3s-gtech

Depending on the directories, their logon may depend on those files or at least wait for them to be available. Think things like profiles, startup items, thumbnails etc. If you know what the files are, you should be able to trace what settings are pointing the clients at them still, and kill the GPO or setting.

Have a look at the Open Files in Computer Management. That may point you in the right direction.

Remember that Apple do tend to support OSs even once the device can’t update to the newest version, and MS supports the last three OS versions. However, it’s a balance, and £500 seems steep for devices of this age.

Carrying on with MDT is a viable option. I'd put money on it working for a good while yet (it certainly works with 11 24H2, and we jumped straight from 10 22H2).

It's possible - but you'd access them through some sort of RDP portal, not directly. I can remote in via a browser and manage our Hyper-V hosts (if I'm staggeringly bored). Obviously I can boot myself out while doing this, if I take down a host which is hosting the RDP portal. Accessing them directly would be a bad plan.

Not soldered to the motherboard, soldered to the connector (just the wires and a little plug). Getting another one of those connectors would be a pain, but the battery is standard. You could also stick the connectors with conductive tape.

I’m sure the OP’s grandchildren will be grateful for the insights [emoji28]

Edugeek current concensus seems to be: avoid putting this on DCs for now!

You can buy them as add-ins. https://www.asus.com/uk/motherboards-components/motherboards/accessories/thunderboltex-4/

Crikey. You can’t conform to a FOIA request very easily! If staff are doing any school work which contains pupil data, and storing it on their own devices, you will need to use the law to come down hard on this. Accessing emails in a browser on a phone is one thing. Using a personal device as a school laptop is not going to end well. If you have to allow them further and further into your network, the risk increases greatly.

Macs aren’t just a showcase - they are very good at the Music Tech stuff and don’t need too much support. We primarily use them with KS3 and KS4 and Garageband, which is good enough for their compositions, sequences and remixes etc. the MIDI side is pretty reliable too. We used to use Pro Tools for KS5 but the dongles…were bad. Avid, avoid. The RoI has been good on ours - they are well built and not overpriced with the right frameworks. I have just bought 15 Mac Minis which were about £100 more than similar PCs - however, Garageband’s capabilities cost so factor in the licence for a Windows equivalent. Our 2009 iMacs are just about to be retired (thankfully, they’re pretty tired!) They’ve done well.

It's going to go that way, but I suspect it'll sit quietly working for several years yet. Things like JAMF Connect can do the job, but I don't like how JAMF sell so many modular products for one purpose. You'll want some USB-C to USB-A converters if using things like MIDI keyboards as new Minis only have two USB-A ports (plus two on the old Apple wired keyboards).

Mac, not MAC Short for Macintosh. It's very practical. You can just add them to AD and off you go, but it's better to use an MDM like Mosyle or JAMF to manage them (the equivalent of Intune or AD settings). Intune can be used too but feedback is variable.

it's not my fault I'm backwards. At least it's not CC4. More relevantly, is the UI more 11 like or 10?

Lenovo had chronic issues on the E140/5 series, they were absolute pap. Brass rivnuts into a plastic base which ripped out. I used to drill through and bolt them.

We use it for SMTP still, and the granular control of things like AD attributes. It should go next year when it goes EoL.

'I must get around to updating everything to 2022' Gah! My 2016 ones really do need doing, aside from Exchange which is locked in.

I have lots of physical servers still, because 2005 is peak IT yo. RAID 10 is my go-to. I also have RAID 60 on one array. Nothing on RAID 5. Due to the age of kit I get a few dead disks a year - with decent RAID configs I have a chance of avoiding outages (including during rebuilds).

I'm going to give it a shot with some (10) 2011 era Mac Minis and Macbooks, to bump them up to Monterey. Worth a go, and will allow me to shortly ditch 10.13.

There are update rings, so you can choose how advanced or held back you choose for those machines. It’s much less feature rich, but also a massively reduced admin burden and far less bloody complex. I kept WSUS for years, but the ******* broke one two many times.

No cost. They don’t enroll. They just check in with Windows Update, using the settings you specify with Intune or GP. Massively simpler. No management or approvals like WSUS.

Garmin Forerunner 955. Love it. Real money for something I never thought I’d need, but running trails and being able to see the route is a game-changer. It’s a decent general watch and lasts me about two weeks between charges. The newest model has an OLED screen and the battery doesn’t last as long.

Paxton Net2 unit will interface with your fire alarm for this, so you can set trigger actions based on a relay input. Send an email, lock some doors, crack open a beer, sound an alarm…

“Cease and desist, threatening our MIS customers with legal action is our modus operandi, and we will vigorously defend it!”

Yes, look at what other schools are doing for this. Don’t try to be too clever, or use something that’s a bit Heath Robinson, with something like this. Treat it like a fire alarm.