~chjones/med school

USC Student Network Info (for “advanced” users)

The USC network requires certain settings in order to connect properly, including proper connection to a Cisco 3000 VPN concentrator. The below is intended to be a quick guide to the steps necessary to connect to the USC network, either wirelessly via an 802.11b adapter on the USC campus or via a home computer. All the below information is publicly available; you still need a USC account in order to fully connect, and a USC-registered MAC address to connect at all. (Your MAC can be registered at the USC network card registration page.

(Most of this information is simply copied from MedWeb's Notes for Advanced Users.)

Wireless settings

SSID	USC
WEP type	shared
WEP key	GOUSC (0x474F555343)

VPN settings

Server	vpn3k.usc.edu
Group name	Wireless (on campus); USC (off campus)
Group password	GoTrojan
Username	Your USC username (without @usc.edu)
Password	Your USC passowrd

Using Gmail instead of USC Email

USC Email sucks. The storage space is very limited, especially for all those attachments people like to send the med school class, and mail older than 180 days is routinely deleted—even if it's stored in folders other than the Inbox. Gmail, however, is a huge step up; in fact, a real step up from any other web-based mail.

A few of my friends have been switching to Gmail, so I started giving them advice on how to do so effectively. The below guide allows you to use Gmail instead of USC for all your needs, allows you to check only Gmail and avoid the USC Web Mail interface, and makes sure you still don't miss any med school announcements by nicely labelling all the ones that were supposed to go to that account.

(By the way: don't have a Gmail account? For the moment, it's invitation-only, but I have plenty of invitations to give out. Email me and I'll be happy to send you one.)

1. Log onto Gmail first. On the left, under “Labels”, click on “Edit Labels”. In the “Create a new label” box, enter “Med School” (or whatever) and click on “Create”.

2. Next, next to the search box at the top of the screen is “Create a filter”. Click on it, and in the “To:” box, enter “usc.edu”. (This way, it'll catch things sent directly to you as well as to med2007 or other aliases at USC.) Click on the “Next Step” button. From the “Apply the label (Choose Label…)” menu, choose “Med School”, and make sure the box is checked. Click on “Create Filter”.

   (At this point, any mail coming in with “usc.edu“ in the To, CC, or BCC fields will automatically have the label “Med School” added, so when it's in your inbox there will be little green text on the conversation that says “Med School”—it'll be nice and obvious and make searching a little easier. For instance, suppose I wanted to look for an email that Forman sent the class: I could enter in the search box:

   from:forman label:"med school"
   

   Though that may be a stupid example.)

3. To forward everything from your USC account so you don't have to check in two places, log into USC Web Mail. Near the top, click on “Options”, and then to the left click on “Settings”. In the bottom box, enter your Gmail address (such as yourmomma@gmail.com). To activate the forwarding, check the “Enable forwarding” box. I prefer for everything to be in gmail—I don't have any messages at all on my USC account. If you“d like it that way, also check the “Don't leave copy on server” box. Click “Save Changes”, and never deal with the USC webmail again! (Except to change your password regularly, of course.) (Also note that if you didn't check the “Don't leave copy on server” box, you may have to clear out your inbox from time to time—I'd strongly recommend checking the box.)