Network Software
 
Operating Systems
 
Introduction
A workstation is a computer that is a member of a network. At homes and small businesses, the
most regular operating system, at the time of this writing, is probably Microsoft Windows XP
Home Edition. Other regularly used operating systems from Microsoft are Microsoft Windows XP
Professional, Microsoft Windows 9X, and Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional. On this site, we
will mostly cover Microsoft Windows XP Professional.

When preparing to get or acquire your workstations, you may be in one of the following
scenarios.

Using New Computers
If you get a contract to build a network for a small business or you are going to create a new
network for a home, you may decide to purchase brand new computers. If you haven't bought
the computer(s) but are planning to, refer to our section on purchasing or acquiring new
computers in the Lesson 4.

Using Existing Computers

If you already have one or more computers that you plan to use as workstations, in the
previous lesson, we reviewed how you can get it ready for Microsoft Windows XP
Professional. Once the computer is ready with the appropriate hardware, you can prepare the
operating system. Because Microsoft Windows 9X, Windows Me, and Windows XP Home Edition
have only limited security, on this site, we will mostly consider only Microsoft Windows XP
Professional. Based on this, if you have a computer with Microsoft Window 9X, Windows Me, or
Windows XP Home Edition but plans to apply a good level of security in your network, you
should upgrade it to either Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional.

You can purchase the Microsoft Windows Windows XP Professional operating system in most
computer stores or from a web store on the Internet. Here are a few links:

http://www.microsoft.com
http://www.tigerdirect.com
http://www.provantage.com
http://www.cdw.com
http://www.amazon.com
etc.

We will cover the installation later.

Using Barebone Computers

If you have built your own computer or you acquired a "barebone" computer, once it's ready
with the necessary hardware parts, you must acquire the operating system. In our lessons, we
 will use Microsoft Windows Windows XP Professional, which you should acquire or purchase.

You can purchase the operating system from a computer store or one of the above links.

 
Support Software
 
Office Suite
An office suite is a series of software applications packaged as one that assists the users with
their daily regular assignments. . The suite typically includes a word processor, a spreadsheet
application, a personal information manager (PIM), and a presentation software. These include
the most regularly performed operations at work. In most cases, you should provide an office
suite to the users.

The most popular office suite is, obviously, Microsoft Office. The other popular office suites are
Corel WordPerfect and OpenOffice. The first two are commercial suites. You can purchase
OpenOffice from Sun at a very low price or you can download it free
fromhttp://www.openoffice.org.