ToyHeartsFan

Are you using the filtering part at all? If you are is it working? Just asking because if its working for you it could mean its a server side problem rather than a policy central bug. Do you have to pay more to host it yourself; I thought there was a licence issue and you had to buy it unless link2ict were hosting it? I have logged calls in the past re the server side being slow to access via the web interface but that is supposed to improve with the new version but I guess it would work better hosted locally. Policy central was a real pain when we first started to use it but it had been working ok for quite some time then I noticed screen captures from youtube which the kids shouldnt be able to access at all... If we end up with ipads / android devices we might need some sort of local filtering anyway because we cant use policy central on them (although they are supposed to be working on a client for ipads) .

David deployed it to our Suite Machines (30) last week and it had updated ok but as far as I know the class room ones are still using the older client. No one has said there is a problem (thats not to say there isn't). The only thing I noticed today was that they hadn't all shut down (a shut down script should shut them down at17:00). I did try one just after he upgraded them to see if it had fixed the filtering problem (it hadn't) but didn't experience any other problems. I will try testing one again tomorrow if I get time I'm snowed under atm squirrels eating fibre cables, EOY stuff, 2 faulty projectors, 30 refurbed PCs to install, new staff, etc etc etc...

We are a Primary so Link2ICT host the software for us they updated the servers last week on tuesday and then deployed the updated client to our ICT Suite computers. XP Pro SP3 - All updates installed via WSUS - As of yet no one has reported any problems. We use the filtering part of policy cetral to a)stop the kids using youtube b)stop a generic account that Nursery / Reception children use being used to browse the web (i.e. it is in white-list mode). The filtering part of policy central is broken our kids started using youtube and the restricted accounts now have full internet access. We were hoping that the upgrade to V5 would fix this but unfortunately the problem remains.

Link2ict host ours. Open the log on the right hand side select Yes for false positive, Yes for Archive (this moves it out of the database) then you need to click SAVE. I like the interface but we use the filtering as well as the screen capture and the filtering has not been working correctly for some time. I was hoping the upgrade to V5 would fix this but our kids can still open youtube and an account that should only be able to access sites in a white-list have full internet access… If you are in Birmingham and using link2ict they did advertise a free training session to show the new version (I didn’t go but our head was going to go). There is a user manual you can access by clicking HELP.

All of our users can use USB sticks, if your anti virus is working ok and you dont allow them to run software from removable media then the risk isnt that high. Stopping them putting anything on a memory stick that is covered by the data protection act is another matter all together, so is them dumping their music / photo collection etc from the memory sticks into their home dirs... PS when you say autoupdates unless you have set up a wsus server then you have no way of knowing if the wokstations are actually up to date...

Its been some time since I worked at a School that used SMART but it never used to be like that. With Promethean its one licence per board they let you install it on other PCs as long as they arent connected to projectors / other peoples IWBs so you can use them to create lessons on Teacher laptops etc (unless they have changed it again).

On their download page it says you need to have smart hardware to obtain the activation key for the notebook software so if you used the software on a promethean board it wouldn't be licenced. "To get SMART software product keys SMART Notebook Register your eligible SMART hardware product. (SMART Board interactive whiteboard, SMART Board for flat-panel displays interactive whiteboard, SMART Podium interactive pen display, SMART Response interactive response system, SMART Document Camera, SMART Slate wireless slate, SMART Table interactive learning center or LightRaise interactive projector). "

Open ActivInspire - File - Import - SmartNotebook File V8 - V10 No idea how well it works because I've never used it!

I doubt it! You need to get it in writing from them I know promethean wont let you connect other IWBs and use their software because you do not have the software licences. I would have thought smart would say the same although they might let you buy the licences for the software. You would also still have to use the promethean drivers and I dont know if there would be any other problems. Having two board types seems like a nightmare, yes you can import smart notebook files into activinspire but its just going to be a headache for everyone that uses them. Why does the teacher want SMART is it just because they have used them before? If thats the reason then I would just say no! If its for touch have they looked at the newer boards because they are supposed to have some sort of multi-touch feature arent they?

