The purpose of this quicknote is to explain how the email that originates from outside this organization is processed, and to describe the tools that you can use to manage your personal spam quarantine.

To protect UM-Flint from virus attacks and to protect you from receiving hundreds of spam messages, all incoming email is filtered by the Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway – an anti-spam and anti-virus product. Proofpoint uses an advanced machine learning filtering technique called MLX™ to ensure that no valid mail is improperly filtered. For more information about the Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway and MLX, you can visit Proofpoint’s web site at www.proofpoint.com.

We can also use the Proofpoint Protection Server to filter outgoing mail to deter the distribution of trade secrets or intellectual property or to filter for specific words that may indicate inappropriate content, including pornography or obscene and racist words.

How does email filtering work?

All incoming (and outgoing) email is filtered by the Proofpoint Protection Server. Depending upon Proofpoint Protection Server rules and policies, messages that contain a virus, or spam, or inappropriate content can either be deleted or “scored.”  In the case of spam, the message score indicates the probability that the message is spam – so a message scoring 100 would have 100% chance of being spam (definite spam) and a message scoring 0 would have 0% chance of being spam (legitimate correspondence). Messages scoring high enough to probably be spam are quarantined, and messages scoring below 50 are sent directly to your inbox.

What is the Quarantine?

The Quarantine is a location on a server where email messages that are suspected to be spam are stored temporarily so that they can be reviewed and retrieved if necessary. System administrators have the ability to search for messages on a user’s behalf. You may also review and take action on your own quarantined email through the use of the End User Digest available at https://digest.umflint.edu. Messages that are not released from the Quarantine are automatically deleted after a designated period of time.

What is an End User Digest?

If email messages addressed to you were sent to the Quarantine, you will receive an email notification, called an End User Digest (or digest), in your mailbox. The digest provides you with a list of the messages addressed to you that are stored in the Quarantine. You can look at the message subject headers to determine their content and decide what actions you want to apply to the messages.

You may also receive an empty digest, which is simply an email message indicating that you have no messages in the Quarantine. You may want to receive a digest even if it doesn’t contain any messages, so you can continue to manage certain aspects of your email.

End user digests are sent once a day by the system.  If you would like to see any messages being held by the system or request a new end user digest you may do so by visiting https://digest.umflint.edu.

How do I use the digest?

The digest will provide you with a list of all of the spam that has been quarantined for your account since you received the last digest update.  This message could also contain an Audit Messages section. Emails listed in the Audit Messages section represent your valid emails.  These emails have been delivered to your inbox already and DO NOT need to be released. This section is provided for you to report spam emails that might have made it through the Proofpoint filter. If you see any spam emails, please click on the Report Spam link. This will help us improve our spam detection capability.

You will see a list of these messages and columns that indicate the subject, sender, and time received for each email. For the quarantined messages you will have four seperate links available to you to complete an action on each email message:

• View -  opens the web application to view the message in the Proofpoint web application.
• Release – releases the message from the Quarantine to your normal email inbox.
• Safelist – releases the message from the Quarantine to your inbox and adds the sender to your personal Safe Senders list. All future email from this sender will not be checked for spam.
• Not Spam – reports that the message was a false positive (that is, it should not have been classified as spam). In this case, further training is done to ensure that similar messages are not caught as spam in the future.

For the Audit Messages section you will see:

• View -  opens the web application to view the message in the Proofpoint web application.
• Report Spam – reports the message to the Proofpoint server as spam helping us to block spam better for the university. 

Other links in the digest provide additional functionality. These links are not related to individual quarantined messages. The following links provide additional digest management:

• Request New End User Digest – immediately generates a new digest with up-to-the-minute information about quarantined messages. Note: this digest will contain a list of all messages currently in the Quarantine, not just those received since the last scheduled digest update.
• Request Safe/Blocked Senders list – sends you a list of all entries currently on your personal Safe and Blocked Senders List.
• Manage My Account – allows you to change account preferences, as well as actively manage your Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists using a web interface.

