laugbr80

Thanks for all the advice guys, I can't use guest as I do want them to be using a class account, but I'll look into DeepFreeze!

I'm not going any further with this @seawolf, looking back on your previous posts!! Anyway, thanks for clarifying what you meant, I think maybe in future you might receive more favourable responses with a more constructive question. Just a thought!

This was me misunderstanding the IT Manager - he was talking about hotels that return their macs to ground zero each time a guest checks out. So I'm looking at about once a month. But @seawolf, can I just point out that this is a community forum, so is there really any point commenting when someone wants help with "What's the point?". Maybe someone would want to reimage their Macs daily for a week while they have a course where they're training people and need a blank machine each time they come to use it. Comments like this really make me quite angry, are completely pointless and very unhelpful.

We have 6 iMacs which have no way of being cabled, and would like to wipe them at the end of each day in an automated process. We use Casper to manage our Macs, which we can get a nice thin image out of, but is there a way to partition Macs and point them to the localhost to act as their own NetBoot server? Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hi Guys, This might be a bit specific, but we're working on a BYO network where our Macs are enrolled into our Casper Suite and Windows are bound to the domain. We're running our Sibelius Licensing Server on a Windows Server and I'm looking for a way to either manage the licensing logs, or at least extract the number of checked out licenses so that I can keep an eye on this and use it to limit the people who can install Sibelius on their machines... Any suggestions or am I being too vague about a quite specific situation? Thanks in advance, Laura

Thanks for the feedback so far, hopefully I can progress it and keep it worth reading! Ref the theme, it's just a tumblr theme that suited my needs, I was planning on getting around to designing my own theme as a section of the blog, and using that as a documented learning tool!! Also no, I'm not on twitter yet - good idea!

As I write all my lists down on word documents and invariably have no real date progression, I'm starting my own personal blog - feel free to shoot it down, or help me on with my wisdom. It's intention is only general how I try and do my job, and a collective train of thought. Obviously all thoughts are my own and I'm trying to keep it as none site specific as possible. Laura in IT That's me! It might lend to a few rants occasionally...but let me know what you think!!

Have you tried starting it without the actual laptop battery in, but plugged into the power cord?

This site has a lot of information that you might find helpful? IEP writer | Individual Education Plan writing

The Schools I've worked in have always used IEP Writer, which has done them fine by all accounts? I think Capita Sims do one to go alongside Sims too, depending on what MIS you use.

To familiarise myself with the new network, I'm going to base what I make sure I find out in the first week on the little handbook I wrote in the "A quick guide to being an ICT Techncian at [insert School Name Here]" The headings I have at the moment are: Who's Who Server Names/Roles Backup Locations Printing Information - Server, Software, User Management, Suppliers, Any Contracts etc Other Suppliers - Hardware, Software, Installations MIS and other school specific software, including any generic accounts Email System - Server, third party setup info, administrators, spam filters School Network Monitoring Software Antivirus Info Phone systems Map of school with switch rooms, points and numbers in each room, VLANS and WiFi Access Points Projectors and bits attached to projectors - Apple TVs etc What equipment each staff member and student is provided with, and what software is on said item. Job Description limitations as to how much we help with what Disaster Recovery Website and Intranet management Any school specific security implementations - whether it be password policies, specific onsite security concerns, external security companies attached to projectors SLA's for the IT team. Filtering Policies, forensics software, e-safety guidelines Exactly how much interaction IT has with pupils - that's varied greatly in each role I've had. Can anyone add to the list of things you think are essential to know in an IT Team in a school? Thanks

After a horrendous initiation into a new role in a different country, I still feel unfamiliar with large aspects of the network. What are your tips for getting a handle on how things are run, and establishing your responsibilities in a new role? Are there any procedures you follow to get yourself familiarised with what is where, who does what, and when what happens in a new environment? I felt settled within the first couple of months in previous roles, but that was probably down to good leadership...when you're in a "team" that has blurred boundaries in who's job is who's, what do you go for first? It's never cut and dry in education, I understand that, but I pretty much just got handed 3 sites with no location of information, and after a while you feel like you're nagging...so in a role where you cover everything with a plug, but can get in trouble after you've used initiative because you've unintentionally stepped on someone's toes, or done something that's "Not IT's Job", what would you do to avoid confusion? I have to be careful this doesn't turn into a rant, but I'd appreciate all your input...so I don't make the same mistake again!! Thanks in advance, Laura

