jmak

For years I've advised users to sync from SharePoint to File Explorer, but apparently the new Microsoft preferred way to make files available is to put a link in OneDrive. I personally find that confusing as a concept - I think of OneDrive replacing home drive, SharePoint replacing file server - but it seems to work more reliably. I think the best way to save from Office applications (and anywhere else it appears in the menu) is directly into SharePoint.

I think we're going to need multiple solutions - it's quite a complicated environment. Also, users have been used to doing whatever is easiest for them and never pushing back on suppliers. Some of the equipment has clearly had a lot more thought spent on the hardware than the software. And some of the equipment is critical, but comes from an era when security was prioritised less. Management is onside, but there's a lot to do.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/05/hp_smartapp_microsoft_issue Microsoft confirms Smart App issue renaming everyone's printers to HP Not only turning up uninvited, but telling folks they suddenly have a LaserJet

Plates

I don't think that will work for this scenario unfortunately.

We have quite a lot of specialist equipment where a Windows PC is controlling it and the software is installed in a user context. Some of these are set up by the equipment suppliers. The expectation is that all users login to the same account, which obviously didn't meet our security requirements. Is there any concept of a single account that multiple users have authority to use, similar to the way a shared mailbox works?

16°C overnight 18° daytime. ASHP heating Difficult to prove absolutely, but as far as I could tell, having 2° setback for nighttime uses less electricity than 3° due to the increased energy required to raise the temperature. And that doesn't take account of the cheaper night rate - it might be cheaper to run at a higher temp overnight when electricity is cheaper - but I don't actually want the house any warmer at night.

Has anyone used Manage Engine MDM? As per one of my other threads, we're looking at manage engine for patch deployment. We could upgrade to their all singing all dancing endpoint management bundle for less than the cost of Patch Manager + Jamf and get a whole load of other useful stuff.

Pixel 7 has a single SIM slot and an eSIM and you can use it as a dual SIM phone. Does the Galaxy not offer the same?

Battery

It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure from when I was a school governor that an induction policy is a mandatory document and you're supposed to keep an audit trail when people complete it. Login details in a sealed envelope with the information that it was sent in a sealed envelope and should be reported immediately if there's any sign it has been opened could be a reasonable compromise. You can set a really long but simple password: everyoneknowsthispasswordbecauseigivethesameonetoeveryonesoanyonecanreadyouremailsuntilyouchangeit

I agree with him ^^ We deploy Foxit Reader as part of standard build. We're using Foxit Editor Pro where people insist on the requirement to edit PDFs - we've never had much success recovering Adobe licences when people leave, but we're managing the Foxit licences centrally and just reallocate as necessary. It's also about ¼ of the price. Longer term, I'm trying to persuade people to stop using them - there's no good reason for using a PDF in well over 99% of the places we're using them. They're actually worse than standard document formats in almost every case I've looked at. And people who insist on it for security are the same people who are buying PDF editors...

https://arvr.google.com/cardboard/ And some cheap android phones managed through GW admin console /Joking

I've had another think as well (dangerous, especially on a Friday) If the school has no IT support and doesn't have a VLAN setup for CCTV, I'd suggest a cheap camera linked back to a standalone PC or Raspberry Pi in a locked cupboard running something like Zoneminder. Camera could be run off a PoE injector. Simplifies implementation, security and policies. Only accessed in the case of an incident, no risk of anyone accessing it unless they're in the room, no risk of camera or PC being compromised. You could have a USB backup hard drive for resilience. I know that's a bit of a home grade rather than a professional system, but it might meet the brief here.

We're in the early days of autopilot/Intune. It's definitely the future, but it's not our mainstream yet. It does make imaging very straightforward: order from Dell enrolled in autopilot, hand straight to user and when they sign in with their AAD account and it's "imaged". Re-image is just a reset. In the meantime, I've set up a WDS/MDT VM on an old PC with an old switch as my deployment workbench. We pay around £25/year for a Server 22 licence on EES. Obviously it's not on the domain, so can't add anything to the domain, but if you're going serverless, I guess you also won't be running a traditional domain anyway.

Depending on how patient Dave's son is, it'd genuinely be a good idea to set it up a few days before. It took hours to update the Xbox and then more hours to download the first game and its updates before anything got played on ours.

I'd recommend Quinetic too. If there's not an existing switch, you can put a receiver on the supply at the light fitting and then put as many switches as you like wherever you want! https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/QUR303.html?source=msn&campaign=smart_shopping&ad_id=80539341770651&kw=&network=s&matchtype=e&product_id=QUR303&product_partition_id=pla-4584138870485724&test=finalurl&msclkid=7e7023001c5f163fea36465ca9aaed1e

Welcome [emoji846] If the school already has CCTV elsewhere, this could be very straightforward. If not, it is likely to be quite an involved process, although most of it isn't actually IT. You will need to consider lots of policy areas: data protection, privacy policy, child protection to start with. Any decision to install a CCTV system will need to have a policy framework which is transparent about who can view the images under what circumstances, how the recordings are stored, what the purpose of the system is. If you don't do that, you are likely to get challenges from parents, pupils, staff or all three. From an IT point of view, the CCTV should be on a segregated part of the network so that it's only accessible by people and devices that are authorised. Seeing that up properly will realistically require the involvement of their IT support if there's no one in the school with the idiot network security skills. Once all of that is covered, there's a wide range of fairly cheap cameras that would be suitable.

It's model specific. Some remarkably similar Dell monitors can and some can't. Ask me how I know...

Unrestrained rear passengers have a good chance of killing the front seat passengers in an accident. I had that argument with a friend - told him I wasn't driving until he put his belt on and his other option was to get out.

Trying to decide what to do with mine. I signed up that I was interested in Country Broadband about 2½ years ago. There's been a coil of fibre on post next to my house for over a year and about a month ago they told me I could arrange connection. But Openreach are putting in poles and supposed to have five available within 3 months. County Broadband haven't had the best reputation and I presume I'd be stuck with them whereas I'd be able to choose retail provider if I wait for Openreach. The two doubts I have are 1) will it actually take 3 months? 2) How will they connect it? The post 5m from my house carries overhead power, Openreach copper and County Broadband fibre. Apparently Openreach aren't allowed to put fibre on poles that already carry power or County Broadband fibre, so I can't see where it would come from.

From previous threads on here over many years, it's to do with safeguarding. The argument is that it can make students vulnerable because it gives away their name, where they go to school and how old they are. My counter argument was that we spend a lot of time trying to teach them (and staff) to only open or reply to emails when they're certain it's from someone they know. I always used to have controls so that younger children couldn't send external emails and am of the view that when older pupils are using email to contact people external to the school, it is useful for their email to be identifiable as a genuine pupil from your school. It might be worth avoiding use of year of entry. I also think it's worth remembering that almost all of them have an online presence anyway where most of them go to great lengths to make themselves identifiable. My view is that it's more useful to teach them about being careful with sharing their personal information. It should be a safeguarding decision rather than an IT one. As IT support, at just need to go with the safeguarding lead's decision.

Like this? https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/millionaire-builds-99-tiny-homes-to-cut-homelessness-in-his-community-he-even-provides-jobs-on-site-for-them/ After selling his company for eight figures to a competitor, one Canadian entrepreneur is using his profit to build a community of tiny homes for those who need it most.

Do you remove Internet access for the whole machine or just the exam account? Device based activation just needs the machine to connect once every 30 days - it's not per user.

I asked our reseller (Phoenix) about this and they asked Microsoft who told us it's not available for education. If anyone has it, please let me know as we'd still like it.