IT Announcement
CSUN Microsoft Vista Recommendations
Recommendations
The recommendations for using Vista are based on the review and tests completed by the CSUN Vista Enterprise project team. When purchasing a new computer with Vista or when buying Vista to install on an existing computer, consider the following recommendations:
Hardware Requirements
Vista has higher hardware requirements over that of XP to run well with even the standard campus software applications.
- Computer/Processor: 2.x GHz Dual Core
- Memory: At least 1.5 GB for adequate performance, 2 GB is recommended for good performance
- Graphics card: 128 MB RAM and Direct X9 capable
- Disk Space: 80GB
- TPM 1.2 chip (for BitLocker Hard Drive Encryption which is available on Enterprise and Ultimate ONLY), or a USB 2.0 flash drive.
- DVD–ROM
Installing Software on Vista
To ensure stability of your operating system and installed software, Microsoft highly recommends that only Vista–certified software be installed. Non–certified software may result in adverse affects including computer crashes and loss of data. To confirm software compatibility review the software vendor’s web site, or visit https://winqual.microsoft.com/member/softwarelogo/certifiedlist.aspx.
Virus Protection
Faculty, Staff, and Students who purchase new computers pre–loaded with Vista are encouraged to protect those computers from viruses by downloading and installing Symantec Anti–Virus 10.2 from the Campus Software Download web site – https://www.csun.edu/itr/downloads/index.cgi.
Working Remotely
Faculty and Staff who want to connect to CSUN from off–campus to work remotely can download a copy of Cisco’s Vista–compatible Virtual Private Network (VPN) 5.0 software from the Software Download web site. Please note that Cisco reports certain limitations with this software including that it cannot be installed on a computer upgraded from Windows XP (or other Windows operating systems) – this does not affect new computers that came pre–loaded with Vista. A complete list of VPN 5.0 limitations is available on the VPN 5.0 software installation guide at http://www.csun.edu/it/training/guides/vpnvista.html. Despite the noted limitations from Cisco, testing conducted by Information Technology indicates that the VPN 5.0 software is stable and provides the same fundamental functionality as the Windows XP
Service Pack 1
Numerous bugs and security issues were discovered in the initial release of Vista. To resolve these issues, Microsoft released Service Pack 1 which included the security patches and application fixes necessary to run Vista. To protect both individual user computers and the campus computing environment, install Service Pack 1.
Questions?
If you have questions, contact the IT Help Center at (818) 677–1400 or send an email to helpdesk@csun.edu