Download Computing @ Rensselaer - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Laptop Survival and
Management
Campus tools – Fall 2006
Help Desk Services
Pat Valiquette
Mark Miller
What is spam?

A lot of different things but for
our purpose it is any
unwanted e-mail
 Why don’t we stop it? Well,
we block a lot of email but it is
not always obvious
 Like asking the Post Office to
only deliver the mail you want
RESPITE
Rensselaer Enterprise Spam Interdiction
Technology
Web based spam filter
 https://respite.rpi.edu/
 An opt-in application.
 Scans email sent to @rpi.edu but not if
sent from within RPI.
 Only scans messages smaller than 250K.
 Owners of lists need to submit request to
[email protected] to opt-in

Viruses, Trojans, and Worms,
 Campus wide license for Symantec Anti-
virus Enterprise edition
 Install from of the RPI web
 Live updates from Symantec – online
 Definitions file available daily from
Symantec
 http://helpdesk.rpi.edu - software
Symantec Anti-virus
 If you think your system is infected and are
having trouble booting the system – try Safe
Mode – during boot sequence press F8
 Run SAV scan
 If you need a new virus definition file use
the With Networking option – go to
www.symantec.com and download the
latest definition file.
Spyware and Adware

Malware, while not as obvious as spam or as
destructive as viruses, degrades system
performance.
 Adaware, Spybot, Microsoft's Windows Defender
 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads
 Install and use a malware client. We have
instructions on installing and using Adaware but
there are others that are equally effective. No cost
and live updates.

http://helpdesk.rpi.edu/ - Software
Which Updates are Important
 Microsoft
Windows updates
daily at 3 AM
My Computer – right click – open
properties
 Symantec Antvirus
 Malware
software
– daily at 8PM
Microsoft Office Updates

http://office.microsoft.com/

If you want the Office media you can get it
from the Campus Computer Store for $15.
Data and Physical Security
Laptops – Computer Security – security cable
 250 MBs RCS file space

– Connecting to AFS space – now another file space





EZ-snapshot – register online – 10 GBs
http://helpdesk.rpi.edu – Other Service – EZsnapshot service
CD/DVD writer – tend to be one time
USB connected backup or thumb drive
IBM Rescue and Recovery – ThinkVantage button
Laptop image

Available from the VCC Help Desk for MCP
– T60 – full and base
– T43 back to T22 – base image only

Base image includes:
– Windows, MS Office, VPN, SAV, Internet Explorer
– Get remaining software either off the software
download web page or
– Off software server – MS Visual Studio.Net 2003,
Maple, SecureCRT
Items of Interest

Use Ctrl-Alt-Del to bring up the task manager.
 System hung – hold power button down for about
10 seconds and system will power down. Disk
check will usually at next power on
 About once a semester run Disk Defragmenter –
Start – Program – Accessories – System Tools.
Use the Analyzer first
Items of Interest

Check the Event logs – possible problems
– Right click on My Computer – Manage – Event Viewer

The Switch Users option is nice but each user
logged on is sharing the same system resources.
 Ruckus – music service is available
– http://www.ruckus.com – join – need your RCS userid

Polytechnic Newspaper is online
– http://www.poly.rpi.edu/
Items of Interest

Adding printers is easy and fast
– Start – Printers and Faxes – add a printer
Be sure to
use the pmanager that was installed for your system.
Want to set up a web page – use your AFS file
space. Your home page will be
www.rpi.edu/~yourRCSuserid
 Open your afs space and put the web pages into
your public_html directory

Items of Interest
Windows Firewall – leave it on so that it
will help protect your system. It will ask
about allowing connections.
 Battery life can be extended if you allow the
battery to run down prior to connecting the
AC adaptor.

Questions?
email
[email protected]