Illinois - Public Access Computing

Steady State Network

2009-10-30T22:20:45Z

I have MS Steady State installed on the Public Access computers running XP SP2 with the latest hot fixes. All Public Access computers are on a new network with a central server. My trouble is I have check marked the "Remove the Search icon (Windows XP only) but the search in the Start Menu still shows up and is functional. Why? How do we remove the search feature completely?
Does anyone know where to find the MS Steady State help board?

Richard

Disabling proxy settings

2009-10-21T17:22:24Z

We are using IE and Firefox as our browsers of choice in our Student labs. We do have problem with tech-savy stduents who change these settings.

Is there a way we can lock changing of proxy settings for firefox. I know of a registry setting for IE

RE: SteadyState and Sysprep - do not lock profile ever!

2009-09-02T19:47:50Z

Hello. I didn't get any responses on here when I asked this question, so I ventured out and asked a collegue that uses Steadystate and I have found his advice to be very useful.

First, off I did not use sysprep at all. Before I installed Windows SteadyState on the computer, I added the public profiles as regular users and the administrator profiles to the computer . I then went in and set up the software in each profile - Office, Media Player, I.E. 8 and the children's games that I found will work on Windows XP with no problems. After getting each profile set up and the desktop the way I want it, I then used Norton Ghost 2003 to image all 66 computers. Once an image was created, I logged back into the computer and renamed it to a different name. Remember that I have not loaded Windows SteadyState yet onto these computers. After every computer had been re-imaged, I then installed Windows SteadyState on each indivdual computer separately. Remember all the profiles will show up in WindowsSteady State and then you add the permissions to each profile. Do not lock the profiles until you are sure everything works according to your satisfaction.

This way when you need to reghost a computer, you can uninstall Windows SteadyState and the profiles will remain on the computer because they were not created using Windows SteadyState. Hope this helps someone. Thanks.

RE: steadystate and save to desktop

2009-09-02T18:42:05Z

Hello. It looks like I am in the problem solving mode today. I have been working with Windows SteadyState on Windows XP for about 3 weeks and have figured out a solution that will work. I unhide the C drive, Allow users to save to the desktop and have unchecked Prevent users from saving files to the C drive. Once I do this I then go into the registry and hide the C drive. So that way your customers can save to My Documents and the Desktop, however they cannot see your C drive and its contents. The directions are below.

1.Click Start -> Run type regedit in the box and click OK
2.Navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer

3.From the menu, navigate to Edit -> New -> DWORD Value
4.Name the New Value NoDrives

5.Next, Right click NoDrives and select Modify, now check the Decimal option and under Value Data enter a decimal value for the drive you would like to hide. For example to hide C you would enter 4. See the list below for more values:
A=1
B=2
C=4
D=8
E=16
F=32
G=64
H=128
I=256
6.Click OK once finished and restart your PC to verify the drive letter is no longer displayed
Note:

SteadyState and Sysprep - do not lock profile ever!

2008-05-13T19:04:17Z

Just in case this saves someone else the frustration and time I have spent... if you are configuring a computer with Windows SteadyState to clone using Sysprep and you've locked the profile even once during testing, you are SOL. The Handbook states that the profile must be unlocked, but that's not actually good enough. The Webjunction manual doesn't mention this either.

http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsToolsandUtilities/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1984622&SiteID=69

RE: Digital cameras and public access computers

2009-05-04T19:46:06Z

Have you tried using universal card reader/writer? Don't have to mess with any software - especially all the unique cameras people bring in.

I bought a Universal 32 in 1 card reader for under 13 dollars at Wal-Mart. Easier to use than a flash drive.

Solves a lot of problems.

Rebecca

RE: SteadyState and FrontPage 2003

2009-04-13T13:24:01Z

Not sure why the posts aren't showing up but...

I did figure this issue out a while back and I want to update. After many moons of searching for an answer, I figured out that the proxy server we use (Squid) has an issue with the way that FrontPage authenticates and logs into the server. When logging in as admin the proxy server is not being used and FrontPage works fine. This led me to believe that it had something to do with user rights/SteadyState. Newer versions of Squid apparently address this issue.

