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WELCOME TO (OR BACK TO) RUTGERS, CAMDEN CAMPUS!

Camden Computing Services is here to provide quality Information Technology services to the Camden Campus in support of your educational goals.

INFORMATION FOR EVERYONE:

The list below provides information on what's new or changed this spring in computing on the Camden campus.  For more details on these and all of our services, please go to our web site at:  http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu/

[Faculty/staff Note:  Please consult your departmental computer support person before attempting to make any changes to your office computer]

*  Computer viruses/phishing/Vishing continue to be prevalent on the Internet. Last summer, Rutgers purchased the Trend Micro antivirus software site license as the primary method to provide virus detection and protection at a lower cost to everyone at the university. We recommend using RADS (Rutgers Antivirus Delivery System) as your antivirus software since it automatically updates Trend Micro Antivirus software for you. RADS is free to Rutgers University faculty, staff, and students. In addition, Camden Computing Services has developed a PC Cleaner CD that can be used to fix many virus/worm corruption problems. For a copy of that CD, please see any consultant at the help desks in the campus computing labs. For more information, go to http://software.rutgers.edu/.
At this time of year Phishing exploits seem to explode due to the annual IRS ritual of completing our taxes based upon information supplied by our various banks, credit unions, investment vendors, and insurance companies. You may receive an email from someone claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam you into providing private information that could be used for identity theft. You should be weary. Normally, the message directs you to visit a web site where they try to obtain your information, such as, a password or credit card, social security, and bank account numbers. You should always visit your vendor web sites from previously established web addresses.
Now, comes a new scam called Vishing. Like a phishing scam, you'll receive an email indicating your account has been compromised. However, instead of them providing a web site, you are urged to call a phone number to verify account details. Normally, these phone numbers are based upon the latest in technology of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) that permits cheap and anonymous calling along with hiding Caller ID numbers. If you feel the message may be legitimate, use the phone numbers provided by your vendor when you set up your account. A lot of useful information and links are available on our Security page: http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/HELP/General/security.php

* The university has published an Identity Theft Compliance Policy. The policy provides assistance in both the prevention and detection of identity theft by outlining responsibilities and guidelines for collecting, retaining, and restricting access to personal information. Visit http://nppi.rutgers.edu/dept/ to view the policy and http://nppi.rutgers.edu for information on recent breaches and how to prevent identity theft.

* Credit card payment is now accepted on the University Software Portal for personal purchases. Faculty, students, and staff can purchase software for personal use at discounts up to 75 percent off retail with the convenience of online payment. Visit https://software.rutgers.edu/ and log on with your NetID. Click on "Microsoft Products for Personal Use" to view the list of available Microsoft products.

* In order to provide improved spam filtering options to the community, faculty and staff may now set the number of days that they would like to keep spam that is filtered into their spam-messages folder. Previously, one had to keep either 14 days worth of spam in this folder which would be thousands of messages for the average person or keep no spam. We believe many of you will now prefer to set this to 7 days (or less) to minimize the amount of messages in your spam-messages folder while still being able to review for a missing message with a much shorter time frame. Please visit the spam filtering web page (https://crab.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/usertools/webspamassassin) to make this change.

* Did you know that the REACT mailings are archived for review? If you recall an item appearing in one of the weekly email messages and would like to review the past mailings, you go to the RAMS home page (https://rams.rutgers.edu/), select Archives from the left margin list, log in, highlight CM_ALLFACSTAFF for faculty/staff mailings or CM_ALLSTUDENTS for student mailings, and hit the View Archive button.

* Mathematica has been installed across the university onto the many public systems available for students: desktop PCs, Macs, Sun Servers. A few of the uses for Mathematica includes: Handling complex symbolic calculations that often involve hundreds of thousands or millions of terms; loading, analyzing, and visualizing data; solving equations, differential equations, and minimization problems numerically or symbolically; and doing numerical modeling and simulations, ranging from simple control systems to galaxy collisions, financial derivatives, complex biological systems, chemical reactions, environmental impact studies, and magnetic fields in particle accelerators. Mathematica is available for free to install on university owned systems through the Software portal: http://software.rutgers.edu/

* NetID Required - To access most computing services at Rutgers, you will need a NetID and computer account, which provides secure access to email, web pages, computer labs on all Rutgers campuses, the Rutgers network, and the Internet. The NetID is required for online student services including registration, personalized course schedules, statement of financial accounts and online credit card payment, grades, and transcripts; and for online faculty/staff services including grade rosters, online calendaring, faculty survey, course analysis, course synopses, and grade submission.

* Educational seminars on various computer topics are given every semester by Camden Computing Services, and a list of such classes can be found at http://edseries.camden.rutgers.edu

* The Annual Report for Camden Computing Services along with its Appendix is available online for review (along with the past 5 years) and may be found at: http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu/Announce/AnnualReports/

ITEMS FOR FACULTY AND STAFF:

* Rutgers University has signed a Campus Agreement with Microsoft for the following products:  Windows XP and Vista upgrades; The enterprise level of Office for Windows and Mac; Core Client Access Licenses (CAL); and, SQL Server Client Access Licenses (CAL).In the near future, these products will be available free of charge to all Rutgers faculty and staff for use on University owned equipment.  Work-At-Home versions will also be available on CDs for a minimal cost.  A University announcement indicating availability will be made soon.

* Camden Computing Services in coordination with the OIT Office of Instructional and Research Technology (OIRT) and Internet2 are sponsoring a 1/2 day symposium on March 21, 2007 on all campuses on the new exciting uses of technology in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.  A committee of faculty and staff is being formed to help plan the agenda for the event and all interested faculty and staff are asked to contact OIRT through the web site:  http://internet2.rutgers.edu/.  The success of this event will depend upon participation across the university.  Last year an equivalent event was hosted for the Sciences.

* For information on Smart Classrooms use for FAS and the Business School faculty, see the web page at: http://smartclassrooms.camden.rutgers.edu/

* A test scanner to aid faculty in grading multiple choice exams exists in BSB 132. Information on this scanning/grading device can be found at: http://computing.camden.rutgers.edu/scanner/index.php

* For those who access their class rosters online, they now include the ability to see roster photos for the students in your class. If you want to match a face to a name, this addition to the class roster should meet your needs.

ITEMS FOR STUDENTS:

* The Foreign Language computer lab, located in the basement of Armitage Hall (B-2), is available to all students on the campus where a select number of seats are open to the general student population to provide computer access. There are currently six (6) designated systems in the lab for any student to sit down and work on your projects at any time. These systems are numbered 34 thru 39 (back 6 systems in the lab). Normally, after 2pm when no language classes are scheduled, most systems may then be accessed. If you happen to be in Armitage Hall and want access to a lab computer, you should check out the basement Foreign Language lab. You will find typical software available, including word processors, email readers, and web browsers. The Foreign Language lab is open Monday through Thursday from 8am until 9pm and Friday from 8am until noon.

* For those recent January graduates and students approaching their May 2007 graduation, let us remind you that Rutgers Alumni are permitted to keep their computer accounts (email in particular) active for one full year following graduation. About a month prior to the deactivation of the account, you will receive an email notification from Computing Services indicating the date of final closure. The extension gives you the time to obtain another email address and to inform your family, friends, and other contacts about the change.

** Posted from an email messages sent to the campus community on February 5, 2007.