Library and Computing at Bucknell

On July 27, a new firewall will be installed as part of an ongoing
series of improvements to make Bucknell's IT infrastructure more secure.
Currently, users are able to directly connect to many Bucknell
computers, which creates a vulnerable environment for the University. To
protect our systems, we are installing a new firewall to solve this
problem. Most users will not notice any changes. All web-based services
such as MyBucknell, Zimbra, and Blackboard will not be affected by this
change. However, if you directly access a desktop machine on campus
through applications such as Remote Desktop or SSH, you will need to
first log in via the virtual private network (VPN).

These changes will go into effect on Monday, July 28.

We appreciate your cooperation as we move forward to secure the campus
community's IT infrastructure. Feel free to contact the tech desk if you
have questions or need assistance.

Information about the Bucknell VPN can be found here:
http://www.bucknell.edu/x10292.xml

Please note that our end date for accepting staff personal computers for
service at the Tech Desk is Friday, July 25. We're happy to provide this
free program for Bucknell staff and faculty during the summer months and we
will resume taking computers following Commencement in May 2009.

Computers must meet our minimum specifications for service, which can be
found online at http://www.bucknell.edu/x10867.xml.

Note also that we no longer back up data - please take the time to back up
your documents, photos, music, etc., before you bring your computer to the
desk.

If you have any questions, give us a call at 577-7777 or email us at
techdesk@bucknell.edu .

As a send-off to the year, we want to remind you how important it is to make back up plans for your computer over the summer. We recommend that you buy an external hard drive and back up your documents, photos, music, etc. The tech desk will not be backing up your files if we need to work on your computer, beginning in the summer of 2008. For details, see http://www.bucknell.edu/backitup

You might want to check out Dean Midkiff translating this message for a student in this YouTube clip.

Enjoy your summer - if you're in the market for a new laptop, the Fall 2008 Bison Laptops are now on sale at http://www.bucknell.edu/bisonlaptop. Seniors can still take advantage of this great deal, and the warranty is with Dell, not Bucknell, so you can get service where ever you are.

Bud Hiller
Tech support

Ready for a new laptop? Want to get a great deal on a machine that is proven at Bucknell?

Buy a Bison Laptop! We have updated the image for Fall 2008 incoming students and we've gotten our best pricing ever from Dell. Any Bucknell student or staff person can buy one of these laptops at this standout pricing. Check this out:

• Dell Latitude D630: $992
• Dell Latitude D830: $1128
• 120 gb hard drive
• 2 gb RAM, single DIMM
• 2.2 ghz Intel Core Duo processor
• Intel 4965 wireless card
• 128 mb nVidia Quadro NVS 135M
• WXGA+ and WSXGA+ high resolution displays
• DVD-RW
• 3 years of Complete Care/Accidental Damage warranty

Read all the details on our Bison Laptop web pages: www.bucknell.edu/bisonlaptop

Faculty and staff: Please note that all Equipment Services Loaner Equipment will be recalled for annual inventory and maintenance beginning Monday, May 19th .

No equipment items will circulate from 8am May 19th to 8am May 23rd.

Equipment loans will resume on Friday, May 23rd.

Please call x77733 if you have any questions regarding equipment loans and/or due dates.

Students: In preparation for summer school, all voice mailboxes will be deleted Tuesday, May 20th. Please be sure to retrieve all voice mail messages before that day, or all messages will be lost. Summer voice mailboxes will be established on Wednesday, May 28th.

Thank you and have a great summer!

Faculty and Staff:

Technological threats in the form of viruses and malware have become more prevalent. As a result, ISR has taken steps to increase the protection of your Bucknell-owned Windows computer.

Beginning this week, we will remotely "push out" a new anti-virus and anti-spyware program called Sophos. It will replace the Symantec Antivirus and SpySweeper software packages many of you are running today.

What will you notice? The gold shield and the crosshair icon (if you have one) will disappear from your taskbar in the lower right-portion of the screen. It will be replaced by a "pretty blue shield" that is striped on the left and solid on the right.

What do you need to do? That's the best part! Not much. All we ask is to make sure your computer is connected to the wired network over the next few weeks. (Sophos cannot be installed over wireless.) The installation will occur on its own without any intervention from you.

This process will take approximately two weeks. In that amount of time we hope to have successfully installed Sophos on most of your computers. We will continue to actively scan the network after this time period to catch machines we miss during this initial rollout.

Finally, we are happy to announce our Sophos license agreement allows us to extend this protection to your personal Windows computer(s) as well (much in the same way our Symantec agreement did). Please watch for future communication announcing how Sophos will be made available to you. Until then, Symantec Antivirus will continue to protect your home machine(s) as it always has until July 1st.

Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact Tech Support at techdesk@bucknell.edu or by calling 7-7777.

