Computer and Software Use

Departmental Purchase and Use of Software

  • Only licensed software should be installed on departmental computers and installation should be performed by IT
  • If individuals receive software from a vendor for evaluation, please contact IT before attempting an installation
  • Unauthorized and/or unlicensed software should not be installed on computers. If the IT staff determines this has occurred, the department will be notified and the program removed
  • If software is personally purchased for a departmental computer, please provide a copy of the license for the departmental files, so that its history may be demonstrated during an audit
  • For software taken from the department to install on a home computer (software with “work at home rights”), any installation on additional computers beyond what is specifically delineated in the licensing agreement beyond what is specifically delineated in the licensing agreement would be the responsibility of that faculty/staff who  who had the software in their possession
  • If an individual faculty member purchases software outside the departmental tracking system (occurs with UBF or RF grants that may not be processed through the department), they will be responsible (not the school or department) for the appropriate usage policies dictated by the vendor (SPSS, SAS, etc.)
  • Any programs to be downloaded from the internet on the individual’s computer should first be checked out by IT before installation

Unauthorized Use of Computer/Network Resources

Confidentiality of Passwords

  • Faculty, staff and students are reminded that passwords are confidential, should not be shared, and should be stored/saved securely and changed regularly (UBIT Password Policy)

Data Storage

  • Individuals are reminded that their information should be stored or backed up on the provided network space (PHHPPublic, UBfs or Sharepoint). When this is not feasible or the data is prohibited from being stored in such a manner they should back-up at the local level by saving on an external hard drive. If individuals save their data on the hard drive only (C:), they assume responsibility for the lack of back-ups and should be aware that IT does not have the resources or software to recover/restore files
  • Word and Excel files have an autosave (time interval can be chosen) feature that may be accessed by choosing: File, Options, Save (for both Word and Excel): to activate the feature; and File, Options, File Location (for Word): to indicate the location of the backup. Often, unless the user changes it, the default autosave folder is on the C: drive
  • Archives for email are not typically recommended. A hard drive failure can mean the loss of an entire archive if not properly backed up. Email placed in an archive is removed from the UB servers. To keep an email folder size down we recommend searching for large files (PDF, PPTX, etc) and saving that file to different location. Removal of duplicates is also strongly encouraged. Email is not a file storage system. Excessively large email folders can cause slowness
  • The PHHPPublic folder is for SPHHP work related material. The UBfs folder is for all other items. IT reserves the right to investigate large or duplicate files to ensure there is adequate space in PHHPPublic. Music libraries, personal picture libraries, non SPHHP related videos, and program installers are not to be stored in the PHHPPublic folder. IT asks that all users periodically clean up duplicate files, old revisions, and items no longer needed