User3204

I think I remember reading somewhere (is that vague enough) about the computer to tech ratio in schools should be about 150:1. Although, laptops mean you'll need more, as they have more issues. We're currently, in my school, down from 3 F/T and 2 P/T staff, to 2 F/T and 1 P/T staff.. at the start of the new year, this is NOT what we need, I've "lost" 1.5 people.. When it was just me... I was told off for not doing things on time... so I asked for someone else to prioritise my job list ( which at the time was about 40 items ) and this made them realise.. that YES... I was overworked. Can other people see what is on your helpdesk ? And, more to the point can they see how long High-priority tasks are staying on this list ? Can you get a printout of how quickly issues are closed ?

I dunno about Kix scripts.. but all you'll need to run is "start http://myintranetsite/" from a BAT file... course that'll do it EVERY time they logon.

Assigned Software sequence manager sounds like a good idea.... but the thing is, if the pre-requisites aren't installed until after you want them, the software fails, then installs on the next boot... works for me.

Have you tried running ethereal on a machine to see what traffic is passing by ?

We'd been looking at Atempo - Uniquely Powerful- Press Releases but they had also contacted our LA, so we're gonna wait for them to get back to us. Check with your LA. I find NTBackup a pain in the arse sometimes, I would recommend getting a proper one that works across all your servers.

I pay about £200 (ish) for the HP servers we have, each. I think the Dell (server) is about £260. - That's per year. I buy the desktops with 3 year RTB warranty, I don't know what they puts on extra, but most machines either fail DOA or last for 4/5 years.

I get a company called "TechClean" in to clean all the projectors, and count the lamp/bulb hours... well... I have done this once so far, but I have booked them for August 2009, too. I'm sure there must be someone local who's willing to do this, they actually want to clean the computers... but ...

Does the IIS server know to display the index.htm file ? There's a setting in there somewhere, because IIS likes to use default.asp files.

Does the LA not provide an AV solution to schools ?

Just to agree with people, you won't need the .net 3 for SIMS, just .net 2 But I have managed to find .net 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 AND 3.? MSIs, I can't remember where from, I think there was info on the MS site. I have used AD/GPOs to push out 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 so classroom PCs, but 3.? fails, and fails after 15-20 min install then 15-20 min restart (I gave up, as nothing NEEDS it yet...). I suspect I'll head over to those Logistix ones...

We've got the Lenovo 3000 c200 and n200 for the staff, and they've been built well, dunno what they're like for games and that. These aren't the old IBM Thinkpad style, no nipple..

Yes. Start > Control Panel > Regional Settings and Language options > If you're adding at a later stage you have to do this: > "Advanced" > (and then tick all the relevant conversion tables ) If you do this at Windows XP install time then you can bypass it, and go straight through to: > "Languages" > "Details" > "Add" > Then select the Input language, and keyboard, I think you'll probably want "Chinese (PRC)" for language, with the UK keyboard. It'll need the CD, unless you have already installed the keyboard layouts. I think you can specify this in a Sysprep answer file... It then means when you have selected the Chinese, you get a silly little pop-up, that when you type phonetic chinese (the only word I know is "li") it will print instead the symbol. It is, apparently, very difficult to type in Russian, with a UK keyboard, but Chinese is workable.

..Yes, although, that "Bananas" Error is fixable. I can't remember how, but I made it go away, either the upgrade to version 2000 i 2, or installing it locally (as opposed to running from the network). Pro Engineer needs a License server... ... the Tech dept were wanting me to look into installing it, stil I managed to get Sibelius working from laptops to a license server, how much worse could it be ?

Is the mandatory profile directory allowing access to "Authenticated users" only ? Because I would have expected you want either "anonymous users" or "everyone" with access to it

I buy toner from Lasertech UK Ltd and when they deliver they also will collect, I dunno how much money they give back it usually just goes towards purchases, and it depends on whether they're originals or compatibles. It's a franchise, and the local guy is good, so whether other franchisees are any use or not is a different matter.

The only wireless networks I have been recommending for people recently is Extricom Extricom they sent a guy out to demo it, and it did roaming aster and easier than anything I have ever seen before. Basically, because the APs, are just Antennas connected to a central "switch" unit, that does all the Authentication etc, the guy also said you could put in extra APs, to boost the signal, and unlike every other Wireless AP, they didn't interfere with eachothers channels. What we have is Cisco... which wasn't cheap, and means we can't put the APs too close together...

