Renew your MIT certificate
Certificates are your key to secure web services at MIT, from ECAT to Employee Self-Service to SAPweb. Personal certificates expire periodically, and renewal is not automatic. Starting today, you can get a new certificate that will last until July 31, 2005. Go to http://web.mit.edu/ist/topics/certificates and click on the link "Get MIT Personal Certificate." (Certificates obtained before June 9 will expire on July 31, 2004.)
IS&T is revising the list of web browsers that are supported for obtaining MIT certificates. For the latest information, see http://web.mit.edu/ist/topics/browsers.
Be secure with MIT Windows Automated Update Service
The MIT Windows Automatic Update Service (WAUS) lets community members use Microsoft's Automatic Update feature with a more limited selection of patches focused on critical security updates than those available directly from Microsoft's Windows Update site. This service may be used by MIT faculty, staff and students on MIT-owned and personal machines.
Security patches for vulnerabilities that are rated "critical" or "important" by the Microsoft security team will be available via WAUS within 48 hours of their release on Microsoft's site. Otherwise, Information Services and Technology (IS&T) will notify the community about why a patch was not included. During the 48 hours before a patch is made available, IS&T will test a suite of applications, evaluate the impact on the central domain, and monitor industry lists for reports of the patch causing problems in other environments. IS&T can post patches more quickly if needed.
WAUS will also be used to deploy service packs. The policy for service pack deployment is being refined, but WAUS currently provides Windows 2000 SP4 and Windows XP SP1.
For details on WAUS and how to subscribe to it, see http://web.mit.edu/ist/topics/windows/updates.
Computing for students
New students will soon be arriving on campus, and many are already looking into what computer to bring and how to set up their user name and password. To learn more about computing at MIT, new students--and those who work with them--may want to visit the overview page at http://web.mit.edu/ist/start/students. Among other items, this page contains links to recommended computers and operating systems.
Date/time stamp for voice mail messages
If you are reviewing your voice mail messages and want to know the date and time a message was sent, press 5 during or after listening to the message. Along with the date/time stamp, you will get related caller information. For more tips on making the most of voice mail, see http://itinfo.mit.edu/answer?id=4348.
Digitalk is compiled by Information Services & Technology.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 9, 2004 (download PDF).
