SimpleSi

@oxide54 - I'm talking about me doing this manually on each machine - I just wanted to check the thought process that a fully Windows Updated machine == to a fully patched machine and that there is no need to check to see if individual patches have been installed. And I did think I didn't need to agree that I needed av as well My basic driving force on this one is that either the 'f*cker can spotaneously re-combust on its own and therefore I'm doomed or It can't do that then I haven't cleaned and the machines sufficiently and I need shooting or They is another mode of re-infection involving another sort of f*cker of the person variety that doesn't understand what is going to happen to them when I find them! At the moment we've only been running with the classroom teacher machines and 6 laptops and the library computer - all others have had their network cables and mains leads removed and the other (older) laptops are in a cupboard wired with 11KV on the handles. Si

@oxide54 - lets keep this simple says si If I take a machine,connect it to the internet and use Windows Update till nothing more is downloaded - will the machine by fully patched? (I think it will and I don't think I then need to manually apply anything but this where I stand to be corrected ) Si

Thanks for all the advice - I understand about 50% of it (as I'm not a domain padawan) and can implement about 20% of what I understand Can I try some simple questions please? Assuming all machines off network and server declared clean and I log on as local admin to the first computer (not net connected) and only finds 1 instance now in c:\windows\system32 - I sweep again - nothing found - I join it to the network,log on as local admin and make sure its fully windows updated (Which it was). 1. Do I need to find some manual patches or can I rely on MrGates company to have supplied everything and not holding something back in the "techs only" store? If I now do another machine the same way 2. Can Conf*cker resurrect itself out of seemingly nowhere? Si

Could someone point me in the right direction to stop the task scheduler from running? I am assuming this is indeed the culprit as the 'ficker hasn't returned since Tuesday Simon

Done that twice now so can't comprehend how fully patched machines with auto-run disabled that come up clean with virus sweeps can be re-infected but off to investigate shutting down task scheduler. (but why doesn't the av know about such things - where is it being re-created from?????) I can understand how something can spread if it exists but having trouble understanding how something is spreading without existing - where is the chicken (or the egg) hiding????? Of course, if I find anyone plugging in an infected pendrive, then you'll be reading about it on the 6 O'clock news! Simon

And whats that got to do with technical support? Things must be very quiet at your end Si

I don't envisage that will be necessary after a late night *romantic* walk along the riverbank! Si

Hold on! Why would you want to bloat out a computer unnecessarily! Make a descision - Chrome or Firefox - no need for both surely. (And who on earth apart from a geek would be using Opera?) Itunes?????? Skype?????? (Is it not blocked by your RBC?) Libre Office (Do you use it for the pupils - if not no need for teachers) The Gimp - seriously - teachers using Gimp! - you must have very geeky ones then. Google SketchUp - do they use it? CutePDF - would they know how to use it? etc etc Are we talking primary or secondary?

I'm not winning here Had Conficker in a school once in past - eliminated it by removing everything from network and then cleaning each machine before rejoining to network, setting them all to not autorun anything and making sure all pendrive/cameras/anything with a memory card in in were certified before being allowed to be used again. Did this at Easter at a school that got infected - though I was OK but then people noticed Sophos reporting that COnficker was being quarantined So, started again, got head to issue beheading notices to anyone putting anything into a USB slot - finished last Friday - on Tues Conficker being reported in quarantine on domain clients (not on one teachers machine that I've removed from the domain but still on network and using server as file/dhcp/print server etc. 1. Where's the little f.... gettting back in from??? (And how can I stop it keep on doing it!) 2. Is it an actual issue if all machines all fully patched and Sophos is quaratineing it (e.g can we live with it or will it cripple the network?) Si

Sound like good advice but in retrospect I've never lost a laptop due to hard drive failure so I think the cost isn't really worth it. But shatterproof screens with everlasting cable connections and long life batteries would be worth forking out for Si

