Software is generally licensed per-lab. Exceptions to this are listed below. Please note that many pieces of software exist as trial versions that continue to run after the trial periods have expired. These programs must still be licensed. Please contact us if you need help with the licensing process.

You can find a list of free, open source alternatives to many commercial programs here. Examples include LibreOffice as alternative to MS Office, PeaZip as alternative to WinRAR or WinZip, and PDFCreator instead of Adobe Acrobat.

Microsoft Software

The School of Computing has a subscription with Microsoft Imagine (formerly DreamSpark, formerly the MSDN Academic Alliance).
This subscription provides most faculty, staff, and students with licenses to most Microsoft development products including:

  • Windows 10 Professional
  • Visual Studio
  • Visio
  • Expression Studio
  • Windows Server
  • Much more…

THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE MS OFFICE, but Office may be obtained by Queen’s members, free of charge, via IT Services.

If you have questions about or would like to be enrolled in Microsoft Imagine, contact Richard Linley.

VMWare Software

Similarly, the School has access to licenses to VMWare Products These licenses include:

  • VMWare Workstation
  • VMWare Fusion for Mac
  • VMWare ESXi
  • Training

Licenses need to be renewed annually.

If you have questions about our VMWare program, contact Ben Hall.

Anti-Malware Software

Search terms: malware antimalware anti-malware virus antivirus anti-virus trojan worm keylogger ransomware cryptolocker

Most malware is now spread as worms over networks. Infections on PCs can generally be traced to so-called social engineering, i.e., the user is tricked into allowing Trojan Horse malware to be installed.

Please consult directly with the technical staff, and Richard Linley in particular, if you need advice about removing malware from an infected PC. Versions of Windows newer than Windows 7 come with a much-strengthened version of Windows Defender, and it is turned on by default.

Ben Hall recommends Immunet ClamAV for older machines, though it requires an active internet connection, and he has seen more false-positives with it.

Matlab

Matlab is licensed from MathWorks by the University, and is free for use by all instructors, staff, and researchers at Queen’s or at home. To obtain Matlab for your personal use, or for use on a research labs computer…

  • Create and/or log in to your own account at MathWorks.com.
  • Your name will appear at the top right corner of your MathWorks home page. Pull down the menu to the right of it, and select “Associate License.”
  • On the new page, paste or type this key into the “Activation Key or License Number” input box…10043-12328-05753-02778-80949 and click on “Associate License.”

You will then be able to download and execute the installation program for Matlab, Simulink, and your choice of toolboxes. All toolboxes are selected by default, so unchecking toolboxes you are never likely to use is probably wise. Be aware that Matlab is a large program and may take a long time to download, depending on your connection speed.

Here’s a link to IT Services’ Matlab page: http://www.queensu.ca/its/software/enterprise-licenced-software/matlab.