The IT Help Desk is here to assist you with a variety of types of technology requests.You can contact themfor assistance with computer configuration issues, discuss software problems, report network access difficulties or hardware malfunctions of university-owned equipment, or get advice on just about any technical issue you may face at AU. Please don’t hesitate to contact us as soon as you have a problem – it’s better to contact us quickly rather than to get more and more frustrated while trying to solve a problem on your own.
There are several ways to contact the IT Help Desk, and, depending on what you need, preferable times of day to contact us. Customer contact volumes are the highest on weekdays between 10 a.m. and noon, and Mondays are usually the busiest day of the week. The IT Help Desk phone line, 202-885-2550, is staffed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. However, overnight and on weekends and holidays, there is usually only one analyst available to answer the phone. Weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., there are three to five analysts available to help. Contacting the Help Desk by phone is best for urgent problems that need a speedy resolution. While waiting for assistance, you will be listening to the live WAMU broadcast. Please stay on the line – we will help you as soon as possible, once we finish with the previous customer. During office hours, the IT Help Desk also responds to e-mail inquiries sent to helpdesk@american.edu. When you contact the Help Desk by e-mail, it’s a good idea to indicate the best way to respond – if you would prefer a phone call back, please include your phone number. If you would like us to mail you a CD, please include your U.S. postal mailing address. Contacting the Help Desk by e-mail is best for problems that are not urgent or for requests that are very complex and best put in writing. The IT Help Desk will respond to all e-mail requests within 24 hours of submission on weekdays. Finally, the IT Help Desk analysts offer support using instant messaging. You can contact us on instant messaging by visiting our website at http://help.american.edu and click on the “Chat With the Help Desk” icon at the top of the screen between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. Additionally, if you use an instant messaging service, you can add us as a buddy (Gmail: askamericanuhelp@gmail.com; Yahoo: askamericanuhelp@yahoo.com; AOL: askamericanuhelp@aol.com; MSN: auithelpdesk@hotmail.com). Instant messaging is a great way to ask a quick question or to check on the status of a particular system. It is not secure, though, so please do not send your password or sensitive personal data over instant messaging.
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