Check the STATUS of your VMS account
Change the PASSWORD of your VMS (e-mail) account
COMPRESS your mailbox, creating more available space for new e-mail
FORWARD all e-mail arriving in the future to another address

What is my "VMS Account"?
Anyone associated with Western Carolina University may have a VMS (formerly referred to as "VAX") account. Students receive such an account automatically upon registering for courses (new accounts are usually created just before or during the beginning of the term). Faculty and staff must request one by completing the form found at http://registrar.wcu.edu/Forms/acuar.pdf

What do I get with my "VMS Account"?
The most popular benefit of having a VMS account is e-mail. The address associated with your VMS account will be in the form: myaccount@wcu.edu. For students the account, or 'user', names begin with their first and last initials followed by a 4-5 digit number (example e-mail address: AB12345@wcu.edu); faculty and staff account names usually reflect the last name and first initial (example e-mail address: jdoe@wcu.edu). (Note to staff and faculty: this is not the same e-mail address as your Outlook mailbox. If you have an Outlook 'account' and a VMS account, you have 2 mailboxes. You may choose to check them independently or use this facility to forward your VMS to your Outlook.)

In addition to e-mail, VMS account holders are also provided a web address. Web page addresses associated with VMS accounts will be addressed similar to either: http://www3.wcu.edu/~myaccount or http://wcuvax1.wcu.edu/~myaccount ("www3" is an alias for "wcuvax1"). Please see http://www.wcu.edu/cc/OnlineRes/infosheets/pers-web.html for more information on both policies and procedures on creating your web space.

Why must I change my password every 90 days?
For security reasons, our state Auditor's office (http://www.ncauditor.net/) requires that all electronic passwords be changed every 90 days (see http://irmc.state.nc.us/ for more information). By changing passwords, our accounts and thereby our systems in general become more secure.