bigb3n

Hi, yes it it all goes back to how it should be once the user logs on. Cheers, Ben

Thanks for the info. please see attached picture for the classic style of logon on box Cheers, Ben

Yes it is, but on some of the computers it changes to a Windows 2000 classic mode style of logon box. How do you reset the black purple and green? Thanks for all of your replies, Ben

It happens randomly around my network ( 900 machines ) mostly in my IT labs though. I thought it was pupils hacking myself. I can re-image just wondered why it happened as well. My machines are 1 year old Dell 740's. Cheers, Ben

Hi all. We have a couple of machines which have lost the Windows XP logon box default colours?? Not sure how this has happened but is there anyway of restoring the default colours rather than rebuilding the workstations? Thanks in advance, Ben Straw

Hi, thanks for the replies. We are using Windows Server 2003 R2. I had no idea about the .EXE .COM blocking. That would be really useful if we could do that. Could you give us some pointers as to how to set this up? We are going to allow the students here to access there work from home so having something that alerts you when they drop a EXE in a folder would be very good. I have now managed to get the hash and path rules working, our My Documents area is located on a NAS box ( N:\ ) and for some reason the path rules wouldn't work when you mentioned N:\*.exe etc etc so we tried the UNC path and the path rules work great! Not sure why but they work. Thanks, Ben

Hi all. I am in the process of tyring to stop students from running .EXE .COM etc etc from there My Documents. I have created a software restriction policy but I am unable to get it to work. If I set the default level to block all then I can't run any program at all even if I put in additional rules to say allow everything from C:\Program Files ??? Any ideas on how to get this to work, or the format of path rules / hash rules etc? So doing some testing today the only way I can get any of the sotware restrictions to work is by allowing all, and then creating a block Hash rule to a EXE. For some reason any Path rules I create don't work?? Please help, thanks in advance, Ben

Hi all. I'm trying to let students into there My Docs area on our NAS box. So, I have enabled Webdav and created a new Virtual Directory on IIS. Ticked the box to use basic auth and selected the default domain ( I know it's not secure, will use https when it works ) go home and try and log in and all I get is the password dialogue box asking me for a password. After 20 tries it still doesn't let you log on. This is driving me mad as I have used this method loads of times before and is a quick and easy way to let students get there my docs. I did read a few articles on google about Windows XP SP2 removing basic auth but not sure if this is true. Can anybody help me with this please please please ? This is drving me nuts! Thanks in advance, Ben Straw

The network model we had was 6 years old and the cost to stay with RM was way to expensive compared to putting in a normal Windows 2003 network. Also, CC4 looked like it addressed a lot of issues we had with CC3 but trying to get a release date for it from RM was impossible. We had terrible issues with profiles, slow log on's, software installation problems, full domain controllers ( user areas ) troubleshooting pc's when they went wrong ( no local log on ) which we don't have now. At the moment, we have the kids on our side and we have a few of the really good hackers finding holes in my system and letting us know what they are but it's only a matter of time before one of them actually does something using the .COM . EXE exploit. When I first started the current job at LES I really didn't like RM, but over the 2 years I have used it it has really grown on me and I now see why schools have it as it does most things for you. As a Microsoft professional I believe you can do everything ( well most ) better without RM. Cheers, Ben

Hi, it's a shame you can't stop this! I have disabled every other right click but still found this one to be active. :-( Sorry, the screen grab was from my own laptop with a media centre skin. Thanks anyway for your help. Cheers, Ben

Hi again, many thanks for your replies, SpaceGuard looks like just the product for me. I really have had enough of hash rules and software policies etc etc Thanks again for your help. Ben

We have 4 schools on 1 site so we need 4 different start menus for students and pupils. When we add software then we surely we would have to copy shortcuts to all of the machines if I'm reading what you saying correctly? Also, when I tested Folder re-direction I couldn't quite get it right, maybe it was me, I don't know... We also deploy machines via RIS and not Ghost then deploy software via GPO. Ben Straw IT Manager, Loughborough Endowed Schools

Hi all. Does anybody know how to stop student users from right clicking the start menu all programs item as when they do they get the option to explore the start menu. If you choose explore then they get a network browse window and they can see all of my domain and start menu structure ( start menus are on my server ) Surely this is in Group Policy? Thanks in advance, Ben Straw IT Manager, Loughborough Endowed Schools

I've been trying to find the best solution for custom Start Menus for a while... We started off with re-directed Start Menus and then changed it to pre-configured ones ( custom NT USER.DAT with Start Menu pointing at a certain network share and folder ) for pupils and staff. I was also concerned about how much traffic folder re-direction would cause as we have over 2100 users. We have recently moved away from RM CC3 and there delivery engine would autmatically hide shortcuts that where not installed on the computer. We would love to do this as well as we have ghost icons where the software is not installed. Is this possible with VB scripts? So when a user logs on it checks to see whats installed using some sort of software ini file similar to the RM CC3? A few people have told me that the best way forward with shortcuts is by coping the 'all users start menu icons' over when a user logs so you can then have the correct shortcuts for the location. For the time being I'm sticking with my method but I may use the VB script to inform users that the software is not installed. Thanks for the tips anyway and sorry for hi-jacking this thread. Ben Straw IT Manager, Loughborough Endowed Schools

Hi all. We have just migrated away from RM CC3 to a Windows 2003 network. Does anybody know of a easy way of blocking .BAT, COM, EXE and SWF being run by a student user? I know of software restrictions policies in group policy but I have never used them myself. We use Impero to block and watch what students do so I can block things they do in that but I feel that it's only a matter of time before somebody tries to run regedit.exe from a memory stick.... Thanks in advance, Ben