For a bit of perspective and amusement, both of my kids are students. One is 3rd year in college, the other in grad school. The most common thing is to get some kind of computer and leave it completely un-managed for 4 years or longer. This is regardless of whether they're in technical fields or not.
Backups are a good thing, but most kids do their schoolwork in the cloud. Possibly the greatest risk is not software related, but either mechanical damage or theft. And battery death. Don't treat a portable appliance as your most prized possession.
And this is also true of people in general: There doesn't seem to be a correlation between how fussy someone is about keeping their computer just right, and actually getting reliable use out of it. So part of the process is deciding for yourself whether you tend to need more computer management, or less, than the average person.
Maybe the Windows requirement is for running anti-cheating software? There is the chance of you being required to install some bizarre spyware. That kind of stuff can also be highly platform specific, which is usually a sign of it being poorly written.
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For a bit of perspective and amusement, both of my kids are students. One is 3rd year in college, the other in grad school. The most common thing is to get some kind of computer and leave it completely un-managed for 4 years or longer. This is regardless of whether they're in technical fields or not.
Backups are a good thing, but most kids do their schoolwork in the cloud. Possibly the greatest risk is not software related, but either mechanical damage or theft. And battery death. Don't treat a portable appliance as your most prized possession.
And this is also true of people in general: There doesn't seem to be a correlation between how fussy someone is about keeping their computer just right, and actually getting reliable use out of it. So part of the process is deciding for yourself whether you tend to need more computer management, or less, than the average person.
Maybe the Windows requirement is for running anti-cheating software? There is the chance of you being required to install some bizarre spyware. That kind of stuff can also be highly platform specific, which is usually a sign of it being poorly written.