mikes

We had CC4 for 2 years and it only really worked for a week after it was installed; (CC4.3), the problem we had with it was the terrible support; a buggy product with good support can just about get by; e.g. we were used to being able to build a room with no problems in a few hours on CC3, vs a multi day nightmare on CC4, which nobody at their support could fix in the 2 years. It has got to the stage where we ignore most of the RM software and run our network using a patchwork of GPP's, VB6 programs, etc. We are going Vanilla this summer with the aid of a local firm - using Vsphere to run our servers from a SAN. Planning on going with Impero. We have the DC's basically set up, and are waiting until summer to move the users across. SMT want the move also, so they can have a network that works - they weren't too happy after spending thousands with RM, to have a network that was worse than it was before with CC3. No help for you now I know but I thought I'd mention our situation.

yeah we have the Print Spooler crash fairly often, esp with Kyocera drivers >

Yeah, you can break packages if any files are created in Repoman since RM upd 0071 (the digest check didn't work prior to this). This is still the case. (Didn't think this mattered if you are scrapping CC4 anyway). Strangely RM recommend browsing to Repoman and copying files out to install the RMMC on non RM workstations (will try and find the tech article).

If they are all MSI's, you can copy them from the RM repoman package store, which is usually kept in RMManage\Repoman on your forest root / 001 server. Unfortunately though, the folders are named with a unique GUUID instead of the software title, so you can only tell what software is what by going into each folder individually.

Pretty much - you can only map drives on a per computer basis on CC4. You can kind of kludge it by mapping the drive on all of the computers, but setting the student/teacher usertypes (Registry Profiles) to hide the drive mapping, and give your required user a different usertype without the mapping hidden. I wrote a bit of VB that runs on login, checks the username, and maps the required drives (relying on NTFS security to keep interlopers out)

This is a known problem with CC4 and it's one we suffered with too. RM at first blamed our setup, but they have released a few updates as mentioned before that improve print mapping reliability. They've released an update that runs as a service, checks if the printer is mapped, and if not, maps the printer. (this was released about 3 or 4 months ago). It can take a few minutes for this to happen though. Basically this is another "feature" of CC4, and I had to resort to writing a VB program that does what the RM software should do - map printers based on the computer name - and funnily enough this few lines of VB maps the printers every time...

I too suffer from Migraines, as does my boss the NM. seems to run in the IT profession... I started getting mine suddenly at about 22 years old (I'm 24 now) OTC painkillers (apart from the OTC 50mg sumatriptan of course) do nothing. I hate buying OTC sumatriptan as you have to fill in a form and get quizzed by the Pharmacist for it (and the Pharmacies are always in bright fluorescent light). Sometimes I buy Domperidone (Motillium) to help the nausea/vomiting I get. The boss knows I suffer bad with them as I vomit. I was once in a classroom (a music classroom) and there was pandemonium in there, I ended up being sick in a bin and just went home. Being in a secondary school isn't very good when you have migraines - I have to go home. The noise of the children is just too much. I ended up seeing the head, I explained I had migraines and she was fine with it. The council made me see Occupational Health who again were fine with it - I explained my treatments and they were cool with it. The doc was really nice and explained the prophylactic treatments to me (she must have been familiar with migraines) I think Perfume might be a trigger, as in the early stages I can always smell a weird strong smell of Perfume (or the body spray that Boys use), which kinda sucks as there's no avoiding that in a secondary school. I am on Amitryptiline which works alright, I get 2 migraines a month now. Was on propranolol which worked magnificently at first, but it stopped working after ~6 months, I also do something I don't think I'm supposed to do, I soak a tissue with Lidocaine and put it up my nose. It seems to numb my pain. (I always get migraines in the EXACT same spot on the left of my head) Sumatriptan 100mg tablets are the only thing that works for me. I tried Maxalt Melts (rizatriptan) but they didn't seem that effective. The sumatriptan nasal spray also didn't really work for me. Opiate painkillers such as Codeine work alright in the 30/500 dosage, but a Chemist told me that taking those too often can cause rebound/withdrawal migraines. It does seem a lot of people don't know how migraines can leave you writhing in agony (especially when they tell you to take some paracetamol and it'll be fine)... If I have a very bad one I take a sedative (usually Diphenhydramine but sometimes Diazepam if I have any) and pray I can fall asleep

Every month they patch SIMS and every month it breaks. so I do a monthly tour of the School fixing b0rken SIMS installs. Why can't the Governbent create a standardised School Information System to be deployed nationwide? (oh yeah, because they'd award the contract to their mates, and it'd cost billions for a few pages of PHP...)