Have you tried using the "FrontMotion Firefox Community Edition" you can deploy it via msi and use admin templates to configure it. I've only got it deployed to a handful of PCs because I'm only using the basic admin template so it isn't really locked down that much. FrontMotion Firefox Community Edition

You can use magicJellyBean to recover the licence key on a working PC (MS might not like this), it appears that the OEM licence keys on the case stickers are disabled and you can only use them via phone activation, there is also a special OEM key you can use for XP. Preserving OEM Pre-Activation when Re-installing Windows XP I found all this out when reinstalling XP-Pro on a NEC PC with the restore disk it was shipped with (the COA was for Vista so I couldnt use the key on that). Because the time it took to update the drivers, install SP3 etc I wanted to create an image in case I needed to reinstall again at some point. If I had known there was no bundled dvd software on the restore cd and that it needed SP3 installing then I would have just used the schools volume licence media and key and not had any of the hassle!

I gave the slim line models a wide berth because there were some reports of them overheating although other people said they didnt have the problem. I picked the XJ-M150 because we needed something brighter a lot of the sanyos were only 1500-2000 lumens and our class rooms are too bright. I did replace one batch of sanyos with newer 3000 lumen sanyos but we have had a lot of problems with them so I wanted to try something else. So far I'm very happy with them teachers are still complaining about the Sanyos we have i.e. not bright enough / poor image and the last batch we had keep cutting out (we sent one back under warranty and they said there was nothing wrong with it) but no one has complained about a casio. The only niggle I have with them so far is that the range we are using doesnt have a vga out. Its possible that over time the image will degrade but that can happen with any projector so we will just have to wait and see. Schools are probably one of the most demanding environments for the amount of use the projectors get and the dust they are exposed to. So they are giving you a 6000 hr lamp warranty is that in eco mode though? I know some makes will ship you a spare bulb but I think its like the old ink jet printers all over again i.e. they almost gave them away but charged a fortune for the supplies. I dont think the lamps cost anything like what they charge for them.

To clean it fully you have to strip it down and open the optical path because you get a lot of dust on the internal lens / mirrors. It can make a big difference but if your not v.careful you can damage the projector. Note: dont touch the lens / mirrors or prism just use an air duster / compressed air. Be aware that static could kill it and as any device it could hold a charge i.e. you could still get a shock even when its not plugged in. If the lamp has not been replaced when the lamp replace counter said it should it might have damaged the projector and even cleaning it and fitting a new bulb wont restore full brightness. Also over time UV damage from the lamp will reduce the image quality. Also old / low spec projectors with low lumen output are no match for a new 3000 lumen casio. If you are not experienced in electronics I would be cautious because if you get it wrong you might miss something i.e. re connecting an earth wire that makes the equipment dangerous.

I hope that figure is wrong because 200 hours is a little over a months use in a school environment. You got the wrong ones then, we have started using the Casio XJ-M150 they are 3000 Lumens and are by far the brightest projectors we have in school.

"Ms. derived from the female English title for all women, Mistress" Does that mean its Mistress Witch?

