Computer Recommendations and Email for the Class of 2015
by Chris Murray, Law ITC User Support Manager
Hello and welcome to the Class of 2015! My name is Chris Murray and I am the Student Support Manager for the UVA School of Law. I hope that your summer has gotten off to a great start. In preparation for starting the fall term in Charlottesville, I want to bring a few technical matters to your attention.
Creating UVA Email Accounts
There are several steps involved in activating your UVA email account. Before you get started you should look for an email from the Law School Office of Financial Aid referring to the Student Information System (SIS). That email will have a computing ID and student ID number that will be necessary to activate your UVA email account. If you cannot find that initial email, please notify us or the Financial Aid office. When you have your computing ID and student ID number, you can proceed to Step 1 of email activation.
Step 1: If you have not done so already, create your initial UVA SIS password. Using the computing ID and student ID from the email, go to the following website and set your initial UVA SIS password: https://whois.virginia.edu/applicants/
If you already have a working SIS password, you can skip this step and proceed to Step 2.
Step 2: With your computing id and initial SIS password in hand, you can begin the activation of your UVA email account. To do this you will have to review proper policies and procedures for email and complete the Responsible Computing Quiz. All of this can be found at: http://itc.virginia.edu/accounts/studentaccounts.html
Once you complete the Responsible Computing Quiz, you should be able to access your UVA email by going to http://www.mail.virginia.edu. Your username will be your computing ID and your password will be your SIS password obtained previously. This password may change once you set your permanent password later.
And here is a link to some helpful FAQs if you have some common questions as you get started with UVA email: http://itc.virginia.edu/email/student/faq.html#how
Accessing Your UVA Email
As an incoming UVA student, you will have a University-provided email account for electronic mail. This account is hosted by Google as a university Gmail account. I will list email activation directions below, which may be confusing but should work properly. If you have continued trouble in creating your UVA email account, please contact us at LawITC or the central UVA ITC Help Desk so that we can sort it out together.
Once you have completed the steps for activating your UVA e-mail account, you can use Webmail (www.mail.virginia.edu) as an easy way to confirm that you have access to your e-mail accounts without configuring an e-mail client. This is very important. Official Law School communications will gradually transition to your UVA email accounts as the fall semester draws nearer. Please note that if you have any problems accessing your email account, you can contact the main UVA ITC Help Desk by phone at (434) 924-3731 or via email (consult@virginia.edu).
Computer Purchasing for UVA Students
As you may or may not know, Virginia Law has a laptop requirement. If you would like to see the requirements for incoming 1Ls, the information is online at: www.law.virginia.edu/main/pc+purchase
We offer a Dell Latitude and a MacBook laptop option that are optimized to be supported for your three years of Law School. We specialize in servicing these models and can order parts and diagnose software problems with greater efficiency for these laptops. As we have in the past, we are extending our loaner laptop eligibility to cover any laptop offered by Cavalier Computers so if you find a model that you prefer being offered to the Undergrads or the Darden students, you are welcome to purchase it. We won’t be able to give you an identical loaner laptop but we will attempt to service it to the best of our ability. Please make a note of ordering deadline if you would like for your laptop to be here before orientation. To check out the currently offered Law Bundles, follow this link: http://www.uvastudentcomputers.com/
While looking at your computer options from Cavalier Computers, it is important to note the currently offered Dell bundles are last years models. Due to the short period of time in between the expected release of new models from Dell this summer, and Cavalier Computers needing to finalize student laptop orders, the only machines available to offer are last years models. Also, note that the MacBook Pro models will be shipped with the current operating system (10.7 Lion) but you will have the option to upgrade to the new operating system (10.8 Mountain Lion) for free. In order to qualify for the free upgrade you must keep your receipt for your computer purchase.
If you already own a laptop or would prefer to purchase something else, you are welcome to provide a laptop of your choosing, but we will not be able to offer extensive hardware support and you will not be eligible for a loaner laptop for non-Bundle owners. The main things to configure on your own are security updates (such as Windows and Apple Updates), antivirus (UVA offers Symantec Anti-Virus for free to students) and wireless networking. You MUST be up-to-date with security updates from Microsoft or Apple to join the UVA network properly. Once you have your email account up and running we can assist you with all of these configuration items.
We also expect that many of you will have smart phones that you may want to connect to some UVA systems as well. We will be available to help you setup your mobile devices but you can also find information about setting up supported mobile devices on this page: http://its.virginia.edu/mobile/
If you know that you will be in town before orientation, please contact lawitc@virginia.edu to request an appointment and we can get a jump on configuration.
If you cannot arrange a configuration appointment before orientation, we will have a series of laptop configuration workshops during the first week of classes for all incoming students.
If you have any questions about getting started with computing at the Law School, please do not hesitate to contact us directly by email at lawitc@virginia.edu.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to meeting you this fall!
Chris Murray for LawITC
