mattpant

Wow... 12 minutes in and already another unhappy customer!! I hope Capita take note of this... I myself have found oh so many times that Support Cases are simply closed for no apparent reason! This really get's on my goat. Grrrrrrrrrr

Who here pays Capita Annual Maintenance to support there SIMS packages? Most of our SIMS system is covered by our LEA but we chose to buy into Lesson Monitor ourselves as this package wasn't supplied by our LEA, along with Lesson Monitor, came the purchasing of the annual maintenance to “support” the software. I have been so disappointed with the support that we have received over the last 12 months. I have called the helpdesk on a number of occasions to log new cases and it has taken them so long to get back to me that most of the time I have either fixed or solved the problem myself, or they simply turn around and say it's a know issue that will be fixed in a future update. So... I find my self asking... WHY BOTHER paying for support when most of these problems/errors are "known" and will be fixed in a future update anyway!! What do other people think of the level of support they receive??

Just to add... I spoke to Level1 about this problem and they told me they had no intention of fixing the problem as they had stopped selling as many of the units... and I said, well maybe because the reason why you have stopped selling them could well be because they don't work with the new style Widescreen display, and if they did then maybe they would start selling more of them again!!! Level One - WPG-1000 Homepage Matt

Hi, I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem... More and more laptops are coming out with Widescreen displays and projectors don't support this resolution. What are others doing to avoid this problem. It's going to be very expensive to replace all the projectors around the school. This is my problem... About 18 months ago we purchased 55 Tablet PC's for staff to use, and kitted out every classroom with a projector. We also purchased for every room a Level 1 Wireless Projector Server (WPG-1000), whcih basically allows you to connect to the projector wirelessly and it also acts as an access point to the school network. The problem now is that the WPG-1000 firmware will not support a resolution above 1024 x 768 and they have no intention of updating the firmware to allow it to do so. So I'm stuck, we are wanting to purchase more Tablet PCs that will work with our setup and i'm finding it more and more difficult to do so. I don't think it's going to be as simple as putting in place a new projector into a classroom, as the way it is at the moment, staff can use the equipment in any classroom they use. Help is needed!!!! Thanks Matt

I had a phone call back today from ModusLink after getting quite angry with some block in Holland about it all!! I was told my order was in the system and they realise it has been for some time! They said it is in the middle of being processed, In between this time I called Microsoft Customer Service, spoke to an english guy on the switchboard who put me thr to India, spoke to a woman there who i don't think had a clue what I was on about (she thought I'd got a vista upgrade but couldn't get it ot install on my machine!) Anyway, I asked her to speak to her manager, and she put me throught, he was very helpful and logged an official complaint for me, taking down all the detaills, he then put me throught to the Customer Service department back in the UK and again spoke to a very helpful guy, who is going to try all he can to speed this up for us, he said that he'd be honest with us that if the order was not on the system that it was very unlikely we would get anything, I was like WHHHATTTTT, how can this be, I have done everythihng well within the timescale, with E-mails and Fax confirmations as proff. Anyway... fingers crossed they "should" be with us soon!!!!

Yes, VIA the COA numbers

I use Vista at home, I kinda like it... but I'm not going to roll it out for in school for a while either, it's just we're entitled to these "Free" upgrade copies so don't want to miss out on them!

Has anybody managed to actually get their free copies yet? We purchased 32 new computers in October 2006, each PC came with a copy of Windows XP and was entitled to the free Windows Vista upgrade offer. As we were entitled to 32 copys there was a note on the vouchers that said if ordering more than 5 units, to e-mail them. Which I did and eventually got an e-mail back saying that at the time the system could not put on bulk orders. (this was in October) I then tried again in Novemeber, and they said to put all the infomation on an Excel spreadsheet and e-mail it back... this I did, left it a few weeks and heard nothing. So I e-mailed them to find out what was going on. They told me the e-mail had not been recieved. So I faxed it to them, I later recieved an e-mail to say that the fax had been recieved, however the information that was on the fax wasn't enought to process the order (Even tho' it had EVERYTHING that they asked me to include) Anyway, I updated the spreadsheet to include the further information they asked for, and it's now May and I've STILL not heard anything! Thats 7 Months since first getting in contact with them!!! I have sent e-mails to find out what is happening and they say it's not been recieved, this I find very hard to beleive since I have sent the information to them now at least 10 times on both e-mail and fax. I am well aware that the offer period has passed, but I sent all this infomation to them well before the offer finished. I have called Moduslink freephone number on a number of occassions only to be told somebody will call me back, but nobody ever does. I have now been in touch with Microsoft UK about this and still nobody has got back to me. Anybody else had problems? What else can I do? This is really starting to annoy me now. Can I take it further? Trading standards? Watchdog? National Press? Cheers, Matt

Wicked!!! I did do a google search but didn't find anything like that!!!