@GrumbleDook “Firstly, staff are not customers but employees” I’m not sure this makes any difference although it would help if the ICO referred to them as data subjects rather than customers. I believe the section I highlighted still applies i.e. to release data to a third party you need the consent of the data subject. “entry in the ICO's Data Protection Public Registrar will cover the data sets, how they are used and who else will make use of them” Yes this is the problem. If the sign in system was already in place and the third party was listed in the schools entry with the public registrar when the data subject signed their contract / became a customer there would not be an issue and the OP would not need to ask if it was ok to release the information. But he wants to release information to a NEW third party that the data subjects have yet to approve and that is not listed in the schools entry with the public registrar. “it makes no difference whether you release it to them prior to coming on site or not” I see where you are coming from with this so really the third party should show the school how to import the user data and they shouldn’t actually be given the data at all. “ensuring that information is protected in transit” – encrypt it “that it is held securely” – How can you do this without auditing the third party? “that it is only accessed by those authorised to do so” The data subjects have not authorised the third party and how can the school ensure the third party does not release the data to others? “that it will only be used for the specified purpose for which it was collected” – The data was not collected for the signing in system, the signing in system is being installed after the data was collected. @pcstru Our bursar who is the one that has had data protection training said names were ok but I see your point. If say a website listed the names of its customers then I would say that was a breach so there is a very fine line and its best to err on the side of caution. @sparkeh You must be dizzy from all those circles and probably need to lie down – lol At the next staff meeting why don’t you turn up with a list of staff names and ask them to sign it if they are ok with you sending the data? Any people that don’t can then get added once the system is installed. EDIT - Oh and just to be pedantic if the names included their title i.e. Miss, Ms or Mrs you would be releasing two bits of information i.e. their marital status as well as their name...

The ICO disagree with you Data Protection FAQs : Can I use personal data for a new purpose or disclose it to a third party? It depends. You should explain why you want to use an individual’s personal data at the outset, based on your intentions at the time you collect it. If over time you devise new ways of using that information, perhaps because of changes in technology, you will be able to use their personal data for the new purpose if it is fair to do so. As you develop the goods and services you offer, you should think about whether your customers are likely to reasonably expect you to use their personal data to offer them these products. If you are unsure about this, you should explain your intentions and, at the very least, give your existing customers an easy way to opt out. If you intend to make a significant change to what you do with personal data, you will usually need to get your customers’ consent. Individuals should generally be able to choose whether or not their personal data is disclosed to another organisation, unless one of the Act’s specific exemptions applies. If you did not make your intention to disclose information to a third party absolutely clear at the outset, at a time when the individual could choose not to proceed, then you will usually need to get the individual’s consent before making such disclosures

I was once told by our bursar (she had data protection training) that names were not covered by the data protection act. However I have not checked this or had it confirmed by anyone else. If the system stores any other information i.e. DOB, addresses, phone numbes - then no you can't release it without the individuals consent and they will have to wait until the system is on site.

We have the 2Simple collection which includes 2Type, we aren't really using it but it should do what you want.

Finally a mechanical drive that can saturate sata 1 unless you use more than 75% of its capacity that is! Aren’t we on sata 3 now? They do look like nice drives but don’t they ship pre fitted in the 3.5” adapter / heat sink to stop them overheating? I think putting one in a laptop would be a recipe for disaster. They are also comparing them to old gen ssd drives current gen ssd drives are very close to maxing out Sata 3 (600MB/s) this drive tops out at around 200MB/s. If you need the extra storage then they might be an option but the price of the 1 GB WD drive puts it up against 256GB SSDs which would be a lot faster. I don’t think we will ever see a mechanical drive that can max out sata3 so as prices come down on SSD the days of mechanical drives might be numbered.

The assigned offline folders entry is the one you want. The Icons folder is a share on our server that holds folders for staff, kids guests etc and each of those have a desktop and startmenu subfolder with the relevant shortcuts for that group of users. The desktop and startmenus are redirected in the normal way but the assigned offline folders entry means that everything in the Icons folder is cached for offline use so if they are at home or the network connection gets dropped then their desktop / startmenu doesn't vanish. If I can find any more info on how I created the assigned offline folder entry I will post but it was a number of years ago now and I've not got a great deal of free time atm so it might be quicker for you to google it. Some of our users have gigabytes of data in their home dirs which is why I disabled caching for the home dirs. Trying to sync that much data on a 54g wireless connection just wouldn't have worked and they would have got into a mess with syncing old / new files. We use our LEAs VPN solution and if our users need access to their home dirs / stuff on the network then they should be using that anyway, its also safer if the laptop gets lost / stolen as their data is on the school server not on the laptops hdd.

