We hope your term goes well! UIS is excited with the release of our new Services Portal (ticket and project management system) to help serve you better. Additionally, work continues on a variety of system migrations ith the great help of our fellow Pacific coworkers.
Remember, your UIS team is just a phone, email, or Zoom connection away!
Thank you and go Boxers!
Brandon Gatke
CIO/CISO
Understanding The Services Portal: Knowledgebase vs. Services
Our new Pacific University Services Portal is a place you can find information and request help and services from multiple departments (currently University Information Services and University Advancement, with more coming soon). The Services Portal is divided into two main sections:
- Knowledge Base is a collection of useful help articles, divided by department and then subject.
- Services is a list of the services available to you as a Pacific employee, with new services being added all the time. Each service entry tells you more about that service and, in the upper right, gives you buttons to request that service or help concerning that service. Like the Knowledge Base, it is divided by department and then subject.
Two tips for getting the most out of the Services Portal:
- Be sure you are logged in (your name will appear in the upper right if you are) so you can see all the services and knowledge base articles available to you.
- If you aren't sure the right place to submit your request, or are running short on time, call 503-352-1500 or Zoom to the Helpdesk and we're happy to help create a help ticket on your behalf.
Boxer Mail: 30-Day-Old Trash Will Be Deleted
With the employee email migration to Google now complete, UIS will be restoring the Google default settings of deleted items expiring from the Trash folder after 30 days. This automated process is needed to help manage the limited storage space provided by Google.
If you have previously used the Trash folder for long-term storage, UIS encourages you to use labels to organize your email instead.
Information on how to manage your deleted items can be found in Google's documentation.
Report Spam in Gmail, Farewell Phish Alert Button
With the transition to Boxer Mail, Gmail's powerful spam filters are now available to staff and faculty.
Marking and unmarking emails as spam in Gmail will help improve Boxer Mail's ability to filter unwanted and fraudulent messages. Phishing and spam messages no longer need to be reported to the Helpdesk, although you can continue to contact the Helpdesk should you need to report a successful phishing attack or inquire about a suspicious email.
With this built-in functionality, the Phish Alert Button in Outlook is no longer needed and UIS will be begin uninstalling it from university-owned and managed computers. An Introduction to Phishing Awareness and Prevention course is available on demand in the university's BlueVolt training system.
Classic Google Sites Being Retired
If you created Google Sites using your Pacific account prior to August 2020, your sites were likely created using Google's older "Classic Google Sites" system. Google is retiring this system, and sites created on it, as of January 2022.
To check to see if you have a classic Google site that is live or archived, go to Google's Classic Sites Manager. For more, see Google's documentation on the retirement of Classic Google Sites.
Reach out to us if you need information about converting your older Sites.
Please Shut Projectors Off
If you utilize projectors in our classrooms and meeting rooms, please remember to shut them off when you leave the room. They are not able to shut themselves off and being on for extended periods reduces the life of their bulbs.
New Support App for Mac Users
This week we're rolling a new app out to university-managed Mac computers. The Support App will live in the menu bar of your Mac and give you alerts (via a colored dot) about issues that may effect the healthy functioning of your computer. Clicking on it also gives you quick access to contact the Helpdesk, visit our new Services Portal, or access the self-service support options provided by UIS on your Mac.
For routing purposes, Google ignores anything after a "+" symbol and before the "@" symbol in your Boxer Mail email address. So if your email address is JaneDoe@pacificu.edu, and you ask someone to send mail to JaneDoe+recruiting@pacificu.edu, that email will still reach you.
This can help you to keep your mail organized (your can create mail filters based on what address was sent to) and to keep track of the how your email address gets used when you provide it to third parties (e.g. JaneDoe+NoSpamPlease@pacificu.edu).
See Google's documentation on this feature.
Ask UIS: How Often Should I Restart My Computer?
According to the Mac and PC experts at the Helpdesk, it is best to restart your computer about once a week, or any time your computer starts acting funky. Shutting your computer down every night is not ideal: Computers often install important updates overnight, and because computers go into very-low power usage mode when not being used, the electricity savings of turning them off is negligible.
Google Tip: Pop Out Your Email Compose Window
When composing new email in the Boxer Mail web interface you can change the size and location of your email composition window to fit your needs. When replying to a message, Google shows your composition window below the email you are replying to.
Click the box-with-arrow icon in the top right to make the composer float above the email thread. You can make this window even bigger by clicking on the two-arrows icon in the top right, or shift while you click on the same icon to make the composer pop out into its own separate window that you can make whatever size you want.
Outlook Web Access Ends November 30
Outlook Web Access is the web interface to access your old mailbox as it existed on the Exchange server prior to the move to Google. Outlook Web Access will be fully decommissioned on Nov. 30.
If you have any items remaining that you wish to preserve, please be sure to do so before Nov. 30. You my access your current inbox at any time by using the Google mail web interface through Boxer Mail.
Finishing the Conversion of Antivirus Software
As announced in the June newsletter, we've been replacing Symantec Endpoint Protection (yellow shield icon) with the Sophos antivirus/antimalware software (blue shield with "S" icon) on university-managed computers. Symantec no longer provides complete protection and can cause instability when running alongside other antivirus products. UIS may be in touch in the case that Sophos did not fully install or that Symantec Endpoint Protection did not fully uninstall.