NEWS

SSCC Summer Training Schedule

SSCC's summer training schedule is now available on SSCC's training web pages. We have three new classes this summer: Regular Expressions for Data Manipulation and Extraction, Producing Publication-quality Tables and Graphs in SAS, and Adobe Photoshop CS2 Basics. Bill Buckingham and Dave Long from Rural Sociology will once again be offering two classes on analyzing spatial data using ArcGIS and GeoDa. Summer is a great time to learn new software like SAS, Stata, and Dreamweaver. Classes start in June so be sure and register early before sessions fill!

Personal Firewall for Laptops

We are pleased to announce that Symantec Client Security (firewall, anti-virus, and spyware protection) is now available for all laptop users. Since the client firewall can cause network connectivity problems and because PCs logging into the PRIMO domain in the Social Science building already have anti-virus and enterprise firewall protection, we recommend that you do not install the security suite on your PC in the building. Laptops, however, are not always behind our firewall, and when not connected in the Social Science building, do not receive anti-virus updates, making them more vulnerable to attacks. If you have questions, or would like Symantec Client Security installed on your laptop, please contact the consultant.

SFTP to Replace FTP

As part of our continuing effort to replace all programs that transmit usernames and passwords in clear text, we will be replacing FTP with Secure FTP at the end of August. However, both our Linux FTP server (ftp.ssc.wisc.edu) and our Windows FTP server (ntftp.ssc.wisc.edu) are capable of using SFTP now, and we suggest you make the transition as soon as possible.

If you use FTP on one of our Linux servers, it's as simple as replacing the ftp command with sftp (e.g. sftp ftp.ssc.wisc.edu). If you use FTP from a Windows computer, we suggest you use SecureFX, which is site licensed for use by UW faculty, staff and students. Our new publication Transferring Files Using SecureFX gives instructions on installing and using it.

Reminder: Set Your Security Questions

Account renewal time always brings a flurry of requests to reset passwords. We need to remind you that the SSCC Consultant cannot take requests to reset passwords by phone or email because we cannot verify your identity. If you need us to reset your password for you please stop by the SSCC offices in 4226 Social Science and bring some form of photo ID. We'll work with you to find alternative ways of verifying your identity if you cannot come to the Social Science building.

But the best way to reset your password is to do it yourself. You can reset your own password if you set your security questions ahead of time. If you haven't set your security questions already, we strongly recommend that you set them right now while you're thinking about it.

Tip: Making the Most of Thunderbird's Autocomplete

As you are typing in the address of a person you want to send a message to in Thunderbird, Thunderbird automatically looks in your address book and gives you a list of people who match what you've typed so far. This can be a major convenience. But it can also be a problem if you end up with the wrong person! A few tips:

• Pressing Enter selects the first entry on the list--make sure that's the one you want.
• Start typing a part of the name which is likely to be unique. For example, if you're trying to send to "John Doe" and type in "John" you'll get every John and Johnson in your address book. If you type in "Doe" you'll probably get far fewer matches.
• Thunderbird automatically adds anyone you send mail to to your address book (you can turn this off if you prefer but it's normally quite handy). If someone you send email to rarely or just once keeps coming up in the autocomplete, consider removing them from your address book.
• You can give people nicknames which are sure to be unique, like "zz." Then you can type "zz" and let the autocomplete do the rest.
• If the autocomplete is causing you more headaches than it's worth, you can always turn it off. Click Tools, Options, Composition, the Addressing tab, and uncheck all the boxes under Address Autocompletion. (This is also where you can turn off automatically adding addresses to your address book.)