DavR

We don't always seem to get error messages in Event Log, but, I have found this one.

Has anyone else seen quite a high rate of Outlook crashes this month? I've got a couple of users complaining about repeated crashes, and I've noticed a few times myself that it goes to "not responding" and catches up a minute or two later, as long as you don't prod it too hard (I assume others aren't as patient with it as I am). We've got Outlook 2016 non-O365 edition, running latest batch of updates (v16.0.5182.1000). We are running in cached mode to remote Exchange servers, which may have something to do with it, but nothing that I can control or prove to our email supplier. I've tried trashing and recreating Outlook user profiles, and disabling add-ins, but it doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference. Just thought I'd put it out there and see if others were having similar experiences?

Data recovery..... it's pretty much one of those simple jobs that most IT bods will do as a quick favour, right? Yeesh.

I've had to set up a few foreign language keyboard, and for that I've manipulated the language list using a PowerShell login script. The commands are here, you could probably use something like Set-WinUserLanguageList and only include en-GB in your command. If this is your new build, as others have said, sounds like you're using "English" rather than "English International" as your source, which is something to be aware of next time.

There is the possibility that the drive itself might be OK, but it's just the Seagate housing that's damaged. You could try removing the housing, and plugging that drive as a secondary in a desktop PC. Or a USB to SATA bridge kit is always a useful tool to have. Absolutely don't open the sealed drive itself though. On the sidebar of doing private jobs for staff - I only do them as favours to staff I like, and I don't take payment, they'll usually buy me a few beers. This way it's understood to be a favour, not a commercial transaction with any guarantee, the money wouldn't be worth it. Some people I'll just tell to go see their high street computer shop.

Not at all, they've got all the security updates that are available for those devices In an ideal world then sure, it would be nice to only use devices that run the latest OS, but in the one we live in, our budget doesn't stretch that far. Older devices can still play a part, as long as you are conscious of and mitigate the risk.

Last time I did much with proxy servers, we used group policy, and this pushed out proxies per user, not per computer. Could the account you're using still have a proxy set? If you created a new local on that server, does it have the same problem? You could always try pushing out blank proxy settings to the users in question via GP.

The majority of our iPad fleet can't run the latest iOS, I wouldn't class them as obsolete though! Just..... "update challenged". I use Apple Configurator on our iMac to wipe iPads fairly regularly, that would also do the job, as long as they're not activation locked.

I was wearing mine just yesterday as it happens

I've built up my own list of suppliers over time tbh, ones that work for us personally, they may not work for everyone. I have I think maybe two general purpose suppliers that I tolerate "building a relationship" with because they're good enough to get stuff done when I ask them for it, or at the least return quotes reliably (how do so many suppliers survive when they won't even quote for work!?). I'm lucky I think that our office are very well trained in dropping cold callers for me.

Yes, I have noticed that the new promethean pens are quite a fine pointed nib, which I presume gives you a lot more control and a finer writing line, but which I haven't been able to find in the generic styluses out there. I'm fairly sure there's no smart functionality in this generation of pen though, it's just a plastic pointer.

Ta, might risk a fiver on something on a pack like that before throwing away £10+ per unit.

Does anyone have a go-to replacement stylus for touchscreens that they'd recommend? Inevitably, we've lost the pens for a few of our Promethean ActivPanel Nickel boards through classroom moves over the summer, and the best I've found for a replacement is £12.50 each for an original, which feels a bit much for a stick of plastic. Thanks!

It was Aerohive. We bought an Aerohive network about five years ago, so we're now an "ExtremeCloud customer". I can't comment on their kit, as we're using the older Aerohive APs, but the cloud based controls are OK. Most of the time it just works, for us, although it is starting the show it's age now people want to do video calls all the time. When we renewed our contract after three years though, the renewal was eyewatering. They changed their pricing from expensive APs / cheap contract to cheap APs / expensive contract, so we got stung by that, effectively paying twice! When we do upgrade I'd be hoping to get Cisco Meraki APs, as it will complement what we're doing in Meraki as an MDM.

+1 for the LGfL-licensed Meraki here. We started with the 100-devices free license and upgraded. It does almost all the things we ask it to, primarily for iPad management and more recently iPhone. I have it managing security, app deployment and device restrictions quite happily. Haven't tried it with Android, the management options are fewer there, but that's across the board I think.

I think if we're being super legit, education are expected to pay for CloudReady. It's cheap, in OS terms, but it's not free.

It's called muti factor authentication for a reason, you're using more than one piece of information to authenticate. Removing passwords and just relying on authenticator apps or keys just makes it single factor again. Someone steals your key / phone, they have access to your systems. Finger print or facial recognition is a step forward for sure, but I can't see the more security conscious dropping the extra layer of username/password security just yet.

We're using Tucasi School Cash Office to do ours, which is MIS linked for contacts. We use SCO to manage all our school payments, so it was a cheap enough add-on to use the messaging function too. I think this replaced Groupcall Messenger. Can't say as I'd recommend the product just for Comms, but it does the job.

CloudReady really sounds ideal for your usage case. They can login with their Google account at the first screen, then they're ready to go.

You could always try using Neverwhere Cloudready to turn them into Chromebooks.

Have you had a look at ClassFlow? This is Promethean's recommended option for Chromebooks. It's a version of ActivInspire that runs cloud-based through your web browser. I don't think it opens ActivInspire flipcharts directly, but it can import (and maybe export?). It's free to sign up so might be worth a look. I've not used it myself though.

It might not be the same issue, but in the past, we have had issues with PowerPoint taking liberties with the display settings on devices. We Enabled the GPO for Do not allow PowerPoint to automatically extend the display when presenting on a laptop or tablet under User Config in policy, and that seemed to do the trick.

I'd never realised that freeze screen was such a big deal until we moved to interactive panels and we didn't know what button to press to do it. In retrospect it seems kinda obvious and fundamental. Unless you're getting an immense saving by getting this particular brand of screen, I'd also say switch for a brand that does have a freeze function. I'm surprised that there are brands that don't tbh.

I'm glad I've found this thread, it explained what madness was going on with a couple of our printers last week! Just to confuse things further though, we found the "Driver update needed" message was only coming up for us on our HP M404 printers, the older printers running Ricoh or HP Universal print drivers installed just fine, even after the August update. Changing from the HP M404 driver to HP Universal on these printers fixed the problem for us, so I left it at that. We have point and print settings enabled in Computer Config only, and don't have the RestrictDriverInstallationToAdministrators hack in use.

Some. I've been hoarding them tbh though as we do still have a couple of V2 boards left on site! I may be able to spare a few if its for a named school, but probably not as stock for a support provider or reseller. PM me to chat if you like.