dtakias

I am in the process of replacing the PCs in a few primary school ICT Suites. They will be small form factor HP dc6000 with 3GB of RAM(to eventually run W7 32bit). But I have not yet decided on new monitors. They will need to be 17" 4:3, DVI enabled, VESA Compliant with swivel base. Also glass protected would also be considered. Any ideas? And what monitors you guys go with these days? Ta Nick

That actually may be a good idea! Will try that next time I am at school. Any ideas for the second problem? If not any alternative free software that I can use?

Also normally I use remote desktop for the first Server if that makes any difference!

I've got a few issues with ntbackup on two Servers running Server 2003. On the first one when I am doing a backup without scheduling everything runs ok, but when I try to schedule it and click on "Set Schedule" the utility just disappears and there is nothing on the logs! On the second one when I am trying to do an Incremental backup with or without schedule, the utility only copies the folders and non of the files! As I understand it, the Incremental backup is supposed to make a full backup first and then copy only the files that have been changed. Volume Shadow Copy and Removable Storage services are running on both of them. Any ideas?!

The ability to update from home and school is very important as a lot of teachers take their laptops at home at the end of the day. Also by using port 80 it should be able to get through the filtered LEA internet connection. Which version you guys use, V3 or V4 ? I remember V4 been having some issues in the past.

I am big fan of Nod32 and been using it at home for quite some time now. I am now thinking of getting a educational licenses for a few primary schools, though I would like to hear a few comments before. Are people who use Nod32 in education satisfied with the product till now? Does the centralised management/update actually work? How often does it push out new definitions? What port does the management software use for updates? Also been reading on Microsoft ForeFront Client Security. Anybody used that? I've read that it requires WSUS do be present and operational. thanks!

Hi I have a problem with WMP videos not playing on firefox. I am using the lastest frontmotion version and also tried running the latest Portable version from a network share. WMP plugin for Firefox is already installed and WMP version is 11 on XP SP3. The problem only appears under Domain accounts and not under local logons. The GUI will appear but video won't start playback! Same problem on the official plugin testpage I am pretty sure it's a permissions problem but I cannot seem to find any solution to it! Any ideas? thanks nick

Other than the single core Hyper threading enabled cpu and the Intel Graphics how does the Veriton N260G compare to the AspireRevo R3610?

aha! Fair enough, I've lost it long time ago

You could also push out a GPO with per computer settings for WMP Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Media Player and enable "Do Not Show First Use Dialog Boxes"

Thanks Simon Are you able to provide a unit for evaluation?

The AspireRevo R3610 looks very interesting. I am thinking of getting about 30 of those for one of the primary schools we do support for. They have a laptop Suite with old laptops and not enough space for desktops. What monitor should I get those with? Most of the school software run on 4:3 format. How about the B173 17" 4:3 from ACER? Will the Revos be able to mount on those screens? Also I am not sure about the wireless keyboard/mouse but I guess I can always replace them with wired ones... I reckon the dual core Atom should provide sufficient power for all school software, office suite and firefox internet browsing?! thanks nick

On small networks, the structure I use involves storing the profiles in a separate partition on the DC and use an admin share under D:\data\profiles$ with the correct security permissions. cheers nick

How are you booting the machines? Are you using discs or a netboot server ? Did you use the ghost interface to make the boot discs? Also what kind of session are you using? You need at least Direct Broadcast or Multicast if your switches support it. On top of all that if your ghost server runs mcafee enterprise antivirus that will prevent ghost client from joining your session as it blocks ports like 6666-6667 which are needed for ghost session. Though that will prevent all clients from joining and not just a few. cheers nick

This school uses a linux box as well. Although all the proxy settings are correctly configured and the traffic does not go through the espresso box. I've tried different versions of WMP with no luck as well. I wonder if the mandatory profiles have something to do with it? IS there a way to push out/set the default file types for video under a domain?

I was just talking to them on the phone. They use netviewer so they remoted into the workstation but couldnt do much. All workstations use WMP 11. I asked him if the software needs any specific group policy but he didn't know. Basically all videos work fine on the local account, it's only under the domain account where the problems happens. I think I am missing a GPO about activex , wmp or IE security ???

One of the primary schools we do IT support for is using the Espresso software. Except the flash videos which work ok, it consists of windows media videos that run with embedded windows media player on IE7. The problem is that most of the times the videos wont load and might run if i refresh the page a few times. The IP address of the espresso box has been added to the trusted zones and i have also set some policies to allow activex to run. Anyone got any ideas???

As michael said it's normal and varies depending the amount of usage and the rotational speed of the drive. Of course the mechanics and the architecture of the drive can be a significant factor. For examble new hard drives can store a large amount of data on their platters therefore by reducing the numbers of platters you are reducing the temperature, the power needed to run and MTBF(life) of the drive. I think Samsung just released a 1TB drive that has only 2 platters, therefore it's able to store 500GB on each platter. A nice actively cooled enclosure is the Antec MX-1. Its got a fairly big fan underneath and does USB2 and e-sata ports on the back.

If you are thinking of getting the N97 don't hesitate about it. The phone is awesome with amazing capabilities. The only negatives are the resistive screen and it's low brighteness. If it had a capacitive AMOLED screen and a hardware 3D accelerator it would be so much better. Also lack of system RAM is not a major drawback as new firmwares will optimise memory usage. Don't worry about the software problems/bugs. After V11 of the firmware the phone is very stable. Nokia is famous for realeasing handsets to the market before making sure they have stable firmware. But they provide massive support, remember the N95 got it's last firmware update in January 2009. Not to mention the massive support of software from the S60 community and the ability to do everything from your PC with Nokia PC Suite. Edit- Also Garmin Mobile XT runs great on it with full touch capabilities.

Another thumbs up for OnTrack Easy Recovery

You could also grab a Thinkpad T400/T500 for that money, best quality/performance you can get for that money with 3years of warranty

The HP controllers are really good, don't to check out 3ware as well, have use many of them under windows and linux and they've been rock sold with very good performance...

Looks like your computer has cached the guest account cresidentials somehow ? If you run "control userpasswords2", click on Advanced and then Manage Passwords do you see any cresidentials for the machine you are trying to access? If yes delete them, logoff, logon and see if you can enter new account information...

As long as the user has admin rights then you should be able to see the share, if not, folder will be there but won't be shared

Actually that might work but haven't tried it yet to be honest. Have a go if you like and let us know. If you copy the files to a folder and try to run the executable it doesn't seem to do anything. Maybe for some reason it needs to be a removable drive.