Quick Fix for Student Wallpaper
Kenn's
20001203: Quick Fix for Student Wallpaper
December/2000
Tech
Notes
Tech Note #3
There are a number of schools which use custom bitmap wallpapers for student users for a number of legitimate reasons, including for example showing students' names on the desktop, making it easy for the student to find his or her assigned workstation. For this reason, LockIt95 does not prohibit the use of wallpaper for locked users, although it does prevent unlocked users from using wallpaper.
This is in fact the only restriction imposed on unlocked users which is not imposed on locked users! The benefit of this arrangement is that the teacher can see at a glance if a student's session is locked or unlocked. If you can see a white, dark blue, or bright red desktop, you can be reasonably certain that the workstation is currently unlocked, at a supervised, teacher, or tech user level, respectively. If there's any wallpaper, or the cyan or sky blue desktop, the session is locked.
Unfortunately, locked users can still change the wallpaper from within Internet Explorer, Netscape, Paint, and any number of other applications.
Fortunately, Keith B came up with an ingenious and quick fix for this problem: use the same technique as the students! All you need is a plain bitmap or GIF file containing a pixel the colour of the desired desktop, and you can fix the desktop without having to unlock the computer.
To make the change using Microsoft Paint:
a. You will need a 1x1 bitmap file of the colour you want the desktop to be: cyan for student, sky blue for studentl. The bitmap files can be readily created in Paint, or downloaded from our ftp site (student.bmp and studentl.bmp).
b. Save student.bmp and studentl.bmp to a floppy diskette.
c. Open Microsoft Paint.
d. Open the bitmap file from the floppy: student.bmp for a right-handed user, studentl.bmp for a left-handed user.
e. Save the file to the Windows directory.
f. Choose "Set As Wallpaper (Tiled)" from the File menu.
To make the change using Internet Explorer:
a. Enter the URL for the background you want: ftp://tech.wsd1.org/pub/info/student.gif for a right-handed user, ftp://tech.wsd1.org/pub/info/studentl.gif for a left-handed user.
b. Right-click the image and choose "set as wallpaper" from the drop-down menu.
DISCLAIMER: This document is intended for the reference of computer support personnel within Winnipeg School Division No. 1. There is no warranty or liability if procedures recommended here have an adverse affect on any systems. Use them at your own risk. Any trademarks mentioned are the property of their owners, none of whom have certified any information provided here. Opinions expressed here are personal only and do not represent the policy of Winnipeg School Division No. 1 or any other organization anywhere.
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2001 June 9 |
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