pinemarten

ChrisH - yes the GPO setting is 2003 specific. the root folder contains all 650 student users so would take a helluva long time to reset ownership- besides I don't want to risk screwing up the user permissions on other subfolders. I'll try the chown thing though and NTFSFix , thanks for that !

does anyone have any quick ways of deleting user profiles on the server (Win 2000)? - just trying to get a clean start re profiles, had quite a few corruptions last year. problem is, a large number have permission denied to admins, so the only way I have at the moment is to take ownership and delete singly... I tried using ADMWin to batch run takeown but it gives the error 'you must be logged on as administrator'...etc (which of course I am grrrrr....!) any suggestions please??

no it's not about geese it's a free (ok,ad-sponsored) web based filtered email service for schools. http://gaggle.net/gen?_template=/templates/gaggle/html/index.jsp we're thinking of using it and blocking other web based emails for students. thoughts/experience on this one ,anyone?

funny you should say that , Ric, I've just done exactly the same thing

what always cracks me up about stickers is that kids will pull them off, then feel guilty and try to stick them back on again (unsuccessfully). or maybe they are hoping to find a winning number underneath :-)

I've had the same thing with Dell tech suppoprt - the more you agree to do, the more they'll have you doing - swap this ,swap that try this and that - in the end I figured it was best to plead ignorance and told them that I was not prepared to dismantle ANYTHING so they had no choice but to sort it properly. they did . sometimes I think we techs are the victims of our own abilities . just imagine you're a 68 yr old pensioner who's never taken a screwdriver to anything in his life and say it's under warranty THEY will have to fix it ... no? Dells ARE good machines though , I have to say.

at half term, I thought I would clear a fair bit of space off the server, so I deleted year 11 users and folders , sure enough reclaimed about 10 gigs. it's all backed up on tape , so i can always restore any odd bits if really really necessary... turns out the music tech group (about 15 kids) were still doing their coursework on the network , so first day back I got 'where's my music?' etc.. Hmph. so I put it back on, reinstate the users with new passwords, and inform the music teacher - who then forgets to tell the class of course. so about 10 of them start using the 'test' user I have for emergencies, and save their work there... about half the school knows this logon I reckon. so a boy comes to me today and says "I saved my work on 'test' in a folder and I put 'do not delete' on it and it's erm....gone...... - do you think someone's deleted it? I look at him and think 'I wish I still had that much faith in humanity'.. ... then I think 'maybe not'.

thanks. thom !

we are becoming more than a little disgruntled with our LEA broadband provider (Affiniti)- slow / intermittent connections and sometimes lengthy outages. does anyone have any recommendations regarding possible alternative suppliers? any info is much appreciated !

Got it in a nutshell , Roy. That's why your idea has met so much resistance - a lot of the techs on here don't have these luxuries ,as you may have noticed.... call it paranoia 'til it happens , but call it TROUBLE when it does!

Anyone else use these? We've had 32 since last July and the batteries now appear to be losing charge - just wondered if we had a bad batch or is it a general problem? We'd like to get'em sorted while still under guarantee of course. A shame, as they are otherwise great..

another niggle with the nx6110 is the ac jack - the pin is 1.5mm and easily broken by careless handling. (replacement is total stripdown ,mainboard out and a £30 part - I know, cos I've just done a couple). Not so sure about battery life though, after a year ours seem to be flagging a bit now.

I use numbers (4 digits only!) here's my inspiration ;-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner

the cams came with vid capture software and links to MSN, AIM and Yahoo, and a link to (subscription based) Logitech VideoCall ! I really just need a TCP/IP based app that can connect the webcams across the LAN without using the internet...

we have got a couple of Logitech webcams and would like to demonstrate videoconferencing with them - does anyone know of any free programs that can be used for this? TIA.

what if I need to send messages - (I often do this via vncon or net send) - can't do that with messenger service disabled !

Anyone know of a company who can refill HP 2600N cartridges?- (we only need the toner drums to be refilled,chip not important as I have overridden the change supplies settings on the printer) TIA!

@ Russ - it gets worse, mate; I spoke to a teacher who noticed a - hmmmm , shall we say "agricultural" - smell around a pupil as she stood over him at the workstation. she cautiously enquired as to whether he could perhaps have 'stepped in something' as there was an unsavoury aroma - he then casually informed her that he had just been to the toilet and was unable to wash his hands properly, as there was no soap to be found.... eeeeeeyuk! well - rubber gloves ,disinfectant or both ?

Job spec here - http://www.johnsmeaton.leeds.sch.uk/Profiles/Job%20Profile%20-%20SystemsManager.pdf including ; "· To assist with the supervision of pupils out of lesson times, including before and after school, break and lunchtime." and ; "· To share and support the corporate responsibility for the wellbeing, education and discipline of all students." Hmmmmmmm.....!

it doesn't matter how many or few techs there are, as long as things are running ok and no-one is kicking up too much of a fuss , things are unlikely to change. the equipment keeps increasing , of course and the manpower stays the same , but people ' cope' don't they - or so it seems. I often wonder what would happen if someone decided to build a 'state of the art' facility from scratch in industry and underpopulated the tech support - could be embarrassing, I think. it's amazing what people can get away with on a 'drip by drip' basis (esp. in education).

@john - thanks , I'll give them a call. and I know what you mean about IJT !! @ric - thanks for your comments. don't know what inbuilt 'intelligence' they have , but it's worth a blag - what is there to lose? the toners that come with the 2600n printer have the same part no. as the replacements , and seem to give the same page yield, so I assumed they were the same? and I know the 2600N is an 'el cheapo' printer, but we have 3 of them and they have been fine so far... I must add that I wouldn't try dodgy refills in a 2500N , it being a much more valuable machine. our budget is very tight and I am just trying to keep costs as low as we can for 'reasonable' quality printing for the whole school, that's all.

@ric- back to my point about the prices of 4 HP toners versus the price of a new printer(which of course INCLUDES 4 toners!!) - what is to be lost by trying with refills? of course I could always keep a set of nearly empty OE cartridges and swap em back in if I wanted a guarantee repair...........

we have 4 HP 2600N - printer ,as you say £180 -and 4 toners for this machine are £172 -ish! so you can bin it and buy another when the toner runs out ... seriously , does anyone know of a firm that can refill these? (it's the chip that causes the problem as always).

hmmm...... my gpo settings are; user config>desktop>active desktop>enable active desktop >active desktop wallpaper (specified) >allow only bitmapped wallpaper this is right, isn't it?

thanks, Simcfc73, but I already have this enabled in GP and it doesn't prevent changes!