Midget

which is wierd because if you install vb6 first and THEN successmaker it still doesnt work (and the ODBC install fails)

well done geoff and plex you were right, just tried installing VB6 and SM stopped working. Before I reimage the machine and try it, what are the odds that VB.net will produce the same fault?

Oh its still bloody expensive, but as we were upgrading we only had to buy 25 licences @~£180ea to get a site licence.

ok then, i'll try vb6 as the first suspect then. I have no idea what to tell the computing teacher who teaches VB6 to his ALevel kids. Apart from my previous hinting that we should be using VB.net since we have a licence for it - he's never used it himself, so requires more training to teach it....apparently. As we'll be changing to Office2003 this year they have no excusses about VB6 working better with Access2000

After battling with this PoS for quite a while I have now finally discovered that the reason it will not work is down to an application conflict. I did a clean install of XP and installed SM, and it worked, however after all the programs that are installed by the GP had installed it did not. It seems to be caused by one of the following: Adobe Acrobat 7.07 Adobe Flash player Sun Java 1.5 MS Office 2000 MS Visual Basic 6 2Connect (some software for GCSE ICT) What do you think is the most likely cause before I have to reinstall windows several times over trying to find the culprit?

Now lets definatelly not turn this into a games on PC vs Console vs oldschool debate .......because everyone knows the Amiga would win.

Personally I really dislike OSX after spending quite some time with it during uni and I don't really believe that Linux is quite good enough for most people yet, but it's getting there. Xandros and Ubuntu are much much better than any previous attempts at a good desktop system (but that might just be my bias showing as I like Debian) Give it another few years for all progs to be released as a self extracting install, and for improvements in some programs and I can see it becoming much more popular with the standard user who just wants to do the basics. Games are the biggest problem though, as long as people want games, they'll use windows. Oh and OpenOffice is shite, All Hail CrossOver Office allowing me to run some windows programs.

Now really, how can you expect an it tech earning a avg of £14-18k to know that sort of thing. I only know it c/o my degree and CCNA, if I hadn't done either I wouldn't know. NM, yes, but cant expect it from an ITMonkey Oh and HOW small is your school? not planning on having more than 126 machines?

You'd be supprised how few people who think they know about computers are unable to identify parts. Its a nice simple test that give you an idea of their background knowledge. You should really include a printer problem, either lack of toner, wrong cartridge (but the right shaped cartridge a la HP deskjets) or something with a print server or print assignment script.

Sorry, I agree it's starting to get out of control, it's my fault, I've been looking for ways to bring down my own network in an attempt to find security holes to plug. Be very nice to him, shake his hand (in front of others) and thank him for allowing you more control of the network, thereby giving you the chance to build your skillset and get a better job. See if he looks smug or embarased.

You can use a script and the task scheduler. obviously the script would have to delete itself and the task entry. Set it to run around the 12th of Jan, well after you have finished, but gives some time for it to look like the NM's fault.

Do you have any spare old PCs? Put one fully assembled in front of them and ask them to strip it down to components and identify them (what it is, who makes it, its size/speed) and then put it all back together.

haven't you felt the need to change the DC's name and IP address all year? maybe 3pm would be the best time to do so, in preparation for next year and all......

Leave him with a nice easy task to do over xmas, such as knocking off the power on the dist board for one IT suite, and partly remove a kettle lead from a backbone switch so that it looks like it is plugged in, but it actually isn't; and see if he can find out why things aren't working

I have a ComSc degree (and left in the black by becoming a contractor through uni doing programming jobs) and currently doing the CCNA and I have 5 years of IT industry experiance, which means that I'm over qualified for most of the low end jobs, and under experianced for most well-paying IT jobs. So i'm stuck as a network manager, working under the pay and title of IT Technician. YAY. I should have become a mechanic.

Thomson SpeedTouch 585 v6 here. Seems good, works well on my long line. Wireless doesnt have spectacular range, but has all the encryption protocols.

The campus manager here arranges it i think, or the council remind him to arrange it, or there is a homeless bloke who walks around the school every summer sticking labels on things.

Aruba, jamaica ooo I wanna take you To bermuda, bahama come on pretty mama Key largo, montego baby why don't we go... sorry.

friez> im assuming that was aimed at jak/examstudies Friez's point is also one of the reasons that Tor nodes are frowned upon by most web server providers. You proxy doesnt actually work here as it all gets filtered by SWS, so it'll allow a blocked url, but then the content filter will block it for having questionable words on it. A better approach is to use SSH to connect to a machine offsite and point your browser through the tunnel, however that it also blocked here, even when routed via port80 (I hate the filter more than the kids as I have to put up with it as well)

for present connection, you need to go to "manage this server" in the CP, then click on file server and then sessions. This will tell you who is logged in atm and on what machines.

Jak> I really like that site, very creative, however if you'd make it look more like, say, the bitesize site, it would be easier for the kids to hide. My main annoyances with websites are the flash games, as they slow down our already stupidly slow connection (SWS filtering).

Did they flash the kettle?

agreed. However have heard good things about Cisco's new wifi kit if you really MUST wifi the school. Waste of money IMHO though

ahhhhh now I understand. In that case why not remove all icons from the desktop except their home drive shortcut, tinternet browser, and word or whatever the most used program is and stop them saving things to the desktop. This way if they do move the order, it will still be easy to find. Do they all have the same login? is it AD or local login? If local, consider Deep Freeze which will restore the PC to its original state every time it is restarted.

is it REALLY that important that they have a tidy desktop? Surely turning on auto arrange and disabling right click will at least stop it looking messy, but they'll still be able to change the order.