Lipjam

Looking at projector upgrades and I had a quick look on the web...there are so many! So here is my wish list: I want to get something that: Is so HD that when standing next to it you cannot see any dots. Is so bright/clear that you do not need to close the blinds. Is so cheap that I could get as many as could see us through till the next century. Most of the new "cheaper" LED HD are not really HD and definitely not suitable for a classroom. I thought I would just ask the question of what folks are using in the classroom that make you say: "Damn that is a fine projector". A lot of the better offerings seem to be home cinema but that doesn't mean they cannot be used in the classroom. After some research I was looking the Acer HD5360 which is 720p with reasonable price/spec. Anyone used this? Useful to have a top 10 projectors for the classroom based on actual usage and not suppliers recommendations. Let me know your thoughts! Thanks

Thanks KeithMPhoenix. I had an email from Microsoft confirming this: The current LGA Select Framework expired on 30th September 2012 and will show as ‘expired’ on Explore. A few people have commented that there is no mention of an extension on this agreement. The Select program was retired last year, therefore no extension or new agreements can be issued. This also applies to the LGA framework. As a result the Select Agreement you see today will remain listed as ‘expired’ and won’t change. The new Select Plus agreement which will be set up next week, will list the new MOU extension of the 20% discount until 30th November 2012. We do have the signed MOU extension at Microsoft and the LGA framework is expected to be set up at the beginning of next week.

The EES schemes are fine as far as they go but it is a leasing scheme and not always appropriate (SQL server?). The whole thinking behind the Becta agreement was that it functioned as a cooperative for individual school who would never be able to satisfy the purchase requirements of a MVL agreement on their own.

I have been told by one of our resellers at school that the Department of Education has not yet signed the new select agreement for schools so as a result schools will not be able to avail of reduced pricing once the contracts signed by schools under the (now defunct) Becta select agreement expires. Since Becta used to have responsibility for this and now are all but in name scrapped it seems this responsibility has be shifted to the Department of Education. Ours expired last month and we have to now pay full commercial rates for any Microsoft perpetual licences as a result. This doesn't surprise me... another victim of this Government's cutbacks. Looks like there could be another incompetency shambles in the making... Anyone heard anything about this?

I have been told by one of our resellers that the Department of Education has not yet signed the new select agreement for schools so as a result schools will not be able to avail of select pricing once the contracts signed by schools under the (now defunct) Becta agreement expires. This doesn't surprise me... another victim of this Government's cutbacks. Looks like there could be another incompetency shambles in the making... Anyone heard anything about this?

I think this is going off topic if you want to talk about confidentiality and data protection issues then you should really start a new thread. This thread is about licensing of SIMS and I took some time to make (what I feel is) a very important point. I haven't had any significant contribution reply or input on this point. The fact that Capita is ripping schools off for millions across the ccontry evokes little or no response... I don't get it is no one interested in where or taxes are going?

Sorry it's 1.1K-1.2K should have just put 1200 approx.

Original quote from Capita that came to our school (Based on 11-12K approx. pupils on roll... I do not want to give the exact size): SUBTOTAL £24,062.00 VAT@ 20.0% £4,812.40 ORDER TOTAL £28,874.40 Then with all these so called discounts it is now about £11k with 2 days training. Excuse me being cynical but if someone is going to screw you it does help to think you're getting a bargain screw!!

In relation to this issue of Capita's demand for Academies to re-licence. This is not just a matter of abstract money. This relicensing cost, which Capita is forcing on schools, has a direct effect on classroom provision. I read from the Capita spokesman on this thread that the Government has provided £25k for relicensing. It seems a bit of a coincidence that the cost of relicensing SIMS/FMS is £25k (now reduced with so called discounts). This is a cynical attempt to cash in the so called Academy gravy train. Capita probably saw the millions been wasted through BSF on architects, contractors and consultants and thought to themselves: Where's our slice of the pie? Schools get nothing for their outlay! This is purely money for old rope. Capita are holding schools to ransom, obtaining money with menace. Capita SERCO, G4S are sewing up the public sector contracts and it is not for the benefit of this country (Dispatches - Britain's Secret Fat Cats - Channel 4). The reality is that Capita is charging because it thinks it will get away with it. It is depending on schools' apathy and fear at the thought of changing systems. This nonsense about anti-competitiveness (and it is total nonsense) is a smokescreen. I would urge school to liaise with each other and their LEAs and make a concerted to resist this. We have already done and have already secured discounts but that is not good enough. Now capita have said they will provide training in an effort to justify the charges. I would also urge those thinking of the Academy route to contact the Academies Trust and let them know what is happening. If schools make a big enough stink about this then maybe something will happen but it won't if you don't! Our society is changing and so is our education system. We have to make a stand and let it be known who is driving this change. Is it the educationalists or is it the private sector? If it is the latter then our children will suffer. We have a responsibility to do something about it. I'll finish with the Edmund Burke quote: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." If you think I am exaggerating have a look at this:

