CAS Computing Services Blog

A pair of department administrators asked me for help with editing files in Sharepoint. It turns out that they were confused about the difference between clicking on the name of a file and selecting "Edit in Microsoft " from the drop down menu.

They assumed that the two actions would give you the same results when in fact they do not.

Clicking on the name of a file a Sharepoint library will open that file in read only mode. If you then attempt to save that file, your only choice will be to save it on your local hard drive and then you'll have to wrestle with Sharepoint to get the file uploaded, delete the original, etc. etc.

If you want to edit a file in Sharepoint, never click on the file name. Instead, just hold your mouse over the file name, which will give you a box with a golden down arrow at the far end. Then select "Edit in Microsoft ". This checks the file out to you so that nobody else can change it, opens the file straight from Sharepoint into the appropriate Microsoft Office application and allows you to simply select Save from the File or Office menu to save your changes. Click on this screen capture to see what I mean:

Caveats:

1) This only works in under Windows
2) This only works under Internet Explorer

Posted by at 5:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

We've seen many UVM customized phishing scams recently, including one that mocked up our webmail login page exactly.

The only legitimate email regarding password or status changes to your UVM email account is the one that comes from David Todd and DOES NOT ask you to do anything but go to the UVM account page to change your password.

Please be alert when following links in any email and make sure that the URL of what you clicked on makes sense. For any UVM related service, the URL should end in "uvm.edu". If it does not, then chances are high that the link is part of a scam.

Posted by at 9:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Recently a CAS faculty member approached me with a problem; she was the designated escort for a visiting professor who had his own laptop and wanted to use UVM's wireless network. Sure, she could have had him install the UVM VPN client software and then connect to Cat's Paws using her UVM netID, but then she'd have to reveal her password (which is against UVM policy) or stick to him like glue the entire week he was on campus.

I suggested UVM Guestnet. UVM Guestnet is a special wireless network that allows UVM affiliates (faculty, staff, students, basically anyone with a valid UVM netID) to "sponsor" a non-UVMer and allow them to connect to the Internet. The catches are that the sponsor is responsible for the behavior of whomever they sponsor, plus the account expires in seven days.

To begin the process, connect to the UVM Guestnet page on any computer currently connected to a network. Enter your UVM netID and password.

Read the page of policies and instructions, then click Get Started.

After you fill in the three required fields and click Create, your guest will be able to connect to the "UVM Guest" wireless network and start up a web browser. Their browser will ask them for the ID and password created by the Guestnet web page and then allow them onto the Internet as usual.

Each UVMer may sponsor up to five people for a maximum of seven days each.

UVM Guestnet access basically gives the user access to the public side of UVM's local network (www.uvm.edu, webmail, etc) as well as the broader public Internet. It is not intended for use by those who otherwise have an active UVM netID or who need access to restricted or secure UVM only resources.

As always, ask us here at CAS Computing Services if you have questions.

Posted by at 4:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

CAS Computing Services has a new blog! Check it regularly for news and timely information regarding computers and Information Technology within the College of Arts and Sciences.

Search the archives by tag, keyword or category for how-to postings and other information.

You can view the blog either on the Computing Services web page.

Directly via the blog page, or as an RSS/Atom feed in your email program.

Click here if you don't know what an RSS feed is (no shame here, I didn't know until very recently).

As a rule, we will only send out email notifications of the most important postings, so please check the blog often.

Posted by at 5:25 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Pretty much every Optiplex GX755 desktop purchased and deployed by the College during January 2008 has had Vista activation issues. We believe that this issue was triggered by the recent deployment of Vista Service Pack 1 through Active Directory.

The version of Vista that we use here at UVM is Vista Enterprise. Vista Enterprise uses a centralized license server, called a KMS server, to provide authentication information back to Vista, "authenticating" Vista for another time period after which the computer will again look for the KMS server.

If the computer cannot find the KMS server, the original version of Vista would go into Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM) which is another way of saying that it becomes useless. As of Service Pack 1, Microsoft has eliminated RFM. Instead Vista Enterprise will become nagware, posting endless notices that you may be running pirated software and asking you for a product key. The product key on the sticker on your computer is, of course, for the OEM version of Vista which is NOT what's currently installed on your computer

The fix for this is to simply provide the generic product key (VKK3X-68KWM-X2YGT-QR4M6-4BWMV), which tells Vista Enterprise to look for the server again and all is well.

Geoff Duke has more information on this on his Blog

Posted by at 8:58 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Enterprise Technical Services has announced that the ESET NOD32 Windows antivirus protection software license has been renewed and installed on our management servers. The orange "eyeball" should change back to that reassuring green all by itself.

Of course, if it doesn't, please contact CAS Computing Services for assistance on resolving the problem.

More from ETS here: http://www.uvm.edu/ets/?Page=News&storyID=13138

Posted by at 2:54 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)