Typical Desktop
When CLA IT sets up a computer in a faculty or staff member's office, we install a variety of standard software programs and utilities so that the computer will fit well into our network environment and so that its user will have software compatible with that used by most other people in Liberal Arts. We also establish a logical connection between the computer and one or more shared laser printers in the department, where available.
On a newly-installed Windows-based computer, the typical desktop includes the following:
- Operating system: Windows XP (includes every available service pack and critical update)
- Office productivity suite: Microsoft Office (latest version; includes Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word)
- E-mail: Microsoft Outlook (part of the Microsoft Office suite)
- Internet access: Internet Explorer; SecureCRT (secure telnet); SecureFX (secure FTP); WS_FTP LE (FTP client); and instant messenger clients (for AOL, MSN, and Yahoo)
- Media players: QuickTime Player, RealOne Player, and Windows Media Player (latest versions)
- Portable Document Format (PDF) reader: Adobe Acrobat Reader (latest version)
- Anti-virus: McAfee VirusScan Enterprise and "enterprise policy orchestrator" client (provides fully automated daily updates)
On a newly-installed Macintosh computer, the typical desktop includes the following:
- Operating system: Mac OS X (latest version; includes every available update)
- Office productivity suite: Microsoft Office for Mac (latest version; includes Entourage, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word)
- E-mail: Microsoft Entourage (part of the Microsoft Office suite) or Apple Mail
- Internet access: Safari (latest version); Firefox (last version published); Fetch (FTP client)
- Media players: Apple iTunes, QuickTime Player and Windows Media Player (latest versions)
- Portable Document Format (PDF) reader: Preview (included in Mac OS X)
- Anti-virus: McAfee Security
- Digital content creation & storage: Apple iLife suite (includes GarageBand, iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto, and iWeb)
All software mentioned above is either fully licensed by the University (and thus costs the college or department nothing), is free for use by those affiliated with an educational institution, and/or is included at no extra cost with newly-purchased computers.
On both Windows and Macintosh computers, "keyed copies" (limited-access copies shared throughout the college) of a few other applications are installed with increasing frequency:
- PDF creation: Adobe Acrobat (for Windows; PDF creation capability is built-in to Mac OS X)
- Desktop publishing: Adobe PageMaker
- Digital photograph retouching: Adobe Photoshop Elements
- Graphics creation and editing: Adobe Photoshop
- Web development: Macromedia Studio (includes Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, and FreeHand)
This list represents the most commonly-used software in Liberal Arts and is not all-inclusive. Some faculty and staff require access to additional titles, and CLA IT installs other licensed software when available and necessary.
Faculty and staff who prefer to substitute other products for the software listed above -- say, Corel WordPerfect in place of Microsoft Word -- must obtain funds from their departments to purchase legal copies of such titles.
Software versions change frequently. If you would like to obtain upgrades for some of the software on your computer, please contact your department's IT staff to determine availability, system requirements, and cost.