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Computing Services

The Computing Services department manages the University computer labs, develops and maintains the configurations of University owned laptop and desktop computers, performs maintenance and repairs on University owned software and hardware, deploys and maintains PC software site licenses, and provides general technical support for PCs at the University.

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Deleting Web Browser Cookies

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Select your browser below to learn how to delete your web browser cookies.

  • Click on the three dots and select Settings.Select Advanced to show the advanced settings. Select Content settings.Select Cookies.Click the garbage can icon to delete the cookies.

  • Click on the three lines and select OptionsSelect the Privacy & Security tab and click Manage Data found under Cookies and Site Data.Select fdu.edu and select Remove Selected, select Save Changes when finished.

  • Open Safari Preferences and select the Privacy tab.Select Manage Website DataSelect fdu.edu and click Remove.

  • Click on the Settings “Gear” located on the top right of the browser, select Internet OptionsDelete in the Browser History sectionUncheck all boxes listed, except Cookies and website data, click Delete when finished

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Email and File Encryption

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Virtru email encryption is the preferred method to send and view encrypted emails and files with your FDU email address. Available for FDU Faculty and Staff upon request. Click the link below to request access to Virtru Email Encryption.

The Virtru Email Encryption Tutorial will help users navigate installation, basic use, different usage scenarios, and common technical questions.

Alternative Approved Methods for Encryption

If you are not approved for Virtru email encryption, the articles below are alternative, FDU OIRT and DSIRT approved methods for encrypting Microsoft Office and Adobe PDF files and comply with the University WISP.

Warning Warning

According to FDU’s Written Information Security Program (WISP), in no case should they be sending or storing WISP protected information without the explicit authorization of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). If approved, these instructions will provide you with guidance on the methodology.

For more information, visit the link at the bottom of the page.

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Encrypting Word, Excel & PDF Files with built-in Application Encryption

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Follow these easy to use instructions for encrypting Word, Excel, and Acrobat files using built-in features.

Encrypting Word & Excel Documents
  1. For Word and/or Excel files, first click on File on the upper left-hand corner
  1. Under the Info tab, click on Protect Document for Word and Protect Workbook for Excel followed by Encrypt with Password
  1. Enter a password in the pop-up window. Re-enter the password in the next window to confirm
  1. The below message will confirm your document has been password-protected
  1. To open a password-protected file, double-click on the file and enter the created password
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Encrypting PDF Files

NOTE:

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC or Adobe Acrobat for macOS is needed to encrypt PDF files with a password. This feature is not available in the free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

  1. Select Tools on the Navigation Tab and then select Protect
  1. On the Protect Tab select Encrypt
  1. Select Encrypt with Password. Then select Yes on the security pop-up window
  1. Check Require a Password to Open the Document and then choose a strong password. Under compatibility, choose Acrobat X and later to change the encryption method to 256-bit.
  1. Confirm the password when requested. Please note that the document WILL NOT be fully encrypted until it is saved
  1. To open the file, double-click the file and enter the created password.
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FDU Procedure on Handling Data on Separating Employees

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I. OBJECTIVE

Create a standard procedure by which Manager’s and their employee’s transfer University data during the period of time from when an employee makes their intention clear that they are separating from the University or the transfer of University data at the time of an employee’s involuntary separation from the University.

II. PRODUCURES

Voluntary Separation

It is the manager or direct supervisor’s responsibility to work with the separating employee to extract any data or files that reside locally on their computer that would be needed for business continuity. The supervisor should also ensure they understand what shared drives the separated employee used and have access to those drives if need be.

Using appropriate security precautions, the manager should meet several times with the separating employee to ensure all information is transferred over either email, a shared drive, One Drive or a thumb drive.

During the separation process, through the Employee Separation Checklist, the employee’s manager can select the ability to access the separating employee’s email for up to 30 days and/or forward emails addressed to the separated employee for up to 60 days.

Upon receiving the separation notice, Computing Services will validate through our Backup system that the separating employee’s complete laptop or desktop Image has been backed up.

