Information Technology Services

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE

UNPACKING YOUR NEW

WINDOWS XP COMPUTER

Pre-Installation Information for

NDSU Computer Users

If you are a staff or faculty member and you would like ITS to install and support the computer please call the Help Desk at 1-8685 (Option 1) to request the installation. ITS will need a contact name and phone number as well as the location of the new PC.

OR

If you are a student and are setting up your own computer or if you or someone else will be installing the operating system please follow the instructions listed below. If you have questions during the set up, please call the NDSU Help Desk at 1-8685

Do NOT connect the new computer to the network until it has been configured, patched, and made secure. The SANS Institute estimates a new unpatched system is likely to be infected or attacked within 30 minutes of being connected to the Internet.

We strongly recommend you follow the steps below to get started. These only apply to PCs with Windows XP. If you have another type of system please consult installation documentation on how to safely configure the system before connecting it to the network.

• At a computer already set up and connected to the network print the following document for reference during the installation: "Windows XP: Surviving the First Day" at http://isc.sans.org/presentations/xpsurvivalguide.pdf . This Adobe Acrobat file is rather large so it may take a while to load. Be patient.
• Do NOT connect your computer to the network!

When you are ready to turn on the power to the system for the first time carefully follow the instructions in the "Surviving the First Day" document to configure your system. Be sure to keep running Windows Update and rebooting until there are no known critical updates.

• Go to http://its.ndsu.nodak.edu/virus/ and install the McAfee anti-virus software and any related service packs. Be sure to follow the instructions to set the system up for daily updates. The McAfee anti-virus is free to all staff, faculty, and students of NDSU.
• If you are a staff or faculty member of NDSU, please configure the computer for automatic updating as described at http://its.ndsu.nodak.edu/sus/ . If you are prompted to approve an update in the future it is important that you do so as soon as you can save and close your current work.
• If you are a student with a personally owned computer be sure to configure your computer to automatically update all patches and services packs.

Disclaimer: While this information is correct as far as we know, ITS makes no guarantees about its efficacy or safety and cannot be responsible for any damages resulting in following these suggestions.