Division of Information Technology Help Desk |
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Information On Accessing E-Mail During An Emergency |
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Accessing E-mail During An EmergencyIf avian flu or other emergency were to force campus to close, e-mail access from home would provide a vital link to colleagues and loved ones, as well as a channel by which the University could supply you with timely information. This page offers pointers for accessing your University of Maryland (UM) e-mail, provided that you already have some form of Internet access. Mail@umd The Office of Information Technology (OIT) provides the Mail@umd e-mail system that is currently used by over 35,000 faculty, staff, and students. Mail@umd can be accessed with your directory ID and password, using e-mail client software like Outlook Express or Thunderbird, or by a Webmail interface. The most important step in preparation is that you know your Directory ID and password. Every member of the University of Maryland community has a Directory ID and password. These are used to log in to campus systems such as ARES, UMEG and Testudo. This ID also forms an e-mail address (yourID@umd.edu) that has the ability to forward mail to any account that you specify. You may specify any valid address, such as your official UM e-mail address, or a personal one from another provider like AOL or Gmail (see Mail Forwarding below). Webmail is particularly easy to use when you are away from campus and using your favorite browser. See the OIT About Mail@umd webmail page. If you prefer to use client software, the OIT Help Desk provides recommendations and configuration information. In this case, you may also need to use the Virtual Private Networking (VPN) software in order to send mail through the University's SMTP servers. NOTE: Even if the name may remind you of the mail forwarding service, Mail@umd is a completely separate service. Although your e-mail address looks like yourID@umd.edu, it does not necessarily mean that you are using Mail@umd. If you want to use Mail@umd with the forwarding service above, you must specify yourID@umd.edu in ARES or Testudo; you would still, however, tell people to send e-mail to yourID@umd.edu. If you have any questions, the OIT Helpdesk can assist you. Mail Forwarding You should confirm your official forwarding address is correctly specified by using www.ares.umd.edu for faculty/staff or www.testudo.umd.edu for students. Other E-mail Systems at the University of Maryland Some departments and other groups provide their own e-mail services. If you are using one of these services, please contact your IT administrator for additional assistance in accessing these systems from home. If you currently access your e-mail through a department server that has been disabled due to an emergency, it is possible to create an account on the Mail@umd system by visiting www.oit.umd.edu/new and following the links. (Note: Accounts do not exist for everyone). Once established, the account may be accessed via the web using https://mail.umd.edu/. Please be aware that your archived e-mail will not be available in the newly created account.
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