Skoggmeiger

New Prince album, courtesy of the Daily Mail

Hey! Nothing wrong with Clay Pidgeon shooting, I go two/three times a week and I'm only 20! To be honest, I'm sure it's darn good fun. Was just trying to get the lad to realise you're only 21 once, (unless you're a women of course).

Lazerquest? Clay Pidgeon Shooting? Jesus H Corbett! He's 21, not 14 or 40. Go to a strip club then go and sow you wild oats for gods sake. Then, whatever you do, do not come on here and make a post at 2.44am!

That must have been one wild Birthday Bash!

I was under the impression that you had to create your own scripts to push software out and that it only supports MSIs? If so, it doesn't appear to offer much over AD.

Could you tell us which LEA your colleagues in the south work for please? On a side note, AVG Free should not be used in schools 1. Providing the License The GRISOFT Company through this License Agreement grants to you non-exclusive and non-transferable rights thereunder in respect of using a copy of the computer program for a service life thereof, i.e. for a time period throughout which GRISOFT shall maintain and make available an updated version thereof. You may install (download) and use only one copy of the program designated for protection of exclusively one personal computer, notwithstanding as to how many times you download the program and how many times you accept the License Agreement. You must not use the program in a network or on more than one computer. This particular software version is distributed free of charge, therefore, the applicable license is only granted for home use thereof. In case of this free version, the program is not subject to any guarantees, and the user has no right to any technical support whatsoever.

We are looking into whether or not this product would benefit our schools. Has anybody tested it yet? Can anyone see any real value in using it within a school environment?

It wasn't done using Ghost or Acronis though. It was done using Packard Bell's own utility, and restores all of thier own software too, which works. It's this that I'm surprised by.

A colleague brought her own laptop into work today. Brand new Packard Bell Dual Core. Nice little machine. Anyway, it came with Vista Home Premium on it and for the time being, she wanted XP putting back on it. I told her I would image the machine as it is now, so she can always revert back to it when she needs to. (SP1 onwards ) I used the built in restore DVD creation Utility, as for some reason, my usual weapon of choice Acronis, wouldn't work. As I had nothing better to do, I thought I'd try this Restore DVD on a Dell Latitude. Result? I have a fully working pre-registered Packard Bell version of Vista Home Premium running absolutely fine, on a Dell Latitude. Rather chuffed that it worked. I shall of course be removing it from the Dell, as It's my friends Vista and I don't want Microsoft noticing there are multiple copies doing the rounds, but I think this highlights a slight flaw in both Vista and Packard Bells Restore utility. 8) Edit: New it was too good to be true. Of course it still needs Activating. (Automatically in 3 days).Was still impressed that it installed though. I've tried things like this in the past and fallen at the first hurdle, i.e. "This utilty will only run on Dell Latitudes" etc

I'm sure you all see the funny side when pupils play the aforementioned jokes too don't you?

I sure know about that Ram is going for monkeys nuts at present, got some 1GB sticks of DDR SO-DIMMS for £31 each the other day and they are Kingston at that rather than generic ram! It must be silly season (finishes working out how many sticks he needs to get all PCs onto 2gb ram ) Play.com are currently doing Kingston 1GB DDR2 sticks for £17.99. Ordered 2 for my home PC last night. Could turn out to be rubbish, but it's worth a try for £35.

Fair point regarding the car.

What you have to remember is that a lot of admin staff (and others), are not very computer literate. I know in my LEA that they still struggle to do the same tasks they have been doing for years. This isn't a training issue, it's a people issue. A lot of them have been working in school offices for donkeys years. Then one day someone told them they have to start using a PC and how wonderful it will be. a decade or so later, they are still not impressed. In the May SIMS upgrade, users were faced with a slightly different front page. We had nothing but hassle over that, yet it was one little change. Thankfully, you are given the option of changing it back. Some people do not like change. They like familiarity. (I await the tired old calls that we should all go back to living in caves) It's much easier for people such as ourselves that enjoy using new software, to get to grips with it quickly, and realise that it has many benefits over the software it has replaced. Sadly, not everyone shows the same enthusism. Nick, your new car might not have an Oil leak, but I'm sure that you still drive it in the same way that you drove your old car, or did you have to go on a training course to find out where the steering wheel was?

And I'm yet to find anyone that works in IT that hasn't done this.

EDIT: Reply deleted. You win. I've got work to do.

Replace rudeness for patronising and it's come right back at you. Edit: Ok, my above comment is childish reponse, but I felt it needed saying. I'm in no way advocating that rascist/offensive posts should be allowed. I do however, take offence at being told HOW we are allowed to discuss something. Not being knowledgeble in a subject does not deny you the right to discuss it. Now let's all sit down and have a nice cup of tea, kiss and make up and agree that there are some nasty people out there wanting to hurt many innocent people all over the world.

And finally, the voice of reason speaks. To those of you saying we shouldn't be discussing such events because we don't know the true facts behind these events - I'm sure glad I don't have to sit in the pub with you, 'cos I bet your conversations are boring as hell!

What utter piffle!

And he knows what about education exactly? Wasn't he Gordy's buddy in finance up until recently? He'll probably tighten the purse strings even further now. Without wanting to start a political debate (though I'm always up for one), why can't politicians be forced to stay in their role for the full term of that govornment? Then we can properly assess how useless they are. All this chopping and changing doesn't help anyone. Although that would mean Estelle Morris would still be education secretary wouldn't it? :?

If you have Vista, it suggests you have a decent spec PC, so why not run a virtual PC on it, with the O/S of your choice?

I understand the need for the 1GB minimum of Ram and a decent x 2 core processor, but why a decent graphics card? Are you planning on using Aero? The first thing I did when I installed my copy if Vista (Which I have since removed) was revert to "Windows Classic". Reasons being; 1) Familiarity - Of utmost importance to non technical people i.e admin staff 2) Speed - Even on a 1GB, AMD 64 x2 3800 it ran rather sluggishly until I turned off the bells and whistles. 3) The bells and whistles appear to be a pile of useless crap, in my humble opinion. I note cloggersd is based in San Diego. Can I ask you how big a budget you guys have on the other side of the pond for IT? I have a sneaky feeling it's a lot higher than most schools have in old Blighty.

Acer?

This same query came up at a SIMS user group recently. From what I remember, one authority had a laminated class list for each class, attached to the door. Then a black cross was put next to absent pupils, so a quick visual aid was availbale during fire drills. Of course, teachers have to remember to do this each lesson.

Sounds like a good way of doing it. We are using a batch file that detects what OS and service pack they are on. If they are upto spec, the batch file then launches the exe and installs the framework, otherwise they get a message saying needs SP2 etc. We just add a line to the logon script to reference the batch file. Seems to work ok.

Hmmm, best let my housemate know that. The contract is with him and I just pay half the cost. I doubt he's read the T&C's, though him and his bird are quite heavy downloaders.