Network and Computer Frequently Asked Questions
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| Pat Riehecky, Systems Administrator |
Here are answers for some of the most frequently asked questions about computers and the campus network at Illinois Wesleyan University . If there are other topics you'd like to see covered, please let us know by contacting the IT Help Desk.
Campus Pipeline (My.IWU)
disk space quotas
e-mail
firewall and gaming
ftp (file transfer protocol)
Internet bandwidth shaping
Internet connection speed
listservs
passwords
proxy (for off-campus access)
ssh
spam blocking
virus protection
web bulletin boards
Windows file sharing
Wireless networking
- What is Campus Pipeline?
- Campus Pipeline is the original name for Illinois Wesleyan's web portal software. The University's web portal was renamed in the Fall of 2004 as My.IWU. My.IWU provides a way to organize various information services available to you on campus. These services includes e-mail, campus news, course tools, calendars, course registration and more.
- What do I need to do to get a My.IWU account?
- All Illinois Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff are automatically set up with accounts to use My.IWU services. See the Guide to Campus Network IDs and passwords for information about your My.IWU ID and password.
- I tried logging into my My.IWU account, and it said my account expired. What do I do now?
- If you don't use your My.IWU account for 120 days, your account will expire. Please call the IT help desk at 309-556-3900 to re-activate your account.
- I received an e-mail message saying I'm approaching my quota. What's that?
- In order to ensure that the University’s main student server can perform effectively and fairly, the office of Information Technology places limits on the amount of disk space used by any individual student. This web page explains how these disk space quotas work..
- How can I read my e-mail if I'm off campus?
- The easiest way to read your e-mail off campus is to use your My.IWU account. You can also use e-mail programs that use the POP or IMAP protocol (e.g., Eudora or Thunderbird) to read your e-mail from off campus. Finally, you can also forward your mail from your My.IWU to an off-campus account. Use the Options tab within My.IWU's e-mail Window and select "Mail Forwarding" to forward your e-mail to another account.
- I'm connecting with a cable modem (or DSL) from home How do I use my IWU e-mail?
- The easiest way is to use My.IWU. If you want to use an e-mail package like Eudora or Thunderbird, you will need to contact your service provider for the address of their SMTP server. You need to change your e-mail settings to use your service provider's SMTP service for your outgoing mail server. For your incoming mail server set your software to use IWU's mail server (sun.iwu.edu for @iwu.edu mail, or titan.iwu.edu for @titan.iwu.edu mail.)
- I'm going on vacation. How do I create a file that tells this to anyone who emails me?
- You can easily set a vacation message within the My.IWU e-mail program. Open the e-mail icon and click on the "Options" tab. Then select "Auto Reply".
- Is there a limit to how much e-mail I can store on my account?
- Yes. You are limited to a maximum of 100 megabytes in all folders, including your inbox, within My.IWU. The maximum message size is ten megabytes. See this web page for more information about disk space limitations.
- What can I do to stop getting so much SPAM (unsolicited commercial e-mail)?
- See our frequently asked questions about blocking SPAM.
- Can you please open a port for me on the firewall? I want to run a game.
- The campus firewall is different from a firewall on your personal computer, or a firewall on a home router. Almost all outgoing ports on the campus firewall are already open. Although your game maker may tell you to open a port (or ports) on the firewall, in the vast majority of cases those ports are already open on the campus firewall (note: if you are running a firewall on your personal computer, you will still need to enable those ports on your personal firewall.)
- However, computers from outside the campus network cannot initiate a connection to your computer. Your computer does not use an IP address that is directly accessible to other computers on the Internet. This means that while you should be able to play most games on the Internet, you won't be able to host a game on your computer for other players on the Internet. For more information about the campus firewall, see our firewall reference.
- My game runs fine at home, but on campus it's much slower. Can you help?
- Game performance can be the result of several factors these include: off-campus servers, and Internet resources, the campus Internet connection speed, and Internet bandwidth shaping. Game performance may also suffer if you run peer-to-peer file sharing applications. IT staff will help troubleshoot game performance problems as time allows. Call 309-556-3900 for assistance, or use the on-line help request form.
- What is ftp?
- ftp stands for file transfer protocol. It is a way to get files from your personal computer to a server and back. There are a number of programs that make ftp easier such as Fetch for the Macintosh.
- How do I use ftp to update my web-site from off-campus?
- ftp from off-campus to university servers is not allowed through the firewall. You can only ftp to IWU servers from on-campus or by dialing in to the campus network through the IWU modem pool. However, some versions of ssh do allow you to send files to your account from off campus. You can also use a secure file transfer client such as WinSCP for Windows, or Fugu for Mac OSX.
- What is Internet bandwidth shaping (a.ka. traffic shaping) and why are we shaping Internet bandwidth at IWU?
- Please see our web page on Internet bandwidth shaping at Illinois Wesleyan.
- Are other universities shaping their Internet traffic?
- Yes, and it's becoming an increasingly more common practice.
- How fast is Illinois Wesleyan's connection to the Internet?
- Illinois Wesleyan leases a DS-3 line to connect the University's campus network with the Internet. Our DS-3 line provide enough bandwidth to permit up to 45 megabits per second of data traffic to and from the Internet. The number of people who can use these connections varies. A simple request to view a web page can use several hundred bits for a few seconds. A large file transfer may use hundreds of bits per second, and take several minutes.
- Why does my computer seem to go fast at some times and slow at other times?
- The speed of your connection to a site on the Internet is affected by many factors. Places that slowdowns could occur include:
- Your computer - are you running any other programs, have you restarted lately?
