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Biology

Biology Computing FAQ

Contents

Policies

Official UF policies about acceptable use of computers and networks, copyright, and “fair use” (what you may legally copy, e.g. for use in courses). Most of this is common sense, but you are responsible for knowing it! If in doubt, read on (or ask Biology Computing Support).

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Security

Physical Security

Theft is a reality anywhere, but especially on college campuses. In Biology we lose an average of about two laptops a year to theft. Although it can happen at any time, these crimes of opportunity often occur at the end of a semester when the thief is on their way out of town for a break. They assume they won’t get caught and often they are right.

One way to reduce the odds of theft is to not give them the opportunity in the first place. Please ensure that you and your office or lab mates close your office and lab doors when you are not present. However, you may forget – or your roommates may – and it only takes a couple of seconds to steal a laptop computer (digital camera, video camera, iPod, wallet, etc.).  Buy a locking cable for your laptop. You can get this online or at a local office supply store or the UF bookstore on Museum Road for around $35-40.

The University Police Department participates in Operation Identification, a nationally recognized property identification program to deter theft and aid in recovery. You can view additional information regarding these services here.

Computer Security

Keeping your computer up to date with security updates, virus scans, and a firewall is your responsibility. If you get a virus or spyware, or someone hacks into your computer and it is detected by the UF Security Response team, your computer will lose access to the network and you might have to pay someone to reinstall your system from scratch before it can be reconnected to the network (not to mention your data could be lost in the process)! This is a waste of time for everyone. It is much more efficient to be proactive and keep your computer up to date. If you have questions or doubts about how to keep your computer up to date contact biocomp@biology.ufl.edu and we can help.

We all get more spam emails than we want. Educate yourself about the scams that people are running. If you get an email saying that you won the lottery it is a scam. Be careful clicking links in emails. Some links take you to malicious web pages to infect your computer or steal passwords and personal information. Learn how to protect yourself here.

Your GatorLink Password is NOT to be shared. You can be held liable for what others do with your username and password. Guard it and keep it personal. If you need to share data with someone else contact Biology Computer Support and we can help you set up a shared folder on the server or make other recommendations.

For more information on these and more topics, visit: https://security.ufl.edu/learn-information-security/protect-yourself/virus-spyware/

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Getting Access to the Network

There are two ways that individuals access the network.

  • Wired Connection – Only devices purchased with UF funds and managed by CLAS-IT can have access to the wired network. Submit a service request for network access. Please read CLAS-IT’s Network Connection Policy regarding the use of the UF network.
  • Wireless Connection – Wireless is installed throughout Bartram and Carr Halls. The University of Florida is home to a new wireless network that improves security and is easier to use. Additionally, the new authentication process makes staying connected to the network a better experience for all Mobile devices. Instructions for configuring your device for the campus network are available at http://getonline.ufl.edu. All computers attempting to connect to the UF wireless network must meet the minimum security requirements established by the university. For more information visit the FAQ.

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UF Resources

  • UF VPN – The VPN provides access to the UF network from home or the field. It does require that you have an internet connection. The software can be obtained at no charge from https://connect.ufl.edu/it/wiki/Pages/glvpn.aspx
  • Library Access away from campus – http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/ufproxy.html
  • UF Research Computing – Information on utilizing UF’s HiPerGator Cluster can be found at https://www.rc.ufl.edu/

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Poster printing

Two locations on campus provide poster printing services, the Computer Science Lab and the Application Support Center.

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Tips for Printing Large-Format Posters

  • Go to the Center early in the morning or on the weekend to print out! The busiest time is 10 AM – 2 PM, M – F.
  • Ask for help from the students working there.
  • Do NOT allow them to turn your poster into a “jpg” (graphic format) file before they send it to the printer, as this makes the font blurry.
  • Printing can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours, depending on how many jobs are ahead of yours in the queue.
  • Be aware that some colors don’t print out as you would expect based on how they look on the monitor. If you choose a blue color that is close to the purples on the color scheme in PowerPoint, for example, it prints purple on the plotter (the large-format printer). Pick colors closer to the left on the blues.
  • Make sure you know your GatorLink ID and password, or you won’t be able to print!
  • COSTS are about $3.00 and this will be charged directly to you.
  • Hint – Take a cardboard tube (old wrapping paper tubes are the perfect size for this) with you in which to store your poster. This protects it until you have a chance to laminate it if you will be laminating. It may not be worth laminating ($40 – 100+, at FedEx®, BMS, Target Copy, or the Department of Occupational Therapy).

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Biology Resources

Authenticating with Gatorlink

When challenged for a username and password for any Biology computer resource you will log in with your GatorLink username and password. With the exception of logging into domain joined PCs, when you are asked for a username and password, enter it as ad.ufl.edu\yourusername and enter your password in the password field.