Thanks for the replies I'm trialling the Win98 dos bat one And does powershell come/run in XP SP1? Si

Well, I'm sure a few people hea're would contribute to a one-way ticket

3 out of my 6 current schools do not have suites One of them recently (last 3 months) converted theirs into a new classroom to save the £10,000s of building a new one (and happy do to so as they already have 40 netbooks that they are happy with) Suites are more reliable and much easier/cheaper to maintain but laptops are more flexible - in an ideal world you'd have both (one of my schools is doing this and buying 16 desktops for their shared resource area as well as 20 netbooks) Si

@RoF - will you be able to come over and make it this year? There's a few people who'd LOVE to meet up with you Si

Who puts DB in charge of organising these things?? Si

Is there a link somewhere to register yet??? Si

Come on people - you've had 10 mins! :-) Si

PS One Server To Rule Them All is what us primary geeks say

Sound like you've come from some correctional institute based on your aversion to user freedom Primaries don't need to be locked down - as the ICT Manager you should set things up the way you like and can easily support but there's very little need to restrict users unneccesarily and doing so can have a large impact on their ability to teach and work (and since they are in special measures maybe that should be a priority :-) ) Even dominatrix primary sys admins don't make years r,1 and 2 have their own logons - and if they do - they make the password cat or dog Licensing is not a special measures issue - teaching, attainment, progression and leadership are special measures issues so don't bother the SLT with that. Personally, I try to make sure new stuff is licenced but don't go on a jihad over any existing software - half the time they have licences but can't find them and half the time they don't - nobody ever dies over the issue so just let it lie. Obviously, I'm from the namby pampy liberal end of treating users as people and I'm sure others will be along shorlty to recommend electrifying USB ports. Good Luck BTW Si

PS Full Gui prog would do just as well Si

Bored??? How about writing a .bat file to take a iterate over a list of Scratch files held inside filelist.txt john.sb amy.sb ... and use this and replace Humpty.sb with john.sb amy.sb etc and give me one file with them all in so I can just upload the code onto a website. 'nixers welcome to join in just to show how easy it is (and how clever they are ) Si

"1/2 hour arguement" is a Monty Python joke In my school that had 15 laptops and used Bufallo standalone APs (1 per class), when we bought 30 netbooks, I simply added another standalone AP with a differerent SSID to each class and setup half the netbooks to connect to orig SSID and half to the new one I'd thought that this would work just as well using your Cisco APs Si

bangs head against wall hard!!! Unless you've got some extremely clever AP that I've never seen (or some fantastically slim profiles), then 30 laptops logging on wirelessly at same time is always going to be slow. I do know that the theoretical bandwiths mentioned are just that - theoretical How badly off do you think you'll be in reality with 2-3 Unifi APs set to 10-15 clients compared to 1 Cisco - worth a practical test or do you want to carry on with the full 1/2 hour arguement Wireless is all about the practicallity of your wall thicknesses and what the wireless cards in the laptops are like talking with your APs. I've a beautiful, theoretically superb managed Ruckus setup costing £2500 at one school that won't let 35 netbooks logon at the same time as the Ruckus kit doesn't work well with the netbook wifi cards in half of our machines (And I don't even use profiles!) Suck it and see what happens Si PS I'm just passionate about getting best value for schools and when something comes along that does what it says on the tin for a fraction of the cost of competing products then I become an evangilist

I would expect a signficant fraction of the teaching staff to be working till midnight and then back in at 6am. Si

@beany1 - your not listening (I know you are but you haven't had your eureka moment yet ) BUY 3 FOR <£200 - thats 10% of your proposed spending - if you didn't like them you'd even be able to flog them on here for a significant percentage of your cost price and at most you'd lose £100. I know you proably have never done such a thing before but its time to take a leap of (very low risk/cost) faith. And if you want some Ruckus - I'll sell you the 6AP Setup from one of my schools for the price of 12 Unifis (About £800) Si