Windows- Based Host Support

SCS Computing Facilities support for Windows-based hosts includes: hardware support, installation and support of a baseline software environment, and network backups (if explicitly requested.) Users incur a monthly charge for this support. SCS Facilities supports hosts running the following Windows operating systems:

Windows Vista Enterprise Edition
Windows XP Service Pack 3

Other Versions of Windows:

Windows 7: SCS Computing Facilities is currently starting work on testing and integration of Microsoft¢s latest OS into the SCS environment. Support for Windows 7 will begin during the first quarter of 2010.
Windows 2000: Support for Windows 2000 was officially discontinued in August of 2008. Any remaining Windows 2000 hosts are subject to removal from SCS software support.

Facilities support for Windows PCs includes: installation of a baseline software environment, network backups (if explicitly requested), and hardware and software support. Users incur a monthly charge for this support.

Hardware Support

Hosts covered by hardware support are entitled to the following:

UPS: Uninterruptible power supply for use if there is ever a power-loss event.
Warranty processing and component replacement of failed hardware typically by the next business day.
Out-of-warranty component replacement of failed hardware.

Software Environment & Support

To request SCS Facilities staff to install or upgrade a PC operating system (Windows, Linux, or dual boot), use the PC installation/upgrade request form. Additional software is available from SCS and CMU Windows software distribution servers.

The SCS Baseline Software Configuration includes the following:

Microsoft Vista Enterprise SP1, including:
- .NET Framework 1.1 - 3.5
- Windows Media Player 11
- Internet Explorer 7
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Ghostscript
Ghostview
MIT Kerberos for Windows
CMU Root Certificate
Microsoft Office 2007 (including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, and more)
Mozilla FireFox (Web browser)
Mozilla Thunderbird (mail client)
Nero 8 (CD\DVD burning software, DVD Playback plugin ONLY)
Open AFS client
Oracle Calendar
PuTTY (telent client)
Symantec Endpoint Protection, including:
- Antivirus
- Antispyware
WinSCP (FTP/SFTP client)
X-Win32 9.1 (X11 server)
TiBs (backup client, on request only)
iPass (remote network-access, mobile or off-site hosts only.)
VPN (virtual-network client, mobile or off-site hosts only.)

By default, all PC and laptop equipment configured by the SCS Computing Facilities Team for use within the SCS Computing Environment is built with our licensed versions of this baseline configuration. This almost always results in elimination of the OEM (Factory) configuration. If you wish to retain this OEM configuration, please stipulate this request on the Installation Form. A member of the PC Engineering team will then evaluate your hardware in order to ascertain whether or not the factory build is compatible with our environment.

Note: that your SCS User ID is given local administrative privileges on any facilitized host.

Backups

As a reminder, backups of Windows hosts are not enabled by default. You must specifically request that SCS Facilities back your computer. Desktops and laptops use different backup systems, so consult our pages onWindows backups and laptop backups for details and limits on the service we can provide.

General Help

A Note About Browsers: SCS Computing Facilities installs by default Mozilla¢s Firefox browser and Microsoft¢s Internet Explorer. Both browsers are considered compatible with the SCS environment. However it should be noted that administrative users or those performing administrative tasks requiring access to the Oracle Financials System require the use of Internet Explorer. As of Fall 2009, the only version of compatible with the CMU Campus Oracle System is IE7. The use of Firefox with this system is not supported.
The "Managed" SCS Windows Environment: The past few years have brought great advancement to the SCS Computing Environment in terms of back office management of its domain, software update, and systems monitoring capabilities.
- Operating System Updates (aka Windows Updates): Many SCS users are familiar with the manual process that utilizes the Windows Update feature of Windows Vista and XP. However, most are unaware that this is a process that they do not need to initiate. Microsoft regularly publishes updates to its operating systems. These updates are then analyzed by SCS Facilities Staff, and if applicable to the existing SCS environment, are approved and distributed through to the Windows Software Update Server (WSUS) which then pushes the updates to hosts within the SCS Domain.
Symantec Endpoint Protection: SCS Computing Facilities utilizes the Symantec Management Console to monitor and maintain version releases of its current antivirus/spyware monitoring product, Endpoint Protection. This enables remote update of the Endpoint software when there is an incremental release (for example, version 3.1 to 3.15.)
The SCS Windows FAQ summarizes common Windows-related problems and solutions
If you have a software or hardware problem with a supported host, please contact <help@cs.cmu.edu> for assistance