Removal of Old Software Shortcuts

This weekend Computer Services will be removing shortcuts of obsolete software located on user profiles. The purpose of this process is to help decrease the size of user profiles that have become very large which can eventually lead to profile corruption and increased log in times. We are not removing any software for which we don't have a newer version already available on our network.

Below is a list of the software being affected:

AutoCad 2005
JDK 1.5
Maple 9
Mathematica 5
MatLab 6.1
Minitab 14
SAS 9.1.2
Finale 97
Corel WordPerfect 9
MS Office 2003
Inspiration 6
Illustrator 7
Photoshop CS 8
Dreamweaver 2004
Contribute 2
Flash 2004
Acrobat 7
QVT 4.1.5
Frontpage 98
Publisher 2002

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to leave your comment.

SamNet Wireless

SamNet Wireless

SHSU Computer Services has completed the initial conversion of the new SamNet wireless service. This conversion was implemented to increase your wireless coverage throughout the campus and to maintain SHSU data security and integrity while it is being accessed wirelessly.

SO how can you get connected to SamNet? Just follow these simple steps:
1.) Connect to the wireless network (or establish a wireless connection)
2.) Open any web browser and authenticate to the network using your SHSU user name and password
3.) After authentication, you can browse the Internet,access the SHSU home page, SamMenu, and SamWeb without having VPN!
4.) To print to campus networked printers, you must use Remote Desktop, if the printer you are looking for is not there, please see Adding a Printer

REMINDER: Server Room Maintenance 5/23

As mentioned in the IR Update this month, we will be performing maintenance in our Server Room. Please see the article from this month's IR Update below.

Semester Break

As we mention each month in the Update, the weekend after graduation is set aside for major maintenance for the information technology infrastructure. Outages may occur from Friday, 5/22, at 6 p.m. till Memorial Day, 5/25, at 8 a.m.

The AB1 Data Center will be down Saturday, 5/23. This planned outage will include Blackboard, Nell, SamWeb, SamMenu, Exchange mail, telephones, and all other campus-wide IT systems. We will be working with McCaffety Electric and Strike ProTech: to complete a number of items, such as:

* Installation of new Data Center firewalls
* Testing of Emergency Power Off system
* Testing of fire suppression system
* Server IP addressing changes

Please just enjoy your holiday weekend and take a break!

Microsoft Silverlight

Computer Services will be deploying Microsoft Silverlight beginning Thursday, May 28th. MS Silverlight will allow you to view videos of this type.

You can obtain more information by visiting the following site: http://silverlight.net/.

Changes - Administrative Access & Computer Account Security

Please take notice of a couple of changes that have been made regarding temporary administrative access requests and computer account security. This information has also been posted as notices in Nell and SamMenu.

Temporary Administrative Access Policy Change:
If you require temporary administrative access to install software on to an SHSU computer, please ask your department chair for his/her approval within e-mail and then you can paste that approval into your WO request. The request should indicate what software will be loaded and it's business purpose and that your department can produce the licensing information, upon request.

Computer Account Security:
All computer accounts will activate a password-protected screensaver after 15 minutes of inactivity. This is to increase the security of your personal files as well as SHSU student, faculty, and staff records.

Update to Computer Account Security: This has been our policy for several years. However, due to recent security concerns we've taken additional measures to enhance the existing policy. Please refer to our current guidelines posted on the Computer Services website regarding the use of password-protected screensavers . Additionally, we've mentioned in several past IR updates to always use password-protected screensavers.