Hi Everyone, I really am stumped at this point. Anyone who could offer any advice, please please do!! As of 3am on Friday, users can no longer receive email constantly on their portable devices. Users were able to add their office 365 account to their portable devices before this time using Active Sync, but now users who have the accounts set up prior to this time receive an error - cannot connect to server, even though on their phone settings the device shows as ok, but with a successful sync time of Friday. If you start logging, the retrieval shows an error. Users who try and add their account since this time simply are unable to verify account information. The IMAP Server setting is correct - the same as showing in their mailbox settings, and for users who couldn't autodiscover previously, this setting worked - until now. On testexchangeconnectivity.com, my admin account passes the activesync fine, with no errors. A standard user now receives an error: The IMAP service is being tested. There was an error testing the IMAP service Additional Details Secured: CN=outlook.com, OU=Exchange, O=Microsoft Corporation, L=Redmond, S=Washington, C=US S: * OK The Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 service is ready. [sABLAE4AUABSAEQAMAAyADEAMQBDAEEAMAAwADMALgBhAHAAYwBwAHIAZAAwADIALgBwAHIAbwBkAC4AbwB1AHQAbABvAG8AawAuAGMAbwBtAA==] C: 1 CAPABILITY S: * CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 AUTH=PLAIN UIDPLUS CHILDREN IDLE NAMESPACE LITERAL+ 1 OK CAPABILITY completed. C: 2 LOGIN ########@mydomain.org S: 2 NO LOGIN failed. C: 3 LIST "" * S: 3 BAD Command received in Invalid state. Microsoft.Exchange.Tools.ExRca.Tests.ImapPop.MailProtocolException: 3 BAD Command received in Invalid state. at Microsoft.Exchange.Tools.ExRca.Tests.ImapPop.ImapProtocolTester.SendCommand(String command, String logString) at Microsoft.Exchange.Tools.ExRca.Tests.ImapPop.BaseProtocolTest.PerformTestReally() The successful test from my account is below - the only difference being that I use @mydomain.onmicrosoft.com rather than @mydomain.org Successfully tested the IMAP4 service Secured: CN=outlook.com, OU=Exchange, O=Microsoft Corporation, L=Redmond, S=Washington, C=US S: * OK The Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 service is ready. [sABLAFgAUABSAEQAMAAyADEAMABDAEEAMAAwADEALgBhAHAAYwBwAHIAZAAwADIALgBwAHIAbwBkAC4AbwB1AHQAbABvAG8AawAuAGMAbwBtAA==] C: 1 CAPABILITY S: * CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 AUTH=PLAIN UIDPLUS CHILDREN IDLE NAMESPACE LITERAL+ 1 OK CAPABILITY completed. C: 2 LOGIN [email protected] S: 2 OK LOGIN completed. C: 3 LIST "" * S: * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" Calendar * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" Contacts * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "Deleted Items" * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" Drafts * LIST (\Marked \HasNoChildren) "/" INBOX * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" Journal * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "Junk E-Mail" * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" Notes * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" Outbox * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" "Sent Items" * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "/" Tasks 3 OK LIST completed. C: 4 LOGOUT S: * BYE Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 IMAP4 server signing off. 4 OK LOGOUT completed. If anyone has any advice on this is would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks in advance...

Hi All, I've moved from England recently to work at a school down under (New Zealand), and the big bosses want to know what we do different up North than these down South...The kids and teachers have a lot of trust here - the basic filtering, if kids want to waste their time on facebook its sort of up to them, teachers aren't really monitored tooooo much - if they want to be local admins and the big boss approves then so be it, but it's out of my hands. What I'd really like to know is what you feel actually helps the teaching staff in the classrooms, and the kids progressing through the use of technology. It's a really general question I know, so I'll give you a feel of the setup at the moment. We use Windows 7, Server 2008 - all virtualised...got a few Mac suites and all the staff just got given iPads which we'll link to the board through apple tvs... We use sharepoint as the intranet and a custom written MIS and library software. Office 365 and Exchange email.. We also have fancy things like a couple of 3D printers and ultra short throw wireless projectors which have interactive functionality... When I rolled up at the beginning of January it seemed like a dream school from the setup anyway, but still they're trying to push forward. I don't know exactly what to say to them to get them to explore what they already have more and integrate technology into their school life more closely...maybe any apps people can recommend, any particular software..or good practice you notice by the teaching staff? Looking forward to any advice offered Laura

