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Archive: December 10, 2003

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Security and
Internet Services

Security home

HOLIDAY WARNING!
As we near the holidays, please be aware that greeting cards and "cute" attachments can contain viruses or malicious code. Keep your antivirus software up-to-date and follow the tips about attachments at: http://www.cert.org/homeusers/HomeComputerSecurity/#3

SECURITY TIP FOR XP USERS
XP users, did you know that you have built-in security protection at your fingertips? You can find instructions to enable Internet Connection Firewall in the ADCS Knowledge Base at: http://training.micro.umn.edu/kb/public/Detail.cfm?ArticleID=1733

INTERNET ACCOUNT/PASSWORD REMINDER
Remember, you should not be required to share your Internet (X500) password. If you have encountered a situation like this, you can address your concerns to abuse@umn.edu. If you're responsible for any department function that requires e-mail (such as a project, reception, seminar), get a free, separate functional e-mail account. See: http://www.umn.edu/adcs/help/depts.html

Network and Telecommunication
Services

NTS home

NRL PARTICIPATION
NLR (National LambdaRail) is a new, nation-wide, very high-end experimental and research networking infrastructure; on initial implementation NRL will provide 4-10 Gigabit wavelengths across the country. The University of Minnesota has opted to participate in NLR through its membership in Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), the academic consortium of the Big Ten. [MORE]

UPDATE: DATA NETWORK UPGRADE
The purchase of the equipment for the Data Network Upgrade will go to the Board of Regents on December 11-12, 2003. With the Regents approval, contract negotiations with the vendor will be finalized shortly thereafter. The project plan calls for a rollout of the new network starting with [MORE]

UPDATE: NEW FIBER CABLING
Many campus buildings have new fiber cabling for the data network infrastructure. This new fiber cabling is for the riser cables, the cabling connecting the floors to the main distribution frame (MDF). All St. Paul Campus buildings (-5) have been updated. West Bank updates are due by end of December; Health Sciences and Minneaplis East Bank is in progress.

UPDATING TELECOM CLOSETS TO CATEGORY 5 WIRE
Many telecommunications closets have been updated with new copper cabling. The copper cables targeted for replacement were cables that attach networking ports to terminating blocks in the wiring closets. The simple criterion used: replace category 3 (outdated copper wire) with category 5 wire. Some situations required other methods of evaluating the necessary changes based on improving network performance. [MORE]

Academic and
Distributed
Computing
Services

ADCS home

UPDATE: DELL AGGREGATE PURCHASING
Based on configurations created by the College of Liberal Arts, once again ADCS/OIT has been able to arrange with Dell to give the U of MN community a deeper discount on two Dell systems. These specials are available for both departments and personal purchases. [MORE]

HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS THROUGH COMCAST
A discount for high-speed Internet access is available from Comcast, provided you sign up for the service through the Techmart website. To see if Comcast high speed Internet is available in your area, call 612-626-4644 or 651-493-5012. The current U of MN rate is $39.95 a month if you lease the modem from Comcast. [MORE]

TRAINING UPDATE
To serve you better we're redesigning our Dreamweaver courses based on current web development trends and on Dreamweaver MX 2004, the newest version. To help you get up to speed quickly, we're also focusing on a more task-based approach to the basics. Look for our new course offerings in the Spring schedule, posted on our website in mid-December: http://www.umn.edu/uttc/

Digital
Media
Center

DMC home

DEC 10: EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGISTS FORUM MEETING
At the next meeting, educational technologists from the College of Education and Human Development, Carlson School of Management, and the Digital Media Center will give updates about several current and future campus faculty support and development efforts: DEC 10, 2:45-4:30 pm, 402 Walter Library. See http://dmc.umn.edu/etf/.

TA WEB CERTIFICATION PROGRAM OFFERED FOR CREDIT AND NONCREDIT
This spring, this popular program is offered both as a noncredit program and a 2-credit course, Nurs 5800. Participating TAs learn about web-based teaching and learning strategies and web design and development techniques. See http://dmc.umn.edu/ta-web/.

DMC FACULTY FELLOWS PROFILED
Information about the current Digital Media Center faculty fellows' teaching and research activities and interests and educational technology projects is now available on the DMC Website. The fellows are available to consult with colleagues about educational technology issues. See http://dmc.umn.edu/fellowship/.

SPRING WEBCT COURSE SITES
Request spring 2004 course sites as soon as possible: save time by requesting to copy an old site, or request a new one, at http://webct.umn.edu/forms/request-site.shtml. For other information about preparing for the new semester, see http://webct.umn.edu/instructors/transitions/index.shtml.

NEW WEBCT SITE USAGE GUIDELINES
The amount of server space used for each course site will be increased from 50 to 100 megabytes. Owners of sites that exceed this limit will receive instructions about how to reduce the amount of space needed for their course files.

WEBCT SUPPORT HOLIDAY HOURS
WebCT e-mail and telephone help will not be available on Thursday-Friday, Dec. 25-26, and Thursday-Friday, Jan. 1-2. Messages received on one of these days will be answered the following business day. Site requests will be answered within two business days as usual.

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