IT upgrades coming your way

During the summer, IT services will be delivering the following:

Upgrade to Microsoft Office

The current version of Microsoft Office installed on your University PC will be upgraded with the new version being faster, more secure and offering additional features, including:

• Better integration with OneDrive
• Enhanced collaboration - allowing more than one person to edit a document at the same time and chat with co-authors without having to leave the document
• Better accessibility features, such as Dictate and Read Aloud
• New 3D animation effects in PowerPoint
• Inline translation
• New sophisticated visual effects to enhance the appearance of documents
• Ability to use larger spreadsheets

When will the upgrade occur?
Student PCs will be the first to be upgraded along with the student loan laptops. This will happen during the summer as part of the normal annual rebuild.
New staff PCs or staff PCs that require a rebuild will have their version of Office upgraded.  The remaining staff PCs will be upgraded towards the end of the summer.

What about file formats?
Files can be moved between the current and new version of Office without a problem, however if you use a new feature (e.g. 3D morphing in PowerPoint), this will not work in the older version.

Chrome to become the default browser

Currently, when you open a browser or click on a link, it automatically opens in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Microsoft has stopped developing this browser, so we have taken the decision to change to Google Chrome.

If you wish to continue using Internet Explorer or Edge you can still do so by clicking on the icon in the Start Menu.
Please note: Some of our older Corporate Applications do not work properly in Chrome; if you use any of these, Internet Explorer will start automatically.

I prefer a different browser - can I use that?
No. Using the internet is one of the most likely ways for malware to gain access to the University’s network. We therefore need to make sure that the browser is fully up-to-date, patched and protected with our antivirus software. Therefore, we do not allow any other browsers to be installed.