summer course schedule will be updated twice daily during the summer/fall enrollment period
through June 15, and then once every Friday evening until summer semester ends in August.
Credit Union phishing scam nets few victims
by H. Townsend. interim IT security officer
published March 6, 2007
On Feb. 28, thousands of K-Staters received e-mails that appeared to be from
the K-State Federal Credit Union asking them to "enroll in 'Challenge Questions' authentication now."
The vast majority recognized this as a "phishing" scam, but a few people did click on the link in the e-mail.
Fortunately, they stopped short of filling in their credit card information. See the credit union's
Phishing Attempt! webpage.
This incident shows the level of sophistication of online criminals in a practice known as "spear phishing".
They copied the entire credit union website, hosted it on a compromised computer in France,
modified it to lure people into providing credit card information, then sent fraudulent e-mail to
"@ksu.edu" addresses, knowing that many would have credit union accounts.
To avoid becoming a victim of online fraud, follow the guidelines on K-State's
phishing and scams webpage.
WebMail, spam-filtering outage early Thursday, March 8
by L. Albertson, Computing and Telecommunications Services
published March 6, 2007
WebMail and spam filtering will be unavailable midnight-3 a.m. Thursday, March 8,
to upgrade a database server for the upcoming DST change. IMAP and POP access will continue to work.
Spam-filter settings will be temporarily changed to the defaults during this outage.
Everyone who has opted in for spam filtering will get their e-mail checked using the
default sensitivity level of 3.5. Some people may see less spam, and
some may see more depending on their current user preference.
If your spam-filtering level is less aggressive than 3.5, it is advisable to check your
Junk folder for valid mail after this maintenance.
User settings will be reinstated once the database server patching is complete.
TV broadcast schedule for James Neal lecture
by A. Hagedorn, Information Technology Assistance Center
published March 6, 2007
For those of you who missed last week's Provost Lecture featuring James
Neal, vice president of information technology and university librarian at
Columbia University, catch his presentation during these broadcast times on
TV channel KST8:
- 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6
- 7 p.m. Thursday, March 8
- 8 p.m. Friday, March 9
TechBytes upcoming sessions: Community blog, Camtasia Studio
by C. Rodriguez, Information Technology Assistance Center
published March 6, 2007
"Creating Community with a Community Blog"
1:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, Union 213.
Michael Wesch will cover how to unleash the power of blogging for your teaching and research
by going beyond the standard single-authored
blog and inviting others to join you in the creation of a community blog. According to the blog experts at
Technorati, a new blog is created every second, but most of these blogs are little more than unfinished
thoughts and musings of individuals whose writings will rarely (if ever) be read. Community blogging has
proven to be much more effective and robust. Not only are there multiple authors to provide plenty of fresh
material, these authors also serve as a guaranteed audience. This presentation will include:
- The basics of creating a community blog with multiple authors
- How to add community-building extras like a chat box and "live" links that automatically update whenever an
author finds a site worth sharing
- RSS feeds that can point your readers and collaborators to other vibrant blogging communities
throughout the blogosphere
Next week: "Record, Edit and Share with Camtasia Studio"
1:15 p.m. Thursday, March 15, Union 213.
TechBytes seminars are free and open to the K-State community.
The series is also video streamed live for off-campus viewers and others
who wish to view it from their desktop. Visit the TechBytes site for
a link to the next live video, plus handouts, videos, and resources from previous seminars.
Only one SkillSoft demo (March 7)
by B. Edwards, Information Technology Assistance Center
published March 6, 2007
One of the free SkillSoft demos scheduled this week has been canceled.
The remaining SkillSoft demo is 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, in 501 Hale Library.
Register online prior to attending.
Free online seminars from Apple
by the editors, InfoTech Tuesday
published March 6, 2007
Apple offers free online seminars on a variety of topics. Go to
seminars.apple.com to find a topic of interest.
For those interested in podcasting, check out this online audio seminar:
The Podcasting Recipe: Producing a successful show.
Security tip: Minor botnet outbreak shows importance of patching
by H. Townsend. interim IT security officer
published March 6, 2007
Last week a minor botnet outbreak occurred on campus, infecting 19 computers
in 14 different buildings. The common link between these computers: Every
vulnerability that was exploited had a security patch readily available, but
the computer had not been updated. Taking a few minutes to patch a computer
can save a great deal of time and headaches. A compromise like a botnet
requires an infected computer to be reformatted, as well as software
reinstalled, before network access can be restored. Keep computers patched,
and think before you click!
IT by the numbers: K-State web-browser statistics
by N. Erdwien, Computing and Telecommunications Services
published March 6, 2007
An analysis of the web-browser software used to visit K-State's central websites on March 5
yields the following tidbits:
- Microsoft's Internet Explorer now accounts for just under 80 percent of our hits.
Windows update has rapidly pushed IE 7.0, which now represents 26 percent use. IE 6 dropped to 53 percent.
- Firefox is approaching 11 percent use.
- Apple's Safari browser is holding steady at 2 percent use.
- No other browser has more than 0.5 percent use, including such former heavyweights as Netscape and Mozilla.
The only real changes since last November's review are that IE 7 use is a lot higher, and Vista is coming on.
After only being available five weeks, Vista has already gathered a 1 percent share.
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