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Microsoft Teams meeting recordings will now be saved to OneDrive and SharePoint

Wednesday, October 7th, 2020

What does this mean?

Microsoft has opted to change the storage space where new Teams meeting recordings are stored on, and served from, to OneDrive and SharePoint (ODSP),  instead of Microsoft Stream. This change will occur in the next few months and more information will be made available at a later date.

How does this affect Stellenbosch University?

This change impacts the organisation in several ways:

  • New features

The move to ODSP immediately unlocks long-awaited features including external and guest sharing, with improved transcription quality, speaker attribution, transcript content search, and other features to follow in 2021.

  • Meeting storage

Non-Channel meetings will be stored in the OneDrive of the person who clicked the record button in a special folder labelled “Recordings” – that sits at the top of the recorder’s OneDrive. Channel meetings will be stored in a folder labelled “Recordings” under a folder named after the channel under the Team’s document library.

  • Permissions

All meeting invitees – except for external users – in non-channel meetings will automatically get a shared link to access the meeting recording. External users will need to be explicitly added to the shared list by the meeting organiser or the person that clicked the record button. For Channel meetings, permissions will be inherited from the owners and members list in the channel.

What should I do to prepare?

For now, you as the user should do nothing. This is an automated process being implemented on a server level. We at IT will be testing these new features extensively before any implementation will be made on the user environment. More information will be communicated at a later date.

[ARTICLE BY BRADLEY VAN DER VENTER]

Deliveries and hardware support during lockdown

Monday, September 21st, 2020

Even though Information Technology has been fully operational during lock down, most of our support is done remotely.  Some of our staff are in office on a rotational basis making hardware repairs and receiving deliveries possible.  However, we are still adhering to Covid-regulations and contact with staff are limited to the absolute necessary.

Stellenbosch campus:

  • Currently no deliveries are made to clients by IT.
  • Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays:   Suppliers deliver equipment to our offices.
  • Collection of equipment (new or repair) on Mondays to Fridays between 8:30 and 16:00.
    IMPORTANT:  If you have placed an order and it has been delivered, you will receive an automatic message from our system when the order has been processed, however this does not mean you should come to the offices and pick up your equipment. We will send you an email with a specific date to pick up your order.  (Example of email) 
  • Device repairs:  If you have equipment which needs to be attended to, log a request as usual and a technician will contact you where after you will receive an email with a date and instructions on when to bring the equipment to our offices and again when to pick it up.

Tygerberg campus:

  • Wednesdays:  Deliveries from Stellenbosch campus to Tygerberg
  • Pickup of new orders:  You will be contacted by a technician with a specific time for collection. 
  • Device repairs:  The same as Stellenbosch campus

For any enquiries, please log a request on the ICT Partner Portal. Please remember to provide a cell phone number where we can contact you.

Reminder to enrol for MFA

Tuesday, September 8th, 2020

Last month we told you about the planned implementation of MFA (Multi-factor Authentication). Thank you to the 28 671 staff and students who have already enrolled to use MFA.

If you are still unsure what MFA entails, here is some information

Although we have not activated MFA yet, soon all staff and students will be required to use multi factor authentication when using any of the Microsoft 365 applications (Outlook, Sharepoint Online, OneDrive for Business, etc.) to protect their information university’s network. If you haven’t enrolled yet, we strongly advise you do so as soon possible by following these steps.

If you have any questions first consult our FAQs and if this does not answer your question, please log your request on our ICT Partner Portal and a technician will contact you. If you have any questions you would like to add to our FAQs, you’re welcome to send an email to help@sun.ac.za and we’ll add them to the list.

Microsoft to use more secure encryption

Monday, September 7th, 2020

Microsoft recently announced that they will no longer use TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in Office 365. They are moving all online services to Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2+ to provide best-in-class encryption, and to ensure the service is more secure by default. 

“We temporarily halted deprecation enforcement of TLS 1.0 and 1.1 for commercial customers due to Covid-19, but as supply chains have adjusted and certain countries open back up, we are resetting the TLS enforcement to start Oct 15, 2020,” Microsoft announced.

Yes, but what does that mean?

In short – Microsoft is switching to more secure security and subsequently older operating systems will no longer work effectively. At Stellenbosch University this means that, once this change takes effect, all connections to Office 365 using the protocols TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 will no longer work. This includes:

  • Android 4.3 and earlier versions
  • Firefox version 5.0 and earlier versions
  • Internet Explorer 8-10 on Windows 7 and earlier versions
  • Internet Explorer 10 on Windows Phone 8
  • Safari 6.0.4/OS X10.8.4 and earlier versions

OK, what should I do?

It’s important that you update or replace the software mentioned above and the devices that rely on TLS 1.0 and 1.1 to connect to Office 365.

  • Windows based devices
    Make sure all Windows and Office updates are installed.
    We recommend Windows 10 v1909 and Office 365.
    If you are running Windows and Office versions other than Windows 10 and Office 365, please log a request on the ICT Partner Portal to have your device assessed for possible upgrade to our recommendations.
  • macOS devices
    Make sure all system updates and Office updates are installed.
    We recommend macOS Mojave and higher and Office 365.
    If you are running a macOS device or Office package older than our recommendations, please log a request on the ICT Partner Portal to have your device assessed for possible upgrade to our recommendations.
  • Android and iOS devices
    Need to be updated to latest available update for the device as specified by the manufacturer of the device.
    We recommend that you use the Outlook app to be able to access your emails from the device as this is the most secure application to retrieve your emails.

If your device does not meet the requirements to upgrade its Operating system and Software, we recommend that you purchase a device that is compatible to continue to be able to make use of these services. If you are still unsure of what to do, please log a request on the ICT Partner Portal and we will assist you.

[ARTICLE BY BRADLEY VAN DER VENTER]

Windows and Office license activation expiring soon

Monday, September 7th, 2020

If you haven’t been on campus during lock-down or connected to the campus network by VPN (Virtual Private Network) and you are using Stellenbosch University licensed Windows or Office you might soon see messages popping up on your screen warning that your Windows and/or Office licenses are about to expire (see examples below)  

The reason for these warnings are that your Windows and Office licenses are no longer activated. When you are on campus this happens automatically – the activation is done from the university network without you even knowing. If you’re not on campus, this won’t happen. Don’t panic, there’s an easy fix.

WINDOWS:

      

 

Office:

 How can I activate my Windows and Office software again?

  1. Install Secure VPN or log a request on our portal and a technician will contact and assist you.
  2.  Make sure your laptop or PC password is the same as the password you use for the VPN. Instructions on how to do this. 
  3. Open VPN, connect to the university network. Keep your PC or laptop running and connected to VPN for at least two hours in order for Windows and Office to update. 

Where can I see if my Windows has been reactivated? 

Where can I see if my Office has been reactivated? 

 

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