What other features are available to manage my account?

The Manage My Account link gives access to a separate web interface that will allow you to manage your Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists, change the preferred language interface for your digest, and adjust digest preferences.

To access these features, click the Manage My Account link in the digest. A separate browser window pops up on your screen and your personalized account management page will load in this window. You do not need to authenticate to your account management page because a secure code is generated in your personalized digest that ensures that only you have access to change your settings.

You have the following options to choose from in your account management page. Click the name of the option in the left navigation pane:

• Profile – controls digest settings and language preferences.
• Lists – provides tools to manage personal Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists.

Profile option to manage my account

The Profile option displays a My Settings view and the Save, Request digest, and Refresh links.

Links:

• Save – saves your settings each time you make any changes.
• Request Digest – sends you an updated digest.
• Refresh – refreshes the view.

My Settings:

• Send digest with new messages – this is the default setting. You will only receive a digest when you have new messages in the Quarantine.
• Send digest even when I have no new messages – this choice will send you a digest whether or not you have new messages in the Quarantine. If there are no new messages, you will receive an empty digest.
• Preferred Language – you can select a language from the drop-down list. This is the language that displays in your digest and in your Manage My Account browser window.

Lists option to manage my account

The Lists option displays the Safe Senders List and Blocked Senders List views where you can manage your personal lists of safe senders and blocked senders. The spam detection technology provided by Proofpoint’s adaptive machine-learning engine is highly accurate and you are not required to add entries to your Safe Senders or Blocked Senders lists. This feature is available to you if want to create your own personal lists.

Click Safe Senders List or Blocked Senders List in the left navigation pane to choose the list you want to manage.

Links:

• New – provides a text field so you can add an email address or domain to your list.
• Edit – lets you make changes to an address already on your list. You need to first select (click the check box) for the address you want to change.
• Delete – deletes the selected address from the list.
• Select All – selects all of the addresses on the list.
• Unselect All – un-selects all of the selected addresses on the list.
• Request digest – sends you an updated digest.
• Refresh – refreshes the view.

Safe Senders List:

Email sent from addresses or domains on the Safe Senders List will not be filtered for spam, but will be filtered for viruses.

Blocked Senders List:

Email sent from addresses or domains on the Blocked Senders List will automatically be discarded so that you will not receive future emails from them. Note: if a spam message does make it through to your inbox, you should not add that email address to your Blocked Senders List since spammers rarely use the same email address twice.

Why do I get a warning message when I click on links in the digest?

It is normal to see an “Invalid Certificate” warning when clicking on the links in the digest. You can safely accept the certificate warning and continue.

How do I delete my messages in the Quarantine?

There is no need to delete your messages in the Quarantine.

If you do not release a message from the Quarantine, it will automatically be deleted after 14 days. If you look at the messages in your digest and determine that all of them are spam, you do not need to do anything. The messages will automatically be deleted from the Quarantine.

What is a Safe Senders and Blocked Senders list?

There are two types of Safe Senders lists: the Global Safe Senders List and your personal Safe Senders List. Both are simply lists of legitimate senders of email.  The email administrator controls the Global Safe Senders List, which applies to everyone in the organization. You control your personal Safe Senders List to which you can add the addresses of people, organizations, and mailing lists from which you do want to receive mail.

If a sender’s address is included in the Safe Senders List, the Proofpoint Protection Server does not filter the message for spam. (However, it still filters the message for a virus or inappropriate content.)

There is also a Global Blocked Senders List and a personal Blocked Senders List. These lists contain addresses of people, organizations, and mailing lists from which you do not want to receive “junk email.”

What is a false positive?

A false positive is an email incorrectly identified as spam. If an email message is scored as spam and sent to the Quarantine, but it really is a legitimate message from a legitimate sender, you can report it as a false positive.

