AngryTechnician

Mine is on WordPress.com. I have other blogs using WordPress on paid hosting, but being on WordPress.com takes all the admin hassle out of my hands for that one. You get an awful lot for free, though you are restricted to their selection of themes and plugins.

A lot of cheaper PCI TV tuners are actually USB tuners with a PCI-USB bridge bolted on. Bizarrely it works out cheaper than a proper PCI implementation as only the dearer OEMs make actual PCI tuners. On XP you can use a registry hack to trick Windows into thinking a removable device is in fact non-removable, but it's not especially pretty and I have no idea if it works on later versions of Windows.

Don't suppose you could post the SKU number of what they quoted could you?

I've never heard of anyone doing it quite that way before. What I consider to be the 'normal' practice is to redirect the folders to a location completely separate from the profile, i.e. Profile folder: \\server\share\profiles\username Redirected folders: \\server\share\folders\username\Documents \\server\share\folders\username\Pictures \\server\share\folders\username\AppData etc If you do it this way, the 'local' versions in the profile are then completely redundant and can simply be deleted so that only 1 shows up (I do this at login so that the user never has an opportunity to save anything there).

Ahhhh yes I remember this properly now. I built an MSI using Advanced Installer to deploy the OCX files. The install guide was actually insanely helpful in that it detailed exactly which files needed copying to the machines and registering - it was practically a how-to for building your own installer.

I vaguely remember this from my previous school, and while I don't remember the specifics of the install, I don't remember it being difficult. Normally I remember the ones I end up swearing at, so suspect you won't have much trouble.

You CAN get it working with a UNC path so long as you set some very specific permissions on said UNC path. Most security-minded admins will have set up their redirected AppData so that users can only read and modify their own AppData, and not those of other users. This causes Adobe Reader to vomit, for detailed reasons that can be summarised as "because Adobe programmers are useless idiots". The key is this: your users need to have the Traverse folder / execute file right on every folder from the root of the share all the way to their AppData folder. If you give them Read access to each folder between the root and their AppData, they get this right automatically, but if you are restricting them to only seeing their own folder, they won't get it by default. Granting them this single NTFS right does not give them access to open the folder in Explorer and read the files - it's a very specific right. In DOS terms, it's like allowing them to do a CD but not a DIR.

Nice idea but a lot of them are Mac or Chrome specific. Not that surprising given the source but it does limit its usefulness.

I don't, but I might now! Thanks for the link. Edit: Or maybe not, tried that program out and it wants write access to Program Files as that's where it keeps its settings and history.... sigh.

Bear in mind that RM will not support System Center, and if experience is anything to go by, they will actively use it as a scapegoat for anything that goes wrong with CC3 from that point on. In terms of inventory, the free version of Lansweeper does a better job of inventory that SCCM for a school's purposes. For Power Management, you could give Group Policy Preferences a go (not perfect but does a decent enough job). I used both of these on my CC3 network until I ripped it out last summer. For deployment, you could use WDS/RIS (depending on your Windows Server version) in combination with deploying the SmartClient via Group Policy to install the RM bits once your base system is set up. WDS/RIS are free features and don't require SCCM to function.

I am 99% sure that CC3 has no option for client side filtering. Filtering solutions from RM can be done in one of two places: 1. If you take your Internet connection from RM, they can filter it directly. This does not change if you stop using CC3. 2. If your Internet connection is supplied by someone else and their filtering is not cutting it, RM will sell you a SmartCache, which is an onsite proxy server. It's big, black, says "RM SmartCache" on the front, and would normally be in the server room rack. If your school has this, you'll need to configure the proxy settings in Internet Explorer to route web traffic via that server. Depending on the configuration, you may also need to deploy a small program called the SmartCache Tracker to each workstation to allow the SmartCache server to identify which user is currently using each computer. In the absence of either of these things... nothing you have done has affected the levels of inappropriate material getting through. Either the staff are imagining things because they are subconsciously looking for things that have changed since the switch, or your ISP filtering has gotten worse recently and the timing means that staff automatically assume the CC3 removal is the cause.

The only potential problem I can think of is that you're going to hit "pathname too long" errors more easily than with a shorter name. Ultimately, the rest of the path is going to be the bigger contributor. Keep your share names short and you should be OK.

