Category Archives: Staff Windows 7

Removal of Java from Windows 7 Service

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As you may be aware there are a small number of Windows 7 machines on Extended Support with Microsoft which for various reasons cannot be upgraded to Windows 10.

The version of Oracle Java on these machines is old and contains vulnerabilities. Java cannot be updated without incurring licencing costs. The Windows 7 machines are only supposed to be running specialist equipment – not providing a general service. Therefore it seems sensible to remove Java from these computers. Machines that act as clients to the Building Management System are excluded from this change.

From 7am on 17th September a script will be deployed to remove Java from Windows 7 machines.

CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION AND HELP?
Please contact our Service Desk at it.services@lboro.ac.uk for more information

Update to Windows 10 Staff Re-Image Task Sequence

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On Friday 14th August from 8:00am to 10:00pm, the Windows 10 Staff Re-Image Task Sequence will be updated. Support for a new model of Dell Laptop will be added.

The Task Sequences will be at risk during this period. It is therefore recommended that you do not attempt to image any Windows 10 staff computers at this time.

CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION AND HELP?
Please contact our Service Desk at it.services@lboro.ac.uk for more information

Deployment of Java 8u172 to Windows Staff Service

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We shall be deploying Java 8 Update 172 to the Windows Staff Service (Windows 7 and 10) beginning next Tuesday.

The rollout plan is:-

  • ITS and Careers – 25th Sept
  • Professional Services – 8th Oct
  • Schools A-M – 11th Oct
  • All Staff – 17th Oct

The user will be offered the update each day until the installation is successfully completed. For the first two weeks the installation can be postpone if the timing is inconvenient. After two weeks the installation becomes mandatory.

CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION AND HELP?

Please contact our Service Desk at it.services@lboro.ac.uk for more information.

Upgrade of Oracle Java from version 7 to 8 on 22 computers where users formally used Discover Plus

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A number of machines have been prevented from updating to Java 8 because the user need to use an obsolete Oracle web application called Discover Plus. The student systems team have confirmed that this application is no longer required and that these machines can now be updated. The machines are mostly in the Academic Registry.

They will be updated from 7am on Friday 3rd August.

CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION AND HELP?

 Please contact our Service Desk at it.services@lboro.ac.uk for more information.

Update to Wireless Drivers on Windows Services

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As part of the ongoing Wireless Refresh project, we are updating wireless drivers on the Windows Services (Windows 7 and 10)  to the latest versions available.

The update takes less than 5 minutes. It can be postponed if the timing is inconvenient to the user.

The rollout schedule is as follows:-

  • Professional Services – Tue 22nd May
  • Schools A-M – Fri 25th May
  • All Windows Service –  Thu 31st May

CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION AND HELP?

Please contact our Service Desk at it.services@lboro.ac.uk for more information.

Synaptic drivers on HP laptops on Windows Services

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We now intend to complete the update of the Synaptic Touchpad drivers on the Windows Services (Windows 7 and 10). Owing a technical issue this update as withdrawn on 20th February. Since then it has not been possible to resume the update due to sickness, industrial action and annual leave.

This update removes a potential security vulnerability.

The rollout is as follows:-

  • Monday 16th April – Windows 10 laptops & all HP Spectre XT laptops
  • Wednesday 18th April – Windows 7 machines (except HP Spectre XT laptops)

CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION AND HELP?

 Please contact our Service Desk at it.services@lboro.ac.uk for more information.

Change to Office365 Pro Plus activation on Windows staff PCs

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The activation method for Office365 Pro Plus (a.k.a. Office 2016) on Windows 7 and Windows 10 staff PCs is being changed.

Using the current method (shared activation), Office applications can only be launched when connected to the internet. We are therefore changing Office365 Pro Plus installation on staff PCs to use user-based activation. This will activate Office in the name of the first user to use it on a PC.

Should this result in a user exceeding their maximum number of Office activations (10), instructions for deactivating computers they no longer used are available at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/it/staff/365/faqs/.

PCs which have Visio or Project installed already use this activation method. Lab PCs are not affected by this change.

What will the user see?

The change itself is silent and does not require or cause open Office applications to be closed. The first time a user launches an Office application after the change they will be asked to accept a license agreement. After that, neither that user nor any other user on that PC will see any prompts resulting from this change.

Timescale:

The change is being rolled out with the following schedule:

13/03/18 – IT staff, IT Services and Careers

15/03/18 – Professional Services

20/03/18 – Schools beginning with A – M

22/03/18 – Everyone else

This change has already been made in new Office installations installed during Task Sequences or via Software Center.

CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION AND HELP?

 Please contact our Service Desk at it.services@lboro.ac.uk for more information.

Cyber Essential Group Policy Blocking

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Introduction

Due to the Cyber Essential certification, a group policy has been created in order to prevent file types from running from certain locations. This can cause existing installed Programs or new installations to be blocked.

Link: – http://www.lboro.ac.uk/it/staff/specialist/security/cyber/

The group policy is now only linked to Staff

Name: – IT-EUC-Win-Nessus-Staff

If software is already installed or new software is required to install, the following messages may pop-up for the end user….

When the blocked message is displayed, it will write a ‘Warning SoftwareRestrictionPolicies’ to the Event Viewer
e.g.
Access to C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\7zSD349.tmp\setup-stub.exe has been restricted by your Administrator by location with policy rule {5b564272-ae6a-4dc5-8066-cd68438edece} placed on path C:\Users\ccgjh\AppData\Local\Temp\7z*\*.exe.

You can use this message to identify what file is being blocked and by what rule

File: – C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\7zSD349.tmp\setup-stub.exe
Restriction: – C:\Users\ccgjh\AppData\Local\Temp\7z*\*.exe

Logging a case

If you experience this issue, identify from the message or event viewer which file is being blocked and add to a case and pass to EUC

Files blocked in the downloads folder

When software is downloaded in to the downloads folder, they are blocked from running. This is to ensure the end-user is confident that they have selected to install software they have downloaded from a 3rd party source.

Moving the file from the downloads folder to the desktop or OneDrive will stop that particular restriction. Please not however that if the installation files require to be run from an additional blocked location such as %localAppData% then the file will still be blocked and a case for EUC will have to be raised.