Seniors:

Senior PAC Numbers will be deactivated Tuesday, 5/20.

Congratulations and Good Luck!

In a current phishing scam that is going around on college campuses, users are asked to provide username and password information to campus IT departments.

Never provide your username and password in an email! Bucknell will never ask you to provide this information to us!

Here is a sample message type that has been going around:

"We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center ... Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven days of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently."

While we have not seen this yet at Bucknell, it is best to be prepared. Never send username and password information over email!

Do you have an assignment that requires video editing?
But you don't know how to use iMovie or iDVD?

ISR has tutors at the tech desk each evening between 6-10pm, Sun-Thur. You can make an appointment for training by calling 7-7777 or just stop by. The tutors are familiar with iMovie and iDVD and can help you get started on your video project.

Windows users: Windows lab machines have Windows Movie Maker, which will allow for video editing.

All users: Video editing requires many more gb of storage than you have! And it requires more time than you think you'll need! Get an external hard drive and store your data on it!

Do you want to print out something in color for a classroom project, or to jazz up a flyer for an event? The tech desk offers color printing for $1 a page. Users can select the color printer at the tech desk for their print jobs, print to that printer, and pick up the jobs at the tech desk.

Want more information? Please stop by the Tech Desk, or call x77777.

Cellular discounts are available to Bucknell University Faculty and Staff when ordering through our Verizon Wireless representative.

In myBucknell, please visit the Quick Links channel in the 'Working at Bucknell' drop down menu and select Cellular Services for more information.

In October, ISR was able to negotiate an increase in the amount of bandwidth from our Internet service provider. As a result, the campus is now enjoying a 43% increase in the amount of Internet bandwidth, alleviating much of the network congestion and slowness we have recently experienced.

ISR will continue to manage network resources as appropriate to meet the needs and primary mission of the University. This recent negotiation certainly allows some "breathing room" to do that. Thank you for your patience as we worked through this challenge in an effort to provide you better service.

As always, questions and concerns may be directed to techdesk@bucknell.edu or by calling 7-7777.

Now that we've gotten "friendly" with our e-mail addresses, we need to know which address you would prefer to use.

Why do we need to know? The Faculty e-mail list will only allow you to post messages from ONE address, which is the one that people see as your "From" address. For example, my "From" address is rob.guissanie@bucknell.edu on this message. If my address were not properly subscribed I would not be able to send any messages to the list.

So if you have recently changed your "From" address to your "Friendly" address in your e-mail application, please let us know of that preference by logging in to the following form:

http://www1.bucknell.edu/script/email/friendly.aspx

If you have made no changes to your "From" address in your e-mail application (and are thereby using your old address for e-mail correspondence), there is no need to log into the form or take any action at all. Your old address will continue to be used as it always has.

We would like to finalize any changes to the list by Friday, October 5th to avoid any unnecessary interruption of service. Your prompt action (if necessary) is appreciated.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Tech Support at techdesk@bucknell.edu or 7-7777.

If you're a Windows user, you will want to know about Microsoft's offer. This offer expires on April 30, 2008.

Office 2007 Ultimate, available now for students for the outstanding price of $59.95!

Details are available at their official website - the Ultimate Steal. ISR recommends this as an ideal way to get Office 2007 Ultimate, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Accounting Express, Groove, InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, and Publisher. This retails for $679 at Staples. With tax involved, this is more than a 90% discount!

You can download the entire package and then install it with the product key, which will be emailed to you. Be sure to burn the installer to a disk in case you have computer problems and you need a reimage or a new hard drive!

Ultimate Steal web site: http://www.theultimatesteal.com/
Microsoft's official web site: http://www.microsoft.com/education/ultimatesteal.mspx

Thinking about using the technology in your classrooms? Does it look different than anything you have ever used? We invite you to schedule a 10-15 minute walk-through of one or multiple locations. A Learning Spaces technician will meet you on site to demo and answer any questions you have about the technology there. You can schedule a walk-through by calling x77733 or using this online form: http://www.bucknell.edu/x12259.xml

When scheduling a walk-through, you will be asked for your preferred date and time for the walk-through. We will confirm the location's availability and notify you if the appointment must be re-scheduled due to a scheduling conflict at that location.

Have you activated your "friendly" e-mail address yet? If not, you have until August 27 to either:

1. Activate your "friendly" e-mail address and begin using it immediately.
2. Select an alternative form of your friendly e-mail address (based upon your personal information in Banner) and activate it.
3. Choose to opt out and not have an alternative "friendly" e-mail address at all.

To exercise any of these options, please visit the following website. You will need to log in using your username and e-mail password.
http://www1.bucknell.edu/script/email/friendly.aspx

PLEASE NOTE: If you choose not to exercise any of the three options, your "friendly" e-mail address will be activated automatically on August 27, 2007.

