PC Software guidelines

PC Software

All NPO staff should use computers running a secure and reliable operating system and fully functioning application software appropriate to the organization’s needs.

Operating Systems
An operating system (OS) is the core software that controls a computer. All other software interacts with the OS to access the computers resources and the network. A secure and stable operating systems is one of the keys for a HSC implementation.

The following operating systems will run on the HSC hardware minimum and are secure and reliable:
Windows 2000 Professional
Windows XP Professional
Macintosh OS X, version 10.2 and above
All operating systems should have the latest patches and security packs installed and configured according to the implementation guidelines.

Application software
Application software is the tool people use to actually do work with their computers. The most common are office productivity tools, such as word processors and spread sheets, document viewers, such as PDF file viewers, email client software, and web browsers. Like all software, applications can be buggy and full of security holes. Some software even includes “adware� and other malicious code, so just allowing users to install any applications they want is not a recommended practice. We recommend only installing applications that users actually need to use to do their jobs. We also recommend using the same versions of software across all computers in an organization, as this simplifies support and eliminates file format conflicts and incompatibilities.

Office productivity software
Office productivity software is commonly bundled together as a suite, such as the Microsoft Office suite. Like it or not, the Microsoft products have set the standard for office productivity sector, and it’s document formats, .doc and .xls, have become the default standard for many computer documents. As a result, although there are many competing products, the HSC guidelines recommend the MS Office suite for Macintosh and Windows. MS Office is an immensely powerful set of tools, and most people only use 10% of its features. It is also deeply integrated with the Windows OS, and as a result, shares in many of its security issues. MS Office needs to be installed with all updates, and configured appropriately, as per the implementation guidelines.

Acceptable installed versions:
Microsoft Office 2000 for Windows, and up
Microsoft Office v.X for Macintosh, and up

New Purchases:
For new purchases, we recommend using the latest version of the MS Office suite. Be aware that there can be document format incompatibilities between different versions of Office. In any event, we strongly recommend that all computers in an organization use the same version of Office, if at all compatible.

Internet browser
The Internet browser is the application used to navigate and make use of the World Wide Web. The most common web browser by far is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which is a fast and capable browser that is bundled with the Windows OS. However, it is the source of a great many of the security headaches that have bedeviled the Windows platform of late. That said, a properly configured installation of IE is the HSC preferred browser for the Windows platform. For the Macintosh, we recommend Safari, Apple’s Internet browser application. Internet Explorer is available for the Macintosh, but it is slow, a bit buggy, and is no longer being actively developed.

Mail client
An email client is the application used to read and write email. For Windows systems we recommend Microsoft Outlook, a part of the Microsoft Office suite. We don’t recommend Outlook Express, which is underpowered and not compatible with the Exchange Server mail system. The latest versions of Outlook include an effective spam blocker. Outlook also includes an integrated calendar and address book, both of which are very useful.

For Macintosh systems we recommend Microsoft’s Entourage software, a component of the Microsoft Office suite for the Macintosh. Similar in many ways to Outlook, it includes a mail client, calendar, and contacts manager. It integrates with the Exchange Server mail system, and includes an effective spam blocker,

Calendars and scheduling
For most users the calendar functions integrated into Microsoft’s Outlook and Entourage products are more than adequate.

PDF viewer
The PDF (Portable Document Format) file format developed by Adobe is commonly used for distributing documents with complicated layouts in a self-contained format. PDF files are commonly used for forms, pamphlets, and brochures. Windows does not come with an integrated PDF viewer, so users will need to download one. We recommend Adobe’s Acrobat Reader, which is free and effective. For the Macintosh, a PDF viewer, Preview, is included with the operating system. Adobe Reader is also available for the Macintosh.

File compression tools
A file compression tool is used to compress and decompress large files for transmission over the Internet. Most organizations won’t need to compress files, but will often need to decompress them, in which case we recommend Stuffit Expander, a free decompression tool that is easy to use and works with all common compression formats.

For organizations that need to compress files, we recommend WinZip, which is an easy to use shareware program. Compression tools are built into the Macintosh OS X Finder.

Media Applications
Some organizations may find they need to view or listen to media files on their desktop computers. There are many different formats of media files, including MP3, Real, Windows Media, and Quicktime. We recommend the following tools for viewing these kinds of files:

* Windows Media Player. Can play most common formats and is distributed as part of the Windows operating system.
* Real Player. A free software application that can play Real media format files.
* Quicktime player. A free software application than can play Apple’s Quicktime formated files.

There are versions of these applications for both Windows and Macintosh platforms.