Impero vs NetSupport

[cannonballcoops1987]

Hi,

 

I have been asked to find a classroom management software that is going to easy to use, not just for staff and students but for technicians/administrators as well? I have done a little bit of research and found that the only two that I like the look of is Impero and NetSupport. Please can you give your advice or opinions on these or any other software that does the same?

 

Many thanks

[Arreks]

Impero will do everything you need and more, I'm surprised it hasn't learnt how to talk to me - the only downside is that it costs as much as a small island.

 

Never used NetSupport but I'd probably go in favor of Impero.

[NokiX]

I would also recommend Impero as it does everything that's needed and although there is a small problem which means users can bypass the blocked websites using google earth this can be easily managed.

 

If you want to know about other software I believe the following isn't so bad either:

 

SchoolVue Classroom Management Software | CrossTec Corporation

 

I have not seen this in quite a number of years however so I can't really say how good it is now days!

[FragglePete]

Impero here also; does everything you want but the annual support costs are now becoming eye watering.

 

However, I have found a major bug in the current release which they are aware off and are hopefully resolving - won't go in too much detail (yet), but essentially the students have found a way of crashing it and then allows them to bypass all filtering - we're waiting a fix, and I hope its soon.

 

Pete

[synaesthesia]

I recently had a demo of Netsupport, and comparing pricing like for like, Impero gives you far better value for money. The product is excellent (not without some small flaws of course) and service is second to none. Highly recommended.

[clareq]

I would also recommend Impero as it does everything that's needed and although there is a small problem which means users can bypass the blocked websites using google earth this can be easily managed.

 

Not seen this one - though I was wondering why google earth was so popular - what's the fix?

[NokiX]

The best way to fix it is to setup a block for googleearth.exe which you can enable in specific rooms. Google earth is used for geography so we only allow it in that department but you can also setup detect only policys to email you when users access it so you can keep track of people using it and check to see if they are bypassing everything.

 

I have informed impero of this anyway so hopefully they fix the problem!

[Grey-gear]

I've used both Netsupport and Impero, If you just want a classroom management system netsupport is most likely your best beat, but impero gives you lots of options if you are want it to block websites or manage what programs can be opened on the computers for which user.

[halbaradkenafin]

Another vote for Impero. So many things you can do with it that it's well worth the cost.

[cannonballcoops1987]

Thanks for the recommendations guy in terms of blocking websites though. would blocking a website/the whole internet apply to just the computer being used at that time or will it recognize that the student/staff is blocked even if they logon somewhere else in the school?

 

also going back to my previous question. anybody heard of or used LanSchool? if so is it any good?

 

Thanks

[halbaradkenafin]

Thanks for the recommendations guy in terms of blocking websites though. would blocking a website/the whole internet apply to just the computer being used at that time or will it recognize that the student/staff is blocked even if they logon somewhere else in the school?

 

Thanks

 

You can block a site for as long as you want, either for specific users or for specific classrooms. You can disable the internet for classes or users and it persists till you unblock it again or set an expiration time. You can also block applications based on the Window title (we've got one set up to block Microphone Properties on all laptops as the kids like to turn up the boost and volume and cause nice feedback loops).

 

The number of things it can do keeps surprising me.

[RichCowell]

Hi,

 

I have been asked to find a classroom management software that is going to easy to use, not just for staff and students but for technicians/administrators as well? I have done a little bit of research and found that the only two that I like the look of is Impero and NetSupport. Please can you give your advice or opinions on these or any other software that does the same?

 

Many thanks

 

+1 for Impero again... it will probably save you money on various other solutions you may have in place (e.g. Power Management) and also save on electric if you've not got Power Management at the moment... it's a really feature packed product, and the e-safety side of it is fantastic too...

 

We've used it for several years now, and I've never found a piece of network software I've loved more... Their support is second to none, and there are regular updates... It is expensive, but if you look at what it does, and compare it with getting everything it does elsewhere, it's cheaper...

 

Shutting up now! lol... Happy to talk more about it if you want to PM me...

[6Foot2]

We are using Impero and we have used NetSupport in the past (some time ago) My preference is for Impero. Admittedly I don't know the current version of NetSupport I would venture that I would still prefer our current product. It does more than we need but that isn't a problem.

 

Impero get my vote.

[Latham]

Another vote for Impero. Much, much, much better product and easier to use. Netsupport became extremely buggy and clunky to manage whilst Impero is very clean (the fact there's only one client install helps a lot).

 

Don't regret the move for a second, even if there's a few features in Netsupport I miss (like the column layout and being able to see what people's active windows are and what programmes are running and being able to sort by it. But Impero just does a lot more. And support is top notch.

[minimoo]

We make use of netsupport school (for classroom management only), and have always had good support - on the odd occassion over 10 years, we've hit specific random bugs in the software, we've generally ended up with a .dll fixing the issue or to debug the issue further within a day or two.