Computing Services will manually trigger an additional backup within three days of separation.

Immediately upon the effective date of the separation, the separating employee’s manager is responsible for turning over the separating employees’ computer to Computing Services.

Computing Services will store the computer for 14 days as a precaution, and then wipe the data from that computer, reimage the computer, and shelf the computer for redistribution.

If it is discovered that information that resided on the separated employee’s computer was missed during the separation process and needs to be retrieved at a later point, the supervisor would need to contact the Vice President of Human Resources and request the specific data that would need to be recovered from our Backup system.

Involuntary Separation

Upon the dismissal of the individual, Human Resources, would immediately engage Computing Services as well as the direct supervisor to view and extract any data that might be needed by the department to ensure business continuity. This would take place as soon as possible from the date of dismissal.

If a legal hold is required, Computing Services and USAN would be notified and the existing processes of extracting and encrypting the hard drive as well as protecting all email correspondence would be executed. Computing Services would then remove the computer.

If a legal hold is not required, Computing Services will validate through our Backup system that the dismissed employee’s Image has been properly backed up and remove the computer.

Computing Services will store the computer for 14 days as a precaution, and then wipe the data from that computer, reimage the computer, and shelf the computer for redistribution.

If it is discovered that information that resided on the separated employee’s computer was missed during the separation process and needs to be retrieved at a later point, the supervisor would need to contact the Vice President of Human Resources and request the specific data that would need to be recovered from our Backup system.

III. IN CASE OF QUESTIONS

Questions regarding this procedure can be directed to the Vice President of Human Resources.


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Finding your Computer Name

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Open a Command Prompt

  1. Go to the lower left corner of your desktop you will see 4 white squares
  2. Right Click a menu will pop up from the menu select “Command Prompt
  1. A window will open on your desktop at the blinking cursor
  1. Type “Hostname” (without the quotes) then hit enter
  1. The computer name will appear as “L-“ for laptop and “D-“ for a desktop. Example: D-MJ045XYZ L-R9ZZ7ZE
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Foxit PDF Editor Pro Quick Start Guide

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About

Foxit PDF Editor Pro is Fairleigh Dickinson University’s replacement for Adobe Acrobat Pro. Foxit PDF Editor improves document productivity and efficiency. FoxIt PDF Editor Pro can create, convert, edit, and sign PDFs across devices and is available from the FDU Self-Service Portal under “Software” for all full-time faculty and full-time staff only. Due to limited licensing, a request form found at samisupport.fdu.edu must first be submitted.

Foxit PDF Editor Pro vs. Adobe Acrobat Pro

  • Faster: Foxit PDF Editor Pro uses fewer overall resources and is able to open PDFs faster. Also, due to less overall resources required, there are fewer automatic updates required.
  • Standards-compliant: Foxit PDF Editor Pro works with existing PDFs and uses the PDF standard which makes it cross-compatible with Adobe Acrobat.
  • More secure: Foxit PDF Editor Pro offers better protection against security vulnerabilities than it’s Adobe counterpart.
  • Familiar user interface: Using the Microsoft Office style ribbon user interface makes transitioning from Adobe Acrobat a breeze.
  • Better editing: FoxIt PDF Editor Pro uses word processor like features to offer better text and image editing.
  • Compatibility: Files created with FoxIt PDF Editor Pro are fully compatible with Adobe Acrobat. Also, files created with Adobe Acrobat are fully compatible with FoxIt PDF Editor Pro.

Comparison Charts

For a full comparison list as well as a list of added features please view the comparison charts below.