I am using SLG trying to consolodate my SLG account with my AD account but when I try i get the following: Consolidate user accounts failed. General access denied error I wanted to know what permission are on anybody's AD account: adp.addbaccess has so I can verify ours has what it should. If anyone has any other suggestions they would be welcome. Even if you don't thanks for taking the time to read this!

??? no help?

IT ECHOS WHAT IS DISPLAYED IN THE cmd WINDOW AS FOLLOWS: INSERT INTO Marksimporter (UniqueID,SetID,Mark,MarkDate) VALUES (14283,18325,'C','07/09/2010') INSERT INTO Marksimporter (UniqueID,SetID,Mark,MarkDate) VALUES (14283,18309,'B','07/09/2010') INSERT INTO Marksimporter (UniqueID,SetID,Mark,MarkDate) VALUES (14283,18326,'B','07/09/2010') Etc... As I've stated if I comment out line 95 (highlighted red above) the script will continue as above (INSERT INTO etc..) ad-nauseam until the script completes. If I remove the comment on line 95 I get six lines as above and then the following error: -Tracking-FixedMarks.vbs(95, 5) Microsoft JET Database Engine: Syntax error in INSERT INTO statement.

Hi I am not a coder so looking at syntax for me I might as well be looking at a hole in the ground. I debugged this script and found an error at line 94,5 (see below line is red bold). I commented out the line and the script runs fine. I am just concerned that I am leaving out something important that will catch up on me so would like you opinions on this line what it refers to and if you can spot the error. I have taken out any real info on paths and passwords so don't be concerned about them. Many thanks in advance. PS. I notice that a pice of the code comes out as a smiley that is the work of edugeek and is just a 0 and a ; in the script. Reported error: -Tracking-FixedMarks.vbs(94, 5) Microsoft JET Database Engine: Syntax error in INSERT INTO statement. Script ' MAP DRIVE X TO THE ADMIN SERVER '-------------------------------- Option Explicit Dim strUser, strPassword, strDriveLetter, strHomeServer, strProfile Dim objNetwork, objPopUp Set objNetwork = CreateObject("WScript.Network") Set objPopUp = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") strDriveLetter = "b:" strHomeServer = "\\servername" strProfile = "False" strUser = "domain\user" strPassword = "password" objNetwork.MapNetworkDrive strDriveLetter, strHomeServer, strProfile, strUser, strPassword ' WAIT FOR CONNECTION '-------------------- WScript.sleep 3000 ' COPY DESIRED XML FILE '----------------------- Dim objFSO, objFileCopy, aFile Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set aFile = objFSO.GetFile("c:\Tracking-FixedMarks.xml") aFile.Copy("c:\Tracking-FixedMarks.xml") ' WAIT FOR FILE COPY '------------------- WScript.sleep 3000 ' DISCONNECT DRIVE X '------------------- objNetwork.RemoveNetworkDrive "b:" ' OPEN XML '--------- Dim xmlDoc Set xmlDoc = CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM") xmlDoc.Async = "False" xmlDoc.Load("c:\Tracking-FixedMarks.xml") Dim strQuery, colItem, objItem, SQLStatement, conntemp, myconnect, rstemp strQuery = "/SuperStarReport/Record" Set colItem = xmlDoc.selectNodes(strQuery) set conntemp = CreateObject("adodb.connection") myconnect="PROVIDER=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;DATA SOURCE=\\server\Tracking.mdb;Jet OLEDB:Database Password=password;" conntemp.Open myconnect 'DELETE OLD DATA '---------------- SQLStatement = "DELETE * FROM MarksImporter WHERE MarksImporter.SetID IN(SELECT SetID FROM MarkSets WHERE ReadOnly=True)" set rstemp=conntemp.execute(SQLStatement) For Each objItem in colItem Dim myVal, thisItem , varUniqueID, varSetID, varMark, varDate set myVal = objItem.selectNodes("AdmissionNumber") For Each thisItem in myVal varUniqueID = right(thisItem.text,5) Next set myVal = objItem.selectNodes("AspectDescription") For Each thisItem in myVal varSetID = thisItem.text Next set myVal = objItem.selectNodes("Result") For Each thisItem in myVal varMark = thisItem.text Next set myVal = objItem.selectNodes("ResultDate") For Each thisItem in myVal varDate = thisItem.text Next 'FORMAT DATE '----------- Dim varDateYear, varDateMonth, varDateDay varDateYear = left(varDate,4) varDateMonth = right(left(varDate,7),2) varDateDay = right(left(varDate,10),2) varDate = varDateDay& "/" & varDateMonth & "/" & varDateYear SQLStatement = "INSERT INTO MarksImporter (UniqueID,SetID,Mark,MarkDate) VALUES (" & varUniqueID & "," & replace(varSetID,"#","") & ",'" & varMark & "','" & varDate & "')" WScript.Echo SQLStatement ' UPDATE DATABASE ' '---------------- set rstemp=conntemp.execute(SQLStatement) Next ' POST IMPORT ACTIVITY ' ---------------------- ' COPY OLD MARKS TABLE TO BACKUP SQLStatement = "SELECT * INTO Marks_BAK_" & replace(date(),"/","_") & "_" & replace(time(),":","_") & " FROM Marks" set rstemp=conntemp.execute(SQLStatement) wScript.Echo "Backed up Marks table..." ' CLEAR MARKS TABLE SQLStatement = "DROP Table Marks" set rstemp=conntemp.execute(SQLStatement) wScript.Echo "Clearing Marks data..." ' COPY NEW MARKS TABLE TO MARKS SQLStatement = "SELECT * INTO Marks FROM MarksImporter" set rstemp=conntemp.execute(SQLStatement) wScript.Echo "Updated Marks with new data..." conntemp.Close WScript.Quit

