Computer Tips & Tricks from your IT team

Have you been struggling with wrist and arm pain, eye soreness, or other fatigue issues onset by life in the office (or remote office)?  Schedule an appointment with the UW ergonomics team and have them do a site assessment.  A few changes can often alleviate more than you think – https://ehs.wisc.edu/workplace-safety/occupational-health/ergonomics/

There are several additional options  you can enable in the UW’s MFA-Duo web portal that will let you use it faster and make having to sign in two times less of an inconvenience. You can find some of them here in the UW’s KB articles regarding device settings: https://kb.wisc.edu/iam/page.php?id=81480 and https://kb.wisc.edu/80774

Automatically send my device a push will take out an extra step of needing to click on the “send me a push” button to have it go to your phone.

The UW offers a variety of industry flagship software free of charge for both personal and work computers.  To see what you are eligible for and which software will work (depending on your computer type; personal or work-provided), see the campus’s IT software page for more details: https://it.wisc.edu/services/software/ .

These software products have special licensing with the University and use your netid@wisc.edu to authenticate.  They will generally have you sign in first with your netid@wisc.edu followed by only your Net ID.

Independent IT review site Techspot has a great collection of various ways you can speed up your daily operations.  Check it out here for more details: https://www.techspot.com/guides/676-best-computer-tricks/

LastPass is a password manager tool that helps you to store usernames and passwords and create strong passwords.  And, best of all, it’s free to use for UW faculty, staff and students!  Find out more here:  https://it.wisc.edu/services/password-manager-lastpass-enterprise/

When looking at your SMPH Home Directory and SMPH Shared Drive (within Windows File Explorer), users may notice red bars that seem to indicate the drives are full.

However, this is not really the case, and nothing to be alarmed about. Upon closer inspection, the amount of free space, vs. the total size of the network share, is still significantly large. If the drive space was truly getting low, our System Administrators will add more storage to the total size, as needed.

For questions, contact Shared Services IT

Keyboard shortcuts can make your life easier. Here are a few that you can add to your workday:

Stepping away from your computer?

PC: Windows Key + L will lock your computer screen for when you need to step away quickly.

Mac: Control + Command + Q

Need to print something?

PC: Control + P

Mac: Command + P

Switching between multiple program windows?

PC: Alt + Tab then Tab till you highlight your selected screen

Mac: Command + Tab

Find Apps faster by searching directly from the Windows Start Menu or Apple Spotlight

PC: either press the Windows key and begin typing in your App or File name or click the Windows icon in the bottom left corner

Mac: Press Cmd + Space to bring up the Spotlight search bar.

Need to capture a quick screenshot and paste it into a document?

PC: Windows key + Shift + S then click and drag on the area you want to capture

Mac: Shift + Cmd + 4 then click and drag on the area you want to capture

Have you accidentally deleted a file from the SMPH shared drive while using a Windows computer? All hope is not lost; try this trick:

• Open the network drive on your computer
• Browse to the folder where you lost the file
• Right click on the folder
• On the pop-up menu, click “Restore Previous Versions”
• In the properties tab, select Previous Versions
• Browse to and select the version most applicable to your situation
• Edit as needed and save as a new file

You may notice more phishing attempts recently in your inbox. The three common telltale signs of a phishing email are:

• Grammatical errors (Misplaced punctuation, misspellings, and unnecessary capitalizations)
• An immediate, panicked sense of urgency to their request
• Addressed to or signed as a broad subject “Sir/Madam” or “IT Help Desk” 

More recently, some phishing attempts use aliased accounts (named similarly to a colleague or senior leader’s wisc.edu email address but from a Gmail or Hotmail account). To combat this, here are a few tips on how to spot and take action on a phishing attempt.

