Duane_Dibbley

Sorry i've left this so long. Tried reg settings and scripts galore to no avail. Managed to get it to change with a script, but only for admin and not permanently. In the end used Altiris to push out a script (credit not due to me...had help) - REM Change US Regional Settings to UK rundll32.exe shell32,Control_RunDLL intl.cpl,,/f:"\\servername\express\region.txt" where region.txt contains - [RegionalSettings] LanguageGroup=1 SystemLocale=00000809 UserLocale=00000809 InputLocale=0809:00000809 UserLocale_DefaultUser=809 InputLocale_DefaultUser=809 Confirmed working for keyboard settings, but not all regional settings.

Howdy, Had a chat with the head the other day, and he seemed keen on me doing some training...question is what training??? I've got my A+ already, and was thinking a Microsoft Cert would be good. It used to be MCSE MCSA etc, but has this now changed to MCITP? If so, are they worth getting? What about FITS? Any other ideas? Kinda want to cram in as many as I can before he changes his mind lol. All suggestions/advice most welcome.

brilliant

I don't agree with this at all. A mobility scooter is not a car, it has no way near the damage causing potential of a car. 5mph is not much faster than walking! I am also gutted, as I was planning on using my grans old mobility scooter to ferry myself to and from the pub

WTF guys...i didn't know there were gun ranges in the UK!! I thought pistols were illegal. Any one know of one in/near manchester??? Back in Nam i fired an ak-47, m16, and a colt .45 - the colt was the loudest sound i have ever heard...my ears felt like they were bleeding. Dunno if that was cos they were all leftover from the war - i didn't look in great condition.

How would I go about doing this? Think i've found the correct reg setting, but not had much experience in scripts etc. *embarrassment at lack of obviously fundamental knowledge*

Howdy all, All the desktops in our school have recently been re-imaged. Unfortunately the keyboard layout has gone to US instead of UK, as well as the regional settings. Tried setting them with GPO but doesn't seem to have worked. Anybody know how to do this with a batch file or something similar. We use Altiris to deploy stuff remotely. Server2008r2, XP clients. Would appreciate the help, as the HT is getting annoyed that he can't use the £ symbol :S Thanks

wow some awesome shots there!! its not an slr. Panasonic DMCFZ28 - its a great camera for the price...im still saving for an SLR and in the meantime nicking my dads every so often

haha too true! I'm a bit disappointed with my (fairly) new cameras macro capabilities. My old ricoh compact camera was awsome tho...terrible build quality but a really nice lense. Macro from ~1cm away in good light! might have to dig up some of my macro insect photos!

We have the same, there is likely something dead or rotting nearby, or as suggested bad drainage. In the summer you will get them if you dont empty your kitchen bin more than once every couple of days. We get them as there is a dead pigeon trapped under our balcony, and pigeon poo all over it. For some reason they like to come inside during the day, so if the windows are open all day we end up with ~20 flying round the centre of the room. At night when it cools off a bit, they seem to prefer to be outside and by 10ish they seem to have all gone. They are probly just hiding but I like to think that they went outside again - makes me feel a bit cleaner :S I remember the worst was a rotting banana that escaped the wheelie bin at uni - apparently capable of supporting a BILLION flies!

DNS DNS DNS. Cheers dos box. Was pointing to the old (dead) server. Cheers guys (slightly embarrassed as I should have checked that already :S)

connectivity seems fine, tried it on several known working sockets. Pings both servers internet etc. Like I say I can even bring up the network locations that the drives map to...they just dont appear in my computer!!!! Driving me mad!

Howdy, Having a problem with are mapped drives which isn't making any sense to me... Basically, a staff laptop isn't displaying the required mapped drives in my computer when connected with a cable, but it shows them over wifi. It shows home drive fine, but the other shared drives just dont show up. This is the same with all user accounts I have tried (which are known working on other machines). Permissions seem to be ok too, as I can connect to the drives through the run command i.e \\server\mapped drive. The only difference between working/not working is the connection method. LAN cable no worky wifi worky the reason I want to have it connected with a cable is that the staff member in question doesn't ever move her laptop (uses it for smartboard) and seems incapable of leaving the wireless switch on her laptop switched on and insists on calling me to come sort it when she has switched it off...generally 3 times a week. (to be fair she also gets fairly poor reception) Any ideas anybody?? not come across this before... ta

Reservoir levels are pretty much unaffected by rain in the spring/summer, it all depends on how much it rains in the winter. It didn't rain much in the winter.

