jmak

It depends on the website, but the specific example you gave, it definitely does. You'll need to set up Azure AD connect - I managed following a guide linked on here. Once you've got that set up, you can control it using GPOs. It's worth setting up as it gives options for SSO for lots of web services.

Nice idea. If I mention "public sector" and "national organisation" with centralised IT support you can guess how likely it is to change! I have found that they have recently introduced O365 including SharePoint and Teams and I've read the AUP. If they get permission, they can use that on personal devices. I've suggested that if someone wants a hobby as a web designer and admin then they're welcome, but if they want to share documents and links to useful information, they should use the tools their employer provides...

Really worth asking them what specifically they want to do. Usually it's things like resetting passwords, creating users, installing software/devices. Very few school users actually want to do much more than that. You can give specific users the rights to do that and tell them they have an administrator account (their account DOES have the rights to carry out specific tasks which are pay of the Windows adjustable role, so it's not a complete lie). As an alternative, create administrator accounts for the specific people who the Head says need it, make it a separate account from their standard user account so that they're not using it except when they need it and explain that's what you do too and next time you go, take a printed copy of THE domain admin account in a sealed envelope that have you then laminated closed and instruct them to put it in the safe. Make the password at least 25 random characters. You have then both given them the password they asked for and given them the access they asked for. At the time you hand it over, you can explain that you don't use THE administrator password, so it really isn't needed for anything except as a last resort in an emergency.

Purpose of website is to hold training resources and is related to OH's work, so I definitely won't be hosting this myself. A trainee volunteered to take on management of the website and has ambitions to have a "better" website. They have bought a domain name and now want to purchase web hosting, which would be fine if there was an agreement for someone to pay for it. Are any of the free ones worth using? Scope is about 20 users. They want access control by user name and password (against my advice, as I'm sure most of them will just reuse a password...) Work intranet not an option as trainees don't have access when not on site. No reason for any personal data to be stored, so security not a massive concern. History: I set up a really basic with webpage which had links to document library style thing and some other web resources from other providers and the documents themselves were stored in a personal OneDrive. It wasn't pretty, but really simple to use and OH just used to add documents to their OneDrive - no other admin required. They're not trying to attract any extra users or sell anything. But annoying that people think slick websites are 1) easy to set up and run and 2) necessary.

For an alternative approach to Christmas:

Daft question (mine not yours): Is it permissions? Just seems odd that they can open it, but not edit. If it is, maybe a script that changes permissions so that at least it's a bulk task per document rather than per user+ per document.

The local authority where I live is advertising for people to operate and manage the local test and trace system too. I wonder if it's a policy or if local authorities have just taken it into their own hands.

Pretty sure the regulations would allow this. Some of my earlier posts expressed my view that people should think really carefully before meeting up with other people and not just use the opportunity of the relaxed rules to mix as much as possible. However your case is one of the exceptions where I would be more concerned about your and your Dad's other needs and would be making plans on how to visit him while minimising risk to him whether it's against the rules or not. My personal approach would be to isolate yourself as much as possible for the first few days of the holidays and then go to visit him before the rest of your family does their Christmas mixing. FWIW, I think the infection rate in the community is now about as low as it's going to get before the vaccines take effect.

That sounds likely. The memorandum of understanding between Microsoft and the government (which was what facilitated the educational pricing that we've all got used to) expired about 3 years ago. I signed a three year agreement just before it ran out to maximise the benefit. I think the optimum time was about June 2018 as it ran out in about July. We missed out on about 6 months with because out anniversary agreement is in November. It became apparent at the time that the price increase was going to be dramatic. The Microsoft line at the time was that the new pricing structure was intended to encourage migration to cloud products and that if we did that, the costs would be comparable. MS ran conference calls and gave examples where schools would subscribe to O365 and reduce their server estate from "probably around 20" to a single on site server to provide print services. I pointed out that small schools often only ran over it two servers, so the proportional would be massive.

I used to use the cloud version of Spiceworks and managed without user accounts. They had to put their email address in to log an issue and on the free version you could set it to reject everything that doesn't come from your domain. It also uses a custom URL for your instance. If you put a link to that on a web page that your staff access by logging in with their Azure AD account you'd only have fairly limited exposure even without making them log in. Most of the (very few) staff who used it submitted cases using the dedicated email address, which again rejected anything that wasn't sent from our school domain email.