- The campus backbone - typically not a problem, our backbone speed is 1000 megabits per second (gigabit Ethernet)
- The campus Internet connection - if the campus tries to send and receive more than 45 megabits per second, you could notice a delay.
- The Internet - sometimes parts of the Internet get too busy, this could cause delays. One place to go for a view of Internet traffic delays is this Internet Weather Report.
- The site you are trying to reach - again, if too many people are trying to reach that site, or if it is experiencing other problems, you will see delays.
- You can test your connection speed with this off campus service.
- What is a listserv? How do I subscribe to a listserv?
- A listserv is the common name used for an automated mailing list. By joining a listserv you can receive and send e-mail with others interested in the topic of that mailing list. There are thousands of listservs on various topics available on the internet. IWU also provides a listserv service to support its academic program and promote University communications.
- What are the IWU listservs?
- You see a current list of IWU listservs by pointing your browser to lists.iwu.edu
- What do I need to do to start a new listserv?
- Before you request a new listerv, you may want to investigate the bulletin boards and groups offered in Campus Pipeline. If you still think you need a listserv, faculty, staff and student organizations that want to start a new listserv should call the IT Hotline 306-556-3900 for additional information.
- I forgot my password, what should I do?
- See the Guide to Campus Network IDs and passwords for information about your Illinois Wesleyan Net ID and passwords.
- How do I change my password?
- See the Guide to Campus Network IDs and passwords for information about your Illinois Wesleyan Net ID and passwords.
- My printer isn't working, help!
- Here are a few tips to check before you call 3900. First, check and make sure the printer is turned on and plugged in. Then check to make sure that all cable connections are secure. If you have power, and your printer is feeding paper, check you toner cartridge.
- My printer is out of toner -- what now?
- For University printers, the Printing Services department stocks toner cartridges for most ink jet printers. Just stop by with your departmental budget code and be able to identify the type of printer you have. There are easy-to-follow instructions (with diagrams) for installing your own print cartridges.
- Printing Services will also place service calls to have toner replaced in most University laser printers. Just give them a call at 309-556-3086, leave your name, department budget code, office number, and type of printer.
- What is the proxy server?
- If you view Illinois Wesleyan web pages from on campus, you have access to the full range of University intranet services. These services include the Information Technology Hotline, the LIbrary's Lexis/Nexis and FirstSearch services, and vaiorus other campus-only information services. If you are off campus, and want to use these services, you need to use the University's Intranet proxy server.
- How do I configure my browser to use proxy?
- See the proxy information page for how to configure your browser to use the University's proxy server.
- What is ssh?
- ssh is a secure version of telnet. ssh provides a secure shell to encrypt your telnet session..
- Where do I get ssh?
- Here are few links for ssh for Windows, Macintosh, and Unix. You can find more at Freessh.org
- Does Illinois Wesleyan do anything to block spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail)?
- The University uses a spam and virus filtering appliance from Barracuda Networks to help identify and block spam messages and viruses. For more information about "Barracuda", please call the IT Help Desk at 309-556-3900.
- How can I set up a filter in my e-mail to block spam?
- Please contact the IT help desk for assistance with setting up spam filtering using e-mail clients like Thunderbird and Eudora.
- I received a harrassing e-mail message. What should I do?
- Please forward the message, including full header information, to
spam-abuse@iwu.edu. - What else can I do to prevent receiving junk e-mail?
- The Federal Trade Commission provides more tips and guidelines for dealing with spam and junk e-mail at http://www.ftc.gov/spam/.
- Does Illinois Wesleyan have virus protection software I can put on my computer?
- Yes. Illinois Wesleyan had site licenses for anti-virus software for Windows and Macintosh computers. Please call the IT Help Desk at 309-556-3900 for information about installing anti-virus software on your computer, or see this web page for do it yourself anti-virus installation instructions.
- Does the University scan for viruses coming into the campus from the Internet?
- Yes, all e-mail coming into campus from the internet is checked for viruses before it is sent to your account. If an e-mail message sent to you has a virus attached, the virus will be stripped from a message, and you will see a message saying that a virus was removed. The person sending the infected message is also notified that their computer may be infected with a virus.
- How do I remove viruses and spyware from my computer?
- Please call the IT Help Desk at 309-556-3900 for information about removing viruses and spyware from your computer, or see this web page for do it yourself instructions for removing viruses and spyware.
- I'd like to set up a web bulletin board, what do I need to do?
- All classes are automatically set-up with a web bulletin board within Campus Pipeline. You can also set-up bulletin boards for other groups of people on campus using Campus Pipeline's "Groups" feature. After logging into Campus Pipeline, click on the "Groups" button for more information about how to set-up a Campus Pipeline group.
- Why can't I see some computers on Network Neighborhood?
- Windows file sharing can often be accomplished using Windows network neighborhood browse function. Unfortunately, this browse function was not intended to support networks with multiple routers, such as the Illinois Wesleyan campus network. Clicking on network neighorhood (sometimes also called "My Network Places") will produce an incomplete listing of computers on campus.
- Can I still share files on campus with Windows file sharing?
- Yes, and it also works for Macintosh Computers running the OS X operating system. For a step by step guide for how to use Windows file sharing see this guide to Windows File Sharing on the IWU campus network.
- Does the University offer secure wireless networking on campus?
- Yes, the University provides access to secure wireless networking in selected locations on campus.
- How do I connect my computer to the campus wireless network?
- If you have a wireless network card in your computer, you can connect to the campus wireless network by following these instructions.
Still have Questions? Call the IT Support Hot Line at 309-556-3900.