Home > Resources > Computer Help > For Students > New Student Computer Orientation

New Student Computer Orientation

• About the Information Systems Center
• Computer Labs
• Passwords
• Saving Files on the Network
• E-Mail
• Printing
• Personal Computers
• Wireless Access
• Academic vs. Recreational Internet Use

About the Information Systems Center

The Information Systems Center is responsible for managing and maintaining the campus network, administrative system, and voice mail system. We also support students and faculty in their use of technologies in teaching, learning, and research.

Location: 1st floor of the Hewes Library (across from the coffee shop)

Phone: (309) 457-2106

Hours: Monday - Friday from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. during the fall and spring semesters

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Computer Labs

Note: All of the labs except for the Dahl and McMichael labs may be reserved by faculty and staff. If a lab is reserved, then you should find another lab to use or wait until the class is over.

Lab Policies

1. If you discover that someone has forgotten to log off of a computer, then you are responsible for logging that person off. Viewing, changing, or tampering with anything in the person's account is a violation of Monmouth College policy.
    
2. If someone needs to use a computer for academic work, there are no other computers available, and you are playing games, then you are required to give up your computer.
    
3. Copying of Monmouth College software is prohibited.
    
4. Tampering with the hardware is prohibited. Contact the Information Systems Center (x2106) if you experience any hardware problems.
    
5. Food, drink, and tobacco are not allowed in any of the labs.
    
6. Lab printers may not be used to print multiple copies of documents that are for NON-ACADEMIC use.
    
7. Your ID card MUST be presented when requesting staff to alter your account.

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Passwords

To change your password on a lab computer, press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys and then click on the Change Password button.

Note: New passwords must be at least five characters in length and should contain a combination of letters, numbers, and/or punctuation.

IMPORTANT! If your password is compromised someone else will have access to your email, files, personal information, etc. Keep your password secret and do not share it with anyone!

If you forget your password, then you must bring your photo ID card to the Information Systems Center in order to have it reset.

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Saving Files on the Network

You should save your files in the My Documents folder on the F: drive and keep backup copies of your files on a USB drive or on your personal computer.

Your F: drive space limit is 100 MB. When you get close to this limit, a warning message will display to let you know. (Watch the sizes of picture, audio, or video files that you store on the F: drive because they can be large and consume lots of space.)

The G: drive provides extra storage space for your files, but DO NOT store important files there. (The G: drive is NOT backed up.)

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E-Mail

Your email address is your Monmouth College user name @monm.edu (e.g., jdoe@monm.edu).

Web e-mail is available at http://email.monm.edu.

Your e-mail space limit is 25 MB.

To keep your e-mail space from filling up, periodically clean out your Inbox, Sent Items, and Deleted Items folders.

Do not send mass e-mails. Instead, use the Outlook Message Center public folders. (To post a message, open the Message Center folder and then click on the New Post in This Folder button.)

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Printing

When you log on to a lab computer, your default printer automatically changes to the printer of the lab you're in.

Lab printers are to be used for MC academic use only. You may use lab printers to produce single copies of papers or class handouts (not including draft copies). Copy machines are available if multiple pages are needed.

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Personal Computers

There are four basic steps that you should take to help keep your personal computer free of viruses and spyware:

1. Keep your Windows operating system up-to-date with the latest security patches.
   
   
2. Use up-to-date virus protection and scan your computer regularly for viruses.
   
   
3. Use up-to-date spyware protection and scan your computer regularly for spyware.
   
   
4. Use firewall protection.

Student Technology Assistants (STAs) are available to help you troubleshoot network connect and virus/spyware problems. To schedule an appointment with an STA, go to http://department.monm.edu/is/sta.

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Wireless Access

Wireless access is available in the library, in the Stockdale Center, in all of the academic buildings, and in all of the residence halls.

To connect to the wireless network, use mcpublic.

Do not tamper with the access points in the residence halls. They are "dummies" that will not work in a stand-alone environment.

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Academic vs. Recreational Internet Use

The amount of bandwidth that Monmouth College has available for Internet access is a limited resource shared by everyone on campus.

Academic use of the Internet always takes priority over recreational Internet use.

Help conserve bandwidth by:

• Disconnecting from Internet radio when you leave your computer
   
• Downloading one file at a time
   
• Scheduling any automatic downloading to run between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. when bandwidth is readily available, and turning off your computer when you're not using it (this also saves energy).

Remember that downloading or serving electronic files that contain copyrighted material is a violation of Monmouth College policy.

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