One if the interviews I heard this morning answering questions from listeners seemed to have it about right. Question: I would like to do $thing_that_stretches_the_letter_of_the_law. Will I get in trouble? Answer: I think you'd probably get away with it, but you should ask yourself 1) If you were stopped by the police and asked to justify yourself, would it make you feel uncomfortable?* 2) If the person you visited catches Covid and is unwell or passes it on to their granny, how would you feel? If there was still no light at the end of the tunnel, I might come to a different conclusion. My parents phoned me today to say they've decided they will spend Christmas by themselves. They should both be vaccinated by February and then I can see them whenever I want, whatever the law might say. My partner's mother is by herself; she is already "bubbled" with us, but if she wasn't I might well make a different decision compared to my parents who are happy with each others company for Christmas Day. The law isn't really the important thing here. People just need to really think. And think about whether they can wait a few weeks.

A very sweary version of Nicola Sturgeon. It's obviously not what she said, but you could believe it's what she thinks: Jane Godley, "You Were TELT" Did I mention there's swearing?

Can you use biometrics for domain login yet? (Not a criticism, just something I think should happen and wondered if MS had fixed yet.)

OP says it's been there for 11 years. That kills the argument for a TV/flat screen. Can you imagine the state something electronic would be in if you put it where you could reach it while you were cooking?!

I ticked the "this is a gift" box. Anything bought between now and Christmas as a gift can be returned until 28th January if it's unwanted or unsuitable. That's why I went for it - seemed like a good deal and I didn't want to wait until they'd sold out. It's arrived - I just need to resist opening it until the rest of the deals play out over this week. Lots of places have generous returns policies at the minute - definitely worth considering if you're worried that a deal you want might sell out.

I was thinking flight cases too - the kind that takes two 12" decks (old man terminology) came to mind, but I think anything to take that much kit is going to be large, heavy and quite difficult to hide. What about moving all of your stuff out of your office and redecorating to your wife's preferences. It sounds like priorities have changed and she works at home more than you now. She might not want to work in your space, but if it's her space it might be more appealing. And if you're really good, she might let you use it occasionally!

Amazon have the OnePlus 8 for £399 - now beginning to have buyers regret for the OnePlus 8t I bought from John Lewis last night for £449. I'd set myself a limit of £419 (the price of an iPhone SE) to find something with a Snapdragon 865 to justify staying with Android.

Yes - they seem to write on pretty much anything! I found a pack in the back of the art cupboard. Most of the teachers were too young to have heard of them...

Chinagraph pencil

Get advice from someone in authority. My understanding is that if a parent has parental responsibility and there is no court order, then the "absent" parent has the right to the same information and contacts (wellbeing of the child, parents evening, school letters, school reports). It's not unheard of for parents going through relationship breakdown to be vindictive against the other parent. I'm not suggesting that's what's happening in this case, just that there are processes to be followed. I have had a situation where office staff were instructed to respond with delaying tactics if a particular parent or anyone enquiring about a particular child turned up while someone else contacted the police on a special number by prior arrangement. However, this had to be documented and agreed with the police and was temporary while awaiting a court order. You can't just set it up because one parent makes an accusation against the other.

I think you've got your solution; tell them that story and they will know it really happened from the look on your face!

Presumably after they tested positive, they were contacted by test and trace to say that the kids should be isolating? In which case it's against the law not to self isolate. In which case send the police round. Unless Test and Trace didn't do their job... In which case send the police round to them?

I'd strongly suggest setting up password sync or SSO with AD. You'll thank yourself later on - the time investment to set it up is well worth it.

You'd think, but I confirmed with their support that there is no backup. It stays in whatever state it was in when it could last contact the servers across the internet. I would design the system to follow the normal pattern unless it received a change instruction. I found out when I went away for the weekend and it ran solidly for 72 hours - apart from the inefficiency, I'd run a risk of running out of oil if I was away for a week and that happened. If I'm going away overnight, I turn it off manually now. Not ideal, but not worth switching systems at this point. When it works, it works very well and it does work the vast majority of the time.

Cracking deal. To be aware of: if the internet connection fails, the programme doesn't apply. Woke up to cold house and no hot water this morning. Nothing wrong with the Tado, but BT Broadband connection had dropped. I did manage to remember how to turn it on manually without turning the lights on our putting my glasses on.