Welcome to our new readers from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences! Tuesday Tips is a newsletter published by Letters and Science IT to provide information and updates on LS and campus IT services and, of course, quick tips on how best to take advantage of those services. We aim to keep it short and useful, and we typically publish every other week.
In addition to welcoming our new readers, we are thrilled to welcome Nick Botto as our Senior Desktop Support Analyst primarily serving Earth and Planetary Sciences! Nick provided this introduction to share with the community:
From the time I learned to hold a screwdriver, I was fascinated by what is inside things. I quickly figured out that if I learned how to put them back together, I could stay out of trouble because no one would notice. I even managed to not light the house on fire, and quickly learned my lesson as to why we don't wire battery-powered toy cars to a wall socket.
My areas of expertise include Mac, PCs, Linux, and making old computers and software function. I'm great at finding the bugs no one else has ever heard of - if you need someone to figure out an esoteric problem that Google has nothing for, send it my way.
Outside of work, I enjoy making and DJing dance music. I program lighting and visual effects that respond to music in real-time for my DJ show.
My UC Davis journey started as a teenager when my mom was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor (non-carcinogenic). Our local doctors immediately sent her to UC Davis, where they worked miracles for her, more than once - later she was one of the first people in the world cured of hepatitis C, also by UC Davis. When the opportunity to work for UC Davis came up I sprang at the chance - I wouldn't be who I am today if not for UC Davis.
My curiosity has led me to explore computers of all kinds (I once installed Linux on MIPS-based telecom equipment), music, art, and even science. In between my career bookends as a technologist I took a ten year break to be an electron microprobe scientist doing solid-state chemical analysis here at UC Davis.
Migrating to Microsoft Defender Antivirus
As previously announced, we are moving from Sophos Antivirus to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint as our primary antivirus solution.
For users of Windows systems managed by LS IT, we plan to start the migration to Microsoft Defender on Monday 2/6.
In most cases, this change will happen silently in the background. You may notice that the Sophos icon (a blue shield with an "S" in the center) in the system tray will be replaced by the Microsoft Defender icon (a blue shield drawn in four quadrants).
We will announce plans for migrating our managed Mac population to Microsoft Defender soon.
Quick Updates and Reminders
Never Accept an Unexpected Duo Prompt!
If you receive an unexpected Duo push prompt, that's a strong sign that attackers are attempting to compromise your UC Davis computing account. NEVER accept a Duo prompt that you didn't initiate! If you receive an unexpected Duo prompt, please report it to LS IT promptly.
Overleaf Available at Discount
Overleaf is a popular, graphical, web-based editor for LaTeX documents, which are often used in scientific publications. Overleaf Standard subscriptions are available under a group license through LS IT for $65/year (as compared to the normal cost of $199/year).
Duo Ends Support for Older iOS and Android Versions
The Duo Mobile app will no longer be updated for Android 9 and earlier or iOS 13 and earlier devices as of February 9, 2023. Duo Mobile will continue to be fully supported on iOS 14 and newer or Android 10 and newer. You can find additional information in this Knowledge Base article.
UC Davis Phish Bowl
The UC Davis Phish Bowl is a fast place to check whether a suspicious email you've received is phishing or legitimate.
Letters and Science IT
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2235 Social Sciences & Humanities
