Overview
Last Updated: 06/08/2020
This list of software and hardware (below) is used by the IT and Extended Education helpdesks to guide their responses to support requests. These standards enable IT and Extended Education to provide users with high quality support.
This list will be under review continuously.
Please note:
- Hardware manufactured by unknown vendors will be supported on a case-by-case basis.
- IT and Extended Education will not open the case on any laptop to install peripherals or memory due to warranty restrictions; however, you may be referred to a local vendor to have these services performed at your expense.
- IT and Extended Education will not support any prereleases of software (i.e., no alpha or beta releases).
- The list of supported software may increase during the course of a single academic year, but no applications will be phased out mid-year.
- IT and Extended Education still support software offered by IT that does not appear on this list. Check our list of licensed software.
- Suggested purchase options for personal hardware can be found here.
Hardware Minimum Support List
The specifications below detail the minimum hardware requirements to receive support from IT and Extended Education with regard to accessing online educational environments:
PC Desktops and laptops – Minimum Specification
- Intel Core (i5, i7, i9) processors; 8th generation or newer
- 8 GB of RAM, 16 GB of RAM is highly recommended
- 512 GB SSD Storage
- Dual Band spectrum (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) with 802.11ac or 802.11n
- Use Windows' Operating System and PC Info to find your hardware information
Mac desktops and laptops
- Mac hardware that can run MacOS 13, 14, 15, and 26 are supported
- Use Apple's About this Mac feature to find your hardware information
Software
| TYPE OF SOFTWARE | MINIMUM SUPPORTED |
|---|---|
| Desktop/Laptop OS |
Windows 10 (22H2) macOS 13 (Ventura) |
|
Office Word Processors Spreadsheets Presentation |
Faculty and Staff - Office 2019 (Mac, Windows) Students – Office 365, GSuite |
|
Browsers |
|
|
Email, Calendar, and Contact Readers |
Faculty and Staff – Outlook and Outlook Web Access Students – Google Hosted my.msutexas.edu Email Outlook 2019 (Mac) Outlook 2019 (Windows) |
|
Utilities |
Antivirus/Anti-spyware: Sophos Intercept X (university owned PC or Mac computers) Sophos Home Edition for PC or Mac
Whole Disk Encryption: BitLocker (Windows) FileVault (Mac)
Secure File Transfer (SFTP) and Secure Shell (SSH) Utilities: Fetch 5.7 (Mac) Open SSH 7.9/7.9p1 (Mac) Macintosh's Terminal utility
PDF Utilities: Adobe Acrobat Pro Native Windows PDF Viewer Native Mac PDF Viewer |
|
Media and Design Tools |
Adobe Creative Cloud GIMP 2.0 |
|
Remote Access |
Faculty and Staff - MSU VPN Service |
Mobile Devices
The specifications below detail mobile device operating system requirements to receive support. Support includes the configuration of Microsoft Exchange, G Suite, and UCB wireless on devices.
- Android 13.x and later
- Apple iOS 18.x and later