updating a non accessible machine. how?
 

i need some ideas on how to do this:

in a highschool, theres a glass case where we put a computer, it has a powerpoint presentation going on a loop all day. it posts current info like sport evens and shit like that.

now we need a way to update without opening the case every few hrs (student traffic etc... )

it has a network connection so what's your thought on this?
:confused:

edit: (i'm just trying to help my dad fix this up so i canot do the updating so try to keep it as detailed in case i dont know since i'll have to show him or some other tech )

Update it with what?

Most AV software and Windows can be confgured to update (both download and apply updates) automatically on a pre-defined set schedule. Daily, hourly, weekly...as configured.

Content? Any reason why can't you remote desktop or otherwise manage the machine remotely? Maybe you could have the machine pull it's power point presentations or other news from another machine that you do have access to.

What OS? What kind of network? What's at the other end of the network connection?

-bear

yes.. i need to update the POWERPOINT presentation.
it's on a school network so i'm not sure of the settings.
it's a WINDOWS XP pro machine.

is the remote desktop way fast?

Depends entirely on the network...but for all intents and purposes it should be plenty robust enough for this need.

At the same though, if it is just a single powerpoint presentation that loops, then instead of the PP being on the machine in the case, that machine could map a drive to another machine that is out of traffic's way, and easily accessible by your Pop...then he could update at will, away from the madden crowd, and without even touching the cased PC.

OR...

Perhaps if just the display was in the case, but the PC somewhere else...

Really the options are extensive, it just depends on so many factors specific to the environment.

With the info so far, I'd go with a mapped drive I think.

-bear

If your father has administrator rights and the computer is in a domain (or workgroup) he can just go to another machine and connect to the admin share on the "computer in the glass case".

For instance, if the computer in the case is called GLASSCASECOMP; then all you dad needs to do is go to another computer on the network and go to START -> RUN and type \\GLASSCASECOMP\C$ and press enter ... this will open up the c: drive on his local machine.

c$ is the admin share of the c: drive; d$ is the admin share of the d: drive ...

Then he should be able to navigate the drive just fine. If it's not in a domain you can still do this if sharing is turned on and you are logged in as administrator on the local machine.

Or you can share a folder and put the PPT in that share on the GLASSCASECOMP machine.

As j8ear pointed out: the solutions are endless.

cool thanks guys! very appreciated. i'll let him know the possibilities. I hope it's not too complex for him.

Only thing I'd add is that these steps will get the Powerpoint file updated just fine. . . assuming that it's not currently running when you attempt this and you just get write-lock errors.

I'd have to say that Remote Desktop would be your best bet so that you can copy the files to where you want them and still relaunch the viewer afterward.

It would be funny to walk by the case and all of a sudden see the powerpoint dissapear, a mouse cursor come up and begin to do funny things, and then scream "ZOMG SOMEONES HACKING TEH GIBSON!!!!!!!!!!1111one"

:D

I think a mapped/shared drive is way better than VNC/remote connection in this case.

liquidlight is right though ... you'd need some way to stop the current PPT in session otherwise you wouldn't be able to overwrite ...

Several utilities come to mind though ... and all of this can be scripted.

Another thing I thought of while doing it at work is quite the opposite of Remote Desktop in this sense. Set up VNC Viewer on the kiosk computer, and set up VNC server on a box you have physical control over. Simply modify the PPT on the Server machine and voila, the screencaptures sent to the Viewer are correct. There might be a few issues with color/capture rate, but you can tweak those..