The Computer Operators will normally send you an email advising you that your account is due for closure 2-4 weeks before the scheduled closure date. Student accounts are normally scheduled for closure a few days after the first University Congregation (at which degrees are awarded) after the end of your course. Staff and visitor accounts are normally scheduled for closure one or two months after you officially leave the department.
If you do not reply to the email we send you your account will be closed as scheduled. If you need to extend your account for any reason you must contact us as soon as possible explaining your situation.
If you need to keep your account open for a short period, you need to let operators know for how long and for what reason.
Longer term account extensions are available for those who are involved in collaborative academic work with members of the department. If you wish to extend the use of your account to allow you to complete work here you should obtain the appropriate form and return it completed to the Computer Operators.
Please note it is not possible to keep old accounts on the system indefinitely. Accounts used from remote sites and unused accounts can create a security risk, and the department doesn't have the resources to provide long-term computing facilities to ex-members of the Department.
When your account is closed, your email facilities will also be removed, but your @eng.cam.ac.uk mail can be forwarded for up to 3 months to an address that you provide. If you have an academic need for a longer email forwarding period, please let us know. Note that we cannot offer forwardings for mail addressed to your @hermes.cam.ac.uk or @cam.ac.uk, only your @eng.cam.ac.uk addresses (this includes your personal alias if you had one).
A copy of your Engineering Department central system account is archived after your account is closed. This will be retained for at least 5 years, but users with significant research data are encouraged to make backups onto optical discs to take with them when they leave the Department. The Operators are happy to help with this process and there are backup facilities in the Operators Room. See consumable costs for prices.
Occasionally users may wish to leave others with access to some of their files. It is against the University's rules to do this by allowing them login access to your account, i.e. by disclosing your password to them. The easiest solution is temporarily to give them read access while they copy them into their own account. However be aware that others will also have access to them while this is being done and they could misuse sensitive or confidential data.
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