Koldov

Both of them? From the link @mavhc supplied I did wonder if one them was to do with the 'hot' and one of them for the 'cold'...? - - - Updated - - - We have a winner for the bonus question!

Have to admit my ignorance here... I moved into my current home about 26 years ago, one of the first things I had done immediately was getting a gas combi-boiler installed. The copper immersion tank went (in my 'home owner' naivety I agreed with the plumber that he was 'doing me a favour' removing it for me)... The massive plastic water tank in the loft also went (he didn't want to cut that up and take it for some reason)... Anyway, just to say I have no experience of these things, I just turn on the tap and hot water comes out, I turn on the heating and the radiators get warm... there is nothing I need to think about (apart from the monthly gas bill)... Fast forward 26 years and I've finally bowed to the pressure from the OH to move to a bungalow in a 'nice' rural village! I am now faced with a massive oil tank in the garden linked to a 20 year old oil fired boiler for central heating and a small immersion tank for hot water. On one viewing I looked in the loft and was faced with the following... What the hell are these for!!!! Try and ignore that the top one looks like it's held up with shelf brackets attached to a chimney breast... I certainly hope none of these are attached to a tap that I have to drink from... EDIT: Oh and don't mention the fact that one of the chimney breasts has been removed and doesn't appear to be adequately supported (in fact just had some bricks and mortar thrown at it) and has a water tank hanging off it (rather sore point as is much of this ridiculous farce of a house purchase which I won't bore you with)...

Just had a staff member come to me and say White Rose Education is also not playing embedded videos.... which has worked OK here for a few years.... I did get an email reply from Monster Phonics, basically saying that yes, they had moved all their content to Vimeo, but with no explanation as to why. I guess White Rose Education must have done the same thing, but I wonder what's wrong with YouTube all of a sudden, has something changed that means they can't/won't host their videos on there?

Holy Necro-Thread Batman! However, I'm pretty sure most of the help and advice about SIMS is timeless... it's still relevant because the product hasn't changed much in 30 years...

This... I didn't see in your OP if any of the choices of green flashing lights matched with what you're actually seeing. Out of the choices: Blinks green two times per second --- Identifying drive or preparing for removal or Blinks green slowly --- Drive rebuilding A disk failure in RAID0 (striped) would normally mean the whole array is trashed iirc as there's no redundancy (parity), so no rebuild, no inserting new disks, or swapping them around. I think you'd have to go in and delete the array first, then start from scratch by creating a new one. Was it a brand new disk, can't remember exactly, but some arrays write RAID info onto the disk. You should also be able to see the drive status in the RAID Controller setup during the boot sequence if you hit the right key combo (don't know off hand).

Why do so many educational resources use Vimeo? Don't they know a lot of schools won't allow it as there's very little (or no) ability to safeguard/filter it? Are we just being over-blockers...?

Just had a teacher come to me with an embedded video on Monster Phonics (I think) that has been blocked by our LGfL filtering. I've never allowed Vimeo, but the teacher says they used this Phonics website absolutely no problem last year... So either they've hosted the videos somewhere else previously or something has changed in the filtering. Problem is I have no idea how to let these hosted videos through (and there's loads) without making an exception for Vimeo which I don't want to do. The Headteacher had a video from a safeguarding website that he wanted to show on the inset day and it was hosted on Vimeo, so I put an exception in for the URL, but then it still wouldn't play (guess it redirected somewhere else). In the end I just opened the whole 'Social Networking' category and it played. We have a good procedure for YouTube through Google where it is strict restricted and we have the ability to approve them, but there is nothing similar for Vimeo obviously...

OK, got it I think... is this done as they log on or sent in an email (only our children don't have email enabled)? But for users already enrolled in a class, do the teachers delete them from the class ready for the new children?

Thanks, I though not... do you know how children actually get put into classes in Classroom then?