Thanks Mark In short no but I am less concerned about the credentials since the error message says the file is missing altogether even though it's there. So it is not seeing it for some reason. I was hoping to spot an obvious difference in the files but they seem identical????

Can anyone help with this. I cannot run adp service because of it. Capita say it is because the "ConnectionSettings.xml" is missing from "C:\Program Files\SIMS\ADPClient\ChangeTracking" but the file is there. I'm not sure what it should contain maybe someone could paste the contents of theirs for a comparison (see contents below). This has only happened since the summer 2010 update. Thanks in advance. - <EncryptedData Type="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#Element" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#"> <EncryptionMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#aes256-cbc" /> - <KeyInfo xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"> - <EncryptedKey xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#"> <EncryptionMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#rsa-1_5" /> - <KeyInfo xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"> <KeyName>connectionStringKey</KeyName> </KeyInfo> - <CipherData> <CipherValue>REMOVED FOR SECURITY REASONS</CipherValue> </CipherData> </EncryptedKey> </KeyInfo> - <CipherData> <CipherValue>REMOVED FOR SECURITY REASONS</CipherValue> </CipherData> </EncryptedData>

Thanks guys for the replies slewis That's a good script but because I have two possible variables it isn't ideal for my situation. Steve I have used your script but when I debug it it throws up an error at line 7 char 1: Microsoft VBScript runtime error (7, 1) : Argument not optional: 'oShell.run' ***** script completed - exit code: 0 ***** Here is a copy of the script as I am using it: set oShell = createobject("wscript.shell") Set objWord = CreateObject("word.Application") iVer= objWord.Version objWord.Quit sCmd="regedit /s %logonserver%\netlogon\outlook\" & iVer & ".reg" oShell.run,,True The actual application is OUTLOOK not word... I want to import outlook.prf file from "%logonserver%\netlogon\outlook\" I would be grateful if you could suggest a line to accomplish this.