In the future, messages that have the same characteristics as the message you reported will not be placed in the Quarantine for containing spam.

What is a false negative?

A false negative is an email incorrectly identified as not spam. An email message that is incorrectly delivered to your mail box because it was not identified as spam can be reported as a false negative.

Spammers are very clever and are always seeking ways to trick products like the Proofpoint Protection Server into delivering spam to your mailbox.  Proofpoint sends frequent updates to our organization in an attempt to stay one step ahead of the spammers.

What is a spam policy?

Spam policies determine how the spam sent to you will be processed. For example, your spam could be deleted or quarantined. You can only select your own spam policy if you are allowed to Manage My Account.

What is the Audit Messages section that appears in the digest?

The Audit Messages section that appears in your digest indicates that you are a member of any group designated to audit messages. The messages listed under the Audit Messages section are all the messages that have been delivered to your mail box from outside of the UM-Flint domain (not @umflint.edu). If you determine that some of the messages that were delivered are actually spam (false negatives) you can report these messages to Proofpoint by clicking the “Report Spam” link next to the message.

Members of the Spam Reporting Group help improve the spam identification process by reporting false negatives to Proofpoint for further analysis.

At UM-Flint all users are part of the the Spam Reporting Group, allowing you to assist us with providing the best user experience possible.

What is the Web Application?

The Web Application allows you to view your quarantined messages and manage your account using a web browser. Instead of waiting for a digest in your inbox, you can log in any time to your account and release messages from the Quarantine, manage your profile settings, or manage your Safe Senders and Blocked Senders list.

To access the web application you will type https://digest.umflint.edu into a browser. You will be required to provide your uniqname and LAN password to access your profile and your quarantined messages. This is the same login and password that you use for your inbox.

If you see messages about certificates pop up, just click OK to continue.

Your view to the Web Application

The first view you see is My Profile, where you can change My Settings and manage your Account.  On the My Settings page, you can make choices for your preferred language and whether or not you want to receive an empty digest.

The left side displays links for each of the asks you can complete in the browser:

• Profile – You can change your preferences on the Settings page and view your email aliases on the Account page.
• Lists – Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists.
• Quarantine – Contains a list of your messages in the Quarantine.

Account

Click Account under Profile on the left side to view your email aliases. You cannot make any changes to this page.

Lists

Click Lists on the left side to view your Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists.

To add a Safe Sender to your list:

1. Click Safe Senders List on the left side.
2. Click New on the top of the page.
3. Enter an email address into the field.
4. Click Save.

Follow the same procedure to add entries to your Blocked Senders list.

Quarantine

Click Quarantine on the left side to view your messages in the Quarantine. This page displays messages addressed to you that were classified as spam and are sitting in the Quarantine.

You can apply several actions to the messages on this page. To select one or more messages, select the check box next to the message before you apply the action.

• Logout – logs you out of your Proofpoint profile and closes your session.
• Select All – selects all of the messages so that you can apply the action to all of the displayed messages. (For example, you may have 100 messages in the Quarantine, but only 20 are displayed. The action applies to the displayed messages.)
• Unselect All – unselects all of the selected messages.
• Request Digest – sends an updated digest to your email inbox.
• Find – displays the fields to search for a specific message using search criteria such as who sent the message, the subject line, or the age of the message.
  
• Refresh – refreshes the view on the page. For example, if any new messages have been added to the Quarantine while you had the browser open, they will be added to the list.
• Delete – deletes the selected messages from the Quarantine.
• Safelist – adds the sender of the selected message to your Safe Senders list.
• Not Spam – releases the message to your inbox, and in the future, messages like this one will not be classified as spam.
• Release – releases the message to your inbox.

How do I use Smart Send?

Many “violations” of email policy are not malicious violations at all – sometimes users send out an attachment by mistake, or need to send a message that includes information in it that is blocked by the Proofpoint Protection Server. Smart Send is a feature that allows users to send, send encrypted, or block the messages that were blocked by the Proofpoint Protection Server. Your administrator decides who can use Smart Send.

