Frequently Asked Questions

Please see the following webpage:

• http://www.dur.ac.uk/its/software/microsoft/homeuse/

Yes. You can find the connection policy details below. These specify the operating system and antivirus protection needed.

• ESOL connection policy

The ITS do not sell direct to students, but can order machines on behalf of departments. Details of the machines we recommend can be found here:

• http://www.dur.ac.uk/its/hardware/laptop/

ITS does not routinely sell monitors, but some may become available at the end of the academic year when we upgrade our equipment. If this is the case then an e-mail is usually sent out advertising their sale.

You must contact Estates and Buildings Helpdesk to arrange disposal of all electrical equipment, not just IT equipment. You can e-mail waste.collection@durham.ac.uk, with your list of equipment to be disposed of and they will organise a collection for you. Also please provide equipment serial numbers where possible. Under no circumstances should it be thrown in the bins.

• http://www.dur.ac.uk/its/green/disposingpcs/

If the PC is in a College and/or Department, then that College/Department is responsible for the disposal.

The machine should be formatted, by using either a bootable CD or Floppy Disk. This should be put in the appropriate drive, and when the DOS prompt appears (normally D:\> for CD Drive and A:\> for the floppy drive) on the black screen, you must then type format C: and this will wipe the operating system and data from the hard drive. If the PC is set to boot from C:\ drive only then advise must be sought from the IT Service Desk.

A copy of the CD can be obtained from the IT Service Desk.

To create a bootable floppy disk, insert a blank floppy disk into the floppy drive double click the My Computer Icon on the desktop, and a new window will open, then right click on the A Drive and then click format, another small window will open then you must ensure that under the format options, the Create an MS DOS startup disk is ticked. This will then create a disk.

If you do not know how to install a windows operating system, then a request can be made to the IT Service Desk to have the valid windows Operating System installed, but you will need a valid operating system licence key, (this is normally on a sticker on the rear of the PC), and this will cost £25 per installation.

Yes, the current recommendation can be found by going to the web link given below.

• Recommendation here

Yes, you can buy the old PC, but it is up to your Head of Department/College to notify The Treasurers Department that you wish to dispose of equipment, they will need to obtain authority to dispose of the equipment. The forms can be found at:

• http://www.dur.ac.uk/treasurer/local/downloadable_forms/

You can find the minimum configuration needed by visiting the link below:

• Minimum specification

Under the Microsoft Campus agreement you are only allowed to have a valid operating system, which you have a licence for. This licence is on a sticker attached to the PC (normally) on the back. Examples of licences can be found here:

• http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/

Details of the classroom resources can be found at http://www.dur.ac.uk/its/services/classrooms/location/

Yes, but you will need a valid operating system Licence key, and a CD.