 

With Papercut doing printing, and some scripts/group policies controlling power, and a inhouse firewall etc, we've got most of the other impero 'features' already covered. In our case, we've centralised apps/printing/internet control as an IT department, and only make use of netsupport for taking over screens and running lessons.

 

We did have a demo of impero a while back, but decided to stick with netsupport - I can't recall the exact reason now. The one feature of impero that I do remember that we didn't have covered is it's application 'logging' (see the last screen shot before section 5 in http://v4.imperosoftware.com/docs/practicalguide.pdf). I remember at the time thinking that was quite a nice feature and would be cool to have - but then reflecting on our system, n a locked down workstation with applocker rules etc etc, that it's not going to be that useful.

 

It's probably worth having a demonstration of all the options and deciding what problems you are trying to solve.

 

For me, we have MS App-V, papercut, fairly locked down workstations and have been with netsupport a long time so have a decent (legacy) maintenance pricing structure so any move would probably end up costing us more.

[Steven_Cleaver]

If it is just monitoring PC's, blocking or restricting Apps viewing screens, taking control of Screens and few other things ABtutor might be worth a look, pretty reasonable cost.

[eddyc]

We use NetSupport here. Impero was far too expensive when we looked at the market. Been really pleased with NetSupport School since we installed it back in 2012.

[DavePa]

Like many other here we use Impero. Had already seen it in use elsewhere so we didn't even look at other alternatives. That was 3 years ago we and haven't regretted it for a minute.

[mnewnham]

Have used Lanschool for years. Teachers like it. Easy install.

[timbo343]

I was wondering what people's opinions are on NetSupport now this thread is 8 months old?

 

We cannot justify the cost of impero - 500 clients = £1900 per year and with that we have less than a handful of updates. Some schools i know have been quote +£3000 for 340 machines - not sure where they are getting their pricing from!

 

From reading the posts above it still seems like Impero is the favorite but what has happened in the last 8 months? Have NetSupport stepped up their software?

[synaesthesia]

When I checked last year, netschool was initially VASTLY more expensive than Impero. The difference is they have a lower maintenance agreement cost (this may have changed from both parties since last checking of course). However both products I believe allow you to buy the product and continue to use it forever with no ongoing cost if you do not want the maintenance/updates.

Obviously worth checking with all involved as that may be inaccurate. I would be massively surprised if Netsupport has made any huge steps towards Impero's functionality.

[Tom_NetSupport]

Hi, I’m Tom from NetSupport. I saw this post so I thought I'd let you know that not only has NetSupport School had some major updates recently, including an all New Windows 10 Teacher app, but last week we launched a new IT Asset Management Suite for schools called NetSupport DNA.

[NikTheGeek]

We use Netsupport classroom management on our college IT rooms, we are about to buy it for the next door school (who wanted Impero initially but I talked them around). We use Netsupport Service Desk as our ITIL Helpdesk system and we use Netsupport DNA for our asset management. The whole suit of tools is fantastic, backed up by cheap maintenance and good support. DNA was the answer we needed to tracking changes to machines (eg, who just opened the case and nicked a stick of RAM) and also is very handy for tracking laptops because we can see who used what bit of kit and when they last used it. We can also see that the £10k bit of software that a department insisted we renew was used once in the last 3 years - so it's paid for itself!

 

We're just playing with the new version of DNA now and it looks even better. We've just been testing QR code labels for sticking on devices so the technicians can scan them with their phones and pull up all their details. It looks great - just got to get around to upgrading...

 

Nick

[fiza]

DNA was the answer we needed to tracking changes to machines (eg, who just opened the case and nicked a stick of RAM)

 

Nick

 

How does it tell you who nicked a stick of RAM?

[NikTheGeek]

How does it tell you who nicked a stick of RAM?

 

It creates a database of each machine. So it knows that machine name A116-23, S/N:123456789 has the following hardware:

8GB ram as 2x4GB sticks of DDRwhatever

An Intel Core i5 whatever processor

A certain spec bios revision and motherboard chipset etc

And a list of software too.

 

Should *anything* change, it sends an immediate alert.

 

So a change, coupled with who last used the machine will be enough evidence to collar the class if not the individual (and the class will normally grass up the individual if they are all going to get in trouble).

 

If someone outside of a class were to sneak in an unlocked room with a screwdriver and nick a stick, then no, it wouldn't tell us who. But it would tell us when because we would know that at 12pm on tuesday it was fine, but now at 14:00 it's short on RAM.

 

As it happens, we have CCTV in almost all our classrooms. So as soon as we get a hardware change alert, we can fire up the cameras and see who was fiddling. However, without the alert, we wouldn't have known - potentially ever - I doubt we'd even spot it when re-imaging a machine.

 

Several times it has caught students fiddling with machines - usually they are messing about with the battery trying to reset the bios, but occasionally it is theft.

 

HTH,

 

Nick