eCommunicator for Faculty & Staff

2006 Faculty/Staff Edition - Volume 3 > What's New & Changing

What's New & Changing at Northwestern

June 2006

Contents

RSS Delivers the Latest from NUIT
Use "Wildcard" Addresses with EDS for Enhanced E-mail Filtering
Explore a World of Knowledge on the Gartner Research Site
Goodbye WINS, Hello DNS
HRIS Upgrade—More Than a New Look
NUIT Supports Firefox
Eudora Distribution Ends in September

RSS Delivers the Latest from NUIT
Are you into RSS (Really Simple Syndication) yet? It's one of the newest and easiest ways to keep track of news and information online, including the most recent NUIT announcements. RSS-enabled sites publish "news feeds," listings of headlines, links, and article summaries on Web sites. Currently, the NUIT news feed features our "What's New & Changing with Technology @ NU?" section, and current links to eCommunicator articles.

Use an RSS-compatible browser or a special program called an aggregator, or feed reader, to subscribe to whatever news feeds interest you. There are literally hundreds available, including many right here on campus.

How is RSS different from Web browsing?
With RSS, you don't need to bookmark Web sites or remind yourself to check back for updated information. RSS lets you focus on topics and sites that you're interested in, and keeps track of content as it's updated.

If you're new to RSS, try it now and see how easy it is! Open an RSS-capable Web browser such as Internet Explorer 7.x, Firefox, Safari. At the top of the navigation toolbar, near the URL field, you will see the RSS icon

displayed. Click the icon to add a live bookmark (the newsfeed) to your menu bar. To view a list of articles, click the "NUIT RSS" icon in your browser, then select a headline from the pull-down menu to view the entire article.

Use "Wildcard" Addresses with EDS for Enhanced E-mail Filtering
Even if you're opted-in to the E-mail Defense System (EDS) and use filters in your e-mail software, some junk mail can still sneak into your inbox. Or perhaps EDS is blocking messages you want to receive. Either way, there's an easy way to help filter your mail.

EDS now allows you to use the asterisk as a wildcard character in e-mail addresses on your Blocked Senders and Approved Senders lists. For instance, if you repeatedly receive junk e-mail from the domain mailjunk.com, add **@mailjunk.com to your list of Blocked Senders and EDS will block all messages originating from that domain. You can use wildcards the same way on your Approved Senders list to ensure that e-mail from a specified domain gets through.

To add wildcard addresses to your lists, log into EDS, select Approved Senders or Blocked Senders, then select Add Sender to specify the address.

Explore a World of Knowledge on the Gartner Research Site
Intrigued by topics such as "Communication Innovations," "What Matters Now in IT," or "Preparing for the Government of Tomorrow?" You can find those, and hundreds more, on the Gartner Research site. NUIT and the University Library have partnered to give the University community direct, immediate access to Gartner's industry-wide research and news analysis at no charge. Gartner, Inc. is a leading consulting firm that provides expertise and advice to 45,000 information technology clients worldwide.

To access the site from NUIT's home page, select Gartner Research under Educational Resources, then log in with your NetID and password, or visit the University Library Web site. Please direct questions to the University Library Information Commons at 847-491-7658 or or ic@northwestern.edu.

Goodbye WINS, Hello DNS
Does your school or department have desktop computers, servers, or other networked equipment configured for WINS (Windows Internet Naming Service)? If so, keep in mind that NUIT's central WINS service will be retired March 1, 2007. Networked devices configured for WINS should be reconfigured for DNS (Domain Name Service).

Why is WINS being retired?
Microsoft developed WINS to support Windows 98 and Windows NT name resolution, but has since ceased development and is supporting WINS as legacy technology. NUIT no longer supports Windows 98 and Windows NT operating systems. In addition, DNS is a preferable and more widely used alternative. Easy to follow DNS configuration instructions are available. Please check with your local support staff if you need assistance.

HRIS Upgrade—More Than a New Look
The recent HRIS upgrade (Human Resources Information System) has done much more than improve the look of the Human Resources Self Service and eRecruit sites. Both sites are now easier to use and quicker to search. The upgrade was essential to maintaining the Human Resources database, and allows Northwestern to take advantage of the latest technology and technical support available for the system. Congratulations to HRIS, NUIT Management Systems, and NUIT Computing Services, all of whom played a major role in this project.

NUIT Supports Firefox
NUIT is now supporting version 1.x and higher of the Firefox Web browser. The decision to support Firefox (also known as Mozilla Firefox) reflects increasing usage of the software among NU faculty, staff, and students, as well as the number of Firefox-compatible University resources including the E-mail Defense System, the Meeting Maker Web client, RSS, and Human Resources Information System (HRIS) self-service functions. For more information about Firefox, visit What's New & Changing with Technology @ NU. Please direct questions to the NUIT Support Center at 847-491-HELP (4357) or consultant@northwestern.edu.

Eudora Distribution Ends in September
Are you a Eudora user? Mark September 1 on your calendar. After that date, NUIT will no longer purchase or distribute any future versions of Eudora, though we will continue to support current versions. NUIT recommends looking into alternative clients such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Entourage, or Apple Mail.

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