As a reminder, your "friendly" e-mail address does not replace your current e-mail address. It is simply an additional forwarding address that may be used for your convenience. Mail sent to your current e-mail address and your "friendly" e-mail address will be delivered to your current account just as it always has.

In addition, your Bucknell username does not change as a result of activating your "friendly" e-mail address. You will still be required to use your original username to authenticate and log into University services.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Tech Support at techdesk@bucknell.edu or by calling x7-7777.

Faculty: Will you be using classroom technology in your teaching this fall? Are you nervous about operating the projector or other equipment in your classroom?

If so, you may schedule a walkthrough with Learning Spaces to familiarize you with the equipment in your classroom.

To schedule a walkthrough, call x77733

SPSS 15 for Windows is now available for faculty. SPSS 15 will be installed on all new computers and in labs (where requested) this summer. If you will not be receiving a new computer, please contact the Tech Desk to request that SPSS 15 be installed on your office computer.

Bucknell has current licenses for a number of statistical packages. If there is software you would like to have installed on a faculty or staff Bucknell computer, please call Tech Support at x77777 or email techdesk@bucknell.edu.

Minitab R15 for Windows
S-PLUS 7 for Windows
SAS 9.1 for Windows (including faculty home use)
SPSS 11/12 for Mac (including faculty home use)
SPSS 15 for Windows (including faculty home use)
STATA/SE 9 for Mac and Windows

Daylight Savings Time Begins this Weekend

This weekend we turn our clocks ahead one hour. All multi-line phone users time will set automatically. (This is the larger phone with several line appearances.) If you have a single line phone, your first incoming call should set the clock on your phone to the correct time (allow your phone to ring at least three times).

Remember 'Spring Forward' and 'Fall Back'!

At least every 90 days you should update your cell phone's Preferred Roaming List. (*228 send) By updating your PRL, you can be sure you experience:

Longer battery life
Fewer dropped or blocked calls
Clear, crisp connections in more areas across the US
Ability to connect to the digital network in more parts of the country

Instructions for updating your PRL

1) Dial *228 and then press SEND (this must be done from your home digital coverage area).

2) When prompted, press option 2 to update your phone's roaming list capabilities. (the update will take up to 2 minutes)

3) Once completed, a confirmation message will appear to inform you that your phone has been re-programmed with the new PRL.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Telephone Office at x71810.

ISR now has available a pool of 16 Tablet PCs for course-related use. These computers are all loaded on a cart, and they can be wheeled anywhere on campus.

What is a tablet PC?
A tablet PC is essentially a notebook computer with a touchscreen. You can use it just like a conventional computer, or you can operate it with a stylus or digital pen. The touchscreen functionality makes it easy to write notes, draw sketches, or annotate documents, for example.

Why would I want to use the tablet pool?
Any place on campus can now be an electronic classroom. If you need your students to have access to a computer but can't book a computer lab for a particular session of a class, the tablet pool might be just what you need. If your students need to collect data on campus or on a field trip, the tablet PC can be a device for collecting data anywhere.

The tablet PC also offers some interesting opportunities for sharing and collaboration. Perhaps your students need to work together on a document. A shared document via OneNote may be the solution. Or maybe they need to annotate your Powerpoint slides. The tablet and stylus make it easy to write on this type of document, and you can save your annotations as well.

If you would like additional information on tablet PCs in education, try these links:

Tablet Search at EDUCAUSE.

Wikipedia

The tablet PCs are available as a complete pool, and not individually. (ISR Equipment Services has other options for individual needs.) For additional information on the tablet pool, contact itec@bucknell.edu.

Faculty: ITEC has added a new feature to Blackboard that allows instructors to post podcasts to their courses. Podcasts are audio recordings to which people can subscribe, and are typically created as mp3 audio files. Students can listen to the podcasts on their computers, and (if they subscribe to the podcasts), they can download the audio files to their portable audio device (iPod, or other mp3 players) for listening offline as well.

If you record lectures for your courses, or if you have audio materials that you want to make available to your students, you can upload those materials into Blackboard as podcasts. (Please note that copyright restrictions limit what materials you can publish in digital form; podcasts are generally intended for materials that you have created.)

If you are interested in publishing audio materials as podcasts, please get in touch with ITEC to find out more information.

Students: Working in the library? Want to take a break and leave your desk for a few minutes? If so, don't leave your laptop unattended. There have been some recent thefts of laptops in the library.

To secure your laptop, consider checking out a laptop locking mechanism from the equipment desk. There are 20 locks available at the desk, and approximately 50 carrels equipped with security devices on Lower Level 1 of the library!

Questions? Ask at the equipment desk!