Information Technology Services

IT Services is in the process of automating some of the maintenance for desktop machines, both in Prince George and eventually in the regions. We need to protect our network and computers from malware, and the first step is to make sure all the machines are patched with Windows Updates.

The machines we are updating will now automatically install critical updates. We would ask that if you see a pop-up balloon mentioning that your machine needs to reboot, please take a couple of minutes to oblige us and restart your machine. When you log in again your machine will be running with the newest system updates, which will ensure that known Microsoft exploits and vulnerabilities will be patched. You may also see a pop-up balloon mentioning that you have updates to install, if you have time during the day, (perhaps at lunch) click the little yellow “shield” icon in your taskbar and do a simple install of all the system patches and updates. Your machine will update and when done present a box that asks you to restart. If you don’t have time during the day, you can wait until your shift is done, go to “Start>Shut Down>Install Updates and Shut Down” which will allow you to leave your machine, and it will finish the updates and shut off.

The second step to automating our maintenance is to automatically install and update common software from our network. Some of you may have noticed when you log in, you get a message that says “Automatically installing managed software …. XYZ”. This is a way for us to keep applications like Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, etc, up to date and at a consistent version across all the hundreds of machines that we administer. Depending on network traffic and location, these installations may take a few minutes to finish. Delays of 15 minutes or longer should be reported to Helpdesk, Local 5812.

IT Services thanks you for your co-operation, assistance, and patience during this phase of transition. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail Helpdesk, Local 5812, helpdesk@cnc.bc.ca.

Look for the little yellow “shield” on the bottom right of the task bar.