ITS Knowledge Base

Phishing is the sending of fraudulent e-mails asking for personal and confidential information such as userids (SUeID), passwords, SSNs, or bank account numbers. These messages are crafted to look authentic and official and may appear to be from a person you know, your bank, or Southwestern University.

a. Never respond to an e-mail request for personal information.

b. Never click on a link in an e-mail that asks for personal information. Instead, type the address into the location bar of your web browser to ensure that you visit a legitimate site.

c. Southwestern University ITS will NEVER send you a message asking for your userid and password. Any message that asks for your password should set off alarms. Reputable institutions will simply not ask for confidential information via e-mail.

If you have replied to an e-mail that you suspect is a scam, and you sent your SU username and password in the reply, change your password immediately. You can do this yourself at http://www.southwestern.edu/password/. Alternatively, you can call the SU Help Desk (x7333, hours 8AM-5PM M-F) or come by ITS with your SU ID.

Be cautious when you receive an e-mail asking you to reply with any type of personal information, including (but not limited to) a username or password. While the appearance of the e-mail may at first glance look legitimate, take the time to inspect it closer. You may find numerous misspelled words, awkward language, references to services that do not exist, or other little things that seem out of the ordinary.

You should always question the provenance and authenticity of such e-mails. Please note, however, that simply receiving a scam e-mail is not typically enough to compromise personal information. If you are unsure if an e-mail is legitimate, call the SU Help Desk or come by ITS with any questions. (more…)

The Mailman mailing list manager provides options that control the format and delivery of messages sent to a mailing list. For example, messages can be received individually, when sent, or can be received periodically in “digest” form. Follow these steps to change Mailman options.

1. Find the mailing list to be modified in the list of lists found at http://www.southwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/ and click on it.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the next screen, to the section labeled Subscribers.
3. Enter your e-mail address in the last text box on the page and click the Unsubscribe or edit options button.
4. Enter your password for the mailing list that you are attempting to modify and click on Login. If you do not know the password, click on the Remind button near the bottom of the screen and your list password will be immediately e-mailed to you.You will now see a screen through which you can unsubscribe from the list, see a list of all your subscriptions, and change list options.
5. To change list options, scroll down to the Options section of the page and select appropriate settings. For example, click the On button in the Set Digest Mode section to receive a digested (aggregated) form of the list postings.
6. Make sure to click on Submit My Changes on the bottom of the screen otherwise your changes will not take effect.

You may have made changes to the default identity within the Mail Options in Webmail. Here’s how to fix it:

1. From within WebMail, click the “Options” icon at the top.
2. In the “General Options” column, click “Personal Information”
3. The “From” and “Reply-To” fields should have your full email address (not just your username). Edit those fields as needed and click “Save Options” at the bottom of the page.

You should be set. Send yourself a test message after you make these changes to ensure it works.

1. Open a browser to https://webmail.southwestern.edu
2. Login with your User ID and Password
3. From the left side bar, select Mail and then Vacation

This is what you will see when the vacation option screen is displayed:

The top buttons are for selecting between creating/editing a vacation message and deleting the vacation message. If you choose to delete the message, you do not need to enter anything in the text field. If you want to create or edit a vacation message, you may use the default text that is already entered or you may customize your message.

When you are ready to delete or add/edit a message, you must enter your University password in the appropriate field and click the submit button. A response will appear at the top of the page informing you of the status of your vacation message.

1. Open a browser to https://webmail.southwestern.edu
2. Login with your User ID and Password
3. From the left side bar, select Mail and then Forwards

The following window options will appear:

1. The first field is where you enter the email address to which you would have your campus e-mail forwarded.
2. Select “Kept a copy in your local box” only if you want a copy of all e-mail also stored in your SU inbox. This could accumulate quite a bit of mail in your campus account and cause you to go over quota. (not recommended)
3. Select the third option if you already have a forward in place and want to delete it, thereby halting the forwarding of your email.
4. When you are finished, type your University Password and click Submit.

E-Mail Storage (Quota) refers to the network-based storage for your e-mail. This space includes your InBox as well as folders such as Sent-Mail, Spam, Deleted Messages, and folders you have created. The space taken up by messages stored in these folders counts against your e-mail disk quota. If you delete and puge e-mail from these types of folders, you free up storage. This space is your quota.

