It takes far too long to log into the computers

I am concerned that you have experienced such long log on times recently. Would you be able to provide more details on the locations where you found responsiveness to be poor so we can then perform some field tests on the PCs in question?

Late last year ICT Services became aware that users were finding that some PCs were slow to start up and log on, especially when first turned on in the morning. The Desktops Team worked on improving this behaviour, especially for older PCs, and as a result implemented a number of changes:

• Optimisation of security update checking and installation
• Rescheduling of anti-virus updates
• Optimisation of the anti-virus scanning configuration
• Reduction in the memory usage of Internet Explorer

The feedback I received following these changes was very positive; here are a few of the comments:

“Yes this was a problem and yes it does seem to have improved. Thank you!”

“Yes, my PC has been much better recently. Don't know what you've done but it has worked. It used to take ages to get on to the Internet, now it's brilliant.”

“It was the start-up times in lecture theatres that was a real pain - especially in the new lecture theatres in the Learning Landscapes area in the main building. But I have to say, over the past few weeks there's been a definite improvement.”

“Just to say that I think that PC performance has been significantly better lately.”

“Start up and login times seem to be satisfactory at present so thanks for the efforts of you and your team to improve these.”

ICT Services are currently working through a programme of hardware upgrades for many of the older PCs which will again improve their performance.