SimpleSi

snipping tool??????

What a saviour! :-)

Just a proper tuppence Xp machines generally start up OK - problems occur with apps not the OS Quite few of my Win7 netbooss are strating up sometimes in some sort of system recover mode (which they fail to recover from) but are fine when switched off and on again - go figure

When youngster is a bit older, go to Caravan Club site at Longleat and enjoy Si

Sorry about this but Officejet Pro 8000s are literally crap - ditch and move on -sorry for non constructive answer but I'm right Si

RecycledIt are the people for the job - even came next day on a Friday to a school being ofsted monday to clear the old junk out - briilant service - done 4 of my schools in the past year Si

B*******s

Come on - we are the country's best geeks - lets have one app that works on all platforms - Windoze/mac/ithinghy/android (OK just for john - win mob 6.4 ) than combines the forums. E.g Post on the forum - its posted by Edugeek servers onto Facebook and Twitter - replies show up on all 3 etc etc Msg Edugeek wall or @edugeek and its shows up everywhere Lets JFDI Si

Shirley thats an oxymoron! Si

I am mixing geekness with BBQ prep - I've put a co-ax splitter on the bedroom TV and run an extension lead to an old TV in the garden so I can watch the GrandPrix at the same time

Point well made young padawan @SYNACK - your not allowed an entry into this competition! (Unless of course you'd been off for a little swim between the islands! )

Now, your "normal" people are going to be out at the seaside or in the garden and preparing for the evenings bbq But, I know, some Edugeekers (not me BTW) are going to be doing something that should only be done on wet weekends in November. Come on - out with it - what are you up to today Si

You say your 2.5 - why not be 2 and save the 0.5 and stop playing building computers My point is that its entirely unlikely that your total cost for building vs buying is cheaper - now it might be better but almost certainly not cheaper Si

You make a fair point there. But your not leaving much room future proofing The machine next to me in this school was bought with a 60GB drive and is using 37GB. You can't rely on programmers producing small code Lets agree its maybe on a tipping point (I was thinking of getting one to boot my home from to see what the real world speed diff was like but I have way too much software installed on it!) And remember, its much easier to get your scanning electron microscope out for data recovery on a hard drive than a piece of hard sand Si

There's no need for that sort of language! Si

I don't run my networks as domains so any CIFS compliant OS can be used as a file server.(I've used Win98/Linux/W2k3 and W2k8 ) When I added in W2k3 machines (for ease of DHCP/Print serving for XP Clients) I normally just VMd the old WIn98 machine and left it running and didn't need to change any shorcuts to server held shares/shortcut/apps. I have a very easy life not having to worry about GPO/user profiles etc And I don't have to pay the annual MS tax Si

I've decided to retire one of my few remaining Win98 VM file/print servers this morning - it went dark at 9:09 am Spookily, it said there were still 3 users connected to it No flowers Si

My point If/when the budget holder gets a handle on this ... And I don't think your turnover rate would bear an auditors scrutiny (Build 3 computers an hour??? - OK if sitting in darkend room doing nothing else but surely you have a day job as well? ) What I'm saying is that unless your a wage slave working for the RM/Redstone/Private firm etc Collective, we all need to be adding value to our schools and building computers cannot be cost effective when there are children in 3rd world countries being paid slave wages to do IT assembly work (On second thoughts, may be it is a good idea to do it ourselves!) And SSDs - your just being a geek - they are for speed freaks who have money to burn (and don't mind replacing them every 3 years!) Si

But speaking of cases, a friend of mine (Normal user - not a geek) got a local computer shop to "refurbish" his old (circa 1995) computer - they stuck a new motherboard/cpu/ram/psu, replaced the CD drive with DVD R/W and stick a multi-card reader in the floppy slot and supplied a new >22in monitor to go with it. They did a good job- don't know whats inside but its the quickest internet/office machine I've worked on! (Helps that he got a large mbs Virgin connection as well ) Si

Shirley not! And Win98 doesn't need them - I create a RAM disk and run it from there Si

Sell the blackberry to mazuma and buy an android on PAYG from same network with the proceeds -use the contract SIM - fiscally neutral solution Si

Post not meant to actually offend - just interested in a 30 min argument over DIY/purchasing Si

For those lanyard less - I did post the ingredients a while ago to print the design off onto transfer paper, iron onto a old white t-shirt and then cut and stitch them together to make your own si

I would be amazed if your TCO in building a computer was cheaper than sourcing one from elsewhere - never mind the fact that you've must have spare time on your hands to do it. IMHO we should be adding value to the schools IT support needs - not draining it! Good luck in getting away with your lovely activity but if your manager ever gets a clue..... Si PS And just to add insult to injury- whats with the SSD need?

Cases??? what you buying cases for??? you don't still build your own computers shirley??? Si