Exeter On-Line
Microsoft
Office 2003 by Stephanie Casale
As a precursor to the implementation of the new email and calendaring programs, ITS will role out an upgrade of Microsoft Office. The upgrade from Office 2000 to Office 2003 will begin this spring and continue through the summer months. The new version of Office sports a more colorful graphical interface and several new features, but the basic functionality remains the same. ITS will offer training for those users interested in learning about new functionality and advanced features of the Office 2003 suite. The installation of the upgrade will occur during non-work hours and should not cause any interruption to users. If users have questions about the implementation, they should contact the support desk at ext. 3693. ITS would like to thank alumnus Peter Durham ’85 for his generous donation of the software for this project.
New
Email and Calendar System: MS Outlook by Shelley Nason
The Academy’s current email and calendar systems will be replaced over the summer with a single system, Microsoft Exchange/Outlook. Some of the immediate advantages of this new system include:
- Reduction in Logins—a single login gives one access to both email and the calendar
- Consistent Presentation—the system looks the same whether used from on-campus or the web interface from off-campus
- More Features—Improved spell checking and support for multiple languages are just examples among many
Information Technology Services (ITS) has ordered the equipment and anticipates building the system by the end of this school year and completing testing in June. The tentative plan is to move administrative departments to the new system over the summer, depending upon their scheduleds. Faculty can make the transition when they return to campus at the end of August, and students will do so when they return in September.
This project also means new software for every personal computer. As part of the transition, ITS will upgrade every Academy-owned computer to Microsoft Office 2003. This latest version of MS Office looks a little different from the current version and has some new features, but will be an easy transition for those of you already using Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
The transition from PEA’s existing email and calendaring systems will be phased, with both the old and new systems running concurrently for a period of time. The phased plan accommodates those not on campus during the summer and gives everyone sufficient time for moving their email and calendar events from the old to the new system.
ITS is available to answer questions and meet with individuals, groups and departments. We will keep you updated on the project through various means, including the Groupware link on the ITS governance site, http://it.exeter.edu/IT_Governance/index.html. Training, documentation and other materials will be posted as they become available.
What
we can learn from the
Roaming Profile Gnome? by
Marilee Tuomanen
Your logon/logout network profile will load more quickly if it is local.
Roaming profiles are used when you wish to carry the files on your desktop from computer to computer. A more secure way to access your files as you roam is to save them in your home directory, often called your H drive, where they are protected and backed up. You can change your roaming network profile to a local network profile for a quicker login:
- Right click on My Computer and select Properties
- Click on the User Profiles tab and click on Change
- Select Local profile and click OK
- Apply the change by clicking the Apply button and OK.
Your profile will be stored locally on your primary computer and will load from that computer, rather than from across the network the next time you log in!
Barracuda
Spam Firewall by
Donna Archambault
The Exeter mail server received nearly three million email messages since the start of school last September. Over 67 percent of the messages were spam, 4 percent viruses, while only 29 percent were legitimate. As a result, resources on our mail server were being taxed because it had to sort through almost three junk messages for every real message.
To manage the amount of spam sent to Exeter, a Barracuda Spam Firewall device was installed. This device resides between our mail server and the Internet. All messages sent to users @exeter.edu, go through this device. Barracuda scans all messages, determines if an email contains a virus, and scores each message. If the message has a virus, it is blocked. The scoring determines whether a message appears to be spam or legitimate email. Barracuda scores the message based on a number of factors: how much html is in the message, how many people the message is being sent to, the location or entity it is being sent from, etc. A message that appears suspicious will have a score over 0. The higher the score, the more likely the message is spam.
Each user has a Barracuda Quarantine inbox, which is disabled until turned on by the user. If you receive email messages in your inbox with [QUARANTINE] in the subject line, that is an indication that your quarantine inbox is disabled. Once the Quarantine inbox is enabled, users can train Barracuda their personal preferences. Depending on the scores you set up in Barracuda, you can tag messages that look a little suspicious and tag the subject with [BULK-SPAM] while highly suspicious messages can be quarantined and delivered to the Barracuda quarantine inbox. In the quarantine inbox, you can determine whether a message is spam, not spam or okay to deliver to your inbox. You can also choose not to manage your quarantine inbox and the messages eventually automatically deleted.
To learn how to enable your Barracuda Quarantine inbox, follow
the steps in our Quick
Start Barracuda documentation. If you have
any questions, please contact the ITS
support desk at ext. 3693.
Faculty
Directories: Home, Work and Dropbox by
Emily Merrill
Every faculty member has three locations on Harkness to store
files. The first is the home directory; only you can access this
area, and it is recommended for saving confidential files. When
you are using an Academy computer, the home directory is mapped
as your H:\ drive. Faculty members also have a work folder to share
with students and colleagues; everyone can read and change files
in your work folder. Finally, faculty members also have a dropbox
for assignments. Other users can copy documents into the dropbox,
but cannot view its contents. When faculty are using an Academy
computer, the dropbox and work folders are accessible through the
F:\ drive. From your computer in the dorm or off campus, you can
connect to these same locations using the directions on the ITS
web site.
Creating
Bookmarks in Internet Explorer
Looking for a more efficient way of getting to Attendance, Grades and Who's Who rather than going through Blackboard or Lionlinks? Add the site address (URL) to Internet Explorer Favorites, Links or even create a shortcut on your desktop to quickly get to the sites. (This is also a great way to add other sites you frequent.)
To add a site to Internet Explorer Favorites
1. Go to the desired web site
2. Click and drag the address icon to the Favorite icon.
To add to the Links bar
1. Click and drag the address icon to Links bar on the Links toolbar.
If the Links bar is not visible, click the View menu, point to Toolbars, and click on Links.
To go to the site you added to Favorites or Links:
Sites added to Favorites:
Select the Favorites Icon
In the Favorites Task Window, select the web site
Site added to Links list:
Click on the Links icon and select the web site.
To rename the web site added to either Favorites or Links:
In Favorites:
1. Select Favorites icon
2. Select the web site you wish to rename and right click.
3. Select Rename
4. Type in the new name
In Links:
1. Click on Links
2. Right click on web site name
3. Select Rename
4. Type in new name
If you have any questions or would like further assistance, please
contact the ITS support
desk at ext. 3693.