Create and Export PDF
FeatureFoxit PDF Editor ProAdobe Acrobat Pro
Create industry standard PDF files from virtually all PC applications and the clipboard
One-click PDF creation from IE, Edge, Chrome, and Firefox
One-step PDF creation from Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Convert PDF to Microsoft® Office, HTML and image formats
Append created PDF to an existing file
PDF Printer
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Edit PDF
FeatureFoxit PDF Editor ProAdobe Acrobat Pro
Editing from Client
Editable Forms
Add/Remove/Reorder pages
Merge PDF (Local)
Merge PDF (Network)
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Collaborate and Share PDF
FeatureFoxit PDF Editor ProAdobe Acrobat Pro
Commenting
Notes
Redacting
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Scan and OCR PDF
FeatureFoxit PDF Editor ProAdobe Acrobat Pro
Scan to create new PDF
Scan to insert into existing PDF
Convert scanned/image-based PDFs to searchable editable documents
Find OCR Suspects and mark them as not text or edit the recognition results in batchNot in Batch
Scan Presets
Scan to save Mutiple Files
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Protect and Sign PDF
FeatureFoxit PDF Editor ProAdobe Acrobat Pro
FeatureFoxit PDF Editor ProAdobe Acrobat Pro
PDF Encryption
Fill and Sign / Digital Signatures
Create Multiple Signatures
DocuSign/Adobe Sign Support
Lock for Editing
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View and Print PDF
FeatureFoxit PDF Editor ProAdobe Acrobat Pro
Multi Tab Viewing PDF documents
View and navigate page thumbnails, bookmarks
Reflow view
Ruler, Guides, Grids to help position objects in the PDF
Text viewer, Magnifier
Line Weights and Toggle Ruler to help viewing PDFOnly Line Weights
Read out loud
Search including bookmark and comments
Search in all opened PDF Files
Print PDF Documents and Forms
Print with comments for efficient review
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Accessibility
FeatureFoxit PDF EditorAdobe Acrobat Pro
Accessibility full check and check report
Fix failed parts after accessibility check
Touch up reading order to add and edit tags
Auto tag Document and tag report.
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Video Tutorials

Below are some helpful video tutorials for some of the more popular functions of FoxIt PDF Editor Pro.

Creating, Saving and Editing PDF
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Converting PDF Documents to Office Documents
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Creating a Signature and Signing Documents
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Creating PDF Documents
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Creating a Fillable Form
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Creating a PDF Using OCR
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How To Change Your FDU NetID Password and Display Name

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There are a few different ways to change your University NetID password. However, Computing Services strongly urges everyone to change their FDU NetID password using a provided Apple or Windows university computer.

The process for changing your FDU NetID password on a macOS device differs from a Windows device, so please follow the instructions provided for macOS computers below.

If you do not have a university-owned Apple or Windows laptop/desktop and cannot use a University lab computer, please follow the procedures described in “Using identity.fdu.edu Web Portal to Change your FDU NetID Password” below.

Please click on one of the links below for instructions on how to change your FDU NetID password:

Changing a FDU NetID Password on a FDU-owned Windows Computer

Note

To change your password, you must be logged into the machine and either on campus or connected to the Cisco AnyConnect VPN.

  1. On FDU-issued laptops, desktops, and lab machines, the FDU NetID password can be changed by pressing the “Ctrl+Alt+Del” button combination on the keyboard from any screen and selecting “Change a Password
  1. Now enter the following:
    • Your old or current password
    • Type in a new password
    • Retype the new password to confirm
    • Press the “Right Arrow” button to continue

Tip

The newly created FDU NetID password must meet the complexity requirements.

Use 8 to 16 characters for your new password. Passwords must include all of the following 4 character types: Upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. Allowed special characters are: ! # $ @ _ + , ? [ ] . – ) ( ` ~ % ^ & * = { } | : ? , / and a dot. Please refrain from using portions of your name or email address within the password. Please refrain from using a password that you have already used.

  1. Once this has been done, you must lock and unlock the machine once to complete updating your password:
    • Press the “Ctrl+Alt+Del” keys combination again
    • Click “Lock
    • Then log back in with your new password

Your FDU NetID password was changed successfully!

Note

Your new password will need to be updated in all web browsers with saved passwords and email clients across all devices. Examples include faculty and staff e-mail accounts synched to their iPad, iPhone, and or Android device. FDU-Secure Wi-Fi network access is also attached to your FDU NetID username and password and will need to be updated on devices that use it.

