Guests: Connecting Your Personally Owned Computer to Calvin's Internet

Welcome to Calvin College. We hope you enjoy your stay on our campus.

As a user of Calvin information technology resources It is your responsibility to be aware of both Calvin's policies on using Calvin's information technologies and federal, state, and local laws that affect your use of technology.

"Wireless" internet access

There are a few areas on campus where wireless access is available to campus guests. For a complete list please see Calvin College Wireless Hotspots

"Wired" internet access

The Prince Conference Center rooms have wired internet connections. You may connect your personally owned computer to Calvin's internet provided you have a network card and an eithernet cable.

The following instructions guide you through setting up your personal computer to use Calvin's internet access while you are on campus.

1. Prior to connecting to Calvin's network please read our important message about Computer Security and Maintenance. We monitor jacks for viruses. If your jack gets turned off for a virus or other security risk, it will not be turned back on.
2. Calvin does not provide support for connecting personal computers to the Calvin network. Please read all instructions before making any changes.
3. Please record your computer's current settings before making any changes as we cannot guarantee that your network connection at home or work will work after making these changes and you may have to revert to the old settings.
4. Connect your ethernet cable from your computer to a Calvin network jack.
5. Setup your internet browser. We're sorry, but Netscape browsers are no longer supported. If you are using Internet Explorer you may simply follow these steps. Firefox users please click here.

Why you should be concerned about Computer Security and Maintenance

• If you become infected by a virus or worm, there is a strong possibility you could lose some or all of your data (e.g. term papers, programs and applications, etc.)
• Your computer could be used for illegal activities, like storing copyrighted materials, music and movies, or to hack into other computers.
• Worms can significantly increase network traffic on Calvin's Internet and negatively affect Internet speed for all Calvin Internet users.

The following areas should be addressed when dealing with Computer Security and Maintenance:

1. Install an antivirus program.
2. Keep your antivirus program up to date.
3. Install all available operating system security updates on a regular basis.

Back to top

Internet Explorer Instructions 1. Open Internet Explorer and select Tools > Internet Options.   2. When the dialog box appears select the Connections tab at the top. (#1) Then click the "LAN Settings" button (#2) at the bottom.   3. Make certain that the check box next to the Automatically detect settings option is checked. *Note: if you normally use other settings you do not need to change them. Simply uncheck all the boxes in this window except the Automatically detect settings option. Congratulations! You are now ready to use Calvin's internet connection.   Firefox Instructions 1. Open Firefox and select Tools > Options.     2. When the dialog box opens click on the General tab, then Connection Settings.   3. Make certain that the radio button next to the Direct connection to the Internet option is selected and click OK. Congratulations! You are now ready to use Calvin's internet connection.