JOB TITLE: ICT Manager GRADE: APT&C PO1 HOURS: 35 hours per week, full time LOCATION: The School, or any place at the Headmaster’s request to carry out the proper performance of duties LINE OF RESPONSIBILITY: As a member of the support staff the ICT Manager is responsible to the Bursar, however day-to-day management of the postholder will be carried out by the Assistant Head responsible for ICT strategy STRATEGIC PURPOSE: To ensure the highest possible standards in ICT provision and support for staff and students. To contribute to the strategic development of ICT at Calday and to keep abreast of new developments within the ICT field More info: Calday Grange and Calday Grange ::: ... ::: Vacancies ::: Other Vacancies PO1 is currently £26k-£28k, although there's a salary increase due from April 2008, as the unions are trying to get more than the 2.4% that the teachers got.

I had a fibre run quoted at about a grand recently, but this is being attached to existing phone cable runs, and you can run lots of stuff down it. What about getting a couple more expensive APs and setting them in a bridge mode ? We have a couple of Cisco APs running a bridge (I can't remember the numbers), which works beautifully (it's only 11mbit), we've had it a while. The only issue we get is when the kids kick footballs at the antenna and manage to smash the protective "can". I think we've been quoted about £3k for Laser.. whooo.. unnecessary purchase...

If this is just affecting Acrobat Reader, have you considered using an alternative ? We use Foxit Software which is free, and is a lot smaller than Acrobat. The only issue I've had with it was it needed to be run to associate with PDF files (deployed via GPO/ADM so I COULD fiddle the MSI/MST).

..tough. If you make sure English (UK is set to be the default Locale, it changes it back to this when they logoff. But they can still fiddle at the CTRL-ALT-DEL screen, but you just have to tell the teachers how to change it. We have two computer rooms dedicated to Languages (we're a Language College), and so I only install it onto these machines.

Are you sure you're using the right key ? Which sounds like a stupid question.. but when I check on the Microsoft site, and check on our Select (?) agreements, they all have different codes with them, I have about four codes I can use.

We store user folders in "d: \ users \ yearofentry \ form \ username \" The for the restricted number of staff that are allowed read-access we map the "d: \ users \" to a drive letter ( H: ).. now they just complain they don't know what forms people are in. I do provide a link called "Year 07" that sends to "h: \ 08 \" etc.. but they are getting confused that year 8 started in 07 and year 7 started in 08.. If all your user folders are within the same "d: \ users \" (or wherever), and you don't want to move them, you could create another share called "home" map this to another drive letter, and then within this create a folder per form/class /year, then within these folders create links to the users UNC path a la "\\servername\usershare".

We've been looking at getting a few (especially now that RM are doing a 30 piece kit for about £4k). But, as they will be used by the Scient dept for logging, and the software only works on Windows, we (read ME) are going to install WIn XP on them (with nlite). Although, I need to check the licensing... If you're planning to use Linux, could you remove all the stuff that you don't want them to use ? I admit, I haven't fiddled with them much.. apart from joining them to our Wireless LAN, and then handed them back to Science. I thought the default Linux on them (Xandros ?) used an XML file to create the "desktop", if so, you muct be able to remove everything (but what you want), and then they can't run it. Then you'll have to figure out Sysprep and imaging them...

We've been teaching Chinese (and Russian) for ages, and to get around this issue, we have installed on Windows not Office, the different keyboards for these in Regional settings. And then it's ready for when office is running. It can be a bit of an arse to get right, depending upon how you do the user profiles. Ours aren't roaming or mandatory, so it uses the local "default user". What we usually do is install the languages at first boot after a sysprep, although we do ahve to install them BEFORE this, as otherwise it asks for the Windows CDROM. You can switch between the locales by pressing ALT+SHIFT, at which point all the students start changing the language to confuse people.

I uninstalled the Avantis client.. it was easier... but since the hardware was failing this summer too.. 'Course our trouble would be that we have 3 avantis drives (or we did before I dumped the thing). If you use the older 1.31 version of the software, it doesn't work the same way, and actually remembers the settings after a sysprep.