Issue No. 119– April 6, 2009

Banner 8 will be here Soon

Banner 8 is coming soon to a test environment near you!  A new version of Banner is now available.  In order to keep current with the new functionality and technology advancements with Banner, OIT is preparing to upgrade one of our TEST databases to Banner 8 in the very near future.  This will serve as a testing environment for users to get a feel for the enhancements made in Banner 8 and prepare for the University migration in 2009.  Look for announcements in the coming weeks as to the launch dates for the TEST environment for Banner 8. 

Tips & Tid Bits: 4 Ways to Take Control of Your E-mail Inbox

Do you have an effective way to process and organize your e-mail so that you can get to an empty Inbox on a routine basis? Really, it is possible to empty your Inbox. The key is to evaluate how you are processing and organizing your e-mail and make some changes.

No doubt you've opened an e-mail and thought, "Hmmm, not sure what to do with this. I'll deal with it later!"—and promptly closed the message. If you do this over and over again, it doesn't take long to end up with several hundred (or thousand) messages in your Inbox.

Developing a new approach to processing your Inbox will help you to gain more control, improve your response time, and keep up with critical actions and due dates.

This Microsoft Article will cover 4 key factors that will help you process your e-mail more efficiently.  
Campus McAfee Anti-Virus Software

All Delta State University computers (those that are property of the University and include a DSU property ID number) should be protected using the University’s official site license of McAfee Anti-Virus software.  The McAfee icon should appear on your taskbar.  If you do not see this icon, contact our helpdesk at 4444 and they will assist you and if needed, escalate your case to an onsite technician. 

McAfee is the only anti-virus application that should be installed on your University machine.  Should you see other applications, such as “Antivirus  2009” on your system, contact our help desk immediately at 4444.  This application, like many others, disguises itself as legitimate security software, but is in fact a door to allow trojans and malware into your computer. 

Lastly, if you are prompted to install any application on your computer, chances are it may be spyware!  Before clicking “yes” or “ok”, give us a call and we will be happy to let you know if the application that is attempting to install itself on your computer is legitimate!
 

 Next OIT Maintenance Window
Friday, April 17, 2009 4:00-9:00 PM CST

 Conficker Update

As you heard last week, the Conficker worm that was working its way across the Internet had no impact on the DSU campus.  OIT installed the required updates in October of 2008 which patched the vulnerability that Conficker used to infect machines. 

Unfortunately, the bad guys are out there, and they spend an enormous amount of time and money developing these worms and malware programs to take advantage of unpatched machines.  For home users, make sure you stay current with critical security updates, and make sure you keep your antivirus application and dat files updated.  If you would like to read more about Conficker and the results from the April 1 date, check out this PC World article.

 ELN: Faculty News Update!

Calling All POD People!

THE OIT-ELN is collecting and publishing exemplary faculty podcasts. The repository is an online space for faculty members to share ideas about their disciplines as well as their techniques for developing and disseminating audio podcasts. If you wish to share with others in such a forum, please send your MP3 file with description to Susan Hines, Director of Instructional Technology. Click Here for the latest on DSU podcasting.

 
Attention Students:  OkraMail Tips

We hear from a number of faculty and students regarding OkraMail email box management.  OkraMail is the official means of communication between faculty/staff and the students, and it is important that students manage their mailboxes, just as they do their Facebook, MySpace, Hotmail, and gMail accounts.  In case you don’t know, if your mailbox is full, faculty and staff members receive a reply telling them that mail could not be delivered to your account because you are over the 10MB limit.  A few quick steps can help to make sure you receive all official correspondence!

1.    Delete Old Mail!  Senders will receive a bounce back message telling them that your mailbox is over the quota.  To avoid this, make sure you actually delete old mail.  When deleting emails from OkraMail, they are not permanently deleted yet.  They go to your deleted folder.  This still counts against your allotted space.  You must empty your Deleted Folder before they are permanently gone.

2.    Automatically Delete Old Mail - Under your “Preferences”, there is a Delete Option.  You can choose to “Purge message” and click “Save”.  This will allow each message that you delete be removed permanently without you having to manually choose the empty deleted folder.  But, be aware that if you choose this option, the email will be permanently deleted from the server.

Questions or comments ~ feel free to contact Beverly Fratesi, CIO at 662-846-4760 or email at bfratesi@deltastate.edu