If you have sent something that should have been encrypted you will receive a notification in your email inbox that indicates a message that you sent is blocked – it has not been delivered to the intended recipient. This notification includes three links in it: Send, Send Encrypted, or Block. Click the link that is appropriate for the message that is blocked.

• Send – delivers the message to the intended recipient.
• Send Encrypted – encrypts the message before sending it to the intended recipient.
• Block – the message is not sent. It remains in the Quarantine until it is deleted.

Why do my voicemails look different?

With the new Proofpoint system some of your voicemails will now come from a Proofpoint address instead of <phonenumber>@umich.edu or exchange.system@adsroot.itcs.umich.edu.  The message might look something like this:

If you are having problems with getting your voicemails in your University email please check your email forwarding from @umich.edu to @umflint.edu using the steps here http://www.umflint.edu/helpdesk/perm/email/changing-your-u-m-online-directory-personal-entry/.

Your uniqname (pronounced “unique name”) is a personal identifier that is required for using computing services across the U-M campuses.  You must have a uniqname in order to use the computers on campus, to check your email, or to access the library online.  You do not need a uniqname to use SIS.

Students

Uniqname’s are assigned to new students once they are admitted.  A new student’s “Campus Computer Account” is also created upon the student’s admission into the University.  New students may activate their Campus Computer Account by following these directions:

1.  
   1. Login to SIS by visiting http://sis.umflint.edu (the default PIN for new students is your 6 digit birthday)
   2. Click Personal Information
   3. Click My Campus Computer Account

This screen will provide you with the information necessary to configure your “Campus Computer Account” including your uniqname, email address, and the ability to set your LAN/Kerberos password.  Once you have activated your campus computing account, you may begin using the computers on campus.

As a student you may use your uniqname to access your email online at https://email.umflint.edu, login to the computers in the computer labs, and to access the library webproxy.

Faculty/Staff Members

Uniqname’s are assigned to new faculty/staff members through Human Resources at the beginning of their employment with the University.  Once your account and uniqname are created, a designated individual in your department will be notified with the relevant information within 2-3 business days.  You may receive your account information from them.

As a faculty/staff you may use your uniqname to access your email online at https://email.umflint.edu, login to the computers on campus, to access the library webproxy, and to view your personal information on Wolverine access at http://wolverineaccess.umich.edu/.

http://umflint.edu/mcs

ITS provides limited support for this quicknote.  It is provided for informational purposes and questions regarding this quicknote will be answered to the best of our knowledge but are out of the scope of the ITS Helpdesk training.

Basics

VoIP or Voice over IP allows you to make telephone calls using a computer network, over a data network like the Internet. VoIP converts the voice signal from your telephone into a digital signal that travels over the internet then converts it back at the other end so you can speak to anyone with a regular telephone number. When placing a VoIP call using a phone with an adapter, you’ll hear  dial tone and dial just as you always have. VoIP may also allow you to make a call directly from a computer using a conventional telephone or a microphone.

How Can I Place a VoIP Call?

Depending on the service, one way to place a VoIP call is to pick up your phone and dial the number, using an adaptor that connects to your existing high-speed Internet connection. The call goes through your local telephone company to a VoIP provider. The phone call goes over the Internet to the called party’s local telephone company till the completion of the call. Another way is to utilize a microphone headset plugged into your computer. The number is placed using the keyboard and is routed through your cable modem.

What Kind of Equipment Do I Need?

A broadband (high speed Internet) connection is required. This can be through a cable modem, or high speed services such as DSL or a local area network. You can hook up an inexpensive microphone to your computer and send your voice through a cable modem or connect a phone directly to a telephone adaptor.

