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Purdue IT supports faculty, staff, and students (both undergraduate and graduate) in the College of Engineering, the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, and the office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships (EVPRP).
This document summarizes obtaining Purdue IT access, storing and preserving your data, your choices for e-mail, our network infrastructure, free and discounted software for home use, and how to contact us when you have questions or problems.
Please note that using Purdue IT resources means that you have read and accepted our Policy on Access and Usage.
Obtaining Purdue IT access
Instructions on obtaining a Purdue IT account can be found here: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECN/Support/Accounts/Request
In order to obtain a Purdue IT account, there must first be a Purdue Career Account. Generally, this requires active enrollment in a class or paperwork submitted through the business office to add someone to payroll. There are special cases, but they usually involve getting approval at a director or department head level.
Email and Password Options
Every person with a Purdue Career Account can send and receive email with an @purdue.edu address. You may choose what happens to messages sent to your own @purdue.edu address. We'll tell you how, below, in "Setting your 'Service' field," first, here are the options:
Office365: Purdue provides Office 365 mail to students, staff, and faculty.
Selecting your password and password reset options
Logging into the above page might trigger a request to change your password - if not, and if someone else told you what your password is, then you should change your password at https://www.purdue.edu/apps/account/ChangePassword.
We recommend creating passwords that are 8 to 15 characters long- sometimes having 16 characters can cause problems. If you click the "Account" breadcrumb above this page, there are other options and information for your account, including setting up password reset questions.
On-campus wireless Internet access
Purdue provides and maintains Purdue AirLink (PAL), a wireless network available inside buildings throughout most of the West Lafayette campus. For more information, please see https://it.purdue.edu/services/wifi.php
Connecting to Purdue resources from off-campus
You may access most of Purdue's services from off-campus.
If a particular service doesn't seem to work, try connecting first to Purdue's Virtual Private Network (VPN), a service provided and maintained by Purdue. For more information, please see http://webvpn.purdue.edu.
Faculty and staff who have a Purdue IT-maintained Windows PC in their campus offices may use Remote Desktop Connection software to remotely control the Windows-based desktop computer in their offices.
Free anti-virus software, other free downloads, on-campus software discounts for personally-owned computers, and new computer discounts
Purdue has purchased site licenses that allow for free download and installation by faculty, staff, and students, even on personally-owned computers. Anti-virus software, SecureCRT (secure shell terminal connections), and SecureFX (secure file transfers) are available at the Purdue Community Hub website.
Other software for both Windows and Macintosh, including Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, and EndNote, is available at much lower cost on campus than anywhere else. Information about discounts available to Purdue faculty, staff, and students for personal use (when you're using your own money) is available at the Purdue IT Shopping webpage.
(For software installations, purchases, and/or new computer information when you're using Purdue's money, please use the Contact Us page to describe your needs. Purdue IT will be glad to assist.)
Other Assorted Thoughts In No Particular Order:
Your C:\ drive is locked down: use the Contact Us page to request software installation.
Save all documents to your Engineering (U:\) or (W:\) network drives. Documents saved on these drives are backed up each night. Do NOT store important data on non-backup space.
If you must reboot your computer in the middle of the day, due to a minor problem with your computer or something else, you want to leave your computer at the "Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to log in" screen for 60 seconds in order for some things to be cleaned out in the background. If you forget, then you might find that the computer won't log you in and will just bring you back to the log-in screen; if this happens, just wait 60 seconds and try again.
Report ANY automated system messages that you may see, or any Profile copy errors you may see using https://engineering.purdue.edu/support
Do not store student grades anywhere except Blackboard.
Purdue IT Staff will NEVER ask for your password. If in doubt, check with us FIRST.
Getting help, asking questions, and/or reporting problems
The Purdue IT Knowledge Base is an online library of documentation covering Purdue-specific systems and other topics of potential interest to faculty, staff, and students throughout the areas we support. It's a great place to start.
To request our assistance, to report a specific problem, or to request installation of specific site-licensed software on a Purdue IT-maintained computer, please use the Contact Us.
Yes, the Contact Us page is the correct way to contact us even when you "just have a question!" We're here as your first point of contact for all computing-related inquiries. We'll be glad to help. This form helps us get background information about your question and helps us identify questions multiple people are having that might be worth a Purdue-wide KB article or an announcement.
Thank you!