INFORMATION SERVICES
June 2004
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to Information Services
Announcements from the Bulletin, Today, Notification-L
06/27/04, E-Mail and Novell Login Restored
E-mail and Novell login services have been restored - however, network
laser printing services will not be available until tomorrow morning,
Monday June 28th. These printing issues do not affect Macintosh
printing. [Notification-L]
06/25/04, REMINDER, Scheduled Server Upgrade 6/27/04
CIT has scheduled a server upgrade for Sunday June 27th. Services which
will be affected include network printing, e-mail login and Novell login.
The e-mail server will NOT be shut down but the server that allows users to
login will be turned off, therefore not allowing users to login. The
upgrade will begin at 9:00 AM Sunday morning with services resuming at
2:00 PM. Please call X6525 for a recorded message update on Sunday, June
27th. [Notification-L]
06/25/04, Statewide Database Program Brings Changes
To Macalester Library Online Resources
All libraries in the state of Minnesota benefit from a statewide
database program called ELM
(Electronic Library for
Minnesota). We have access to a number of online
library resources because of this program. The legislative intent
for ELM is to provide Minnesota with the best possible access to
information resources across the educational spectrum, including K-12,
higher education, state government and public libraries.
After a lengthy statewide RFP process, there have been changes to the
suite of resources that we get through this program. The most
considerable change for Macalester is the replacement of our Gale
databases with new Ebsco databases. This change will take effect on July
1, 2004. We are in the process of updating our access points and
information to reflect this change.
New Databases coming July 1:
Ebsco: Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, MasterFILE
Premier, Regional Business News.
Databases going away:
Gale: General Reference Center Gold, Expanded Academic Index
ASAP, General Business File, Business and Company Resource Center,
Health Reference Center Academic, Health and Wellness Resource Center,
Computer Database, InfoTrac One File, Contemporary Authors.
As we receive new information concerning this significant change,
including activation of the new resources, we will be in touch. We know
these changes will bring questions. If you have questions about the
products, or questions as you begin using the new products, please
contact us using our AskUs email form, available at http://www.
macalester.edu/library/about/qpemail.html - Terri Fishel, director,
Macalester Library [Bulletin]
06/25/04, Sending E-Mail Attachments
Did you know that you can quickly and easily compress your e-mail
attachments? They'll send more quickly, and save space on both our and
the recipient's e-mail systems. Winzip for Windows (.zip), or Stuffit
for the Macintosh (.sit) are probably already installed on your
computer. Visit http://www.macalester.edu/cit/software if they're not. For example, an Excel spreadsheet that
was 157KB compresses down to just 25KB with Winzip. You don't even have
to know what a KB is (it's a kilobyte) to see that's a great size
reduction! Give it a try! [Bulletin]
06/25/04, LESTER Feedback
For anyone who has questions, comments, suggestions, etc., about LESTER,
the Macalester online portal, we invite you to visit and contribute to
the LESTER Bulletin Board: http://webboard.
macalester.edu/~lester/. [Bulletin]
06/25/04, Server Changes
To simplify your computing life, CIT will consolidate the Admin and
Academic servers onto a single server this summer. The new server will
be named Summit, and will contain all the information that is currently
on the Admin and Academic servers. Summit will be a two-node server
cluster that will look like a single machine. However, it will provide
redundancy against server failure, since one server can handle all the
functions of the cluster if the other server goes down. It will also
make it easier for people that are currently on different servers to
share files.
PC users will see very little change after the consolidation. You will
notice a couple of new drive letters, but the H:, G: and M: drives that
you are accustomed to using will still point to the same files that you're
used to seeing there now. The new drive letters will be K: for course
folders, P: for projects and O: for student organizations. Macintosh
users who have set up aliases for folders on Admin or Academic will need
to recreate the alias using the new server name. Aliases for
departmental or organizational Web pages hosted on the server Web will
not need to be changed.
We are tentatively planning for the upgrade to happen over the weekend
beginning Friday, July 23. Details from Geri Olson,
olson@macalester.edu or x.6171. [Bulletin]
06/24/04, Scheduled Server Upgrade 6/27/04
CIT has scheduled a server upgrade for Sunday June 27th. Services which
will be affected include network printing, e-mail login and Novell login.