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Changing and Syncronizing your FDU NetID Password on a FDU-owned Apple Computer

To change and/or synchronize your FDU NetID password with your FDU Issued Apple computer, please follow the directions provided in the following article:

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Using “identity.fdu.edu” Web Portal to Change your FDU NetID Password

Adjunct professors, students, and anyone with a personal laptop/desktop/tablet device will use the FDU Identity Web Portal to change their NetID password.

  1. Open a web browser (e.g., Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari) and navigate to the following URL:

FDU Identity Web Portal

  1. Click on “Account Maintenance” on the top right hand of the web page
  1. You will be redirected to the FDU Single-Sign-On login page. Enter your FDU NetID email and password in the corresponding text boxes and click “Sign In.” Complete the FDU 2fa Duo push notification to proceed
  1. Under Sign-In and Security, select “Change My Password
    • Enter your current password
    • Enter a new password
    • Retype your new password to confirm
    • When finished, select “Change My Password

Tip

The newly created FDU NetID password must meet the complexity requirements.

Use 8 to 16 characters for your new password. Passwords must include all of the following 4 character types: Upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. Allowed special characters are: ! # $ @ _ + , ? [ ] . – ) ( ` ~ % ^ & * = { } | : ? , / and a dot. Please refrain from using portions of your name or email address within the password. Please refrain from using password that you have already used.

  1. Password successfully changed” will be displayed if your FDU NetID password was successfully changed

Note

Your new password will need to be updated in all web browsers with saved passwords and email clients across all devices. Examples include faculty and staff e-mail accounts synched to their iPad, iPhone, and or Android device. FDU-Secure Wi-Fi network access is also attached to your FDU NetID username and password and will need to be updated on devices that use it.

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Using “identity.fdu.edu” Web Portal to Change your FDU NetID Display Name

You also have the option to change the name that is displayed on your NetID account.

  1. Open a web browser (e.g., Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari) and navigate to the following URL:

FDU Identity Web Portal

  1. Click on “Account Maintenance” on the top right hand of the web page
  1. You will be redirected to the FDU Single-Sign-On login page. Enter your FDU NetID email and password in the corresponding text boxes and click “Sign In.” Complete the FDU 2fa Duo push notification to proceed
  1. Under Sign-In and Security, select “Change Display Name
    • Enter your New Display Name
    • Click on “Change Display Name
  1. Display Name successfully changed” will be displayed if your Display Name was successfully changed
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How to Reserve a Computer Lab

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Reserving a Computer Lab for an Entire Semester

Before reserving a Computing Services lab please contact Enrollment Services by emailing:

Florham – esmadfdu@fdu.edu

Metropolitan – esfdu@fdu.edu

Lab reservation requests for the entire semester, (i.e. January through May or September through December are processed by the Office of Enrollment Services. To make a lab reservation request for the Summer, Winter, Fall, or Spring semesters, please contact the Scheduling Officers in Enrollment Services for the Florham and Metropolitan campuses. The phone and fax numbers are listed below:

Metropolitan Campus
Ph. (201)-692-2217 / 2517

Florham Campus
Ph. (973)-443-8600

Reserving a Computer Lab for Specific Dates within a Semester

  1. Access the reservation system by visiting
  1. Once logged into the support website, locate ‘Forms for Faculty & Staff’ and click on the “Computing Services – Lab Reservation & Lab Software Request (Faculty & Staff NJ Only)” option.
  2. You will be directed to a reservation request form. Please provide the necessary details, such as the desired date, time, and location of the lab reservation. Additionally, please include any specific requirements or equipment you may need for your session.
  3. After completing the form, you can submit your request by locating and clicking the submit button.
  4. Once your request has been submitted, the Lab & Operations Manager will review and confirm the details of your request. You will receive written confirmation of your request.

