University of Northwestern - St. Paul Information Technology (IT) provides limited service and support to all student, employee, and guest personally-owned computers or devices.

This policy defines the guidelines for coordinating and performing support and repairs on personally-owned computers or devices. This policy provides information concerning services the IT Service Desk will and will not provide in order to: 

• Ensure UNW's technology resources are used for purposes consistent with UNW mission and goals 

• Protect UNW network and systems against compromised electronic devices 

• Prevent any damage or data loss to personally-owned devices 

• Prevent disruptions to and misuse of UNW staff time/resources

This policy applies to all personally-owned electronic devices by UNW students, employees, and guests, that are brought to the IT Service Desk for technical assistance or support provided via remote support. 

1.1 Supported Services

The IT Service Desk supports the following services: 

• Installing and updating anti-virus software  

• Connecting to the UNW Network 

• Troubleshooting Wi-Fi or Internet connection issues on the UNW campus or residence hall 

• Using any UNW systems or applications  

• Diagnosing and troubleshooting hardware. software. or classroom connectivity/presentation issues* 

• Network issues for gaming, IoT/smart devices*

• Assisting with virus or malware removal* 

• Password changes 

• Configuring UNW email on personal devices 

• General technology related questions 

• Basic hardware issues 

*best effort (1 hour) or to the discretion of the IT Staff

1.2 Non-Supported Services*

*The IT Service Desk will provide faculty/staff, students, and guests recommended alternatives for all non-supported service

The IT Service Desk does not support the following services below:  

• Extensive hardware issues or fixes (cracked screen, broken hinges, bad system board, water damage, etc.)  

• Installing new hardware in desktop or laptop computers (graphics card, memory, optical disk drive, etc.) 

• Installing or troubleshooting personally-owned printers or scanners 

• Legacy hardware (example: laptop purchased 10 years ago) or legacy software (example: Windows XP/Vista/7).  IT service has discretion to refuse support of any hardware or software 

• Installing or troubleshooting any unlicensed or illegally obtained software, media or operating systems 

• Troubleshooting issues with home networks  

1.3 Backups and Data Loss

• Students and Employees are responsible for backing up their data from their personal devices prior to leaving them with IT 

• The IT Service Desk is not responsible for the loss of data during service it performs on personal computers but will take every precaution to preserve data

1.4 Exclusions and Limitations

The computer or device will be returned to the owner without service for the following issues or conditions: 

• The computer does not meet UNW's minimum computer requirements 

• The user is not willing to install and update/maintain anti-virus software  

• Owner is not a current UNW student, alumni, employee, or guest  

• IT Service Desk is unable to remove the virus and/or spyware, malware, adware using the appropriate tools 

• The computer is severely compromised and infected with a large number of viruses and/or spyware, malware, adware applications 

• The device has peer-to-peer file sharing clients (i.e. U-Torrent, BitTorrent, qBittorrent) 

• Computer contains illegally obtained media or software that is installed on the user’s computer 

IT staff will make a reasonable effort in resolving hardware/software issues, but the user acknowledges that IT staff is not certified repair resources and therefore are not responsible for issues they can't resolve or issuing resulting from attempting to fix the hardware/software issues.

2.1 The IT Service Desk manager is responsible for enforcing the policy. 

2.2 Exceptions:  

• Any exception to the policy must be approved by the Chief Information Officer.

• Declaration of Christian Community 

• Acceptible Use Policy 

• Social Media Policy