Cat_Jam148

Happening here... CPOMS can't seem to manage a week without something going awry lately

We've been using Securly filter here since November - works as intended and support is pretty good. Licensing is per device.

We've used one of these outside for a few years now https://www.proofvision.co.uk/outdoor-tvs/lifestyle/ Not as bright as the other posted options but we find it to be bright and clear enough in direct sunlight

Box has just been delivered Cheers Very PC!

Yep, got similar issues over here - also noticed that our admin centre is running very slow. Looks like Microsoft is sweating a bit this morning.

We've just deployed Securly and I can't recommend it enough - gets a thumbs up from me

Why can Google never leave anything alone? I understand the need to change things up eveynow and then, espcially when there is a tangible benefit, but this just seems a bit silly. Side note, RIP to all the wonderful things that Google has killed off over the years after it has gotten bored with them https://killedbygoogle.com/

Support site has ground to a halt - not a good start LGFL

Yep, we run the entire software suite here with no issues on Windows 10 Edu 1909 64bit. Get in touch with them and ask for the latest installers. The .bat file they include for automated manual install gets swatted down by UAC these days so disable it temporarily or install all the .msi packages through GPO. Launcher works fine here.

Always had an interest in the world of IT from a young age - helps that my Dad was always into tinkering with computers and whatnot. Early on, around Year 5/6, I was always the 'Teacher's Pet' type who would help to setup the computers for our lesson and pretty much decided then that I wanted to work in School with computers. Fast forward many years and my first job out of Sixth From was for an Apprenticeship at a Primary School working as a team of two. Seven years later, still working here, but now a team of one! Can't complain - I love the job, the 'no day is the same' work load, the fact that i'm pretty much my own boss and the atmosphere. Oh..and the holiday time is good (Term Time + 2 weeks here).

No problem - glad it helped somebody.

Mostly PAT Testing, a little bit of cabling work and a chance to update a few things on the server. Hoping to be out of here by Wednesday. So far I've had only one interruption...and it was for cake! I think I can let that one slide.

Silly question, have you updated the drivers on the upgraded systems? Not just the updates device manager sometimes finds, but updates from the OEM? I had a couple of our i5 Lenovo machines struggling till I updated from Lenovo.

It's a system called Webscreen, which I believe is a version of netsweeper.

Exactly what we do here. Teachers are always making use of the phone system and I'm not sure how our main office would cope if there wasn't a phone in all the classrooms. They also play a key role in our lockdown procedures.

A 2.5m long x 2m wide cupboard with a workbench, located right at the front of school next to SLT offices. Shelving takes up most of the room. Does get hot in the summer, but it's better than sitting in the IT Suite. It's amazing to think that there used to be two of us in here

Indeed, I fully expect this to happen at some point. I was just pointing out that we've had no issues running it on Windows 10 and neither have any of our local schools. Anyways, the deactivation of the activation service isn't going to really impact us - I can persuade a new 11.4 install to work without activating against the server if needed, and I intend to have us on 19 by the end of this year anyway.

One of those customers here - not had a single issue with running 11.4 on any version of Windows 10 for the last 5 years. We're running a mix of 1809 & 1909 at the moment (LTSB before that), update over WSUS regularly and haven't once had to "continually re-install" - the drivers continue to work, even using an in-palce upgrade. It may break some day, but for the time being we'll continue to use 11.4.

Well...it was good while it lasted. For those who are looking to license the new version of SMART, don't forget about purchasing your "1 Year Non SMART Hardware License" for each device that you use SMART Notebook on interactively but isn't a SMARTBoard or Panel. It's only £690 each device every year....

We switched on the HTTPS filtering a few years ago and haven't really had any issues with it. Looks like you've got the majority of things sorted out. For our guest network, we have a slice of our IP range that doesn't have the filtering enabled as it was decided it would be difficult and time consuming getting guests to install certificates on their personal devices. When a device joins the guest network, it gets put onto that IP range. Just a heads up that the HTTPS filtering only affects Google services, all other internet access is unchanged. If staff are on your WiFi, they'll still receive e-mails and use the internet if they know the web address or use Bing (Shudders) etc... It's only Google/Youtube that throws up a cert warning.

If you need something cheap and cheerful, we've got one of these in our offices: https://www.amazon.co.uk/SAMSUNG-M2026-Monochrome-Printer-ML-M2026/dp/B00YU62K3K/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=hp%2Blaser%2Bprinter&qid=1579769482&sr=8-7&th=1 Not the fastest machine but does the job - Don't think i've ever had to clear a jam from it and the cheap 3rd party toners also work a treat

CBC Computers based up in Sheffield - Great guys who always seem to be considerably cheaper. When they're not , they'll beat nearly all.

That's what we do. We have this on our contact page: "If you require paper copies of any of the information found on our website, please contact the school office. These shall be provided free of charge."

Our website was built by Greenhouse School Websites - they have a rather large catalogue of fairly good school websites in their portfolio Should be enough to get some inspiration from.

^ This A tab or box on the homepage with a bunch of quick links seems to work well. Get people to your newsletter, term dates, calendar etc... without having to crawl through menus. Also, no matter the design, having up-to-date information is key (duh...). There are so many schools in our local area with websites that look like they were last updated over a year ago. Yes, you may have a fancy designed site but your information is a year out of date.