Skip to main content

Personally-Owned Computers

ITS purchases, configures, repairs and supports College-owned equipment and supports access to College services on computers that you may use at home or while traveling. ITS is committed to making as many services as possible available to faculty, staff, and students from any location and at any time.

In the early days of computing, when fewer people owned computers and there were fewer tools, ITS provided some support for home computers. ITS is no longer able to do so due to the number and complexity of systems owned by our community. For detailed examples of what we can and cannot do, please see below.

Examples of what ITS can do:

  • Help with access to College resources from off-campus, including access to servers that require Virtual Private Network (VPN) or EZ-Proxy.
  • Help with off-campus access to email using Gmail, the College's webmail service (http://gmail.swarthmore.edu)
  • Perform under warranty hardware repairs for personally-owned computer equipment (Dell and Apple products only).
  • Answer questions about software supported by ITS. For more information about supported software, please visit our software page.

Examples of what ITS cannot do for Faculty and Staff:

  • Install, fix, or maintain email client software on personally-owned computers (including Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Outlook).
  • Back up data on or from personally-owned computers.
  • Install software, remove viruses, or repair operating systems damaged by malware.
  • Assist with home networks or Internet connections (e.g. Verizon or Comcast).
  • Answer questions about personally-owned devices such as cell phones, cameras, or tablets which are not college-owned.

Student personal computing support:

Information Technology Services provides help and assistance for College-provided software and services free of charge.  College-provided services include, but are not limited to, Gmail, Google Drive, eduroam, Moodle, campus printing, VPN, and academic software.

On campus hardware support for Dell and Apple computers is available for students.    Other hardware vendors are not supported by ITS.  Replacement parts not under warranty will require additional charges.