You can do the following when off-campus:
- Read and respond to your Williams email, as well as download, view and send attachments.
- Access personal and departmental file storage spaces (Helen, Hector, etc.) via netstorage.
- Access the restricted databases of the college libraries, like Lexis/ Nexis, using the college proxy server. (Contact the library for more information.)
- View and modify your Meeting Maker calendar.
- Run Keyserved applications like Photoshop or Dreamweaver from a Williams owned laptop using VPN (Virtual Private Network).
Choose a method for connecting to the Internet.
From home you will need either a high speed (broadband) connection, or a dial-up (slow) modem connection. Broadband options in this area are Time Warner cable or Verizon DSL. Time Warner is a cable modem connection, so your house needs to be wired for cable to get it. Verizon DSL is a high speed connection that runs over your phone lines. It is not available everywhere as the distance from telephone junction is a limiting factor. ATT Global is a dial-up connection with local numbers all over the world.
Checking Email
You can use our webmail system, or the email client of your choice (Outlook, Outlook Express, OSX Mail, etc.).
From any web browser, such as Internet Explorer, connect to https://webmail.williams.edu and log in with your username and password.
Eudora, Outlook and Outlook Express will work fine. See the email faq for help on selecting and setting up an email client. When off-campus, either change the SMTP server to your ISP's outgoing server (smtp1.attglobal.net, smtp.sover.net, etc) or use mail.williams.edu with authentication.
ATT Global
If you have an ATT Global dial-up account, there are some settings which are not obvious. Primary DNS should be 165.87.13.129 and the Secondary DNS should be 165.87.201.244. For more details, go to http://www.attbusiness.net.
Proxy Server
The proxy server filters your connection through the Williams network, allowing you to access a Williams-only resource from off campus. The Williams Libraries provide the best instructions.
Meeting Maker
If you have a laptop that was set up by OIT with Meeting Maker, your client should work while off-campus.
For a home computer, we recommend using the web-based client. Follow the links to the Meeting Maker login. The browser may ask you to install a piece of java code from Meeting Maker; you should allow it to do so.
Support
The OIT Help Desk is available to help with any of the functions described above. We are not able to diagnose problems due to ISPs or the hardware and software on a home computer. We would like to help, but the variations in home computers and ISP connections make diagnosis of these problems almost impossible over the phone.
There are highly qualified students available who can make house calls (for a consulting fee) and are capable of setting up the ISPs, email clients, FTP clients, and the proxy server.
Using Keyserved Applications
A Virtual Private Networking, (VPN) connection allows you to establish a Keyserver connection and run Williams licensed software from off-campus. The VPN connection is limited to faculty and staff. The software is also limited to Windows XP or Vista on the PC side and OSX on the Mac side.
The VPN connection requires Internet access to briefly connect to the keyserver. Time Warner cable or Verizon DSL is preferred, although a dial-up connection may end up working fine.
If your college provided laptop does not already have the VPN software you will need to download the Cisco Systems VPN Client from http://oit.williams.edu/software/.
