Laptop and Desktop Support
Below is the outline of the level of service you should expect as a HKS student. We receive a myriad of requests and cannot attend to them all, thus we have outlined our basic support structure for students.
ITS responsibilities
- Provide network infrastructure and secure space on HKS servers for student work.
- Provide students with Web-Mail and access to their classpages.
- Maintain a backup system that makes scheduled backups of student data on the network.
- Protect systems and plan for disaster recovery procedures.
- Maintain the Student Computer Lab.
- Create user accounts and provide passwords for controlling access to servers.
- Provide wireless access points and datajacks on campus for student use.
Student Responsibilities Protecting Equipment and Software
- Keep passwords private.
- Do not share account login names or passwords with any other person, vendor, et al.
- HKS directories and mailing lists are considered confidential and the compilation or redistribution of the information is forbidden.
- Create backup copies of personal files on a regular basis.
- Keep virus protection updated on office and home computers.
- Keep Windows OS updated to prevent security breaches.
Laptop Support
For laptop support, students should stop by the HKS Student Computer Lab.
Services
- ITS will troubleshoot problems printing to HKS lab, library, and Rotunda printers. This includes making available print drivers and supporting documentation.
- Please note that ITS will resolve HKS network connectivity issues originating from the main HKS campus only.
- Students must purchase their own virus software
- ITS will only provide the above support on systems that meet a minimum specified criteria as set by ITS.
- The Student Computer Lab can help students with other laptop issues, such as wireless connectivity, viruses, and printing if time allows.
Service Availability
- At the start of each semester, ITS will provide as much laptop support as possible.
- Laptop support will be provided year round during regular business hours in the Student Computer Lab. Scheduled appointments are recommended.
Conditions
- Students must make a reasonable effort to resolve the problem at hand before contacting ITS. This includes reviewing ITS documentation and following procedures listed.
- Students should email student_support@ksg.harvard.edu to report problems.
- Students may bring in laptops for further diagnosis (subject to conditions A and B) on a first come, first serve basis. No guarantee of staff availability is made unless a scheduled time has been arranged with an Computer Lab staff member.
Desktop Support
ITS provides only limited support to desktop personal computers. Advice on network cards and connections issues to HKS network are handled on a "first come first served" basis by the HKS lab assistants and full time staff. Stop by the HKS Student Computer Lab for advice or to make an appointment.
- ITS will do basic troubleshooting for no longer than 1 hour to help diagnose whether a problem is hardware or software related.
- Hardware problems should be referred to the manufacturer or vendor where the computer was purchased.
- Students are responsible for keeping backup copies of important files.
- Students are responsible for keeping the original CDs that came with the computer as well as original copies of all commercial software applications loaded on their hard disks.
- ITS will only help restore software from original CDS or diskettes.
