Information Services

Contributed by Emily Riggs, ITAP Communication Consultant

October is National Cyber Security Awareness month. In past years, DePauw University chose to spend the last week in October to educate students and faculty about cyber security. This year, the Student Technology Support team at DePauw decided to start the fun a little earlier and offered many opportunities and activities to raise awareness of the issues throughout the month. Cyber Security Awareness Month is a great opportunity to educate students, faculty and staff on many topics related to cyber security, including virus scanning, protection of digital data, prevention of stolen identities through the internet, and education about simple computer maintenance. The increase in awareness and education of these issues is not only of great benefit to individuals; it also helps create a safer technological environment for everyone on campus.

Throughout the month of October, the Student Technology Support team introduced four Cyber Security villains to the DePauw Community. Students, faculty and staff were invited to aid our local superheros, The CyberCats, in bringing these villains to justice and restoring technological peace back to campus. Radio PSAs, posters and emails announced the villains’ pictures and the crimes they committed, along with links to websites, each with a short quiz on a particular cyber security issue. Answering the questions correctly not only helped stop the cyber villains, it registered participants in a drawing for their choice of an Amazon or iTunes giftcard. In addition, a video contest was offered inviting students to submit 30-second  videos to be used later as public service announcements, with a Panasonic USB digital video camcorder prize as incentive.

Cyber Security Awareness month provides an annual reminder of the need to engage year-round in safe practices to protect ourselves and the campus community from constantly changing technology threats. Building this foundation of knowledge helps reduce the load on DePauw’s technology support resources, which in turn allows them to serve the DePauw community more efficiently. It also creates a safer environment for students and the university community, as well as protect important documents and the information that is stored on any given computer. For more information on Cyber Security issues and to learn what you can do to help prevent them, refer to the healthy computing section on DePauw University’s HelpDesk website.

Mara Mote '11

And, the winners are…

Mara Mote, a junior in ITAP, won the CSAW Video Contest’s Judges Choice Award with her 30-second public service announcement on identity theft.  View Mara’s winning entry, as well as the other PSA contest entries on phishing, viruses and data backup here.  The online quiz winners - determined by a random drawing of all participants who’d answered the questions correctly - won their choice of an Amazon or iTunes giftcard. The winners are Zakary Phillips ‘11 (Identity Theft), Stephanie Wood ‘11 (Viruses), Kevin Bunge ‘10 (Laptop Theft), and Amber Goode ‘03 (Data Backup). Congratulations and thanks to all participants for helping us promote awareness of cyber security issues this year!

Contributed by Courtney Hime, ITAP Communicatin Consultant

In the weeks leading up to the end of the semester, midterms, papers, projects and deadlines can all stand in the way of a well-deserved rest. In the process of sifting through notes and research material, you are likely using your computer - and often for great lengths of time. If you find yourself glued to your laptop, you may be increasing your chances of suffering from information overload, which can cause stress, confusion and mental exhaustion.

Fortunately, there are some quick ways to prevent information overload and simplify your life.

First, learn to plan ahead and prioritize. To truly break away from your computer, a personal agenda or planner can help keep your life in order. If you do find that you prefer to keep everything digitally organized, online planners can also be very helpful. If you’re not already using your GroupWise Calendar to keep yourself organized, I suggest picking it up. Not only is it helpful for planning, but most faculty and staff use it to keep track of their days – making finding a time to meet as simple as opening up their calendar.

Second, do your best to eliminate distractions. The easiest way to stay focused on the task at hand is to disconnect from the Internet. If, however, you require the Internet for your work, all is not lost. For Firefox users, if you keep distracting tabs in your internet browser, delete them to avoid the temptation to surf the net.

Another easy way to free your mind and your computer of clutter is to organize your files. Back up any files you need to save but do not need to use, onto an external hard drive or jump disk. Do your best to minimize the number of files you view on a daily basis by storing them in folders organized by year, course or project. When naming files, use meaningful names or abbreviations that can easily be recognized later to avoid sifting through documents.

Purging your computer and e-mail inbox of unnecessary files is another simple way to destress. Delete and clean out any unnecessary files you may be saving on your computer, and empty your recycle bin frequently. If you find your inbox overflowing, sort through your e-mails and discard what you can. If you’re keeping attachments in your inbox, save them onto your computer. Organize your e-mail account much like your computer by creating folders and filing messages to keep track of your email by topic.

