Registrar's Notes

March 17, 2008

Fall 2008

Fall registration is now open, please see www.wmich.edu/registrar/timeticketFall.html for the priority schedule.

Also, bookmark the new online schedule view for easy access to course offerings, course descriptions, and current course enrollment, https://bssp.cc.wmich.edu/PLS/BPROD/wskctlg.wskctlg_menu.

Last day to withdraw

Today is the last day students can withdraw online from Spring 2008 courses. Students can withdraw through GoWMU until midnight tonight.

Forced address update

There is a new feature in Self-serve banner that will force students to update their permanent address and their emergency contact information. This feature is tied to registration, so when a student clicks on any of the links, within SSB, to course offerings, to add or drop a course, etc., they will get a screen which asks them to verify their address information. If they do not have a permanent address, and/or emergency contact information, they will have to enter it. Once they have done so, they can click the submit button and be done.

Students will only see this once during the registration period for fall. At this point, the plan is to have this in place once in the spring during fall registration and once in the fall during registration for spring. Questions should be directed to the Registrar’s Office, 387-4300, or registrar-info@wmich.edu.

Password security

Did you know –

• Single word passwords can be broken in less than five minutes.
• Letter and number passwords can be broken in four days.
• Letter, number, special character passwords take about 229 years.

While new programs coming out continually which speed up the process for breaking them, here are some tips to safer passwords:

• Don’t use passwords that are based on personal information that can be easily accessed or guessed.
• Don’t use words that can be found in any dictionary of any language.
• Develop a technique for remembering complex passwords.
• Use both lowercase and capital letters.
• Use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters.
• Use different passwords on different systems.
• Don’t share passwords with others.
• Change passwords regularly.
• Store passwords in a safe place.
• Don’t leave passwords where others can find them.

For more information, see: http://www.lockdown.co.uk/?pg=combi&s=articles.