Summer Newsletter

June 2002

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E-mail Hoaxes

We all occasionally receive e-mail of a non-business nature. Some of these messages claim to be so important that the recipient should immediately forward the message to everyone in their address book. Have you ever wondered how to determine if the message is real or not? Here are a few tips on how to tell if a message is truthful or just a hoax.

• If it doesn’t give specific names, dates, and places it’s probably a hoax.
• If it says, "e-mail tracking" anywhere in the message it’s definitely a hoax.
• If it mentions "My neighbor’s cousin‘s friend knows a guy who..." it’s probably a hoax.
• If it involves someone giving you money with no work on your part it’s almost certainly a hoax.
• If it says, "the government is trying to hide this information from us" it’s probably a hoax.
• If it involves Coca Cola, Microsoft, KFC, HP, Proctor & Gamble, Disney, or any other big company it’s probably a hoax.
• If it involves adulterated food it’s probably a hoax.
• If it says "f you don’t do this then something bad will happen" it’s definitely a hoax.
• If it warns of an impending e-mail tax, it’s definitely a hoax.
• It if involves a secret way to get something for nothing it’s probably a hoax.
• If it involves buying an expensive item for a ridiculously cheap price it’s probably a hoax.
• But if it involves college students doing something dumb it’s probably true!

Please check the validity of these messages before you forward them, especially if you are tempted to send them to the entire LSCO Faculty and Staff mailing list.  We have had an Internet service outage that was directly traceable to someone forwarding a large message with pictures to over 200 recipients.  The computer center received close to twenty phone calls about Internet connectivity problems before the message finally cleared out of the system.  Here are a couple of my favorite reference sites.

http://www.snopes.com

http://urbanlegends.miningco.com

New Multimedia Classroom

As our campus continues to grow, so does the need for more advanced classrooms.  During the Summer I session, lab 233 in the E&A building will be undergoing remodeling.  The improved classroom will include 22 new computers at the student’s workstations, an additional computer at the teacher’s workstation, and four wall-mounted, 34’ television monitors.  In addition to these new items, the current projector will be suspended from the ceiling in order to project a better picture for our students.  The Elmo, which is a multi-function teaching aid, will be moved to the front desk at the new teacher’s workstation.  The cost of the multimedia upgrade will be about $12,500.  The new computers will be about $50,000.  The completion is scheduled for the beginning of the Summer II session.  The next lab for due for an upgrade is room 217 in the E&A.  These enhancements will make learning and teaching a little easier.

WeatherBug
WeatherBug is a windows freeware program that places a local temperature icon in your taskbar and then continuously monitor local weather data from the AWS Weathernet. If you click on the taskbar icon it displays a panel showing local weather data updated in near-real-time. Downloading WeatherBug puts your live, local temperature conveniently next to your PC clock. The service and Weatherbug program is free, and the whole thing is supported by advertising that is displayed in the Weatherbug window. The first thing that happens during install is you are asked if you want to also install two additional tools, "Gator" and "Offer Companion".  Here's the blurb on the install dialog: By including Gator and its OfferCompanion Software with Weatherbug, we're making your computer smarter! Gator and OfferCompanion are among the webs most popular. Gator fills in your passwords and online forms automatically - with no typing! And OfferCompanion delivers great offers to you based on web sites you visit! Some computer somewhere is keeping track of all sites visited. (BIG BROTHER IS OUT THERE SOMEWHERE) The checkbox indicating that you want to install these "products" is checked by default.  Readers should be cringing visibly by now. (Security RISK!): During registration you are asked to provide quite a bit of personal info, including name, address, and income.  Luckily all data is optional except for your Zip code, so it can locate weather stations nearby. In addition to retrieving the weather data from over 5000 AWS sites, it downloads ad gifs from doubleclick.net. (TAKES UP THE NETWORK BANDWIDTH) Three Major Problems with using programs like Weatherbug, Webshots, and Bonzi Buddy: USES COMPUTER RESOURCES, MAKES COMPUTER SLOW! EATS THE NETWORK BANDWIDTH! (Picture I-59 Downtown Houston 4:00pm) CONFLICTS WITH OTHER PROGRAMS INSTALLED ON THE COMPUTER! (Generates Computer Center Work Orders) DON'T INSTALL THESE PROGRAMS ON YOUR LSC-O COMPUTER!!!

Work Order Notification

Based on Senate meeting minutes, there was concern expressed regarding the "need to know" when a work order was received by the switchboard.  Due to this concern, the computer center is going to provide e-mail notification (to LSCO addresses) for work orders received.  The e-mail notification will be provided for requests physically submitted and/or called in to switchboard personnel.  After the notification procedure has been finalized, a global e-mail will be sent to notify employees when the new procedure will commence.

Computer Center Projects Summer 2002

The list below details various projects that the computer center will be working on this summer.

• In lab 233 E&A, load and install 22 new computers.  Also an instructor workstation will be installed (includes computer and audio/visual station like those installed in AHB). 
• Redistribute the 22 computers removed from lab 233.  The computers will be used to replace those computers that are 200 MHZ or less.
• The FRS, HRS and SIS administrative reports will be written to CD.  The CD containing the reports will be accessible to necessary personnel.
• Continuing Education administrative software automation project, will allow for the registration of continuing education students into the current SIS system.
• Install firewall security hardware, currently planned for July 5th.  This date was chosen due to belief that this will be slack time (some people taking extended 4th of July holiday).  This will involve touching all computers on campus to change settings.  Key office personnel computers will be changed first (July 5th).  Second priority will be labs, based on how much is accomplish July 5th; the computer center staff may be on campus, Saturday July 6th to insure that labs are complete for Monday classes.  The week beginning July 8th will be when all other computers are updated.
• MOUS Certification -- one computer will be set up in testing center for MOUS certification test using Office 2000 products.
• Southwestern Bell has been contacted for possible updates to current services and additional services.  The services targeted are those relating to dialup lines, upgrading our network connection to Beaumont and PBX (standard informational messages, like directions and transcript ordering; and tracking of incoming calls).
• Load of labs for Fall 2002 Semester - Rooms 201, 217, 219, 221 and 233 (E&A); and 101, and 110 (AHB).
• Order and place 28 computers in various faculty/staff offices and testing center.
• Redesign the network topology and method of connecting to the Beaumont network.
• Last but not least, responding to computer center work orders.

Training Opportunities for Employees!

In the summer of 2001, the Computer Center implemented a Microsoft exchange e-mail server for the LSCO campus. In January 2002 all employees were required to attend an Introductory Outlook training classes. The training class was attended by a total of 115 employees. In early September 2002 a refresher class will be offered. This will be an educational opportunity for those employees that need to brush up on their skills or those employees new to LSCO. In early October 2002, an Advanced Outlook class will be offered. The course will be designed based on questions that employees have had relating to the use of Outlook. If there are specific topic(s) that should be included in either the Introductory or Advanced Class, please forward the information to Linda Cox via e-mail at linda.cox@lsco.lamar.edu.

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