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CAM

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Blog Entries posted by CAM

  1. CAM

    Why The Education Sector Is...Different

    By CAM,


    Amusement
    Sometimes I look at why I work for lower money then my corporate counterparts in IT. Then I realise in corporate IT, you don't get strange and random situations every day due to the unpredictability of the students at the school.
     
    As an example, I currently have some of the older kids singing a joint rendition of the song below in one of the corridors outside my office. You won't see that in corporate IT.
     
    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4]YouTube- Potter Puppet Pals in "The Mysterious Ticking Noise"[/ame]
  2. CAM
    Following on from my post earlier, I am publishing a quick guide to removing this nasty virus. Hopefully it will let you clear it from your network a bit quicker then we have.
     
    First of all, you need to shut your network down. This is important because Conficker spreads from computer to computer regardless of them being patched against it. We found lots of systems that were patched but still infected after the virus propagated over the network, only a few systems that didn’t belong to the domain and were set-up strangely were completely unaffected.
     
    Next you need to run a virus scan on all computers and memory sticks, even unaffected ones. If possible, ensure the Task Scheduler service is stopped. While you go computer to computer, it is worth checking they are all patched against the virus. If Conficker is detected, restart the machine and run another scan.
     
    Check the following locations
     

    Scheduled Tasks for a task (or many tasks) called AT and a number after the name pointing to a randomly named file in C:\Windows\SYSTEM32. Also remember to check the file it is pointing to is gone. If a task cannot be deleted, right click it to choose properties and in the Security tab, grant full Control to Administrators.
    Open the Registry Editor (Windows Key+R -> type Regedit in the Run window) and find HK_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and look for a registry entry pointing to the randomly named file detected earlier. Delete it if it exists.
    Scan the machine again if any of these are found.
     
    When every computer in the school is scanned and you are confident they are patched, protected by antivirus and free of the virus, bring the network up slowly. Keep machines disconnected and gradually bring them online. It helps if you have some central monitoring software, like the Enterprise Console in Sophos, to keep an eye the entire network on as computers come back up.
     
    If a machine doesn’t have antivirus, you can obtain a tool to remove Conficker here but get Antivirus installed as soon as possible when the machine is cleared of infection. The patch for Windows XP to close the vulnerability used by the virus can be found here.
     
    Be warned that the virus is highly infectious and you must monitor the network closely over the coming weeks to ensure no re-infection occurs. All it will take is one infected system lacking the right updates and antivirus software.
  3. CAM

    Conficker

    By CAM,


    Work
    I recovered from the flu! Then after catching up following a weeks quarantine Conficker came to play.
     
    On the Friday, the network came down.
    By the following Thursday, core services were restored. So about a week.
     
    Still a few bits left but now I am back to another week of catching up as our reports couldn't be filled in or analysed by admin staff. On the plus side, I could tinker with Remote Desktop to monitor the servers and had lots of experience cleaning up a virus outbreak while helping the tech team.
     
    Nasty little thing Conficker. I'll post a removal guide later as my break is just ending.
  4. CAM

    Working From Home 2

    By CAM,


    Work
    Yesterday went well. Our reports for Year 8 were successfully set up on our online homebrew system after bouncing instructions back and forth over EMail and playing with the system itself through it's control panel. Between me and my line manager, we actually pushed the reporting ahead of schedule on top of other tasks sent to me. Though I did discover if I did go into work, I'd have spent most of my day sleeping at my desk given the big energy slumps I was suffering from.
     
    Roll on Monday when I can get out of this room and see the paper piles myself for the jobs I haven't been E-Mailed about.
  5. CAM

    Working from Home

    By CAM,

    Due to being unable to set foot outside of my house thanks to a knee-jerk reaction by the NHS (oh no, blanket diagnosis of swine flu!) I am being forced to work from home.
     
    So far so good. I'm staying in touch with my manager via EMail and able to handle jobs on our two online systems of Fronter and the homebrew reporting system. I'm still able to respond rapidly to some tickets and have pushed out at least one instant resolution this morning.
     
    Just in-case, I am using the piece of paper to organise my incoming jobs via Webmail as a record of work completed whilst absent. I'll be away for an extended period of time and don't plan on A) letting the paperwork pile-up or B) seen as not caring about the entire situation. Besides, it keeps my mind off my illness and the potential havoc I'll cause should it spread round the house.
     
    It's a shame my hands are tied behind my back though with no access to the school's SIMS data. We haven't yet purchased the Options and SIMS Learning Gateway modules but I think this situation may go some way to posing an argument for it. Until then those lucky enough to be allowed out their house and turn up for work will have to deal with those tickets.
     
    At least until I find a way round that predicament with a bit of remote control wizardry.
  6. CAM

    JVC Everio Cameras and .MOD Files

    By CAM,


    Technical
    4 months ago, I purchased a JVC Everio camcorder. I was hoping to film my trips to London but after running some test footage, I discovered it didn't work. The software was terrible and it stored files in .MOD format. Good if you have the cash to splash for Adobe Premiere, bad if your forced to use Windows Movie Maker.
     
    Fast forward to today. Then, I used Windows XP. Now I use Windows 7 and the Live version of Movie Maker. Not only did Windows 7 pick up my camera with no drivers required, I could also edit the .MOD files with a right click and an Open With. It just worked no fuss!
     
    I hear it is a bad idea to edit .MOD files like this but I still have my videos! Microsoft are most certainly in my good books tonight.
  7. CAM

    Cold Mornings Are Coming!

