For those working the Reference Desk this week, there are two issues to be aware of.
1. We seem to be having similar issues with usernames and passwords as we were last fall. New students in particular seem to be unable to login to the computers with their UTC IDs and passwords. There may be two parts to this issue: students may not be using the appropriate case for their passwords, or they also have UTK IDs issued to them, which should get resolved by IT soon.
2. The thin clients seem to be unable to deal with multiple logins with the temporary ID and password. This issue has affected MyMocs in a strange way. For example, when two students (A and B) are given the temporary ID and password, they login to two thin clients and try to login to MyMocs. Student A logs in to MyMocs first. Student B then tries to login to MyMocs. When B clicks the link to MyMocs, it takes them directly to A’s account rather than to the login page. Obviously, this is a major privacy/security issue. This does not seem to affect the tower pcs or the macs–only the thin clients.
Jason, Troy, et al. are working on these issues.
How to deal with these hiccups
1. For now, when a student’s ID and password aren’t working, make sure they are using their ID (not email) and the appropriate case for their password (the computer login is case sensitive, MyMocs is not). If the login still isn’t working, have them try to reset their password at the desk or the wing pcs. If they are entering the correct password (capital letters and all) and/or the password reset fails, record their UTC ID on the sheet at the Ref. Desk. ITD will do further troubleshooting from there.
2. If you need to give out the temporary ID and password, make sure the student uses either the tower pcs or the macs until we get the okay from ITD that there’s no issue using the temporary login on the thin clients.