Our View: The help desk doesn’t really help

Just before fall semester, Network and Computing Services implemented new registration policies for computers on the campus network. Because of these changes, the Help Desk needs to step up its “help.”

In order to obtain access to the network, all computers must be registered. They also adopted a new policy that allows fines of $25 to $50 to restore a connection they have disabled due to viruses, hackers or other behavior that causes problems on the network.

These new charges make it even more important to properly maintain computers. However, if students are not knowledgeable enough to perform their own computer maintenance, they still have few options. The Help Desk on campus is not helping in that situation.

Students can take their computers to off-campus repair shops, but this can be expensive and inconvenient for students who are not familiar with Logan. The Help Desk was established on campus to alleviate this problem, but it often does not do just that.

Students arriving before the semester started were unable to obtain help registering their computers because the Help Desk was closed the weekend before the semester started. Since the semester has started, there are still problems with turnaround time for repairs or having to find the one person who can help with the specific problem they have.

With the current emphasis on prevention of problems, support if problems do occur seems to have been neglected. They have created new online tutorials on Windows Updates and virus scanning, but they still do not always provide the needed support if a user does have a problem.

If new fees and policies are to be imposed for computer problems, better support must be provided to assist students to remain in compliance with the policy. The Help Desk needs to be there to provide assistance not just disable accounts and wait for the users to figure out what is happening.