Southwestern University supplies every user with a default 400MB of remote e-mail storage. If you reach 90% of your quota, you will receive an e-mail warning message. If you reach 100% of your quota, you will no longer receive incoming messages. Anyone sending a message to your e-mail address will be informed that your account is over quota.

When you receive a notice that your e-mail storage is almost at capacity, you should do some housecleaning in your Inbox or other folders. Whether you use Webmail, Thunderbird, Mail.app or some other e-mail client it is possible to bring your Inbox back under quota.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Delete and purge unneeded messages from your InBox, Sent-Mail and Trash folders.

2. Move e-mail from the server to local folders. Below are links to instructions on moving e-mail to local folders for the most commonly used e-mail clients at SU:

• Thunderbird (Win, Mac OS X)
  
• Mail.app (Mac OS X)
  
• WebMail

3. Stay on top of your disk storage (quota) by checking your status periodically:

• Thunderbird
• Webmail
  

And, as always, you may call the ITS Helpdesk for support, (512) 819-7333.

How to save your folders to your local computer

1. Select “Folders” from Webmail’s Menu bar. Then select the mail box(es) you want to save (such as “INBOX”).
   Choose “Download Folder(s)” from the Actions Drop-down.
2. Webmail will create one mbox file with all the selected folders merged into one. Select the “OK” button when presented with this information.
   
3. Save the file to your computer. It will be titled something similar to .mbox”

NOTE: This process only saves folders to your local computer. If you are trying to free up disk space (quota) you still need to delete and purge unwanted e-mails.

Reading .mbox files in Mozilla Thunderbird

1. Close Thunderbird
2. copy your .mbox file to
• On Windows XP/2000, C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\Mail\Local Folders\, where xxxxxxxx is a random string of 8 characters
• On Mac OS X, the path is usually ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/Mail\Local Folders\

3. Start Thunderbird. Your folder should be listed under “Local Folders�.

How to save your Address Book to your local computer

1. On the sidebar click on Organizing and then select Address Book. Next, select “Import/Export” from the top navigation bar.
2. Choose the output format of the export. We recommend Comma Separated Values. Click “Export.”
3. You will now be asked to save the file, initially titled “contacts.csv”, (comma-separated values,) somewhere on your computer.
4. This csv text file may be opened in MS-Excel

This article explains how to move e-mail from the e-mail server to your local computer. Moving e-mail from the server to your local computer will assist in keeping your e-mail server-based storage (the amount of e-mail space assigned to your account) within reasonable bounds.

Local vs. Online
The Thunderbird window is structured in frames. The left frame shows mail folders, both on your local machine and on the server. There are two types of folders in the left frame. One folder grouping is Local Folders. The second is your online folders. For example your online folders might be grouped under SU Email or username@southwestern.edu. E-mail messages, stored in local folders, are saved on your computer’s hard drive. The online folder stores your e-mail on the mail server. This online folder is restricted to the space assigned to you by your e-mail quota.

Moving Mail to a Local Folder

Step 1: Create new folder locally
To store e-mail that you no longer need online you must first create a local folder.

1. In the left pane of the Thunderbird window select Local Folders.
2. Go to the File menu, click New, and then click Folder.
3. Next, Assign the folder a name, and then select Local Folders (Subfolders are allowed but not recommended.)
4. Click on the OK button to create the folder.

Step 2: Move e-mail to new local folder

1. Now, select the e-mail messages that you wish to move offline and have saved in your local folder.
2. Once selected (highlighted) then Right-click on the PC or Control+Click on the Mac and select Move To,
3. Then select Local Folder, then select the new folder.

NOTE: It is recommended that you backup your local files frequently to prevent losing data. To learn more about backing up your local data refer to the following article: Backing up Local Data to a CD

Local vs. Online
The Mail.app window is structured in frames. The left frame shows mail folders, both on your local machine and on the server. There are two types of folders in the left frame. One folder grouping is Local Folders. The second is your online folders. These folders will be stored under a button (icon) labeled SU Email or username@southwestern.edu. Email messages, stored in local folders, are saved on your computer’s hard drive.

