pete

Windows Defender on the Windows boxes. Keepass/KeepassX for passwords, with password DB synced via Dropbox & Google Drive.

Netsupport DNA for client devices.

Our lot are recent converts to Noteflight (https://www.noteflight.com/). Historically they've used Sibelius, but they greatly prefer Noteflight. With regard to recording music, they use a set of iPads and some "play directly into the iPad" adaptors that I forget the name of. To my surprise, said iPads are heavily used but also well looked after.

Having spent yesterday on a data protection seminar where a DPO was lamenting the deluge of COVID-inspired "can we use X?" DPIAs, here were the tips: Make the person who wants the thing do the initial work. Have a series of default questions* that they need to get answers to Review those answers for follow-up (insufficient detail, "it's in the privacy document") Optionally** make them fill in the bulk of the DPIA form Finally make it clear you're assessing risk as demonstrated - this is a point-in-time snapshot, not a "well that's definitely safe to use" recommendation from you. Less of a "do all the work" and more "mark/critique their homework" approach. If you use Microsoft Forms (for example) make an "I want to use X service" form and set all the fields as required. Maybe use Flow/Power Automate to feed that into a DPIA template document. * Who are they (company/parent company) What data are they storing? Where? For how long? How is it secured? Is the data shared with anyone else? Is anonymised data shared? Why does the staff member want to use this service (vs existing thing / alternate provider)? What key benefits does it deliver that would justify this data sharing? What is the timeline for implementation? etc ** Depending on the staff member.

I've considered adding to the existing wall-mount cabinets, but while it'd be neater it'll require a rackmount UPS, the doors replacing for mesh and I'd be adding ~35KG of weight to an already fairly-loaded cabinet (4 switches, CCTV box, phone system, NAS) that's located above a thoroughfare for small squishy people. vs "Put steel box around to satisfy security/audit requirement".

I need a secure enclosure (floor-standing, ideally) for a single tower server (Dell T20) that'll stand up to the rigors of primary school life. The schools don't have suitable areas to secure servers and I (and the auditors) would be happier with a steel box. ideally sleek and form-fitting, but with sufficient space around for airflow / fitting the replacement server in X years time.

So far we've discovered (based on a test group of 6 people, 4 of whom are affected, so this is at best anecdotal): Version 1.3.0.26064 on Windows appears fine Version 1.3.0.28779 on Windows experiences the problem Version 1.3.0.34662 doesn't *appear* to be affected (only one person to test with) Version 1.4.0.2781 doesn't appear to be affected (64bit on Windows) Presence / absence of preview features doesn't make any difference It's more likely to trigger (for teaching staff) when sharing "whole screen" and using a full-screen slideshow.

We've had 3 people report the following issue with the Teams desktop client. Launch meeting with students (pop-out meeting window by default) Students without microphones post responses / questions in meeting chat When meeting chat gets full, it expands the meeting window to fit chat rather than scrolling the chat Window title bar etc disappears Meeting window begins to expand offscreen Scrollbar on attendees list (for example) unaffected. Closing and re-opening Teams completely can fix the issue, but not always. Affected staff have been using the desktop client for several months without issues. We haven't been able to replicate it so far on test devices / accounts and the affected people are from different departments. They're not zooming (Ctrl +) or scrolling with Ctrl held down. Has anyone else seen this?

I bought a pair of Anker Soundcore Life Q20s in March last year and would recommend. Bluetooth (with optional wired connection), noise cancelling, comfy with glasses and really good battery life https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NM3RSRQ/

Via Twitter DM EE mentioned problems integrating with the DfE dashboard and were a bit surprised integration worked for Tesco, Sky and Three. For all but one request the extra allowance has already been made available.

Direct messaging said mobile providers on Twitter using the school / trust account may* be more effective than chasing through conventional channels or trying to get an idea of response times from the DfE. (*by which I mean was for me, YMMV).

We don't have Google, but we are using Sage 200. The Outlook integration (at least how our lot have it configured - each email goes to draft and needs manually sending) is not recommended.

12 days for far for EE. 11 days for Vodafone and O2.

