Gongalong

Hi folks, We have a classroom of 2017 Intel iMacs running the latest MacOS they can (13). The disks are full, mostly with system data, and despite several attempts I cannot identify what it is or how to clear it (including using a trial of an app that's supposed to clear unnecessary data). Anyway, I have tried rebuilding one of the iMacs and that has cleared whatever the data is (I suspect historic Logic installs that haven't cleaned up after themselves). Before rebuilding the iMacs I need to backup the profiles of students that are doing exams, which are only one or two profiles per machine. I managed to do this on the first machine using disk utility to save it all to a DMG file, although I can't remember if I was logged on as the user or not. I have tried on several of the remaining machines while logged on as local admin using disk utility, and also just a straight folder/file copy, and get an error that suggests I don't have permission. I have gone to the root of the user's profile folder, ensured I have read/write access, and also ensured that's applied to "enclosed items". I still get a permission error. My next idea is to get hold of some of the student logins and test with their login, but anyone know why I'm still getting a permission error when I should have access to the profile? Do I have to use terminal and CHMOD (if the correct command) to ensure I have permissions on every file and folder within the profile? Thanks

Hi folks, This is probably more of a basic IP network question, but I can't spot a better forum for it. We already have three VLANs, with the following scopes 0 = 10.121.244.0 / 255.255.252.0, 100 = 192.168.0.0 / 255.255.252.0, 101 = 172.16.16.0 / 255.255.240.0. They all link to different wireless profiles, and different user groups. I would like to add two more, but what IP ranges should I pick? I'm aware of Class A, B, and C networks, but does it really matter what numbers I pick? The first VLAN predates me and is clearly class A (yet not technically a class A network), the other two were added by a 3rd party while I was here, and are both B and C *shrug* The ideal would be to pick different numeric ranges because we have a Smoothwall, and we already use it to provide DHCP on two of the VLANs. The Smoothwall shows a flat list of leases, they aren't separated by VLAN, so having the two new VLANs in different ranges would be helpful. Any help much appreciated. Thanks

In case helpful, I contacted Microsoft support. A1 users get "commercial data protection", which is mentioned in the article. Support think that A1 users will get Copilot within 365 in 2-3 months, but no firm date yet. (Paid) A3/A5 education customers have it already of course.

Anyone know what has happened re. the A1 faculty licenses? It said "early February 2024" although I see nothing in 365 licensng. Is this one of those classic Microsoft slow rollouts?

A quick bit of googling turned this up as recommended. I'd like to play Microsoft Flight Simulator, and I hear that's really demanding.

I've regretted getting AMD, the two times I chose it, as Intel just seemed to be a longer lasting better performing CPU. Times may well have changed! If it means markedly compromising parts and/or performance then I can ditch portability. Are Micro ATX cases a bad approach? Yep, it's more than I expected, but I've seen that the 4070 is pretty much required for decent VR performance. That's a current gen video console alone costwise!

Hi folks, I'm looking to get a gaming PC with GeForce 4070 mostly for playing VR games via a Quest 3. Budget around £1.5k. My understanding is that it needs to have a GeForce 4070 to get decent performance. I've built PCs in the past, but not for a good few years, so not averse to build my own. My basic spec so far: Case = ideal would be something with a handle for portability, but other then that quiet. I'm not worried about flashy lights etc. Mobo = ASUS, on the basis they are still good for quality? PSU = no idea! CPU = i7, but I don't know what is the best version to go for Memory = 32GB RAM SDD = 1TB Graphics card = GeForce 4070 From what I can see it's going to be tight on a budget of £1.5k, but possible if I build myself. Any thoughts on spec for the objective, and any particular parts I'm best to go for? Thanks

I've figured out why I was confused. I've found the page I was thinking of, which relates to *policies* that schools must have: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statutory-policies-for-schools-and-academy-trusts/statutory-policies-for-schools-and-academy-trusts So, although schools must have certain policies, they don't have to publish all those policies. What do folks here do, do you only publish what is required, or do you publish all statutory policies on your website?

There seem to have been lots of policy requirements removed, plus some additional report requirements. Thanks, very useful! I've signed up to that. (Here's hoping they don't move the page...)