Public Acess Computing

2008-12-30T02:34:37Z

Thanks to the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation ;Some libraries would'nt have computers; mainly rural, and enter cites; many poor children would'nt otherwise have usage of a computer period.

Keeping staff flash drives from getting stolen

2008-12-05T19:51:18Z

Wondered how anyone else solved this problem--

I keep various installation programs on a little Kingston flash drive, and then install to our public computers from it. Since I have to do this work while we are open, and I can't just sit there and wait for programs to install, I leave the flash drive in the PC and go onto some other task.

Twice now, a drive has been stolen while the computer was unattended. I'm trying to figure out how to secure one somehow. Would it hurt to wrap magnetic tattle tape around it? Are there any flash drives that have a case I could unscrew and hide the tattle tape inside? Or perhaps there is some kind of locking keychain that could contain concealed tattle tape and cannot be separated from the flash drive? Any ideas welcome!

Digital cameras and public access computers

2008-11-10T16:23:28Z

My apologies if you are already familiar with this, but it has been coming up with increasing frequency here. A patron will come in with their digital camera and want to upload pictures to a website (e.g., MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, an email account, etc.). Most current cameras have a setting that must be adjusted manually to use the camera like a USB drive. For us, this is the only way the camera will work with our public access computers. Of course, for each camera, the method to do this is slightly different with slightly different wording, but can usually be found by working through the camera's settings menu. And, unfortunately, some cameras (usually older ones) do not have this capability (they are expecting you to install software to use the camera which will not work on our setup).

RE: Changing passwords on public systems

2008-11-05T17:27:20Z

I don't understand why you have passwords (we don't, just 4 users: admin(not the real login & it has a password, Patron, Games, LibraryCatalog) but you should be able to reset the passwords using remote desktop. I myself like remote desktop but, there are somethings that you just can't do with it so I also use UltraVNC (for when I need to log onto a patron profile. I don't give profiles other than the admin, the ability to use remote desktop). As far as being able to do a little command prompting.........sorry i believe that ability went out the window when you installed SS.

RE: PAC Installation Download

2008-10-15T19:12:56Z

pritam shah:

Any one have PAC installation link, I have PAC zip but after installation it gives Activex error.

- Pritam

To which piece of software are you referring to? Ours at Meigs is simply a weblink.
Dan

RE: Windows SteadyState 2.5

2008-10-15T18:54:53Z

Sorry that I haven't gotten back to you sooner. I took a little vacation time (Stayed home and worked for myself building an addition on the house. Not really a vacation!) but, I'm back now. Anyway, to answer your question. Yes, I use the disk protection. I turn it on after I clone the drive. I haven't tried turning it on, then cloning it. That's an interesting experiment waiting to happen I think. I wouldn't even think of not using the disk protection. It's you fall back position. If a patron does find a way to get a virus or add software, rebooting to change it back is an easy out. Much better than the bad old days of W9x, when a computer spent almost as much time on my desk (waiting for a fresh install) as out on the floor for our patrons.
Dan

<edit>
I see that I should have read what I posted closer. I discovered that the problem with the profiles came about because of the cloning of the drives. Everything worked fine UNTIL I changed the computer name. Can't have 2 computers with the same name. It appears that SS uses the computer name as well as the user name to create the profile. Once the name is changed, the profile will fail to load properly. Renaming the computer back to the original name will cause the profile to load but, then you have 2 computers with the same name. So i have been cloning the OS & changing the computer name THEN adding the profile.
</edit>

PAC Installation Download

2008-10-02T11:22:51Z

Any one have PAC installation link, I have PAC zip but after installation it gives Activex error.

- Pritam

RE: Public Computing Access Management System

2008-08-29T19:39:02Z

Huh...I've been meaning to write up a summary of our experience on this front. Thanks for the impetus!

We were one of the few customers of 3M's Public Access Management System (PAMS). When 3M announced in July 2007 that they would be discontinuing that product in one year, we thought that would be plenty of time to run through the process and purchase a better system for our Library.

Whew...it was a close one. It took all of a year to RFP, evaluate, train, and install the new package that we chose.

