DrBeaker

Like most replies already here - you could have an 8-core CPU. If the app is only written to use 1-core, it's only going to use 1-core. Same as with the shutdown /i command is apparently single-threaded which is why it appears to lockup when it's processing tasks.

I know a place that a member of senior SLT got a Macbook purchased by the school for them - as it was what she 'wanted'. Never any justification for it compared to a normal laptop. The separate monitors also enables you to segregate your work into different items. E.g. Email on one screen, research on another, RDP session on another etc. For me IT is the one department I can easily justify team members having dual-screens if not more. I've got 3x 22" Dells and 1x "24" Dell I brought myself for use for me at work. I'm just trying to figure out a way to mount them above one another easily as the desk is a bench fixed against the wall not a normal office desk.

I'd say that's a pretty crappy network if it does. It should be VLAN'd off for sure for a start.

We have SMART boards, they moan about them. Even when some of them are unplugged and they don't use the interactive feature. We have TVs, they moan about them. You try to improve things, they moan. You change things, they moan. You leave things the way they "like them", they moan. You can't bend to the whim of individual teachers. E.g. I've liaised with one teacher in his room to improve and change his setup, we finally got it sorted out. He left within a month after that! So the setup needs to suit the room and curriculum, not the individual teacher. Sometimes you just can't win.

One school the logic was that IT should have the best high-end kit as they were the ones supporting the staff etc. And I agree. If I'm waiting a few minutes for the IT person to load up the AD etc that's wasted time I'm going to easily recoup that back in productivity v the initial expenditure. The IT computers could easily be passed down the chain later on when it no longer meets the needs of the IT team. I don't think 2-3 monitors or more is a strech considering what we have to do all day, RDP, server monitoring etc etc etc. - - - Updated - - - What sort of graphics do you have to run 3-screens?

Money ends up being wasted if we keep fixing the issue, students suffer if we don't, heads moan to us, another 6x people moan to us etc. I spent 5x years in one role chasing this with the teachers, IT manager, SLT members etc and nothing was ever done. It was like it was simply accepted. Not good enough in my book. I've had it today - a call down to an IT suite that last week I went through, connected network cables back to the sockets, switched ON computers that had been switched off etc. Everything bar 3x were working (those due to actual technical issues) Today - at least 3-4x lots of double sockets for some reason unplugged from the network sockets. Another 6x PC switched off at the mains socket. So of course they're not going to work! But it "just happened by itself" yeah right. Sorry but I'm not going to respect you if you don't respect the room and the kit.

NO capes! Told someone today they only get 3x superhero acts a year - once per term!

I feel your pain believe me. We used to get this at one place and was still a problem when I left. * room checks twice daily for a month * fixing all issues during holidays and after school so we knew for a fact it hadn't "been like that for ages" * photos and videos of damage * CCTV footage * kids caught red-handed damaging it * spot checks of rooms * equipment reporting sheets * etc etc In all those years NOTHING was ever done about it. No teachers reprimanded, no students reprimanded, no costs to the parents etc. SLT didn't care. Very disheartening.

Some interesting and different views coming up for this post - the whole point of this forum is for everyone to provide opinions. Not everyone is going to agree all with all of those opinions all of the time. We're all unique individuals whose experiences in life have added to our unique viewpoints and opinions. As they say - You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time

+1 for the explanation. You summed it up better and more succinctly than me. I don't mind helping users, but they've got to help themselves first.

Hey I never said from me it was an UNREASONABLE question. It's a valid question - but I'd just query why I've got to spend time researching a solution that would take the user probably 3x mins to turn off/on at most during the working hours. I.e. Look how long it's taken Google and GMail to add scheduled emails to their toolkit. It took M$ until the "new" Outlook in 2019 for them to finally add the feature to be able to duplicate calendar events in OWA. EDIT Give the end user these links and ask them to provide feedback to Microsoft for that feature. https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/264636-general https://office365.uservoice.com/ I myself use my OOO all the time, for meetings, offsite meetings etc.