    By CAM,


    Amusement
    And in celebration of this an order was given from the top to not use any heating in the school for some reason. Everyone was freezing cold but we dilgently followed the order as obeyed. No heating on in our department!
     
    We used the air-con instead. Bliss!
  8. CAM

    When Undo Fails...

    By CAM,


    Rants
    ...it fails dramatically. Such as not actually being an undo button but a "Too lazy to close and re-open the Marksheet Template without saving so here is a button to do it for you" button.
     
    Said button is mistakenly pressed after spending over half an hour assembling columns with great patience in Assessment Manager on the pretence that it will undo only one action. Instead it rolls back to when I last saved, which was over half an hour ago. It took so long as the Marksheet is very large and SIMS takes a long time to move the columns over a slow (or any) network connection.
     
    And so the words I give to my dear Sixth Form students when they approach me about lost work ring through my head.
     
    "Save your work often. No matter how much the application tries to get in your way when saving." (In this case jumping to the bottom of the columns list constantly).
  9. CAM
    With the release of Windows 7 it is time to start grabbing your Windows 7 ISO's, furiously burn them to a disk and install a new copy of Windows 7. Any gaming rig will have Gigabytes of programs to copy over though if the file transfers fail. The Big Reinstall helps you transfer those programs to quickly get back to your online fragfests.
     
    So let's start with the biggest player on the market at the moment, World of Warcraft.
     
    Before starting it is recommended to backup files to an External Hard Disk Drive or other mass storage media. An old World of Warcraft folder can grow considerably in size over time and take up many times more space then required so a big hard disk will help with your big re-install.
     
    Fortunately World of Warcraft is very painless to backup and restore, you can copy the whole folder to your backup device and drag it back into your Progam Files folder to restore it. But the folder tends to be filled with stuff that can be left behind to reduce the load.
     
    1) Create a folder named World of Warcraft on your external backup device
     
    2) Go to C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft
     
    3) Select everything in the folder
     
    4) Deselect unnecessary items by clicking them with the CTRL key held down.
     
    5) Drag the items left in your selection to the World of Warcraft folder on your backup device
     
    Now, what to leave behind? Here is a guide to the contents of the folder:
     

    \Cache - Leave this behind. It only contains files cached from the server by the client.
    \Data - Contains the archives holding the game files (commonly MPQ files). Copy this entire folder.
    \Errors - disposable error logs generated by the game. Leave them.
    \Interface - contains the AddOns used by the game. Copying these files is optional if you don't want to re-install them on restoring.
    \Logs - Yet more game generated logs. Leave them.
    \Patches - Patches that were downloaded and applied. Again, leave this behind as you have the patches applied already.
    \Screenshots - An album of images you have taken in-game. Personally, I'd back these up with your My Pictures folder. Optional to copy but leave it out the restore process and save the pictures elsewhere.
    \WDB - Empty folder?
    \WTF - No, not the curse. This holds all your settings (Video Options, Addon Options, etc). Friends lists are server side. Though optional, I strongly recommend copying this or you spend ages setting up the game again. And that sucks.

     
    Any other folders are not required for the backup process.
     
    In addition, you will want to copy every non-folder in the root of your World of Warcraft directory structure. The exceptions are the files called Patch (sometimes prefixed with version numbers like WoW-3.0.1-Wow-3.1.1-patch.exe), Pre-Patch and the patch downloader programs (similarly named like the patch files but end in downloader). These are old patches which should be applied already and held in your \Data folder. They don't always go into the \Patches folder and cause the most bloated space in the folder.
     
    To restore, simply copy your backed up and trimemd down World of Warcraft folder into C:\Program Files (or wherever you keep your programs). This will restore WoW and if done correctly, be ready to play.
     
    Note that installign Windows 7 from Vista will store your old Program Files folder to C:\Windows.old. You can copy the files directly from "C:\Windows.old\Program Files\World of Warcraft" to "C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft" as normal but I still recommend backing up files befre re-installing Windows.
     
    Next post...Steam. Which is a lot trickier then it seems.
  10. CAM

    HP-dam

    By CAM,


    Amusement
    There is no better way to end a day at work then spending a bit of afterwork (unpaid) time getting a printer to demand more cheese to print.
     
    PJLTalk is your cheesy friend for this.
     
    Note that this doesn't affect the printer's operation or stop it printing.
  11. CAM

    Fronter

    By CAM,


    Fronter
    You know, I am slowly warming up to Fronter. Regardless of the trouble suffered by LGfL during the start of this academic year with their login system, it is very good when it works.
     
    I have been getting to grips with making pages, using tools and generally spicing things up as practice. I've seen productive (and not so productive) student message board posts, taught teachers how to use RSS feeds and promoted special events with the News tool.
     
    By digging into the tools and slowly putting up with the sometimes clunky interface, I have found it to be a lot of fun to use and I can't help but think of new ways for the teachers to make use of Fronter. If you were in Sixth Form and got to run a live advertising campaign as a project on an Internet based system in-school, wouldn't you be excited?
     
    I plan on presenting a number of ideas such as the ad campaign and more at a Fronter Development Group being started up next week. It's in-house but it means I can add more responsiblity to my CV and get an insight into how Fronter's usage will develop in-school.
     
    Maybe I can encourage more dynamic content in pages that the kids will enjoy. After all, it's comparable to a traditional classroom. Sitting there reading static text on a screen is dull, just like sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher drone on.
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