Unix Survival Guide: First Log-in

When you log in for the first time...

... change your password!

You should select a private password once you are using this account.

You can always change your password by typing passwd in a Unix shell. The password change program will confirm your current password then allow you to select a new password.

Safe passwords contain at least seven or eight characters, are not regular dictionary words, contain a special character and use at least one random capitalization. Some tips for choosing a secure password:

use two or three short words that are unrelated;
always include some non-alphabetic, non-numeric (i.e. punctuation) characters;
deliberate misspelling;
taking the first letter from each word of a phrase (a passphrase).

For more information on secure passwords click here or here.

... set up E-mail forwarding

You will probably want to receive your e-mail at only one account. For setting up automatic e-mail forwarding from (or to) your CAMLAB account, see the section on e-mail.

... set up Netscape Mail

If you are planning to use Netscape Mail, you should enter your name, user name, and e-mail address into your Netscape preference file.

Start up Netscape, select ``Mail and News Preferences'' from the ``Options'' pull-down menu, and enter the information in the relevant empty boxes in the ``Servers'' and ``Identity'' subcategories.

You can use Netscape to read your mail even if your regular mail account is on a remote computer. To set this up, select ``Mail and News Preferences'' from the ``Options'' pull-down menu, and select ``Servers''. In the box ``Incoming Mail'', select ``POP3'' and enter the remote machine on which your regular e-mail account is. For faculty and graduate students of the Math Department this would typically be

  math.uci.edu

Then enter your user name on that computer in the box ``User Name''. Finally, you will most like want to select the option ``Leave on Server'', unless you want to move all your incoming mail to your CAMLAB account for good! (Do not select this option if you use netscape to read your local mail.) Then click on the OK button.

Last modified: 1998/02/13
Marcel Oliver (oliver@math.uci.edu)
The index for ``Using Unix in the CAMLAB'' can be found at http://www.math.uci.edu/~moliver/unix/index.html.