We actually looked at these a couple of years ago and ultimately Dell (and everyone else!) just price this kit too high. This is absolutely not a dig at you, but... £783 for a 17" monitor? For the number of times per year I actually need to attach a monitor to my servers, I could hire an agency temp to come in for the day and stand in the server room holding a normal one for me.

Forefront Threat Management Gateway is a completely different product. The problem with a lot of Microsoft resellers is they really don't know the (increasingly complicated) product catalogue very well and they get stumped by any request that is remotely out of the ordinary. I have been assured by Microsoft that is still possible to buy ILM, so I am still pursuing that at present.

According to Microsoft's Live@edu specialists, ILM 2007 is still the one to use, but like you I'm having trouble getting quotes for it because all the resellers think they should be selling FIM which has a completely different licence model, and has no education version. Will let you know if and when someone gets back to me with an SKU!

http://www.smklink.com/library/media/papers/pdf/Pilot%20Pro%20-%20Trifold.pdf If that's the right remote, the instructions for changing the battery are on page 2.

Spot on as far as I'm concerned. The trolls on the TES forums won't like it, but that's the TES's problem until they sort out some proper moderation over there.

Works on Dell Streak on 2.2. (Or at least, the settings box does appear as per the instructions. Will have to test to see if it actually has any effect later!)

"6th from the bottom", I quite like that as a way of describing myself... I think I only got a single nomination so was surprised to be in the running at all. My blog is quite different from the others in the same category so will be interesting to see how this plays out. I think Ray will do substantially better than me in his category, and good luck to him!

So we can't even advertise ourselves? That's a pity.

When I went through 2007 a few years back the broad points I covered were: The Office Button (a.k.a. “Where the hell is the File menu?”) Introduction to the concepts behind the new super-toolbar, the “Ribbon”. Demonstration of new features (Live Preview, context-sensitive elements). A couple of tips & tricks The key thing was convincing the staff that a) they aren't as stupid as they claim they are, and b) all you really have to do with the ribbon is unlearn where all the menus have been for 10 years and actually think about where they would be categorised on the ribon. It's amazing how much easier people find it when they actually think!

I remember last year thinking that the stand was a bit light on displays and branding, and whether that was intentional or not, I had an idea earlier for some displays on the stand this year and wondered what other people thought. Basically, I was thinking about something to raise the profile of EduGeek, and educational geeks in general, amongst people who are not geeks themselves - i.e., your typical BETT attendee. My thinking was a series of display boards with information on the following sorts of topics: A "Hosted Geek" solution "Don't yet have your own Geek? Tap into our cloud-based Geek solution at no cost!" Basically a rundown of how EduGeek benefits schools. Provides peer support Access to a wide range of expertise Sharing of best practices Direct access to supplier support channels (e.g. Smoothwall, Promethean, and others) Your own Onsite Geek "Having your own onsite Geek can actually save you money and provide best value!" Examples of bespoke solutions people have implemented that have saved money vs. off the shelf, such as: Use of OpenFiler to build a custom SAN Use of Xibo instead of expensive digital signage Custom built IPTV A free-range Geek is an effective Geek "Some schools still keep their Geeks cooped up in cupboards with the servers, but the happiest and most effective Geeks are those allowed to roam freely in a stimulating habitat - your school!" Examples of how onsite IT staff can work with all areas of the school to help integrate IT into the curriculum Emphasis on 'local knowledge' of the schools individual needs that you don't get with a shared, managed service Upgrade your Geek "Already invested in a Geek, but worried they are no longer the latest model? Upgrade your Geek's knowledge today!" Talk about EduGeek CPD opportunites (e.g. conferences) Discuss how we evaluate and recommend external courses such as FITS. I'm sure there's more I've missed. Your thoughts?

Having had to take apart an HP laptop to clean a fan not very long ago... this is absolutely SPOT ON.

Basically, if you use PSK you must assume that eventually, someone will get hold of the key. It doesn't matter how obscure you make it. With physical access to connected equipment, there is always a way to retrieve the key from the OS. The real threat is not from the neighbours, but from pupils connecting their own equipment that they've smuggled in. If you are happy that a) you can detect when that happens and b) you are happy to go around and change every client to a new key when it does, then it may well suit your needs. P.S. Setting up RADIUS is not really a "huge project" if you already have a Windows server.

I kow this hapens on Promethean boards but hadn't yet encountered it with eInstruction. What version are you running?