Windows Update is the online extension of Windows that helps you to keep your computer up to date. You can use Windows Update to choose updates for your computer’s operating system, software, and hardware such as system files, device drivers, service packs, and new Windows features. This should only take a few minutes to do on campus; however, if you are using a dial-up connection, the process may take longer.

What are Product Updates?

Product updates are a catalog of fixes, updates, and enhancements to Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office Products. Look at the catalog and download any and all security updates and software patches that apply to your installed software. You can download all of these security patches and updates from the Web and install them to your computer.

Updating Your System Files Using Windows Update

Updating your system files through Windows Update is a relatively simple process. Below you will find instructions on how to do this in Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Note that if  you are using a Windows 2000 or XP machine, you must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure.

Updating Windows XP via Windows Update

1. Using Internet Explorer, go to the Windows Update web site at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. If you get an error message, try again later as this means that the web site is too busy.
2. Click Scan for Updates directly on the homepage. A catalog of Windows Updates will appear after you have scanned.

Updating Microsoft Office

1. Click the Office Update link at the top of the page.
2. Click the Check for Updates link on the Office Update Page. After scanning is completed, you will be presented with a catalog of Office updates.

Updating Windows Vista/Windows 7

1. Click the Start Orb in the taskbar.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Depending on your Control Panel layout, you will either need to click Check for Updates under the Security category or click Windows Update and then Check for Updates.
4. Click Install Now to install any available updates.

What Do I Need to Do?

Product updates make it easy to download updates and enhancements to the software on your computer. We recommend that you do this on a monthly basis and every time you install any new software. The following steps apply to updating both Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office.

1. Browse the catalog of updates.
2. When you decide you want to update a certain component, click the box next to it. A check mark will then appear in the box. Before you choose to download a component, click the Read this first link for important information including a more detailed description of the component, how to begin using the component, instructions for uninstalling, and the support policy.
3. When you have selected all the components you want (you may un-check any selected components you don’t want), click Download.
4. A page will then appear with a list of all the updates to be performed. If there are any components you want to update but aren’t on the list or if there are any you want to remove, click the Back button.
5. Click the Start Download button to begin downloading and installing.
6. When you see the Installation Complete message, you are done updating. Note that some components may require you to restart your computer after installation.

Important Notes

• Be sure to download any Critical or Important updates that are recommended for your system. Critical updates will fix known problems (such as security issues) specific to your computer.
• The first time you go to the Windows Updates page, click Yes when prompted to install any required software or controls.

• RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is an XML-based format for sharing and distributing Web content, such as news headlines. Using an RSS reader, you can view data feeds from various news sources, including headlines, summaries, and links to full stories.

How do I know if an RSS is Available?

• If an RSS feed is available on a website then you may see an icon similar to this: or in your web browser or aggregator. Simply click the icon to add it as an RSS feed.

How do I access RSS?

• RSS/News Aggregators

  • RSS/News Aggregators (also called Readers) will download and display RSS feeds for you. A number of free and commercial News Aggregators are available for download at http://download.com (search keywords: RSS Readers).
  • Many aggregators are separate, “stand-alone” programs; other services will let you add RSS feeds to a Web page; try Google Reader at http://reader.google.com. Web browsers also have tools for viewing your RSS feeds. Mozilla Firefox, a popular open source web browser, has built in support for RSS feeds they call “Live Links”. The new Internet Explorer version 7 also enables subscription to web feeds.

• Weblogs

  • Another way many people use RSS feeds is by incorporating content into weblogs, or “blogs”. Blogs are web pages comprised of usually short, frequently updated items and web links. Blogging as a publishing tool is used for many purposes: traditional journalism, personal journals, group discussions around a topic, and many combinations in-between.
  • Please read the ITS news blog at http://blogs.umflint.edu/its/.

A CMS, or Content Management System, is a piece of software used to effectively organize and manage large amounts of digital content.

Content in reference to the university’s CMS includes all web pages, documents, and other files made available via the university website.

Why use a CMS?

