CyberCHANT - April 2004

Beginning Monday, April 5th all faculty and staff will have access to a new, online job request system. This system will allow users to request ITS Technical Services (except phone services) via the web. Once a job is entered users will be able to track the status of the job including when the job was submitted, job details and who is currently working on the job. In addition, users of the system will have an archived history of all jobs submitted after they have been closed.

The new job request system can be accessed at the following link: www.coastal.edu/its/jobreqest. You will need your Coastal username and PIN to enter and track jobs. Click here to see a Sample Job Ticket.

We are not changing the way we provide support in ITS, we are increasing support options. Please feel free to contact your IRC via e-mail, phone or in person or call the main ITS number at X2084. As the trend is toward automation and users spend so much time on the web, we felt it necessary to make this service available for our customers.

Think your computer is safe since you don’t open weird attachments? Think again.

CCU has been hit by scores of “malware” since the semester began. These damaging programs are similar to computer viruses in terms of causing problems. However, malware generally is designed to force advertising on the user, as opposed to viruses that replicate themselves. Malware’s effect on your computer is often first noticed with increased pop-up ads, ever-slowing system speed, system instability and crashes, or when certain icons and file menu items fail. What the user doesn’t notice, however, is the gaping vulnerability that has replaced what used to be your computer’s security and privacy protection. Following is a partial list of these system-clogging varieties of malware currently circulating.

PLEASE BE AWARE that ITS does not advocate the installation of non-standard software on PCs. Applications such as Incredimail, Gator, WeatherBug, Bonzi Buddy and Plaxo, although fun and in some cases useful, have been found to cause more trouble than they are worth. For a list of ITS approved software go to ITS Supported Software.

Read more about what you need to know about safe computing . . .

Coastal's Web Pages Get a New Look

What happened to Coastal's main web page on February 16? After months of planning, discussion, coding and hard work our new design was made public. The new look was designed in celebration of Coastal's 50th anniversary. Some new features include:

Phase II of the web redesign is underway with an anticipated completion date of May 1, 2004. Subordinate web pages are being coded in order to match the overall feel of the new design. The goal is to offer an easy to navigate, consistent and attractive design.

In order to improve PIN Security, users who forget their PIN and have to retrieve it through the CCU Online PIN Lookup will be required to select a new security question. Previously, faculty and staff were allowed to create their own security question and supply the appropriate answer. It has since been determined that having a standard list of questions from which to choose is the best way to go. This change does NOT effect your current username and PIN! This security question change only effects those who try to retrieve this information through the PIN Search page. In addition, this does not apply for students as they selected their question from a standard list from the start. For additional information contact webadvisor@coastal.edu.

Question: In Windows XP, every time a program crashes, a message appears asking me if I want to send a report to Microsoft. I don't! How can I get this message to go away?