New Clerk PC hardware - 2021

[Biggles]

These days when most clerk or executive secretary tasks can be done from home anytime during the week, what use cases would require a word processor or spreadsheet program on the clerk computer at all?

If members bring in talks etc to be printed. It helps to have a good word processor available!

[Mikerowaved]

Feedback from the Technical Product Manager: "CHQ Desktop Engineers are aware of the issue where Sophos and other apps not intended for Clerk computers are installed during the provisioning process. A fix is in the works and no user interaction will be required to remove these applications.

I was hoping the new provisioning tool would set some flag preventing Sophos from installing, but [sigh] such is not the case. Just saw my test machine install Sophos overnight.

By the end of the month, new computers will ship with 20H2. 21H1 isn't yet certified with their environment.

Maybe they're looking broader at 21H1 than just clerk PC's, because MLS should be able to run on just about any platform and that's the only app I see of real concern for clerk's offices.

[russellhltn]

These days when most clerk or executive secretary tasks can be done from home anytime during the week, what use cases would require a word processor or spreadsheet program on the clerk computer at all?

All I know is I see a ton of Write and an few Calc documents when I replace computers. Program, agendas, directives, instructions, etc.

Sure, a number of things CAN be done from home, but especially if there's any printing involved, that's not necessarily how people want to do them.

[Mikerowaved]

All I know is I see a ton of Write and an few Calc documents when I replace computers. Program, agendas, directives, instructions, etc.

I do too. Some sensitive docs are password protected, which is pretty easy to do with LibreOffice.

[craiggsmith]

These days when most clerk or executive secretary tasks can be done from home anytime during the week, what use cases would require a word processor or spreadsheet program on the clerk computer at all?

All I know is I see a ton of Write and an few Calc documents when I replace computers. Program, agendas, directives, instructions, etc.

Sure, a number of things CAN be done from home, but especially if there's any printing involved, that's not necessarily how people want to do them.

I'll see when I set these new ones up, but historically most people were using Google docs and printing wirelessly from their devices.

[craiggsmith]

So I did a full reinstall of Windows (21H1) and again it prompted for a church employee login, and again installed Sophos after the initial provisioning. So I'm pretty sure it's the same issue you are having. I'll call support again and see if I can get someone more helpful.

The support person today said the behavior I am seeing with these two machines is because of a random beta-test they are doing, but he couldn't find the email with the solution. We'll see when they get back to me and what they say, but seems odd, the other explanation seems more plausible.

Interestingly Sophos disappeared off the one machine I hadn't done a full reinstall on yet. So I did a reset on the one that I had, and so far it hasn't installed Sophos. I sort of wish it would revert back to the original configuration though, as now it has a bunch of apps that can't be uninstalled (such as xbox). I know there is a way to get rid of those, I did it on the ones I am replacing, but it's not critical.

So support called me back and said what I saw was something that got installed on 2000 machines, and they gave me a specific email address and login to use when setting them up. But now that they are set up and Sophos is off I'm not sure I want to go back and start over.

But is there any way to go back to 20H2 on the machine I did the full reinstall of Windows on? I'm surprised the recovery option doesn't go back to the original Windows version.

[russellhltn]

At this point, the only way I know of to "go back" is to take an image off a new system that hasn't been turned on yet.

[craiggsmith]

At this point, the only way I know of to "go back" is to take an image off a new system that hasn't been turned on yet.

Ok thanks.

[craiggsmith]

The only machine I was able to install LibreOffice 7.2 on was the one I reinstalled Windows on (to 21H1). All the others, both those that I didn't touch and those that I did a system recovery on, error out with a 2502/2503 error.

[russellhltn]

The only machine I was able to install LibreOffice 7.2 on was the one I reinstalled Windows on (to 21H1). All the others, both those that I didn't touch and those that I did a system recovery on, error out with a 2502/2503 error.

You might try running CMD.com "As administrator" and then running the LibreOffice installer from CMD.