Agreed. I sometimes think about leaving my Secondary School job but I quickly remember how bad it was working in Corporate IT. When I first started in the School it was hard to believe the freedom I had, I had been used to being watched over by a "foreman" for every minute of my shift. Some firms really do squeeze you like a lemon. I worked phone support for a DSL ISP for half a year or so, it was non stop: call, 20 seconds to write it up, another call, 20 seconds to write it up, call.... you take too long to write up and you'll have a manager at your desk "You've spent an entire minute writing up this call. What's going on?". Then I'd get told off for not properly writing up a call log. I got disciplined for being 30 seconds late from lunch. Once did data entry using those "OCR" pens (you write with them as per a normal pen, it digitizes the text with a sensor) and I got sacked for not filling in the forms quickly enough. People were filling them in as fast as they could, and I could tell the output would be garbage (as OCR really does require neat handwriting). I was taking my time, trying to make sure the characters came out correctly. Not good enough for them, obviously I'm a lazy, no good slacker. OK, the pay is bunk working School IT, but here I even have a little bit of respect, unlike every firm I've worked for ever. They'd need to pay me 5K+ more to switch, easily. The kids and teachers aren't that bad, really. (The kids are much nicer and more respectful than any of the managers I've ever had) Been working in a School for 2 years and still ain't used to being called "Sir" Anyway, sorry for turning this into a big long rant about nothing. Those jobs were all bottom rung entry level jobs. I know it's different once you get a "real job" (and so you are lucky there ) Good luck mate

:lol:

You can disable account lockouts in Domain Security Policy. I had to disable it as students would lock eachother's accounts out, forcing them to come to my office to get it unblocked ! (sometimes they even purposely block themselves to get 5 minutes out of a lesson!)

Smartcache also allows you to enable/disable the certain "lists" RM provide - like the ones for games, music, etc. When I first started all of these were enabled (for both staff and students!) and so the internet connection was practically useless. Sites like slashdot.org, neowin.net, housepricecrash.co.uk etc were all blocked. One piece of work involved the students setting up an "e-commerce" website selling music singles - they couldn't research existing music sales websites as they were all filtered. This level of filtering is not needed. I now only have the porno category blocked for staff and students (as well as a few custom lists for the students; youtube, social networks, etc) - works quite well, IMO. If a game site shows up too often for my liking in RM Tutor I will add it to the canned list. BBC News - School pupils' views of web block Here is a video on the BBC (not the School I work at) starring some pupils telling us what they think of over-restrictive filtering. Their setup sounds like a right palaver - applying to the LA to get a site unblocked? What happens when a teacher has planned a lesson based on a website and only discovers it is filtered when the kids are all at their stations?

Hi mate, I'm an ICT Technician at a mid-large Comprehensive. 1 - Comprehensive School 2 - ~1600 3 - South West (Wales) 4 - Not officially, no. I suspect me and the NM would be passing forth panicked strategies while looking over the charred remains of a server 5 - never 6 - Test the backups for integrity, but we haven't tried a full server restore (no time) 7 - never 8 - Tape Library and "Terastation" backups 9 - Kept on site, but in a different building to the main servers/disk-disk-tape backups 10 - weekly via disk-disk-tape, twice per term via "Terastation" portable HDD (stored in safe in different building) along with passwords incase me and the NM die (sometimes we share lifts) Differential backups are made daily (I also have Volume Shadow Copy enabled)

Why wouldn't using resin glue on the backing plates work? I've glued in the plastic 5 1/4" plates using resin glue on all of the older RM stations, and those plates aren't going anywhere. Me and a stout sixth-former went to town on one to test it out - couldn't even bash it through with a screwdriver. Must be some strong kids at your School...

Where I work staff have had laptops provided for almost 3 years now. Each staff member seems to think of their laptop (an RM AL55) as their own personal machine... so I do get some grief when a board dies in one and I have to keep it for a few days while I wait for a new one! It is easier for the staff than desktops in a corner of a room. Another pro of them having laptops, if they have a software issue they just bring the laptop down to me and show me in person. Some staff have requested desktop machines in addition to their laptops, which has been set up. Staff will use these desktops to show DVD's, movie files, or powerpoints etc, so these desktops are permanently connected to the Projectors. If one of them has a printer, they also make ghetto print servers. The main (only?) reason they want desktops as well as their laptops is so they can use the laptop to work on while the desktop is showing a DVD to class. Laptops are harder to maintain than the desktops. I've already had to solder broken power connectors back onto a few boards etc.

Hahah, that 1cup1coffee site is the best I've seen yet! Digging the faux XP-folder view. You block one, the kids find two more. The proxysite "fitnessgym.co.cc" caught me out for a while, thinking "hmm, the kids must be getting into fitness now it's turned Spring" until I actually visited it

may I ask why Windows does this? I noticed that one user (only one) had his home folder compressed by Windows, he didn't have a full quota (it wasn't even in the warning area). I originally thought he had done it himself