Published Feb 03

Tips for quick and efficient use of MFA

By Jan Vanneste
4 min

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Another good way to avoid locking yourself out of your account is to register multiple devices for MFA. Did you know that the KU Leuven Authenticator app is available for both smartphone and tablet? If you have an iPhone and an iPad, for example, you can register both devices. If you have a problem with one device, you can use the other to log in, and e.g. add another new device.

Mind you, only use personal devices! So do not register your partner's smartphone as a backup device.

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On the Central Login, there is a checkmark "Remember my device".

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remember device.png

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This check is not intended to ensure that KU Leuven Authenticator is no longer needed for subsequent logins from that PC, but to ensure that you can log in faster. If you check the box, you will no longer have to scan a QR code at subsequent logins, but can tap directly on a push-notification from KU Leuven Authenticator.

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On a Windows PC, when you close the last tab of your browser (e.g. Edge or Chrome), your browser forgets your active logins. In computer jargon, this is called "the session is closed". So if you accidentally close your tab with Toledo, and you reopen your browser afterwards, you have to log in again.

You can counteract that by asking your browser to restore the last session on reopening. With this setting, your login will no longer be lost when you close your browser, so you will have to log in via Authenticator less often.

Note that this is a security risk, so only do this on devices where you are the only user!

Here's how to set this up on Microsoft Edge: (Chrome and Firefox work similarly)

  • Go to Edge Settings

  • Go to "Start, Home and New tabs" category

  • Under "When Microsoft Edge starts", select "Open tabs from previous session"

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edge settings kul account.png

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  • As of now, your browser shows the following behaviour:

    • When you close your browser by closing the last tab, you will end up in a blank browser on the next start-up. If you then go to a web page where you logged in shortly before, this login will still be valid, and so you will not have to log in again.

    • When you close the browser by using the X at the top right of your browser window (in Windows), Edge will restore all tabs on the next startup. Your logins will remain valid.

    Please note that the KU Leuven login is only valid for a few hours. If you close your browser in the evening and start it up again in the morning, you will still have to log in again.

Do you hate typing in your username and password and then logging in via KU Leuven Authenticator? You can just skip the first step!

If you click the "KU Leuven Authenticator" button on the Central Login, you can either scan a QR code directly with the Authenticator app, or you can tap on the push notification (see the previous item, about the "Remember device" checkbox). So typing in username and password is no longer necessary!

Nifty!

Do you want to study very focused to prepare for your exams and find it annoying that you have to take out your phone to log into Toledo? Don't want to see all those exciting WhatsApp messages until you finish your studying?

You can. Most phones these days offer options to set "Focus". In a Focus mode, you control which apps can or cannot disturb you, and when the Focus should be active.

For example, you can set a Focus mode ā€œStudying" that automatically becomes active at certain hours, or e.g. when you are near Learning Centre AGORA. In that Focus mode, you then set that only KU Leuven Authenticator can disturb you (and maybe your mum too), and no other messages will appear on your home screen or give a notification.

This is a screenshot of what it looks like on iOS:

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