The CMS makes it possible for almost anyone (with appropriate permissions) to easily manage web content, without needing to know how to write HTML (hyper-text-mark-up language, the typical method for creating web pages).

By using a CMS the university will also have an easy to implement version control.

Who can use the University CMS?

Each department is alloted 1 license for use by an appointed member of the department.  A department can purchase additional licenses by contacting the ITS Helpdesk at 810-766-6804.

The appointed web developers for each department will complete training through ITS and then they will be allowed to edit and maintain the pages of their appointed department.

Where can I learn more about the university CMS?

The CMS Web Guide contains detailed instructions on how to use many aspects of the CMS system.

This guide is available online at http://www.umflint.edu/webguide/.

If you have questions not covered by the Web Guide, please contact the  ITS Helpdesk at 810-766-6804.

How to Scan for Viruses:

http://www.umflint.edu/helpdesk/perm/windows/installing-and-using-microsoft-security-essentials/

Virus scanning Information and software is available at the following site:

http://www.itcs.umich.edu/bluedisc/

To download the VirusScan software click on the link above then choose an operating system and a program to download. Then the directory will come up with the files you need to download to disk. Make sure the computer is not infected with a virus prior to downloading the software.

How to Protect Yourself from Viruses.

• If your computer is infected:
• Remove the virus by running virus protection software.
• Be sure to scan all of your diskettes before reusing them to prevent further contamination.
  (If this doesn’t work, you’ll most likely have to delete the files from your system.)
• If you suspect you have received a virus via email, do not open the attachment, but instead delete the mail message and inform the person you received it from.
• As a general rule, never open an attachment from an untrusted source.
• Always be careful when opening attachments from a trusted source.

• Your personal directory is space allocated on the server that is assigned to each student, faculty, or staff member. This allows you to save information at school without using disks. It is commonly referred to as the H:\Drive for students, faculty, and staff.
• Only you have access to information you save in your personal directory. Each individual is allotted 500 MB of space to save files of any type.

How to Use the Personal Directory on a Campus Computer:

• If you need to save a file on your personal directory, just choose “Save As,” in the “File” menu of any application. Choose the drive with your Uniqname on it and click “Save” as usual.
• To open a file from your personal directory while in an application, simply click “File,” click “Open” and choose your personal directory (look for your Uniqname). You will then be able to open any files that are saved on that drive.

How to Access Your Personal Directory On Campus:

• Simply double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop. Scroll down until you find the drive that has your Uniqname on it. That is your personal directory. It can also be accessed in any application you may use while on the computer.
• The personal directory works like any other drive that you have access to such as a flash drive or external hard drive.

How to Access Your Personal Directory Off Campus:

• Open a Java supported web browser and navigate to https://vpn.umflint.edu.
  • Your H Drive will appear on the first screen when logging into the VPN.

A VPN or “Virtual Private Network” is a private network that uses a public network (usually the Internet) to provide students, faculty, and staff with a secure connection to campus resources from home.

Instead of using a dedicated, real-world connection such as Ethernet connection, a VPN uses secure, encrypted, “virtual” connections routed through the Internet from the University of Michigan-Flint private network to the remote computer.

The VPN is available to students, faculty, and staff who use Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7 or Mac OS X. (Please note: The VPN is not supported on Windows 2000/98/ME.)

Why use a VPN?

There are many advantages to using the VPN from home to connect to the UM-Flint campus network.

Outlook-Client (off-campus)

When connected to the VPN, you may take advantage of using the Microsoft Outlook client from home to check your email (high-speed Internet users).

Map Network Drives

You will have the ability to map your personal home drive (h:\) and your departmental drive (i:\) from home. You will also be able to FTP into your Home drive or Departmental drive from home.

Remote Desktop Access (Faculty and Staff Only)

You will have the ability to use remote desktop integrated into the Windows platform to remotely control your office computer from home (this feature is available to faculty/staff only).