Crispin

Yes we will, in the past we've bought the monitors seperately from dabs but if the price is right... I agree with the memory thing, but unfortunately we're so tight on funds this year, due to a complete overhaul of our network, server, switches, fibre to each room, new domains etc.. that we're penny pinching at the moment. Stupid I know! But again, if the price is good then I'll take as much memory as I can.

No, we will be sorting a new school agreement out so licensing shouldn't be an issue for now. Although I totally agree, my NM doesn't. Although this would obviously depend on the extra cost. RTB 1 year minimum. With our previous supplier they picked up faulty equipment (local company), so didnt think about that! Thanks for the recommendations.

If anyone is able to provide me with a quote for some desktops it would be most appreciated. We are moving away from our regular supplier due to multiple ongoing problems. Specs Req'd: Dual Core Proc, AMD/Intel but Intel preferably. 2Ghz+ 1GB DDR2 SATA HDD - 80GB+ Front USB Warranty included. No DVD-ROM required. If anyone is able to provide a rough cost or can direct me to a good supplier Id be most greatful.

We're currently trying to set up and deploy Mscape software for use with some old PDAs we have. One of our TAs is obsessed with PDAs so we thought it'd keep her busy for a while Check it out here: Mscape – Get Out and Explore and theres an HP Mediascape school edition here: HP Mediascape Authoring Toolkit C

My work PC with 7 x64 Proc: AMD Athlon x2 5400+ (5.9) Memory: 4GB 677mhz DDR2 (6.9) Graphics: (3.9) Gaming Graphics: Geforce 7600GS (3.4) HDD: WD 320GB (5.8)

I've just installed Windows 7 on my PC at work and Im having an odd problem with RDC. 7 connects to the majority of our servers fine, but when connecting to one in particular, my CPU and Networking maxes out and the RDC is incredibly slow to the point of a full stall. I have noticed though, that even on the servers that I can remote into, the CPU usage is still unusually high. Anyone else found this? I'm trying to connect using the RC1 of 7 to a range of servers, 2000, 2003, 2008. The main one I'm having a problem with is 2000, although I can connect to other 2000 servers fine. Ive tried RDC settings turned to their lowest and their maximum etc... Any ideas?

The Da Vinci Code. You know when someone comes up to you and says "oh you havent seen that film?! oh you have to watch it, its definitely something you'd like", its probably not for you. If that happens 3 or more times I'll refuse to watch it until I've had sufficient time to forget about the recommendations and then watch it.

Thanks for all the responses. I honestly have trouble seeing how you guys could afford Macs in the quantities you speak of. After just a little browsing, it seems I'd be able to get 4 PCs for 1 decent iMac. That's a hard argument to contend with. I'll most likely be looking at purchasing mac mini's if anything, but obviously peripherals/monitors may be a problem. Another worry is that we won't be able to fix any of the gear if it breaks. If a HDD or a memory stick fails, I'd really be annoyed if I couldn't change them. I think I would have to find a very decent reseller with a discount or perhaps invest in some refurb machines to offset the cost. Although that would obviously effect aftercare/warranty. Can't we all just agree to use PCs? ..please?

I don't! They aren't worth the money, this is the problem. My original plan was to get 5 so, that would be just about viable. I do think that they need a little exposure to the way they work and how to use them, mainly because in some working environments, mac knowledge would be a big plus. Im not a fan of Macs, even though I've never used one, I can tell we wouldn't get on well. This is putting me off a bit to be honest. One other thing is that an auditor of some kind (and i did verify this) was assessing the media department and a very slight criticism did cite the lack of Mac books. I personally think its a stupid statement but if they could be used to at least open their eyes to a different operating system, open office etc... that will benefit the students I think. It's all about money really, I have a meeting about it Thursday to discuss the possibility. I have a feeling it'll get thrown out immediately. Perhaps thats not a bad thing! Good idea. I'll check this out. I'm sure the local uni would have some we could sniff around.

I'm possibly considering a project to get a new media suite in place. Initially I was thinking gettin 20 PCs and 10 Macs to pilot it. They would be in a purpose built media area which will also house the radio station. Some issues come to mind. Firstly, none of us have any experience of Mac products. I've never even used one before. I'm doing some research currently but I doubt I'll have access to any until/if they arrive. Also, they'd be offsite, there would be no domain access as far as I can tell. They should have internet access but we'd need to consider them to be standalone machines. I doubt we'd be able to look into VPNs. We have the CS3 suite for both PC and MAC so I'm really struggling to find good reasons to need them. So I need to know is it worth it? Are these people that say Macs are great for media right? I have no idea so i'd like to know if getting a suite of macs would actually be beneficial for the students, and how. Thanks chris

That is correct yes. I will try applying a policy pointing them to an incorrect address. Thanks for the advice.