• If you get an email requesting something peculiar from a colleague or senior leader, contact them through a different medium than email. Send them a Teams message, text them, or even a phone call.
• If there are any URL links included in the email but still seem suspicious, do not click the links in the email itself. Rather, Google search the website manually in your web browser and see if the email is valid or an attempt to go phishing!
• You receive a personal email but to your work email account. Another common phishing attempt is when a scammer impersonates a doctor’s office, school administrator, or real estate agent asking for either a payment or login information.

Now you know how to best spot a phishing attempt. If there are any questions on validity of an email, please forward it to us at support@med.wisc.edu or Campus Cybersecurity at security@wisc.edu to get clarification. If you do come across a phishing attempt in your inbox you can use the built-in tools in Outlook (screenshots below) to report the message. To stay up to date on current scams and further reading on how to recognize phishing, check out these two links: 

Scam Alerts

Recognize Phishing

Located in the top right of Outlook Desktop

Located under the three dot menu on Outlook Web Application 

Common sense is the best defense!

If you use MFA-Duo on your phone, this article is for you. You can send a push automatically to your phone’s lock screen when you sign into your Wisc Account by following these steps:

• Navigate to www.mfa.wisc.edu 
• Sign in with your campus NetID and password
• Click on the blue box “Manage MFA Preference and Devices” 
• Log in to MFA to change your MFA Preferences, modify device settings or add a new device
• Under My Settings & Devices and then Default Device: (your phone number), using the drop down menu arrow select “When I log in:”
• Select “Automatically send this device a Duo Push” 
• Click Save
• Log Out

Next time you sign into your Wisc account, you will save a step in the process. 

Windows/PC: Once you open up a program, go down to the taskbar and right click the icon.
Select Pin to Taskbar and it’ll remain there once you close the program.

Mac: Right click the program you wish to keep in the dock, hover over options, then click Keep in Dock.

Windows/PC: Press Ctrl + Shift + T

Mac: Cmd + Shift + T

Connect the power cord to the display and connect the display to the laptop.

Use these shortcuts to complete the setup:

• Windows/PC: Windows Key + P (choose “Extend” or “Duplicate” the monitor)
• Mac: Option + F1 (brightness down key)

Some of the latest phishing attempts include:

• Fake account creation notifications for your UW Box. Campus will never send an email asking for your credentials regarding a deactivation or re-activation of any campus service.
• End of year bonuses asking for your payment information. Campus would not require you to input any bank information as a current employee.
• Scam Job offers. These generally come from a (wisc.edu) account but have numerous misspellings.

Stay up to date on current scams with this campus resource: https://it.wisc.edu/scam-alerts/

Regularly updating your computer either by restarting or when notified of new updates helps keep your software and hardware in working order. The issue with older or unpatched software is that it increases the likelihood that cyber criminals can exploit vulnerabilities in the operating system, application software, and apps you are running on your device.

How do I keep my device, software, and apps updated?  Always apply updates when available.

For Macs, click the Apple icon in the top left > About this Mac > Software Update

For Windows, the pending update will appear with either a red or orange dot in your bottom right toolbar.  Click and follow the prompts

Are you Spring cleaning and want to dispose of personally owned tech equipment but not sure how? Check out this UW Knowledge Base page with useful information on how and where to properly and securely get rid of old personal technology: https://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=12022

While you are at it, clean up the insides of your personal computer, too!  Visit Popular Science for tips on how to digitally clean up your computer.  https://www.popsci.com/spring-cleaning-your-computer/

Many of us, at times, may work remotely from home and need a fast, reliable Wi-Fi connection.

From How To Geek, here are a list of ways to improve your home Wi-Fi without spending any money: https://www.howtogeek.com/874841/10-ways-to-improve-your-wi-fi-without-buying-anything/

Plan restarting your computer on a regular basis around natural breaks in your work schedule.  This allows automated security and software updates to install and may help with overall computer performance.

Think about a time when you are away from your computer for a period of time.  Some like to restart at the end of the day or the end of a work week.

Set a reminder on your phone app to give you the nudge you need.  Then shut down your programs, click Restart, walk away and enjoy your time off!  Let your computer enjoy some time off, too!