Can anyone tell me if there is a direct correlation between the OUs in Google Workspace and the 'Classes' in Google Classroom? Does Google Workspace feed into Google Classroom? Previously we had just Year Group OUs in Google Workspace and although I'm not directly involved in Google Classroom it seemed to work fine as far as I know (but I don't know how the children were put into each class in Classroom). Recently we have had an 'Education Consultant' involved and they put all the users into 'Class' sub-OUs within the Year Group OUs in Workspace. I initially thought this made things more difficult for me when I wanted to pull data (as it doesn't have to include class), so over the holidays I moved all the users back out of the sub OUs and into Year Groups. Although I've since realised I can manipulate the data in other ways to get what I need, it's easier to move them up a year en masse, rather than class by class (also I don't get the information on what class each child is moving to). Now I've been contacted by the consultant asking why I've done that and would I like them to move the users back into classes. I didn't think Google Workspace OUs related directly to Google Classroom and from a data management point of view on my side I'm not bothered, but if it makes things easier in some way I'll agree. We don't use any kind of auto-provisioning, so I'm not looking for answers about that...

This is how it happens isn't it...? All the dystopian sci-fi films about how either Skynet* becomes self-aware and takes over the world or some sort of (computer) virus or solar flare disables all our technology and throws us into the dark ages again. It's the future (I know, I know), but I just can't shake the feeling we're pushing ourselves forward into some self-fulfilling prophecy by making more and more of our critical functions internet based and 'connected'... I do try to temper our general enthusiasm for cloud computing with the reminder that there is no ethereal 'cloud'... it's a physical thing, it's just basically someone else's computer. I mean sure, it's spread around, it's got failover/resilience/redundancy, but you are still going to be susceptible to the issues of bad OS/Anti-Virus updates (and other issues which take out ALL of the servers) and internet connectivity problems, etc. Obviously, the more systems you depend on that are in the cloud and the more platforms that you store data on that are internet based, the more reliant you are on their availability to be able to function (never mind trust them to be secure)... What happens when the fix isn't as easy as restart in 'safe mode' and delete a file...? Hopefully I'll retire before I'm forced to give up my physical on-site servers (SIMS, File Shares, DCs, WSUS etc.) and local MS Office installs... I work in IT, so I'm no luddite... I'm mean I'm no Sarah Conner, but I guess with that attitude, I am probably the old-school dinosaur that the 'future' can't wait to get rid of... *other AI's are available...

As the title says really, but actually there are a few files that are no longer being read from this location... A while ago iirc I changed all of our shortcut files (and also their associated icon files) a few .bat files, a desktop wallpaper, to come from '\\Domain.com\NETLOGON\' rather than from a specific DC). I can't remember why, for high availability maybe... but think I saw it in another post and thought it was cool... Something seems to have changed recently (unfortunately I don't use these machines and nobody has complained so I don't know when it happened). These files no longer appear to be read from SYSVOL, which is strange as I thought everyone could read from there. Any ideas of where to start looking for the issue?

There's a thread for this... /forums/behind-red-door/238745-ai-bot-site.html

As others have said, I don't believe encryption is compulsory as such. I mean it isn't quite the word I'd use, but it is 'implied' by other standards and is more to do with the fallout if something happens. It's a bit like insurance (apart from vehicle insurance which IS legally required/compulsory)... It might be fine if you haven't got it, but when something happens and you are asked why you didn't have that laptop encrypted (especially as AFAIK a lot of other 'recommendations/guidance/standards' and I think GDPR legislation requires you to have taken all 'possible steps to secure the data'), there's not much room to wriggle out of it with any other interpretation. So it's not compulsory, but there is no way you wouldn't do it.... if you see what I mean? IIRC at least 12 years ago we had an email from the ex-LEA IT support team consultants regarding the E-Safety tools they were 'recommending' for schools. I'm sure that came from some Gov. guidance at the time... For encryption they were recommending DESlock rather than the Windows 7 version of Bitlocker (maybe not everyone was running an Enterprise version and this was seen as being able to 'cover all bases'). However, at the time I chose to go with Truecrypt (which a few years later I believe was rumoured to be unsafe and was possibly forked into other open source versions), but we'd started on to Windows 10 the year or so after anyway. I think with anything like this it's a risk assessment job and at the time I believed even if it was able to be cracked somehow (not actually sure it was), I doubted anyone would go to such lengths. Ours use a password to bypass the need for TPM compatibility, we do not allow any removable USB drives.