Howdy, I am trying to upload a fairly large number of images to our school website (joomla 1.5). The flash uploader doesn't seem to work at all, and I can only upload 1 image at a time using the normal joomla uploader. So methinks I'll use FTP. Our host is our local CLC, and I have FTP access to the joomla folder. I can upload straight into the images/stories directory, but I cant upload into any subfolders I have created in the images/stories directory using the joomla backend - I get a 550 permission denied error. If i create a folder using the FTP program, I can upload fine into there, but then when it comes to pointing my gallery to that folder (very simple image gallery plugin), I get an error saying the folder doesn't exist - even though I can browse that folder in the joomla media manager and view all the pics. Somebody help meeeeee!! I have to have some galleries up by thursday as the head is presenting the website to the govenors. I have looked at the folder permissions and they all seem to be fine. I keep seeing php.ini mentioned, but I don't know what it does and I dont think I have access to it to have a looksie. Could it be permission errors related to this file? Any and all suggestions/advice would be much appreciated

The curriculum network and admin network are separate, and I have (almost) nothing to do with the admin computers. So in terms of data protection etc, I don't have any access to confidential records. I do however have access to all the teachers shared drives and home drives etc, so in theory there could be stuff on there that would breach data protection...definitely something to look into thanks. He said that the next staffing meeting will be in september, which is the reason why it will not be changed until then. Apparently any changes will need to be discussed with the govenors and some people at the LEA - I am unconvinced, but willing to let it go. In the meantime, I will definitely not be taking on extra work, i'll just carry on as normal. I have considered joining a union but put it off thus far - I have never been sure how long I would stay anyway, but maybe it would be a good idea now, i'll look into it. Cheers for the advice though, much appreciated

:S you're right...really wasn't thinking when i posted that, thanks for reminding me - edited. Maybe I should set my self up a more anonymous account... well, he's since spoken to me again and says he is looking into it. Nothing can be changed until september apparently, so I guess i'll just wait and see. In the mean time I will be updating my CV etc and looking over the summer - at least just to get a feel for it. For the first time (i think) I agree with everything everyone has said in this thread. Thanks a lot everybody, its heart-warming to have so many responses and pieces of advice. Love you all

Yar I thought this would be the case. I'm not expecting to actually get £15000, and secondary schools certainly do have more hardware to look after (although we have a surprising amount). But i worked out that on an hourly rate when i was temporary I was getting £8.20, i'm am now getting over a pound less per hour for doing the same job, after I have proved myself capable.

Its true its not his fault i didnt read it properly, but he offered me that contract knowing what my situation was...I get paid during the holidays but not FOR them...so overall I am no better off, and I am in fact worse off. Like I said...he knew this. I have a degree in Biology from Leeds University. My only qualifications in IT are a GCSE (doesn't count i know) and COMPTIA A+, which I learnt on my own from the Mike Myers textbook and took the exams around march last year. I realise that I am unlikely to be qualified for anything better, its just that since starting I am getting paid LESS, which I have to say grates somewhat

This is my first job in IT. I have to say I really like being in primary school. The kids are great, and the majority of the staff are also great. Its basically the new head that has a different approach to the job. I dont necessarily disagree with all of his ideas, but sometimes the way he goes about implementing them. Some aspects are good, as he puts pressure on me to perform, but in general his expectations are unrealistic...everything has to be done now!

