BioComputing

Items of Interest

New Location

Our main offices are now located in 437 Hesler Biology Building.  We'll be moving our server farm to our new location during October.

New UTK Security Policy (effective 3-1-05)

UTK is in the process of implementing a new security policy.  The new policy will impact all UTK user accounts.  The following links contain additional information.

Your NetID password can be changed at the following link.

https://san3.dii.utk.edu/portal/page?_pageid=40,38571&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

General account and password information is available at the following link.

http://web.bio.utk.edu/biocomputing/accounts.htm

On-line banking fraud

We recommend that you not respond to messages regarding on-line banking and/or account verification, without first establishing the validity of the message.  If you do not have an account with the indicated, do not respond.  If you do have an account with the indicated bank, first check the parent web site of the bank and look for fraud alerts.  If their is an alert listed by the bank, do not respond to the message.  You may also wish to call the bank and inquire of the message validity.  I've received a number of the messages and none have been legitimate.

Unsolicited and/or otherwise offensive E-mail messages

If you receive unsolicited and/or otherwise offensive E-mail messages, please forward them to abuse@utk.edu.  You may also copy the message to us directly at biocomputing@tennessee.edu and delete the message.  This will place you "on record" as having registered a complaint.

Leave your computer on; just log off or lock the system

With all the updates and virus scans required these days, it's best to leave your computer turned on and schedule this activity when you're not normally using your computer.  Depending on the speed and hard drive capacity of your computer, it may take several hours to perform the nightly scans.

Virus Alert

For information on current threats, please see the Symantec Security Response web site.

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/

Recommended Security Enhancement Software

Firewall Applications:  BlackICE PC Protection:  http://blackice.iss.net/product_pc_protection.php

Anti-Spam Applications:  InBoxer:  http://www.inboxer.com/

Pest Control:  PestPatrol:  http://www.pestpatrol.com/

E-Mail links on web pages

When you "click" an E-Mail link on a web page, your browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) must have a "Default E-Mail client" in order to complete the request.  For the Internet Explorer, select the "Tools" menu, then "Internet Options", then the "Programs" tab and follow the instructions to set your defaults.

Campus-wide IT resources

UTK provides a number of on-line resources to assist with Information Technology related issues and problems.  The Office of Information Technology web site (http://oit.utk.edu) provides access to these resources.  Please keep in mind that most bio.utk.edu workstations are now "managed systems" and most updates and security "fixes" are done automatically.  If you need additional information regarding your workstation, within bio domain, please send us a message (BioComputing@tennessee.edu) or call our office at (974-2763) and we'll be happy to assist.

Updates and Patches

Please let us configure your computer to update Windows and Antivirus installations automatically.  If everything is configured for automatic updates and scans, you will not have to perform manual updates.  There are lots of "bogus" messages warning about patches that you need, which you should not do.  The message it's self will attempt to infect your system with a "virus", please ignore these messages.  Additionally, some legitimate information from various IT resources will advise you to install certain patches that, in some cases, are months old.  The installation of these older patches can result in a degradation of system security and/or performance.

E-mail Scams

Please be careful of unsolicited messages warning you of one thing or another.  Today I received a message from "Abuse Department" with "ISP Alert - Ticket ID: 0989852927 - Type(a)" as the subject.  The message warns that my computer is being scanned by "my company" and the Police.  Additionally, it indicates that others have been using my computer to surf "Porn Sites" and that incriminating evidence exists on my computer that could be used "cause problems for me".  The message is in fact an advertisement for "Evidence Eliminator", a product to "clean" your system of anything that you wouldn't want others to see.  The unsettling aspect of the message is that it indicates this has already happened.  Please don't be alarmed by messages like this, it's just a sales gimmick.

Anti-Virus Applications

McAfee (Network Associates) was awarded the UTK contract this year.  We're not very happy about it, but that's what we have.  Everyone can always purchase Symantec from the UC if they choose, however McAfee is the only "free" product available.  The initial offering of the McAfee product caused a lot of problems for everyone.  The standard installation, which most people did, did not configure the product properly.  If you downloaded and installed McAfee yourself, please check the configuration.  The "Auto Update" feature was set by default for weekly updates; this needs to be set for daily updates during the early morning hours (i.e. 1:00AM to 5:00AM).  The "Scan all fixed drives" setting was not scheduled at all; this needs to be set for daily scans in the evening hours (i.e. 7:00PM to 11:00PM).

Windows Update

The "Auto Update" feature of Windows XP should be set to automatic and additionally you should go to the Windows Update site, via the "Start Button" and perform all updates on a weekly basis.  The "Auto Update" feature will take care of the critical updates and the weekly manual update will get the rest.  We'll be happy to set this up for you.

Problem Makers

Several programs are known problem makers for us.  We don't make excuses or defend any application, we just know what we find when we fix problems.  Here's a listing of the programs that create problems for us and our clients.  Many of the programs listed have problems with the default installation.  A custom installation that doesn't install everything relieves some of the problems.

Netscape

Instant Messengers (The Windows Messenger is the best behaved and causes virtually no problems)

QuickTime

Music Programs (Programs used to download free music and/or music players; again the Windows Media Player is the best behaved and causes virtually no problems)

AOL

Real Player

Word Perfect (The most current version seems to work OK)

Gator

Offer Companion

Webshots

Weather Bug

Desktop Flag

Trillion

Search companions

Add Banner Counter

Popup Blockers

Napster

Kazaa

Bearshare

Morpheus

WinMX

NJ Star Commander

Asian Browser Tools

Comet Cursor

Bleem!

Watchdog