From now on, students can pay tuition fees, hostel fees or penalties online via the newly launched ePayment system.

Make Your Payment Online
After logging into the ePayment system with your student IDs and Campus Wide E-mail System (CWEM) passwords, a full list of debit items, including amount and status of payment will be displayed. Registered PPS users could then make payments through the Internet on or before the due date. Funds will be automatically transferred from your bank account to the merchants’ account upon payment and a transaction reference number will be issued for every successful payment.

Security
Security has always been one of the major concerns for online payment systems. To maximize security, the ePayment system adopts Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) 128-bit encryption for data transfer to ensure a secure flow of information between you and PPS. In other words, your information is changed to unreadable code before transmission, and only authorized receivers can unlock the encryption to view your payment information. Also, the system will automatically logoff once left idle for 20 minutes.

To have a taste of the unprecedented convenience, please visit:
https://epayment.bur.cuhk.edu.hk

top

Through the ePayment system, you can check your balance or pay your tuition fees safely through the Internet.

"Happy Chinese New Year!" "Hung Hei Fat Choi"*

eCards for Greetings
With Chinese New Year just around the corner, we are pleased to provide a series of specially designed greeting eCards for you to send your blessings to your family/friends/business partners through Internet. These eCards are available in two categories, "Postcard" and "Chinese New Year Special", to suit your different needs.

Special Features
The "Postcard" category featuring central campus scenery is for general purpose, while the "Chinese New Year Special" category contains traditional celebrations and festive graphics like firecrackers, red couplets etc. These two categories have both still picture and flash-animated greeting eCards. Besides, a Chinese interface has been added into the system as well. You can add your personalized message in these eCards and send them to multiple recipients at one time.

To use the service, please visit the eCard Centre at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/ecards/

* "Hung Hei Fat Choi" is a Cantonese phrase in which we greet others during Chinese New Year. This means wishing others with prosperity and wealth.

top

Coded with numbers, CKC is an easy-to-use Chinese Input System as users are only required to learn a few rules before using it. With its short learning curve which significantly increases efficiency, CKC has soon became popular after launching in China five years ago.

CKC 2002 Site License @ CUHK
We have organized a site license programme for CKC 2002 Traditional Chinese version, which can be installed on Traditional Chinese Windows (98/ME/2000/XP) and Windows XP platforms. Besides PCs owned by the University, the license is also extended to the personal computers of University staff and students. CKC 2002 is also installed on all PCs of our User Areas (1/F Pi Ch'iu Building and Room 103 Wong Foo Yuan Building).

CKC Training Classes
You can learn this input method through the training material posted on the web. In addition, staff members can attend our workshops in February and March:

CKC 2002 Details

• CKC 2002 download and user guides: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/compenv/license/ckc/index.html
• CKC 2002 Workshop Registration:
  http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/training

top

The instructor demonstrates how to use four digit numbers to enter the Chinese character "陳".

We are delighted to present a new series of interactive eLearning courseware, designed by LearnKey, to all University staff members. In this series, training on Office 2003, Macromedia MX 2004 and Adobe Photoshop CS are provided.

Features Highlight
Enriched by multimedia elements such as video and animation, the series is flexible and self-directed for you to learn at your own pace efficiently. Each course consists of elements including content, labs session, skill assessment and testing etc which closely follows your learning progress. After each test, you could review the mistakes made, and there are also hands-on Labs for you to practise the skills you have learned.

Registration
Courses are opened to staff on a monthly basis. After registration, you will receive a username and password, which allows you to access the online courseware through any Internet connection.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/training/staff/learnkey_intro.htm

top

The LearnKey courseware features with video instructions with labs session and skill assessment and testing.

To explain the capabilities of Digital Certificate and its possible applications in Internet security, a series of seminars were held during The Digital Certificate Information Day on 14 Jan.

Topics covered
The seminars were designed to cover various issues which users would encounter when using Digital Certificates, including introduction to the

• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI);
• Certification Authority (CA);
• Public Key and Private Key;
• Hierarchy of trust;
• Email encryption;
• Public Key Cryptography Standard (PKCS) #12 and
• Secure storage of digital certificate.

Besides the certificate itself, one of the seminars also provided ideas on the application of Digital Certificates in Internet surfing, introducing the virus and security holes, importance of encryption and the identification of fraudulent websites.

Course Materials
These seminars have been well received by attendees. And we have also received many requests for course materials. Apart from downloading the notes at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/training/review.html, you can also find this seminar series video archive on the same page. All videos are in Windows Media format and played using Windows Media Player.

top

You can now watch the "Digital Certificate Information Day" seminar series video archive and download the course materials from the web.

8 Feb 2005 - 13 Feb 2005

During the holidays, other computer systems and network services will continue operating as normal.

top

The User Area at Pi Ch'iu Building opens 24 hours daily during Chinese New Year holidays.

Ever since computers entered the workplace, the increasingly complex software licensing issues have become very much a headache for users.

"There are a variety of licensing models adopted by software suppliers," explains Roger So from Microcomputer Application Support Section. "Some software is licensed to each individual computer while others are licensed according to the number of concurrent users, and some may even be licensed on per-CPU basis."

What complicates the matter further is the fact that some software may consist of a range of sub-products – each of which is licensed separately. So the purchaser/user has to read and comply with the licensing agreements.

For a widely used software, the availability of a site license can save a great deal of collective time, effort and expense for the University. "Take the Microsoft site license program for example," says Roger, "Since almost every staff uses this software, it's more advantageous to buy a site license than buying the boxed license individually." The Microsoft site license, known as Microsoft Campus Agreement, is priced on staff FTE (full time equivalent) counts. "The site license is more than 90% cheaper than purchasing individual boxed licenses," adds Roger. "And we are entitled to all available versions of the licensed software throughout the term of the agreement."

Besides time and cost, the site license brings other added benefits : With everyone using the same software available from the site license, document exchange across campus is standardized and software compatibility with ongoing administrative information systems is ensured. In the case of the antivirus software, PC-cillin site license, support effort is also streamlined tremendously, "When there is a virus problem, our support staff only need to support one product, which is more effective than supporting many different ones," notes Roger.

While the Microsoft site license was purchased for its popularity in workplace, the PC-cillin site license was purchased for strategic reasons. "The main aim is to enforce computer security and to protect the overall campus IT infrastructure. So this site license not only covers all University-owned computers, but also computers owned by staff and students," says Roger, "From a security perspective, providing protection to those home computers of staff and students can in turn, protect the whole campus network and systems." According to a survey, more than 90% of University PC users have installed anti-virus software at their home PCs. (For those who haven't installed it yet, download the software now from http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/security/antivirus/index.html).

Licensing rules change rapidly, so as software technology. "We'll keep an eye out for alternative products on the market. Open source solutions such as Linux and Open Office will be evaluated from time to time. However, before we make any move, it's also necessary to consider users' acceptance and cost of product switching and user training." says Roger.

In addition to Microsoft products and PC-cillin, ITSC has organized a variety of other software site license and volume license programs, please visit http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/compenv/license/index.html for details.

top

We hope you enjoy reading this Digest. As always, we would like to know how you think about the ITSC Digest and how we can make it more useful to you. Please give us your comment at https://helpdesk.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/group/itsc-digest.

The ITSC Digest is sent to all ITSC users with e-mail address published in CUHK On-line Directory . If your e-mail address is not found in this Directory or you want to unsubscribe from the mailing list, please login ITSC Electronic HelpDesk and leave us your e-mail address.