Protect your computer while on-line

Student responsibilities with their computer in the residence halls.

Living in the residence halls is full of learning new things and how to adjust. Many students know quite a bit about computers but others don't. The purpose of this web page is to help let RH students know what ResCom can do to help students maintain their computer and help students know what they are responsible for while using their computer on university networks. Every level of computer user should learn something from this web page.

Please remember you can make appointments with our help desks to get one on one consultation that will provide accurate information about, bandwidth issues, computer problems and securing your computer. We will help you and you can learn how to help yourself.

"Students are responsible to keep their computers virus free, secure your computer from compromise (giving others access to your computer and files), and configure your computer to stay within the Internet bandwidth limits. This includes properly use of and proper configuring of music / file sharing programs to keep within the bandwidth limits"

"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 Internet bandwidth limits". If your computer is touching or interacting with the Internet, it counts against your weekly limits. For information on what does and doesn't count against your limits click here

Facts about music / file sharing programs:

Sharing music, videos and copyrighted materials "is against University Policies and most federal and state laws. In many cases it is ILLEGAL". This is no joke. 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 privileges to use your room connection and face Judicial Affairs if caught. RIAA is actively looking for people that share and download copy written materials to prosecute.

Music sharing programs like Bit Torrent, BearShare, LimeWire, and others, automatically require you to share in order to download. These programs automatically setup the sharing as soon as you load the program on your computer. They operate these shares in the background and use bandwidth without your knowledge. You don't have to even open the program in many cases to consume bandwidth. You will be responsible for all bandwidth consumed by these programs. The best choice is uninstall these programs or don't use them in the first place. PSU provides a music sharing source that students can use that will not count against your bandwidth limits.

Here is a good web site that has frequently asked questions about what's legal and illegal about file sharing music and video files www.musicunited.org.

"Some music / file sharing programs can not be configured to turn the super node  feature off. The only solution to this is to uninstall it from your computer."

Learn how to shut off these features by reading our pages, asking us questions or making an appointment for one on one time with a technician. It can take as little as a day to go over your bandwidth limits. 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 to the network while you are sleeping or away, the world will exploit it and download through your computer.

File sharing is not supported in the residence halls.

We will not contribute to sharing copyrighted materials such as music, movies, newspaper articles etc. over the University networks. Remember that the FBI warnings shown on movies pertain to other copyrighted materials as well. We will not assist students in setting up their machines to share files or even backup user files in case the machine needs rebuilt. Sharing folders and your hard drive leaves you open to viruses and others that will compromise the security of your machine by attaching to your computer and taking files from you or installing files you do not want. ALWAYS USE A PASSWORD ON YOUR COMPUTER to login. Not using a password leaves your computer wide open.

Details on how to configure your music program follow this link. www.rescom.psu.edu/pages/pctechsupport.htm.

Facts about securing your computer:

1. Use a password to login to your computer.

2. Make sure your administrator accounts have passwords. XP home is open by default.

3. Install critical Microsoft updates weekly until there are no more recommendation updates. Do this even if you have the machine set to automatically update. Some spy-ware or viruses disables this feature then you will be left vulnerable to other threats

4. Do not allow others to use your computer and do not share passwords.

5. Turn off your computer when you are not using it or are in front of it.

6. Use a firewall program to protect your computer and log compromise attempts.

Always use passwords with your Windows 2000 and XP versions.

 XP home and XP Professional are powerful operating systems and need to be secured properly 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 is 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.

To install administrator passwords on 2000 and XP operating systems follow these instructions.

Do not allow others to use your computer

You are responsible for "all" the activity of your computer on the network / Internet. If you allow someone to use your computer or do not secure it and someone uses your computer, you are still 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 affective or configurable as ones you can purchase. Firewalls allow your computer to control who sees your computer while on the network, what programs on your computer can use the network or act as a server. It also logs attempts to access your computers and if you get compromised it can be an effective way to trap information the security office can use to catch someone from exploiting your connection. ResCom will assist students with information on what they can do to configure your firewall and answer questions on why to use one. Zone Alarm and Black Ice are 2 that are popular programs to purchase. 

Facts about keeping your computer virus free:

Penn State has purchased a site license for Symantec Corporate Edition Anti-Virus software. Students and faculty are entitled to install the current version of this program for free. Copies of this program can be obtained on-line through ITS. It can be downloaded if you want. PLEASE NOTE: Always uninstall any 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 or Trojan, you are still responsible for the violation. The student is responsible to keep their computer virus free. For more information about virus and the importance of Anti-virus software please visit www.rescom.psu.edu/pages/virusproblemsintheresidence.htm.

The first and most important thing every student needs to know is that ResCom wants to help  all residence hall students with their computer problems, to teach then with correct information how to help themselves if you like. Students can learn a each other but they don't always have "all" the information. We operate on a large scale and provide answers everyday. ResCom cares about you and provides good service. Often the student employees go out of their way to help. Take advantage of our free service. Computer repair is expensive everywhere else. ResCom

will make an appointment with you to come to your room and help you fix your computer. They are there to do one on one consultation to educate you, help you figure out why something has happened and help keep your computer configured so you done to over the bandwidth limits.

Since you are bringing a computer with you from home and are connecting it to our networks there are some rules you need to know. When you got your ID from PSU you agreed to the University networking policies. There is a responsibility there to adhere to those rules. When you register for and use your connection you agree in full with the Housing Connection agreement. You really need to know what it says because you are bound by these policies.

In a nutshell, you the student own "your" computer and you are 100% responsible for all traffic that goes through your port. When you use your computer on our networks you need to know a few things and take the time to learn what you don't know.

For information about The Pennsylvania State University Ethernet Request Form,
please contact: rescom@psu.edu.