New year, new semester, new tech? Get tech ready with this checklist

Starting the new year and new semester with new tech? Between Black Friday sales and holiday gifts, many Tar Heels are unboxing new devices. Here are some tips to set up a laptop, phone, tablet or smartwatch and start the new semester with a little less stress.

This checklist will help you connect to Wi-Fi, configure 2-Step, register for all the perks of Carolina Key, configure printing and download some essential apps. If you want to dive deeper, check out our getting started guides — for students or for employees.

Connect to eduroam

Connecting to Wi-Fi is probably the first thing you do when you get new tech or visit a new location. At UNC, we recommend students, faculty and staff connect to eduroam, UNC’s primary — and most secure — network. It may be tempting to use UNC-Guest, but the guest network is not secure and limits access to some UNC resources.

Whether you have a new device or are new to Carolina, follow these steps to get connected.

To maintain uninterrupted Wi-Fi access, ITS encourages students, faculty and staff to reregister devices with eduroam before January 23, 2025. In January 2025, an eduroam certificate will expire and devices using that certificate will not be able to connect until reregistered with eduroam. Users who enroll devices after May 15, 2024, will use a new eduroam certificate and will stay connected.

Some devices, like gaming consoles, aren’t compatible with eduroam. But you can connect to another UNC network, UNC-PSK. Keep in mind that the PSK password changes once a year, right before the beginning of the Fall semester.

Register or reactivate 2-Step Verification

UNC protects campus with two 2-Step Verification tools — Duo and Microsoft.

If you’re new to campus, first time setup is a snap.

If you’re returning to campus with a new smartphone, you’ll need to reactivate your account. Until you reactivate, you won’t be able to approve push notifications on the new phone — they’ll still go to your old one. Until then, you can still authenticate using an alternate method, like a code texted to a registered phone number. Depending on your settings, reactivating your account might be as simple as tapping “restore,” but here are in-depth guides for reactivating Duo and Microsoft.

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That’s a great reminder to enroll additional devices or methods so you don’t get stuck if your primary is unavailable. Other methods might include a tablet or another phone number like a landline.

If you don’t have other 2-Step methods or need help reactivating your device, the ITS Service Desk can verify your identity and help you access your account. Just call 919-962-HELP (4357), visit in-person in the Student Union or chat using the Help Portal.

Register for Carolina Key

If you’re not using Carolina Key, you’re missing out. You could skip typing your password for fast and secure logins to many web-based UNC-Chapel Hill systems, including ConnectCarolina, Canvas, Time Information Management (TIM) and more.

All you do is register each device, like your smartphone or laptop, with Carolina Key. If you’re starting the semester with new tech, you’ll need to reregister that device with Carolina Key.

Carolina Key swaps your password with device-based passkeys that use built-in biometrics (or a PIN) instead of your password. That means you could use facial recognition or your fingerprint to log in — much faster than typing.

And Carolina Key is so secure that it can also replace Duo 2-Step Verification on some systems. Imagine how fast your logins will be when you can skip typing your password and waiting for a push notification.

For more on how passkeys work at UNC, check out 3 reasons to go passwordless with Carolina Key.

Get print-ready

We’re pretty high tech at Carolina, but we still print — in 2022, more than 20,000 unique users printed 2.5 million pages using Carolina Print Hub. Carolina Print Hub offers 70 print stations across campus, mobile printing, touchless release and print allotments for students.

To get your new tech print-ready, visit Carolina Print Hub to find a convenient print location and links to install printing software onto your laptop or the touchless printing app on your smartphone.

Install apps

While we do a lot in the cloud these days, you’ll need (or want!) some software. Here are a few recommendations from ITS to get you started.

Microsoft apps should be some of the first you install on your new device. For your phone, consider Outlook and Teams apps, from your app store. On a laptop, log into Microsoft 365 at UNC, then click “install apps” in the upper right. You can download and install Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive and more.

When you need software for your laptop, you should visit ITS Software Distribution. It’s Carolina’s central location for software for students, faculty and staff. Software licensing includes tools for work and play, like Adobe Creative Cloud and SAS. Students and instructional staff can request their free license of Adobe Creative Cloud straight from Software Distribution.

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CarolinaGO is your everything-in-one-place app at Carolina. From dining menus to bus tracking to maps, it’s all in CarolinaGO. Download from Google Play or the App Store.

Mobile One Card with GET Mobile. Want a virtual version of your One Card? Download and configure GET Mobile to replace your physical card with a virtual one.

Did you know ITS provides free LinkedIn Learning to all UNC students, faculty and staff? Whether it’s for a class or a hobby, LinkedIn Learning is go-anywhere learning. Check out 3 ways LinkedIn Learning helps you build a healthy habit.