Computing A-Z guide

Teaching in the Gerry Martin Computer Resource Room

• Advice and Support: If you require advice help or support please check the OUCS website http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk. If you unable to find the advice or support that you need please contact the department IT staff on itsupport(at)history.ox.ac.uk or +44(0)1865 (6)15031 or contact the main OUCS help desk on advisory@oucs.ox.ac.uk or +44(0)1865 (2)73200, (Monday-Friday 08:30-20:30).
  
  
• Computer Accounts: Email accounts are available to all members of the University with a university card. Register on-line for email or visit the OUCS Registration Desk at 13 Banbury Road 08:30-20:30. Contact the Faculty Board Office if you do not yet have a university card. General computing facilities for students and researchers are available in the classroom. Contact the department IT staff for a username and password. 
  
  
• Computer Facilities: Many IT facilities are provided centrally by OUCS, however the faculty also provides a set of 18 fast and modern PCs in the classroom, which can be used by students and researchers whenever there is no class running there.
  
  
• Computer Rules: All members of the Department, including academic visitors, are requested to read and agree to both the University's and the Faculty's Rules for Computer Use.
  
  
• Computer Viruses: It is imperative that you run up-to-date anti-virus software on your computers, and the University has a universal licence for Sophos Anti-Virus, which can be collected from the Registration pages of the OUCS website. The department IT staff can assist in ensuring that anti-virus software is installed correctly.
  
  
• Data Backup: It is essential to backup data. Department fileservers have daily backup schedules (both network and local tape) and anything that exists on the servers (which will be presented to you as a T: drive, R: drive, or O: drive (and some others) should be safe. But backup can also be done personally using removable media (CD/DVD/MemorySticks). Bear in mind that backup is your own responsibility - IT staff whether in your department, your college or central services have a responsibility for maintenance of servers, but not for your research data. Take care of it! Automatic saving of important large documents is also recommended, especially for theses. In addition the university runs a simple system to backup complete computers on a weekly schedule or manually at any time. But always plan for the worst-case scenario - system failures do happen, and one day, we guarantee that your hard disk will fail!
  
  
• Data Archiving: It is essential to archive data when it is no-longer active, or disk-space becomes limited. OUCS runs a central CD-writing service, however many personal computers - including most of those at the Faculty - will have DVD- and CD-writing capabilities. Please note that long-term storage of data is the individual's responsibility - NOT that of the Faculty. Clear naming and cataloging of archived data is essential - will you be able to find your own data next year? Will your supervisor be able to find your data in five years time?
  
  
• Data Protection Act: Anyone processing data must comply with the UK Data Protection Act - and this requires that you pay special attention to data that was not generated by yourself.
  
  
• Electronic Mail: All members of Faculty are required to have an email account so that they may be contacted via the department notices mailling list. The Faculty uses the central OUCS email systems.
  
  
• File Sharing: The university has a file sharing service in place - please where possible, use this to share large files with colleagues at Oxford or beyond, in preference to the commercial or free services which abound on the internet - particularly within the context of the UK Universities network (JANET) filesharing on this system is faster and more secure than any other.
  
  
• Library Services: Most library services are provided centrally by the university library services. There is a huge range of on-line electronic information services automatically available to all members of the university.
  
  
• Mailing Lists: The Department runs several maillists in order to communicate with members of department. New users should be added to the appropriate lists automatically as part of the department registration process. 
  
  
• Network connection: The Department runs a twisted pair 1gigabit and 100megabit Ethernet network supporting TCP/IP. The department network is the responsibility of the Department IT staff who provide instructions and help on connecting to the network. In addition the University runs a Remote Access service for connections from outside the university (e.g. from home dial-up and broadband).
  
  
• Passwords: A password is a string of characters used by the computer to authenticate that you are who you say you are. It is extremely important that you DO NOT TELL ANYONE ELSE what your password is. Firstly that would break the rules that you have signed to obey, and secondly that would enable someone else to gain access to your account. Passwords should contain a mixture of UPPERCASE and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters and should contain at least 8 characters. DO NOT tell anyone else your password; DO NOT write your password down such that anyone else could read it; DO change your password regularly. Most systems enforce an annual change; DO change your password immediately if you think it may no longer be secure.
  
  
• Security Patches: It is essential that users keep their computer operating systems up-to-date with the latest security patches.
  
  
• Software: A wide range of software is available from OUCS at generous rates. All users must ensure that any software that they install, has been registered and paid for correctly. Please contact the department IT staff for advice on purchasing and licensing of software.
  
  
• Training: There are numerous computer training courses available at OUCS most of which are free of charge.
  
  
• Web: The Faculty's website http://www.history.ox.ac.uk is hosted on OUCS computers, with some project sites held on a Faculty web server. Anyone with an OUCS email account can register for their own personal web allocation. Training courses are available from OUCS and advice on setting up and maintaining your own webspace is available from webmaster@materials.ox.ac.uk. Please don't attempt to to set-up web-serving or file sharing on your local computer on the Faculty network without first consulting the department IT staff, since there are numerous security vulnerabilities associated with running a web-server, and in any case the university firewall blocks external access to unregistered servers.