UCM Daily Archives

If you haven't been checking out the UCM Daily, here's just a sample of what you've missed from the Office of Technology...

Thursday, September 6, Remote Assistance Available

Don't be surprised if you are offered a remote assistance session when you contact the Technology Support Center. If you are on campus, and using a campus-owned computer, often we can initiate a remote assistance session to take a look at your computer. Using our remote assistance tool means faster service for you, and less time spent in transit for our technicians.

If remote assistance is an option for your particular issue, the TSC staff member will walk you through the steps needed from your end to establish the remote assistance session. Remember, you can terminate the session at any time, and the technician will be on the phone with you while they are working on your computer remotely. If you have any questions about remote assistance or any other services at the Technology Support Center, please contact us!

Tuesday, July 17, Major Services Unavailable on the August 3 Weekend

Office of Technology Staff members have been working hard to design and test major system upgrades for implementation before the start of the fall semester. Beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, August 3, and lasting until start of business on Monday, August 6, several major UCM systems will be unavailable. This includes MyCentral, Banner INB, and Blackboard. (Access to your Google Apps @ UCM account will remain available; however, we may not be able to reset passwords or perform administrative tasks during this maintenance weekend.)

The system upgrade work scheduled for the August 3 weekend has such a wide effect because it is an upgrade to the foundation databases upon which UCM systems rely. We are also taking the same weekend to update Blackboard; if you are a Blackboard user, you will receive more information about this update.

We appreciate the assistance of many campus offices who have performed testing and taken "trial runs" with us. Please contact the Technology Support Center with any questions you have about this notice.

Tuesday, July 17, Inventory Currently in Progress

Teams of staff members from the Office of Technology are currently out-and-about on campus, taking inventory of computers and networked devices. We appreciate your cooperation as they move through campus offices, using their bar code scanners to record necessary information.

If you have any questions about the inventory process, please contact the Technology Support Center.

Friday, July 13, Don't Update Java

You may receive notifications on your computer that an update to Java is available. (We have disabled, where possible, this update offer for campus computers. However, you may receive the update notice on your home machines.) Please do not install it yet on any computer you use to access Banner. Banner is not yet compatible with Java V6 or later, so various elements of the Banner system will not run correctly if you have recently updated Java. Please contact the Technology Support Center for assistance or questions.

Monday, July 2, Computer, Printer, and Mobile Device Inventory Begins July 9

On Monday, July 9, Office of Technology staff members will begin conducting an inventory of all computer systems, networked printers, and mobile devices belonging to UCM. We will be visiting all campus offices, but intend to conduct this inventory with as little impact to University personnel as possible. We appreciate your patience and assistance.

If you have a mobile device (laptop, tablet, etc.) that is not available at the time of inventory for your particular area, please visit the Technology Support Center in Ward Edwards 0200 to have that piece of equipment included in this year's inventory. If you cannot visit the TSC, please contact the TSC to schedule a time for the inventory team to return to your area on one of our "follow up" days. We greatly appreciate your cooperation as we work to obtain as accurate an inventory as possible.

Tuesday, June 26, If You Don't Know the Sender, Don't Reply!

Please be careful when replying to messages received from senders you do not personally recognize. Not only is SPAM a never-ending stream of junk, but some of it can be very harmful, especially if you reply to a message. Those replies can easily place UCM on a "blacklist", meaning that our legitimate mail messages are stopped in the SPAM filters of other organizations' mail systems.

When in doubt, don't reply. You can always contact the Technology Support Center for guidance before dealing with a potentially harmful message.

Wednesday, June 13, Google Drive - To Sync or Not to Sync?

You may have noticed a new option to adopt Google Drive in place of Google Docs. With Google Drive, you have the option to create (though an automated process) a folder on your local computer that syncs with your Google Docs. If you choose to create this folder and adopt a synchronization process, you have a number of options. The Office of Technology suggests the following:

Place your Google Drive folder in your D: drive on your local computer. We suggest that you do not place files on the C: drive, as that is the area that we use for "disaster recovery" purposes if there is a problem with your local computer.

Do not try to synchronize your Google Drive with a network drive such as H: or F:. The synchronization across the network can be problematic.

NOTE for Mac Users: There is a known issue with Google drive and Macs which may cause the finder to crash. The minimum requirement for a Mac is Lion OS10.7 and/or Snow Leopard 10.6 or greater. Google is currently working on a fix for this problem.

In a few months, we expect that Google Drive will replace the current Google Docs look and feel. You will have the option to ignore the Google Drive sync function. In the meantime, you can read more about this new Google tool at https://drive.google.com/start?utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-oa-na-us-bk&utm_campaign=en#home .

Monday, June 11, Are You Hosting an Event?

If you are planning to host an event on campus that includes participants using UCM computers or the UCM network, please contact the Technology Support Center well in advance of your event. We would love to discuss your event with you, and help you plan for access and equipment needs. We just ask that you give us an appropriate amount of lead time based on the size/technology needs of your event.

Friday, June 1, GroupWise is Gone!

We would like to thank the campus community for the patience and hard work dedicated to the migrating of faculty and staff e-mail over the past six months. In just the past two weeks, we've seen approximately one hundred faculty/staff in our Migration Clinics. That's just the tip of the iceberg, though, when it comes to the number of faculty and staff who took time to manage, move, and store their old GroupWise mail. Thank you! Remember, if you created a pst file (or an olm file on a Mac), you should make a back-up copy of it on a thumb drive or cd. If you have any trouble accessing that file, contact the Technology Support Center for assistance.

Friday, May 25, GroupWise Dies on May 31

Yes, we are Serious! Any mail, appointments, or other documents you have stored in GroupWise will be gone after May 31, and will not be recoverable. Please visit a GroupWise Migration Clinic for assistance in moving anything you want to keep from your old GroupWise Account. To find these migration clinics, visit the UCM Calendar for times/places.

Time is Running Out!