By Debbie Justice, Director of IT Planning

Did you know that some of the software programs you use at work can be installed on a personal computer at home? This is often called “Work-at-Home” rights or WAH. It doesn’t give you a license that you own outright, it only allows you to install your work license on a home computer so you have the same programs available to use in case you need to do work from home. If you use a laptop computer at work that you also take home, then you wouldn’t need to use the WAH feature. If you have a desktop computer at home, then the WAH licensing may be useful to you.

Campus-wide licenses with Work-at-Home rights

The IT division licenses a few software products for campus-wide use that include WAH rights. Visit the IT Software Downloads page at http://www.wcu.edu/10608.asp where you will find information about WAH for these products. Should you leave the university, you must remove the WAH programs you have installed on your home computer.

Microsoft Campus Agreement

This contract provides campus-wide licensing for several Microsoft products and includes WAH rights. All students, faculty, and staff are covered by the Campus Agreement and are entitled to use the products at home. The following products are included in the agreement:

  • Office Enterprise 2007 for Windows – includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, and Outlook, as well as less familiar OneNote, Communicator, Groove, and InfoPath
  • Office for Macintosh 2008 Professional – includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage
  • Office SharePoint Designer – web design tool (replaced FrontPage)
  • Visual Studio Pro – application development tool
  • Windows Vista Enterprise Upgrade – this is an upgrade license, meaning you must already own a Windows license that the upgrade can be used with. If you own a dual boot Macintosh computer with an Intel processor, Microsoft will let you use the Windows upgrade license to “upgrade” the Mac OS installed on your Mac without uninstalling the Mac OS – you can have both installed.

Symantec

WCU’s Symantec agreement provides campus-wide licensing for antivirus and malware protection programs from Symantec. Students, faculty, and staff are all covered by this agreement and WAH licensing is included for faculty and staff. The following products are available:

  • Endpoint Protection for Windows – includes integrated antivirus, antispyware, firewall, and intrusion prevention tools
  • Norton Antivirus for Macintosh – antivirus and Internet worm protection; protects against both Macintosh and PC viruses

Other licenses with Work-at-Home rights

In addition to the campus-wide software provided by the IT division, you may have software on your work computer that was bought for you by your department or college that also includes WAH rights. For example, Adobe products such as Acrobat Professional or Photoshop that were purchased through the university’s Adobe licensing agreement include at-home use rights.

If you don’t know if WAH rights are included for a program you use, you can usually find out by taking a look at the program’s license agreement terms. These are typically found by using the “Help” or “About” commands available in the program or by searching the program vendor’s website.

For more information on WAH licenses, contact Candy Benson, IT Services Help Desk manager, at benson@email.wcu.edu or extension 7487.