Meeting in the Cyberspace : Video Conferencing
Video conferencing uses dedicated telephone lines, satellites and other equipment to allow two-way audio/visual communication with a distant party.

In the University, the Faculty of Medicine has already made use of the video conferencing system for student presentations and joint university seminars. The video conferencing system has also been used to facilitate communication among staff at remote computer laboratories such as that of Pi Chiu Building, Siu Loong Pao Building, Wong Foo Yuan Building and Business Administration Department.

Read http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/learning/vc.html for more information on the applications in the University.

"Mailserv" Rejects Mail that Carries Known Viruses/Worms
You may have heard about several viruses or worms that are spread through email attachments. In last ITSC Digest, we wrote about the worm "Happy99". This month, "Melissa" is the talk of the town. But as of today, there has been no report of "Melissa" arriving on campus. Check http://www.cw.com.hk/News/n990330002.htm for the story of "Melissa".

To protect your interests and prevent viruses/worms from attacking our servers, on April 7 and April 15 the Centre applied some filters to the mail programs on Phone Book and Mailserv servers respectively to reject mail that carries known viruses/worms such as "Happy99" and "Melissa".

We also urge you to take special care in opening attachments especially those which come from unknown sources. Otherwise, your PC may be vulnerable to a virus/worm attack. Here are a few points you should note:

• Install Virus Scanner on your PC.
• Never run programs obtained from unknown sources.
• Never open files obtained from unknown sources.
• Scan programs or files from the mail/newgroups/ftp server/web before opening them.
• Enable "Macro virus protection" in MS Word and Excel.

An UPS System Can Protect Your Departmental Network and Servers
On April 7, several departments reported to ITSC on a network failure in their departments. After resetting the network equipment, all the network services resumed normal functioning. The network failure was due to the interruption of electricity supply which was caused by hill fires in Hong Kong. In addition, the Centre also found that these departments did not have an Un-interruptable Power Supply (UPS) system installed to protect their network equipment and/or servers.

The Centre installed an UPS system at its establishment and upgraded the system last December. The UPS system will be switched on automatically if the city-mains power is interrupted. The Centre therefore has enough time to take the appropriate action such as to shut down the machines properly in case of the city-mains power failure. This helps to minimize data loss.

Details can be read at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/about/security/ups.html

Is Your PC or Network Server of Y2K Compliant?
ITSC began to test all the PCs in early 1998 and has informed all departments to perform the same test for departmental machines. As a result, you should find that your PC has been marked with a color label reflecting its Y2K compliance status. Details can be read at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/publications/nc/nc112/y2k-network.html

If your PC does not have a Y2K label and you do not know about its status, you SHOULD run the Y2K tests or ask your PC LAN administrators for assistance IMMEDIATELY. Detailed procedures of the tests can be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/y2k. In addition, you can download the freeware available on the Internet (such as Norton's free BIOS test utility from ftp://ftp.symantec.com/misc/americas/sabu/n2k/) to test the compliance status of your PC.

Apart from testing the hardware and the operating system, you should also note the compliance status of your application software. Read http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/y2k for more information.

Decommissioning of VMS Server - "Idea"
Due to low usage of the VMS Server (Idea),the Information Technology Services Centre has decided to decommission the server on July 1st 1999. All corresponding services will be ceased.

Details can be read at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/compenv/vms/decommission.html

ClassNet Service Extends to T C Cheng Building
ClassNet service has now been extended to the T C Cheng Building. You can access the Campus Network and the Internet using your own notebook computers or log in using the built-in computers during lectures and tutorials.

As of today, ClassNet reaches 48 classrooms. Together with audio-visual equipment and multimedia applications, these facilities can enhance teaching and learning.

More information can be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/network/classnet.