Author: Jamen Mcgranahan

A Librarian’s Guide to Cybercrime Mitigation – Review

Yesterday, I attended the Choice webinar, “A Librarian’s Guide to Cybercrime Mitigation” and it was one of the more rewarding webinars I have attended. It reminded me of why we do the things we do when it comes to security. I would encourage any and all Library staff to watch the recording, found here:

https://www.choice360.org/webinars/a-librarians-guide-to-cybercrime-mitigation/

They provided several tools that can help you yourself protect your digital footprint. From checking how secure your password might be to seeing if a website is malicious or not. Here are a few of the tools mentioned:

How secure is my password? https://www.security.org/how-secure-is-my-password/

Check if sites have been reported malicious: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/url

Check to see if your email address has been a part of a data breach: https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Please, secure your passwords; use a password manager; don’t re-use passwords; and above all else, don’t leave passwords laying around on sticky note! 😊

Setting browsers to automatically clear history & cache upon closing (Update from 2020 post)

UPDATED version:

Sometimes our browsers get clogged and cause issues, especially when trying to access sites that are behind protective layers. Then we have to tell users to go clear their browser’s history and cache. There is a way that this can be done automatically, though, when a user closes their browser. Please see below for how to do this based upon your preferred browser:

Edge (Version 100.0.1185.36 (Official build) (64-bit))
  1. Open the Edge browser
  2. Click on the 3 dots on the top-right and select “Settings”
  3. Click on “Privacy, search, and service”
  4. Click on “Choose what to clear every time you close the browser”
  5. Turn on at a minimum “Browsing history”, “Cookies and other site data”, “Cached images and files”

Edge privacy, search, and services settings
After this, you are done. There’s nothing else you need to change for Edge (and there is no “Save” button). You can now start using your browser as normal and when you close it, it will automatically clear your history & cache for you.

Firefox (Version 99.0 (64-bit))

  1. At the top of the Firefox window, click the menu button on the right and then select Settings

Firefox menu options

  1. Click on Privacy & Security
  2. Look for the “Cookies and Site Data” section click the check box next to “Delete cookies and site data when FireFox is closed”

Firefox cookies and site data settings

  1. Scroll down to “History” section and change the drop down next to “Firefox will” from “Remember history” to “Use custom settings for history”. Then click the check box next to “Clear history when Firefox closes”

FireFox custom settings for history
That’s it. Like Edge, there is no “OK” or “Save” button – it automatically saves your changes/updates so you can now use your browser as normal. And the next time you close it, it will automatically clear your history and cache for you.

Chrome (Version 100.0.4896.75 (Official Build) (64-bit))

  1. Open the Chrome browser
  2. Open the Chrome menu options (3 dots to the right) and then select Settings
  3. Click on Privacy and security
  4. Click the Cookies and other site data
  5. Scroll down until you see “Clear cookies and site data when you close all windows” and toggle it from off to on

Chrome cookies setting
Like the other browsers, there is no “OK” or “Done” button – it automatically saves your updates. But this is it – this is all you need to change.

Mapping drives

There are times where you need to map a network drive, either because you have lost access somehow or you have been granted access to a network drive. To do this, please follow the below instructions (to do this, you either need to be on campus or on the VPN):

Click on the File Explorer icon in the toolbar:

If you do not have the File Explorer icon, in the box “Type here to search”, click inside the box and enter “File Explorer”. If you do not have either the File Explorer icon or the search box, you can search the Start Menu for File Explorer.

Then in the window that pops up, click on “This PC”. It may also be labeled “My Computer”:

 

Then, in the top menu options, click the “Map network drives” button:

In the pop up windows that displays, change the Drive letter to whatever you want. For your personal drive, that will be N:. For the shared folders, that would be G:

In the folder text box, enter the information you have received from LTDS. For the N: drive, that would be \\libshare.library.vanderbilt.edu\VUL\users\yourVUNetID and for the G: drive, that would be \\libshare.library.vanderbilt.edu\VUL\Workgroups. Any other network share would need to come from LTDS for the exact path.

Make sure the “Reconnect at sign-in” box is checked. This way you won’t have to remember to do this – it will automatically reconnect to the network share upon relogin.

Click “Finish”. If you are authorized to access that network folder, it will automatically pop up with the folders/files. If you have any trouble or issues with this, please submit an INFORM.

 

Set Browser to Clear Cache When Closing

Sometimes our browsers get clogged and cause issues, especially when trying to access sites that are behind protective layers. Then we have to tell users to go clear their browser’s history and cache. There is a way that this can be done automatically, though, when a user closes their browser. Please see below for how to do this based upon your preferred browser:

Internet Explorer

  1. Open IE browser
  2. Click Tools > Internet Options > Advanced tab
  3. Scroll down to the Security section and then check the box: Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed
  4. Click OK

Firefox

  1. At the top of the Firefox window, click the Firefox button and then select Options
  2. Select the Privacy panel
  3. In the History section, set Firefox will: to Use custom settings for history
  4. Select the check box for Clear history when Firefox closes
  5. click the Settings… button. The Settings for Clearing History window will open
  6. In the Settings for Clearing History window, click the check mark box next to Cache.
  7. Click OK

Chrome

  1. Open the Chrome browser
  2. Open the Chrome Toolbar (3 lines to the right of the URL window) and then select Settings
  3. Select Show advanced settings…
  4. Click the Content Settings button located under the Privacy section
  5. Under first section labeled Cookies, select Keep local data only until you quit your browser
  6. Click Done

Working with EndNote

EndNote is a popular piece of software that is used by many members of the Vanderbilt Community.  First and foremost, the most efficient way to find the full-text of an article is through starting at http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/, but if you want to try the following options, it may save you a little bit of time, but the first thing you need to do is to make a couple of changes to your Preferences. When you are in the EndNote client, go to Edit -> Preferences:

In the OpenURL path, enter the following:

https://catalog.library.vanderbilt.edu/openurl/01VAN_INST/01VAN_INST:vanui?

