Monitoring software, recommendations?

[pallen]

@Booman - the only time I had a problem connecting with Lanview was when VNC was not installed no the client. And the one time I accidently installed it on the client with the wrong password when I was testing If you can connect using VNC then there is no reason that Lanview shouldn't work, maybe try a different version of VNC?

Just check the usual firewall, and that the client is running etc, but other than that not sure what else to suggest.

[dansymons]

We use Impero here too. It's the best and easiest to use piece of monitoring software we've come across. The detail in the logs is excellent and has helped us with many things.

[(OtO)]

We use VeryTeaching from verylabs.

[dhoward_westexetc]

Impero is an excellent product and is still very much in active development, we have a direct contact with the developers at Impero and are always willing to listen to feedback and incorporate it into new versions.

The server is very configurable and the policies are very customisable, they can be as broad or as specialised as you want.

We like the recent feature that ensures strict safesearch on Google is always used. Other features include URL blocking, program blocking, caption blocking, and controlling printing and sound output.

Impero is also really useful for administration purposes, and I use it all of the time to maintain laptop trolleys each half term. Features such as remote login, remote running of websites or files, remote command prompt and MiMiC script support have been huge timesavers.

I really recommend anybody looking to install management software for schools at least have a good look at Impero. And they have recently started to release versions that work on Windows Vista.

[layercake426]

this is very good as it is hard for the monitored user to know we're watching.

[Captain_Caveman]

+1 for Impero.
We've used several pieces of software over the years from Netop, Browse Control, Veryteaching but Impero seems to tie everything together better than most plus it's fairly easy for the teachers to use. The remote shutdown of all machines is handy at the end of the day too.

[zag]

Italc here, because its open source and free

Also in active development but I just wish they would add an uninstaller! It's a pain to upgrade each time.

iTALC

[zag]

Just an update to this, the latest version of italc 1.09 final is very stable and working great here in both out computer labs.

[networkingNut]

We use AB tutor control. Seems to do it job when it comes to monitoring. The problem we have at the minute is when we try and lock a students keyboard and mouse it does not work. The student can still move the mouse and keybaord, which is rather annoying.

[techie211]

just a quick question. are all of you monitoring every workstation in your schools or just the labs? Is there a server/client install or do you view all the workstations from your XP box? we have 8 schools with fiber between all the schools which I'm thinking should be able to handle this type of load on the network.
I guess what I'm getting at is what type of performance hit will I see on my network if I was to view 'all' workstations?

thanks

[Geoff]

It's fairly sensible about how it 'polls' machines. Your monitor workstation is more likely to run out of puff before your network is. I'd suggest dunking a decent graphics card and a large amount of ram in the workstation to alleviate any potential problems.

[timzim]

We've had Securus on a trial for a couple of weeks and have also used NetOp for years. We've had major problems with Netop however since we updated to v6 last year (clients keep crashing on a lot of PCs so Teacher only picks up half the class). NetOp support are very well-meaning but have failed to find the cause of the problem in over a year and my users are getting restless... Also NetOp doesn't perform the functions Securus is currently doing (e.g. keylogging & screenshots).

From what I've read, would I be right in thinking Impero combines the best of both Netop and Securus? Maybe scrapping those two and replacing with Impero would be a better option?