Hi folks, I can't find a good fit on any of the technical forums, so am posting here. Hope that's OK! Does anyone know if the government requirements for what is needed on a school website (specifically maintained for us) have changed recently? I remember the gov.uk website having a nice clear list of policies, but what seems to be the current guidance (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-maintained-schools-must-publish-online) has changed. (In all fairness, it does say updated April 2023.) There's no longer a clear list of policies, and there are a lot less policies listed than previously e.g. no requriement for a child protection policy, which seems odd. (How would schools be advised that the requirements have changed?) Thanks

Hmm, I'm guessing that "Configure Automatic Updates" is the one to set, along with the task scheduled reboot.

Good point. I rebooted some of our root DCs at the same time and it caused one of them to corrupt. Is there a GPO setting that ensure the updates get installed? The most likely candidate looks to be "Allow Automatic Updates immediate installation" but it seems sort of wishy washy about certain updates.

Hi folks, I want to ensure our servers are updated on a fortnightly basis and that the restarts happen around 2am. Is this best achieved via a GPO? (We have MEMCM and use it for client Windows Updates with WSUS but (1) none of our servers have the CM agent installed and (2) I prefer to keep servers separate from MEMCM if possible.) If best achieved by a GPO, does anyone have a list of what needs to be configured, or will the following achieve it? Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update Specify deadline before auto-restart for update installation = 14 days Turn off auto-restart for updates during active hours: Start = 3am, End = 2am Thanks

Thanks all, we went with Fasthosts, they were helpful. The actual transfer had to be done over the phone because it's sch.uk and the web form can't handle that. They confirmed no charge, I was amazed!

I've yet to see a laptop that doesn't remember, otherwise we would have a nightmare here getting laptops to connect to screens if it had to be changed every time. For all the laptops here it seems to remember the model, presumably because it presents to the laptop as the same device, so once it's set for a particular model it's fine. The problem is though as time marches on we are getting more of a spread of different models. I would much prefer that we could buy full HD screens rather than 4k where we don't have all this faff with cable lengths. So much for progress!

I can tell you it's not unique to Welsh schools - English school here! Our Windows desktops had been doing an amazing job (some at ten years old) but Win 11 has forced our hand on planned replacement, although at 10 years old I was getting concerned anyway.

Does Intune only support current iOS?

I'm no Apple advocate, but these have had a 7 year lifespan with current MacOS, it sounds like they will get another 3 years with security updates, so 10 years overall. As mentioned above, Microsoft have thrown pre-2018 PCs under a bus with Windows 11, albeit a first (probably?) for Microsoft.

Thanks both. Moral of that story, don't trust Apple support!

They just got a Ventura update (v13something) but when I spotted no v14 I checked with Apple support and was told no more security updates. Of course I wouldn't be surprised if Apple support had got it wrong. I also had a feeling that Apple still put out security updates for older versions of MacOS if a nasty issue.

Hi folks, I was a bit surprised to spot our 2017 iMacs are obsolete, so no more MacOS/security updates. (I say a bit surprised because I knew that Apple hardware tends to go obsolete around 5-7 years) I had kept an eye out on Apple channels for mention of obsolete products but must have missed it. Do Apple give much warning for products going obsolete, and is there an official channel where they let customers know? Thanks

@BenQ_Chris Is the switch in the screen settings? Great idea! I wanted to switch to BenQ panels but teaching staff wanted to stick with Promethean because that's what we have had until now. We currently change to 30Hz. You don't have to set it every time, a laptop will remember, and it will for any other screen that's the same model. But inevitably it still has to be set for different models, and we have at least three now.

Hi folks, Our county have provided DNS for our sch.uk domain the last few years, but are dropping most of their IT support including this. We already have DNS for a different domain with Hover, but it doesn't look like they accept sch.uk transfers. Ditto for GoDaddy. A quick google suggests that sch.uk domains are special, reserved etc. Is there any DNS host out there that will accept an sch.uk domain? Thanks

Our solution has been to use Antiference HDMI cables. With Promethean screens we have got those to work with a 10m HDMI cable, wall box, and then 1-2m lead to laptop. Laptops still have to be changed to display at 30Hz which is the faff.

Do they offer any benefits over ChatGPT, or is it the integration? At least ChatGPT's free...