True - but when you say " she would like something which saves her having to remember to do this." Adding it into her calendar/telling her how to - IT support/user training. Employee forgetting to complete the task, despite the calendar reminder - a business procedure issue, an line manager issue or an employee performance issue surely? IMHO if that was me I'd be asking them why thy keep forgetting to do it despite a reminder. Surely?

Can't she put a reminder in her calendar for herself to turn it on and off? I know what you're saying but this is a human problem looking for a tech solution.

Which proves that it can be ignored due to lack of common sense and not actually knowing what they're on about.

Well....here's an interesting one. Does that apply to personal staff devices who have enabled the CPOMs authentication app http://www.edugeek.net/forums/cloud-services/207698-cpoms-android-tablets.html that will need 3G/4G access?

THAT's one thing that did strike me as odd in 2018 doing it this way - it IS indeed old hat.

Our problem was down to a lot of old machines simply being obsolete and useless - and RM getting the blame. I'm no defender of RM but both credit and blame where it's due - a lot of stuff isn't down to them to sort out, but the school itself. One thing with RM I don't get is the excuse for "load-balancing" - sticking half the printers on one server and the other half on another server. That's not load-balancing in my book, that's just messy. Have 1x dedicated server for it with another for failover. Bear in mind then this brings up the problem of licensing rights for virtualized servers - a cost schools might not be able to afford. Our Grid for learning in the area was setup back in the late 90s bear in mind - we're looking at the setup from rose-tinted glasses of "I wouldn't set it up like that", true. But that's with 20x years of extra knowledge under the belt then. On the other hand - Imagine if you set it up how you wanted as the sole tech, then left - the next tech might change everything to work the way he wants to work and so on, and so on......

This as techs when it comes down to the real fact that "commercial" systems aren't perfect either - SSCM is overkill for an in-house tech, others aren't as reliable or straightforward to use. E.g. time to package up an app with switches etc. Those systems aren't cheap either. Best tool for the job sort of thing. Never having used RM CC4 prior to this role - I think you're right with things like Assignment Overview and Software Deployment just work as intended. That's a win for schools IMHO.

We use CC4. It works, works fairly well. I've always used Vanilla AD, GPO and AD management tools etc before using RM and can see the pros/cons of both. Depends what you want out of it, the same as any software. Some people I've worked with didn't understand AD, never mind it being dumbed down with CC4. The tight integration with WoL, scheduled tasks, software deployment etc I've yet to see other tools like Impero do that reliably. Bear in mind a lot of it is AD anyway behind the scenes e.g. ADFS services. The SSO with RM Unify into 365 99% of the time just works. RM aren't perfect by any means, however neither am I - or anyone else I've ever worked with. As for your post, I've found the user might be hidden on CC4 if any sync (Groupcall jobs, RM Unify etc) has synced them as a leaver etc. The account vanishes from CC4.

If you understand how native AD, OUs, GPOs etc work you can understand CC4. I've only been using it myself for 9x months and for the most part had to figure it out myself.

When I started with a school using CC4, I didn't get much training either. Apart from a 45x min session I've largely had to figure it out myself. I've had a bit of help in how to use it when I asked them how to do certain things, but not much. Considering we're a school contracted to RM and the CC4 is a set of propriety tools to them, that surprised me - the lack of willingness to train IT staff.

Generally our catering manager deals with them - that's what it should be unless there's actually a tech issue. I always try to push it back to them to sort. I know once their support said to them "get your IT team to open it up and connect a keyboard and monitor, it's only a PC" (which is how I found out when the catering manager came and asked me) so why the hell aren't YOU doing that if we're paying YOU for support? They came out afterwards.

SD Card holder or USB Memory stick holder?

I didn't either, it was only Xmas/January we used Cunninghams who moved the Biostore stuff across on the SIMs server.

+1 for this. Best summary yet.