DavR

Seems to really vary by establishment on this one... I'm doing a brand new deployment of Windows 10 Ent 1703 with all the latest updates and updated admx files, and I can't get it to budge.

Yeah, that's a fair point. You can't outright ban memory sticks without having something nice and simple in place to replace that function. We're implementing G Suite soon, so that's an online storage option, or we do have a few other options.

Interesting, we might consider this! Because we didn't have a way to differentiate between encrypted and unencrypted USB sticks, we were gonna ban the lot (still might).

That's interesting - are you saying that the OWA app will access shared mailboxes on iOS, where the inbuilt mail app will not? The only way I've found to date is to go through the webmail on Safari and then Open Mailbox top right to open the shared mailbox.

Have you tried reaching out to museums? I was at the National Museum of Computing last week, I'm sure they could help a fellow enthusiast if they could.

I'm not sure there really is a way to manage this en masse tbh. At the moment, I'm wait until WSUS reports a machine as being below 95% compliant and then intervening manually. The biggest problem I'm seeing is with the older laptops, as the rollups take so long on them that people don't bother.

Useful clarifications @markiof, thank you. Have you got a link to a comparison of Classflow and Classflow Desktop? Given that one is free and the other is licensed / restricted, it would be good to know the difference feature wise.

Really? Are ActivBoards not going to be supported? Searching around there does seem to be some people using ActivBoards with it. But if that's the case, that's us double out. We've still got v1 ActivBoards in some classrooms!

There does seem to be a difference between Classflow, and Classflow Desktop..... Classflow itself is advertised as a free cloud based solution. Not sure if that means it's limited, or there's some other catch?

The activation restriction is a real shame, that was one of the real benefits of ActivInspire over Smart Notebook, that it didn't come with a massively restrictive licensing scenario. I can see why they've done it, but it is an unhelpful complication for system admins, who aren't going to shell out for something that was previously free. How then are users going to create work in PPA time or at home, if it needs a board connected to work? ActivInspire allowed you (I think) three installs per board, Classflow essentially limits you to one.

Well, I bit the bullet on this one in the end. Made a few phone calls, tracked down the manufacturer, then a reseller, and have bought official spares. Three times the price (£26 + p&p for an 80mm fan!) but at least this one should be certified to work with the amp. Moral of the story? Not all fans are created equal.... or something!

I've put the old fan back in and returned the amp to use for the moment. Here are the two fans though, neither have much in the way of identifying marks! Old on the left, new on the right. 33v was without the load of the fan, with the load of the fan also it was ~29v. No spikes or dips when the fan stops, the reading just returned to 33v afterwards.

Ah, the foulest C word - CHANGE! Seems a bit unnecessary, ActivInspire does what we want it to and is stable. Does ClassFlow do anything fundamentally different? Downloaded and stored a copy of the latest ActiveInspire installer just in case.... (v2.9).

Ah, there are local caching options then? LGfL were a bit vague on this point when asked, it was my only reservation.

Are you sure it will work with EC 5.5? I came away from that session with the impression it was ONLY available in the web-based Sophos Central. Definitely good news though - added protection, and cloud based management! One less server function on site. As an aside, they haven't linked it into USO yet, but that is coming. When they've done that, and tested it in more than one school, I'm definitely in.

If it were reliably just contacting the lid then maybe, but I can reproduce it with the lid off. My theory at the moment is it's the airflow restriction that causes it, either the fan speeding up and conking out, or just struggling against the restriction.

Meter was reading it as 33v DC... I see your point though! If that voltage issue were such a big problem though, I'd have thought both the old and the new would be struggling because of it.

It's an IMG Stage Line STA-700 - https://www.monacor.com/en-gb/img/products/audio/pa-amplifiers/analogue-pa-amplifiers/sta-700/

Constant, yes, but a constant @ 33v! That's probably not ideal is it....

For such a popular product, you'd think they'd up their game really, if not Hills, then their supplier. I had to wait a month or two for stock when I last got some!

It's a thought, but seems unlikely that an 80mm case fan would have that sort of intelligence on board. There's nothing suggesting thermostat control on the amp itself, especially as the fan tends to shut down as the unit heats up, ie, when you'd need it most. The warmer it gets, or the more restricted the airflow, the less time it will run for. Increasingly leaning towards this one being a dud tbh!

Not until it's power cycled as fan as I can tell. Although I admit I haven't left it running for more than a minutes afterwards, in case it overheats.

Here's one for some a little more electrically minded than me.... I've got an amplifier with a knackered fan in it, bearings have gone, so I ordered a new fan. As far as I can tell, it's identical to the existing one - 24V DC, two pin connection. But, having swapped them over, this new fan periodically shuts off. Pretty sure this isn't a function of the amplifier, it never shut the fan off with the old part, the fan runs constantly. It seems to behave differently whether or not I've got the case open - from cold with the case open, it seems to run ok. With the case closed it shuts off after about 15 seconds. Have I bought the wrong type of fan? Seems unlikely, a fan's a fan right? Apply current and it spins. Is the fan cutting out due to air resistance or overheating? A fan that cuts out when it gets hot is surely fundamentally flawed. Or, have I just been sold a duff one and I should send it back?

In most cases, you can only set the Printing Defaults, users can always go and change it to colour in Preferences and it will stick. Setting Printing Defaults doesn't enforce the setting, only dictates what setting it is first time you use the printer. If you want to set it to black and white, and enforce only black and white, you'd normally need a mono only driver, or a setting on the device itself. Or, as I said above, look at finding the per user registry setting and turn it off this way. Still can't be enforced, but it will keep reverting to black and white at policy refresh.

I've done this recently, and I've found that whilst changing Printing Defaults to B&W is effective to new users, it will remain as colour for those who already have the printer connection in their user profile. My advice would be to track down the registry key that controls this, and put the change through to users via GP prefs registry keys. That's what I've done with our Samsungs. Or, you could create new instances of the printers with your required defaults, deploy those, and deleted the originals as a last resort.