The online folders and your INBOX store your e-mail on the mail server. This online folder is restricted to the space assigned to you by your e-mail quota.

This article will explain how to move e-mail from the e-mail server to your local computer. Moving e-mail from the server to your local computer will help keep your e-mail quota (the amount of e-mail space assigned to your account) in reasonable bounds.

First, create a new folder.

1. Go to the Mailbox menu and pull to New. A dialog box will open asking you: a) the name of the new mailbox and b) whether it will be located “On My Mac� or in your email account.
2. Select On My Mac and enter a name for the new folder.
3. Once you have the new mailbox made, you can move messages from your Inbox to the mailbox.

1. Login to WebMail and open your INBOX.
2. Near the top of the page, just underneath the WebMail navigation icons, is a line that reads:

Quota: 40.0MB/400MB (10%)

NOTE: this function requires a Thuderbird extension. You may need to install this extension in Thunderbird before following these steps.

The Display Quota extension is available  at the following link: https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/881/ . Follow the instructions for installing the extension and then proceed with the instructions below.

(These instructions are applicable to both Windows and Mac systems. The screen shots are from a Windows computer.)

1. In the left pane, click on your Inbox.
2. From the Edit menu, select Folder Properties.

   

3. In the Properties window, click the Quota tab.
4. Your e-mail usage is displayed numerically and graphically. Note that 100,000 KB equals 100 MB. In the example below, 191 MB of the 341 MB quota have been used.

   

1. Open a browser to https://webmail.southwestern.edu

2. Login with your User ID and Password

3. From the left navigation bar, click the “+” next to MY Account and then select Password.

4. Enter your old password followed by a new password that meets the security requirements for a University password at Southwestern.

IMPORTANT for FACULTY AND STAFF: When changing your password in Webmail, both e-mail and Helios passwords are changed. These password changes also affect logging into office desktop or laptop computer. Please follow these instructions to change your Windows or Macintosh password to the new password that you created.

NOTE: This message pertains only to those seniors graduating in May 2006.

SUMMARY: E-mail and Helios accounts to be deleted on July 1.

As an upcoming grad you have a lot going on in these next few weeks.
Many of you use e-mail as a primary means of communication with
friends, family, and prospective employers. You need to be aware that
all graduating seniors’ e-mail accounts and helios accounts will be deactivated on July 1, 2006.

So before you leave, follow these steps to save your mail and your helios files:

1. Copy any files you have on your home directory on Helios. Include all new folders you have created, desktop files under the desktop folder, files in the documents folder. Please save these files to your local hard drive, flash drive or burn them to a CD or DVD. You are responsible for saving your information.

2. Copy your personal webpages if needed. They are located on your home helios drive in the “public_html” folder.

3. Unsubscribe from your mailing lists.

How to notes and questions:

You can copy the e-mail messages or folders you want to keep through Webmail using the download folder(s) option (see help file). Your messages will be saved in “mbox” format. Some e-mail clients do not handle “mbox” format well. Another option is to forward you e-mail to another e-mail account. While potentially time-consuming, it is an effective method.

How to copy your address book and download your folders.

Your mail messages and files on the central server will be deleted on July 1. Save them now!

Original document added on April 25th, 2005
Revised on May 4, 2005 / REVISED on April 20, 2006 /REVISED on April 21, 2006

Update: Microsoft has re-released the offending patch with a fix that should resolve these problems.

Last week, Microsoft released a patch (MS06-015) that installed a binary component to verify shell extensions before they are executed, in an effort to improve Windows security, particularly for unsigned ActiveX controls. In certain situations, this process can stop responding, causing various strange problems, which can include (but is not limited to) the following:

• Unable to open documents in Microsoft Office.
• Unable to save documents from Microsoft Office.
• Special folders (such as My Documents or My Pictures) cannot be accessed.
• Microsoft Office freezes when you try to save or open files from My Documents.
• The Address Bar in Internet Explorer (where Internet addresses are typed) stops responding.
• When you try to expand a folder in Windows Explorer, nothing happens.
• Address Book entries or E-Mail messages are deleted in Microsoft Outlook Express.

For more information, please click on the following link: Microsoft Knowledge Base issue 918165. Continue reading for solutions to this problem. (more…)