| Description | Comments |
| General Productivity | Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 | Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation, etc. If you plan on using Outlook as your email program, you will need the non-student version for Microsoft Exchange server support. |
| Email | WebMail provided free by MedEd | Students can also use Outlook (see above) or other email client packages that support Microsoft Exchange. |
| Web Browser | Internet Explorer 7.0/8.0, FireFox 3.0 or Safari | We recommend that students have two web browsers installed. IE is strongly recommended for student webmail. Firefox or Safari can be used for remote library access and routine internet browsing. |
| Anti-Virus | Sophos with auto update | Free antiviral software provided by UCSD and strongly recommended as primary anti-virus strategy. See EdCom for more details: http://meded.ucsd.edu/edcom/virus.html |
| Anti-Spyware | MS Anti-Spyware or Lavasoft Ad-Aware | See EdCom for more details: http://meded.ucsd.edu/edcom/spyaware.html |
| Firewall | Required by UCSD | Incorporated into Windows XP - must be enabled.
|
| Plug-ins | Adobe Acrobat Reader  , Adobe Flash Player, Real Player , QuickTime , Windows Media Player | Free applications available for download.
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| File Compression / Decompression | Built into Windows
| File Compression/Decompression included in both Windows XP and Vista
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| Reference Management | RefWorks | Provided free by UCSD Libraries. For more information, see: http://biomed.ucsd.edu/refworks.htm . If a more robust application is required, consider purchasing EndNote . |