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

Thinking about this more and you will need a multiline value I suppose. You can set it to import the value of a text file. I (personally) would also use GPprefs to deploy the file to stations and then you can just modify it in the one place. This would also ensure it worked for stations that are disconnected such as staff laptops. Shaun

We use BGInfo. It can incorporate lots of data from different sources. Using GPPrefs in server 2008 (or 2003) we set command variables which are included in the BGinfo file so we can easily change values on the wallpaper without modifying any files on the server or clients. You just change the variables value in group policy and your done. You can shedule BGInfo to run regularly if you want to but we have it display PC related info on startup and user related info when a user is logged in. Shaun

Did you copy the adm file into the domain controllers INF directory first before importing it. I have known this happen before when it looks like settings should be applied but they aren't on stations. Shaun

Definitely create a Trust as stated above but make it one way from the curriculum to the admin (unless you need admin staff to access resources on the curriculum domain). Shaun

I've had this too. Fixes vary from the surface of the desk it is on (optical mice and shiny surfaces) and a common one with laptops is gunk under the edge of the touchpad. Try gently lifting the surrounding plastic all around the touchpad. Shaun

Hi All, This is how I have proxy autoconfig set up in a number of primary schools. I used this information: FindProxyForURL.com - PAC & WPAD Resource (sorry, 1st post won't let me do URL links) The important parts are... ...choosing to use either DNS or DHCP (or both). I use DNS personally as some PC's are on static IPs ...making sure you add the mime type (.dat = application/ns-proxy-autoconfig) on your web server ...keeping your wpad simple and expand it (exceptions) when you know it works Make sure to test at each stage: ...knowing that WPAD as a dns entry may be blocked. If you can't ping it, your clients can't download the pac/wpad file. Do a search online about unblocking this but read the security rasons why it is blocked. ...testing the download of the wpad/pac in your browser. e.g. http://wpad/wpad.dat. Hope this helps. The link above was really useful to me. Shaun

Hi All, My next post is about auto detecting proxy settings but I can't posts links in my first post so... Hello and read on! Shaun