Instructions and Guides

Using FTP

FTP Instructions

To upload content to your personal web space, you will need your APU NetID, your password, and FTP software, such as Filezilla. The below instructions are for those using Filezilla for Microsoft Windows or Filezilla for the Mac. University machines will have Filezilla installed, but if you do not have the application, visit the FileZilla website to download a free copy.

Files that you want to access from a web browser must be placed in the public_html folder. Otherwise, they will not be accessible from the web.

• FTP for Windows and Mac (PDF)

SSH Instructions

Faculty and staff members who wish to use SSH on personal webpages must request access through the IT Support Center. To request access, email [email protected] with your name, APU NetID, and the reason SSH access is desired (note: Telnet access is no longer available).

Distribution of Data

IT is not authorized to release personal data. Requests for personal information should go through the appropriate office:

Privacy/FERPA

A student’s educational record is protected by FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. With the exception of “directory information,” student records are not to be released to a third party (including parent or spouse) without the express written permission of the student. Failure to comply with FERPA could result in the loss of all federal financial aid funds. Two types of records exist:

Directory Information

The following information is not included in FERPA and is available to the general APU community:

Assuring We Comply with FERPA

• Never give out grades over the telephone. Even if you think you recognize the voice of a familiar student, you must tell the individual this is against federal regulations.
• Never give out ANY negative information about a student. (Example: “Her degree is not posted because she has not completed all requirements.”)
• Never release information about a student’s finances to a third party. Questions regarding financial information should be forwarded to the appropriate Student Services Center office.
• You may release basic directory information at your discretion, however, when in doubt, always err on the side of maintaining a student’s privacy. Establish that the “requestor” has a legitimate business or professional reason for receiving the information.
• Refer requests for enrollment or degree verification to the appropriate Registrar’s office.
• Refer students who wish a copy of their grades to the appropriate Registrar’s office.
• Leaving graded student papers where others can have access (e.g. a box in the hall) or posting student grades with their names, social security numbers, APU ID numbers, or a random instructor-assigned numbers is a violation of FERPA.
• Every student has the right to ask that ALL information about them, including directory information, be released only with their express written permission. When you encounter the message, “DO NOT RELEASE INFO: FEDERAL PRIVACY CODE, APU STAFF ONLY” in APU Look, it means that the student invoked this right. Each request to receive information must be accompanied by written permission from the student. If we receive an inquiry about a student with this hold, the university is not even permitted to confirm or deny that the individual is a student.
  • Incorrect response: “I cannot release information about that student.”
  • Correct response: “I cannot release any information without the permission of the individual.”
  To view the student’s record for internal use only, press “Y” at the prompt when the above message appears.
• Particular care should be taken with ALL documents generated from our student information system, IFAS. All documents should be disposed of appropriately, namely shredding.

FERPA policies must be published in academic catalogs by law. For more information about other rights and requirements of FERPA, please contact the Registrar.

A Word about Student Workers

All student workers are required to sign the following when they are hired:

“As a student employee I understand that as part of my campus employment, I may have access to or become aware of confidential information that relates to students and their parents/guardians or members of the University community. As a condition of my student employment, a violation of which will be grounds for termination, I agree to keep in confidence any information that I may become aware of as a result of my student employment that should be kept in confidence. In any case where I am not sure whether the information is confidential, I will check with my supervisor before divulging the information to anyone.”

It is, of course, important if you supervise students to stress the importance of confidentiality. As a supervisor, you may decide to keep that procedure (accessing those with security hold) for staff members only.

If you have any questions not covered in this document, please contact the appropriate Registrar’s office.

Email Guidelines

Email Etiquette

We encourage email users to have a basic understanding of good email etiquette. The Email Etiquette (PDF)* guide will help users learn the foundations.

Policies

For a list of IT policies, including those related to email, visit the policies index.

Hoaxes

Forwarding email hoaxes is a violation of APU's Acceptable Use Policy. Check the validity of email warnings, petitions, and special interest alerts before forwarding them. Below is a list of virus and hoax resources for your benefit.

• Read the official IT list – A list of email hoaxes and viruses provided by IT for the benefit of the APU community in Outlook > All Public Folders > APU Public Folders > E-Mail Hoaxes
• Search by subject and find out if an email is legitimate or a hoax:
  About.com Archive of Urban Legends and Folklore
• Check the McAfee website for new legitimate virus warnings or to see if the one you just received is a hoax:
  McAfee virus information

Setting Spam Rules

Please use the links below for instructions for your mail client to setup a spam rule for filing junk mail.

Microsoft Outlook Web Access (Webmail) Spam Rule

Please make sure to execute the following steps using Internet Explorer or a browser that uses Internet Explorer as a base browser (i.e. Avant Browser). Netscape, Mozilla, and Firefox will not work with these instructions.

