Security
and
Internet
Services

Security
home

E-MAIL NEWS
SPAM assassin will be turned on this week. Look for a University-wide message in your e-mail inbox announcing the details soon! More information is available from the OIT Security website: http://www.umn.edu/oit/security/.

SO WHAT IS THE HARM IN DOWNLOADING A COUPLE OF SONGS?
Could be plenty! Departments might want to think twice about allowing peer-to-peer (P2P) packages on University owned computers. An employee might install Kazaa or Gnutella on their desktop, search for a music selection, and download it. Some harm results if that selection is protected by copyright because the department is involved in a violation of the law. For more background read "Senate stops P2P, so should you" on this zdnet.com website: http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2874687,00.html.

Legal issues aside, it can be a security risk when users unintentionally share private files, as shown in this June, 2002 article "Kazaa and Others Expose Your Secrets" at http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,9219,00.asp.

Network and
Telecommunication
Services

NTS home

MATCHING FUNDS STILL AVAILABLE FOR UPGRADE
In the past several months, OIT/NTS have installed over $400,000.00 of end station equipment to provide Twin Cities campus buildings with higher speed connectivity to the University's gigabit backbone. These etherswitches provide 100 MB capability to the desktop for applications needing higher than the standard 10 MB. Often the extra speed capability is to provide high bandwidth content for distributing servers.Matching funds for this type of upgrade are still available to academic units. For more information see: http://www.umn.edu/nts/network_upgrade_funding/

FIBER CABLE FREEZE DURING AUDIT
NTS has begun auditing all fiber optic cables installed on the Twin Cities campuses. The St. Paul campus will be audited during December, 2002. While a location is being audited, a work-order freeze will be imposed on all moves, adds, and changes within that location.

TRAINING
Three telephone related classes will be offered again in spring, 2003: Telephone and Voicemail Orientation - Networking Basics - ACD Orientation. Those who would benefit from the ACD orientation will be contacted; information about the 2 other courses is in the printed training bulletin and the training website: http://www.umn.edu/uttc. We are also developing "Centergy Management for ACDs" training.

APPLETALK AND IPX TRANSITION
AppleTalk and Novel IPX transition to IP network is under way. Transition details are online at http://www.umn.edu/oit/ipx-appletalk/. Buildings that are already converted are listed there; soon Coffman Memorial Union will be converted. For AppleTalk and IPX transition assistance, planning, or general questions, mailto: appleipx@umn.edu or call UCS (University Computer Services) at 612-624-4800.

Academic and
Distributed
Computing
Services

ADCS home

NEW INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFORMATION
The Intellectual Property Information section of the Digital Media Center site has been updated and includes information about ownership, fair use, and getting permissions to use copyrighted works in teaching. You also will find a link to recent comments from the American Library Association on the TEACH Act, signed into law by President Bush on November 2, 2002. See http://dmc.umn.edu/IP/IP.shtml.

USED COMPUTER HOLIDAY SALE!
Purchase a refurbished Apple or PC desktop computer from UCS and take an additional 50 percent off the price of a monitor! More info at http://www.umn.edu/ucs/usedcomp.htm.

START THE NEW YEAR WITH A CLEAN OFFICE
A free used computer pick up recycling service is available for departments on the U of M Twin Cities campus: http://www.umn.edu/ucs/pickup.htm.

GOOD TIME FOR A WIRELESS SITE ANALYSIS
The winter break is a great time to have a site analysis done for setting up wireless in your building. To schedule an appointment, call 612-626-0200. For more information see http://www.umn.edu/wireless/.

APPLECARE REPAIR AGREEMENT AT TECHMART
The U has a new product called AppleCare Repair Agreement (ARA) which provides economical repair coverage. The prices listed below are on Techmart's link to the Apple B2B (department) store; the prices for personal purchases are different. To read more about this agreement, go to http://techmart.umn.edu.

AppleCare Repair Agreement  .  S1670Z/A PowerBook: $189  . S1668Z/A Power Mac: $159  .  S1669Z/A iBook: $149  .  S1667Z/A iMac: $95

WEBCT: UPGRADED TO VERSION 3.8 DEC. 25-27
ADCS and DMC staff members and faculty, staff, and student volunteers have tested a new version of WebCT software, version 3.8. Overall, the results have been positive...all sites on the OIT WebCT server [will] be converted from version 3.6 to version 3.8 during the last week in December... [more]

CAMPUS EVENTS
Campus Events, http://events.umn.edu, has been re-designed, introducing several new features for publishing and retrieving information about events hosted at, or by, the University. These new features, based on the iCalendar and RSS standards, make it easier than ever to publish event information so that it reaches the widest possible audience... [more]

2002-03 FACULTY FELLOWS SELECTED
The Digital Media Center Faculty Fellowship Program promotes the scholarship of teaching by providing release time to selected faculty members to enable them to research the impact of digital technology on teaching and learning and to design and share new and innovative teaching and learning processes. New applications are accepted each year from U of M, Twin Cities faculty members and 2-4 are chosen to receive fellowships. This year's fellows have recently been selected... [more]

SOFTWARE LICENSE PROGRAM
Did you know that ADCS holds software licenses for many products... Licenses are available for purchase by qualified U of M departments... [more]

SPRING FORWARD WITH A SHORT COURSE!
Keep up with the latest in computers: take a short course! We have updated our course offerings... [more]

ORACLE TRAINING
For the first time ADCS will offer the ORACLE 9i SQL Tuning class in April 2003. This 24-hour course is designed to give participants a firm foundation in how to effectively tune SQL against the Oracle9i/8i Server... [more]

LAB IN A BAG: ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION
An adaptive technology solution for students with disabilities is now available on the St. Paul campus... [more]

FOR STUDENTS: MICROSOFT SOFTWARE BARGIN
Current U of M students can purchase Microsoft software legally for only $61-73... [more]