Search the Community

we use securus on a nearly daily bases and it is getting clogged up with old violation data and old users is there any way of removing the old UN-needed data

Hi there, We have had smoothwall network guardian, for nearly a year, and it's renewal is coming up soon. (The recent renewal quote I had was £2000 for the next year). So I'm currently looking into alternatives to see if I can get an easier system to use for better value, as a lot of smoothwall's functionality we don't use. All I really need is group based filtering and internet logging. I'm aware the product has a great rating on edugeek which is one of the reasons we bought it last year. It has been better at filtering then RMs safetynet system we used before it, but there are a few things I hate about it: The interface is horrible, it should be task based not divided into confusing submenus. The most common tasks are not on the home page (ban site, un-ban site, reports). The interface is slow, reports take ages to run - although this could be the server spec Using NTLM login, means that annoying login boxes pop up whenever an updater program runs (non-ntlm app) confusing users. The aforementioned box then requires the domain\user syntax which confuses users even more. Laptops which are plugged into the network and use wireless - smoothwall sees as two devices and so uses two licenses - to be fair smoothwall did increase our licenses for free when this happened. I have been unsuccessful so far in getting it to work with guest access using ruckus guestpass. dual authentication, guest access etc I'm also thinking about changing back to RM's system (which we get as part of the internet connection) then using a product like securus or policy central to log violations. So students learn to use the internet responsibly. So in summary: Is there an alternative to smoothwall that logs, and allows filtering by AD group? or is smoothwall the best system? What does everyone think about going the other way and using securus to counter student misuse of the net?

Hi, We currently use Ranger for network security, Smoothwall for filtering and ABTutor v6 for Classroom management. We also have Ranger in place and I was considering ditching it because version 7 was a joke - Ranger Central LOL. Ranger hasn't really changed since V5 - We only really use it rarely to find out who used a PC last. It was essential in Win95 era but now things have moved on with group policy etc It seems a bit redundant. I'm considering changing from Ranger and ABTutor, to either Impero or Securus (unless there is a better product I havn't considered). The reason for changing from ABTutor: ABTutor v6 is in use by a few teachers but they often don't use it because of a few issues. It often crashes on client PC's and I almost always get the message abtutor had a problem send error report when I logon to student Pc's as an admin. Staff Laptops with a wireless conncection can't show their screen to 30 student PC's because there isn't enough bandwidth to do so- so it crashes. Staff can connect to computers in a different room - often when they choose a room to connect to it connects to a few PC's in a different location - This could be a DHCP\DNS issue though. Whenever the program gets updated we have to visit lots of laptops to update them, and meanwhile have inconsistent versions across the site. - It looks like impero has a central console to avoid this problem? The product is very standalone in it nature - I would much prefer a central console which teachers then connect to. At the moment policies (like banning the internet) are set very differently depending on the teacher, and they get confused by polices a previous teacher set. - I want to set the polices then teachers turn them on or off, The one good thing about AB is the price, much better value than either of the alternatives I'm considering. Do you get what you pay for? Does impero have these problems? I know Securus and impero do two different jobs, - but they often achieve the same result - students on task and maintaining the security of the network. The big problem with securus is the cost, so it might be more useful at the moment to first of all consider ABTutor vs Impero (since they do the same job). So ABTutor vs Impero. Is the grass greener on the other side?