Rob_D

What kind of alerts were you getting from staff devices?

Or. Single SSID, NPS all the things and get the NPS server to put them in the right VLANS (or you can probably get the NPS server to forward the authentication token for user accounts to the webfilter so it just filters by username as normal). Domain joined devices auth via computer account/cert like they presumably do now. Staff and Students authenticate using their normal network logins. non-domain joined devices auth using a (wifi access only) domain account, or a cert, or maybe by IP or something (lots of options here). Visitor accounts are just AD accounts without any file/system access. EDIT: With NPS you could probably MAC authenticate the student devices and then hive them off into an IP range for location based filtering, so the kids don't need to log in to the wifi at all. Or if you're worried about giving visitors AD accounts, then Visitor SSID with captive portal, and main SSID for everything else as above. (this is pretty much what we do)

We made it ourselves using LucidChart (free account). https://lucid.app/lucidchart/5ce448f9-341a-4f91-9d54-0351a9487267/edit?invitationId=inv_7d4879d9-88a3-449b-87e2-d7254ea5ccff If you go File>Duplicate, you can make your own editable copy.

An "Allow" policy would be better than a "whitelist" (now called "Do not filter" on the newer UIs), as you'll still have your content aware filtering and monitoring. On the other hand, "no internet access" might be the chosen sanction (but they need to get to Google/Office 365 to be able to do work).

Yeah. We've got a "All Staff Shared" SharePoint/Team for all whole school stuff, Department/Curriculum Area SharePoint sites/Teams for department shared work and teaching resources, and OneDrive for personal stuff like CPD/Appraisal. Training wise, we started from a point of "SharePoint=Old Shared Area" and "OneDrive=Old Home Drives" but in the cloud, referencing back to things they already know like an on-site shared drive helps (the phrase "like the old shared area" appear a lot in our training docs). The below graphic helped staff get their heads around the idea that Teams Files tab and SharePoint are the same place.

For us, using the Teams assignment works fine. Kids upload their completed work using the Teams assignment interface so the work is saved on the team and only the teacher and that student have access. The work is safe from accidental deletion or modification (or as safe as it can be), and is accessible for as long as you keep the team active. In progress work would still be saved to OneDrive, but that would be the same however you did it. Out of interest how would you do this in a google environment?

dhicks did say they were a bit short on classroom space. So multifunction rooms could be required if they're maintaining a broad curriculum offering. I could see an ICT suite needing to pull double duty as a music room and a product design room in a small school.

Just a thought, but would it be better to have all the computers equipped for all the things? So have small midi keyboards for all the machines (maybe on slide-out runners, so they're out of the way for non-music lessons). 3d printer can be networked with the software on all the machines. Laser cutter might need to be attached to a dedicated machine (ours do), but there's no reason the design software can't be on all the others. The same for lighting, put the software on all of the machines. Get a waycom tablet for each machine for art/design, again it can be moved aside for other lessons (if you're thinking about an apple-vision then the project must be pretty well funded). Something like robotics/programming, get a handful of units that can be shared around.

So are each of these workstations going to have a different use case? (Sorry I can't imagine how that would work for teaching a whole class) We've got Laserscript LS6840 PROs in our DT labs (the smaller models look like they'd fit in for you), they work great but do need to be serviced every year or so. What about Sticker cutters and other CNC type machines? Our Technologies department uses Makerbot 3d printers, they seem to tick along fine. If you aren't already, have a look a midi keybaords (we've got Novation launchkey 49 ones in our music rooms), they can have some sound desk functionality incorporated. What about a programming/robotics workstation? You can get come pretty cool mini robots/robotic arms and I/O systems. Art/graphics station? Either waycom (or similar) graphics tablet, or full boar with inclined touch-screen and stylus. Science station? USB microscopes and other sensors. Hang a weather station on the outside of the building and hook one into that? (although most weather stations I've seen don't need a dedicated PC) 3D scanning and 3d design? It would probably fit in with the 3d printer. I assume you're also polling your staff to find out what they feel would be useful. At £4k a pop, I can imagine many/any schools are using the apple vision, but some schools have tried other VR solutions with mixed results.

If you're not already, it might be worth reaching out to a Microsoft support partner as they might be better able to take a more wholistic view of the project, and take your "I'd like to be able to..." and give you a straight "this is the solution, these are licenses you'd need, and this is how you'd set it up/we'd set it up for you", but that would probably come at additional cost.

That's where using a browse-down model can help. You log in to your admin PC first and then "browse" (rdp) into your daily driver. https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/whitepaper/security-architecture-anti-patterns#section_3

What about using LAPS and elevating using the built in local admin for elevation?

Just running the install from MDT seems to work fine for us, without the reg edits. I'm a bit leery of running unsupported for anything/anyone important.

Check out Trend Micro's PhishInsight (free). It's got staff training module with some good video resources. https://cloud.phishinsight.trendmicro.com/

Totally agree, but I imagine the OP (and a lot of others) are like us where Win11 is putting a hard EOL on a lot of hardware that would otherwise keep trucking on okay for a few more years.

As only an occasional driver, I'm more worried about pranging a new (or new to me) car the first few of times I drive it. A couple of years back, my parents took delivery of their new iD3 the day before they were due to head off on holiday 200 miles away. That was apparently a baptism by fire.

It was a while back, but we used the reindex patch through solus. A support agent had to assign the patch to us first though so it would show up Solus (the agent we had left it active if we ever wanted to use it again). I'd get the SIMS support to double check they've assigned it to you.

Winamp wont allow the changing of playback speed without the use of additional plugins. And apparently, despite not having had any update for about 10 years now, it's still technically "supported".

Thanks. Weirdly this only worked after I changed the Category name to WebSockets.

How do you unblock websockets on Smoothwall? I've gone through this guide but the wss:// links are still being blocked.

IMO Dell always make solid, good looking monitors and the Dell G2422HS 24 looks like a good option. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09RWQ34ZG

When I first started using it, I liked gmail because it got way less spam than my hotmail, and even now it's one of the best at keeping all the junk out of my mailbox.

I've used clonezilla a deploy fat images from USB onto PC, worked fine at the time. There's also FOG https://fogproject.org/ which I used briefly before we moved to MDT. These days, if we want to fat image then we use a Startech disk cloner like this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FSVD9PE (we originally got it scrub drives pulled out of old machines) Aomie backup has been pretty good for drive migrations on my home PC, but I've had mixed results using it against a boot drive. https://www.aomeitech.com/aomei-backupper.html

Wow, it doesn't feel like nearly 20 years ago when one of my techy university mates offered me an invite. (I'm still not sure if that makes me feel really old or not)

I second what Martin says about trying to work with your Exams Officer. I'd just add, lean into it. Make sure you've got all the exams stuff set up way in advance. Once you've got your locked down account template and EWP installed on a couple of dozen laptops, it's all pretty easy to keep on top of. And clear email chains/ support tickets should allow your EO to see what's been done and what's outstanding. In fact a good ticketing system and clearly defined SLA will help with demanding staff and managing the IT team's time. Remember you are there to support teaching & learning (and exams).