Congratulations if you received your A Level results yesterday and secured a place at Bristol for 2010!

If you will be living in University halls and houses you can use ResNet to connect to the Internet from your study bedroom. ResNet provides a high speed connection to the Internet, faster than you are used to at home.  Different packages are available, and you can pay for your ResNet connection before you get to Bristol (cost from £68 for three terms). Everything is available in your residence for you to connect the day you arrive. For more info see www.resnet.bristol.ac.uk/newstudents

As of Monday 2nd August I'm glad to say that ResNet is now available for the first time in the university staff accommodation at Osborne Villas. This is in addition to the student accommodation at other properties on Osborne Villas, which were already connected.

We were able to connect these staff houses as they are adjacent to other buildings which already have ResNet, and we could extend the network to them at a reasonable cost. Unfortunately most small university-owned staff houses are more isolated, and connecting those is prohibitively expensive.

ResNet is of course already available in all student residences in the Accommodation Prospectus, and is available to new full-time undergraduate, Study Abroad and International Foundation programme students who meet the terms of the Accommodation Guarantee.

If in any doubt as to whether ResNet is available in your residence, please see where can I get ResNet?

It's the last week of the summer term and the vacation beckons. Thanks for using ResNet this year! Whether you are staying or leaving, here's some final info from ResNet and an opportunity to shape a new service from the university.

Have your say on a new email service for Bristol students

The university is looking to create a new email for life service for students and alumni. This would be provided under contract with the university by either Google or Microsoft. We'd like to know what you think about this. Please see http://www.bristolresnet.net/2010/06/16/new-email-service/ for more info and to comment.

Leaving halls? Get broadband in private accommodation

If you're moving into private accommodation next year you'll want to sort out an Internet connection. Unfortunately you can't get ResNet, but we have a guide to help you choose a broadband provider - see http://www.bristol.ac.uk/is/computing/advice/homeusers/broadband/

Staying for the summer? Watch the World Cup on ResNet with Freewire TV

With Freewire you can watch 25 channels of live TV including BBC1 and ITV1 on your computer on ResNet. Freewire doesn't count towards your ResNet usage allowance. See
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/is/computing/advice/homeusers/resnet/using/freewire/ to get started.

Regards,

the ResNet team

It has been a long-term goal for the ResNet team to have a firewall placed between ResNet and the rest of the University's network.  Over the past few months we have made the necessary changes to our infrastructure and today have made this live.  Essentially, nothing should have changed from a user's perspective as all previous rules on the 'main' firewall have been copied to the ResNet firewall.

If nothing has changed then why have we done this?

The answer to this is greater flexibility in how we separate ResNet (a network of personally owned machines) from the rest of the University's managed network.  Our intention is to give ResNet attached devices full access to the University's educational resources but limit access to unnecessary things such as faculty desktops; something that has previously been impossible to do.

In the unlikely event that something which previously worked, now does not, then please contact the Help Desk via the usual channels.

Dear ResNet user,

This is one in a series of newsletters sent occasionally to ResNet subscribers. Please see the bottom of this message to unsubscribe if you wish. You can also read this newsletter on our blog at www.bristolresnet.net

Laptop Clinics still running in new location

Our first newsletter introduced you to the free Student Laptop Clinic. In the first two terms we've helped over 800 people fix problems with their computers. It's very satisfying to have helped so many students.

If you make use of this service we'd like to announce that it's moved from the Hawthorn's Refectory to the Priory Road Complex Cafe, which means we get to eat cake and fix laptops! It's open from 2pm to 5pm weekdays, except bank holidays and Thursdays. For directions and more info see http://www.bristol.ac.uk/laptopclinic

What's the fuss about Facebook and privacy?

At the end of April Facebook made some changes, and some people are very unhappy about it. What's the fuss? Facebook has gradually shifted. It started as a tool to share stuff  within a group. Increasingly Facebook encourages you to share stuff with the world, but many people don't realise this. Facebook classes some of what you put up as public information and makes it available to all - your family, future employers, anyone. This includes your profile picture and what pages you are a fan of.

Now is a great time to check your privacy settings on Facebook, and be aware of what you put up there. For more info and advice on checking your privacy settings see our blog - http://www.bristolresnet.net/2010/05/06/

Facebook has gradually changed. It started off as a tool to share information about yourself within a group of friends, or a community such as a university. Facebook's privacy policy has changed several times over the years, making Facebook a more open and public network. It has reduced the control you have over your information, encouraging you to share information with the world. This is something to be aware of in how you use Facebook, especially as public information about you on the Internet hangs around for ages - indexed by search engines and marketing firms, available to future employers, family - anyone.