This is the gpo I use XP and 2003 server which might help point you in the right direction On our laptops Offline files is basically disabled except for the redirected startmenus / desktops which are on the server in the share called icons You will also need to make sure they cache the last 5 or so logons and that the user has already logged on while connected to the network. ============================================================= Computer Configuration Admin templates Network/ Offline Files: Action on server disconnect = Work offline Allow or Disallow use of offline Files feature = Enabled Prevent use of offline File folder = Enabled Prohibit user configuration of Offline Files = Enabled Remove Make available offline = Enabled Subfolders always available offline = Enabled Sync all offline files before logging off = Enabled Sync all offline files when logging on = Enabled Sync offline files before suspend = disabled System/group Policy: User Group Policy loopback processing mode = Merge Extra Registry Settings: Setting: Softwate\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\NetCache\AssignedOfflineFolders\\\Currisvr1\Icons ====================================================================== User Configuration Admin Templates Network/Offline Files Do not automatically make redirected folders available offline = Enabled ================================================================ I cant remember how I added the AssignedOfflineFolders entry ATM (it was 3-4 years ago!) but I think I had to do it from a Vista machine as I couldnt do it from the 2003 server or an XP workstation. You probably wont have that problem as you are using a newer OS anyway. You might want them to cache the home folders as well but I decided against this due to the size and the time it would take to sync. It was quite some time ago now and it took some trial and error to get it working but has worked ok for us for the last few years.

The interface your drive uses won't make any difference to the laptops performance, mechanical drives do no saturate the sata 1 (150MB/s) interface so even if your drive had a sata 2 interface (300MB/s) it wouldn't be any faster. New drives with very large caches might be able to saturate a sata 1 interface very briefly but even high end 10,000 rmp drives cant sustain these transfer rates. This is not to say mechanical drives havent improved because they have i.e. higher data density, bigger caches etc... Laptop drives usually have a low rpm to reduce power consumption when running from batteries if you buy a 7200 rmp laptop drive it should perform better but it will drain your battery quicker and run hotter which could be a problem if the laptops cooling isn't upto scratch.

We have just had a Ruckus system installed but haven’t had it long enough to really start using it properly yet. We used to just have two standalone netgear rangemax access points giving coverage in our laptop hut and a staff area which to be fair did a good job for what they cost. Controllers - With Ruckus if the controller goes off line you can’t connect to the wireless network (I just tried) but there is an option to have a second controller for redundancy if your pockets are deep enough! If you have a lot of access points a managed system is better, do you really want to try and manage what channels they are using when they are in range of each other / access points you have no control over in surrounding buildings? E.g. one of our access points just changed channel because it detected interference on the channel it was using. “So my original plan was to add more AP so there would be 1 per class, *I know this isnt the correct way of doing things and I should have a managed solution.*” – Ours is managed but with a few exceptions such as the reception block we still have installed one access point per class room. Note: Any system you buy into now is already out of date a new standard “802.11ac” (i.e. gigabit wireless) is in early development / production. Full steam ahead for gigabit wireless, report says - PC Advisor. A word of caution about the Ubiquiti Unifi that people are praising I’ve not used it but it did look interesting when we started looking at solutions. The cost comparison is amazing and is the main selling point until you look at the feature list if you want dual band, gig uplink, true POE etc, etc… then you have to buy the new pro access point which costs an awful lot more than their old standard ones. But if you only want basic access points then the cheap ones they do might be ok for you.

I dont maintain the images there are too many of them! The only time I update the images is if there is a driver update that needs to be deployed and I need to reimage a lot of machines for some reason. Our Images contain the OS and the latest drivers that were available when the image was created and any bundled dvd software. All applications are installed via active directory, all updates are taken care of by our WSUS server. A gpupdate /force and a few wuauclt.exe /detectnow commands later and the machines are up and running again. You can usually leave them sat on a bench updating while doing other things.