University Software Standards

Effective from: Dec 2020
Last Review: Dec 2020

Category	Recommended Software Standard	Acceptable Software	Software under consideration
1. Operating System	Windows 10 Enterprise Edition 64-bit Multilingual User Interface with Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese (Build Number within 18 months)	Windows 8.1 Enterprise Edition 32-bit (or 64-bit) Multilingual User Interface with Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese	—
2. Office Suite	Office 365 ProPlus	Office 2019 Professional Plus 64-bit (or 32 bit) Edition Multilingual User Interface with Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese Office 2016 Professional Plus 32-bit (or 64 bit) Edition Multilingual User Interface with Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese Office 2013 Professional Plus 32-bit Edition Server Pack 1 Multilingual User Interface with Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese [NB: End of Support date is April 11, 2023]	—
3. Document Exchange	Adobe Acrobat Reader DC	—	—
4. E-mail	Outlook of Office 365 ProPlus	Outlook 2019 Outlook 2016 Outlook 2013	—
5. Scheduling	Outlook of Office 365 ProPlus	Outlook 2019 Outlook 2016 Outlook 2013	—
6. Web Browser*	New Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based Edge released in January 2020)	Microsoft Edge (or known as Microsoft Edge Legacy, which is currently the default browser on Windows 10) Chrome or Internet Explorer 11	—
7. Web Browser add-on	Adobe Flash Player latest version*, VLC media player latest version	—	—
8. Anti-virus	Kaspersky Total Security for Business	—	—
9. File Compression	WinRAR latest version [NB: ZIP file format is still recommended]	—	—
10. Anti-spyware	Windows Defender (Pre-installed service with Windows 10)	Windows Defender (Pre-installed service with 8.1)	—
11. Secured Shell	PuTTY , WinSCP latest version*	—	—
12. Protecting digital information, Data Encryption for USB removable storage devices; and full-disk encryption for laptops	Azure Information Protection (AIP) classic client	Microsoft BitLocker*	Microsoft BitLocker To Go*

*Remark:

Item 6 Web Browser
- Microsoft announced that
  - Beginning from November 30, 2020, the Microsoft Teams web app will no longer support IE 11.
  - Beginning from August 17, 2021, the remaining Microsoft 365 apps and services will no longer support IE 11.
  - Microsoft will be ending support for the legacy version of the Microsoft Edge desktop app on March 9, 2021, in favor of the new Microsoft Edge.
- The security update of IE 11 on supporting Windows 10 Builds will still be provided in line with the support of Windows 10. It just that you need to use other supported web browsers to access Microsoft 365 Apps and Services.
Item 7 Web Browser add-on
- Adobe will end the support for Adobe Flash Player on 31 Dec, 2020.
Item 11 Secured Shell
- is required only for users who need to use the software.
Item 12 Protecting digital information, Data Encryption
- Microsoft BitLocker is recommended for users who need to handle sensitive information. BitLocker is Drive Encryption technique for OS and Fixed data drives.
- Microsoft BitLocker To Go is BitLocker Drive Encryption for removable storage devices.

Notes on the selection of University Software Standards:

Executive Summary – Adopting Software Standards in the University
For all software
- Both Chinese and English versions are recommended depending on the actual needs of the departments/units.
- Departments/Units are recommended to watch out for the securities patches/software updates provided by the vendors and install the critical patches when necessary. ITSC will also notify departmental LAN administrators about the critical updates of various software.
For Electronic Filing – To read PDF documents, departments/units are recommended to install the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader DC which can be downloaded from Adobe website. Users need to create PDF document could purchase Adobe Acrobat DC.
For Chinese Character Set – ITSC is implementing a Supplementary Chinese Character Set for the University so that our specially created Chinese characters would be displayed correctly.
For the software compatibility with the following campus wide applications, please refer to Tips and Getting Started guide at: