PhoenixJP.info

Morning, I managed to get Senso locking down my desktops for the exams period and all is good. We moved to Hive at Easter which I didn't have time to deploy so I just used a simple script to install the printer on logon. I'm back looking at it and wondered if anyone has worked out how to get Hive working in a locked down enviroment. Senso have been good finding out all the exe's I need to allow which I've put in a allowed app policy which allows the Hive app to start. The issue now is to lock downthe interent so they only are allowed to the Hive websites (which is fine) but they have to authenticate with Microsoft which is not working. I'm trying to work out how its allowed at present to auth with standard users as I can't see that my predecessor has opened up the Microsoft URL's. I did test a few sites but it seems to have allowed copilot to run on the web which obviosuly is a big no no. I did look at the cloud filtering logs but it didn't show anyuthing blocked. Anyone got any help or advice?

Cumulative Updates and MDT

Fri, 29 May 2026 08:46:09 +0000

Anyone using MDT to roll out Windows 11 and the latest CUs? From what I've found, MS have changed the way cumulative updates work from the April '26 one onwards and it's now more difficult to include them in the build process, but I can't find how to actually do it. Anyone got any pointers please? I've never included them in the past so don't know how it used to work! Stuart

Practical Magic 2

Thu, 28 May 2026 12:34:17 +0000

This has been "in the works" for so long I'd forgotten it was actually filming. Is it me but in this and "Running Man" is Lee Pace starting to look like Colin Farrell?

HP R/T3000 G5 UPS Battery Replacement

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:47:23 +0000

Hi folks, I recently replaced the batteries on our two HP R/T3000 G5 UPS's as they had hit the four year point and were giving replacement audible alarms (I suppose an email alert would have been too useful HP?! Thankfully we have staff that sit outside the server room (cupboard)). The battery packs were replaced with the relevant HP part and I followed both the manual and a YouTube video. Although they're hot swappable, and we have each UPS connected to the redudant power supplies of the relevant hardware, I didn't risk it and shut everything down. Three weird things happened: 1. When the packs were disconnected, the front panel on both UPS's still showed the battery at 100%. No alarms. Nothing. The pack must have been disconnected for at least 2-3 minutes during the swap. Has anyone else find this with a battery swap? 2. Once the pack was replaced, still no alerts or alarms. The manual implies that the UPS will automatically prompt with a test, which it didn't, although I did find the test in a menu and ran it without issue. Has anyone else experienced this as well? 3. I'm sure the manual mentioned resetting the battery life monitoring, so that it will prompt again in four years, but I can find nothing in the menu that will do this other than something vague about resetting power usage. Does anyone know where this setting is, if HP haven't changed things and automated it? On the basis it didn't detect the battery had been removed I'm not counting my chickens. I'm going to contact HPE support with the same questions anyway, but it would be great to hear what others have practically found. Thanks!

IT Network Manager - Chippenham - £43,421 - £51,356 - Closes 10/06/26

Thu, 28 May 2026 10:05:46 +0000

Hardenhuish School wishes to appoint an organised and skilled individual to further develop our dedicated in-house ICT support team. The successful candidate will have an enthusiasm for learning new IT and leadership skills. Experience in an educational setting would be advantageous, although not essential. The postholder will ensure continuity in teaching and learning and maintain high standards of IT provision in line with Hardenhuish School’s priorities. The IT Network Manager will be responsible for developing and delivering a costed IT strategy aligned with the school’s development plan, as well as managing the ICT Support Team and ensuring timely and effective responses to requests and incidents across the organisation. This position is for 37 hours per week, Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 4.00pm, all year round, with 26 to 31 days’ annual leave. IT Network Manager at Hardenhuish School, Chippenham, Wiltshire | MyNewTerm Vacancies – Hardenhuish School

Staff shared drive structure & permissions – how are you managing yours?

Thu, 28 May 2026 09:41:25 +0000

Hi all, I’m doing a bit of fact-finding and would really appreciate hearing how other schools are managing their staff shared drives. In particular, I’m interested in how you handle structure and permissions. For example: Do you allow staff to create folders at the root of the shared drive, or is that locked down? Do you enforce a standard folder structure (e.g. by department like Science, English, Maths), or let departments/staff organise things themselves? Who typically manages the content and structure within departments – IT, HoDs, or someone else? How are you handling permissions – open access within departments, or more granular (read/write/restricted areas)? Have you found a good balance between keeping things tidy vs giving staff flexibility? I’m reviewing our current setup and trying to decide whether to move towards a more controlled, structured approach or keep things a bit more flexible. Would be great to hear what’s working well for you (and equally anything you’ve tried that didn’t go so well!). Thanks in advance 👍

We're Hiring! Teacher of Computer Science at GLF Schools

Thu, 28 May 2026 08:32:04 +0000

💻 Teacher of Computer Science – The Beacon School | GLF Schools Are you passionate about inspiring the next generation of digital thinkers? We’re looking for an enthusiastic Teacher of Computer Science to join our thriving and forward‑thinking Computing & IT Faculty. At The Beacon School, you’ll help deliver a rich, ambitious curriculum that builds students’ digital confidence, technical capability and computational thinking. 📍 Banstead, Surrey 💼 MPR/UPR (Fringe) 🗓 Start Date: 1st September 2026 ⏳ Closing Date: Sunday 7th June at 11.59pm 📚 Full‑Time | Permanent Apply here: Teacher of Computer Science

Python - VM or direct install?

Thu, 28 May 2026 08:00:42 +0000

We’ve been running a Zorin VM on Virtual Box for a few years now to allow access to Python however I want to re-evaluate how we make it available for the students. Pros No Network Access so no risk of DOS attacks against most infrastructure. Gives CS students experience of another OS. Cons Large File Size. Performance Impact on Host PC. Saving files through the Shared Folder can be confusing for some students. Still allows students to cause mischief in their homedrives / AppData folders via the shared folder (thankfully not seen any evidence of this though). If I install Python locally, it appears that there are no networking modules installed by default that would allow much mischief and I can block installing modules by blocking Pip.exe using AppLocker. As a backup I can also block any network activity at the Windows Client Firewall, whilst still allowing users to save files. Am I missing anything or would this essentially be as secure as using the Virtual Machine? I know that a user can’t do anything using a script they aren’t already allowed to do and I am confident my security settings are appropriate but a layered security model always seems worthwhile to me. It would be great to know how you currently manage this or if you have any suggestions if I should ditch the VM or not. I know some schools use an online Python editor but I'd prefer not to due to Exams. Thanks for any advice.

Chrome slow to start and slow to upload files on Win 11

Thu, 28 May 2026 07:45:17 +0000

Hello to all who come across this, 2026-05-27 About a month ago my Chrome browser became very slow to load and very slow to upload files. Once loaded tabs worked fine but if I had to upload a file there was a long delay. I tried everything I could find on the web to no avail. Then I installed the following update from Microsoft:- 2026-05 Preview Update (KB5089573) (26200.8524) This appears to have fixed the problem With Slow Chrome start-up and uploading files My System:- Processor AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six-Core Processor (3.60 GHz) Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.9 GB usable) Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti (985 MB) Storage 519 GB of 2.27 TB used (System SSD) + 2TB Spinning drive System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor No symptoms on my laptop which is configured roughly the same. I hope this helps others with the same issue.

Smoothwall Slowness

Wed, 27 May 2026 15:20:44 +0000

Hi all, Just checking if anyone is in the same boat as us, for the past couple months we've had a few reports of websites not loading for a couple mins on first boot but after it has loaded everything is fine. I think I have pinpointed the issue to being the smoothwall cloud filter extension not being able to communicate with the unified client and causing it to hang. If I bypass the extension everything loads fine, is anyone else experiencing this? I'm waiting on Smoothwall getting back to me. Thanks!

MS Outlook - Half of email bodies just.. not displaying in the sentbox? Old draft cache?

Wed, 27 May 2026 14:20:01 +0000

We're seeing issues here where a user will send an email and their Sent Items copy of the email is missing chunks of it. A good chunk of the email body will be there, but then it'll just.. stop. Mid-sentence. Mid-word, in some cases. Email signature is there, though. 2 different users, 2 different devices, 2 different software (one in Outlook for Desktop, one in Outlook Web App) If you check the sentbox on another device, you see the whole email, and the recipients have confirmed that they do get the full email too. I've noticed in one of the emails that's been forwarded to me along with a screenshot from the user's perspective, some sentences are different, for example. So it looks like maybe it's displaying an old draft cache instead of the actual email that was sent? Waiting to hear back from the user to confirm. Anybody encounter anything like this before? Finding nothing on Google, too many people talking about sent emails ending up Drafts rather than anything related to my issue. Edit: Yep, user has confirmed he composed the email over the course of an hour or so and did reword some bits, so definitely looks like it's displaying an old cache of the draft rather than what he actually sent.

Arbor and School Synergy

Wed, 27 May 2026 13:44:49 +0000

Does anyone have any experience using Arbor with School Synergy Attend that they would be willing to share please? Attendance Leads from some of our schools have seen a demo and believe it fills some gaps in Arbor's attendance module but I'm not sure if this is a training issue or a genuine need for additional software. Thanks Jon

We're hiring: IT Technician (North London) Salary: £30,755 - £36,085 + LGPS pension ...

Wed, 27 May 2026 10:00:38 +0000

💻 IT Technician – North London | Lift Schools Looking for a hands-on IT role where you can make a real impact every day? We’re recruiting an IT Technician to support schools across our North London region, helping colleagues and students use technology confidently and effectively. 📍 Based at Lift Aylward, N18 💰 £30,755 - £36,085 + LGPS pension + wellbeing cash plan 🚗 Travel expenses between schools covered 📈 Excellent development opportunities including Google Workspace, Chrome OS and network training Perfect for someone who enjoys problem-solving, learning new skills and working across a variety of technologies in a fast-paced education environment. Apply and read more here: https://tinyurl.com/bdhj8hhj **APPROVED**

Chrome Remote Desktop

Wed, 27 May 2026 09:29:03 +0000

I've been trying to run Chrome Remote Desktop to test some limited access to a couple of PCs, mainly to ditch our old VPN for something more modern as we don't really need access all that often However on the client end (on site) the 'This device' page always shows offline I have the following whitelisted in our smooothwall which seems to be their recommendation: remotedesktop.google.com remotedesktop-pa.googleapis.com chromoting-client.talkgadget.google.com chromoting-host.talkgadget.google.com chromoting-oauth.talkgadget.google.com We're not a google school so access to Gmail isn't allowed, so I'm wondering whether we have to allow something else google related as it will not connect?

What WiDi alternatives are you using?

Wed, 27 May 2026 08:27:28 +0000

Hi all!, We're currently in the midst of decommissioning most of our Microsoft WiDi adapters around the school and are looking for some alternatives that other schools may have experience using. On the cheaper end, we've tried J5Create adapters, but found these to be just as inconsistent as the WiDi's have become. On the other end of the scale, we've also demoed Vivi and found it to be good (I thought it was excellent), while a little bit more expensive than our DFO is willing to shell out at the moment (especially for a school-wide deployment). If you have any experience with any other adapters/wireless display systems, I'd love to hear about it! For the record as well, it'd be good to know if some schools have just ditched wireless display tech altogether (in the classroom) for the most part - this is an idea we've been floating around for a few months now too. Cheers! Thanks in advances, CB.

Unifi vulnerability - Critical Security Advisory Bulletin 064

Wed, 27 May 2026 07:26:45 +0000

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere, apologies if it has I could not seem to find a post for it https://community.ui.com/releases/Security-Advisory-Bulletin-064-064/84811c09-4cf4-42ab-bd61-cc994445963b

Exam Restrictions Intune Policy

Tue, 26 May 2026 18:38:10 +0000

I am doing a log in config for exam accounts - disable spell check, grammar, proofing, shortcuts, hot keys etc. Had a very confused AI conversation that concluded the Office config policies OCP are now deprecated and we should use Purview, which we’re not licensed for, or Intune polices, which don’t really seem complete enough. What do you think? If it’s just Intune polices I could just set HKCU keys with an AutoIT scripted ‘Word.exe’ so any account could open Word with these settings applied, which would be nice.

Recommend me free toner recycling companies

Tue, 26 May 2026 18:18:49 +0000

Years ago we had charities that collected old toner cartridges for free, they gave you a cardboard box, fill it toner cartridges and call them up. Well it seems the one we used to use is no longer in business as it's being that long since we rang them for a replacement box as the number of unmanaged printers has considerably dropped so we have a box of old toners being a dust collector. Can anyone recommend any companies that would collect old toner cartridges for free.

Dell Latitude 5320 laptops will not shutdown

Tue, 26 May 2026 15:27:26 +0000

Hello all, If anyone has any dell latitude 5320 laptops. Can they try doing the latest BIOS update (either from dell or windows update) and tell me if they keep on turning back on when you connect a USB-C charger or not. Have confirmed Lid Switch, wake on USB Dock and wake on AC are all disabled in the BIOS but all 25 we have just reinstalled and updated are doing this.

Allowing teachers to reset a students password from office 365

Tue, 26 May 2026 12:17:40 +0000

Hi all. We want to allow certain teachers to change student passwords using the admin center. I have used co pilot to help me set this up. I have created an AU, popped a test student in there, then added a test teacher account to the Password role for that AU. When the test teacher logs in, they can see the student account, they can change the password. But it only changes it for Azure. We already use SSRP, so the write back is turned on. I have tested it again my own account, going into the azure user page for that account and changing the password, it does write back. But for some reason, when you do an "admin" change of a password, like from Azure console, it does'nt. The passwords go out of sync. Any ideas? I don't want the students to have to register for SSRP, likewise I don't want to have to put AD tools and MMC console onto teachers machines to change the password on AD! Its just a simple process I want for a few teachers to be able to hit the admin webpage and change student passwords. Co Pilot says SSRP is a differant route, hence its working, but what I am doing is a sort of admin password reset. It suggests the below, is this correct? On the Students OU: Open Active Directory Users and Computers Right-click OU → Delegate Control Add: 👉 Azure AD Connect service account Grant: ✅ Reset user passwords ✅ Force password change ✅ Write lockoutTime Thanks.

Why the difference in Samsung Prices ?

Tue, 26 May 2026 08:05:49 +0000

Hi Considering ordering a new A56 for my daughter.... Not sure why such a difference in price - are they all legit Please help ! https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DVZSLDSN/ref=vp_d_cpf-substitute-widget-prsubs_pd?th=1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/SAMSUNG-Mobile-Phone-Galaxy-256GB/dp/B0DXQZZYF3/ref=sr_1_4?th=1 Thanks

Network health Alerts

Mon, 25 May 2026 05:50:10 +0000

Good morning, Do any of you have software setup that alerts you if the internet is down, your server reboots, or other network health info? I need something to alert me when I’m not there. Thankyou.

Promethean amplifier

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:43:19 +0000

All.. We have multiple Promethean classrooms where the PCs are connected to ceiling speakers via Promethean amplifiers. A bit like the Promethean AV-3016 if you need to look it up on EBay. The amplifiers are starting to give in after nearly 20 years worth of use (who knew?!). Can someone recommend a cheapish alternative? We contacted Richer Sounds with a similar query (including a note of the old model), who are quoting £250 for a Cambridge - I don't know if that's good/bad/indifferent. It's the same price on Amazon, if that goes for anything. They don't need to be fancy. A couple of phono inputs to speakers. The old ones say they're 100W - which'd surprise me, but what do I know?

Aruba or Unifi

Sat, 23 May 2026 21:01:28 +0000

We have some schools that have just joined our trust that have had new Aruba CX switches and Aruba APs installed just before joining and they also use Aruba central to manage the devices. Our other 3 schools use Unifi switches and APs so I’m torn weather to go down either some Unifi or Aruba route so I want to know what others would do, either ditch Unifi and for Aruba or ditch Aruba and go Unifi? The schools are primary schools and as I’ve not used Aruba with Aruba Central before, I don’t know if this solution is overkill and more expensive? Would love to hear peoples thoughts