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Questions tagged [desktop-management]

17 questions
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How can I stop the Windows Recovery Environment being used as a back door?

In Windows 10, the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) can be launched by repeatedly cutting power to the computer during the boot sequence. This allows an attacker with physical access to a desktop machine to gain administrative command-line…
Harry Johnston
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9 answers

Starting managed Windows deployment

I want to start providing managed Windows XP images to my users, however I've only done this with Linux servers, and I'm unsure of where to begin. Ideally, I want to start buying machines in groups, but until then, I'm stuck with differing models.…
Matt Simmons
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Getting started with deploying full linux networks

I have been thinking about deploying completely linux based networks, both servers and desktops. I'm familiar with linux servers and linux desktops but not with giving linux desktops to standard users. So the problems I'm expecting to hit are…
gacrux
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Tracking desktop asset assignment

Figured this may be a good place to ask this one, as I'm guessing most of you folk are admins and run across this issue. I'm currently in the process of defining scope for an overall system lifecycle project and having done some heavy research and…
dotalchemy
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Recommendations for the best way to set up an office of 15 to work on-site and from home

I handle an office of 15 employees that need to access their workspace from home and at work and was looking for advice on making things easier to manage. Right now the office is in a workgroup and the regulars who work on-site have their files…
user20464
2
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3 answers

What are pros and cons for using Virtual Machines to manage desktops?

VMs are great for many development tasks but can you use them to 'manage' desktops? I'm thinking of setting up some systems so that they can only execute a VM at startup. This seems like a good way to control desktops and keep them running clean. Is…
Arnold Spence
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Explain the pros and cons of standard desktop OS

In my workplace (c. 750 desks) we have standardised on Windows XP for non-technical users. Technical users can use any OS they like as long as they support it themselves and they sort out the licensing. Quite a few tried Vista, but I think they're…
Richard Gadsden
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What are the Best Practices and tools for managing Windows Desktops from a Linux sever?

I know this is a loaded question! What are the best ways to manage Windows (2000, XP, Vista, 7) workstation from a centralized Linux server? I would like to replace the fuctionality of Windows Domain Server with a Linux box. The following issues…
JJ01
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Measuring end user application performance?

I recently became aware of a problem where we had a proxy configuration issue that resulted in slow performance for users browsing websites. Most of our IT folks have a slightly different config due to the way we access dev & test environments, so…
duffbeer703
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Is it possible to configure Google Desktop Search to index data on sharepoint installations?

I would like to be able to use Google Desktop Search to search data that is stored on other computers, as well as my desktop - specifically, data that's stored on a Sharepoint installation on my network. Is it possible to get the Sharepoint install…
blueberryfields
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Migrating users and machines to a new domain

Due to an acquisition of several smaller organizations we now have to migrate users and their machines (Windows 2000 & XP Pro) from their old domains (NT & 2000) to a 2003 domain. What are best practices? How best to ensure that locally installed…
user1825
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VBscript to Get User's Documents and Desktop folder size

I've been scouring the web for a decent script to allow me to gather folder sizes of subfolders on Windows 7 machines. There's roughly 50 computers I want to get folder sizes on C:\Users\username\Documents and C:\Users\username\Desktop). I have no…
Rowell
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Allow users to login to multiple desktops with all their settings

What is the best way to allow users on a LAN to easily sit at a new computer and have all their settings brought in when they sit there? The settings brought in would be: Outlook / email settings Mapped drives Network Printers…
Tom Willwerth
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How do I troubleshoot slow desktop computers running Windows XP

I maintain a small office of about 7 desktop computers running Windows XP, with a server running Ubuntu. On a monthly basis, I: run CrapCleaner to clean out temporary files and fix registry issues run Defraggler backup their documents, email and…
gillespieza
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What default Windows setting to change to optimize for performance?

Introduction: I am responsible for more than 100 PC's in a medium sized company, and when I install new PC's with the default windows settings, I always wonder which settings could actually be changed to optimize the PC for performance (without loss…
Christian Hollbaum
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