We have applied a couple of emergency updates today to resolve issues that have been occurring for the past few weeks and that have affected teaching and staff within the University.

The first issue is that for a few weeks now, ever since reconfiguring workstations to no longer use the SHU proxy cache a number of external web sites have been exhibiting slow performance which has affected teaching.

The Sophos Web Intelligence service is implicated in this behaviour. The advice from Sophos for disabling this feature is to change our workstations Sophos policies to change “Download Scanning:” from “As on Access” to “Off”, which we have done for all workstations.
A restart is required for this to be implemented and although the change does improve the behaviour of many of the problem sites it does not improve the behaviour of all problem sites, so if other sites are reported please let us know so that we can keep track of them.
In the longer term we intend to update Sophos to the latest client that also resolves this issue.

The second change is to add a setting to allow documents to open from the Staff Intranet and other locations automatically without asking for the user to re-authenticate.
This update also requires a workstation reboot, and quite possibly two in order to be fully implemented due to how the local Webclient service operates.

After successful testing initially within Networks and Infrastructure and then on the designated test workstations within the SLS Service Groups we have started rolling out MD7-Patch-02 to all MD7 2011 workstations.
This is first patch is a series of three that will update MD2011 workstations to MD2012, so most of the workstations that install this update will be MD2011 Office workstations.

Internet Explorer 9
The main update delivered by this update is Internet Explorer 9.

IE9 will not install if it is already installed on the workstation, if the workstation is a Finance workstation or if Raisers Edge is installed due to compatibility issues.

Updates installed by Patch 02

• Install IE9 x86 and IE9 x64 (for 64-bit workstations)
• Install QuickTime Player 7.7.2
• Install latest version of SilverLight 5, 32-bit and 64-bit versions, if required
• Install Microsoft Mathematics Add-In for Word and OneNote

Delivered by SCCM
The update will be distributed to all workstations in a phased rollout. The update will be delivered only when a user is not logged in.

If no user has logged in between the patch starting and completing then the workstation will automatically restart, installing IE9 as part of the shutdown and restart process.
If after the patch has completed installing a user has logged in then the workstation can be used as normal and IE9 will be installed during the next shutdown process.

In order to resolve a reported issue with media files failing to open correctly within a web browser, the MIME types for all media files have been altered so that no file will open with RealPlayer.

All media files should now use either QuickTime or Windows Media Player, and play embedded in IE9.

After successful testing initially within Networks and Infrastructure we have started rolling out MD7-UserPatch-04 to all MD7 2012 workstations.

The update will be delivered via the loginscripts to all users on MD2012 workstations where their existing profile is has _UserPatch set to 4, which was the default level for the MD2012 release image.

The patch applies extremely quickly as is just a few registry settings.

Updates applied by the Patch:

• Alter HKCU file associations to be the requested ones
• Remove Proxy Cache setting
• Enable Bcc to show when creating new emails

The main update delivered by Patch-04 is to correctly set the media file type file associations for users as requested by staff so that most files will use either Windows Media Player or QuickTime.

This patch is in conjunction with workstation patch 05, which set the machine file associations, but as explained previously, it’s the user ones that are the important ones as these take precedence.

For a list of file associations on a standard MD2012 workstation after Patch-05 and UserPatch-04 have applied see File Associations for MD2012

After successful testing initially within Networks and Infrastructure and then on the designated test workstations within the SLS Service Groups and with no issues reported we have started rolling out Chrome 23.0.1271.64 to all MD7 workstations.

This update will be applied to the workstation the whilst it is at the ctrl-alt-del screen. The software is being distributed this way as Chrome will not update successfully if it is in use.

Chrome 23 resolves a number of security issues, includes an updated version of Flash Player and introduces new functionality since the previous update.
For more information see http://googlechromereleases.blogspot.com/search/label/Stable%20updates

After successful testing initially within Networks and Infrastructure and then on the designated test workstations within the SLS Service Groups we have started rolling out MD7-Patch-05 to all MD7 2012 workstations.

Delivered by SCCM
The update will be installed via SCCM and will be distributed to all workstations in a phased rollout. The update will be delivered whether or not a user is logged in.

Update to File Associations
The update is a small update that will update a few settings and files (some of which have already been distributed via other methods to resolve an specific issue quickly) and is required as this will alter the Workstation default File Associations to the ones requested by lecturers.
A further User Patch will be distributed later this week that will alter the User default File Associations, and is actually the more important one as user settings take precedence over workstation settings.
Information about the alterations to the File Associations has been published via emails to teaching staff and within eView.

See file associations for md2012

The updates included in Patch-05 include:

1. Updated screensavers with the new SHU logo
2. New file associations within HKLM
3. Add registry keys to add a mime type to allow Office files with macros to be opened from SharePoint.
4. Add registry settings to stop Mount Point folder disappear in share folder
5. Update MD7-PowerOff.ps1
1. will ignore if msi install is set to ‘Waiting Disabled’
2. will not switch workstation off if booted less than 20 minutes ago

Update only for MD2012 workstations
In case anyone is wondering, this patch has been distributed before Patches 02, 03 and 04 as it is specific to MD2012 workstations.

Once existing MD2011 workstations have had these patches applied to them they will become MD2012 workstations and will then apply this patch, but as yet these patches haven’t been released.

In order to make it easier for staff to include addresses in the Bcc address field this field will now display automatically for all new emails.

On behalf of Nigel Williamson, Head of IT Support, IS&T (SLS)

For the new Sheffield Hallam University logo to be readable in signatures, emails should be composed in HTML format.

Currently, you can choose this option manually (see instructions for brand templates https://staff.shu.ac.uk/marketing/brand/brandtemplates.asp).
 
From the end of the month, the University will make this process easier by changing Outlook settings to make HTML the default format for composing email.
 
This will happen automatically and you probably won’t notice the difference unless you have a reason for sending emails in a different format.
 
The change will take place during the log in process from Monday 29 October.
 
Please note, the new logo should only be used in external emails. It is not necessary to include it when sending internal email.
 
If you have any questions, please contact IT Help on ext 3333

we are currently investigating allowing new posts within the blog to automatically appear as emails within Outlook, within the RSS Feeds folder in order to ensure users are kept informed easily without the necessity to visit the blog for information (see attachment).

If you would like to be part of this investigation please email me at cisspa@exchange.shu.ac.uk so that I can add you to the necessary group to enable this.

Outlook signatures are stored as individual files within your Windows 7 local profile, so do not transfer between workstations.

It is now possible to transfer your Outlook signatures between MD7 workstations by using the ‘MD Help’ application that is available on the MD7 Start Menu.

To transfer your signature:

1. On a machine with the signatures you wish to use elsewhere, Open MD Help
2. Select the ‘Self Service Tasks’
3. Select the ‘Back Up Outlook Signatures’
4. On the machine where you wish to use the new signature, select ‘Restore Outlook Signatures’

The Backup function creates a copy in your Homespace so you can restore you signatures to any MD7 workstation you wish as often as required.

Please note that selecting the Backup option will overwrite any existing backup file in Homespace with the signatures on the workstation so please only do this if you wish to update your backed up signatures for use elsewhere.