Introduction

The campus network account gives you access to

• The computers on campus including :
  • Bridges Lab
  • The Library Lab
  • The Language Lab
  • Ames Turnout in the DPC
  • Office computers
• The campus intranet, including the password-protected campus directories
• Various services, such as library course reserves.

Campus network accounts are created by Mr. Jimm Wetherbee, the Information Systems Librarian. Students are typically given their campus network account information with their freshman or transfer packets at the beginning of their first semester. Faculty and Staff, on the other hand, have their accounts created after meeting with a representative of the University Business Office to finish all of one's employment documentation. The account information is then sent to the respective departmental secretary. If you do not have a campus network account, please call Jimm Wetherbee at 8092 or arrange to met him in the library.

Please note that the password to the campus network account must be changed as soon as you log in and will last 180 days, after which you must change it again. You cannot reuse an old password. The password cannot be changed over the web. You may enter between 6 and 14 characters in a password. Be sure to use numbers and uppercase letters in your password – this makes it difficult for someone to guess. Sooner or later you will need this account. If you don’t use it often, write down your password and keep it in a safe place.

Changing Your Password

When you log on for the first time the computer may ask you to change your password. You may also wish to change your network password to something you will more easily remember or because you wish to make your account more secure. The procedure for changing one's password is fairly straight-forward.

1. The computer will prompt you to change your password, click OK.
2. You will then see a dialog box with three fields. The first is labeled"Old Password," and has a line of asterisks. This is the password you just entered. You may ignore this field unless something goes wrong.
3. You will notice that the mouse insertion point is blinking in the second field called "New Password." Here is where you enter the new password. Remember, the password must be at least six (6) characters long. After you have entered the password, move the insertion point with either the mouse or the <TAB> key to get to the "Confirm Password" field. Do not use the <ENTER> key. Pressing <ENTER> is the same as clicking on the OK button and tells the computer you are done with the dialog box.
4. Confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm Password field. This is done to make sure that the password you think you typed-in is the one you actually entered into the New Password field. Once you have filled the Confirm Password field, you may press the <ENTER> key or click on the OK button.
5. If everything went well, the computer will reply that your password has been changed, and you can proceed by clicking the OK button. If something was amiss you will be prompted to repeat the process. The major difference is that this time you will have to enter your old password (i.e., that password you used to log-in to start with.) in the Old Password field.

Common Network Problems

• Forgotten Passwords: Passwords are encrypted, which is to say that they are coded in such a way that it is difficult to see what they are. Not even system administrators should be able to see them. Should you forget your password, your may request to have the password reset from Password Central. If you do not have access to a computer you may see Jimm Wetherbee in the Library, and please come with your campus ID card to the library and a staff member will issue you a temporary password. Those in the Stegall Administration Building can call either Ann Deese or Jeanette Bujak.
• Locked out Accounts: The campus network has a number of measures to stop hackers. One of these is that network accounts become locked out after three failed log-in attempts. Let us say that you have accidentally typed an old password or the wrong password three times. Even if you get the password right the forth time, you won't be able to log on. Account remains locked for one hour but can be manually unlocked by Jimm Wetherbee in the Library. Again, those in the Stegall Administration Building can call either Ann Deese or Jeanette Bujak.
• ACAD not Available: All users and computers on the campus network are on one or more domains. A domain is simply a specific local area network. One of these domains is named ACAD and it is the domain that includes most of the user accounts. If the network is too busy or there is some sort of communication breakdown between your computer and the servers that control the ACAD domain, you will not be able to log on. Should this happen in the Library, please report the problem to someone at the Circulation desk. If the problem occurs in any of the computers labs or the DPC, call 8135. If this happens on an office computer, call 8149.
• Profile not Found: All students have what is called a Roaming Profile. Every time a user logs on a profile is created. A profile is a group of setting that controls various setting on the computer and can be changed to suit each user. A Roaming Profile consists of individual settings that are stored on a server and then uploaded to the computer you just logged onto. Again if either the network or the server that stores the roaming profile is too busy, the profile will not load. You are still able to use the computer, however. What you will not be able to do is customize your desktop, add to favorites, and things such as that.
• Unable to Log Off: The most common reason for being unable to log off of a computer is that a profile is too big. Profiles are limited to 3 megabytes (MB). If profiles exceed that limit, the computer will not allow you to log off until you have gotten your profile under that limit. In almost all cases, the reason for having exceeded the profile limit is too many Temporary Internet Files. The easiest way to get rid of these files is to open the Internet Explorer and go to Tools > Internet Options . . . Under the General tab you will see a section call Temporary Internet Files. Click on both the Delete Cookies . . . and Delete Files . . . buttons. This will clear away enough data to allow you to log off.

Campus Network Accounts and the University Web-sites

Each student has three basic type of computer accounts: e-mail, IRISLink, and campus network (also called campus intranet account). There are web services connected with each of these. The easiest way to keep them straight is that your e-mail account is used to access your Wingate Webmail account (http://mail.wingate.edu), your IRISLink account is used to access IRISLink (which includes class schedule and grades -- http://www2.wingate.edu) and your campus network account, which is used to access almost everything other web service the University has to offer. One of the most common of these services would be the Student Directory.

Most password-protected web pages and services (apart from e-mail and IRISLink) are integrated into the same system of authentication as in the labs. There are two basic benefits to this integration. First, it allows for what is called "granularity." In this case, that means that password-protected areas can be restricted to just those individuals that should be allowed access, not just everyone on the ACAD domain. A more important reason is that integrated authentication encrypts passwords so that a hacker cannot intercept them.

Just like the labs and offices, authentication consists of three parts: the network Domain, the username, and the user password. As discussed above, the most common domain at Wingate is the ACAD domain.

What you probably have noticed is that when you try to log onto a protected page, there are only two fields: one for the user name and the other for the password. So how do you enter the domain, ACAD? The short answer is that you prefix ACAD\ to your username. For example, if your username is stu, you would enter ACAD\stu (yes, acad\stu would also work). Please note that the domain name (ACAD) must come first followed by a backslash (\) and then the username and that there are no spaces anywhere.

You will notice that here as a check-box so that the browser will remember your password. In most cases (such as when you are using one of the labs) this is not a good idea. The only time it is a good idea is if you are sure that no one else will use the computer you are on.

Just as in logging onto a computer in the lab, your password must be current. There is no facility to update your password over the web. Also, just as with the labs, if you enter you password incorrectly three times, your account is locked out.

Prior to version 6 of the Internet Explorer, there was actually a third line for the domain. In this case you may follow the above procedure and leave the domain line blank or enter just your username without ACAD\ in the user name field and place ACAD in the field labeled domain (note that the backslash becomes unnecessary).

There is one major shortcoming to integrating log-in with the campus network and that is that there are a number of browsers that cannot take advantage of it, the most notable being Netscape. On the other hand, most popular browsers (including Internet Explorer since version 4, Mozilla since version 1.5 and Firefox since version 1.0) do.

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Comments may be sent to Jimm Wetherbee at jimm@wingate.edu
Updated: 6/29/06