Managed Workstation Services News
September 4, 2018
MWS Training Room End of Life
As of 10/1/2018, the Managed Workstation training room in Roosevelt Commons is no longer available. There is not enough use for us to continue to provide this resource. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Brian Arkills Managed Workstation service owner and manager UW-IT
July 12, 2018
Managed Workstation to stop supporting Windows 7 on 8/31
Managed Workstation will drop OS support for Windows 7 SP1 on 8/31/2018. This will reduce costs and improve security & capabilities, enabling a more useful, up-to-date, functioning workstation. To meet this goal, several steps will be taken: July 19: Begin weekly notifications to customer account contacts of their remaining Windows 7 managed workstations August 1: Contact primary user of remaining Windows 7 computers August 8: Contact primary user of remaining Windows 7 computers August 15: Initiate automatic upgrades for remaining Windows 7 managed workstations August 31: Windows 7 computers removed from Managed Workstation service Since January 2017, a self-service mechanism to upgrade Windows 7...
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June 28, 2018
LastPass for Managed Workstation customers
Managed Workstation is deploying LastPass Enterprise, a password management system, which is now available on an opt-in basis. What & Why Managed Workstation has purchased LastPass Enterprise for all Managed Workstation users. LastPass helps improve password management practices by: securely storing and generating complex passwords, providing secure sharing mechanisms for passwords, both individually between users and via UW Groups automatically entering usernames and passwords on most websites, including the UW web login interfaces, providing warnings about password entry on malicious websites, or about at-risk or compromised passwords We believe these security features are valuable to all users. LastPass is approved...
November 27, 2017
Windows 10 1709/Fall Creators Update is now our Baseline OS
We've moved Windows 10 1709, also known as the Fall Creators Update, to Baseline and will start upgrading Windows 10 computers running an older version this week. What and when Over the next several weeks, we will be upgrading all computers running Windows 10 to version 1709, which is also known as the Fall Creators Update. We are moving to this version ahead of the normal schedule, to enable new security functionality. This upgrade is mandatory. The upgrade will be done automatically in the evenings, requires no user interaction, and will not impact any user settings or files. The upgrades...
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October 20, 2017
MWS trends for October 2017
Below are graphical metrics since the last newsletter. A takeaway statement follows each graph to summarize the critical points of data. Client Operating System Counts Takeaways: -200 Total, +700 Windows 10 (2240 today), -260 Windows 8.1 (0 today), -800 Windows 7 (870 today). Overall losses were due to cleanup activities that happened during domain migration where many unused systems were retired. A big shift to Windows 10 continues. In future newsletters, we’ll differentiate between versions of Windows 10. Support Requests and Incidents Takeaways: Support requests and incidents are generally down about 15%. Spikes in both requests and incidents correspond...
October 20, 2017
Managed Workstation Newsletter (October 2017)
What’s new? Customer survey - In the next month, Managed Workstation will send out a survey for feedback on our service. We are looking for ways to improve our service and would like to know what experiences you have had with our team. Keeping current - Microsoft continues to march forward with its product support lifecycle, and we continue to innovate to provide great management capabilities. We keep you current with Windows and Office with a minimum of hassle. Ideally, you don’t need to keep track of what version you are running and whether it is supported or insecure. If...
October 16, 2017
Managed Workstation service boundary changes
Service boundaries have changed slightly. See below for details. What and When Beginning with adoption of the new FY18 rates (10/1/2017), the Managed Workstation service boundaries have changed. We still provide the same core capabilities, but down in the details, there are a few changes. MWS rate changes: Now includes 1 hour of complimentary hardware recommendation advice for each customer account. We’ll help find an appropriate computer model that meets your needs. Now includes 1 hour of complimentary business needs IT consulting for each customer account. In other words, we’ll sit down with you to listen to the kinds of...
October 16, 2017
MWS training room
As of 10/1/2018, the Managed Workstation training room in Roosevelt Commons is no longer available. How we provide the Managed Workstation service (MWS) training room has changed. See below for details. What and When During the first half of 2017, we refreshed the technology in the training room. There are photos of the space on the training room page. It’s a great option for any session that has 19 or fewer participants which each need a computer. Using the MWS training room still requires a reservation—there is now a form which captures the needed details to streamline the reservation process....
October 3, 2017
MWS security improvements
Security improvements don’t get a lot of attention because often they silently protect you. And in many cases we silently implement security improvements. But every once in a while, it is worth recognizing these security improvements, even if you don't see them. Here's a recap of some of the recent security improvements MWS has made: Microsoft’s Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) has been implemented for Managed Workstations. This solution provides and manages a complex unique password for the built-in administrator account on each managed workstation to reduce the exposure from a single managed workstation being compromised. Many years ago, the...
August 18, 2017
Managed Workstation FY18 rates
The preliminary FY18 rates for Managed Workstation services are now available. The annual rate change for UW-IT services was postponed this year to be effective 9/1/2017. Management Accounting & Analysis (MAA) provides final approval of rates for all cost-recovery centers at the UW, and these preliminary rates are still pending their approval. All rates associated with the Managed Workstation service are documented at: https://it.uw.edu/service/managed-workstation-services/#Price. Rates The new FY18 rates are: Managed Workstation rate: $30.00/workstation/month Managed Workstation file storage: $.25/GB/month Consulting Services: $104.43/hour Managed Workstation training room: $60/hour Changes In conjunction with these rate changes, there are some changes to the...