Cable Management

[Wubbalubbadub]

How do you people lock down your machines to keep them safe from kids tampering?

[Nibiru]

Lots of zip ties!

 

Biggest problem we have is the kids wanting to plug the mice into the front ports (WHY?!) Zipping the mice & keyboard cables onto the network cable soon puts a stop to that though

[Wubbalubbadub]

Well I thought of that. We currently have RM's (Vanilla system, but RM machines) which are all locked in and cables can't be accessed. If there is anything like that then we will be happy.

[unixman_again]

Biggest problem we have is the kids wanting to plug the mice into the front ports (WHY?!)

We get that in college and it is always because the mouse/keyboard stops working, so the student unplugs it and plugs it into another USB port, which is on the front. We don't see it as much of a problem, except in one room where the machines are under the desks. If the cable is in the front, there is a good chance it will get run over by the chair and damaged. We move them back when we notice.

 

I think is also depends on the school. Here in college, cables rarely get moved. Older kids I guess. At my last school, which was in special measures a year before I joined, we would get odd bouts of complete rooms being unplugged but it was rare. At my first school, a grammar school, it happened all the time, and zip ties weren't enough to stop mice and keyboards being stolen, or mice swapped between machines. We screwed the mice/keyboards to the desk with a P clip around the cable. The students then started to bring in screwdrivers, so we used security screws, which put a stop to that.

[Wubbalubbadub]

Our problem is that the kids only just slightly pull out the cables so they still look like the cables are plugged in... But arn't.

 

There relentless!

 

Matthew

[caffrey]

Its always, always the speaker cable, so so many calls to classrooms where a speaker cable has been uplugged (and sometimes put in the microphone socket) annoys me no end

[john]

Hot melt Glue Gun glue solved the old speaker trick for us and if / when you need to swap the cable etc... the glue just pulls off with a sharp tug, its a trick Stone Computers used to use to hold plugs into things EG HDDs years ago don't know if they still do now or not.

[abillybob]

Things like these are very good for blocking ports,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-USB-Port-Blocker-Colour/dp/B000FKP8B6

[timbo343]

Would be cool of someone could invent a pc that would have the audio and mic ports on the inside of the machines. This would mean that kids wouldnt be able to unplug the cables. Maybe a small hole between the case cover and the chassis where the cable would sit so it doesnt get caught. Then have security locks to stop students gaining access to the internals of the machine

[caffrey]

A cover that covers the i/o plate with cutouts for cables that screws into place would be perfect, not even sure why this isn't an industry standard would certainly help cables being accidently pulled out.

You could have the audio inside, but would require a little bit of work - just use the audio headers on the mobo (undo the case front audio inputs and leave them inside the case) and drill a hole in a blanking plate.

[timbo343]

We had some NECs many many years ago which took the audio from the back to the front. The only problem was it was using the rear ports but it had a blanking plate which had drilled holes in it. I guess this is where the idea came from.

 

Its a bit like the network ports too, we have resorted to cuting 80% of the clip from both the wall and pc nic to stop users unplugging the cables. The clips cannot be pinched to the rj45 however a slotted screwdriver is required to remove the cable.

Something that locks the cables into the wall sockets with a kinda key lock with a cover would be ideal to this too.