So I'm the trust contact for this and of the requests we've had here's the turnaround times I'm seeing: Tesco Mobile - extra data provided within 8 hrs of request EE - 7 days and counting Sky - 4 days to process Vodafone - 6 days and counting O2 - 6 days and counting Notice the only speedy one is Tesco (probably because they're not a traditional telco). Is everyone else seeing the same thing? It's not clear whether people are getting the increase but the telco isn't updating the DfE (and so me) on request progress, or if they're just being slow.

Horncastle Education Trust is looking for an additional IT Tech for 26hrs a week, primarily based in Horncastle, Lincolnshire with half a day per week visiting our 2 primary schools. Link to job posting (application forms are right down the bottom of that page): https://www.horncastleeducationtrust.org/vacancies/ Interviews will be held remotely via Zoom or Teams (depending on who's on the interview panel) and are likely to be in w/b 08/02/21. -- As a MAT we're fairly small (4 schools, ~1,800 end users) and new (formed Dec 2018, previously an umbrella trust of 2 schools) and work closely together (no more than 30 mins drive between schools and it's a ~12 minute walk from one secondary to the other) and have worked together informally for several years (or decades) beforehand. We have no plans to form a terrible monster of a MAT. IT is a central function in terms of leadership and budgets, with IT staff (4) based at secondary schools and visiting primary sites as-needed. -- If you want to ask questions in-thread or via PM, feel free.

Would a few of you mind seeing if you can replicate this? I think this is a "something's broken in Office 365 again" issue, but confirmation would be handy. Using the Teams Desktop App, go into a Team > Pick a channel > Files (from top bar in the channel, not the sidebar). Then using Teams in a browser do the same thing. In the desktop app, we're seeing (across multiple teams, including test teams only including me) a message "The specified list is invalid" when accessing "Files" from within a channel. However in the browser version of Teams, everything displays correctly. Using the "Files" tab in the sidebar, things display correctly including documents that are in various test teams. cheers

We have ParentPay and....let's just say this route is less painful.

We're going down the Office 365 Form route for initial staff and parental consent to the testing method. Recording the results will likely be in Excel online. We're going to mail a unique confirmation code per student via an assessment manager template that needs entering into the form completed by parents.

HTTPS interception certs are always self-signed (OK, unless you're a nation state who can compromise or strong-arm a CA), trying to use a publicly-valid cert for HTTPS interception is a great way to get banned by public CAs. Symantec (for example) got into a lot of trouble when it transpired they were creating certs for third-party domains without authorization: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/already-on-probation-symantec-issues-more-illegit-https-certificates/

*school <> parent communications

So for a parent wanting to contact their child's form tutor..... Fill in the form Form tutor fishes it out of a shared mailbox containing lots of emails not intended for them Replies from generic address Parent replies by filling in the form again continue until issue resolved? That sounds like an (appropriately school-ified) ticketing system. What problem are SLT trying to solve? Not knowing if issues are dealt with / finished? Not having a complete overview of students <> parent communications? Aggressive parents?

NB: Anyone using WebRTC-based video chat may run into this: https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=218762 iOS & iPadOS 14.2 has stuttering audio. 14.3 beta 2 apparently fixes it. It's a webkit issue, so it'll also affect desktop Safari.

Ideally label interfaces in the config: For a classroom switch, you'd just do something like: 1-30 - Rm14 Desktops 31 - Rm14 Printer 32 - Rm14 Access Point 33-40 - Rm15 Desktops 41-48 - Spare and disabled 49-50 - Spare Uplinks 51-52 - LACP back to Core. Why? Cos those labels will show up in monitoring tools and make your life easier.

I'm looking at Epson projectors (EB-W39, for example) and I haven't found a picture of the underside yet. Just the standard Epson bracket. Does a spider bracket work OK on them? I'm assuming yes, but confirmation that it does and they're stable would be handy.

They're entitled to having the password. Whether they can do what they want and still be covered by the support contract is another matter. Most sensible MSP contracts have boilerplate language around "the client running around being an idiot with admin privileges is not covered under this agreement / chargable / grounds for firing the client".