Teachers!! - Setting up Broadband at home.

[rusty155]

Ok people, thanks for all the responses.

 

The proxy is not a problem - I have a script within group policies to sort this. Indeed most broadband suppliers/software cause no problems and the user is able to setup a home connection whilst remaining attached to the domain with no ill-effects at school.

 

However, it is just recently that I have had a few teachers install software for the BT home Hub. The BT software disables and prevents the Wireless Zero Configuration service from running. In addition, there doesn't appear to be a wireless utility within the BT software that will connect to anything other than a home hub! Also, if I try to manually start the wireless zero service, it is immediately stopped!!- Frustrating to say the least!

 

Now - I may be wrong but this is what seemed to be the case on a quick dig around. I can get around the problem by removing the BT software and manually adding the BT home connection as a preferred wireless network, using just the Windows wireless configuration (far better than any manufacturer or 3rd party tool that i have ever come across anyway! imo of course!)

 

So I now have the laptop flying along again here but am awaiting confirmation that all is well at the teacher's home :? :?

 

I'm sure it will be fine!

[monkey_boy]

We have had people using various helpful utilities for their wireless at home, but once we disable it and set up the wireless profiles in windows (XP SP2) then we don't tend to get many problems.

 

Not a direct response to the OP but we tend to just show them how to turn the proxy on and off, and tell them they need to turn in back on when they get to school, or the internet won't work.

 

MB

[Ric_]

I encourage staff to buy ADSL modems with ethernet connections or wireless routers... I tend to find the USB ones are a PITA to install on domain-connected machines, requiring that you plug them in at a particular point in the setup process and needing bizarre drivers.

 

The staff laptops also use the ISA Firewall Client to pick up proxy settings. I instruct thestaff to simply disable this at home (effectively turning off the proxy) and just to re-enable it if they net net access in school. This seems to work quite reliably.

[mullet_man]

I encourage staff to buy ADSL modems with ethernet connections or wireless routers... I tend to find the USB ones are a PITA to install on domain-connected machines, requiring that you plug them in at a particular point in the setup process and needing bizarre drivers.

 

The staff laptops also use the ISA Firewall Client to pick up proxy settings. I instruct thestaff to simply disable this at home (effectively turning off the proxy) and just to re-enable it if they net net access in school. This seems to work quite reliably.

 

We are in the same boat, we do not stop staff installing there home internet on the laptops, but tell them it might be a PITA to get internet in school working ok, e.g. having to disable proxy and renable it etc.

[Stese]

With regard to setting up teachers laptops on wireless...

 

We use GPO to enforce the settings when logging onto the domain.

 

Teachers have a local account which they can use to setup wireless at home.

 

This has so-far been ok where the laptop has an internal card...

 

external cards have been funny as we require the use of WZC, and not manufacturer control programs

[rusty155]

Just another note with regard to proxies.

 

If a manual proxy is set in internet explorer lan settings, as long as the "automatically detect settings" box is also checked, the internet should still work at home without the need to constantly turn the proxy on and off, automatic settings will win if no proxy is found.??

 

This works for me anyway - I have no problems either at home or at school with these settings.

 

Firefox however does still require you to manually switch the proxy on and off.

[alonebfg]

My NM made a batch script that will ask the teachers where the heck they are when they click on the shortcut. If they answer 1 (school) the proxy settings are added and IE is opened. If they answer 2 (home) the proxy settings are removed and IE is opened. If they answer 3 (do nothing) it does literally that.

i have used this script and it works well have done a few mods to it ie 4 settings 1 home 2 school proxy 3 staff unfiltered proxy They need to log int proxy to become unfiltered 4 no change. and the best thing is that thay still cant change proxy manually its still grayed out.

 

so i am really happy now. just need to know how to shut a script down as it opens ie and does not shut down till ie is shut??

[Midget]

My NM made a batch script that will ask the teachers where the heck they are when they click on the shortcut. If they answer 1 (school) the proxy settings are added and IE is opened. If they answer 2 (home) the proxy settings are removed and IE is opened. If they answer 3 (do nothing) it does literally that.

i have used this script and it works well have done a few mods to it ie 4 settings 1 home 2 school proxy 3 staff unfiltered proxy They need to log int proxy to become unfiltered 4 no change. and the best thing is that thay still cant change proxy manually its still grayed out.

 

so i am really happy now. just need to know how to shut a script down as it opens ie and does not shut down till ie is shut??

