Computer Software Recommendations

These are our basic computer software recommendations for Stanford School of Medicine use. Many users will have needs for (additional, and/or more specialized) software titles beyond those listed on this page. But it is our expectation that all School of Medicine users would likely have at least the following software on their computer. Feel free to contact us at 5-8000 to discuss other software needs.

Operating Systems

Windows XP
MacOS 10.4

Note that we do not yet recommend Windows Vista or MacOS 10.5. These OS versions are still "too new" for us to recommend them. There are important pieces of hardware and software which aren't yet supported or available for these operating systems, and we (and other IT organizations and personnel) don't yet have enough experience ourselves to be able to assist you with specific issues.

Note about e-mail applications: Eudora used to be the standard for e-mail at Stanford. But the vendor (Qualcomm) suspended sales earlier this year, and no longer offers support for Eudora. Therefore, it is recommended that users begin planning for migrating from Eudora to either Outlook (for Windows users) or Mail (for MacOS users). More information on this can be found on the ITS Eudora Migration website.

Windows Software

MS Office (available via SU CWA)
Adobe Reader (available from ess.stanford.edu)
Symantec AntiVirus (available from ess.stanford.edu)
Spy Sweeper (available from ess.stanford.edu)
BigFix (available from ess.stanford.edu)
Stanford Desktop Tools (available from ess.stanford.edu)
Sundial (available from calendar.stanford.edu)
Security Self-Help Tool (available from ess.stanford.edu)
XP SP2 Configuration Tool (available from ess.stanford.edu)
an e-mail app: either Outlook or Eudora, with Outlook as the "default" for new users who do not have a history of/strong desire for Eudora.

MacOS Software

MS Office (available via SU CWA)
Adobe Reader (available from ess.stanford.edu)
Norton AntiVirus (available from ess.stanford.edu)
BigFix (will be on ess.stanford.edu in the future, available to BF Console Operators)
Stanford Desktop Tools (available from ess.stanford.edu)
Sundial (available from calendar.stanford.edu)
an e-mail app: either Mail or Eudora, with Mail as the "default" for new users who do not have a history of/strong desire for Eudora.