Technology Checklist for Employees Returning to Campus

Before Going Back (please read all the steps)

  • Gather your equipment. Gather any office equipment that you took home. This may include: computer, cables, monitor, keyboard, mouse, docking station, USB printer, USB headset, web cam, Duo device, office chair, or similar.

  • Expect transition down time. As it took time to get setup at home, it may take some time to get setup in the office again. Expect up to a day of lost productivity for each person. Employees should coordinate return planning with their supervisor. In particular, please note that computers that have been off for a long time may take several hours to apply all pending updates.

  • Coordinate with IT in advance. In order to avoid overwhelming your IT team, coordinate plans with IT in advance if you anticipate needing assistance with setting up devices. Managers: It may be helpful to stagger your team's return to campus over a period of a few days instead of all at once. 

  • Expect that IT may take a “remote first” approach to technical support. Please call for support. Your IT team may be able to help you remotely and get you setup quickly.

  • Put the Microsoft Teams or Zoom app on your smart phone. If you have trouble getting your computer setup, you can use Teams or Zoom on your phone to do a video session and show your IT technician what’s going on. 

  • Put your data on Box. If you have been using a personal computer at home, you may need to upload data to cloud storage so you can easily access it from campus. Box is recommended. 

Computer Setup

  • Plug in your devices and connect to the network. Connect all of your devices and cables before turning your computer on. The network cable should plug into a port in the wall labeled “D” for “data”. If you use a docking station, the network cable typically plugs in to the docking station instead of the computer. 
    • The network jack in your office is specific to your computer, if the first one you try does not work, try the others keeping track of which ones you have tired. One should work! 
    • If you made changes to your computer’s network settings for home use, you may need to reverse those settings. Computers on the OSU campus should be set to use DHCP and obtain an IP address automatically.
    • If you are having network trouble, contact your IT team. It helps to provide them with your computer's "mac" address; for steps to find the mac address, see: Guide: Find Mac Address. Note that for some computers the mac address will be displayed on a sticker on the case.
  • Test email, printing, and other commonly used apps. Make sure you can access network shares, online services, your email, and your network printer or direct-connected printer. 
  • Need new equipment? If your computer is outdated, you may need a replacement. If you will be working from home and the office, you may need a laptop, docking station, or other equipment. For assistance requesting new computer equipment:

Security

It’s important to make sure your computer is up-to-date for security and usability reasons. These steps are critical whether you took your work computer home or left it on campus. 

  • Check for operating system updates. 
    • Windows: Select Start > Settings  > Update & Security  > Windows Update, and then select Check for updates. 
    • Mac: choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Software Update. 
  • Check security settings. New security updates have been pushed to OSU-managed computers to help protect OSU data. If your computer has been turned off or off the OSU network for a long time, it may not have received these updates yet. Follow these steps to confirm your computer is protected:
    • Windows: Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and select Task Manager; you should see "TaniumClient" running. You should also see "Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Service Executable" running.
    • Mac: Press Command-Shift-G in Finder.Enter /Library in 'Go to folder' field; you should see a folder called /Library/Tanium
  • Update software. 
  • Upgrade or replace old computers. If your computer has Windows 7 or macOS 10.12 or below, contact your IT team to discuss an upgrade or computer replacement. Security updates are no longer provided for these operating systems and they should not be used on the OSU network.

Phone Setup

  • Turn off send extension and update greetings. If you set your phone to go to voice mail, remember to turn that off. Remove or update out of office messages. 
  • Turn off EC500 call forwarding. If you were forwarding calls with EC500, disable it. 

Get Help

 

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