Account Policies & Lab Rules

Usage of Computer Science Department computers and associated equipment is a privilege, not a right. They are provided to support CS courses. The department does not support the use of its systems for any other purpose. Violations of department policies may result in consequences ranging from loss of privileges to expulsion and/or legal action. Abuse involving pornography or illegal activity will result in the loss of all CS account privileges and removal from all CS classes for at least one year. You are responsible for becoming familiar with these policies, abiding by them, and contacting the System Administrators in the case of any possible ambiguity or uncertainty.

The System Administrators may be contacted by email at support@cs.byu.edu or in person at 1140 TMCB. You can also submit tickets via the ticket system at https://support.cs.byu.edu. Some problems can be solved by email, but others, such as password changes, must be resolved in person with a Photo ID.

Only system administrators should reboot the machines.

Reasons for this policy include:

• Other users could be logged into the workstations remotely.
• System updates or administrative tasks could be running and a reboot would interrupt them and could break something.
• Poorly timed reboots can damage the hardware of the system.
• We need to know the machine's current state to solve the problem.
• We keep track of how often systems freeze or lock up so that we can identify hardware problems.
• For security, an admin password is required to power on the machines.
  • In other words, if you power off a machine, an admin will need to go to it in person to power it up anyway.

The basic idea is that if a machine needs rebooting then there is a problem that the system administrators need to know about so that they can prevent its occurring again.

If you experience issues with the machine, including a frozen desktop, please contact the system administrators by submitting a ticket at https://support.cs.byu.edu/ or by visiting TMCB 1140.

• Accounts may not be used to probe or crack security systems (including passwords) or to intercept information intended only for others.
• Accounts and web space may not be used for commercial purposes.
• Accounts may not be used for mass, commercial, obscene, or harassing email messages or other posts.
• Transfer or storage of illegally duplicated material is prohibited.
• Users are responsible for backing up their own files. System Administrators will not retrieve deleted or corrupted files.
• Each account is allocated a set disk quota. Users may not store more files than their quota permits.
• The System Administrators reserve the right to monitor user activity including the recording of keystrokes and/or files.
• At the start of each semester (before Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer), the accounts of all students who are not currently enrolled in a CS course are disabled. Only students who are currently taking a course are permitted to access their accounts. Students enrolled in a CS course will have their accounts automatically enabled at the beginning of the semester. Any requests to manually re-enable accounts of students not enrolled in a CS course must come from a CS faculty member.

• Pornography is strictly prohibited on department computers. Anyone caught viewing pornography will have their CS account immediately locked, be removed from all CS classes they are currently enrolled in, and will be prohibited from taking CS classes for a minimum of one year. They will also be reported to the Honor Code Office.

• You and only you are responsible for all use of your account.
• Choose a secure password. You are responsible for maintaining the integrity of your account.
• Only you are allowed to use your account. You should never log someone else in using your account.
• Sharing your password with anyone is prohibited. System Administrators will never ask you for your password.
• Always lock your console if you leave your computer logged in. Do not leave a computer locked for more than 60 minutes.
• Requests for adding users to any group should come from a member of CS department faculty or be authorized by them before any changes can be made.

• Food and drink are prohibited in the labs.
• Lab equipment is not to be used for playing games or for watching entertainment videos/TV shows. It is intended for academic use.
• DO NOT reboot the lab computers, disconnect any department equipment, or tamper with department equipment in any way.
• Personal computers may NOT be connected to the department's wired network.
• DO NOT connect personal hardware or equipment to our computers EXCEPT for headphones and USB storage devices.
• The System Administrators do not support personal devices, nor are the permitted personal devices guaranteed to work in the labs.
• Any requests to modify any lab image, or to install additional programs, scripts, etc. must come through the CS faculty.
• Music may only be played on headphones and must not be audible to others.
• A single user should not be logged in simultaneously to more than 5 computers remotely, and 1 computer locally.
• Should you need to run computationally intensive programs, you must nice the processes to avoid monopolizing the computer's resources.
• If one user is found to be using more than his/her share of lab resources, to the detriment of other users sharing the machines, that person's account will be immediately disabled.

We expect all of our students to abide by the Honor Code and to be examples of what BYU represents. Any student who cheats will be subject to any or all of the following:

• Failing the class in which the cheating took place
• Being suspended from enrolling in any Computer Science classes for a minimum of one year
• Being reported to the Honor Code Office