Profiles

If you use CFS, the University's centrally managed Windows service, you will have a CFS profile.

Profile problems?

If your PC displays a profile warning message the information Dealing with profile problems may help, or you can contact the IT Service Desk for advice.

What is a profile?

This is a special file that stores information about your personal preferences such as:

Personal settings for the "start menu", your Desktop and taskbar.
Preferences for programs, such as your preferred font or printer.
Internet Explorer favourites and cookies.
Any documents/files you save on the your PC desktop.
Your PCs desktop background picture (if you have one).

What is a roaming profile?

Your CFS profile is actually a “roaming profile” and is downloaded from a central server every time you login to the CFS service. This means that you can login to the CFS service from any university PC and still have access to your personal preferences.

When is my profile used?

1. Logging on to CFS
When you login to the CFS service one of the messages displayed is “Loading your personal preferences…”. This is your profile being downloaded to the computer you are using and so the larger your profile is the longer this logging in process will take.

2. If you change any of your preferences
If you make any changes to your personal preferences for a program that you use on CFS then your profile will be updated and it will grow in size.

3. Logging off CFS
When you logout of CFS your updated profile must be saved back onto the central server. [Some software, such as Corel and Adobe, can increase the size of your profile so much that you may have a problem logging off and a warning message will be displayed. See What is a profile warning message?.]

NOTE: If you reduce the size of your profile it can reduce the time it takes you to log on and off the CFS service, Dealing with profile problems provides advice on how you can attempt to do this.

How big can my profile be?

Your profile has limited storage space and it is subject to a quota of 12MB.

Available Space: If you hover your mouse pointer over the Profile icon in the Taskbar notification area you can see how much space is available for your profile.

Current Size: If you double click on the Profile icon a window opens and at the bottom it shows the current size of your profile. [NOTE: Step 5 in Dealing with profile problems has more information.]

NOTE: Some programs that you use may add a large number of files to your profile and if your profile is close to its limit of 12MB it can cause problems, particularly when logging off CFS.

What does the profile icon look like?

The profile icon is displayed in the notification area on the taskbar which is usually in the bottom right corner of your screen.

	The profile icon displayed when under the profile quota limit.
	The profile icon displayed when close to the profile quota limit.
	The profile icon displayed if over the profile quota limit.

What is a profile warning message?

A warning message is displayed on your PCs screen if your profile gets close to the 12MB quota limit, or exceeds it. The profile icon in the Taskbar notification area will also change (see Logging off CFS in the section When is my profile used? ).

If you exceed your profile quota you will not be able to log off until it is reduced in size, see next section.

What can I do if I have a profile problem?