If the above procedure does not work there is a troubleshooting page at this link

Printers

Printers are managed by CLAS-IT.

CLAS-IT provides printer hosting on the network via a Windows print server. This service includes printer troubleshooting, setup, and configuration. Permissions to each printer are granted by CLAS IT at the direction of the individual department managers, and set with AD security groups.

CLAS IT is responsible for supporting the server infrastructure, setting printer permissions, making backups, and recovering from server problems. Permissions for printers are determined by each department. Contact Biology Computer Support for access.

For active directory, domain-joined Windows workstations and laptops, printers are applied by group policy. If the computer is plugged into Ethernet and you log into it with your GatorLink, any printers you may have permission to will be automatically installed on that computer. Mac and Linux users can manually add network printers that they have permission to print to. Directions to install the Mac print driver for the Xerox printers and configure default settings for black and white are found in this Word document – Xerox_OSX_Printing. Macs will default to color printing unless you do these steps.

Printer names and locations

The 2nd-floor printer is located on ls-print02.ad.ufl.edu and will require being added using the format for your operating system. (e.x. \\ls-print02.ufl.edu\printer-name for Windows, or smb://ls-print02.ad.ufl.edu/printer-name for MacOS).

  • bar-228-3.clas.ufl.edu is in the 2nd floor Mail Room, 228 Bartram Hall – The model of the printer is Altalink C8145

The 3rd and 5th-floor printer is located on ls-print001.ad.ufl.edu and will require being added using the format for your operating system. (e.x. \\ls-print001.ufl.edu\printer-name for Windows, or smb://ls-print001.ad.ufl.edu/printer-name for MacOS).

  • bar-324-1.clas.ufl.edu is in the 3rd floor Ultra-Lowtemp Room, 324 Bartram Hall – The model of the printer is Versalink B405
  • bar-525-1.clas.ufl.edu is in the 5th floor former Environmental Room, 525 Bartram Hall – The model of the printer is Versalink B405

File Space

All network file storage is managed by CLAS-IT.

CLAS IT offers secure hosting to faculty, staff, and departments. Departments have access to shared departmental drives (shares) that can be used for sharing documents with multiple users. Every UF Employee has access to  OneDrive for storing individual user data. All files in OneDrive can be accessed remotely from any computer you have access to using the OneDrive client or web browser.

What to Store on Shared Drives

Shared file storage is intended for academic use. If you have temporary files that do not need to be backed up or large files that only need to be stored on the local computer, avoid saving them to your shared drive or the Documents folder. For example, save temporary files to a folder on the Desktop. For network drive policies, see the Account Policy.

Connecting to Shared Drives

Mac and Linux users must manually map their drives to access network drive files. The same is true if connecting from off-campus or using campus wireless. CLAS-managed computers that are joined to the UFAD domain automatically map departmental shares and home drives by group policy when you log in with your GatorLink. See Help and How-to – Remote Access to Files

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Web Space

CLAS IT provides Web Services for CLAS Department and Center websites as well as for faculty and staff sites. CLAS IT maintains web servers and manages access to the CLAS websites.

Department contacts and office managers can request personal web space for faculty, change permissions, and designate a department webmaster using the New Personal Site form. These personal pages are WordPress Sites hosted by CLAS IT. WordPress is software that allows anyone to easily create websites and edit pages using a web browser.

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Class Websites

Instructors manage course websites through the use of e-learning. You can get more information on e-learning at this site https://lss.at.ufl.edu/.

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Email

Addresses and Forwarding

The Provost has crafted a UF email policy that does NOT allow the forwarding of email from any @ufl.edu email address to personal accounts like Gmail or Hotmail. You should use your UF email account for ALL university correspondence.

How to set up an email client

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Sending and Receiving Fax via Email (eFax)

Exchange users (faculty and staff) may now send faxes via email. This service reduces the need for fax machines and printing costs. Supported document formats are PDF, HTML, JPG, GIF, RTF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Outbound international faxes are blocked.

To begin receiving faxes via email, your department must have a fax email account associated with a fax number. An existing fax number can be ported over to this service. See Requesting a Fax Email Account for details.

Click the following link to learn How to eFax.

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Biology Email Lists

To send to any of the UFL lists just send an email to the appropriate address above. You must use your official UF email to send to these lists.

Other Lists

You can subscribe or unsubscribe to this mailing list by sending e-mail to:
listserv@lists.ufl.edu
To Subscribe – leave the subject line blank and in the text of the message type the following:
subscribe bio-public-l Your Name

To view all the department email lists open the Address Book in Outlook or Outlook Web Access and enter without the quotes “. clas-bio ” in the search bar.

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Software

Special Pricing and Site Licenses

A full list of software for which UF has some kind of site license is at http://www.software.ufl.edu. If you need to order something from this list contact us.

Further software information can be found Here.

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Research and Bibliographic Tools: web-based and other

Bibliographic software

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