Vista for ND Faculty and Staff Computers
IT staff from across campus have been working with MS Vista for many months and have tested commonly used applications to identify potential issues that campus users might encounter. Before deciding to change to Vista for your computer, please review the information provided here. If you have additional questions, please ask your departmental IT staff or the OIT Help Desk for assistance.
Why change?
At this time, there are no business reasons requiring a change to the Vista Operating System, as applications designed for Windows will generally work with either XP or Vista. When ordering new hardware, you can choose to receive either XP or Vista through May 2008. After that date, Vista will be the standard operating system provided when purchasing Lenovo computers.
Are there reasons not to change yet?
Some software applications are not yet fully Vista compatible, and you can review the list of current issues that have been identified for likely impact at Notre Dame here. If you connect to other devices (printers, scanners, etc.) you should check with the manufacturer to confirm it is Vista compatible..
When you do upgrade to Vista, you will obtain the best results by ordering new equipment with Vista pre-installed, or by having a technology professional perform a clean install on existing hardware. We do not recommend upgrading older hardware from XP due to increased performance, video and storage demands.
What's new?
Vista is a fairly dramatic change to the Windows interface we know today. Improved security, enhanced graphics and ease of use are the most noticeable changes.
Vista includes additional security features which are of value, including:
- Windows Defender protects against spyware and viruses.
- User Account Control reduces the risk of software being installed without your knowledge.
- Bitlocker allows you to encrypt your data.
You can find an overview and additional details here.