Security tips for users of ITS workstations

1. Never share your userid or password with anybody
2. If you want to keep your work, make a backup copy! If you are editing or changing a file that you really need, it is best to make sure you have a backup copy before you start.
3. Do your work on the N: drive and (if you want to) copy it to a memory/USB stick
   If you save work on the C: drive it may be deleted at any time by another user or by ITS. If you work onto a floppy things will be very slow and you might damage your files. It is best to work on the network drives and only use floppies (if at all) for private backups.
4. Don't run programs if you don't know where they come from!
   Don't run wordprocessor or spreadsheet macros if you don't know what they are for. Don't run programs from the internet unless you know what they are - use web browsers with scripting turned off. Don't open attachments on email - even from people you know - unless you know what the attachment is.
5. Don't open email attachments unless you know what they are.
   And to be fair to other people, don't send them email attachments either, unless it is something they really need. If your mailer lets you choose to send HTML mail, choose not to. Don't try fancy backgrounds and graphics in email. It just slows everything down.
6. Don't try to install any programs on ITS workstations, ever.
7. Read the ITS online documentation and other online security resources
8. Be wary of "helpful" people you don't know who give you advice about using the computer. Never, ever, give them any password.
9. Always log off Windows when you finish your work.
10. And one final thing to remember - although there are nasty crackers out there who desperately want to hack into your system, there aren't that many of them. The most common cause of damage to computer systems is legitimate users making mistakes. The person most likely to mess up your files is yourself... be careful! You did make that backup, didn't you?