Each student and staff member has been given a Windows Workstation Login Accounts. Depending upon your identity and security clearance, your Windows account gives you access to all the workstations in St. Mary's, and your own personal U: drive, student / staff public P: drives as well.

To keep mission-critical applications and data available by avoiding unplanned and reducing planned downtime, our School currently utilizes a server cluster composed of Windows 2003 servers as well as Linux servers with over 1600 network clients, or users. All workstations run on Windows XP Professional platform.

 
Application Software
 
The following application software is available to all users:
  • Internet Explorer
  • Microsoft Office Professional 2003: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, Project
  • Macromedia Studio MX: Dreamweaver, Flash, Freehand, Fireworks
  • Ulead PhotoImpact
  • Ulead VideoStudio
  • Microsoft Movie Maker
  • Acrobat Reader 7
  • Q9 Input System
  • QuickTime Player, Real Player, Microsoft Media Player 10 , Power DVD Player
Network Printing
 
Network printing allows multiple workstations to be connected to one printer. All workstations in Computer Laboratories, IT Laboratories, Library, MMLC and Staff Rooms are connected to network laser printers and are available to all network users. Print jobs are on a "first come, first served" basis. All print jobs should be academic in nature.
 
Change File Storage, Retrieval, and Security
 
File storage is the most basic and important service offered by a network. When a user obtains an account, he or she gains access to our School's file server. Every user on the network has access to a private directory (U: drive) on the file server. We recommends saving documents on your U: drive. Benefits of saving documents on the file server include:
Security: Only the user can access the documents save on the U: drive. Each user must be logged in to access the U: drive.
Availability: Each user can access his or her files from any networked workstation on campus or via ftp service. Users will not need to bring their own disks if files are saved on the network.
Recoverability: The files stored on U: drive are backed up daily. If the file is accidentally lost or deleted, we can restore the file for the user. If the file is located on a floppy diskette or a local hard drive, we are able to perform file recovery.
Reliability: The file server is much more reliable than a floppy diskette. Floppy diskettes are extremely susceptible to damage and files are easily lost. Floppy diskettes are not reliable and are more susceptible to computer viruses.
Each network user has access to "shared" drives on the network. The common shared P: drives for the student and staff are called "Student Public" and "Staff Public" respectively. As the users of the same group on the network can access files located on their respective public drives and therefore security is minimal. If you have placed some important files on P: drive for the purpose of circulation or temporary storage, please always keep a backup copy of those important files on your U: drive. Owing to limited resources, we can only retent the backup of the P: drive for 1 week.