Fall 2009

Need to Access Network Drives from Off-Campus?

A timely reminder: Just because you're at home, or away at a conference doesn't mean you don't have access to files stored on network drives. The NetStorage system allows you easy access to your Novell Netware files from any standard browser. With this services, you get easy point-and-click access to your drives. You may find this services to be more convenient and easier to use than standard FTP services.

Remember that when trying to access the NetStorage system from off-campus, you must be connected to the campus network before you can continue. You can do this either by connecting to the network via a dial-up connection, or you can use the college's VPN system to connect.

Computer Security - Locking Your Workstation

Want to add an extra level of security to your workstation when you leave for lunch or meeting? Want to keep folks from 'borrowing' your computer to do things when you step away from your desk? Why not lock your workstation? Follow these simple steps to password protect your workstation:

On a PC -

1. On your keyboard, press ctrl-alt-del. The Novell Security window will appear.
2. Click the "Lock Workstation" button (there are two rows of buttons, this is the top left one)
3. You will see a message on your screen that your workstation is in use and has been locked. Now, nobody will be able to use your computer unless they know your Novell password. And, of course, you never share that password with anyone else, right?

To unlock your PC when you return to your desk, simply hit ctrl-alt-del again, and then enter your Novell password.

You an also set your computer to automatically lock itself when the screensaver kicks in. This is very handy if you're away from your computer for longer than you'd expected to be, and didn't lock your machine. To do this:

1. Right-click on your desktop (not on one of the icons)
2. Click "Properties"
3. Go to the Screensaver tab
4. Put a checkmark in the box that says "on resume, password protect"
5. That's it: If your screensaver kicks in, you'll have to enter your Novell password to return to work

On a Mac -

There are actually two different ways to do this on a Mac:

Method One

1. Go into System Preferences
2. Go to the "Desktop & Screen Saver" preference pane
3. Select the Screen Saver tab
4. Click on "Hot Corners" and select a corner you'd like to use to start the screen saver
5. Click "OK"
6. Go to the "Security" preference pane
7. Checkmark the "Require password XXX Minutes after sleep or screen saver begins" option
8. Whenever you want to lock your computer, simply move your cursor to the corner of the screen you selected in step 4, or go to the Apple menu (top left corner of the screen) and select "Sleep"

Method Two

1. Go into System Preferences
2. Go to the "Accounts" preference pane
3. Click on "Login Options" (at this point you may need to click the lower left corner and enter your password)
4. Turn on "Fast User Switching" and close System Preferences
5. Now, to lock your system, go to the top-right corner of your screen and click on the Fast User Swtiching menu item (should be the second item from the right). Select "Login Window" and your screen will lock.

Cyber Security

Email Phishing Attempts

We here in Information Technology have had reports of a significant number of unauthorized emails asking our faculty and staff to verify account information and to include your password in the response. You may periodically receive this type of email asking you for confidential information that claims it came from TCNJ. These are "phishing" attempts and are not legitimate requests for information. Please be assured that we will never ask you to submit your password via email or ask you to provide your password to a "verification" form at an off-campus location. Your password is confidential information and should not be shared. For more information on email security in general, click the link below.

Back Up Inportant Files

You may find that an infection has affected your computer so much that the operating system and applications need to be reinstalled. In cases like this, it is best to have your important data backed up already so you can restore your system without fear of losing your data. Obviously, the best way to do this is to not store any important data on your computer's local ("C") drive. Save files to your network drives ("H" for personal files, "S" for files shared with your department) or to removable drives (such as USB flash drives). The more locations in which you can save files you need, the better. It never hurts to be ready for a just-in-case situation.

What Info Is Collected When Visiting Webpages?

When visiting unknown web sites, be vigilant with protecting your identity. Remember that some information is automatically made visible to the site. Information such as the computer's IP address, domain name (e.g. .com, .gov or .edu), software details, and page visit information is often saved in cookies so that the organization whose page you're visiting may develop and store user profiles of website visitors.

If a web site uses cookies, the organization may be able to collect even more information, such as your browsing paggerns, which include other sites you've visited. If the site you're visiting is malicious, files on your computer, as well as passwords stored in temporary memory may be at risk. Generally, organizations use the information that is gthered automatically for legitimate purposes, such as generating statistics about their sites.

Be careful supplying personal information - unless you trust a site, don't give your address, password or credit card information. Look for indications that the site uses SSL to encrypt your information. Although some sites require you to supply your Social Security Number (e.g. sites associated with financial transactions such as loans or credit cards), be especailly ware of providing this information.

Think before you Click

Be cautious about all communications you receive, and clicking on links in an email, instant message or webpage. Even if you know and trust the sender of the email or instant message, or are on a known website or a friend's social networking page, it is still prudent to use caution when navigating pages and clicking on links and photos becuase links, images or other content contained on the pages may include malicious code placed there by hackers.

MailMan - TCNJ's New Discussion List System

As of the fall 2009 semester, TCNJ has replaced the old tcnjlists system with the Mailan list management system for creating and managing campus discussion list. There are a number of benefits to this new system which include:

• Web-based list owner interface
• Easy to perform mass-subscription and unsbscription
• "Bounce" detection removes unreachable subscriber addresses after a set number of delivery failures
• Web interface of list archives
• Context sensitive help for each option of the management interface

As of early October, all lists have been converted to the new system. Please be aware that, unlike with the old system, the new lists will not show up in the global address book. This means you will be unable to search for them to send email. However since you can only send email to lists to which you are subscribe anyway, this shouldn't be that big of an imposition. We recommend simply adding the email lists to which you are subscribed to your email account's address book so that they're always there when you need them.