Earthling

Echo all the 'Internal' arguments here...........we used to host our own Moodle, but then our local post-16 Consortium (whatever they call themselves today) decided to copy our Moodle to all the other local schools and to host if off-site with Webanywhere. Big mistake. Internet down? That's the Learning Platform gone too. Want to deny recalcitrant students access to the internet as a consequence? Have to deny them access to the VLE too, which is what they want in most cases. And I'm a Control Freak, too.

As a user of the Cutter Project/Sun/Oracle partnership, all I can say is that it does what it says on the tin. Support has always been timely, efficient, and delivered with a smile and patience. The new Sunray 3's and 3i's look really nice on paper, but I haven't managed to get my hands on one yet. I'm desperately trying to sell enlargement of our TS coverage around the school, as I believe it's the only way to increase IT facilities within the school with the cuts that we're all facing and the even more swingeing cuts we'll all be facing for a few years yet, but I seem to be the Lone Voice so far. Our Sunray2's and 270's are 3 and a half years old now, and there's no sign of needing rolling-replacement....compared to our fat-clients which are all up for rolling-replacement after 3 years. We run the Sun Secure Global Desktop system, too, for remote access to school systems, which I use a lot. Unfortunately, when questioned about the ease of use of SGD, 9 out of 10 cats....oops, I mean members of staff, of course, replied 'What's Global Desktop?'....... I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Sun/Oracle solution...it works a treat for us. Yes, it's expensive kit, but you get what you pay for, innit.

Pi page is blocked here by the Grid, curiosity running wild, but I don't think I want to know. Probably seen it all before anyway.

We use Web Help Desk, java based, call-logging, asset-tracking, change management, reporting coming out the yin-yang, surveys, FAQ's, the list is almost endless. Web Help Desk - Downloads It was expensive but worth it. Unfortunately, my Senior Tech, who's never used a call-logging system before (!) insists on staff logging calls for projector and AV support for assemblies and such, but then writes those calls down in a paper diary. Is it any wonder I'm looking for a new job.

CCCP works fine here, too, no toolbars, customizable install......does what it says on the tin.

Don't know.......is it?

Hey mate, sent you guys an e-mail a few days ago. MJ SFO

We use rundll32 commands in a login script to delete all installed printers, then to install the printer specific to that room. E.G. rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /dn /q /n\\servername\printersharename - deletes a printer rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /q /n\\servername\printersharename - installs printer Works for us, script runs at log-on, takes about 10 seconds......means a different batch file for every room, but once they're done, they're done. And I don't know about anyone else, but it looks like being a long time before we install or refurbish any new or existing rooms. Or even buy any new printers.

Dear Lord, when are they going to come into the 21st Century, with the rest of us.

I've been testing Win 7 on a 2003 domain and on a TS/RDP Win2008 server, always with a test user. While testing it today, I found that the home folder hadn't been mapped, so I looked at the home folder share and, sure enough, the test user folder was missing. I took no notice other than to think that I might have deleted it myself during a test (highly unlikely, but you never know) so I recreated the folder. When I checked the permissions on this newly-created folder, there was an 'Unknown Account' entry, which I assume was the test account I'd been using. I manually added the correct user account, with Full Control, and the N: drive subsequently mapped to this folder. After reading macdaddy's post, I'm delaying what I'd planned as a September roll-out of Windows 7 until I've ascertained the cause of the folder deletion, recreated the conditions under which it gets deleted and found a fix for it. Or Microsoft have. To Be Continued.......as they say.

I'm begiining to get somewhere now, with the help of the Gotchas/Tips sticky. Still interested in anyone's feedback.

Hiya, I want to start introducing Win 7 clients onto my server 2003 domain. I've installed RSAT on a Windows 7 laptop to devise a GPO, but huge chunks of this policy aren't being implemented when I log-on as a student to my Win 7 test machine. Does anyone know if this is because I don't have a 2008 DC on the domain? Has anyone attempted this and, if so, is there any advice you could give? I've installed KB943729 (GPO extensions) on the Infrastructure Master, but I've not run the 2008 ADPREP tool yet. Any help greatly appreciated Earthling

I've had UAC disabled since I installed 7, but still had the inital install error.......shoud have read it, I guess. Positive responses all round...........I'm staggered. Never ever use SIMS myself, can't be bothered with it and basically have no need to use it, but it's good to know that it's 'fully compatible', for when I start rolling out 7. Thank you all......Case Closed.

Morning all, Just wondering if anyone out there has tried running (whisper it low) SIMS on Windows 7. I installed it once on my 7 laptop, but it gave me an installation error, and mea culpa, I expected it to fail so I didn't read the error message. I got a SIMS logon box when I ran it though, but I chickened out of actually logging-on.

It's a VBS script and, yes, there's a number of lines in there that read 'wscript.Echo' and a variable or whatever.

Hi all, A while ago, I downloaded a script from here to generate a Message of The Day. Works Wonders. I was wondering what line(s) would I have to add to change the Dialog Box title from 'Windows Scripting Host' to something original, like..........hey......... 'Message of the Day' All Help Greatly Appreciated but unfortunately, not paid.

No, I'm not, but I am Welsh.

I'll vouch for that, had them installed here for a couple of years.........minimal trouble.......excellent support. PS I take all Major Credit Cards, Cheques, Foreign Currency and Air Miles.

Thanks, I'll look into that, too.

Thanks, Matt, I'll look into it. The best solution, of course, is better classrom control, implementation of an AUP and application of consequences and sanctions for those who contravene the AUP. But that would be in an Ideal World, I guess, not in mine. Thanks again, Earthling

Hiya, not often I;m stuck for a solution but there's always the odd occasion....... We installed Exchange 2003 last September and created mailboxes and accounts for the staff and all the students. Everything's been fine until the year 9's reached the e-mail part of their ICT course. Then, one of the little blee.......darlings....sent a mail to the whole of the GAL, which being global includes all the staff. My head's knee-jerk reaction was 'Stop them doing it'. No discussion, no dialog....just 'Stop them doing it'. So, I denied all year groups access to the GAL, now, of course, the students who haven't created their Outlook account yet, can't do so, because they're denied access to the GAL. Just wondering if anyone else had this problem, and if so, how did you get round it. TIA

Exactly the same problems here, with those printers. All updated with the latest firmware. I wonder whether I ought to spend time and energy doing what you've done, setting up a spare for testing etc or whether I ought to ring our supplier and tell them to take them back as being not up to the job.

Hiya, Maybe someone from WHD can help me here. I have a classroom full of Mac Minis (don'r ask why), that I've bootcamped into XP (again, don't ask why) which need rebuilding. Can someone remind me which key I have to press during boot-up to kick the Firewire cloning off, and does this work while booting into XP or will I have to boot them into Mac first? TIA PS Anyone not using Web Help Desk should seriously look into it, it's automated my life amazingly since we purchased it. PPS This is not a suck-up. PPPS I take cheques, Visa and foreign currency.

Don't you hate it, though, when a third-party comes in and specifies that you have to adapt your network to make their software run properly? We started running some ALAN tests not long ago, which wouldn't run on 1280x1024 resolution, so we had to tone down our 17" flat-screens to 1024x768. Annoys the hell out of me. I'll get me coat.