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ECE Research Computing Services
Welcome to ECE Research Computing Services, also known as “ECEhelp”. The purpose of this site is to provide basic information for members of the University of Toronto's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering on the department's computing environment.
The Research Computing support group provides technical support for all research users within ECE: professors, graduate students, postdocs, RAs, and visitors. Support for undergrads, teaching labs and instructional computing is provided by other support staff:
ECEHELP provides support on networking, inventory and administration of departmental computers, software acquisition, installation and license administration, and remote access.
Some computing services are provided by central UofT units, including @utoronto and @mail.utoronto “UTORmail” email services, UTORid, T-Card, UTORvpn and library services. For support on such campus-wide services, contact the UofT Help Desk at help.desk at utoronto.ca or phone x84357 (416-978-HELP). In person Help Desk/UTORid assistance is available on the ground floor of Robarts Library (depending on public health restrictions).
About ECEHELP
We operate a support ticketing system to track incoming requests by email. For all your computer support needs, please email to ecehelp at ece.toronto.edu with a descriptive subject line (more specific than just “computer help” would be … helpful!) When your email is received, the system will generate an auto-reply assigning a ticket number to your request. When one of our staff takes the support ticket and replies, you'll receive further emails via the system, with the ticket number in the subject. Please use “reply” to keep the subject line intact with the ticket number in place, to ensure your replies are logged with that ticket.
If you are not a faculty member and you are requesting a new e-mail/login account, or if you are requesting that we enable a network jack for a new computer, please “cc” your faculty supervisor(s) on your request. Fulfillment of these types of requests will incur a monthly fee charged to the faculty member, so we need permission (or at least the knowledge that your supervisor has seen the request and can deny it if they wish) before we continue with implementation. If you don't “cc” your supervisor, your request will be postponed until we can confirm that your supervisor approves.
If you have other support issues, please create a new email to ECEHELP for each one (rather than tacking them on to a pending ticket with “Oh, and another thing…”) We need to be able to close the ticket for each request as it is completed, so we can track what is still waiting to be done.
Your Responsibilities
Use of ECE resources and network access are subject to UofT and ECE department policies. Please read the Terms and Conditions of Access which spell out our policies against abuse, hacking, piracy, copyright violation, as well as restrictions on excessive use of bandwidth, peer-to-peer network file sharing, etc.
You are responsible for the use of your account and access to ECE resources through it. Do not share or disclose your passwords to anyone else. (On an ECE PC which you self-manage, you should share the administrator password with your supervisor.)
Be aware that hackers often send "phishing" emails claiming that you need to reveal your login and password on a web form or by reply email to keep your account open - never follow such links or reply to such requests. ECEHELP will never ask you to email us your password. If in doubt, please call or visit our offices in GB253B and GB254.
Consumer Reports has a series of tips and advice on data privacy and security https://www.consumerreports.org/digital-security/online-security-and-privacy-guide/
Please send suggestions about these pages to: ecehelp at ece.toronto.edu.