Replacement for Winsuite

[SimonWindisch]

Hi there,

There comes a point when you just have to chuck non-working non-supported software out, and it's Winsuite's time.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a replacement. I don't feel up to the jumping off a cliff feeling that using policies gives me.

We need to stop the children from messing up the computers, basically.

We have pretty simple setup: we're a primary school with 300 children, around 30 PCs, four shared logons for the children.

Thanks for your time.

Simon Windisch

[Michael]

Hello Simon,

Active Directory is the way forward. Maybe if you don't feel comfortable setting up policies, you should hire someone (maybe at your LA) to carry out the work. If a good job is done, servers generally run themselves.

[Quackers]

Windows Steadystate? Freebie from Microsoft allows you freeze the computer disk. Reboot all back to normal. and you can do some locking down too. For 30 PC's i would still want domain, but if your up to a bit of manual configuration, it might do the job for you.

[ddcmp]

i have supported 3 primary schools all with winsuite, i persuaded all 3 ict coordinators to chuck winsuite out and go for AD, they have all thanked me for the advice and say that the children and the teachers all now WANT to work on the computers! get rid of winsuite and bring in AD (bang in mandatory profiles if you want) but please get rid of winsuite!

[mac_shinobi]

Wise soft has some good utils might be worth a look ?

WiseSoft - Resources for IT Professionals

not sure if its related

[laserblazer]

I've just completed the exercise. I have to say that setting up AD and policies was a bit daunting but I got a bit of help from the High School which speeded things up and now everyone loves it. I'm still experimenting with settings but everything is pretty well locked down.

The pupils first impression was "Cor XP!" and now they think they are working on proper computers.

I put Steadystate on the slave computer in the library because it's not on the domain and I wanted it locked down as tight as a duck's beak and only run the library software.