We sent out RFP's to every vendor on the market, and received 4 proposals before the deadline (t months after our request). We received proposals from SirsiDynix (reselling Envisionware), from 3M (who moved to reselling Comprise's SAM), from Librarica, and from Veicon.

Our request for proposal included lots of stuff we needed, and lots of stuff we wanted (two separate things: needs were defined by current library policy, wants were mostly efficiencies and things we could do better is only to software woulkd allow us).

NEEDS: -Filtering levels that could be changed by the patron, if allowed.
-Patrons could get onto a wait list for a public computer without staff assistance.
-Print Cost Management
-Cost that was less than the exorbitant cost of what 3M's PAMS product was costing us.
-Could fit into our current hardware/network environment

WANTS: -light need for staff-training
-great technical support
-easy setup/rollout/maintenance
-would last the System for three years, minimum

The responses were very detailed, and applying the parameters above we agreed to narrow the pool to Envisionware and to Librarica's Cassie product. Both hit a majority of our wants and needs, and we would set up trials of both systems in lab environments to compare the two systems.
______________

Unfortunately none of the respondents offered a NATIVE filtering capability, like PAMS did: Envisionware and Cassie both noted that they had experience integrating with 8e6 Technologies filtering appliance, and that they could also use those devices in concert with allowing flexibility about who could change their filter level. We could also, just as we could with PAMS, allow parents to make the filtering choice for their dependents, without worrying about the dependents changing that level.

Given all of that, we ended up choosing Librarica's Cassie product. The top reasons were that:

- it satisfied all of the conditions
- it was amazingly easy to install (while both Envisionware and Librarica offered great tech support during our testing process, Librarica was the only software that our tech-staff could install within minutes. Envisionware required five hours on the phone with Envisionware techies to install even the basic testing environment).
- Over a three-year period it actually allowed us to cut costs a bit on providing this service, even with the need to purchase and license server 8e6 Filtering Appliances.
______________________

So far, we've been extremely happy with our decision. Our staff rolled right into the new software with little training, and patrons were at least not angry about the change (they didn't miss anything that they had been doing with PAMS that they couldn't do with Cassie).
______________________

FYI: Our library: 10 locations
50 Public Stations
50 Staff Stations
2 seperate networks: one for public and one for private computers
3 Dedicated IT Services Staff (including me!)

Public Computing Access Management System

2008-08-28T18:49:01Z

I have not found any recent tech articles in Webjunction on this subject. Does anyone have an evaluation of Public Computing Access Management Systems, ie. Envisionware, Library Guardian, Cybraryn, that they would be willing to share.

Even a list of the componenets found in such a system or a recent RFP we would be nice.

RE: Windows SteadyState 2.5

2008-08-28T15:32:59Z

Dan - Thanks for adding your experience. I am wondering what the most important improvements in this version have been for you.

From your description of the profile issue, it sounds like you aren't using the disk protection, or does this happen even with disk protection on?

Dale

RE: Windows SteadyState 2.5

2008-08-28T14:15:37Z

SS 2.5 is MUCH improved over 2.0! I've been using it on our patron computers for about 2 months. Started with it about a month before that while setting the patron boxes up. I am using it on both XP & Vista (yes we took the plunge w/Vista). Once SteadyState came out of beta, we went live with Vista. The beta was just what yo would expect of a beta. After all it IS for testing. Anyway, the only quirk that I have found so far is: Once in a while SS will not be able to update a profile. I've found that these profiles have been logged onto and something didn't complete correctly during log off. So Vista needs a reboot, log-on as the admin, then lock the profile.

RE: Re: MS SCT: Disabling Drive Protection...

2008-08-26T16:11:12Z

Hey Kern -

Glad to hear that worked out for you. It's always a bit of a minefield combining security tools, but often it's the only way to get the setup you want.

Dale

RE: Re: MS SCT: Disabling Drive Protection...

2008-08-25T22:04:03Z

Sorry for the late reply...

Yes, I wanted to use DeepFreeze due to its network control of multiple machines. (DF Enterprise 6.)

I did un/reinstall MS SCT without the drive protection, then installed DF. Works great...

kern