Yes. They do get viruses even with the Symantec Anti-virus loaded and updated.drkelly wrote:So, is nobody concerned about this? I guess Windows computers behind church firewalls don't get viruses??
For now, the Admin computers don't get updates.RussellHltn wrote:I'm setting up a new computer for one ward that has an Internet connection. I've started off by installing Desktop 5.5, but I've noticed that the MS Updates is “locked”. I can't get any updates. I'm wondering if anyone has worked out how our Internet connected machines get updates?
Well, at least the ones with a stock 5.5 setup.lajackson wrote:For now, the Admin computers don't get updates.
Not yet, but if you look (I've got to run), you'll see where DJC has installed SP3 on his machines. Good enough for me.lajackson wrote:I do not suppose the MLS help desk has taken a position on SP3 yet?
I have been running a stake computer fully updated for a few months with no security issues. There are some security settings for IE7 that are less secure than MS recommends in the Desktop 5.5 configuration. To make changes to those settings you have to either make some registry changes or just disable the warning that comes up each time IE7 is opened and live with the settings that are lower than what MS recommends. I have opted for the latter for now. I guess you could live with the warning message also.lajackson wrote:If SP3 is installed, I wonder what other settings in Desktop 5.5 it will override. I do not suppose the MLS help desk has taken a position on SP3 yet? [grin]
The thread RussellHltn mentioned is XP SP3 safe for Admin machines?RussellHltn wrote:Not yet, but if you look (I've got to run), you'll see where DJC has installed SP3 on his machines. Good enough for me.
Given a choice between staying with a known vulnerable level and going with newer settings that may undo some security settings, well, I'll go with fixing the known problem.
Alan_Brown wrote:It sounds like you got some support people who were trying, but didn't really know what they were talking about. As I understand it:It would be nice to get this all straightened out -- there are other ways to update the O/S, but it would be better to have a nice clear answer and an automatic mechanism in place so that we don't have to make this up as we go, with no consistency among stakes.
- There is a mechanism for pushing updates through LANDesk, but it hasn't been used yet. I would theorize that this is dependent on more units being on broadband, but I don't know. I think the O/S update mechanism is a much tougher issue than automatic SAV updates, which you will recall is still an open issue as discussed in this thread.
- Desktop 5.8 is used in FHCs, but is not used for administrative computers at this point.
- I don't know why Clerk Support would send you to the GSD; the GSD supports our Internet connections, but otherwise Clerk Support is responsible for supporting every aspect of our administrative computers.
You have made some assumptions that may or may not be true. The problems with wireless cards can come from many sources. To assume that the operating system that has some deployed settings peculiar to the environment for which they would be used as the sole cause of your problems is rather myopic. Keep in mind the architectural design of the five year old machines, the drivers, the software, the external devices these cards communicate with, and the physical environment all can play a part. There are those of us who experienced problems similar to yours yet overcame them. This tells me that the operating system and its settings were not entirely to blame. The Optiplex 740s obviously are newer and probably have a better architectural design. Being newer the support for the wireless cards is probably better. The drivers may also be more compatible. And the list goes on... And of course there are no deployed settings for the operating system as there are in Desktop 5.5russp wrote:I just received 5-6 new Dell Optiplex 740 PCs for our Stake. I installed the first tonight and as I understood it you don't need any new church Desktop. This is great as the previous messing around with the OS the church support was doing seemed to be messing things up. I could not get any wireless adapter to work reliably on the old PCs. Being an Engineer I was certain something was wrong in the OS (happened on all the old PCs, not just one) as I tried more than one type of wireless card and did all the usual install, uninstall, reinstall stuff you would to debug issues. Now with the new Optiplex with an OS that has not been tampered with it's working great! I of course installed LanDesk as part of the Church security software suite but you should be happy to not be using the old Desktop install if you have a new PC. I hope they don't return to playing around in the OS as it did seem to mess things up.