Step 1 - Setting up accounts
You will come across various accounts in your time at Oxford. These include:
- Your Single Sign-On (SSO). This is your most useful account and will log you in to a lot of university services. This includes your email, for which the client configuration process is found here.
- Your Remote Access SSO (RASSO) account. You will use this to connect to the WiFi network Eduroam or the wired network in college. Click for more information about Eduroam.
- Your Upay account. This is the service that allows you to 'top up' your balance on your 'bod card' to pay for meals and to book formal dinners.
- Your Bodleian account. You need this to use the computers in the Bodleian libraries.
- Set up your SSO. You will have been sent an email from the university with information on how to activate your Single Sign On (SSO). Sometimes students have not registered a non-university email address or registered their school one which has been disabled so do not receive this email. If it has not arrived two weeks after you sent your paperwork in contact the IT office at computer.office@bnc.ox.ac.uk and we will send you a new one.
- Once you have activated your SSO you will have to register with the university. To do this go to www.evision.ox.ac.uk and signing in with your SSO. Then go to My Student Record and click on Register. This must be done by the end of the first week of term.
- The next thing to do is to activate your Remote Access SSO (RASSO) account by going to register.it.ox.ac.uk. You will need this to access the WiFi network eduroam . When setting this account up, you will be directed to choose a different password for your Remote Access SSO (RASSO) than you have for your standard SSO - we recommend you use the same one as for your SSO to make it easier to remember. See the Usernames page for more info on which SSO account is for which service.
- You will at some point get an email with your login details for Upay. Follow the instructions in the email.
- You will get a library induction early on in the term where they will explain about your Bodleian account to you. In reality, your Bodleian account is of little use if your laptop can connect to Eduroam or OWL.
Step 2 - Install Office 365 for free
As a student at Oxford you can install Office 365 for free . You will be able to do this once you have set up your SSO. This is handled by your Office 365 email account. Please do not buy Microsoft Office for yourself! More information and a guide to installation can be found here.
Step 3 - Start backing up your files regularly
Microsoft Office 365 comes with OneDrive cloud storage (alternative to Dropbox etc.) and initially you have 5TB (5,000 GB) free cloud storage. Use it! The university is extremely unsympathetic if you don't hand in your dissertation or other work on time because 'it disappeared' or a 'computer problem'. Retrieving lost work on broken devices is an extremely unreliable process and usually unsuccessful, and it's best not to have to do it in the first place. It is even worse if your device is stolen!
Even just emailing important documents to yourself can help. Your email storage has increased to 5TB (yes, 5000GB!).
Another option is to invest in an external hard drive. These can be bought at a relatively low price on Amazon.
Ideally, you should use all options, but cloud storage is ubiquitous and free nowadays and so there is no excuse to not have a backup of your work.
Step 4 - Secure your computer
Computer security is a large and complex topic, but it is essential that everyone has a firm grasp of the best ways to make their use of the internet and computers secure. It is something you must take responsibility for yourself as end user habits are the most important aspect.
We have some information and our personal recommendations at our security page, but there is a wealth of information about internet security all around the internet.
Every device that uses the college/university network must have Anti-Virus and the latest security patches. For windows users we recommend Microsoft Security Essentials / Defender, and for Mac users we recommend Sophos which can be downloaded for free from the University. More information is on the security page.
Step 5 - Connect to the internet
Before arriving at Brasenose you can retrieve your personal BrasenoseWifi key by following the guide here (using option A).
You can also install the Eduroam CAT tool on your devices before you arrive by following the guide here
The next thing you'll want to do is set up your VPN. This is so you can access Oxford services from home or when connected to the Eduroam wireless network. We highly recommend you don't 'leave it until next week,' because you won't be able to set it up from home which is when you're going to need it! Follow the guide on university IT help website to do this.
Office 365
Don't buy yourself office software! All Oxford students are able to get a free copy of Microsoft Office. It is called Office 365, and it contains all the Office programs you would normally use (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook etc.) It also has OneDrive built in, which allows you to save your documents online, and access them anywhere you have an internet connection.
All you need is your university email address to get started. Click here for more information.
Before you arrive at Oxford you should receive an email to the personal email account you used for your university application which contains a code used to activate your email account, and instructions on how to use it.
If you have not received such an email, or have lost access to the personal account you provided, please contact the college IT staff as soon as possible so that we can sort this out for you.
Further information on using the email, can be found here.
Internet
Brasenose has a network socket in every bedroom that provides fast (1000Mb/s), secure internet access. There is public WiFi coverage in almost all bedrooms. If you have poor WiFi coverage in your room, the IT department may be able to fit a booster in your room - please email computer.office@bnc.ox.ac.uk and include your room number.
Don't bring your own router, as these can cause problems with our networks and you may be fined by the Deans.
All Oxford colleges and departments use the wireless network Eduroam so once you have arrived and set this up, you will have internet access at most department buildings here and also in any other university / hospital that supports the service.
Backing Up Your Work
We cannot stress this strongly enough. Back. Up. Your. Files. Microsoft Office 365 (which you can get for free - see below) comes initially with 5TB free online storage space with OneDrive , so there is no excuse for not having an external copy! For information on using OneDrive, visit the guide here.
A good rule of thumb is if you can't remember the last time you backed up your work, you should back up your work!
Printers
There is good provision of communal printers around college. Black costs 4p a sheet and colour costs 8p a sheet with paper provided. To save money and the environment we recommend printing double sided if possible (price drops to 3.5p Black / 7.5p Colour), so it is not really worth bringing your own printer to Brasenose. Brasenose Library provides free photocopying.
To print over the internet from any computer to any Brasenose printer follow the guide here.
Upay
Upay is the online service all Brasenose students use for paying batels, topping up balances on bod cards and booking formal dinners. You can use your Bod Card to pay for hall meals as well as at Gerties Cafe and drinks in the Bar.
You should at some point receive an email with login details and instructions for how to set up your account. The username/email is your university email account and you can always use the lost password facility for your password on the Upay homepage. You can either login to the website here or download the app by searching for Upay on both Google Play or Apple Stores.
You can find guides to using Upay here.
University Services
There are many services that the university and college offers, all of which (unless indicated otherwise) use the Single Sign On to log on, here are some useful links and information.
Student Self Service: You can find your enrolment certificate here as well as exam entry and results.
Self-Registration: From here you can download software you might need for your degree such as matlab as well as change settings for your email and reset passwords.
Nexus Email: This is your university email server. Login using your standard SSO login.
OxCort: Where you can find reports by your tutors. Click the box in the top right to log in.
Solo: The Bodleian libraries website with information about almost every library in oxford. You can use this to find which libraries might have a book you are looking for as well as information about your loans.
Web Print: Go here to print documents from any computer to any college printer. Use your standard SSO login.
Upay: From here you can top up your bod card balance, pay batels and book formal dinners. The username is your university email address.
Weblearn / Canvas: Most departments use these sites for things such as lecture notes, tutorial sheets and timetables. Different departments use one or the other, or both in some cases. Login with your standard SSO.
University IT Services: Go here for lots of advice, guides and more about using your computer in Oxford.
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