Basic Support Information for Departmental Windows Systems

• The standard desktop system is Windows 7 (64-bit).
• We will periodically update the system to include all important updates for Windows and major applications.
• The main hard drive is dedicated to the operating system and applications - no user data can be stored here, except temporary “Scratch” files in C:\SCRATCH
• Your My Documents will be stored on the Physics file server.
• We don't support file sharing from workstations - shared data must be stored on a server.

Mainly, you should discuss your needs in detail with us so we can try to make appropriate recommendations. The following are some general guidelines, though we are flexible about many things subject to discussion.

• Your hardware needs to be supported by our default 64bit system image without custom driver installation.
• For research lab systems, we strongly suggest that you try to keep systems used for data acquisition or control separated from general user workstations.
• We can add software to our basic system image if one of the following applies:
  1. it is open source or free for use on an unlimited number of systems without restriction.
  2. we have a site-wide (or department) license for it.
  3. you or we hold floating licenses for it and we can restrict usage appropriately.
• For each research lab, we can designate one or two responsible individuals who will have rights to install additional software using an administrator account.
• We can set up a dedicated area on our file server for research groups to share their common data.

Although not directly related to the above, we can help with basic setup of systems intended for hardware interfacing for data acquisition or control.

We strongly recommend that such systems are not connected to the internet. We can provide or install a system with a basic Windows 7 OS, configured to connect to a secure subnet (which allows communication with other Physics systems but not outside). Windows Automatic Updates will be disabled, but we will install our software agent to deliver critical Windows patches (without the inconvenience of forced Windows Update reboots). You will have the Administrator password and will be able to install whatever additional hardware and software is required. The limited network connection will allow you to access your data from other Physics systems, or copy from the local system to a Physics server.

Please talk to us for more information on this option.