Managed to get an old PCI (not -E) Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS card working in Windows 10 with those drivers! Some slight inconsistencies with some functions and I never had the audio interface/drive bay IO so can't comment on that, but it brought back some memories. I am hopefully moving house soon and know I'm going to have to face some heart-breaking decisions.... we're downsizing and the amount of stuff I'm going to have to lose (old computers and tech related stuff, lots of legacy audio and video equipment, along with guitars/amps/pedals, exercise equipment/gym and an old running machine). I know I should sell it, but there's so much I don't think I can really add that stress on top of the move...

Thanks these are 'Windows' Chrome GPOs and so not for Chrome OS devices. I guess Chrome can handle PDFs, but what about Word documents, am I right in thinking these would have to download somewhere (like %TEMP% ?) before opening in Word...? They are sure that somehow when you used to click a link for a document on a webpage in Chrome, it just used to open the document... I'm not sure how this is supposed to work or if it is even something Chrome does/instigates as default... I've just always downloaded every document anyway so it's not a problem for me... I think it DOES and has always download it (maybe to %TEMP% or 'Downloads')... (but I don't think 'auto-open' has ever been enabled).... it's just that they were never aware of this and now as I have the 'Ask where to 'Save As' GPO set, this short-circuits that behaviour and now they: a) see the file being downloaded and b) it doesn't open the file automatically? I've just been to see the BM and this has become an issue as we use a platform called 'Smartlog' for training and recording things like if a staff member has read a policy... they have just updated all our policies and the staff have to read them all and tick that they have done so. However, there are a lot of Word documents (well, 12) and rather than them being opened automatically, every staff member is now going to have to download (Save As) each one and open them manually... but there is no way round this, Chrome wouldn't open them without downloading them. Even if I enabled a download location of 'Downloads' in the GPO instead of 'Save As' and enabled 'Show Downloads' they would still have to open them manually... maybe I should tell him to convert them all to PDFs so Chrome will open them... EDIT: I have found a GPO: Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Google > Google Chrome List of file types that should be automatically opened on download So, I could add "docx" here, but I've never touched this, so I don't think they could have been doing this before... has Chrome ever had this behaviour enabled natively?

I've had a few complaints from various Teachers and TAs concerning the way Chrome is handling links to documents (the example was something on Twinkle). Apparently I must have set something (a very long time ago) in the Chrome GPO that means it won't open in the browser (for viewing or printing), but simply asks the user to download the file and prompts for a location to 'Save As'. So, I just told them to create folder on the desktop, open it in the correct application (Word/Adobe etc.) for better document handling/printing and then delete it when done. I must have thought at the time it would stop anyone clicking on a malicious link that would then automatically open the compromised file in a browser tab/webpage, so instead they would have to download the file (and this would then be scanned by our Sophos anti-virus), but now when I think about it logically I'm not sure how much of a security enhancement this is... Yesterday my BM asked about this behaviour, if it was 'something I had done to make things difficult' (although I know they really meant 'more secure') and if so, could it be changed... apparently they open a lot of documents for viewing and printing and don't want to download them each time. I get it and it's prompted me to think that maybe I should change the behaviour as it's not really protecting anyone from anything anyway...

Yeah that's kind of what I was presuming... but... the 'BusinessID' one... what's it there for? Why are there users in it? My quick internet research pulled up the following, so I thought it might be part way through some sort of transition... "Business ID - Common Questions As your organizations are being upgraded to use Business IDs and Adobe storage for business, there are a few recurring questions that we’re being asked. As we upgrade your accounts and organizations to use Business IDs and Adobe storage for business, plans provided by your business or school are accessible using your business profile. Personal Profile are not available if you're using a School or Business account (Enterprise IDs or Federated IDs)." When (or if) we do start using it, I don't want any sign-in issues for the children...

