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Ever since Windows 7 was launched, I’ve had a steady stream of people asking me if I know of schools who have implemented Direct Access . Direct Access allows you to setup your staff laptops so that teachers can always have secure access to your school network wherever they are, but without forcing them...

The Windows 7 team announced it will be available on October 22nd – that’s the date in the stores, so I don’t know if we’ll get the version for education (ie the Volume Licence version) any earlier. Even if it was earlier, I can’t believe it would be in time to roll it out before the end of the summer...

Continuing my thread of half-term learning snacks, this one’s is shorter (only 7 minutes long), but talks about a feature which you may want to think about to help your teachers. Here’s a scenario that may well have happened in your school: You allocate a teacher a laptop They use it in school...

A teaching friend spent the half-term hobbled by the fact that their computer had been infected by a worm. And as it was half-term, they’d not been able to get support from the IT team at school, so they had spent a lot of time trying to fix their laptop themselves. What is odd is that it’s a school...

To the famous Diana Ross tune I’m Coming Out * I’m BitLocker’d up, I want the world to know, Got to let it show, I’m BitLocker’d up, I want the world to know, Got to let it show… I don’t know why it took me so long to get started. My new laptop has a TPM chip in it, and even though...

With the news this week on Information Security guidelines for schools – and the obvious need for encryption on teachers’ laptops from now on, I think it would be timely to remind you how to ensure that you buy the right licences for Windows Vista – so that you get the licences for BitLocker, which is...

And, boy, do they take some reading. We’re rocketed from ‘ worry, but I can’t tell you why’ to ‘ this is what you should really worry about’ , in a mere 125 pages. How does that make you feel? For the minute, if you want all of the specifics on the Becta Data Handling guidance, you’re going to have...

I’m continuing to read the new Becta guidance documents on Information Security, and think about the consequences. After a few discussions with people, and comments from others here and elsewhere, I thought I’d try a to create a visual way of understanding where we are. This is by no means definitive...

I have a colleague, Ed, who’s a legend around here. He’s the Microsoft UK Chief Security Advisor. Obviously that’s a bit of a mouthful, which is why we call him “Ed the Fed”, because of his career history – which obviously makes him an ideal person to ask about Information Security. ( I was going to...

According to recent research , 900-1000 laptops go missing every week at Heathrow ... that is 52,000 a year. Worldwide, 800,000 laptops are lost or stolen at airports every year. Even more incredibly, the survey also reveals that many travellers fail to take any steps to protect the information contained...

Why on earth I'm writing this on Monday morning, I have absolutely no idea. It's bad enough that it's Monday morning. But writing about licensing? Am I mad? (Well maybe - watch the comments flow from my colleagues!) The reason to write about this now, at the beginning of term, is that it's the...