We know you know it's important to keep the password for your Oxford username safe. But have you stopped to consider why? In a world where we increasingly conduct our lives online our digital identity is precious and this is as true in Oxford as anywhere else. Your digital identity in Oxford is managed by Registration Services in OUCS and we take lots of steps to maintain the overall security of your digital identity. One of those steps is to set a password expiry that means you must change your password at least once a year. You may argue that you don't have to do this for other online services but we believe that setting a password expiry brings benefits that improve security for you and everyone in Oxford.

OUCS provides a range of Web services from simple personal and society web pages to comprehensive Web hosting offering advanced features. To help you choose the right service you can take a look a table comparing web hosting services or look at this list of common web hosting scenarios. Those of you with personal web space may also find the personal webpages FAQ useful. In addition, we offer some tutorial information if you want advice on writing HTML as well as Web publishing courses via the IT Learning Programme.

NSMS is now providing a managed Wake on LAN gateway service for Colleges and Departments. Why would you want to use this service? To save money. Using the Wake on LAN service helps reduce the energy consumption of desktop computers and by switching off just 5 desktop computers and their monitors at the end of the working day the annual management costs of one embedded managed gateway from NSMS can be recouped. The NSMS Wake on LAN service provides a small network device that simply plugs in to your network. The device requires no local staff effort, it is fully configured and managed by NSMS and should it fail it would be replaced within 2 working days. So, not only can you participate in the University's GreenIT initiative, you may well be able to save your college or department money.

Did you know that OUCS is now home to an Apple Authorised Training Centre for Education (AATCe)? The AATCe is part of the Thames Suite at OUCS and boasts purpose designed facilities to offer pro and technical Apple certified training courses to all members of the University, and to academics and students from other educational establishments. Apple certified courses include Aperture and Final Cut and the IT Learning Programme provides more general courses such as Introduction to Mac and iLife. Budding filmmakers may also like to take a look at the Documentary Film Making 5 day course taught by professional filmmakers. Check out the course schedule, join the mailing list to keep up to date with future course dates, or contact us with your requirements.

Oxford has embraced podcasting technology as a way to deliver course materials and lectures outside a conventional classroom environment. For those interested in creating podcasts the how to podcast at Oxford guide gives an overview of how to go about creating your own podcasts and how to use the University RSS system, OXITEMS, to publish your podcasts to the Internet. There are two ways to access the podcasts being provided by the University of Oxford: iTunes users can make use of the University's own site in iTunes U or alternatively our podcasts can also be seen using a web browser.

Did you know that OUCS offers a Web Design Consultancy service? The WDC helps to ensure that Oxford-affiliated websites are accessible and adhere to the University's web accessibility standards. The WDC provides free advice on web design best practice and plenty of online resources including a getting started guide, an introduction to web accessibility, and a range of HTML/CSS templates. The WDC can also undertake small-scale web design projects on a charged basis and can work with you whether your website is hosted locally, using the free basic web hosting provided by OUCS or the comprehensive web hosting provided by NSMS. Why not take a look at some examples of our work before getting in touch?

WebLearn is a web-based Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which can be used to both support and enhance teaching and learning. WebLearn enables University members with very little web experience to set up a structured web site and provide an excellent resource for their students and so to focus their electronic teaching and learning activity. Once you have an Oxford username it's easy to login and start using WebLearn where you'll discover the many tools available in WebLearn ranging from on-line assessment and assignment submission (with optional plagiarism detection) to markbook tools to tutorial sign-up sheets to a resources area where documents and multimedia files can be stored, protected and searched. Departments wishing to make use of Weblearn can contact the WebLearn team for advice. University members may like to attend a training course or take a look at the Step-by-Step tool guides and the 'Least you need to know' guides all available within the Weblearn Guidance site.

