At least 24 hours before the start of your first lab session, you must introduce yourself to the Computer Science Department's computing network by running the newuser script. Just go to the CSCI141 Lab (MCGL 121) and sit down at any available machine. The machine will be on. DO NOT TURN IT OFF!!

At the top of the monitor screen you will see a white box prompting you for login:

The blinking cursor is just to the right of login:, type newuser and then press Enter.

The box will now change to password:, hit enter.

From here to the end there should be no confusion. Just type what the prompt tells you to type and, having typed it, press Enter.

At one point you will be required to type in your userid. Most student elect to use their standard William and Mary userid (First initial, Second initial, First four letters of your last name - pad with X's where any of the specified characters are not available). You probably know it well and that's one good reason to avoid using something else, however, alternatives are sometimes accepted.

At another point, you'll be required to enter a password (twice). Instructions on how to form a good password will appear on the screen. Follow those directions. Plan ahead to use some letters, some numbers, no dictionary words, no names ... all in a string of characters which you can't ever forget - a tall order.

When you've responded to all of the prompts and pressed Enter at the end of each response, all (well almost all) of the data which you've provided will be displayed to you, and a prompt will ask if the data is correct. If it is, enter y and you're done. If it is not correct, type n and you'll be prompted to enter all those things all over again.

The next time you come to the lab and face the login prompt, type the userid and the password that you established while you were using the newuser script. At this time, if you have changed your userid from the one assigned to you by the college, send an email to your instructor with the new userid information. A correct userid is needed by your lab instructor and the course instructor in order for you to submit your labs and your projects.

Good Luck!