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We've told them that they can use the net on them at home but if they do they will be completely unsupported in it. We've given them instructions on how to set them up (disable ISA firewall client, disable proxy etc) and told them that we'll rip their bowels out with a rusty spoon should they even think of installing AOL on them.
No major problems so far :)
I have a batch file that checks if the server exists in all users startup if so then runs a batch file from the server to map drives / fixes etc. If they are at home I have two batch files on their desktop to undo the proxy settings depending where they are. I have found this the easiest way. The laptops are not on domains.
$16 buys a really great bit of software called MultiNetwork Manager 6.5 from Globesoft - don't bother with the all-singing, all-dancing MNM8.
With his you can set up network profiles for school & home. If any of our teachers want Internet access at home I simply reset all settings to default (DHCP, no proxy etc.), then send the teacher home to set up his/her laptop for home access. When he/she's happy it's working at home I install MNM 6.5, save these settings as the "home" profile, then add a new profile for the school settings. This takes about 3 minutes.
Whenever the machine fires up, they just choose "home" or "school". The program runs in trial mode for 20 days, before then they can register & pay their $16 on-line.
I use this on my own laptop, with loads of profiles - school LAN, school wireless, WAP setup direst, WAP setup over LAN, Wireless projector setup, home settings etc. etc.
Even the "technically challenged" teachers seem to cope - highly recommended!
RoyG
A couple of people here have mentioned scripts to change the proxy settings. Can anyone let me have a copy of such a script?
It seems the easiest way to go - a shortcut on their desktop saying "I'm at home" which they can click and it resets their proxy address to the blank default.
So far I've just told people how to clear the proxy address themselves, but it's not easy for them. Soon they'll be expected to access from home, so I have to remove as many obstacles as possible.
I use Net Profiles myself but haven't started rolling it out to teachers yet - just been test driving it. Very very nice freebie. It can handle changing IP and proxy by the SSID it detects wireless is connected to or just providing a choice of "Home" "School" to click on, supports both Firefox and IE proxy. Liking it a lot!
Net Profiles
Looks a good little utility, is it free for educational use? as a few ones I've seen which are free are not free when used in a commercial or educational situation
@Overworked
I just add a batch script which calls a reg file and silently edits the apropriate keys for the proxy.
Change the icon on the batch script to look like IE, and the teachers don't know the difference. Call one Internet Explorer (School) and the other Internet Explorer (Home), and the staff just click the right one!
Bat Script
Export the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Internet Settings string when the proxy is enabled and call it ProxyEnable.reg and do the same when it is off (under a different name and edit the bat script obviously).Quote:
regedit.exe /s c:\ProxyEnable.reg
@start "" /b "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" %*
It works well for us.
This is the one I use on my netbook - swaps the ip if needed, the proxy and even the default printer settings.
Thanks to the three above. I'll look into these.
I've tried the creating a wpad.dat file with DNS pointing to it, but just can't get it working. IE won't pick up the settings.
Anyway, as I think I mentioned earlier, I'll go for a shortcut to a script on the user's desktop, so they can do it themselves.
Sorry to go a bit off topic...
The biggest issue our staff have with using their laptops at home is that everything is incredibly slow, logging on take forever for once, and generally everything is slow.
Are there any settings etc you would recommend I look at?
cant check it now but I think its this util : Proxy Changer-Free Internet Explorer Proxy Changer
free proxy changer that sits in the system tray and they can right click and select which one ( you could call one home and one work ) and then they swap between them.
Other option is to make 2 reg files and 2 script files ( either bat or vbs ) to execute and silently ammend the registry using the reg files to alter the proxy settings assuming the user logged in has rights or you can do a run as in the script maybe ?
and give them two shortcuts that point to the 2 scripts ( one shortcut called home and the other work ) ?
short of that you can use hardware profiles and call one home and one work and do it that way ( not sure if this is full proof ) but think I did that once and it seemed to work.
beat me to it with the altering the reg keys lolQuote:
Originally Posted by terrorvis
This is an AutoIt3 script I wrote a long time back, if it can get a response from the IP of our proxy it sets IE to use it, if not it disables the proxy. The executable generated is placed in the startup folder for all users, and therefore runs at login or whenever the user selects it.
$var = Ping("192.168.108.4",250)
If $var Then ; also possible: If @error = 0 Then ...
RegWrite("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Win dows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyEnable", "REG_DWORD", "1")
RegWrite("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Win dows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyServer", "REG_SZ", "192.168.108.4:8080")
RegWrite("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Win dows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyOverride", "REG_SZ", "<local>;192.168.108.*")
Else
RegWrite("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Win dows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyEnable", "REG_DWORD", "0")
EndIf
Although I now prefer the idea of setting up the LAN so all you need to do is enable the IE 'Automatically detect settings' box, since this should enable my own laptop to roam between the proxies at the different schools I visit.
Proxy.pac file for me
Also added a few exceptions that return no proxy for special instances (e.g. Sims Document Server error)Code:function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
// variables for returning proxy or no proxy
var proxy_yes = "PROXY YOUR.PROXY.ADDRESS:PORT"
var proxy_no = "DIRECT"
// machine is NOT on school network OR address is in local domain - NO Proxy
if ((!isInNet(myIpAddress(), "192.168.0.0", "255.255.0.0")) || //IP Address and Subnet mask
dnsDomainIs(host, ".curriculum.com") ||
{return proxy_no;}
else
return proxy_yes;
}
Code:shExpMatch(url, "http://localhost*") ||
shExpMatch(url, "http://10.250*") ||
shExpMatch(url, "http://SIMSSERVERNAME*"))