Generally, password difficulties can be resolved by following the steps outlined in this post about resetting your password.

However, there is also an option to reset your password for those times when the myUSI Helpdesk is closed such as after hours, on weekends, and during holidays. You have the option creating a secret hint question that can be used to reset your password should you forget it.

Configuring Your Secret Hint Questions:

1. Login to myUSI (http://my.usi.edu) using your current password
2. Click the Workspace tab.
3. Click the Set Hint-Question above the ChangePassword channel.
4. This will launch a SetHint window (make sure your have pop up blocking disabled or allow this window to pop up individually).
5. Pick a Hint Question from from the pull down list.  Don’t choose something that someone else will be able to answer. Make sure ONLY you know the answer to the question or make up an answer that no one else will be able to guess.
6. Then type in the answer in the Hint Answer field.
7. Then confirm your previous answer in the Confirm Hint Answer field.
8. Then click the Set Hint button.
9. You will be prompted for your current password, then click the OK button.
10. It should say “Your hint question and answer have been set successfully!“, then click the OK button.
11. Then close the SetHint window.

Using Your Secret Questions to Reset Your Password:

If you forget your password, you can attempt to reset it on your own.

Just go to the myUSI login page at my.usi.edu , and click on the Forgot Password? link found below the login box.

You’ll be prompted for your myUSI Username, then click the Next button.

You’ll be prompted to answer your Hint Question, then click the Next button.

Then you will be prompted to Enter and Re-Enter a new password. After you have typed those in, click the Change Password button.

It will confirm that your password has been changed. Click the  Close button to close the window and then try to login to http://my.usi.edu with the new password that you have set.

Remember that case and punctuation are important! If you answer a question correctly but use the wrong case or flub the punctuation, you will not be allowed to reset your password.

It is very important that you only configure secret hint questions that can only be answered by you as easily answered questions mean that anyone could reset your password in your place.

This is podcast is related to the FAQ article: “How do I protect my privacy when using myUSI?”

Download myUSI Frequently Asked Questions podcast Episode 1

Podcast music available from ccmixter.org

Here are a few tips and precautions that you can take to help protect your privacy while using the myUSI portal.

Passwords

Make sure to take extra precautions in order to protect your myUSI password. Do not share your password with anyone. In general, it is also safer if you do not write your password down or leave it in a visible or easily accessible place.

For added security, it is a good idea to change your password to a unique and difficult to guess password or phrase. You can do that by doing the following:

1. Login to myUSI
2. Click on the My Account link in the upper left of the page
3. Type in your current password
4. Type in your difficult to guess password. The longer the better, mixed case is even better, and a combination of letters, numbers and special characters is even better still
5. Retype your difficult to guess password to confirm it
6. Then, click the Save Changes button

Secret Questions

Your Secret Questions can be used to reset your password in the event you forget your current password and the myUSI Helpdesk (812-465-1070) is closed (after hours, weekends, and holidays). Five question and answer pairs are stored for you in the myUSI system. When you click the “Reset your password” link under the login section of the myUSI home page, you will be asked three of those questions and your password will be reset after successfully answering them (case and punctuation are important).

It is important to choose questions (there are defaults, but all questions can be changed) and answers that can only be answered by you. Questions that can be answered by anyone mean that anyone can reset your password.

Not a good situation.

You can configure your secret questions by doing the following:

1. Log in to myUSI
2. Click the School Services tab
3. Click the Change Your Secret Questions link in the School Resources channel
4. Make the changes to your questions and answers
5. Click the Save Changes button when you are done

Browser Security

Make sure to EXIT or QUIT all of your web browser sessions and close any open windows when you are finished using the myUSI web portal.

Computer Security

It is a sad fact that computers are under constant assault by viruses, worms, harmful bots, etc. To make sure that your information doesn’t fall prey to these, as a compromised computer is a serious threat to your privacy, it is important to keep your computer up to date with security patches available from your operating system provider (i.e. Microsoft, Apple, etc) and make use of properly configured firewalls and virus scanning software.