OUT WITH THE OLD - IN WITH THE NEW - PASSWORD REQUIRED

As of April 1, 2003 all UB students have new campus network and e-mail accounts. At present these are in addition to the accounts you may have already created. Starting June 1, these new accounts will replace current network and e-mail accounts for students.

So, if you expect to graduate in May, you can pretty much forget about these new accounts. If, however, you will be using the labs and/ or a UB email account over the summer or next Fall, you will have to learn all about them.

The new network and e-mail accounts are two facets of a single package. The username and password is the same for both. The username (seven characters beginning with UB) is identical to the one for the MyUB portal program-- which you use for registration, financial aid applications and grades. But, the portal and the network/e-mail accounts are not part of the same program. So, if you change the password for the MyUB portal, it will not automatically change for the network and e-mail accounts. (You may keep them in sync or not, as you prefer).

E-mail is delivered using a package called Outlook Web Access (OWA) which, unlike WebMail, operates at web speed. From off-ampus direct your web browser to http://mail.ubalt.edu. UB lab PCs have a link in the Start Menu (Start > Ubnet Applications > New! UB E-Mail - Web Access). Or, go to mail.ubalt.edu with your web browser. On campus or off, you will open a page that has links to help screens and a logon button. Note that in the labs you must log on to OWA even though you have logged on to the network using the same username and password; this is to keep your e-mail account secure if you forget to log off from the network.

The new email accounts are a significant improvement over the old UBMail accounts. In addition to the faster web access, they allow you to delete messages when you exceed your storage capacity (10Mb). Mail forwarding, and setting an auto-reply message (e.g., "Leave me alone; it's exam week") are simple, menu-driven tasks.

With the new e-mail account you will have a new e-mail address in the form: firstname.lastname@ubalt.edu. In the case of two people with the same name, numbers will be added. Please note that in OWA you do not use your e-mail address as the username; for that you use the UBxxxxx username that logs you on to the network and MyUB. If you store old messages in your current UBMail account, you will have to send them to the new account before June 1, or they will disappear when the old accounts are deleted.

A new and welcome feature of the new network accounts is that they remain in effect as long as you are registered, without periodic renewals. On the downside, documents stored on the network-share M drive with the old network accounts will have to be saved on a floppy or transferred to the new network account before June 1. The computer services department is working on transfer instructions; these should be available in the near future.

You can log on to your new network and e-mail accounts now, using the username and password that was mailed to you. Or, you can wait-- but only for a few weeks.