Should you require any further assistance, please feel free to reach out to the Lab & Operations Manager, Denzel W. James (d.james@fdu.edu).

Any changes including cancellations to your request should be submitted by using the SAMI support link to locate the ‘My SAMI Support Request’ tile and browse for your lab related request ticket. All updates can be entered directly into the ticket.

Thank you for choosing Computing Services for your lab reservation needs. We look forward to providing you with a seamless and efficient experience.

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Limited Troubleshooting Support for Personal Devices

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This document outlines how the help desk should handle issues regarding supporting personal hardware.

All support tickets for personal hardware will need to be created and supported by the help desk. Limited support will be provided by completing basic troubleshooting and diagnostics.

This includes:

  • Laptops and Desktops
  • iMacs and MacBooks
  • Docking Stations, Monitors, and Peripherals
  • Mobile phones and Tablets

Note

The help desk should communicate directly to the users that limited support can be provided for personally owned devices, the Help Desk will assist by providing the below troubleshooting steps. Escalation of the request to Computing Services can be performed. If additional support is needed Computing Services will direct the user to contact their hardware manufacturer for additional support directly if needed.

The following basic troubleshooting steps can and should be performed when any of the above hardware is having issues:

  • The device should be power cycled and/or rebooted to ensure all device resources have been refreshed.
  • If the machine or device is frozen locate and hold the power button for a minimum of 60 seconds until the device has powered down and then have the user power on the device and attempt to use the equipment.
  • The help desk can check and confirm if any updates have recently been loaded on the workstation that may be pending a machine reboot to complete the installation.

The following should not be performed on any personal machines:

  • Upgrading or downgrading of any Microsoft or Apple operating system.
  • Removing and/or reinstalling any licensed software such as but not limited to Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Project, Adobe Creative Cloud, etc.
  • Other software such as antivirus, games, or manufacturer-issued diagnostic utilities.

Regarding the troubleshooting of issues related to personal docking stations, monitors, peripherals, mobile phones and tablets. The basic functions of unplugging the power cable and/or power cycling the equipment will be the acceptable troubleshooting necessary.

We do not want to perform any updates for devices operating systems such as mobile phones or tablets. The steps involved in completing these kinds of updates require a more extensive timeframe to be available to successfully be completed.

If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact the FDU Director of Computing Services Peter Mannarino via email p.mannarino@fdu.edu


Vendor Support Contact Links

Apple

Dell

HP

Microsoft

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Managing Clutter in Outlook

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What is Clutter?

Microsoft has implemented a new feature to its mail client called Clutter. Clutter acts as a filter that separates e-mails that it Deems low priority. The e-mails are placed in a folder and are out of sight, with no notifications visible to the user. The problem with Clutter is that it is a learning program that tries to guess what emails are important or low priority and might filter out emails that you need.

Disabling Clutter rules in Outlook 

If you wish to disable clutter, log in to Office 365 using our portal office365.fdu.edu with your NetID credentials.

  1. Look for the settings icon on the upper right corner of your window and click on it
  2. Click on the “Mail” option under “Your app settings”
  1. Drill down to “Mail > Automatic processing > Clutter”
  2. Uncheck “Separate items identified as clutter”
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AK
Andrew Kleinman Computing Services PC Support Specialist
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Andrew Parvis Computing Services PC Support Specialist
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Denzel James  Computing Services Computing Services Lab & Operations Manager
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Ivan Mendes Computing Services PC Support Specialist
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Jason Satya Computing Services PC Support Specialist
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Jay Stern Computing Services PC Support Specialist
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Kevin Hernandez Computing Services PC Support Specialist
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Lisa Stadler-Kay Computing Services Asset Manager
Miguel De-Los Santos
Miguel De-Los Santos Computing Services PC Support Specialist
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Peter Mannarino Computing Services Director of Computing Services
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Ralph Knapp Computing Services Systems Engineer
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Sam Rojas Computing Services PC Support Specialist
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Taf Hussain Computing Services PC Support Specialist