I've tried to have a look in the preferences folder in the library of a macbook thats running really slow...and there's nothing there. How can this be? I'm really confused!! Thanks Lora

We may have a vacancy opening in stoke-on-trent, it'd be a six month contract possibly permanent...is anyone looking for work in the area or know anyone who is? If so message me, I'll post details on the forum when I have more.

Surely this is going to stop the bat file that runs at logon for the user still??

Apologies, after a gpupdate /force the gpo did kick in. But when logging on as a user with this implemented, the DA Script logon window that normally pops up when applying DA scripts now reads 'The command prompt has been disabled by your administrator', and as I stated in the first post, wouldn't map any drives or printers which are allocated through DA's logon bat file

With this GPO implemented on the pupil users OU I can still save a bat file to the desktop and run it as a pupil - I tried this before I posted my thread, and have just tried it again to make sure I wasn't being stupid...

Ok let me explain more clearly, there may be a couple of misunderstandings. The students log on with a logon script that redirects to a bat file which refers to Desktop Authority which is where we have mappings of printers, folder shares and shortcuts etc so the students, when bat file is not allowed to run by GPO (which is the first thing I put into place when I realised they could run the bat files which they're running from memory sticks or saving in notepad and running), their drives are not mapped, and DA is unable to run it's scripts. It's a shoddy setup, I know, but rather than having to redesign all our logon scripts and permissions, and domain policy, how can I stop the users actually executing their own bat files? They're running things like shutdown /i and browsing, so they can see the network, and there were a couple just identifying the primary server. They can't do that much with them, I know, but when the kids bring up a list of networked computers and say 'look miss, I can hack into the netwoirk', then you have a bunch of teachers running round worrying about their security to the senior leadership team saying that the pupils are able to hack the network. It's just less hassle if they can't have access to this at all. They don't have permissions to access the drives of these machines, but can actually run the shutdown, so therefore can cause trouble by shutting down machines at the very least...

one of our kids has found the old trick of saving shutdown -i into a bat file and then browsing the network. Our logon script is a bat file - so if I put a blanket ban on bat files then the drives don't map to the pcs, there's a restriction on them installing and running executables anyway, but the bat file is obviously dangerous as they could potentially shut down the systems...

The bluetooth keyboards charge by usb from the slates - the charge bit that breaks is the connection on the keyboard end which is a really flimsy mini usb, but the third party manufacturer that RM are using to suppy us with these say that nobody else has ever reported problems, so RM won't replace with a different product. Believe me, I'm trying to get different keyboards, and I'm aware of the choices out there. All I've been offered so far is a buffer stock, but what I'm trying to find out from fellow edugeekers is if we really are the only ones. Our kids aren't that clumsy, and the teachers who use these are super careful with new kit...

We have 50 slates. So far 49 our of the 50 Bluetooth keyboards RM supplied from a 3rd party supplier have had the connection on the actual keyboard break, meaning that they now cannot charge. RM keep sending us out replacements, but has anyone else had this product? It'd be really helpful if anyone has and could give me some feedback. Thanks Laura

What APs do you have. Is their firmware up to date? We use D-Link DWL-2200, and I don't think this is going to be the issue as there's no problem getting connected once we're logged on and the wireless decides to take some power and turn itself on. Have you tried enabling the High Performance power profile in windows? Yes What channel are they on? we alternate 1, 6 and 11 in adjacent locations Have you ried a completely clean install of W7 with just the drivers? yes Have you tried the factory installed image? yes, this was the first instance What do you see if you enable WLAN logging...I'll check now

Yes we have the latest drivers from Intel, I requested drivers from RM and they sent out a man with a new motherboard, although I did get him to flash the BIOS while he was here. Does your wireless light come on when windows gets to the logon screen or only after the user is logged on like ours do? Thanks Laura