Howdy, I need a bit of advice. Basically, I am asking for a pay increase but as I am new to this line of work i'm unsure of what I should be expecting. I'll start from the beginning as it is not a straight forward situation: In september I was offered this job as an IT technician working in a 2FE primary school. Due to budgeting and some other reasons i'm not clear on, I am employed as a teaching assistant, not an IT technician - I dont really do any assisting, although I help out in ICT lessons if i have time. I got the job through the mother of my best friend, who is a teacher here. The head had been thinking about getting some full time IT support, and my friends mum mentioned to the head that I was newly qualified and looking for experience. I went in for a chat and came away with a job. While waiting for my CRB clearance, I decided to come into school 2 days a week to shadow their existing support (a technician from the CLC, who was and still is in 2 days a week), which I did for free. It had been decided that I would start on a temporary contract to see how it went. Once my CRB came through I started full time on the temporary contract, on an hourly rate worked out from a salary of ~£15000. The headteacher had planned to make me permanent at christmas, but the same headteacher was also retiring at christmas, and it did not happen then. After christmas - new head. In ~February, after I talked to him about money issues (i.e. getting no money in the holidays) he decided that he would put me on a 1 yr fixed term contract. I was expecting to be on the same salary as my previous hourly rate had been worked out at, but when the contract was sorted, the salary was ~£13000...2k less. I did some sums, and worked out that I was still better off financially on this salary than the hourly rate, with the added benefit of being paid during holidays as well. And so I didn't mention the fact it was a lower pay band and just accepted it...I could still afford to live on that pay. The contract started on the 12th April (after waiting for another CRB!) and my first pay check came through on 15th may...significantly lower than I expected. I assumed this was because I didn't start until the 12th and so it wasn't a full month. I had also done a significant amount of overtime during the holidays and so it was a little unclear exactly what had happened. I rang payroll and they confirmed that it was because I started on the 12th, which I accepted. But now my first full months paycheck has come around and again...significantly lower than expected. I rang payroll to ask what is going on, and she went through my pay structure and broke it down...F***ing PRO RATA! It turns out now that I am worse off than when I was on a temporary contract. I spoke to the head about it, assuming that he had made a mistake and not realised, as when we first had our talk about it back in february, I made it clear that I couldn't afford to not get paid during the holidays, and he assured me that with this contract I would. But it became apparent from our conversation that he did know exactly what the situation is. Now, I realise that this is somewhat my own fault, as I obviously didn't read the contract properly...I looked at the salary and trusted what he had told me about getting paid for holidays. The head has made it very clear that he wants me to stay, but is being awkward about what he can do about it. I know that there is no technical reason that he cant just bump me up a pay grade on the teaching assistants scale. But he is talking about giving me a proper job role as an assistant technician...which is exactly the same pay scale but not pro rata, so I would have to come in in holidays or make up the extra hours on my normal day. And to fill these hours he is talking about giving me extra responsibilities. My questions to you all are these: was it unrealistic of me to expect the salary of £15000 that I have no doubt the previous head was intending to offer me? Should I be feeling insulted that after I have proved myself capable and of value to the school, I am given a contract that pays me less than I was before i had proved myself? (because i do) If he does offer me a proper IT role, should I accept the 'assistant' title, being as I am the only full time technician in the school? Does anybody know where I can find a job description for an assistant technician? As its a primary school i'm guessing the roles don't transfer very well from high schools which I gather the descriptions are written for. I'm finding it very difficult to work out where i stand. I have never been given a job description that actually applies to IT, and I dont have a list of responsibilites. I basically try and fix anything that goes wrong, help with teachers when they dont know how to do something. I have designed and set up a website for the school and a new logo, reorganised and properly implemented an email system. I find quotes and write recommendations for new equipment. I also look after AD with the set up and removal of users, and implementation of some but not all GPO's, installing software and rolling out updates etc. Under the direction of the technician from the CLC I have also aided with the installation and set up of 2 new servers on a new domain, ~50 desktop computers and ~80 laptops. I also do stupid little jobs for the head that he decides is an IT job..like creating labels for a new set of trays for a classroom. Sorry about the long-winded explanation. Any and all thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated - feel free to put me in my place :S but I cant help but feel that 11K (~£13000 pro rata'd)for a university graduate, COMPTIA A+ certified (i know that doesn't really mean much) isn't a great deal of money. Just feeling a lil bit devalued by the whole situation... edit: I also realise that there are lots of TA's in the school on the same pay as me. They work every bit as hard if not harder than I do, but without devaluing the work they put in, I could do their jobs, but they could not do mine.

I'm down!! *sharpens throwing knives*

Howdy, Lookin to get a nice laptop (not netbook) for about £500. Thinkin 13.3" is a good size, dont mind smaller, but dont want to sacrifice too much performance. Its not for gaming (got my i7 beast for that), will mainly be used for surfing tinterweb and the odd film or 2, but i'm very impatient when it comes to computers so it needs to be snappy (ssd would be lovely but haven't seen any reasonably priced laptops with them in). Any recommendations? Have been looking at the Acer 1825PTZ and the 1820PT cos they've got capacitive touch screens which would be nice, but not sure whether i'd realistically get much use out of that...any1 used one? Was also looking at the timeline x series but think they might be a bit pricey. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated, oh knowledgeable ones

true lemsip is actually pretty horrible...but the paracetamol acts a lil bit quicker than swallowing tablets, and a hot drink is always good for making one feel better/more relaxed. I suppose the alternative (as my mum used to make me) is hot honey and lemon with some pills on the side - and if you want to be even more relaxed, add a shot of whisky into the mix ...almost makes me want to be ill!!!

I saw you 'cross the dance floor (dancin') I thought of birds and bees (reproductive system baby) But when I tried to speak to ya (talk, talk) My tongue unravelled to my knees (flippety-flippety-flop)