AngryTechnician

I suspect I know what the answer will be to this, but are you able to run the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Server 2008 R2?

100 data points =/= in-depth. Also, correlation ≠ causation. Here is the actual study: http://dr.library.brocku.ca/bitstream/handle/10464/4115/Brock_%20Bajovic_Mirjana_2012.pdf The study didn't actually find that playing the games weakened empathy. What it found was a correlation between weakened empathy and time playing violent games. The author in fact highlighted the correlation/causation issue in the limitations section on page 230. Yes, Page 230. I guarantee you that no journalist who has written an article on this study has read all 230 pages up to that pint, and the 62 pages after that point. I posit the much more likely explanation that children who already have weaker empathy are more likely to want to spend more time playing violent games than children with 'normal' levels of empathy.

And given how Pearson recently completely shuttered the online version of Tout le monde after (apparently unfixable) security holes were found... I've stopped buying anything from Pearson.

Wallis UK - Specialist distributor of Remote Controls, Replacements and LCD/Plasma TV supports. have always been able to supply working compatibles for mine, considerably cheaper than the originals and in the case of the Sanyo ones I've replaced, they actually work better.

After posting about AZERTY keyboards on my blog I was tipped off by a Belgian reader that keyboards in the Netherlands are still QWERTY but have all the accents on. So you could enable the Dutch (Netherlands) keyboard layout and either get some of the keyboards (£3.89 each from this Amazon seller) or print out the layout for reference. A few of the punctuation keys are different but they've worked very well for our languages department.

The only positive thing I can see this achieving is creating a generation of future voters who will forever remember that it was the Tories who made them endure 10-hour school days.

If you are a school, both are free for email. If you are a business then your use case may be outside the experience of most people here so it's difficult to highlight the key differences.

Actually, you can. You just need to enable the option first in GPO by going to User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar and enabling the Show "Run as different user" command on Start policy.

Just to nitpick on this - there are such things as solid core plugs where the blades are designed differently and work fine with solid cable. I sometimes use them to wire in APs, and they work fine. Still best practice to use a patch panel, but if they have used the right termination plugs, connection quality should not be an issue.

The new Google Apps Admin Console seems to have a massively stripped down selection of Apps compared to the previous interface. We have one app installed right now that doesn't appear if you search through the console, but is there if you go to https://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/ Unfortunately, Pixlr doesn't appear there either, so you are out of luck with that one.

Also wondering if someone has inadvertently set something overly-restrictive in a GPO in the section Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\User Rights Assignment

This is a long shot, but is the admin account you are logged in with actually in the Domain Admins group in AD? Failing that, are you able to run the sfc /scannow command to check for corrupt system files?

I assume you've tried the simple stuff like running the installer with /norestart ?

It sounds more like they are talking about the settings in the SMART control panel that switch from touch mode to mouse mode. Can't recall the exact name of it, but it's definitely in the SMART settings, not the browser.

@OB1, how would one go about implementing that in Smoothwall? Preferably for specified user groups, so I could block it for pupils but not staff.

I would. I stopped trusting PayPal a long time ago. Thery tout it as a safer way to buy but you actually have fewer consumer protections when buying something via PayPal then just buying it on credit card. Even if you have 2FA enabled they allow you to bypass it with security questions, and many of their security questions are the sort of "mothers maiden name" rubbish (the answer to which is on public record, for crying out loud. Pro tip: use made-up answers to these that only you know).

Hardware-wise, your most likely problem will be graphics drivers. If the graphics chipset in each machine has manufacturer-provided drivers for Windows 8.1, you should be fine. If not, there may be an in-box driver provided from Microsoft. This might work, but might not (as we have found to our detriment). Some other gotchas/tips I have documented are as follows: 1. The Start Screen takes some getting used to, and it takes a little bit longer than going from XP to 7 (for example). No doubt there will be plenty of people coming any minute now to tell you that you'll need to deploy a 3rd party Start Menu replacement and that you absolutely have to boot to the desktop rather than the Start Screen. Just yesterday I did training with half our staff and found that neither of these things are true if you just train them for 20 minutes on how the Start Screen works. 2. I recommend disabling access to the Windows Store by GPO (at least for pupils) until you decide you need it. ("Turn off the Store appplication" under "User Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Store") You may want to block Microsoft accounts entirely if you are that way inclined, but this could frustrate staff who like using SkyDrive ("Accounts: Block Microsoft accounts" under "Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options". 3. Deploying a default Start Screen layout is better done this way than the official Microsoft way. 4. .NET 3.5 is not installed by default. You will almost certainly have programs that need it. If you are using an automated deployment tool, make sure you add the .NET feature to your master image. 5. While we're on the subject of imaging, if you want to use WDS you will need to deploy a new WDS server running Server 2012 R2. Your existing WDS server will not do it. 6. If you want to strip out some of the rubbish apps that come bundled (Bing Food and Drink, Finance, etc), you can remove them from your master image too. 7. You can set a default lock screen image via the group policy named "Force a specific default lock screen image", found in "Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Personalization". 8. Add the ADMX files for Windows 8.1 to your Group Policy Central Store as soon as you can.

Fastest way is to delete the following reg value via Group Policy Preferences: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run Valuename: SMART Ink That will stop SMART Ink from running at logon. When you want it back, restore the reg key (take a backup before deleting so you know what value data to restore in future).

You realise there's a special hell for people like you, right? I'll meet you at the bar.

Correct. You can only log into Skype using Office 365 accounts that are part of Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 University accounts. This is because those accounts use the consumer Microsoft account system (formerly Windows Live) to authenticate. Business and Education Office 365 accounts use Windows Azure AD as the backend, which Skype doesn't connect to.

Yes, you install the Office 365 DirSync program onto a server connected to the domain (not a DC) and it will sync usernames and passwords to Office 365. There are some very detailed guides to the whole setup on the Microsoft UK Education blog. I used this one originally and it's still a good guide, but bear in mind some of the specific info is a bit behind as it's from Aug 2012: Office 365 for education Starter Manual - Microsoft UK Schools blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs It can look a bit overwhelming at first but once you get stuck in it's not that tricky.

SMS doesn't support multiple recipients, so if you use group messaging with SMS it send one text per recipient. If you are charged for SMS then this could work out more expensive than sending a single MMS, which does support multiple recipients. With MMS, replies are also sent to everyone in the original group message. This won't happen with SMS.

Looks like Hotmail have removed the X-Originating-IP header they used to have, which is a shame. Depending on the level of offensiveness of the image, you may be able to involve law enforcement. If the message is "grossly offensive, indecent, obscene, menacing or false" it is an offence under The Communications Act 2003 section 127. The police would be able to formally request more detail from Microsoft about the sender. Even if that criteria isn't met, or if involving the police isn't desirable, I'm sure many of your teachers will be familiar with the concept of using the threat of involving the police to extract a confession from pupils.

One option would be to fit an APC Network Management Card into the expansion slot of each UPS. They can then communicate with all connected servers via IP. Unfortunately those cards are about £150 each which may put them out of your price range.

Spaces at the end of the username is the most common one in my experience.