Damage to PC's

[tomscaper]

I decided to cable tie the keyboard and mice wires on the back of the pc, becuase the little darlings decided if the mouse or keyboard they were using wasnt up to scratch, they would swap them out with the next keyboard rather than come tell me and get me to get a new one.

I find it works as they cant swap them and just have to live with it.

 

Only problem is that some kids dont give up when its fasted on the back, they then pull the wire as hard as they can, i have had a few snap, and even on kid cut the wire with a pair of scissors.

 

Have been looking at these as i have ran out of cable ties.

 

http://www.lindy.com/uk/productfolder/04/40167/index.php

 

I think we have used over 150 mice and keyboards this year, so not to bad.

 

Although its not just the kids we have a member of staff who snapped all the keys of his laptop, now he is moaning he wants them fixed.

 

I glue the lock on the bottom of the mice so they balls cant be removed. this was ok, appart from one time i accidentally glued the mouse ball as well on about 30 mice.

[rhyds]

In our school we've locked all the PCs in cabinets with long KVM extension cables to reduce damage. It functions very well, with only the CRTs, keybaords and mice being "attackable".

[FN-GM]

In our school we've locked all the PCs in cabinets with long KVM extension cables to reduce damage. It functions very well, with only the CRTs, keybaords and mice being "attackable".

 

What if one of the kids want to use a floppy disc or a pen drive?

[webman]

We're in the process of getting another IT room installed and have opted for lockable cupboards this time to keep the computers safe from vandalism - this is the benching we're using courtesy of Ambic Ltd.

[mrtechsystems]

@webman

 

Looks very nice wondering what the cost

 

Cheers

 

Mr Tech

[webman]

Not sure, not my department but will try and find out

[flyinghaggis]

In our school we've locked all the PCs in cabinets with long KVM extension cables to reduce damage. It functions very well, with only the CRTs, keybaords and mice being "attackable".

 

What if one of the kids want to use a floppy disc or a pen drive?

 

If we get another IT suite and have to buy furniture this is probably the route we'll go down aswell. We haven't had a massive amount of vandalism but generally there's no reason for the pupils to have access to the PC chassis itself.

You could buy USB extension cables for a couple of quid and mount them on top of the desk so that pupils can use memory sticks. Though having said that we're nearly at the point where we're comtemplating stopping pupils connecting USB devices en masse (perhaps with just a single PC for copying across material in each room). More often than not they're simply loaded with all kinds of illegal, harmful and dubious material rather than genuine schoolwork.

[webman]

Bare in mind USB devices tend to perform poorly when used over distances of 5m or more.

[FN-GM]

In our school we've locked all the PCs in cabinets with long KVM extension cables to reduce damage. It functions very well, with only the CRTs, keybaords and mice being "attackable".

 

What if one of the kids want to use a floppy disc or a pen drive?

 

If we get another IT suite and have to buy furniture this is probably the route we'll go down aswell. We haven't had a massive amount of vandalism but generally there's no reason for the pupils to have access to the PC chassis itself.

You could buy USB extension cables for a couple of quid and mount them on top of the desk so that pupils can use memory sticks. Though having said that we're nearly at the point where we're comtemplating stopping pupils connecting USB devices en masse (perhaps with just a single PC for copying across material in each room). More often than not they're simply loaded with all kinds of illegal, harmful and dubious material rather than genuine schoolwork.

 

Yes but alot of the time thye can get access to that sort of thing through there own e-mail FTP and so on.

[Ric_]

Yes but alot of the time thye can get access to that sort of thing through there own e-mail FTP and so on.

 

It is far easier to filter mime types at your proxy than try to prevent nasties on USB drives.

[MkII]

Have been looking at these as i have ran out of cable ties.

 

http://www.lindy.com/uk/productfolder/04/40167/index.php

 

Nice simple idea - can't believe the price of them tho' ..we have piles of old blanking plates thet we could easily adapt.

[FN-GM]

what if your machine takes low profile cards?

[rhyds]

We have some PCs with USB extensions, and a few "out in the open" for teacher/peripheral use. The installation has worked well for a while now, the only issue is cable trunking but the caretaker is sorting it. Most of our kids don't seem to have embraced the pen drive as yet, as they have their network drive shares.

 

The machines in the classrooms aren't locked, but the teachers are rather good at stopping idiots breaking them, so that isn't an issue.

[FN-GM]

Your kids must be behind the times when i was at school they were being used all the time. I work in a CLC now lots of different people from all age ranges use the computers and USB pens are used allot.

[blackcat]

Blimey, I'm aghast at this thread. I thought it only happened in my place. Anyway, we have infra-red mice to avoid ball chuckers and all the cable tied peripherals as described.

 

In the depts, we give the HOD a supply of mice and keyboards for the year - I think it's about 5% of the number of computers they have, probably a bit less for keyboards. That way, they keep track of what gets broken and they bear the pain and they are also in control of their spares. When they run out they have to put a case to the Principal for more, who asks why they have so many broken/missing mice. They usually do some deals with other depts - probably swap a book or something for a mouse - rather than go to the boss.

 

As the kids are 16-19, they're at college voluntarily, so when I catch them (and I do), it's a disable of the account, an interview with senior management, payment for the is damage is threatened (they leave the kid in limbo who waits for a letter to arrive at home, which it rarely does for a mouse damage, but good mental torture) and any further misconduct and they're out.

 

In some depts, we have the same problem with teachers not controlling the class. We have set the classrooms up 100%, got the staff to sign a book before and after each lesson to say what the state of the room was. We've just started this and will be reminding them next month to keep it up. Also, we visit the depts every morning before the start of teaching to let the staff know we're on the case.

[MkII]

what if your machine takes low profile cards?

 

make a low profile blanking plate version?