 

thats normal with bat files, just do what i do and create a shortcut to it, and get the shortcut to make the cmd window the minimum size and hide it behind the startbar.

[alonebfg]

so there is no way to force it to shut once it has opened explore.

[Mr_T]

We go for the they dont have any rights to install software on there Lappys at all. This can be a pain in the arse when it comes to broadband or standard internet connections that use dodgey installers. fine if its wireless but if they need to insall a adsl modem it can be a real bind. But overall it makes it alot easier to manage.

 

At the end of the day its the Schools Laptop not the teachers!

 

The other dreaded nause is that Bloody AOL!

[azrael78]

We are on the 50/50 route - they can do whatever they want with their laptops (as they have local admin) but they must have our site Anti Virus installed and active, they also must understand that if their wireless doesn't work at home but it works here at school - then we will help them but the priority is that the laptops work in school.

 

If they want it to work at home more than school, then we disconnect it from the domain.

 

The problem is the laptops (here at least) are considered as 'personal resources' - therefore we have to give them the ability to do anything with the laptops they may want - however if they break it - it might take a while to fix it back up

[Pete10141748]

For the staff who want to use Internet at home, we have showed them how to remove and replace to proxy settings for the school's network.

 

They don't have any admin rights over their machine; they can't install software / run .exe's etc. and so far we've not had problems. However, we have had a few postitives in that staff have asked for things to be installed and we have said no, as it was nothing to do with school.

 

As someone previously said, at the end of the day its the school's laptop, and it must work correctly in school by default. Teachers can't mess with settings that will make it not work when they return to school.

 

To begin with, the SMT (mostly the head) was on the side of the teachers when they said they "should be able to do what they like" with their laptops. However, after the progress the school has seen since the technician and I started here 6 months ago, SMT have started to come over to our side now .

 

Pete

[dhicks]

This is why I've used a transparent proxy to filter our school internet connection - as far as teacher's laptops are concerned the school system works exactly the same way as their home wireless systems, they just can't visit any dodgy websites.

 

--

David Hicks

[ICT_GUY]

VB 2005 prog I wrote to change between home and school internet access.

 

'Lap top proxy settings changer

'© Chris Britton for use on WRJ laptops only

'2006 for use with .net version 2.0 only

'This program changes the proxy configuration of the host PC

'and the default start page so that users can have a one click

'set up so they can use the internet at home or in school.

 

Public Class Form1

 

Private Sub form1_load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

'So on load we want to see whats up and populate buttons and text boxes

Call checkstatus()

 

 

End Sub

Private Sub checkstatus()

'Finds out what the IExplorer proxy setting are

 

Dim readValue As Integer

Dim proxyValue As String

readValue = My.Computer.Registry.GetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyEnable", Nothing)

proxyValue = My.Computer.Registry.GetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyServer", Nothing)

 

' now we know what the settings are we act apon them to change the Button labels

If readValue = "00000001" Then

Button1.Text = "SWITCH TO HOME MODE"

Else

Button1.Text = "SWITCH TO SCHOOL MODE"

End If

 

' now to output proxy setting value to text box one.

If proxyValue = "" Then

TextBox1.Text = "Proxy setting is not configured"

Else

TextBox1.Text = proxyValue

End If

'Refresh form 1 to update display

Me.Refresh()

 

End Sub

 

 

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

'We are going to findout what the Ie settings are and invert the current settings

Dim readValue As Integer

'read registry

readValue = My.Computer.Registry.GetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyEnable", Nothing)

If readValue = "00000001" Then

'write registry

My.Computer.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyEnable", "00000000", Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind.DWord)

My.Computer.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyServer", "", Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind.String)

My.Computer.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main", "Start Page", "http://www.google.co.uk", Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind.String)

Else

'write registry

My.Computer.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyEnable", "00000001", Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind.DWord)

My.Computer.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyServer", "school proxy", Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind.String)

My.Computer.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings", "ProxyOverride", "", Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind.String)

My.Computer.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main", "Start Page", "choose start page", Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind.String)

End If

 

'Up date buttons and refresh form by calling checkstatus procedure

Call checkstatus()

 

End Sub

 

 

Private Sub TextBox1_TextChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles TextBox1.TextChanged

 

End Sub

End Class

[IcedEarth]

This AutoIT script literally toggles the proxy on and off and reports which one is active, i nicked it off the AutoIT site ages ago. The teachers can understand this one. Ive seen less elegant solutions by other Techs at schools I have taken over the running of.

