Unsupported Computer Guidelines

The Community Network provides support for a wide variety of departments on campus. Some of these departments have computers that are not supported by the Community Network. These unsupported computers are normally the responsibility of the local contact person. As part of our ongoing efforts to increase security for the entire Oregon State community, the Community Network has developed the following guidelines.

Before connecting a computer to the campus network, the Community Network follows a standard set of procedures for securing that system to ensure that the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of university systems is maintained. To ensure that any system connected complies with these standards, a set of instructions to secure your workstation is provided below.

Community Network staff will not connect a workstation without following these guidelines. The Community Network will not be responsible for workstations that do not adhere to the guidelines. If you are interested in attaching a workstation to the OSU network, please work with the computer resource person in your department. All requests must come from the local computer resource or the Department Head.

If the customer chooses, the Community Network will provide this service at our normal hourly special project rate. If the department declines to utilize the Community Network services to bring a workstation onto the OSU network and the workstation becomes infected, the department will be charged the hourly special project fee to remove and repair the damage caused by the infected workstation. Compromised systems are removed from the network immediately and generally are required to be completely wiped of data before being reintroduced.

It is advised that departments act responsibly and utilize preventative measures to proactively address security concerns to avoid an intrusion or disruption of service. If you have questions, please contact your IT manager for further details.

Instructions for Apple workstations

Required updates for unsupported systems that are to be added to Maintain to enable network access.

• Operating System Updates

  1. Update the Apple Operating System by clicking on the Apple menu and selecting Software Update or visit the Apple website.
  2. Reboot your workstation as requested. Repeat until all updates have been installed.

• Antivirus Products Updated

  1. Visit TSS Software Licensing - Symantec Antivirus and download the antivirus latest client.
  or Students, Staff, and Faculty can pick up an OSUWare CD from the Library circulation desk for free.
  2. Once installed, please ensure that your antivirus definitions are completely up-to-date.
  3. Verify that Symantec is configured to download updates automatically on a regular basis.

• Office Suite Products Updated

  1. Open up a Microsoft Office application. Click on the Help Menu and select Check for Updates.
  2. This will begin the Microsoft AutoUpdate tool. Install all of the updates listed in the autoupdate tool.

• All Local Accounts must have a password.

If you have any questions regarding the updating and patching of your unsupported system, please contact your Community Network support team. Once your system has completed the above patches and updates you can contact the Community Network again to get the workstation on the network.

Instructions for Windows workstations

Required updates for unsupported systems that are to be added to Maintain to enable network access.

• Operating System Updates

  1. Visit Microsoft Update(http://update.microsoft.com) and download all of the high-priority updates to your Windows installation.
  
  NOTE: As of 1/10/2007 Microsoft lists Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) as a critical update. CN does not recommend installing IE 7 due to compatibility issues with some common used applications. Once these issues are resolved CN will notify customers that it is acceptable to install IE 7.

  
  

  2. Reboot your workstation as requested. Repeat until all High Priority updates have been installed.
  3. You may be prompted for your Windows installation CD while you are install patches. Provide it if necessary.

• Antivirus Products Updated

  1. Visit TSS Software Licensing - Symantec Antivirus and download the antivirus latest client.
  or Students, Staff, and Faculty can pick up an OSUWare CD from the Library circulation desk for free.
  2. Once installed, please ensure that your antivirus definitions are completely up-to-date.
  3. Verify that Symantec is configured to download updates automatically on a regular basis.
• Office Suite Products Updated
  
  1. If you used Microsoft Update from above, this step will be complete.
  2. If not, you need to install all of the updates listed at the Microsoft Office Website(http://officeupdate.microsoft.com).
  3. You may be prompted for your Office installation CD(s) while you are install patches. Provide it if necessary.
• All Local Accounts must have a password.
  Note: Microsoft provides an application that you can use offline to determine which patches are needed for your system. These patches can then be downloaded on a separate workstation that is allowed on the network. You can download the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer from Microsoft.

If you have any questions regarding the updating and patching of your unsupported system, please contact your Community Network support team. Once your system has completed the above patches and updates you can contact the Community Network again to get the workstation on the network.