ajbritton

Something like this (in AutoIt) ; Name of application executable $AppName = "BridgeApp.exe" ; Name of temp folder to be created under %TEMP% $AppTempDirName = "BridgeTemp" ; Path to save app data to/from $AppDataPath = "H:\BridgeData" ; Construct path to temp folder $AppTempFolder = @TempDir & "\" & $AppTempDirName ; Check for and delete and existing temp folder If FileExists($AppTempFolder) then DirRemove($AppTempFolder, 1) ; Copy the app into the temp folder FileCopy(@ScriptDir & "\" & $AppName, $AppTempFolder, 1 + 8) ; Check for and copy down any application data If FileExists($AppDataPath) then FileCopy($AppDataPath & "\*.*", $AppTempFolder, 1) ; Run the app and wait for it to exit RunWait($AppTempFolder & "\" & $AppName, $AppTempFolder) ; Delete the app FileDelete($AppTempFolder & "\" & $AppName) ; Copy app data back to the data path FileCopy($AppTempFolder & "\*.*", $AppDataPath, 1 + 8)

..or, as NetworkGeezer suggests, you could take the script approach. I would do it like this though (probably in AutoIt) Install the app to a shared read-only location on the server Create a script which does the following 1 - Make a temporary folder on the PC 2 - Check for existing game data on the user's home folder and if present, copy it to the temporary folder on the PC 3 - Copy the app to the temporary folder 4 - Launch the app and wait for it to complete 5 - Delete the app from the temporary folder 6 - Copy the game data back to the user's home folder 7 - Delete the temporary folder Put the script in the same folder on the server as the app

Have you tried creating a shortcut to the app and setting the 'Start In' parameter?

It does what it says it says on the tin! OK, so is that an un-install followed by a reinstall, or a repair, or a re-cache? I've seen differing behaviour from this action, depending on the MSI file.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx

Not quite! An MSP can be used to patch an Admin install point, or an installed application. Assuming the application has been installed from an admin installation point and the patch subsequently applied to that install point, then the application would need 're-cacheing' on the PC, using a command like... msiexec /i [path to updated .msi file on the administrative image] REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vomu /qb I suppose this could be done with a Startup Script. It may also be possible to select the 'redeploy application' action on an assigned MSI but I don't know exactly what effect this would have.

Some sites we support (against our advice) had some XP machines with 128 Mb RAM, which became unusable under the latest version of Sophos. Some PCs with 256 Mb have slowed noticeably. Our bare minimum purchase spec is now 512 Mb, with 1024 Mb strongly recommended.

Surely best security practise would be that NO 'normal' user account should have Admin rights. If a particular member of staff is permitted to perform Admin functions, then they should have an additional user account which has the necessary rights, and they should use that account only when they have to. The Administrator user account should either be disabled, or a very strong password set and stored in a sealed envelope in a secure location (eg school safe).

Use the IEAK

Have you actually tried this Geoff? Presumably this would only work if all your PCs are always switched on and respond to PING (which I guess is how DHCP server looks for conflicts). If PC1 gets IP address 172.16.1.10 from DHCP server A and is then shut down, PC2 could get the same address from DHCP server B. If PC1 now comes back on, it will be in conflict with PC2.

Check the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Winlogon\CachedLogonCount entry. If it is zero then that might be why. Another possibility may be a policy entry which denies logon unless authenticated by a domain controller.

I don't think the profile has to be cached, just the logon details. If that were the case, the CachedLogonCount registry key wouldn't make much sense.

Tried it very briefly but I could not get it to work. I did not get as far as contacting their support or anything like that. At the same site I have since installed NetOp 5 with no issues whatsoever.

Yep, mine does that too, which means I have to edit the script (or an INI/XML file) each time I add a printer. Always risky. Not so with the script I mentioned. Just create a group with the appropriate name, add computer accounts and the script does the rest. EDIT: Just re-read the article again and noticed that each printer also needs a policy. Maybe it's not so cunning as I first thought. The main reason why I liked it was because it looked like it put all the configuration back into the hands of AD Users & Computers, rather than having to delve into GPO/scripts each time a printer is added.

http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2005/05/24/user_scripts.html

Some client side extensions record historical data on the PC where they execute though and if that's the case, they might just be readable by 'Power Users'. I can't say for sure exactly what is recorded, but this article suggests that it does happen.

I think your parameters will be stored in an INI file which will be copied down to the PC Geoff, although I can't remember exactly where off the top of my head. Here's another possibility... Write an AutoIT script and embed the password as an encoded RC4 string. AutoIT can decode this then issue the command line. In addition, the script can be compiled to .EXE and password protected to prevent decompilation. Might be a bit OTT though! I once toyed with a script that would set the Administrator password of the PC based on the MAC address, encrypted in some way. That way, it would be possible to release the Admin password of a single PC should it be necessary. You would not need to record the password as it could be regenerated using the same algorithm, given the MAC address.

I hope it's optional, or that it re-prompts for their password when they launch SIMS, or I forsee a big problem giving teachers access.

OK, get ready for a good laugh... 1st bike - RD350LCII good start 2nd bike - Kawasaki ZX6R looking promising Now - Honda Dylan 125 :oops:

Sometimes I just wish I was a b****y truck driver!

Did you mean 'i.e.' ? 8O

And before anybody starts, NO I'm not a teacher! But my dad was...

Did you mean subpoena?

Sophos also complains about PsTools...

I assume you mean 'how to get it registered on lots of machines'. As it happens, I only needed that particular script to work on a server, so I didn't need to do it, but I regularly use some of Joe's other components (JsSys3) for scripting. I made an MSI for that, but you could do a simple startup script which checks to see if the file is on the PC, if not, copy it on and register it. Incidentally, Joe has lots of very useful 'classes' which can just be included in a script without the need for registration.