FishCustard

Take a screenshot of whatever it is, use that, that gets around the highlighting issue, but then people could just take a screenshot themselves or take a picture of the screen with their phones. If this document is so sensitive, do what the security services do and have it available to view in physical form in a specific location - people come, view it under supervision, then leave. Could have multiple supervisors with a copy (e.g. each member of SLT) to speed things up. (As an aside, what the hell requires this level of security in a school anyway?! Very intrigued!)

Generally a good idea to have separate auth for sensitive systems like SIMS, so that in the event that a staff user account does become compromised, whoever has it doesn't have automatic access to SIMS as well. EDIT: Read subsequent posts - seems that SIMS' auth system is... less than ideal in security terms. My recommendation would be to give users a suitably complex (i.e. >=12 characters, ideally >16 char) password and then not have periodic changes (doing so just encourages sequences like passw0rd1, passw0rd2, etc.). If people complain about complexity, you can scapegoat GDPR.

Obligatory "forced periodic password changes are a terrible idea" advice: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/articles/problems-forcing-regular-password-expiry

Apple would certainly like it to be that way, but most schools have nowhere near the funding required for something like that.

These have a better spec and a lower price than the brand new machines we're getting! *grumble*

When you say your Amazon Fire TV was blocked, what was blocked?

As @Arthur mentioned, the Windows ADK is a good thing to have anyway. That way you can create customised images outside of SCCM if you wish, and just have a simple task sequence that applies them. I think it's better to have a TS that does all the work, that way you don't have to regenerate the images frequently, but it's whatever works for you.

You do that so that you can make any configuration changes you need to before capturing the final image. You could probably feed it the vanilla install.wim and it'd work just fine though.

That's nothing! My budget at my last school shrunk from £40k pa to £12.5k pa over my four years as NM! I fear my ability for cost-saving became something of a weapon aimed at my own foot...

[color=#333333]$permission = "DOMAIN\[b]$[/b]($user.managers)","FullControl","Allow"[/color] (the $ before the parentheses is important) Otherwise, yes.

We've had about one fire alarm activation a day in the past week or so due to a particular cretin (now caught) so I wouldn't dismiss that possibility.

In general, I agree. There are some good use-cases for electronic locks, etc. but they should be installed to solve a specific problem rather than just "because technology!". That's a good rule of thumb for everything - when someone says "can we have X new technology?" my first thought (if not my actual response) is "why? what does it do that the existing solution doesn't?". In some cases there really is a benefit and that's great. If not though, tread carefully. EDIT: I'd be interested to know what's going on with W10 and those Promethean boards - I wonder why they're not working? Can't see any reason why they shouldn't.

Agreed. Often there are things that industry does well that education could learn from. That said, there are plenty of things that many businesses do not​ do well, that education tends to.

About to do it here - new site will be a projector-free zone apart from in the dining hall (for external hirers).

I sincerely hope most projectors are replaced with large format displays (whether touch or not - some areas probably don't need touch). What I'd like to see is more mobile devices that link to central resources - e.g. a Windows 10 tablet that was domain and Azure AD joined, and therefore integrated with things better than say, an iPad or Android tablet does. That way you get the best of both worlds, mobility and manageability. I will be watching the Windows 10 ARM developments very closely indeed.

Duronic twin monitor mounts (freestanding £23 or desk-clamp £32): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Duronic-DM35D2-Freestanding-Die-Cast-Aluminium/dp/B071KFT9XJ

I bought some Chelsea boots from Amazon (one pair brown, one black) about five years ago and they're still with me today! I agree with @synaesthesia that boots are probably the way to go, wherever you choose to shop.

Temporary files that should be deleted when the program (e.g. Word) closes, but sometimes aren't (if the program crashes or can't delete the file for whatever reason). They can safely be deleted - Google Drive can't open them, and they contain no recoverable data.

Pretty much - coffee, cocoa butter and oil. The Alexa thingies are on sale - I have absolutely no idea what I'd use one for, but I kinda want one anyway. Also: Less overpriced, but still silly Lightning cables (they were £20!) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Betron-Certified-Lightning-Connector-Cable/dp/B00T2AJYOW This thing, that was apparently once £110 (perhaps for six femtoseconds in 2003?) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-NEEMODA-Jewellery-Anniversary-Valentines/dp/B01KTLTB0O This, for turning your TV into a rave - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Backlight-ViLSOM-Lights-Control-Lighting/dp/B073525967 These knives, sharp enough to cut water - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ceramic-Professional-Pieces-Knives-Sheaths/dp/B06Y27JK86 And coming back to the coffee theme, whatever the actual hell this is - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scitec-Nutrition-High-Quality-Protein-Coffee/dp/B015AF52B6

... the hell? It's March! Is this part of Putin's tit-for-tat after the expulsion of diplomats? Weather war?

I'd clone the VM and test it, if it works try pointing some clients to the new 'server', see if that works. If so, move the real one.

More to the point, often it simply will not work.

Of course it is. Why do educational software vendors love Flash so much...?

Yes, we track students online actions while they are at school, and therefore we are acting in loco parentis. I imagine parents at least keep an eye on what their kids do online, right? Well, we have hundreds of kids to watch over. Sod off 'activists', find something else to agitate about.

Good point, but I can't guarantee that the student in question will always be using the same PC. And if I gave all the PCs wireless mice they'd get mixed up to the point that I'd never be able to figure out which went where... The metal chain+wireless mouse could work if it becomes a massive problem. As for behaviour policies, these are students that in many cases find it very difficult to understand what is and isn't acceptable. They have members of staff with them at all times, but apparently this happened when said staff member's back was turned for about ten seconds...