Bard College at Simon's Rock: the Early College
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Connecting to the Simon's Rock Network

Network Registration (NETREG)

All devices that connect to the Simon's Rock wired campus network must be registered to a current Simon's Rock user ID. To register a device, the owner of the device must:

  • Agree to abide by the Simon's Rock Network Acceptable Use Policy
  • Keep the device current with all Operating System (OS) and application software patches and updates
  • Maintain current antivirus software on Windows computers. Simon's Rock provides Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection antivirus software for all faculty, and staff, as well as for all college owned computers. Students can use free Microsoft antivirus software.

Wireless Devices:

Follow instructions for wireless setup.

Wired Devices:

For computers and other wired devices with web browsing capability, you will be presented with a registration screen when a browser is opened after the device is first connected to the college network. Use your Simon's Rock user ID and password to register your devices. Note that NETREG is based on the unique address of the device's network port, so a separate registration is required for each network connection, e.g. the wired and wireless connections on a laptop will each need to be registered.

For devices that do not have web browsing capability (e.g. some game consoles) contact ITS with the device's network MAC address to have ITS register the device.

Acceptable Use Policy

You must agree to the Network Acceptable Use Policy when you register a device on the campus network. If you do not wish to abide by this policy, you may not connect to the Simon's Rock network.

Software Updates

Bugs in system and application software make computer systems vulnerable to malware and exploitation from the internet. Simon's Rock network users are required to keep their systems up-to-date with security patches and upgrades for all installed software. Most Operating Systems have options to automatically download and install system patches. The updates should be enabled by all users. In addition, software such as web browsers and Adobe web and PDF viewing tools must be updated and patched. This page has details on common Windows software updates: Recommended Software Versions found on the Simon's Rock Portal.

Microsoft Security Essentials

If you do not already have an antivirus program with real-time protection installed on your computer, Simon's Rock recommends Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows 7 computers. Windows 8 includes this Antivirus software, which is named Windows Defender in this version of windows.

You must have an up-to-date antivirus program installed on your Windows computer before you join the campus network.