System Minimum Requirements

As each semester begins at Northern Arizona University, new technologies are implemented on and off-campus to enrich your learning experience. Ensuring that you have the proper hardware and software is vital to your academic success at NAU as well as your preparation for life after college. Students are strongly encouraged to ensure that the computer they bring on campus meets the requirements for support established by NAU Information Technology Services. Because buying a computer in an important academic purchase, students are strongly advised to carefully choose a computer that will meet their computing needs during their four years at NAU. On the other hand, while a student's current hardware configuration meets their computing needs at that time, it is likely that software or network changes will degrade performance and reduce the ability for a computer that does not meet the minimal requirements to work properly in the future. Here are both the minimum hardware requirements and recommended hardware requirements for support, while attending NAU:

Minimum Hardware Requirements (old machine)

Recommended Hardware Purchase Requirements (new machine)

The second component of successful computing at NAU is meeting the minimum software requirements. Meeting these requirements helps to ensure both safe and secure computing on and off the NAU network. During the fall of 2005, NAU ITS implemented the Cisco Clean Access client to all machines on student campus to assure every machine connecting to ResNet is fully protected with up-to-date anti-virus software and operating system security patches. Therefore, if a student's machine does not have an up-to-date anti-virus program and all of its operating system components, it will not have access to the NAU network. Starting June 30, 2006, Microsoft will no longer issue security updates for Windows 98 and Windows ME, and these operating systems will not be viewed as secure. This means that any student running Windows ME or 98 will no longer have network access in the residence halls.

The Academic Computing Help Desk will continue to support Windows 2000, XP and Vista, and Macintosh OS 10.X. Students can purchase the Windows XP or Vista upgrade through the NAU Bookstore for $80.

In addition to a supported operating system, other steps to a secure computer include:

For off-campus students, internet access speed is another consideration. Modems for dial-up access are no longer the best option. While WebCT Vista can be accessed over a modem, there are a number of NAU courses and resources that will not function properly or successfully. Each student should always check the course notes to see if a faster network connection, such as DSL or Cable, is a requirement.

Resources available to optimize your computing experience include: