bossman

@melonhead: Why Ruckus? Have you looked at Aerohive or Meraki? I am sure pricing would be comparable

@Michael: It's a pity that HP switches don't last that long hehe! Had Cisco for 11 years now and still working well not a hiccup yet I know schools with HP switches that have had 2 or 3 failures in just a couple of years good job they do come with a lifetime warranty If I did change our infrastructure it would be for Juniper not HP.

@mattx: When did you put the CCTV in my bedroom? Its usually the other way round and its my missus under the covers hehe!

@mshill: Have you taken into account the electrical cost, especially as the Casio model you have listed has 3 eco settings which use very little power as opposed to the Promethean DLP projector, add this up over 5 years and you will see a vast saving in electricity usage especially when the Casio shuts down automatically after 10 mins when no input from the computer. Bulb projectors usually deteriorate after 6 months usage but Casio keep going strong, my oldest is just over 2 years old but is as good as when we first bought it. Another factor is that the Casio model you stated has the capacity for wireless connection via a wireless dongle, admittedly albeit through software built by Casio. We now have 37 Casio's throughout the school and looking at replacing another 15 units which would make us completely Casio. Also we have had just 2 failures but through CPLTD we have had no problems in getting these units repaired and quickly too. Anything else you would like to ask feel free

@Disease: I actually thought it was you before you posted this hehe!

Wicked!!! man! Brings back fond memories, more cable's than BT but what an inspiration! Thank you

@laserblazer: I would personally take the offer of the windows 8 upgrade for £14 and would definately go with Microsoft essentials for the AV as i have found nothing better so far for a personal computer and it is their own and who better than Microsoft to look after their own system! I have been recommending Microsoft Essentials AV and installing since it came out. I would also recommend possibly waiting for Windows 8 tablet as this would be extremely useful for a silver surfer and possibly cheaper

@kevin_lane: If you require a tool 7zip which is free will allow you to delete and move files and folders with long file names. 7-Zip Its a great tool for zipping up files and you can get a plugin development tool which lets you create self extracting files which work great when installing an application throughout the schools computer systems if it requires wrapping up. Enjoy but use carefully

@eddyc: Have a look at these: Flip Video UltraHD 1hr - Camcorder - High Definition: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics Just above what you want to pay but should satisfy the criteria

@anne1: Google docs would suffice as they can share with another classmate the document which requires marking, great for collaborative work too. Ohh! and its also free

We use this: QuickTrack Pro Asset Tracking and Item Tracking Software Mac barcode software, PC barcode software for barcoding software and bar code scanners It came free with the barcode reader, we networked it and the staff just love it for the SEN and reading clubs

@oxide54: When you say "No Wireless" would that also rule out an IPhone with 3G contract and Groupcall app installed which would connect through a proper encrypted link to the MIS server. I know @Sylv3r has done this in his school and he say's it has been very effective.

@all: Anyone had a go with these: Meraki Cloud Managed Wireless LAN as a competitor to Aerohive: Campus Wi-Fi for K-12 and Higher Education Institutions | Aerohive Networks With these 2 products it makes the others seem like old news

Headteachers are really looking bad in this report, it beggars belief that such well educated people could make such rudementary mistakes which a normal person would have sussed straight away!! Poor performance by them, go to the bottom of the class!!!

Please tell me that not all HT's are this thick!!! These are supposedly well educated people? No common sense if you ask me and should not be employed in education whatsoever, 40 years in education the HT who signed for the laptops what a fool!!!

@Dos_Box: Well I feel a right thicky! I thought it was a group for Trains! Steam Trains hehe! Silly old fool I am hehe!

@witch: As I mentioned sometimes it may be too much data to sync and is falling over or it is not connected long enough to sync all her data, check out the size of her data profile. Had another school that enabled sycronisation across its staff laptops and then wondered why the network ground to a halt first thing on a Monday morning and when they diagnosed the problem it became apparent that they had synced the users work area and not setup the only sync the file changes so every laptop on a Monday morning was trying to sync on average 30Gb of data for every staff member hehe! Good luck I'm certain it will become apparent and you will sort, MSSB

@witch: It seems to me that syncronisation is not working, could be that she has such a large profile that it may not be finishing or that the laptop is not connecting properly to the domain when she is in school, this would give her a local profile on the laptop and she wouldn't know any difference as she would still have a mydocuments folder. Log in to the laptop at school as her and see if the syncronisation is working properly, even force sync if you have to. Take it off the domain then and log in as her again to see if the offline files are working. Have fun and good luck

@mattx: We been using KAV for the past year and a half with no issues whatsoever, just setup the server point it to the workstations and other servers, install the different clients and it just works. Configure the scanning for 5pm on an evening and updates downloaded on a Saturday push out the updates to the clients 7:30am before the school staff and students come in and it just works. I must admit that the admin console can be a little sluggish but in all its relatively simplistic in its operation. Use to used Symantec corporate edition which also just worked, never had any viral outbreaks in 10 years of operations. Will probably use Microsofts offerings when our license of KAV expires in 1.5 years time hehe!

@jaroslaw: We use first 2 characters of firstname followed by the total of first name and surname characters in numbers followed by first 2 characters of surname then a random number. Example - John Smith = jo45sm23 We have had no issues with this over the past 3 years when we introduced it.

@burgemaster: This might help you: http://www.whiz-tech.com/blog/2011/12/22/how-to-convert-a-single-drive-microsoft-windows-system-to-raid-system/ http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winservergen/thread/eb89dba7-6948-4e5e-9252-4fb2878b7b36/ And this for Linux: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Convert_a_single_drive_system_to_RAID Have fun and let me know how you get on, BTW don't forget to backup the original system just in case.

@Admiral208: Have these workstations got dotnet 4 framework installed? Latest windows installer? Just thought I would ask as sometimes you can't see the woods for the trees

Seperate distribution lists: SLT HODs Subjects Governors PLO HLTA's GoldTeam Supportstaff Plus a couple more, anyway this has been a great boon and cut down on the amount of spam and yes we used to have an allstaff distribution list but now even the staff have commented on how easy it is as mail goes either directly to the group or to an individual as per requirement. Been like this for the past 6 years

@tj2419: Does this member of staff have a school laptop> If so then tell him to trial his software on there, also remind this person that any software that he or she proposes to purchase for the network should have the appropriate licences and also has to be approved by the IT Support team as it may not be compatible with the OS which you currently run. We have a policy for this and any software which is required on the network has a 3 week lead time and all the staff are aware of this. Don't be bullied even by a senior member of staff as they will once given the opportunity come at you time and time again with the excuse that they need it straight away and you did it before so why not now. Get your policies in order for everything and get them supported by SLT and you should have no problems from that day on believe me. good luck

@tj2419: My advice to you is not to allow users even staff to run executables from CDs or DVDs or USB flash drives, if it is flash based software then copy the files over onto the P: Drive and create a shortcut in the programme files MMC and add the group or staff who require the shortcut, then create a software rule in the MMC which allows the group or staff members the rights to run this software from P: If needed you can create a virtual disc using the wizard and then pushing this out using the MMC but I havn't done this for ages as most stuff is either flash based or has an MSI with which to install from the MMC. Its up to you but I think many on here would give you the same advice