Residence hall living is
all about learning new things and how to adjust to college life. Many students know a lot about
computers but others don't. The purpose of this web page
is to help RH learn to
maintain their computer and help them know what
they are responsible for while using their computer on university
networks.
What ResCom wants you to know
ResCom wants to help any resident that requests it. ResCom will make an appointment with
residents to visit their room or do service on their computer in house. ResCom is open 7 days a week for resident convenience. Our student staff is knowledgable and will provide one on one consultation to help keep their computer running smoothly. Email is the least effective method of fixing an issue with a computer. Please visit ResCom to interact with the staff and they will be happy to assist you.
Student responsibilities with
their computer in the residence halls
Residents are required to install and maintain an adaquate anti-virus program on their computer. PSU provides Symantec anti-virus under a site license for all faculty / staff / and students of PSU. New computers come with trial versions of anti-virus software and after 30 or 90 days leaves you needing to purchase a yearly subscription of their product. The anti-virus software provided by the university does not require a yearly subscription and is not a trial version. It can be downloaded by the ITS department at this link. Symantec anti-virus.
IMPORTANT: Always uninstall a currently installed anti-virus program BEFORE you install a new or different one. ONLY ONE anti-virus program can be installed on
any machine at a time.
If you go over the bandwidth
limits because of a virus /spy-ware / malware, you are still responsible for the
violation. Follow this linkd for more information about viruses and
Anti-virus software.
"Resident's are responsible
to keep their computers virus free, secure their computer from compromise, and must configure their computer
to stay within the weekly Internet bandwidth limits. This includes properly
configuring music /
file sharing programs that residents have chosen to install and use on their computer.
Please be aware that
watching YouTube video clips, general web surfing, watching movies
or TV shows on-line is downloading to your computer from the
Internet and counts against your weekly Internet bandwidth limits". If your
computer is touching or interacting with the Internet, it count
against your weekly limits. Follow this link for more information on what does and
doesn't count against your weekly bandwidth limits.
Facts about music / file
sharing programs 
Sharing music, videos and
copyrighted materials "is against University Policy and
most federal and state laws. In many cases this practice is ILLEGAL". More and
more students are getting in serious trouble because they don't
believe this will happen to them. Please be aware of the consequences
of sharing music and video electronically.You can loose your
room connection and
face Judicial Affairs if caught.
Music sharing programs like
Bit Torrent, BearShare, LimeWire, and others, automatically require
you to share in order to download. These programs automatically
setup sharing as soon as you install them and open the program.
They operate these shares in the background and use bandwidth
without your knowledge. You will be responsible for all
bandwidth consumed by these programs. The best choice is to uninstall
these programs or don't use them in the first place.
"Some
music / file sharing programs can not be configured to turn off background sharing. The only solution is to uninstall the program from your computer"
Learn how to shut
off these features asking ResCom questions or making
an appointment for one on one time with a technician. One good
practice you should get into is to turn off your computer when you're
not in front of it. If you leave your computer
on and connected while you are away or sleeping, these programs or others on your computer can operate in the background using up your bandwidth allotment.
File sharing is not supported in
the residence halls
File sharing by use of open shares on a residents computer is not supported and is not encouraged in the residence halls. Firewalls prevent residents from opening shares on their computer to others outside their building switch. Sharing folders leaves residents open to viruses
and others that can compromise the security of the resident's machine. ALWAYS USE A PASSWORD ON YOUR COMPUTER to
login. Not using a password leaves your computer wide open.
Facts about securing your
computer
- Use a password to login to your
computer.
- Make sure your administrator
accounts have passwords. XP home is open by default.
- Install critical Microsoft updates
weekly until there are no more required updates. Do this even
if you have the machine is set to automatically update on it's own. Some spy-ware
/ viruses / malware disables this feature then you will be left vulnerable to
other threats
- Do not allow others to use your
computer and do not share passwords.
- Turn off your computer when you
are not in front of it.
- Use a firewall program to
protect your computer and log compromise attempts.
XP home and XP Professional
are powerful operating systems and need to be secured for
your protection. They need to be secured with passwords and
patched to close holes of vulnerabilities. Not using a password to
login to your computer may be convenient but dangerous. The
University networking policies require that you use passwords on your computer
while connected to the university network and strictly prohibits sharing your
passwords with others including parents.
Do not allow others to use
your computer
If you allow
someone to use your computer or do not secure it and someone uses your
computer, you are accountable for the bandwidth consumed or any
charges that may apply from illegal activity.
Purchase a firewall
program and maintain it
There is a firewall built into
XP but it is not as effective or configurable as ones you can purchase.
Firewalls allow your computer to control who sees your computer on the network and what programs on your computer can use the network or
act as a server. Firewalls log attempts to access your computers and traps information the
security office can use to catch someone from exploiting your
connection. ResCom will assist residents on what they
can do to configure a firewall and answer questions. Zone
Alarm and Black Ice are 2 popular programs available for purchase.
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