![[PHOTO]](/random-images/grads.jpg)
U-M Online Newsletter—October 31, 2007
- Check Your Password When You Change Your Clocks on November 4
- E-Mail Quota Increased to 2 GB
- Beware of Links in E-Mail That Spread Viruses
- IMAP E-Mail Status Page Shows Space Used
Check Your Password When You Change Your Clocks on November 4
Check Your Password
To protect your privacy and security, ITCS recommends that you check your UMICH Kerberos password for security once every six months.When you change your clocks for the end of Daylight Saving Time on Sunday, November 4, check your password by answering the questions in our Password Security Checklist.
Check Your Computer Clock
If you have already set your computer to automatically adjust for Daylight Saving Time, your computer clock should be fine. If you need to reset your computer's clock, see the instructions on the ITCS website.
E-Mail Quota Increased to 2 GB
Your U-M Online e-mail mailbox quota increased from one to two gigabytes at the beginning of Fall Term. You now have twice as much space as before for storing e-mail messages.Beware of Links in E-Mail That Spread Viruses
Have you received an e-card from "a friend" lately? Think twice before clicking the link in the message to look at the card. There has been an increase recently in viruses and other malware that spread to your computer when you click such links in e-mail messages.According to Bruce Burrell, leader of the U-M Virus Busters, this malware comes in many forms and under many names. The VirusScan anti-virus software most often labels new variants "Nuwar," "Zhelatin," or "Tibs-Packed," but the general media most often refer to all of them as the "Storm Worm."
"The most common method of transmission seems to be through an e-mail message announcing an electronic postcard," said Burrell. "Click on the link, and bam, you're toast—or your computer is, anyway."
Unfortunately, because the e-mail messages themselves do not contain malware—only links pointing to it—they are difficult for the anti-virus filters on the U-M mail gateway to catch. Up-to-date anti-virus software on your computer will usually recognize and stop the malware when it attempts to install itself, but, said Bruce, "more often than we'd like, there is a window of opportunity there for the malware."
To protect your computer against this threat, the Virus Busters recommend the following:
- Have anti-virus software on your computer and keep it updated. You can download VirusScan for Windows and Sophos for Macintosh from the Blue Disc website. Use of these programs is included in your U-M Online subscription.
- Use caution when clicking links in e-mail messages. It is safer to copy and paste a URL from a message to your web browser rather than clicking a link, in case the sender has hidden a different URL under the one listed in the message. It is even safer to type the URL into your web browser manually. If the link looks at all suspicious, don't click it.
IMAP E-Mail Status Page Shows Space Used
Would you like to see how much space your U-M Online e-mail takes on the mail server? You can use the IMAP Status page to find out.Log in with your uniqname and UMICH Kerberos password, and you'll see a list of your mail folders showing how much space each is using and when each was last updated. You'll also see the name of the server that your mailbox is on.