1. Logon to webmail (mail.apu.edu)
2. Click on “Rules” (See illustration below.)
3. Click “New...”
4. Complete the next screen like the screenshot below:
   Click image to view larger

This will only delete any rules that are currently disabled for you, anything that is NOT disabled will reman in effect, so, in most cases it is safe to click “Ok” on this message.

   5. After the rule is in place, the rules window will look something like this:
     Click image to view larger

Now you can go back to your Inbox and perform other tasks. From this point on, all messages tagged as [Spam] will be filed in the folder your specified for Junk Mail.

Microsoft Entourage for Mac Spam Rule

1. Click on the “Tools” menu.

2. Click on "Rules."

3. Select the “Mail (Exchange)” tab.
     Click image to view larger

4. Click the “New” button.
     Click image to view larger

5. Give the Rule a name.
     Click image to view larger

6. Under the “If” section, click the first drop-down menu and select “Subject.”
     Click image to view larger

7. Make sure the second drop-down menu says “Contains.”
     Click image to view larger

8. Type [Spam] in the text field.

9. Under the “Then” section, click the first drop-down menu and select “Move message.”
     Click image to view larger

10. Under the “Then” section, click the second drop-down menu and select “Choose folder.”
     Click image to view larger

11. Under the “Then” section, click the second drop-down menu and select “Choose folder.”
     Click image to view larger

12. If there are any more actions listed, select the action by clicking on it and then click the “Remove Action” button.
     Click image to view larger

13. Make sure the “Enabled” box is checked.
     Click image to view larger

 

14. Click the “OK” button.
     Click image to view larger

15. Close the “Rules” window.

Symantec Bright Mail Anti-Spam

In response to the university’s request to limit the number of unsolicited email messages (spam) arriving in APU inboxes, IT has implemented a centralized spam detection system called Symantec Brightmail Anti-Spam (Brightmail).

[Spam]

Brightmail works by scanning all incoming email messages before they reach APU inboxes and tagging the message subjects with “[Spam]” if they meet specific criteria defined by the Brightmail filters.

Example: [Spam] will be prepended to “Invest in this stock now!” to produce “[Spam]Invest in this stock now!” if the Brightmail filter determines that the message is spam.

IT recommends that you set up email filtering to move these messages to your Junk Mail folder if you are on the Exchange 2003 email system.

False-Positive

A false-positive results when Brightmail believes that a message is spam when it in fact is not spam. According to Symantec’s published statistics, this will occur 1 time for every 1,000,000 email messages received.

False-Negative

A false-negative results when Brightmail determines that a message is not spam when it in fact is spam. According to Symantec’s published statistics, this will occur 5 times for every 100 spam messages you receive. In other words, this filter will catch 95 percent of your spam.

[Suspected Spam]

IT has added a second filter that works by scanning all incoming email messages that are not marked as [Spam] before they reach APU inboxes and tagging the message subject with [Suspected Spam] if it meets specific criteria defined by IT. This filter is designed to try and catch the 5 percent of spam that the Brightmail filter does not catch.

Example: [Suspected Spam] will be prepended to “Let’s go to the beach tomorrow” to produce “[Suspected Spam]Let’s go to the beach tomorrow” if the custom IT filter suspects that the message may be spam.

IT recommends that you do not set up email filtering rules for these messages. There will be very few of these messages and therefore they will be easier to filter through if they are delivered to your inbox.

Reporting False-Positives and/or False-Negatives

Please do not contact IT regarding false-positives or false-negatives unless the issue persists for more than 24 hours. Symantec releases updated spam filters for Brightmail approximately every 10 minutes, so most likely the problem will be fixed quickly and automatically.

Filtering Tagged Messages

Those who are using Outlook and/or Outlook Web Access (https://mail.apu.edu) to access email at APU can create rules that look for messages with [Spam] in the subject line. Please visit Setting Up a Spam Rule section above to learn how to add rules to the email client that you are using.

Please contact the IT Support Center via phone at (626) 815-5050 or Ext. 5050, or via email at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

 

Windows XP SP2 Guide

The following document provides information for using Windows XP Service Pack 2.

• Using Windows XP Service Pack 2 (PDF)

Windows Tips and Tricks

Please use the following links for helpful tips and information about the Windows operating system.

Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

This is a list of the 26 Windows Keyboard Shortcuts associated with each letter of the alphabet.

Extend a Selection Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows Terms

 

For detailed technology information, IT offers the following Technology Handbook.

• Appendix A - Technology Acceptable Use Policy
• Appendix B - FERPA (PDF)