CHiLL

Yeah, there's no point in the Degraded Performance or Partial Outage status options if they're saying they only update that if it affects all or most users. If 10% of users are affected for example, then I'd class that as a partial outage

When we looked at moving away from SIMS a few years ago, we were told by the council that we had to use FMS to process the paperwork in the correct way, since they also use FMS. If we couldn't process things like orders, reconcilations, etc in a way that they could access in FMS, they would refuse to accept it. If you're an academy, you can do what you want. But if you have to use Birmingham Council, it's FMS only. At least that was the case a few years ago, but we haven't been made aware that their stance has changed on that.

Our invigilators are pretty IT illiterate, but our exams officer is better. She provides instructions on each desk, which details how to log on and launch the software (which isn't necessary, since we use specific exam accounts and Impero to auto-start the exam software). So if the pupil is struggling, the invigilator can just follow the steps on the sheet, even if they aren't good with computers themselves. ExamWritePad is extremely straight-forward too. We run it from a share, so I only need to modify one config file or update it in one place, should I need to push an update. It saves the document into each exam accounts documents, so no-one else can access it and I specify via an AD security group who can/cannot have access to the spell check feature. Other than ExamWritePad, the only other computer software students use for exams is Pearson's (whether it's Test Player for the real exam, or Sample Player for the mocks). Sample Player is straight forward - run the package file and off it goes. Test Player requires us to configure the machines to connect to the invigilator's machine, but that doesn't take long. Our exam's officer also provides instructions for the invigilators to use Invigilator dashboard, from logging in, downloading the exam, listing the user's and starting/stopping the exam.

Yeah, it definately didn't look choppy, just slow. For example, there was a speeder chase scene in episode 3 that I watched last night and it was just so slow! It looked like they were going 20MPH, despite the camera and set pieces made to look higher impact!

Yeah, but it looks like they forgot to run it at regular speed and it looked slow.

I've had fun with my energy supply recently. I moved house at New Year and was with Octopus, on their fixed rate March 2021 plan (16p KW/H for electricity). I was originally told that in order to move, I'd have to cancel my current Octopus contract, start with the new property's current supplier (EDF) and then take out a new Octopus contract. After contacting EDF, their rates were absolutely shocking. Other than the price cap, their fixed rates were like 54p KW/H for electricity. A huge leap from the current pricing from Octopus. So I called Octopus back and they were able to help me out. They advised that they'll initiate the home move and pause my contract, so I'd be on EDF's variable rate until they take over the supply. Then, they'll put me back on the fixed rate I was previously on, until that expires in March. After that, as I'll be a loyal customer, I'll get discounted rates in March when looking at new pricing (unless the variable rate is cheaper). I am/was paying ~£80pcm for my dual tarrif. I'm dreading what I'll be after March.

Yeah, it was quite jarring. I'd expect action scenes when you have Ming-Na Wen in your cast, but I was hoping for better production at least!

Started The Book of Boba Fett last night. I am liking it, mainly because I like being in that world. However, I have noticed that not only is it slow in terms of the story...but the actual action sequences seem very slow too. The first encounter with the assassins for example, the fighting seemed like it was shot at a lower frame rate or it was more evidently coreographed/timed. It's not enough to make me stop watching it, but it was quite obvious to me.

Yeah, sorry! My typing was on poor form this morning. I've enjoyed The Mandalorian, though I do know that The Book of Boba Fett hasn't had nearly as good reviews.

I've given up on trying to use DelProf2 switches. It just doesn't work correctly in Windows 10. If I use the /d:xx switch, it doesn't delete any profiles, even those older than xx. If I use /d:xx /ntuserini, it deletes only profiles NEWER than xx, which is incorrect. Instead, I just manually run DelProf2.exe /u /i on machines when they're full and users complain about not being able to open/save files.

Binged Arcane over the weekend. I had high expectations for it, since everyone and their dog seemed to rave about it. It didn't disappoint me, I really enojoyed it. Next on my list is The Book of Boba Fett.

