Crispin

What about the inevitable move to vista/windows 7? From what I understand sms2003 won't be capable of deploying these os's.

I am trying to find an efficient method of distributing application icons throughout the school when we move away from CSE in the summer. At the moment we have tested the following: \\[server]\[share]\startmenus\[room]\desktop \\[server]\[share]\startmenus\[room]staff\desktop and \\[server]\[share]\startmenus\[room]\Programs \\[server]\[share]\startmenus\[room]staff\Programs etc... and these are applied using folder redirection through group policy. I was wondering how others accomplish this? Is this a relatively 'normal' way to achieve the desired effect on a vanilla network? Would there be an alternative method, perhaps using SCCM? Thanks

You know I quite like it. Would it be possible for this to be imbedded into learning platforms, specifically sharepoint, MLG? Would it be possible to 'share' searches etc.. between accounts? I could see it being used in that context, or perhaps by younger students. I would also make it possible to hold the left mouse button and drag left and right on the 'itunes' style results page. Also, making the list view sortable by title, description etc..

Sorry I'll clarify. We want to sync 4 exchange accounts calendars. All accounts are owned by members of the IT support dept. including myself. Our accounts would be members of the domain administrator group. So is it not possible, since we're all domain admins, to prevent editing of eachothers calendars? My NM is adament that noone should be able to alter his calendar. He lives on outlook.

If I do any private work for teachers its usually around £20 an hour or if its a big job i just make it one lump sum of say..£80 for a day job. (ie reinstall of windows etc..)

Thanks for this, will definitely be helpful for tomorrows meeting. I am not aware of the conference but I can always ask for you, if you'd like.

Having a strange problem here, we are trying to share all the members of the IT support departments calendars through outlook 07. We have sent share invites out and accepted all and each one had the message 'reviewer' when adding, so that should be right for read only. When right clicking the shared calendar in the navigation pane, clicking properties and then permissions, it shows that the user has 'Read - Full Details' and no write permissions assigned. So this should all be right but somehow we are still able to edit eachothers calendars. Maybe I'm missing something really obvious but none of us have had previous experience with this! Could it be a setting within exchange? Any help would be very..um..helpful. Thanks

Yeh I think I would like to see how the pilot schools are using it, just to be sure. Apparently it integrates with our CMIS so that is a bonus. Although on the website FAQ it seems to suggest it is mainly to compliment an existing LP, so not sure how they're going to try and sell it to us as a complete replacement, which is what they'll be doing. I'll let you know how the meeting goes on Thursday.

I have just taken over the VLE technician role in my school and we are currently looking at alternative to skillspace's learning platform. We have a meeting with the marketing manager of the new Essex CC's VLE, Escimo. Escimo - Collaborative Online Learning Has anyone looked into this LP? I'd be appreciative for any feedback with this. I'm a little worried it'll be yet another failed attempt at finding an LP. In my opinion skillspace is awful and I don't particularly want to be in the same position again. Thanks

I'm BT.

I've been having a lot of problems with youtube the last few days. Ok at school, not at home. Strange.

Anyone else find this a little strange?

I personally would refuse point blank. Any requests to copy music/dvds I say no to. A Guide to Copyright Licensing in Schools for more info

"Apples new iGlasses range not what punters expect"

Don't speak of Bargain Hunt that way. I drive home every day to watch that show...dont tell anyone.

CSE has become completely obsolete here. Anything workspace explorer has offered us is already available using the start menu and good group policy. Now obviously some schools may not have the time/resources to be doing that and need a quick solution, but at the cost of licensing CSE through a large school? Not for us. However the issue that I'm plagued with the most is how damn resource hungry workspace explorer is. It completely sucks the life out of the PC, and with McAfee installed aswell the boxes just grind to a halt. This is the .NET version by the way. Now I have said in a previous post that CSE has been good for us in terms of application and printer deployment. But now, with 2008 printer deployment isn't an issue anymore, and a copy of wininstall LE and some GPOs solves the other. CSE recovery manager has been unreliable at best, although not the worst backup solution i've seen. I never use the network toolkit for users etc.. as I do everything through AD, so you are right when you say CSE doesn't take away full control. All in all, its just not necessary for us. I'm sure some people are more than happy with it but I've never really understood a need for it, never liked it, never will do. *My opinion, not my employers.*

Also, you can run the WSUS client diagnostic tool found here: Microsoft Windows Server Update Services Tools and Utilities

We get them from a local company called Silicon Alley here who does very good prices for us. But when they're gone they're gone kinda deal. We also have a printer cartridge 'minibar' set up with them, which means we don't spend nearly as much time ordering cartridges, they just do it. It can be worthwhile making strong links with the local companies.

Wow I can't believe how few mice you get through. We just bought 200 logitech mice, only £1 each. Hopefully they'll last the year but who knows. 800 desktops here though. We actually keep all the dead mice and repair pretty much all of them, they usually just need resoldering.

for that wage i'd walk there.

Im running 7 x64 RC1 and am getting a similar problem with RDP. All servers connect fine except one (the one i use the most, file storage) which max's my CPU and network. At the moment Im using the XP VPC to remote to that server. Are you having similar strangeness with ur CPU/network usage when RDPing?

In fairness the servers that were supplied by CSE around 5 years ago have never failed and have not needed a single component changing. However, the switches that were installed were already obsolete at the time of installation, so now, they're ancient. Hardware was all good, until they stuck the CSE software on it all and ruined it. We're trying to claw our way out of CSE and after the network overhaul this summer, hopefully we'll be able to do that. Haven't had any dealings with the company personally so can't give an opinion really..

kill it! kill it with fire!

Me: 11 months My NM: 15 years! Hard to imagine. Same school aswell. Crazy.

Thanks Simon, much appreciated.