Information Resources and Technologies reminds the St. Thomas community that maintenance to both Mac and PC computing environments is continuous in order to facilitate security patches.
Security and software updates are routinely “pushed” to Windows XP, 7, and Mac OSX operating systems in order to improve performance and help prevent spyware, viruses and other forms of malicious software from being installed on campus workstations.
Mac users
Macs are remotely administered for vital software and security updates; consequently, machines likely will reboot at the end of various updates. Reboots may occur anytime after updates are installed. IRT recommends that all Mac users get in the habit of saving their work and exiting all programs, logging off and restarting their workstations at the end of the business day. Any work not saved runs the risk of being lost.
PC users
Windows operating systems will automatically update at 3 a.m. as critical security and software updates become available.
Windows XP end users may see a prompt asking to restart their machines in order for the updates to take effect. This will allow XP end users the opportunity to save work and exit programs before restarting their machines. In some cases, the end user may choose to postpone the restart until it is convenient.
Users who log off or restart at the end of each day will notice no change or prompt, as the update download, install and re-boot will happen automatically.
Updates will be stored in waiting for PC laptops that are not on campus at the time of the software push; the updates will be received the next time the laptop is connected to the UST network.
Questions? Contact the IRT Tech Desk, (651) 962-6230.
