2018
Dec. 1, 2018: Unplug before the Winter Break. University IT joins UNT Facilities Services in encouraging all students and employees to unplug before you unplug from school and work! Disconnect all unused electronic devices during the Winter Break before you leave your residence hall or office! Turn off all non-essential electronics, such as TVs, computers, chargers and coffee makers. Enjoy your break!
Nov. 15, 7:30 a.m. ALERT: Employees who did not complete the 2018 Security Awareness Training by Nov. 14 can have their access restored by contacting the UNT System Service desk by phone or email: 940-565-4357, ithelp@untsystem.edu.
Access also can be restored by doing the following.
- Go to https://ams.unt.edu and click on the “Forgot your password” link. You will not need to reset your password.
- Answer the questions asked.
- A message will appear saying “Your account was temporarily blocked because you have not completed mandatory information security training. Click the button to proceed to the training web site.”
- Click the “Proceed to Training” button
- After completing the security training, the block will be lifted. No further action is required to maintain access.
Oct. 11, 1 p.m. ALERT: Disruption to Technology Services due to Power Outage. The root cause of the power outage has been identified and ITSS is working to restore IT services. Update: As of 4:45 p.m., the following services have been restored: Web Services, Blackboard Learn, and Imaging Services. myUNT and EIS services are still affected, as are some other systems.
Oct. 9, 1:30 a.m. ALERT: Disruption to Technology Services due to Power Outage. The root cause of the power outage has been identified and ITSS is working to restore IT services. Update: As of 11:40 a.m., the following services have been restored: Blackboard Learn; EIS Services including my.unt.edu, my.hsc.unt.edu, my.untdallas.edu, mylaw.untdallas.edu, and my.untsystem.edu; web services; Imaging; Business Intelligence; SharePoint; Authentication Services; and Cloud Voice Services. Update: As of 12:30 p.m., all ITSS services have been restored with the exception of Hyperion, which will be mad available later today. Affected teams will be notified. Thank you for your patience.
Oct. 2: UNT will conduct the fall test of its Eagle Alert system on Friday, Oct. 5.
The Eagle Alert system is used to notify the UNT community about emergency situations and university closings and is tested every long semester.
As in the spring, the system will test the feature that overrides computers operated by Classroom Support Services on campus. During the test, those screens will display a full-screen test alert. Users will have the option to click out of the screen after the alert has displayed.
All students, faculty and staff are automatically enrolled in the Eagle Alert system using the telephone numbers provided to UNT during registration or the hiring process. You should check your contact information regularly and update it as soon as it changes by logging in at my.unt.edu. Find out more about Eagle Alert or contact the UIT Help Desk, if you have questions.
Oct. 2: Nationwide Emergency Alert Test—The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, plans to conduct a nationwide test of the emergency alert system, EAS, and wireless emergency alerts, WEA, on Oct. 3, 2018. The purpose of the test is to ensure that an effective means of warning the public about emergencies is available. The WEA portion of the test will be sent to cell phones at 2:18 pm EDT (1:18 pm CDT).
You’ll hear a loud tone & vibration. This is a nationwide test of the Wireless Emergency Alert system.
The test message will have header “Presidential Alert” and the text will read “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” The EAS portion of the test will be broadcast to radio and television at 2:20 pm EDT (1:20 pm CDT). The test message will state “THIS IS A TEST of the National Emergency Alert System."
Sept. 24: What's new for MS Office insiders? Read more from Microsoft.
Sept. 12: Wise giving after a hurricane, article by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Sept. 5: Help Desk Alert: We are seeing a large-scale phishing attack that has a message body similar to the one shown below. Users are advised not to click on the link, but if you did, you are advised to change your email password immediately.
Sept. 4: UIT Help Desk Alert: Office 365 login issues are preventing users from accessing all Office365 web services. Desktop applications are not affected. Please visit the Office 365 service health status web page, https://status.office.com, for updates.
Aug. 25: Three names were drawn Aug. 25 at noon to reveal the winners of the UIT Help Desk giveaway! LaTasya Booker, left, Athena Taylor Le and Brooke Huckabee tood the University IT Technology Tour and quiz this summer.
Aug. 22: This Android spyware records calls and sends your pictures and location to hackers. Bitdefender uncovers Android malware which sends every call, message and photo back to the hackers behind it.
