CMS of72fers computing help for arriving students

CMS of72fers computing help for arriving studentsAugust 24, 2004Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

More than 7,000 students will move into SU’s residence halls between Aug. 25-29. In addition to stereos, clothes and books, most students will be packing personal computers and will want to connect to ResNET, SU’s high-speed residential network, as quickly as possible.

To help them succeed, Computing and Media Services (CMS) technicians will be patrolling residence halls and South Campus throughout opening week to answer questions and assist students who have problems connecting to ResNET. Before students can connect to ResNET, however, they must activate their NetID (formerly the CMS computing account) and password. Students who do not activate their NetID before arriving on campus can do so at any CMS Account Management Station. Stations are in the new CMS Student Computing Support Centers, located in the Brockway, Graham, Kimmel and Lawrinson computing labs on the main campus, and in the Goldstein Student Center Computer Lab on South Campus. Additional Account Management Stations are located in 124 Schine Student Center, 115 Physics Building, 110 Link Hall, 017 School of Management, 020 Huntington Hall, Shaw Hall, Walnut Hall and the Office of Student Support and Retention at 804 University Ave.

In addition to the NetID and password, all students who connect computers to the University network are required to have University-approved McAfee antivirus software installed and running. The software is free for all students connecting to ResNET and will be automatically installed when students run the PCProtect CD that will be included in the CMS computing information bag. The PCProtect CD is available for sale in the SU Bookstore to students living off-campus. Students who have antivirus software running on their computers must uninstall the software before running the PCProtect CD.

After students activate their NetID, connecting to ResNET takes three simple steps:

Step 1: Locate the CMS computing information bag that will be distributed with residence hall and South Campus room keys. The bag will contain a “Getting Connected to ResNET” brochure, a PCProtect CD, an orange hangtag and several other important pieces of information.

Step 2: Follow the directions in the brochure for running the PCProtect CD and connecting to ResNET.

Step 3: Students who have difficulty running the PCProtect CD or registering their computer on ResNET need to find the orange hangtag in their CMS computing information bag, read the date and time that CMS technicians will be in their residence hall, answer the questions on the tag and hang it on their residence hall door where technicians can see it. Students who hang a tag on their door are asked to be available in their rooms during the scheduled time period until a technician arrives to assist. More information about residential computing is available on the CMS Web site at http://cms.syr.edu/rescom/.