Virtual PC

The labs at Penn State Harrisburg - currently C12, C13, C14, C15, Library 106, 108, 109, OGS, E334, TL128, TL118 and the technology classrooms have virtual PC.

You recently received an email discussing why virtual PC exists, instructions for using USB drives and for logging off and where to go for support.

Below are some additional tips:

• Virtual PC takes about one minute, seventeen seconds to load on the older PC's.
• Please do not launch anything while it is loading because it will be lost when you log off.
• When you log off, you do not need to sit and watch it log off.  It takes about 2 minutes.

Questions:

You said one of the reasons you installed Virtual PC is to attempt to make maintenance of the computers a little easier for the IIT department.  Can you elaborate?

A problem IIT has had in the past is meeting the instructional requirements faculty have expected concerning software in the labs.  We have had (and still maintain) a "30 day turnaround policy" for such requests in order to give IIT time to install the software on the machines.  Faculty are creative and expect software to match that creativity.  When professors think of an idea, they don't want to wait until the next fall semester when IIT creates the next "software image" for the labs.

The Virtual PC will enable us to install software more quickly and be more flexible to the creative needs of faculty.