This message is about an application which will automatically install and run on some Windows computers in Administrative Departments this week.
This note applies only to the Windows operating system. If you do not run Windows on any of your computers at Carleton, you can skip the rest of this notice.
Summary:
In order to prepare Carleton for the transition to Vista/Windows 7 (currently envisaged for summer, 2010), Microsoft recommends running its Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) on desktop and laptop Windows computers on campus. ITS is scheduling to run this application on Windows computers in Administrative Departments this week. (It was already run on computers in Academic Departments earlier this year.)
· The ACT application will install and start automatically on your Windows computer someday this week. (See Details below to tell whether this program will run on your Windows computer.)
· You do not have to do anything for this application to work.
· (Once started, it may affect performance slightly on your computer for up to 10 minutes.)
· It will run in the background for the next 5 days.
· After that, another small program will run, sending the collected data to a folder on Collab.
· The ACT application will then terminate.
This program gathers information about which applications are installed, and how they interact with the operating system. No personal information or user documents are inspected or logged. A very small number of ITS staff will collate the data and proceed with analyzing it.
For those that are interested, more details and explanations follow in the note below by Sande Nissen, ITS Systems Administrator.
Thank you!
Details:
In the following paragraphs, Microsoft explains its free Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT):
“Innovation related to Windows Vista and Windows 7 might occasionally cause compatibility issues. These compatibility issues tend to occur in a few specific areas of the operating system…. In response to these known issues, you can use ACT to locate your affected applications, to determine the actual impact on your organization, and finally, to create a solution to minimize or to fix the issue for each application.
The Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.5 helps customers understand their application compatibility situation by identifying which applications are compatible with the Windows 7 RC and Windows Vista® operating system and which require further testing. ACT helps customers lower their costs for application compatibility testing, prioritize their applications, and deploy Windows more quickly.”
In order for an application to be analyzed and fixed, an entry for it must appear in the ACT database. The only way applications can get logged into the ACT database is by running the ACT Data Collector on Carleton computers where the application is already installed.
Therefore, we have prepared an automated distribution of the ACT Data Collector that will run for a few days on your PC after it is installed. The only information it is gathering is what applications are installed, and how they interact with the operating system. The application information collected into the ACT database will be visible only to the few ITS staff who are working on application compatibility remedies.
No personal information and no user documents are inspected or logged.
Data about the executable files needs to be sent to Microsoft, in order to complete the process. The data sent to Microsoft will not include any information about users or machine names. The data will be aggregated from all the computers in this collection and be sent as one file.
The program is scheduled to download and install on the Windows machines in your department, if they are using ZENworks Desktop Management. You can tell if the machine is using ZENworks by looking at the dialog box where you log into the machine. The login dialog box has fields for your “Username” and “Password”. (It may also have other fields, depending on the options chosen.) If the computer is using ZENworks, it will have the words, “ZENworks Desktop Management” at the top of the login dialog box.
When the ACT Data Collector is first installed, it may affect performance slightly for up to 10 minutes or so as it scans all installed applications. After that initial scan, it is unlikely you will even notice it working. It will run in the background for about the next 5 days, watching how applications interact with the operating system.
Approximately 5 days after the ACT Data Collector starts running on your computer, another application will automatically run to collect the log files from your computer and transfer them to Collab for import into the ACT database. You may notice a little activity on your screen as this happens – it usually only lasts a few seconds.
We ask that you please don’t try to circumvent this process; it’s essential that our ACT database closely reflect the applications run at Carleton, as we prepare to support the next major upgrade of Microsoft Windows.
Thank you for your consideration as we plan for the future.