The e-mail server will NOT be shut down but the server that allows users to
login will be turned off, therefore not allowing users to login. The
upgrade will begin at 9:00 AM Sunday morning with services resuming at
2:00 PM. Please call X6525 for a recorded message update on Sunday, June
27th. [Notification-L]
06/18/04, Zafi Virus
If you have noticed getting some funny e-mails in the last couple of days,
it is likely that you have been sent the newest virus making the rounds.
Common subjects of infected emails include "Check this out kid!!!,"
"Don`t worry, be happy!" and the name of the sender. It will frequently
look as though it is coming from someone you know. If you get a message
that appears to be the virus, do not open the attachment! If the virus
is there, it will end in a .pif, or if it has been cleaned by our
server, it will say substitute.txt. In either case, just delete the
message. This virus only affect Windows computers, but Mac users should
still erase the messages.
This new virus, called Zafi, acts like earlier virii and will pull
e-mail addresses from cached Web pages or Outlook addressbooks. Thus,
you may also get messages sent back to you as undeliverable that you
didn't ever send. These messages, too, can be deleted. It does not
necessarily mean you are infected.
If you opened the virus already, or if you are concerned that you might
be infected, make sure your Symantec antivirus is up to date and run a
scan (instructions below). This virus will block your anti-virus program
from running, so if you try to start it and it won't it is likely you
have the virus. In that case, please contact the Helpdesk at x6525 to
get help cleaning your system.
Here are instructions for making sure your anti-virus client is up to date:
(1) Make sure you have Symantec Antivirus installed
with updated definitions. It is FREE for everyone at
Mac and may be downloaded here:
http://www.macalester.edu/cit/safecomputing/how_to_install.htm.
(2) Go to Start -> Programs -> Symantec Client Security
-> Symantec Antivirus Client. In the lower-right corner, you will see a
'Virus Definition File' date. It needs to be 1/26/2004 or later. If it
isn't, click the 'LiveUpdate' button to update your antivirus
definitions. If the 'LiveUpdate' button is grayed out, reinstall
Symantec Antivirus with step (1) above, then do this step again.
Please use your best judgment before opening attachments. If the e-mail
is incoherent or if you are not expecting an attachment from someone, it
may be a good idea to ask them if they sent you anything before you open
it. [Bulletin, also Notification-L]
06/18/04, Netware Tips
*Log out of Netware without logging out of Windows:
Right-click on the Red 'N' in the taskbar. Click 'Netware Connections'.
Select the 'MACALESTER' Tree from the list and click 'Detach'.
*Log into Netware without restarting (useful if you
don't want to login to Netware at startup, then want to login later
without having to logout of your computer): Right-click on the Red 'N'
in the taskbar. Click 'Netware Login' and the login box appears. Just
login as normal. [Bulletin]
06/18/04, Update Your Web Links
Just a gentle reminder - please update your department Web links for
"Physical Plant" to "Facilities Management" with the URL:
http://www.macalester.edu/facilities.
Please contact the Web Manager at x6307 if you have any questions. Thank
you for your continued support! [Bulletin, also 6/25]
06/18/04, E-Mail and Printing Unavailable
Starting today - Friday June 18th at 4:00 PM - e-mail services and printing
capabilities will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM. We have
scheduled a server upgrade which will affect these services temporarily.
Thank you for your understanding. [Notification-L]
06/17/04, This Morning's E-Mail Downtime
For most of this morning, the e-mail server was down. The virus scanner
on the mail server updates the virus detection files it uses nightly.
Apparently, last night's update broke it, causing all e-mail to not get
delivered. After some troubleshooting with our mail server's support
staff, we were able to determine the problem and find a workaround.
They told us that other clients of theirs who used the same virus
scanner were having the same problem. [Notification-L]
06/11/04, Have Summer Students?
We have (an ever-changing) summer Student Directory for use at the
switchboard that attempts to include all Macalester students who are
living and/or working on campus this summer. If you have students
working for you who live off campus, and if they'd like their phone
numbers available to callers at the campus switchboard, please have them
call x6566 or x6000 with their numbers. [Bulletin]
06/11/04, New Versions of Office For You
Microsoft Office 2003 for Windows XP is now available for all faculty
and staff. Office 2003 is not available for Windows 98. Windows 98 users
must continue to use Office XP (I know, who thought of that one?).
Office 2003 for Windows XP may be installed from your Novell Application
Launcher (NAL). Just double-click the icon for it, and follow the
instructions. Your existing version of Office will automatically get
upgraded.
Microsoft Office 2004 for Macintosh OS X has arrived, and has been
getting rave reviews. We will shortly start installing it on new
Macintoshes getting delivered to campus. If you are a faculty or staff
person who'd like to install it, stop by the Help Desk and we'll loan
you a CD so you can give it a try. Documentation isn't yet available,
but it's all pretty much the same stuff. [Bulletin]
06/11/04, E-mail/calendar and Course Support Software
Thank you to those of you who were able to participate in our open
discussion meetings May 26 and June 6. While definitive specification of
these systems must await more community input, we got good ideas to
guide background research during the summer. You will hear more about these
projects and, in the meantime, contact Joel Clemmer or other Information
Services staff members with inquiries and ideas. [Bulletin]
06/09/04, CLICnet Back, But Access to Indexes from Off-Campus Still Down
While CLICnet is back after being down on Monday for planned
installation of new hardware, access to indexes and databases from
OFF CAMPUS has not yet been restored. We understand how
important it is to have this service available and are working with the
vendor to restore off-campus access to library indexes and databases as
quickly as possible. Please contact the library's reference desk (x6618)
or contact us via our AskUs web form at http://www.
macalester.edu/library/about/qpemail.html with questions.
[Bulletin Flash, also Notification-L]
06/07/04, CLICnet Down All Day Monday June 7
CLICnet is down all day Monday, June 7, for system migration. The system will
be available on Tuesday morning, June 8. We apologize for the inconvenience.
- Library Staff [Bulletin Flash]
06/04/04, Protect Your Computer
Learn how to use Symantec anti-virus software and configure Scheduled
Update to keep your virus definitions fresh. Go to http://www.
macalester.edu/cit/safecomputing/ and read all about it. Guidance on
our anti-virus package, formerly called Norton, is found under the name
of your operating system (e.g., Windows XP) at CIT's documentation
library, http://www.macalester.edu/cit
/docs/.
While you're at it, configure your own preferences for spam control by
downloading CIT's SpamAssassin Config Maker for our software page, http://www.macalester.edu/
cit/software. [Bulletin]
06/04/04, CARS Maintenance
The CARS system will be taken down at 1 p.m. Friday, June 4, for a
database patch installation. The system will be down for at least two
hours. If you have questions please contact Ramón Rentas at
rentas@macalester.edu. [Bulletin]
06/04/04, Off Campus Access to Library Services
The library has migrated to a new service to provide access to library
services from off campus. We believe we have solved all the small
problems that arose from the migration. However, if you experience any
difficulties, please send us a report using our Ask Us e-mail form - http://www.
macalester.edu/library/about/qpemail.html.
Please keep in mind that during the summer we do not have staff for
evening and weekends, so please allow us time to respond if you submit a
problem report on a Saturday or Sunday. [Bulletin, also 6/18]
06/04/04, Access While Off Campus
You can stay productive while off campus by using our Web-accessible
services. Among them are Webcal, Webfile and Webmail. They are available
at webcal.macalester.edu, webfile.macalester.edu and webmail.macalester.edu. In all
cases, your username and password are the same as for our network and
e-mail. The first, Webcal, provides off-campus access
to our CorporateTime personal calendaring system.
Webfile gets you to your account on our networked file
servers (the "H: drive" in Windows) so that you can pull down your
personal files wherever you happen to be. Webmail is
one of our two Web-enabled e-mail options, SilkyMail.
SilkyMail includes the address book and preferences you may use under
Mulberry. Some computers have difficulty with the coding of Silkymail
and so we provide a second, less feature-rich Web mail option, called
SquirrelMail (we are not responsible for these names!) You can launch
either package from http://mail.macalester.edu.
[Bulletin]
06/03/04, CARS Downtime Friday 6/4
The CARS system will be taken down tomorrow at 1:00 PM for a database
patch installation. The system will be down for at least 2 hours.
If you have questions please contact Ramón Rentas at
rentas@macalester.edu. [Notification-L]
06/02/04, Location Clarification: Course Support Software Discussion
The open meeting on course support software will take place from 1:30 to
2:30 today, June 2, in the Weyerhaeuser Memorial Chapel Lounge (not the
Harmon Room as listed on the Events Calendar.) Faculty, staff and
available students are invited to join information services staff for a
discussion on our current services and research options for the future.
[Bulletin Flash]
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