There's nothing wrong with open networks, but there are some things you don't want to be public. The important point is to be aware what information is public, and treat it accordingly. The annoying part is that Facebook keep changing the rules! Most people on Facebook think of it as a way to share info just with their friends, but that isn't really true any longer.

Certain information on Facebook (your Name, Profile Picture, Gender, Current City, Networks, Friend List) is always public, you can't hide it. So, don't make your profile picture too embarrassing. Your friends list being public is an interesting one. On the Internet, as in the real world, people can make assumptions about you on the basis of the company you keep. For example students at MIT discovered that just by looking at a persons online friends they could discover if someone was gay.

If you become a Facebook fan of a Page (by clicking the blue Like button) this is also public information. Facebook calls it a Connection. You can show up on the Page, and these connections are shared with marketers. You might be OK with this, you might not - depends what you Like. The list of likes on your Facebook page is now assembled from your Connections - you can't just type in what you choose any longer, so if you want to share your interests to your friends you also have to share them with the world.

• Go to the Instant Personalization privacy setting and uncheck the "Allow" button. Click confirm. Come back to this page.
• Go to the page for Microsoft Docs, click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up. Come back to this page.
• Go to the page for Pandora, click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up. Come back to this page.
• Go to the page for Yelp, click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up. Come back to this page.

At the moment only these three websites are Facebook partners, but Facebook will probably add more later. Annoyingly therefore you'll need to check back often to keep blocking new ones when they are added. You also need to keep checking the Facebook privacy policy - it has changed twice in the last six months.

One last thing: do check the privacy settings for your profile information. By default, lots of info is shared not just with your Friends, but with Friends of Friends. That's a lot of people. If your friend is friends with your boss, then do you want your boss to see your photos?

For the last two weeks we have been logging users' wireless ResNet usage and have just made this viewable (if you have any) via MyResNet

Because wireless, unlike wired, ResNet usage includes internal usage we are not yet including this in your weekly allowance - it's just for information.  We will be monitoring wireless usage to make sure it's not being abused by individuals.  We believe that our wired weekly usage allowance is very generous, so excessive use of the wireless should not be necessary.

As part of our on-going effort to make the internet a safer place for your computer to be, Information Services have started filtering out a list of 30,000+ websites which are known to host malware (spyware, adware, viruses etc) - This makes it harder for the bad guys to install unwanted software on your computer without your knowledge.

Most of the time this will happen in the background and you won't notice it.  If your computer tries to visit a website which is on the list of sites that we filter, you may occasionally see a message which says that the site your computer is trying to access has been blocked.  If this happens, don't panic, It's a good thing!  The system has stopped your computer from doing something dangerous!

If you want to see an example of the type of message you would receive, see this link: http://blackhole.isys.bris.ac.uk/ (NB: This link is only available within the University Of Bristol network)

We're doing our best to ensure that the list only contains websites which are dangerous, although with a list of sites this big it's possible that we'll make mistakes and block things that we didn't intend to.  If you think we've blocked something by accident, the web page you see will contain instructions for getting in touch with us and we can lift the block on that site.

It's important to note that we're only filtering out websites which are known to install unwanted software on your computer.  We're not making any moral decisions about page contents, or otherwise censoring legitimate sites, and you will not get in trouble for encountering a page on the block list. (Although if you generate a lot of blocked requests we might offer to help you clean up your computer!)

Technical details for those who are interested:
We're importing a list of known-bad domains from several reputable sources, and collating them into one list.  This list is then being fed to the University DNS servers.  If your computer requests a web page from a domain which is on the list, the DNS servers provide you with the IP address of aserver on the University network instead of the real IP address.  The server on the University network then displays the message saying "we don't think you wanted to do that!"

This is similar to how the ResNet registration network works, where whatever website you try to access, you get redirected to the ResNet registration page.

The Student Laptop Clinics will be starting again on Friday 9th January and will run until Friday 20th March. As usual we are in the Student Refectory in the Hawthorns from 2pm to 5pm Monday to Friday.

For more information please see http://www.bristol.ac.uk/is/computing/advice/homeusers/help/laptopclinic/

Two days into Freshers Week and we already have 4000 students connected to ResNet!

If you need help connecting please give us a ring on 89001 free from your room. Phone lines are now open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It has at times been difficult to get through, especially in the early evening. From 8am-5pm calls are answered by the ResNet team and from 8pm until 8am by the out of hours Help Desk.

If you've rung and found lines engaged or been kept in a queue we're sorry - we are answering as many calls as we can at this very busy time of year. Everyone wants an Internet connection immediately to stay in touch with friends and family, and we want to get people connected as soon as possible.

If you prefer we can also arrange room visits to come out and help you connect up in your room, at a cost of £16. We can fix many problems for free over the phone though, so please try calling first.