While I can’t guarantee the next few weeks will be devoid of stress, I can assure you that keeping your computer free of clutter will keep you more organized and less stressed than you would be otherwise.

edited by Courtney Hime, ITAP Communication Consultant
and Angie Smock, LIS Communication Specialist/Assistant Coordinator of ITAP

With everyone returning to campus, the hustle and bustle of DePauw is once again at full swing. Everyone is on the go and most likely glued to their computers. This means there are more chances they could be adding unnecessary physical stress to an already hectic life. Here are some suggestions that can help you lessen the strain on all areas of the body.

1. Eyes. Position your monitor or laptop screen to avoid glare or reflections from overhead lighting, outside sources of light or even reflections off your own clothing. Consider turning off some overhead lights. Keep your display screen clean and set the contrast and brightness to levels that allow you to see it clearly.
2. Arms. Keep your forearms, wrists and hands in a relaxed, neutral position. Keep your elbows close to your body as you type. Try an adjustable chair to help with height of the work surface. Though it’s not always possible, using an external mouse and keyboard will allow your arms to sit comfortably.
3. Neck. Do your best to avoid straining your neck. Angle the screen so that it may be viewed without having to bend or rotate the neck. Maintain a comfortable viewing distance from the screen. Ideally, try to be 20 to 30 inches away from the screen. If you are using a desktop computer or external monitor with your laptop, adjust your chair or the monitor so the screen is at or slightly below eye level.
4. Back. Use a chair that provides good lower back support. Use a pillow, rolled-up towel or other soft object against the back of your chair to assist in the support of the lower back. Not only will sitting up straight keep your posture in check, but it can also help keep you awake.
5. Legs. As tempting as it is to curl up in a chair and work, it’s much healthier to keep your thighs parallel to the floor. Make this easier, by putting your feet flat on the floor or on a footrest. It’s also important to get up and and move around periodically. A short walk around or stretch can help keep you awake and comfortable.

There are also other ways to reduce the amount of strain put on your body during a typical work week. If carrying your laptop across campus, try to minimize the weight. Do not carry extra peripheral devices; think about how you intend to use the laptop before you leave and then only carry the necessary items. And, if you take your laptop around often, consider investing in a backpack rather than a large purse or briefcase, to put an equal amount of weight on both shoulders. Being aware of your physical comfort and safety will help keep you healthier, happier and more productive.

contributed by Gary Barcus, Director of Development Services

Last fall Gary Barcus, Director of Development Services, sent an email to his department to help his staff deal with a problem many of us have run into at some point or another — a computer becomes infected by a virus or spyware. His explanation of the problem and his instructions for dealing with the problem were so helpful, we asked Gary for permission to publish it in our newsletter. It follows below:

One of our computers may be infected with a malicious program. Heavier than normal network traffic from our area may point to an infected machine. To safeguard against this infection, we all need to check our Symantec virus scanning and run a spyware detection program on our individual work stations. The IT Help Desk website:

http://www.depauw.edu/it/helpdesk/virusprotection.asp

has links to these services. Each of us should make sure we have Symantec installed and, just as important, configured to receive automatic updates and to run regularly. Please go to the link shown if you do not have Symantec installed. It can be downloaded from a link on that site. You should call the help desk if you have any problems with the installation.

Once it is installed, you should configure Symantec to run automatic virus definition updates and perform a daily scan of your system. Click on the Start button, then All Programs, then Symantec Client Security, then Symantec Antivirus to start the program. OR, click on the Shield on the notification area of the Task Bar in Windows. This is the area to the right of the Task Bar that contains the time and date. The attached word document shows how to configure Symantec after you’ve opened it. Also available on the IT Help Desk site are Spyware detection programs. These find and disable spyware that is loaded on your computer as you browse the internet. This spyware reports your activity to other sites that you visit. In this way, it attempts to exert some level of control over your browser. Wikipedia defines spyware as follows: Spyware is computer software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user’s interaction with the computer, without the user’s informed consent.

While the term spyware suggests software that secretly monitors the user’s behavior, the functions of spyware extend well beyond simple monitoring. Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, but can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software, redirecting Web browser activity, accessing websites blindly that will cause more harmful viruses, or diverting advertising revenue to a third party. Spyware can even change computer settings, resulting in slow connection speeds, different home pages, and loss of Internet or other programs. In an attempt to increase the understanding of spyware, a more formal classification of its included software types is captured under the term privacy-invasive software:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy-invasive_software

Please be aware that sites like WeatherBug, Coupon Sites, Grokster, and Kazaa often offer free download programs that come with hidden spyware embedded. If you visit a site and download a “free” utility, you may have infected your machine. Run Ad-Aware or Spybot-Search & Destroy on a regular basis to clean this from your system. Better yet, don’t download random software from sites you visit! You should call the help desk if you have serious problems or if you think your machine might be infected.