Your Quickstart Setup

This can be used to introduce you to the Allegheny Residence Hall Network known as GatorNet. You need to first register your computer for network access.
Once that is complete and you have full access to the network. You can access on-campus sites as well as off-campus sites like Google. All residence hall rooms have wired network access. You will need a network patch cable to connect your computer to the room wall network jack. At this time the residence halls do not have wireless access to all the rooms. However, most public lounges do have wireless access for your convenience when you are working there. It is a requirement that all windows computers connected to the GatorNet network install and use the Trend Micro anti-virus protection. Other AV products should be un-installed, even purchased products with active subscriptions. Mac users can provide their own av software if desired. The Trendmicro software will not run on the Mac and is not required.

Once you have finished the network registration you will be prompted to restart the computer. It can take up to 5 minutes to receive for network access so you may want to use that time to install the Trendmicro antivirus software.

Google Apps for Education is used for Email, Calendar scheduling, document sharing, and personal web sites.

File backups are an important way for you to protect your work in the event a computer failure. Files that have been backed up to the Allegheny server can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection, whether you are working in an Allegheny lab, in the dorm, or off-campus. The FTP application CoreFTP is recommended as it is a free download and works well with the Allegheny student FTP server known as hercules. Once you have installed it you only need to enter your username and password to begin using it.

Quick Tips -

username - similar to Allegheny email address (no @allegheny.edu)
password - Allegheny account password

Register the computer for network access - This can be done once you are on campus and connected to a dorm wall jack or in an Allegheny public wireless location. See the computing help site for the wireless map.

Install Trendmicro antivirus software - This is required by all windows computers connecting to GatorNet. Trendmicro is not compatible with Mac operating systems and is not required. Mac users can install their own antivirus protection if they want.

Access Google Apps for Education - Students use Google Apps for email, personal calendar, document sharing, and personal web sites

FTP Software - All students are allocated storage space on the student file server "hercules". This allows students to back up files and have them available for access from any location that has an internet connection and FTP software whether away from campus or in a campus lab.

Computing Services Help Site - additional computing resources, including IT news, download links, tutorials, contact information, problem reporting. You can also sign up to receive computing news via email by subscribing to the news feed. This will help keep you up-to-date on the lasted IT news. Just enter your email address in the "Stay Informed" window.

Personal Software - Microsoft Office is recommended for windows and mac users. This will allow your papers to be submitted in a format that is the most compatible with what your professors use. Allegheny College is part of a consortium of colleges that provides steep discounts for software, like Microsoft Office. You my want to check out the prices and availability.

Specialty Software - obtaining software like that which is used in the campus computer labs.

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