Hi, We would like to put 2 Questionnaires on our school website, 1 for pupils to complete, 1 for Parents to complete, We would like the results to be put together (probably some kind of database) Anybody know where I can start or what i can use... the word FREE comes to mind!!! We are using just a plain HTML style website, the server does allow for PHP/MySql, Cheers, Matt

Sounds good... any pointers or links that anyone could suggest/recommend? ... also if it turns out that cost is a problem, any tips on the NAS! Cheers, Matt

Hi Folks, Our server is slowly running out of storage space and I'm thinking of putting in place some kind of NAS storage device. Can anybody recommend anything in particular or something that will work well? We are running a Windows Server 2003 Network with Active Directory; I have about 1000 users on the system. I was looking at getting something like a 1.5 to 2 TB drive I've been looking at the Buffalo TeraStation Pro II and also RM’s version “NASBox” which uses Windows Storage System platform. http://www.rm.com/Secondary/Products/Product.asp?cref=PD477914 (Don't go buy the price on the website, been quoted better) I’m looking for something that will be simple to setup, and that I can easily move the data from our current servers hard drives and create new folders and share on the NAS device,, although I’m guessing that I’ll probably have to re-create all the shares/permissions etc etc Is there anyway in setting these devices so that they “think” they are just a new hard drive in the server, and extend the current partition size so the server thinks that the storage drive is now a 2TB disk instead of a 250GB disk? Cheers, Matt

I to have a Nokia N95, had it 2 days after it came out, such a great phone! Had such a good deal on Orange with it. They gave me the phone for FREE, 900mins any net any time, 300 texts, free unlimited calls to either orange mobiles or landlines at any time of the day (not taken out of ya 900, but you have to choose either/or) a selected "Magic Number" and Free Broadband all for £30 per month, the Free Broadband is limited to 2MB speed and 2GB a month, But I choose to pay £5 a month and get unlimited download and 8MB speed. The package should be £45, but they done it for £30 for me, for the duration of my contract, and that was direct with Orange, not these back street firms advertising in the back of the sun or daily starr!!!

Thanks, Will give that ago tommorrow then!

Nath, Yeah we use Roaming Profiles for Staff, but like I said, I have a group Policy on the OU for the Laptops and Tablets that says only use Local Profile, this works, and the profile they get on these is local and not the same as the Roaming Profile they use on classroom computers, but they still get the folders redirected because another group policy (Under Staff Users) is telling it to re-direct the folders to the server. @ Quackers... I was thinking this must be something to do with the Loopback but never used it before, where exactly do I need to enable the user loopback thing, on the OU group policy for the machines in the Laptop/Tablet OU, or on the staff users GP? Cheers, Matt

Hi Guys, This has been bugging me now for some time, I have a group of Laptops/Tablet PCs in their own OU on the server, I have a group policy set on staff users that redirects their Application Data folder to an area of the server (along with My Documents/Desktop/Start etc) I also have a group policy on the Tablet/Laptop OU that says ONLY use a local profile and not Roaming... however this still redirects there App Data folder to the server, so when they work at home or when disconnected from the network, certain programs (Like Adobe Reader) don't work/open because it's looking for the server for the info, What do I need to do so that this group of computers don't apply the Folder Redirections to the Users??? I'm sure it's probably something simple, Hope all that makes sense?!? Any help would be great! Cheers, Matt

Hi Mark, I'm intrested in this, could you post some more details or do you have any any links to websites you may have etc Cheers, Matt

Hi Adent... Thanks for the warning, but like my original post said "they will be in the school library with mainly just internet access being used, so shouldn't have a problem with incompatible software" Has anybody been able to track down a guide or the video that Andy spoke about? Cheers, Matt

Anyone know where I can find this step by step video for using Ghost in Vista, can't seem to find it on the website Cheers, Matt

Hi Folks, I'm soon to receive some new computers with Windows Vista Business installed and I'm keen to give it a shoot before I go and wipe the drives and stick XP on them, there's not going to be too many and they will be in the school library with mainly just internet access being used, so shouldn't have a problem with incompatible software! Has anybody tried imaging a Windows Vista setup yet? if so, any tips? Step by Step guides? Is there such a thing as Sysprep for Vista I've read that Ghost is not compatible with Vista (This has been my normal method of imaging) I also believe Vista has got it's own imaging program? Any help would be great to allow a successful install! Regards, Matt

Hi Guys, Been using a program for some time now called ID3-Tagit, which allows you to select mp3s of an album and searches the Freedb database and nicely downloads all the ID3 tags to the files, now I've just been trying to update some today means as schools closed and it no longer works. I've downloaded similar programs and get the same results, so I think it's a problem with "freedb" where it searches, I hunted around the net and heard rumors it's closing down etc etc, Anyone now any more info or if there's an alternative? Don't fancy having to type in all the name of the tracks?!?! And I'm off on a school trip next week to EuroDisney so wanna up date my iPod to listen to instread of all the screaming kids!!! Cheers, Matt

Wicked! I had an e-mail the other day to say I'd won a D-Link router from the SCC stand @ BETT !!! It's not arrived yet :-(

Thanks guys for your input! It helps to know what other people have when we got o argue some of our points!! Seems like 10MB is the norm for schools these days! Keep listing them!!! The more info on here the better, hopefully it will help us get a better setup!!!!

@ _Bat_ God! How lucky are they!! Thats what we should be running at or faster!!! Regarding your ISDN lines... that is exactly how our Internet has been feeling for the last few weeks!!!!! :-(

Hi Guys, Over the last few months we, at our school have been becoming more and more frustrated by the quality of service being provided to us by the LEA for our Internet connection and speed. Could you all do me a favor and just post some replys as to what speeds your LEA's are providing you to access the Internet, it would also be useful to know roughly how many pupils/staff that is providing. I beleive that we are currently on a 2MB link which supports 970 Pupils and 90 Staff the local primary school and the town library!! More and more things are being done online these days (such as our school reporting system/staff cover and soon E-Learning from a central Moodle system) I do keep telling them that home users can get upto 24MB or more in certain areas for a single user!!! I just want to gather some info from other schools to see how we fit in the picture and try and fight for better internet access!!!!! Regards, Matt