Since you aren't tied to Gamma, we recently migrated away from them (and a propriatary phone system) to PBX Hosting (They're Coventry based, so not South) and a 3CX Yealink phone system. From my understanding, PBX Hosting are our SIP provider, but they themselves have bought a bunch of Gamma lines and datacenter space, so effectively like a contractor. Our 3CX is hosted on their datacenter, but could be hosted internally in school if we wanted.

I think if you're on the CB of those OS, then the lifecycle is pretty short. But I think traditional Server 2019 has a longer lifecycle: [ATTACH=CONFIG]64414[/ATTACH]

Can you use locked down domain accounts specifically for exams (such as Exam01, Exam02, etc) and each have it's own home drive? You can then specify the backup path to be in the home drive, instead of stored locally (this is how we do it).

We still have RDS behind a gateway, but it's more of a last resort for access, as we also have Microsoft's Always-On VPN. The VPN allows staff to use their work issued laptops (which are also BitLockered) from home and the experience is almost exactly the same as if they were in school, with access to all their drives, SIMS, etc. Impero works perfectly well over the VPN too, so I can view and remotely control all VPN connected laptops from home or in work, even the live thumbnails work. The only issues with Impero that we have are if the service dies and Impero needs reinstalling, or the user's Internet connection is horrendous. IIRC, Always-On VPN superseded Direct Access (which was discontinued some time ago). I had absolutely no experience with VPNs when I took on that project in 2019, but I managed to spend a fair amount of time trying it (luckily it was pre-covid, so I had plenty of time to work on it as a side thing between jobs). I followed some great guides online and without them, I wouldn't have been able to do it.

Microsoft are set to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, including games such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Candy Crush and Star Craft. https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/01/18/welcoming-activision-blizzard-to-microsoft-gaming/ Maybe this is the beginning of the end for Bobby Kotic.

Yeah and since the VPN is working, I don't particularly want to make any further changes to it's config!

This has just happened to us again - and looking at the date, it's exactly a year after it happened last time. So I've had to revisit it. I've found the same thing as you. On the VPN server, the machine certificate (from the VPN Servers template) expired on 9/12/2021. Like you, I renewed the certificate with the same private key and deleted the old certificate. Clients were then able to connect immediately. I'm not sure why this certificate isn't renewing automatically when it expires, despite the server having the Auto-Enrollment Settings GPO configured.

House of Gucci Enjoyed some of the aspects of the film, but overall it was far too long...and the accents! It was difficult to tell if it was serious or tongue in cheek. Sometimes it reminded me of that Family Guy sketch.

That's what I thought. I'm using config.office.com to create the configuration.xml and under the Licensing and activation section, KMS is selected, but so it User based activation. The other two options of Shared Computer and Device based are greyed out: [ATTACH=CONFIG]63775[/ATTACH] I'll give it a test over the next few weeks.

Unfortunately we don't have 100 FTEs either! I think it was 82 at our last count.

We've been running Office 2019 Professional Plus for a few years now and since 2021 was released, I'm taking a look at the option to upgrade. The reason we aren't using M356 (O365) is because we're on OVS-ES licenses (due to <1000 users) and thus not elidgable for Device Based Licensing, as it's only available for EES (or at least was the last time I looked into this). Without DBL, we were hitting the 5 device limit in O365, which is an issue for shared computer rooms. I had pinned my hopes on Office 2021...but alas, they've only made it available as User Based Licensing and removed the option to enable Shared Computer Licensing. I assume this will also have the 5 device limit that O365 has, which rules it out as an option. Does that mean all schools with <1000 users are stuck on Office 2019, unless they have 1-1 devices?

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, I've had a lot on and no time to cast my mind back! I'm glad you sorted it...I think that's how I sorted but, but I'm honestly struggling to remember.

Ah, sorry. That's what I was trying to get at. We didn't have to provide any resources, aside from making those documents I mentioned available online. I don't remember being asked to provide them with devices or join them to the Wi-Fi, etc.

IIRC Ofsted don't really look at the systems side of IT. Last time, we made sure to have our key information, like Pupil Premium documents, certain policies, etc in an easily accessible (but secured) section of our website for the inspectors to access (we'd probably use SharePoint now). Also, we made sure that everyone had the correct DSL information on the back of their ID cards. We are overdue an Ofsted inspection, so I may not be recalling our last one very well...so there may be stuff I've forgotten or missed!