HullFC

Not as far as I know. Someone may want to confirm this but as I understand it, the installation procedure for a SIMS client update invokes an application installation routine which requires elevation of privileges to complete. You can only automate elevation for administrators through group policy and not normal users. Unfortunately as theblacksheep states, your alternatives are to wait for Capita to recode SIMS properly to enable UAC or manually update the SIMS clients instead of using pulsar.exe. Shaun

As Zenden, we do this. This is the list of folders/regkey from our GPO (mainly translated from simsperm.bat) which we grant rights for the sims user security group(s) %AllUsersProfile%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\SIMS Applications %ProgramFiles%\SIMS %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\SIMS Applications %SystemDrive%\PDOXUSRS.NET %SystemRoot%\OMRConfig.ini %SystemRoot%\sims.ini MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes We also had to modify the borland configuration and we use group policy preferences to overwrite the local idadi.cfg and idapi32.cfg files. They now point to a shared lock directory s:\sims\lockdir which the users have modify permisions to. Hope this makes sense and is useful.

We have CC3 across a number of sites and were planning to write a script to do all this on our vanilla networks but GP prefs came along and solved it for us. We also have a branding policy which deploys BGInfo and creates the startup and logon keys for it as well. Depending on the user type (staff/student/admin) they get a different colour background so you can tell straight away if a member of staff has left a PC logged on in a room full of kids. BGinfo reads environment variables form the same policy which specify school name and support numbers etc so we can deploy the same policy across various sites and just tweak the variables. We have the found the environment variables particularly useful on our new admin network which is currently being rolled out across many school sites in Hull. All of the folder structures on servers, branding and localisation is done through GP prefs. For example we have a variable for the site's server hostname which is different based on ad site. This is then used in profile paths so the same policy to redirect folders works on all sites and adapts to each with little fuss. Shaun

Actually no. We thought that it would before we did testing but it doesn't seem to cause an issue at all. It is only parsing a local XML file in reality. It's really powerful as the one policy sets all shortcuts for all users and we use gp prefs to assign shortcuts by group/site/ou etc so the kids don't get stuff for staff and only system admins get admin tools. It's all neatly in one place. We also use gp and gp prefs to delete common startup reg keys (like adobe reader speed launch, quicktime startup etc) and disable some services (e.g. google update) which can really help startup times. Shaun

Print a demo page from the 3600s menu. Information menu if I recall and see if it does the same. It does look like it could be an imaging drum on one of the toners. Shaun

I have a few different setups with differing options. What i find works best is to lock the stations down. As people have said it's more for protection from virus' etc. A few points that I think are important: Redirect document folders. Redirect favorites and desktops to a hidden folder in the users documents area. This makes it really easy to delete dodgy profiles without messing around with favorites etc. I also with server 2008 have a start menu policy which does a number of things: It locks down the start menu (hides run/etc) It prevents shortcuts in the all users folder form being listed. It deletes the users start menu on startup and recreates it all using group policy preferences. this is really powerful as each shortcut has a condition placed on it to check if the program exists. This means that laptops which are disconnected from the domain do not get shortcuts that don't work. I also use the prefs to hide the C: drive on stations and also hide drive maps that users don't need to see but applications need. Hope this helps and if you need me to send you some more info let me know. Shaun

Hi All, I would seriously advise using group policy prefs. You can use it with server 2003 as long as you manage it from a vista/7 station. It would solve a problem like this in a jiffy. Shaun

When I have done this I have named the wireless points as say 'Trolley1' and 'Trolley2'. I then set the first 15 laptops to prefer Trolley1 and the 16-30 to prefer Trolley2. They still have the other access point listed so if one isn't detected they connect to the other. If the SSIDs are the same then I believe it will try to connect to the strongest signal. Hope this helps. Shaun

You just need an evergreen board on top of the 386 it will fly....

+1 for K9.

CC3, CC4 and Vanilla. Definite thumbs down for CC4. Still not ready and an absolute resource hog. Vanilla Server 2008 is the way to go if you are technical enough, GP prefs making our lives much easier.

You can get external USB print servers which connect over LAN or WIFI however, I have come across devices which are based on older versions of the same device and they have added USB support by embedded a USB-to-OLDCONNECTION bridge inside the device. This can make PCs behave as if they are printing to older serial connections. If this is the case with your printer and it appears as perhaps a serial device accessed via a COM port and it may be impossible to network it. Check in device manager, select to view devices by connection and then look at the tree structure leading to your device. If it mentions devices such as serial or ps2 hosts/adapters then it seems unlikely it will be possible. In this event I would investigate the cost of a network receipt printer and go back to the users with prices/options. Hope this helps. Shaun

You can use the SET command to list all environment variables (and their values) at a command prompt. As above, you need %homepath% Shaun

I don't have any of these to try this in but I run something like regmon (microsoft/sysinternals) or regshot (sourceforge) then check the advanced tab on the web-cams property pages in device manager for an off switch. If that exists then switch it off and run regmon/regshot again to find out what has altered. My only thought is that it may need a reboot to detect this change (unless anyone has an easy way of running a hardware detect?) Shaun

The wallpaper does refresh I believe but it wouldn't re-run BGInfo if you went down that route. My personal feelings would be to stay away from active desktop due to it being notably resource hungry. If pc resources are an issue then as someone said, a shortcut on the desktop to a web page. Shaun