Aug. 20: University IT offers quick access to the statistics, analytics and modeling software packages through the Virtual Statistics Lab. These applications are hosted on UNT servers and presented virtually to your on- or off-campus computer, meaning that you may use these full applications without the need to install them on your local computer.
July 19: Notice of Phone Maintenance: The UIT Help Desk phone system is undergoing maintenance on July 19, 2018, from 5 to 7 p.m. The Help Desk may be unavailable via phone during this time. The Help Desk is available via email or a Service Ticket.
May 26-27: Sage Hall's third floor will be closed due to construction.
May 21: These are the books Bill Gates says to read this summer
May 15: Benchmarks Online, University IT news journal
May 14: Students who take the UIT Technology Tour can try to win one of three Nook Tablet 7" eReaders! Promotion ends Aug. 25, 2018.
May 11: Are you receiving calls from your own phone number? It's a phone scam. Read more.
April 30: The transition of Learning Management Systems from Blackboard to Canvas is scheduled for completion by the start of the Spring 2019 semester. Approximately 1,000 courses are anticipated to be converted to Canvas by the end of May, which is about one-third of the total course goal.
Since the transition began last fall, the Center for Learning Experimentation, Application and Research, CLEAR, has hosted dozens of Canvas boot camp training sessions for more than 400 participants, as well as a number of departmental and small group training sessions for faculty upon request. More than 600 faculty members have also signed up for self-paced, online training since it was made available in January. During the upcoming summer term, the rate of course conversion is expected to increase due to the number of classes that aren’t offered during the summer, making it the optimum time to have courses migrated and receive training.
Faculty who would like specific courses to be available in Canvas for the Fall 2018 semester should complete this online request form.
Online training will be a convenient option for faculty members who may be away from campus during the summer and only requires requesting access. For those who prefer face-to-face learning, more boot camp sessions will be available during the summer based on demand. See the current schedule of training sessions or use the department or small group training request form to request a session.
Fall 2018 will be the final semester of Blackboard availability, and prescheduled Canvas boot camp sessions will again be offered twice a week until all faculty and staff members who will be using Canvas have completed training ahead of the Spring 2019 deadline. More information about Canvas and the course migration process is available online.
April 19: UNT will conduct the spring test of its Eagle Alert system on April 20, 2018. The Eagle Alert system is used to notify the UNT community about emergency situations and university closings.
This will be the first time that the system will test the feature that overrides computers operated by Classroom Support Services on campus. During the test, those screens will display a full-screen test alert. Users will have the option to click out of the screen after the alert has displayed.
All students, faculty and staff are automatically enrolled in the Eagle Alert system using the telephone numbers provided to UNT during registration or the hiring process. You should check your contact information regularly and update it as soon as it changes by logging in at my.unt.edu. Find out more about Eagle Alert.
April 16: The Eagle Alert system is used to notify the UNT community ab out emergency situations and university closings. There will be a spring test of the system on April 20, 2018. All students, faculty and staff are automatically enrolled in the Eagle Alert system using the telephone numbers provided to UNT during registration or the hiring process. Check your contact information regularly and update it as soon as it changes by logging in at my.unt.edu. Find out more about Eagle Alert.
March 19: Currently enrolled students with a valid UNT ID may now check out a Dell laptop for up to three hours from the UIT Help Desk. Read more.
March: 20th Anniversary of National Consumer Protection Week. Spread the word!
Feb. 17: Help Desk FYI: Online Valentines May be Scammers
By Colleen Tressler, Consumer Education Specialist, U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Looking to start a new relationship? For some, that may mean meeting a new love interest online. Word to the wise: sometimes it’s best to lead with your head and not your heart. Read more.
Feb. 17: Help Desk FYI: Laptop Security Tips can Save You Time, Money and Trouble
A minor distraction is all it takes for a laptop to vanish. If it goes missing, all the valuable information stored on it may fall into the hands of an identity thief. Keep these tips in mind when you’re out and about with your laptop and know where to report the loss. Read more.
Feb. 2: At approximately 3:30 p.m., the UIT Help Desk received multiple reports of on-campus connectivity issues on wired and wireless networks. The issue has been reported to our network administrators, who are working to resolve the issue. Thank you for your patience. Issue resolved: 4:40 p.m.
Jan. 12: Several offices in University IT have moved to the General Academic Building. See our new directory.
Jan. 4: Meltdown and Spectre information for your Intel processor: everyday home users should apply the latest operating system updates and vigilantly keep their antivirus software up to date.