Hi all, We have recently given our science department 20 laptops and a trolley. All the students do is play games and stream video. They're killing the access points so we need to prevent internet access on these machines. We are running the old ISA 2000 for our proxy which I'm not too farmiliar with. Can I add a Computer group rather than a user group to our 'Banned Internet' access rule? How would I go about this? Is there an alternative way to stop them from accessing the proxy. I just need a way that I can 'break' their IE either through the proxy/group policy. I'll do some googling in the mean time while i eagerly await a response Thanks Chris

Apologies if this has already been linked to, but here is a conficker cleaning tool provided by BitDefender, for those who can't access sophos. Remove Downadup - Removal tool for Downadup (known also as Conficker or Kido) Seems like quite a nice tool. Testing in our ICT Suites after school today, although we don't have any infected machines thankfully. Works across the network using AD so you can deploy to all PCs at once. cb

Hi all, Just wanted to get some feedback from anyone who uses/has used SCCM on their network. I'm downloading the trial at the moment to test on my home network on a hyper-v machine. Are there any major issues or gripes people have with it? In terms of value, is it worth it? I've been trying to decipher Microsoft licensing for SCCM and am utterly confused. Would anyone be able to give a ballpark figure for how much it would cost to license a network running around 800 desktops and 200 laptops? Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks!

Well its 8k more than mine. A wage like that would allow a lowly tech like me to live very comfortably. At the moment, after bills and rent I live on £10 a week more than what id get on benefits. Thats not including feeding myself by the way! Makes you think.

Thats a pretty good budget to work with. Perhaps something like this then: dabs.com - HP ML115 G5 Opteron 1352 Quad Cor (480570-035) Only one HDD included though but there's some good deals on Dabs worth looking at..

My schools a ten min drive...I'm lazy.

I have a home server, using server 2008 32bit with DNS, DHCP, WDS, file storage etc... This is the mobo: GIGABYTE - Product - Motherboard - Overview - GA-MA69VM-S2 (rev. 1.0) I run 2gb ram but upgrading to 4gb this weekend in preparation for upgrading to 64bit to try out the hypervisor/terminal services and SMS. Unfortunately according to the webby it only uses Raid 0,0+1 but it gives you an idea, and I'm sure theres a relatively similar alternative. I run it 24/7 with a decent-ish PSU and not had any problems at all yet. Temperatures are steady at around 30c and hdds at 45c ish. I don't run any raid setups as I use Acronis to backup my 1TB internal to an external hdd. Acronis's Agent is attached to the three clients I'm running, so it backs up all my local files on my main PC, but also backs up all my video rips on my media PC downstairs. Its awesome! Also, Windows Server Backup comes in quite useful but I may end up running a mirrored pair of HDDs at some point for the C drive. I personally would build from scratch, its a lot more satisfying than having a soulless HP sitting next to you. Also, if you wanna save some money I'd go with AMD for the server and stay with Intel for the main PCs you work with. Saves money, and I haven't really noticed any significant downsides to using AMD in my server...

Thats a damn good wage, wish I lived in London...well sort of.

The interview with Stewart Lee and Armando Ianucci which was shown afterwards was an absolute classic. Not sure if its something that'll be put out again, but I'm sure it'll turn up on youtube somewhere!

Anyone else catch 'Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle' on BBC2 tonight? I haven't laughed that much in a long time. If you missed it, iPlayer is your friend.

If Jade wants to die in the public eye so be it. I won't be looking. If people want to gawp at her in magazines then that's their choice. I personally won't be partaking in that activity. She is just one of millions of people who have been through the same, if not more traumatic times. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I've had close family members die of cancer. It happens, you deal with it and get on with the short blip of a life we all have. Give it a year or two and people won't even remember her. Its sad but there ya go..

I'd have the songs from the Fallout 3 soundtrack

Sorry no idea, not my school. My girlfriend teaches in the area and she linked it to me thinking I would go for it. Considering I've only worked in IT for less than a year, I thought I'd swiftly dump it in the forum and step away.

Don't help your friends!