Gongalong

Hi folks, In case there's any Sticky Notes users here, there's a bit of a gotcha in build 1607, albeit there's a fix. After I updated, Sticky Notes started misbehaving. Font was very large, changing the font with the size hot key crashed Sticky Notes. It was also incredibly slow to type into. I did some digging and spotted a mention of the app having been updated to a Windows Store app. Why?! Anyway, I found it on the Windows Store - beware, there are a few imposters, you're looking for "Microsoft Sticky Notes" by the Microsoft Corporation - then installed it from there. Updated Sticky Notes app seems to behave itself.

Hi folks, Not quite sure what forum to post this in, but will go with this. I've been asked to look at BS8484 compliant apps that are used for tracking lone workers. I've found some, but anyone out there used them and can recommend, whether to use or avoid? Have you been asked to provide any other IT support in respect of lone working? Thanks

HP's support recommended the separate controller update, although curiously their support document doesn't. It seems that the disk upgrade can be done as long as there's no data activity, which I'm hoping that VM shutdown will ensure.

Hi folks, Have any of you updated the controller and drive firmware on an HP SAN? Specifically, an MSA 2040 in our case. Just checking how likely it is to be a smooth operation, or whether it can be problematic. We of course have backups, but I’ll go belt and braces if there’s the remotest chance of it breaking the volumes etc. (We’re updating due to a couple of controller crashes in the year we’ve been using it, update recommended by HP.) Thanks

Hi folks, Recently we’ve had a number of great photos from school events, and we’d like to give parents a chance to order hardcopy, and perhaps download the digital versions for free. They would of course have to be behind some kind of login, even if just a generic one used by all parents. Ideally, we’d like to be able to receive some revenue from this for school funds, so we need something a bit more than just the average photo site e.g. photobox. Anyone done something like this, or know of such a site/service? Thanks

Not according to the weather.

The SIMS technical roadmap says Office 2016 is supported from Spring 2016 https://myaccount.capita-cs.co.uk/Search/DownloadDocument?s=RESOURCEID-1-3293 (requires creation of an account, if you don't have one already)

All the Windows Updates should be on. I'm guessing that the 32 bit and 64 bit flavours can't be installed side-by-side? I know she's a SIMS users, and I have a feeling SIMS doesn't like the 64 bit version.

Hi folks, One of the staff here is getting a weekly lock up while using Excel 2016. She is a "power user", so has several spreadsheets open at the time it does said lock up. The spreadsheets are quite big, and linked to others. Said spreadsheets were all generated in house, and there is no 3rd party software installed in Excel. Any ideas on where to start with troubleshooting this? Thanks

We won't be upgrading, we simply can't afford it. I hope Adobe are listening...

I'm not sure if you can migrate from one to the other, but I suspect not based on what I've heard to-date. If you had a site license in place before 6th Jan then apparently you're allowed to extend it, but who knows until when...

Do you already have an ETLA agreement in place?

Reseller confirmed that it's ETLA licensing which has been scrapped (for new customers). Only VIP licensing is available, per device.

I thought the FTE based licensing was the one that was scrapped. I'll check with the reseller...

KB315398 also it seems, breaks some aspects of group policy e.g. drive mapping https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/3159398 Reddit thread: - - - Updated - - - And on El Reg http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/15/microsoft_fix_borks_group_policy/

The last time I spoke to a reseller, Adobe haven't budged.

SIMS Activities is pretty basic, but it's a new product. We've looked at Schoolcomms Clubs and Tucasi Extended Day which are inevitably very oriented around their core products, so good if you need to connect it with charging. CHQ Virtual Activities Environment is the most fully featured of the products we've found, but also the most expensive. We're going to decide which features are important, and go from there.

@robyholmes Theoretically there isn't a large amount, at least for my mailbox, as I deleted everything way ahead of the tag kicking in. I am talking to Microsoft about it, as they emailed me following on from a post on their support boards, but so far all their suggestions (changed default policy name, add a separate tag) have failed to work. Worryingly I can see posts about this same issue with Exchange dating from 2010... @DavePa For Data Protection reasons. We've told staff to delete emails that relate to students who have left. Of course if they delete emails they just go to deleted items, and I was trying to get around the whole rigmarole of explaining to staff about how to completely remove emails from their mailboxes. In theory tags look so simple, but it seems in practice they just don't work.

Hi folks, Anyone had any luck modifying modifying retention policies on Office 365? I want to set our policy so that items in Deleted Items delete after 30 days. I've added a tag to the policy to just this, and having waited 30 days the email in Deleted Items now show as expired, but haven't deleted (!). Microsoft have suggested changing the default policy name, but this hasn't worked. They've also suggested creating another policy and applying that, which I haven't done yet, but the default policy seems to be working, just not deleting. Thanks

Hi folks, Aside from SIMS Activities and Schoolcomms Clubs, is anyone using a local or cloud based solution to manage clubs? The ideal is something that integrates with SIMS, has registers, can report on attendance with various categories e.g. pupil premium, can cope with music lessons, and can advise parents when a student doesn’t attend. Is there anything other than these two products? Thanks

Thanks all for the helpful responses!

Hi folks, I've started to get quite bad RSI (repetitive strain injury, carpal tunnel etc.) across the fingers in my right hand - no jokes please! :-) Has anyone got any experience of mice and keyboards that helped alleviate this? Thanks

Does anyone have any experience of volume purchase of Play Store apps? Volume purchase only seems to be setup for Google Apps for Education, and then apps are distributed to the individual students Google accounts. I'd like to be able to bulk purchase an app, and then install on the LearnPads. I've contacted the developer of the app and they won't sell to us direct.

Hi folks, I want to create a couple of retention policies, that apply to all accounts, to (1) empty deleted items after being there for 30 days (2) remove emails from recover items after 30 days as well. This is proving to be easier said than done though. I have gone to the Compliance Center, then to Retention > Manage retention policies for mailboxes. In the resulting dialog I have added the Deleted Items policy to the Default MRM Policy. Oddly when I add the tag I note that the "type" column is blank for this tag. When I go back and view the policy the tag has completely gone. I've also tried to create a tag (Manage retention tags for mailboxes), but I can't specify a type that it applies to. What am I missing?! Thanks

One of the students already has some Windows software that is similar to this, but I think the physical limitation isn't severe enough to require this all the time. Both the students in question get tired quickly from using traditional keyboards, and find them difficult to use, hence a stylus is better. We have a Surface Pro 2 here, which they're going to look at.