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You’d think my wings would be more easily accessible

When you’re a person from the Internet, signing yourself into and out of accounts is routine. However, sometimes there’s a handy option that allows an account to remember your log in information.

But this doesn’t only apply to “people from the Internet,” as I’ve dubbed them; logging into accounts happens daily to the average person, right?

All students and professors have e-mail accounts and access to MyWings — the server that hosts BlackBoard, announcements, time approval and more.

In the Library, students must sign into a computer using their n-numbers. When I’m in the Library, I usually need to check MyWings, which I’m sure isn’t an action exclusive to myself.

Every time I click the button for MyWings, I sigh when I type in my n-number and password to log in.

In my head, I raise the question: How come MyWings doesn’t automatically log me in?

I never noticed it until very recently, but there’s not even an option to check “Remember Me” on the home screen.

I understand automatically logging into something so information-sensitive as my MyWings account posses a great threat to security, and it’s important to keep in mind last year’s data breach.

However, I think if someone has already breached my account to log in to a Library computer as me, they have enough information to log into MyWings, as well.

It would provide students with a more efficient service if MyWings recognized them upon arriving at its home page.

In order to protect security, maybe a pop up can appear on the MyWings home page that asks a security question, for which users select the correct answer to gain access.

This security question pop up would only appear when using a computer in the Library. If users click the wrong answer, then the website could redirect them to the main home page.

Again, if people log in to a computer under a not-their-own n-number, they would probably get the question wrong and have a chance log in as themselves.

I wouldn’t have a problem with logging in twice in the Library, but since the password character requirement — 15 characters — is so steep, it’s an extra hassle to not mess up a character, especially after creating a new password.

Another MyWings-related issue I’ve always experienced is the error whenever I click the “E-mail” icon after I’ve signed in. Instead of my inbox, a white page with an error appears. The error reads: The custom error module does not recognize this error.

And sure, all I have to do is close out of that box, re-click on the e-mail icon and my inbox opens, but it would be more efficient if my inbox opened the first time I clicked that handy icon.

MyWings is around to serve its users the best it can. It’s easy to navigate and explore, and — besides earlier in the semester when everything in the Student tab jumbled around — I’ve found it be a user-friendly website.

However, user comforts such as inboxes opening upon first try and accounts remembering log in information would add an extra sense of ease to the MyWings process.

Students are already unsettled enough when using MyWings, whether they’re checking fees, viewing holds or looking up grades on BlackBoard.

Hopefully the UNF Information Technology Services department can relax those I-need-to-check-MyWings nerves.

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    anon.Mar 31, 2011 at 8:36 pm

    Ryan Thompson must be unaware that many browsers can save alias+password combinations for their users. Examples include Firefox and IE, both of which are found on the library machines.

    Lest anyone should object along the lines of “but if I have Firefox store my passwords on a library computer, then other users will be able to log in to my MyWings account”, permit me to point out that such is not the case. That mischievous person would have to log on to the machine as you for that to be possible. So, make sure that you log out. Easy enough. Users should be doing that anyway.

    The email window problem is already well-documented and most of us have known about it for some time now. Or, perhaps not…maybe I should simply stop assuming things about UNF students and what they know.

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