About your SSRU Computer

All SSRU desktop PCs are built using the same software image. This is slightly different from the image that is used across the rest of the institute: it comes with a few additional programs. The main features of our build are outlined below:

Operative System:

All our standard machines have Windows Vista Business(x86). The default user interface is set to “Windows Classic” to ensure that the look and feel is similar to the one of Windows XP and to maximise performance.

Your Files and Settings:

All of SSRU data (shared and personal) is kept on SSRU servers and backed up daily. Your personal files and settings are kept on the N drive. Each user has a distinct N drive, its data is accessible to you and to selected IT staff only. In SSRU, "My Documents" should point to your N drive, and your N drive should point to "My Documents"; in other words they're the same thing. This makes it much harder to save things to the C drive by mistake: the C drive is local and its data is never saved on the server or backed up, you should never save anything in there, use the network drives instead.

Most of your settings (desktop items, internet bookmarks, program customisations, desktop background and so on) are copied from the server to the local machine upon logon, and saved back on the server when you log off. This might create some minor inconsistencies in case you will remain logged on more than one machine at the same time.

Network Drives:

Apart from the N drive, SSRU data is kept on shared network drives organised to reflect SSRU research streamlines. Users gain access to network drives at logon, based on their own security attributes. In case you need to gain access to a network drive you should ask your line manager to contact the IT officer. Once you will be inserted on the appropriate security group you will have to log off and on again to make the additional network driver appear.

Logging on and off:

Shortly after you have logged on, a message will pop-up on the lower-right corner of the screen, stating something like “Could not reconnect all Network Drives”. This is expected and should be safely ignored, it appears because your network drives are removed and reconnected each time you logon, Vista does not expect this behaviour and gets confused. However, the current system is necessary to ensure your network drives are always mapped according to your current permissions and there is no plan to change it to make it more “Vista-friendly”.

Before leaving your PC unattended you should remember to log-off. You are not supposed to turn off SSRU machines: software updates and maintenance routines are scheduled to run overnight and will not occur if the PC is turned off. There are plans to change this in the future to reduce energy waste.

The easiest way to log off is to click on the logoff icon (it’s present in the quick-launch area and on everyone’s desktop).

Installed Software:

All our machine come with a standard set of software, the most relevant is listed below. You access the full list of available software through “\start\All Programs”.

Pre-loaded software includes:

· Microsoft Office 2007 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and Publisher)

· FrontPage 2003 for easy HTML editing.

· Internet Explorer and Firefox to browse the web. You are free to choose your default browser by clicking on “\Start\Default Programs\Set Your Default Programs”.

· EndNote X1 and ReferenceManager 11 Network Edition (read more).

· Roxio Creator DE to write CDs and DVDs.

· 7-Zip to compress files and folders into ZIP archives.

· SPSS 16.

· NVivo 8. Note that since NVivo has the side effect of slowing down Windows, by default, it is installed but disabled; please contact the IT officer to have it enabled on your PC.

· IrfanView and Paint.Net to view and edit bitmap images (jpg, gif, tiff, png, bmp...).

· Notepad++ to edit simple text files. The classic Windows notepad is available as well.

· Review Manager 5, to prepare and maintain Cochrane reviews.

If you need some other software on your machine please contact the SSRU IT Officer.

(Last updated: December 2009)