Latham

Ahh - it's not just us! We don't use Smoothwall though - we have a Sophos based firewall.

No relation. Honest.

Yep - that's exactly what one of our data officers is seeing.

We're experiencing the same issue as well. Struggling to get into the invigilator section of the surpass site. We've gotten a timeout error and a server side application error.

As an experiment - I've copied the shortcut to the printer to the local startup folder on the department that phone us the most times. On the test machine we used it installed the print a few seconds after logon. Group policy will clear any deployed printers on logon before hand so printers won't follow staff. Only drawback is that it doesn't make the printer the default printer but you can still select it from the dropdown menu.

That's interesting - but if the printer shortcut is copied to the user area, could they add printers in other areas that they shouldn't really have access to?

First time ever going to BETT this year - just the Wednesday for me. Really looking forward to it.

I don't think we use remotes any more. Staff just turn the projectors on and/or change the source via the buttons on the underside of the projector that are quite reachable.. In regards to freezing the screen staff usually duplicate or extend the screen. It generally works quite well as we never really get any comments about wanting projector remotes. If they fail we start replacing them with screens and the buttons are at the front. What we do get, is phone calls where the fix is that they just need to extend the screen. My joke about changing the desktop wallpaper to "Press the Windows Button + The Letter P" is becoming less of a joke and more like an item to add on my todo list...

The day I finally managed to get this powershell script to remotely change a name of a network machine, it was the greatest day of my life. For M. Bison it was...Tuesday. Does require a domain admin account and password to send the command. If the machine is logged on it sends a message on screen saying that said user is about to remotely log them off. Would recommend only doing it to machines that are logged off. # Asks user to input old PC name $oldComputerName = Read-Host -Prompt 'Please type in the PC you wish to rename' # Asks user to input desired new name for PCSI $newComputerName = Read-Host -Prompt 'What do you want to name this PC as?' # Requests username $domainUser = Read-Host -Prompt 'Insert Username - please use "domainname\" prefix' # Asks a password for the user $password = Read-Host -assecurestring "Please enter your password" $password = [system.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto([system.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($password)) # Asks a password for the user netdom renamecomputer $oldComputerName /newname:$newComputerName /userD:$domainUser /passwordD:$password /force /reboot

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar > Notifications > "Turn Off Toast Notifications" There's also a "turn off tile notifications" in the same section if you want to enable that, too.

I think I've had that nightmare on more than one occasion.

I've always wanted to go, but it falls on the same weekend as the Birmingham Half Marathon/my birthday. So running won out over video games. I haven't understood my decision yet.

I've somehow managed to break the start menu button from working at all on the virtual machine I was hoping to use as an image. Thought it was a GPO at first but disabling them doesn't bring it back - and the start menu works on another Windows 10 image with the same policies on it. Users, domain admins, local admins. The thing just won't work. I'm quite impressed with myself...

At this moment in time I've managed to get the start menu to redirect to a folder but it's still showing these two: Settings doesn't open; but search does (whereas I don't want it there at all) and trying to remove these two annoying little so-and-sos is becoming a sanity destroying obsession. Anyone get anywhere with removing these two from the menu? Or hiding them?

Just imagine that this is a big animated gif of Wayne and Garth going "We're not worthy!"

That's ringing a bell for me. I think I had that advice years ago, as well. *sighs* Oh well. It's never perfect. I much prefer the WJEC Secure Assess way of doing things. All admin and invigilation is done via a web browser and the client connects to the internet. If something happens mid exam you can move the student to another PC and the exam continues without a fuss. Pearson could learn a thing or two or everything from how WJEC deploy their onscreen exams.

Question - I've been scanning through the thread to look for an easier option: Where do you install the invigilator software? Has anyone got it working where you install the invigilator software on a server and run it off any whiteboard PC? So that when you connect to a whiteboard through the test player set-up; every PC goes to the server? That way you could run exams in multiple rooms but just from the one whiteboard and user?

Yeah it was around five or six but on different questions. We had just under forty students take the exam in the same room.

Only one bar left? Sounds like you've got a dodgy battery!

Anyone had issues with some of the software crashing on certain questions? I've e-mailed support with the issues we were having but they haven't got back to me yet about any possible cause. I'll probably chase them up during half term - but has anyone else had any crashes like this? The users were local admin and could write to the hard drive (and the software never works if they're not).

Yeah, "Sequel Server" but I've known myself to say "MySQL". I'm just going to call it "The Usual Database Engine" from now on. Until someone shortens that to "Tude" and a war breaks out over pronouncing it "two'd" or "chewed".

We've recently had a massive refit of our lighting & sound in our theatre and have started reading up on lighting theory. Which I'm strangely finding interesting...

I've always pronounced it Sequel. It always flows better in conversation. But then I think I also pronounce it SQL as well. It's going to bug me all day now. "Have I always pronounced it like that?"

I can't remember if it's been brought up (I think it has) but does using the same account with multiple logins and a roaming profile on a server work? We use local profiles on machines and we have to keep selecting the whiteboard with the invigilator software on it but it does work...some times. I was just wary of having around 40 students trying to use the software all saving temp data in the same place.

Avoid...using...computers? *does not compute* All the luck to you though! I doubt we'd last five minutes. That said, the opportunity to get the chance to tidy up our server room would be a godsend....