Introduction
Using a technology called Always On VPN your College issued Windows laptop will automatically and securely connect back to the South Essex College Network. This allows you to access all your resources from any location with an internet connection as if you were directly connected to the College network. Your experience in accessing resources is dependant on the speed of your internet connection.
If for any reason you don’t have an internet connection, you can use your device in a limited capacity. This relies on your credentials being cached on the device, so you need to have signed in previously. While accessing your device without a network connection you may receive an error message regarding network resources being unavailable. Without a connection you are limited to applications on your laptop and files stored on an encrypted USB stick or Sync’d from your College OneDrive.
The following instructions will guide you in getting set up. Although not a requirement it is advisable that you sign into your device at least once while connected to the College Network before working remotely so that credentials are securely cached.
Connecting to the internet
You can connect to a wireless network from the lock screen by clicking the Wi-Fi icon, selecting the network you want to connect to and entering the credentials for that network.
Note: your available wireless networks will look different.
Alternatively sign into the laptop normally (this will only work if your credentials are cached), click the Wi-Fi icon on the System Tray, select the network and enter the credentials to connect.
Note: your available wireless networks will look different.
From this point your device will realise it’s not on the South Essex College Network and securely establish a connection to the South Essex College Network so you can access your resources. For the best experience you should log off and back on to ensure any disconnected drives are reconnected.
Sign in Experience
Once connected to the internet you can use the new sign in option on the lock screen. This option is two overlapping computers which can be found in the bottom right of the lock screen next to power, accessibility and network.
From this new sign in screen enter your College email and password.
Your sign in time will be dependant on your internet connection speed and may be longer than if on the College Network. Future sign-ins should be faster once your profile is cached.
No Internet Connection
If you don’t have access to an internet connection, you can only use your laptop in a limited capacity with only local file and application access. In order to use your laptop without an internet connection you must have signed in at least once either on the College Network or via the Always on VPN. Having previously signed into the device, sign in as normal using your College email and password, you may get warnings that some network resources are unavailable. This is normal and can be ignored. If you need to work on some files you can use an encrypted USB drive or your College OneDrive which is highly recommended as your files will sync to OneDrive the next time you have access to the internet.
To use OneDrive, you will need to set it up first, OneDrive is available from the Start Menu and will require you to sign in with your College Email address and password. Any files you store or access via your OneDrive will be synchronised/cached to your device and will be available offline.