Hi guys I am struggling to put together a script that determines the correct version of Office installed and then to add the appropriate registry key. Basically I have a prf profile that I need to add to user Outlook accounts. The problem is that on some PCs the prf extension is associated with PicsRules of IE. I have the regstry settings that make the correct file association: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\prffile\Shell\Open\Command] @="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\OFFICE12\\OUTLOOK.EXE\" /PromptImportPRF \"%1\"" However we have a mix of Outlook 11.0 and 12.0. so a second regisrty addition: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\prffile\Shell\Open\Command] @="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\OFFICE11\\OUTLOOK.EXE\" /PromptImportPRF \"%1\"" These files are called 12.0.reg & 11.0.reg respectively They are stored in the NETLOGON folder in a subdirectory call outlook. I have stringed together a couple of scripts to 1 determine the correct version and then 2. run the appropriate reg file This is what I have (as a VBS): Dim myVariable1 myVariable1 = objword Set objWord = CreateObject("word.Application", "localhost") Wscript.Echo "Version: " & objword.Version objWord.Quit Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") LogonDC= WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%logonserver%") bWaitOnReturn = True If myvariable1=12.0 Then wshshell.Run "regedit /s " & logonDC & "\NETLOGON\outlook\12.0.reg", _ 0,bWaitOnReturn If myvariable1=11.0 Then wshshell.Run "regedit /s " & logonDC & "\NETLOGON\outlook\11.0.reg", _ 0,bWaitOnReturn Wscript.Echo "SCRIPT COMPLETED " Can any give any clues on errors or else provide a simpler way to do the job. Thanks in advance

Tom I did have a mess about with Smoothwall but couldn't configure it as we have two subnets and Censornet accomodates the two gateways. I may be wrong but I don't think smoothwall can do the same? I have little knowledge of Linux that is why I favour the Microsoft solution. It is looking expensive though so I would be happy for any help advice you can offer. I am waiting for a layer 3 managed switch to arrive so will not need two gateways. I want the new solution up and running before term starts in Sept so have a bit of time to play around and try out various solutions.

Our LA is encouraging schools to move away from getting Internet services from them .They want us to do our own Internet. At the moment we do our own filtering & Firewall with Censornet but it's proving unreliable. Thanks for the suggestions.

I am looking at a number of options as an alternative to our Censornet problem. I am favouring a Microsoft solution but as I have not used it before I would like some advice/opinions on its setup, implemtation & use. Is it a proper OS or does it need Win2K3? I will also need a web filtering piece of software. Any suggestions for a lowcost/ free solution to work with ISA would be gratefullty received.

Thanks for the help lads. I appreciate it. Just with the point of no firewall. There are three NICs on Censornet. One of them is gone so I would just be routing through the ADmin port. So in theory the firewall of the Censornet would still be protecting the network. Thanks Halfmad for the advice to the teachers that is something I must remind myself in reassuring the staff. John I was looking to upgrade the NICs to gigabit ones. Can you suggest a suitable one. Do I need to install any drivers or will the Kernell just pick it up and use it? Also do I need to reassign IP adresses and could you advise on the proceedure for doing this? I will probably get advice on this from support but forewarned is forearmed. I would appreciate an objective opinion.

Hi I started as senior ICT technician at a high school on last tuesday. In reality my role is Network manager as there isn't anyone else. I feel a little out of my depth but I am willling to push myself to develop. On friday students were losing their connection to the internet. Also work on the RM server was disappearing. We have a Sensornet firewall which also acts as the default gateway for the curriculum and the Admin subnets. It was discovered that the load on the Sensornet was extremely high 33 at one poiint. We would reboot and the load would be fine for a while then it would climb again. I got on to sensornet support who suggested we had a virus that was causing the load. My suspicions were a hardware fault but in typical support advice I was informed that their was nothing wrong with their product. Finally on friday evening the student gateway NIC on the Sensornet server failed. So now there is no DG for the curriculum network. Needless to say I am not looking forward to going in tomorrow. I have spent the weekend thinking about it and I think the best way to work around it until we can replace the faulty NIC is to use my workstation as a router. I would put a second NIC in my PC then set its IP as the DG on the curriculum subnet and route traffic onto the Admin DG so the students would still have Internet. My workstation is on the Admin subnet. What I want to know does this sound like the best option or has anyone any better ideas? I cannot replace the NIC on the sensornet box until I am sure it's compatible. I am virtually ignorant of Linux which is what the Sensornet box uses. So I do not know what the procedure is for installing a NIC. I would appreciate any help or advice. Thanks Liam