Oxford Nexus is a central Oxford service used for email, calendaring, contacts and much more. Nexus is the replacement for the previous email system known as Herald, and also offers new features, such as calendars, to-do lists and access to a University-wide address list. You can access Nexus using a web browser, via a program installed on your computer and even on your mobile phone. To access all the new features we recommend that you use a program installed on your computer (aka a "client") such as Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2003 for Windows users and Entourage 2008 if you are a Mac user. However, if you already use an email client on your computer such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Outlook Express, MacMail, or Eudora you can still access your emails in the same way that you did on Herald. And remember, using a client to access Nexus on your own computer does not exclude you from also accessing Nexus using a web bowser via the Outlook Web Access (OWA) login page, for example when you want to check your email or to use your calendar when you are away from your own computer.

Ever wanted to be greener in your use of IT? Well now you can. The Wake on LAN (WOL) service can be used to reduce IT-related greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the time computers are left on unnecessarily. The WOL service enables IT Support Staff, end-users and the HFS Backup Service to switch computers on remotely. University members can register and manage their own desktop computer for the WOL service via the OUCS self registration web pages using your Oxford Username. IT Support Staff can register and manage clusters of computers for WOL on behalf of their users. The WOL service infrastructure also allows ITSS to set up a WOL service within their department or college via a WOL gateway server.

The Oxford username is your gateway to services at Oxford. Most of the central services are authenticated via the Oxford username and many departments and colleges now use it to authenticate their own services too. You might also hear it called your 'Single Sign On' (SSO) or 'webauth' account as well as simply using the name of a service eg your 'Nexus account' - it is all the same. Your Oxford username allows you to access the central mail store (known as Nexus), access your own web space, use WebLearn, use the Oxford email relays when not in Oxford via a configured mail client, and get a central linux account. It will also give you access to library resources, OXAM past exam papers, the OSS student records system, the OxCORT undergrad tutorial system, GSS, the Graduate Supervison System, and many other services.

The OUCS Self-Registration page pulls together a range of facilities that allow you to manage your accounts on many of the centrally offered services. You can request and set a remote access password, manage your TSM backup registration, check the details we have about you, eg email routings, usernames. Do you need to get Sophos, the anti-virus software? Or perhaps you need a VPN client? These and other site-licensed software packages can be downloaded via the OUCS Self-Registration page too.

Does your college or department need some extra or specialized IT help? NSMS may be the answer that you are looking for. NSMS is a team of IT professionals who, as part of OUCS, work throughout Oxford University, within departments, colleges and associated institutions. Think of NSMS as a team of Oxford-specific consultants offering a wide and varied range of IT services... read more about NSMS

Computer breakdown services For most of us our use of computer hardware has become an integral part of our daily lives. You could in fact argue that we have become incredibly dependent on computers, many of us would be aghast at the thought of losing our laptop for a significant length of time. So what happens if your laptop does break down and needs repair? OUCS can help and offers a number of services for the repair and upgrade of personal computers. These range from the Computer Hardware Breakdown Service, to the Repair and Upgrade Service, to a Data Backup and System Re-install Service... read more about computer breakdown services

Wireless networks may not offer the reliability and speed of wired networks but for many their convenience makes them the preferred way to connect to a network whether they are at home, work, or even in an airport. Within Oxford, OUCS provides all of the necessary central services that will allow both members and visitors to connect to the University-wide network via the Oxford Wireless LAN (OWL)... read more about wireless and remote access

How many times have you accidentally deleted something you shouldn't have? It happens to us all. In those situations knowing that you have a backup is a welcome feeling indeed. OUCS operates a University-wide backup service for University staff members and postgraduates via the Hierarchical File Store (HFS) that is suitable for personal computers and servers alike... read more about TSM

The IT Learning Programme, part of the Learning Technologies Group at OUCS, is all about providing the link between information technology and academic teaching and research. We aim to give you the IT training that you need from gentle introductions to advanced computing topics. Many University members choose to attend one of our many taught courses... more about the ITLP.