And in the Authenticate with URL, enter the following:

https://login.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/login

You can also select the “Automatically invoke Find Full Text on newly-imported references”.

Then click “Apply” and OK. There are two ways from within EndNote to potentially find full text. The first utilizes the “Find Full Text” feature within EndNote.

This option will try to locate full text of the articles selected. You will be prompted to Authenticate with your VUNet ID/epassword and if it is successful, there will be paperclip next to the Author.

NOTE: Based on our experience, this is rarely reliable. If you are not successful, try option #2:

Here, we will utilize the OpenURL option. There are a couple of ways to get to it. First, make sure the article you want to find is selected, then go to References -> URL -> OpenURL Link:

The 2nd method is to right-click on the article

This will take you directly to the Vanderbilt Library’s catalog where you can then access the full text if it is available.

This is just a couple of ways that you can utilize EndNote. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

How to access Shared Exchange Mailbox via the web

Occasionally, there are problems with the Outlook client but you really need to access a shared exchange mailbox. One way to do this is via the web:

http://outlook.com/owa/{emailbox}@vanderbilt.edu

So, if you are trying to access the Central Circulation email box, your URL would look like this:

http://outlook.com/owa/cencirc.library@vanderbilt.edu

It will then prompt you to log in, which you will use your own Vanderbilt email address and epassword and if you are authenticated & authorized, you will see the mailbox.

Outlook365 Spam Protection Update

On October 15, 2019, please be advised on the upcoming change to how spam will be handled:

“Microsoft Office 365 is updating the quarantine notifications and alerts messages that users will receive. Currently, users can release emails from quarantine directly from the notification email. After mid-October, users will no longer be able to release quarantined emails from the notification email itself; they will only be able to “Block Sender.” To review and release quarantined emails back into their mailbox, users will have to sign in to the Office 365 Security and Compliance Quarantine website.” (from https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2019/10/10/microsoft-office-365-changes-to-notification-messages-regarding-quarantined-emails-in-vumailguard/)

 

LTDS September 29nd – October 5th 2019

Over the past week, your LTDS staff have been putting in a lot of time towards out-facing services. For instance, our first LTDS Office Hours was hosted on Friday, with 5 attendees with a variety of questions. Thank you for all who came and participated. This will be a weekly pilot so come and join us this Friday at 10am! Other out-facing services include website work, a lot of Informs, and committee work. Internally, we continue load user records into Alma, and support staff with various desktop issues. LTDS Staff continue to increase their skills by participating in various trainings, webinars, courses, and preparing to assist and/or teach.

Web work:
* WordPress updates
* Islandora updates
* Clickable study room map
* New titles page interface improvements
* Public web typography refresh
* TVNews forgot password project

Staff supporting:
* LTDS Office Hours
* OCLC publishing project
* Library GitHub support/documentation
* Office 365 installation

Courses:
* Python
* Laravel
* Unix
* Library Juice Academy courses

Committees:
* LAC
* Alma Systems Committee
* Wayfinding Task Force
* eBUG
* Leganto Working Group

Other:
* Archivematica

Basic troubleshooting: Delete Outlook Profile

Sometimes, Outlook can be problematic and no matter what you try, you still get either annoying pop ups or you’re not receiving emails that you believe you should be. One basic way to troubleshoot this issue is to delete the profile your computer is using for Outlook. What this does is force Outlook to rebuild your profile, giving you a clean start, so it does not hurt anything to try this.

First, you need to go to your Control Panel.

Then go to “User Accounts”

Then go to “Mail”

In the window that pops up, click on “Show Profiles”

In the next window that pops up, you should see one profile, which is your default profile. Click the “Remove” button.

Once completed, click OK. For best results, reboot your computer and then start up Outlook again. This only takes a few minutes to complete but is one anyone can try as a method to troubleshoot Outlook issues.

LTDS September 22nd – 28th 2019

LTDS personnel have been diligently working on various projects from across various areas. To name a few:

    • Desktop:
      • Office 365 installation
      • Laptop/Desktop deployments
    • Alma/Primo VE:
      • Testing Fisk user loads
      • Cleaning up user records
      • Circulation/Reserve Desk
    • Digital Collections:
      • TVNews – Accessibility issues
      • TVNews – Forgotten password project
      • Fine arts exhibits
    • Web/Web applications:
      • Clickable room maps
    • Committees:
      • LITA
      • ELUNA Developers Day
      • Exhibits System Task Force
    • Training:
      • Bootstrap 4
      • XSLT/XQuery