When have I left the CS department?

When you have completed your CS coursework, graduated, or for any other reason do not expect to take another CS class, then you have left the CS department and are not entitled to keep an account.

If you are taking a break from coursework in the CS department for more than one semester, then you will lose access to your account until you resume your CS studies. During this time your account will not be deleted, and you can reenable it when you return. Storage space permitting, we try and maintain old accounts for at least two years so that students can reenable their accounts after their missions. However, it is your responsibility to make backups of your data. We are not responsible for any accounts which can not be restored.

When do you disable accounts?

Accounts in the CS department are only available to students who are currently taking a CS course. At the start of each semester (before Fall, Winter, and Spring), the accounts of all students who are not currently enrolled and who did not take a CS class the previous semester are disabled. This gives students a grace period to backup files and clean up their accounts. This grace period may not extend the entire length of the semester and can be terminated at any time. Only students who are currently taking a course are entitled to access their accounts.

What happens to disabled accounts?

You lose the ability to log into your account once it has been disabled, but the files are still on the server. Eventually they are removed from the file server, tarred and compressed. We then store them for an unspecified amount of time. This allows us to be able to restore the account of a student after he or she returns from a mission. Eventually the files will be deleted.

What is a locked account?

A locked account can not be re-enabled by the user. An account is locked when a student is suspected of abusing system resources, or when a student is caught in a policy violation. A locked account can only be re-enabled with permission of one of the department CSRs. For serious infractions (such as looking at pornography) accounts will remain locked for a minimum of one year. The list of account policies which you agreed to before creating your account can be accessed here: http://accounts.cs.byu.edu/

Backup all of your files

We do not guarantee that your account will continue to exist when you need it in the future. It is your responsibility to make backups of your important data.

Copy files which you will want access to

You will not be able to change or copy files once your account has been disabled. If you will need it, then you had better take it with you.

Clean up files in your public_html directory

Your public_html directory consists of publicly accessible files. These files will remain accessible from the CS department students web page until your account is removed. This might take some time. If you do not want an old resume or old contact information sitting on the web, then you should remove it before you lose access to your account.

Leaving a link to your new page is a good idea. You can redirect all visitors from your CS Department page to your new page with a tag such as <meta http-equiv=REFRESH content="3; URL=http://mynewpage.example.com">.

Take care of your email

If you use your CS Department email address, you will lose the ability to read or delete your email. Eventually your mail box will fill your account, and your email will begin bouncing. If you leave a .forward file, then all your email will be forwarded to the specified account until your account is removed. If you do not want to perpetually receive email that was destined for your CS account, then you should remove your .forward file before your account is disabled.

You can get more information on .forward files in our CS Department Email document.

How can I copy my files?

Some options available to you for transferring your data off of your account before it is disabled include:

• scp (see man scp)
• email as an attachment
• http from your public_html directory
• flash drive

The commands tar and gzip will help you to compress your files to make them more convenient to transfer. See the Quotas, Network Security and Remote Logins, and Website Setup and Configuration documents for more details on these methods.