 

Try it, you might like it.

 

$ProxyEnabled = RegRead('HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings','ProxyEnable')
If $ProxyEnabled = 0 Then   
   RegWrite('HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings','ProxyEnable','REG_DWORD',1)
   MsgBox(0," Proxy Toggle","School Internet",2)
Else
   RegWrite('HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings','ProxyEnable','REG_DWORD',0)
   MsgBox(0," Proxy Toggle","Home Internet",2)
EndIf

[laserblazer]

Teachers are paid enough to be able to afford their own computer at home. To be fair, most here do. However, we have some. One has no TV and uses the school laptop to watch dvds. She asks people to record her favourite programmes.

 

I try and avoid letting the teachers access from home. Our last deputy head did and it seems his son used it mostly. I have spent forever removing gigabytes of music and dodgy images!

[ICT_GUY]

This AutoIT script literally toggles the proxy on and off and reports which one is active, i nicked it off the AutoIT site ages ago. The teachers can understand this one. Ive seen less elegant solutions by other Techs at schools I have taken over the running of.

 

Try it, you might like it.

 

$ProxyEnabled = RegRead('HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings','ProxyEnable')
If $ProxyEnabled = 0 Then   
   RegWrite('HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings','ProxyEnable','REG_DWORD',1)
   MsgBox(0," Proxy Toggle","School Internet",2)
Else
   RegWrite('HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings','ProxyEnable','REG_DWORD',0)
   MsgBox(0," Proxy Toggle","Home Internet",2)
EndIf

 

http://images6.theimagehosting.com/vbprog.th.jpg

Is why I only give them one button to press and it tells them whats up.

[enjay]

Just out of interest:

 

http://www.schoolsnetwork.org.uk/uploads/documents/ICT_Update_A06_124051.pdf

 

specifically page 6. Are they using the laptop for personal use on their personal internet?

 

Just finding this now (a little late, I know!).

 

Is this still the case that school-owned laptops used for personal work at home should be declared as tax assets? If so, how do people ensure/enforce a business-use-only policy?

 

Also, how come personal use of a laptop at home is a no-no, but personal use of a desktop in school is okay?

[Shwaa]

A useful thing to know about the BT Home Hubs is that you don't need the install CD at all to set it up. You can tell staff to follow the instructions for setting it up, ignoring anything to do with the BT software and plugging things into the laptop. BT pre-configures them with the right settings to connect to the internet. All the CD is there for it to install useless BT Yahoo junk (OK, not useless for the average person as it installs norton av/firewall etc which BT pay for in an attempt to keep most of their users from becoming spam spewing zombies, but not something you want with a managed install).

 

The Home Hub by default has its wireless turned on and is secured with 64-bit WEP (not great, but better than the usual wide open). The Key is printed on the Hub itself, next to the serial number, iirc. All you need to do is add the staff's user account to the "Network Configuration Operators" group on the local machine to allow them to add wireless networks to the windows wireless networking tool.

[Geoff]

The BT Home Hub has a terrible security record.

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/09/bt_home_hub_vuln/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/21/bt_home_hub_voip_hijacking/

 

And 64bit WEP encryption is worthless, that'd last less than a minute if anyone cared to try to break it.

[Shwaa]

The BT Home Hub has a terrible security record.

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/09/bt_home_hub_vuln/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/21/bt_home_hub_voip_hijacking/

 

And 64bit WEP encryption is worthless, that'd last less than a minute if anyone cared to try to break it.

 

 

Very true, but at least it is a start when you consider that most routers come out of the box wide open. Now we just need to persuade them to change it to WPA with long non-dictionary keys.

 

To give them credit, with the infrastructure they have with the Home hubs allows them to push updates out to them, of course whether they use this to actually fix the vulnerabilities is another matter, but at least they are not relying on the end users to apply the fixes themselves.

[Chris_in_notts]

Hi all, along the same lines some teachers at our school would like to connect there work laptops on there home wireless. We setup firefox for them to use and they can connect fine if there router has no wep/wpa security, but it will not allow them to enter any home wep or wpa keys at all so they cant connect if the router has any security.

 

We think it may be that they dont have the right permissions to be able to enter there own key, maybe one of the registery keys needs changing to be able to allow them to do this.

 

Does anybody have the same issue or know whats causing this or even know of a way to be able to get it so then can enter there own wpa key at home?