Sorry if this has been asked (probably not because it's a stupid question), I guess I'm a bit late to the party (as always)... Some time in 2020 I decided to use our Adobe licenses and populate all the users through a sync with Google. I managed to get it sorted eventually and assigned all the kids 'Adobe Spark' licenses accessed through their Google sign-on. Nobody used it... I guess it wasn't unexpected as we have no ICT co-ordinator/ICT Lead and there wasn't any planning... Fast forward 4 years and our new 'Computing Curriculum Consultant' has fired off an email to the Headteacher saying that for next year we'll be using this great tool 'Adobe Express for Education'... Luckily I was copied in on the Headteacher's reply to them (after many comments by myself on how I need to be at least made aware of what's being proposed) and to the Finance department telling them to buy it, so I could tell them to wait! Q1 - Am I right in thinking I have this covered already? I haven't touched the Adobe Admin Console for 4 years so it's all a bit of a mess, but it seems like 'Adobe Spark' has transformed into 'Adobe Express for K-12'... Q2 - Also, I appear to now have 2 'Directories' one with the school name and one just called 'Business ID' Both are populated with users, but I can't tell if either one is 'live', which one I should be using and which one is syncing with Google! Some of the users are duplicated in both, but a lot aren't (and there's a lot of users to check)...

We are having Paxton added to our external gates over the summer. To enable this we are required to provide 2 x POE ports. The nearest available switch (and therefore shortest cable run) has no POE ports. To enable access to the POE ports would require something like (at least) another 100ft and everything that entails (meaning a total run of 150ft+). Does anybody know if it's possible to use injectors with a Cisco 2960 (I know, I know, but I'm working with what I've got for now) and if so, should I suggest them for the ports on the nearer switch?

I don't use SIMS very much, I'm just the management and installation of the client/server side stuff/SQL/Firewall guy... So... I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for but... TOOLS > SETUP MESSAGE OPTIONS I *think* (hope) this is per user and not a global option... but my sign-on is top level and I've never looked at his function before so... At one point our admin staff were testing out the message function to see if we could use it for alerting of incidents... they didn't realise that it would send the messages to everyone and beep every time anyone opened SIMS if they didn't acknowledge all of them... there were a lot and none of the staff knew how to do that, so every morning, in every classroom... ding, ding, ding, ding... EDIT - Just noticed this is for 'High Priority' messages, that might equate to 'important' messages but OP wasn't very clear on what messages their user was receiving, so it may not work...

I guess that wasn't really explained in the onboarding... I've cut it down since then, but originally we had pretty much all the SLT... none of them are technical and I certainly wouldn't trust any of them to request changes via support! I mean... the Headteacher uses a Macbook... that's why I've got the Head (proxy) role...

I don't think the NCs are explicitly 'technical'. As far as I can tell the Nominated Contact is exactly that, someone who the school has nominated to be contacted... At our school that is the Headteacher, the Business manager and me. I'm not sure if it is any more nuanced than that in the LGfL/WaveNet database but it would need to be, because out of those 3 NCs, only one would give a hoot about specific service issues...

Funnily enough the very same email came through to me while I was writing the OP and that's why I put this bit at the end... There's a lot of good things in that email and in my opinion LGfL are doing a lot of good work in a lot of important areas, there's just nothing in it that is directly relevant to my role. BTW, there is an unsubscribe button at the bottom I think... Also if you look at your account in the Support portal (My Account > Account Details > Email tab) there appears to be some control over which distribution lists you are signed up to. It would appear there are already 'Gridstore' & 'Webscreen' distribution lists... so shouldn't be too difficult to send out email alerts to the relevant people... I think the issue might be that (correct me if I'm wrong) you are an NC (nominated contact) or not. My 'roles' according to LGfL are 'Staff', 'Contact', 'Head (Proxy). So no real way there to distinguish me as a 'technical' contact... on the other hand I can see this getting messy if schools aren't using in-house technical support and have a 3rd party support. The SchoolProtect/WebScreen/Netsweeper issue did cause me problems as I was trying to work out why I've stopped getting reports... EDIT - I also think there is still a disconnect between LGfL and the people they use for the technical support side (who is it now WaveNet ?) - I mean when I talk about LGfL I'm usually talking about the technical support, but not all 'support' functions are covered by them... EDIT 2 - Unsubscribe at the bottom of the 'Cybercloud' email newsletter... Manage Preferences at the bottom of the 'News' email newsletter... @PaddyNewman - PM on its way!

That's the thing, it may take a little bit of set-up work creating/maintaining a list and getting an alert sent out, but on the other hand every time something like this happens their support desk has to answer all the tickets asking 'what's going on?' I know it's an issue for a large and expanding MSP, trying to be all things to all people (and I know the 'support' aspect is farmed out to a 3rd party), but don't lose sight of the basics.