Original Post
I was talking to my school librarian today about the state of the school computer lab. Right now there aren''t that many computers but more will be added in the future. The problem: if you''re sitting at the librarian''s desk you can''t see the screens of the computers. And lots of students have been messing around and otherwise ''vandalizing'' the desktop, deleting icons, making new ones, and visiting ''inappropriate'' sites. The computers are running win2000 under a student account with as few privilages as possible. She started looking at ID''s before allowing people in the lab but that only helps a little. Plus, there''s no more money left in the tech budget for the rest of the semester. So...my solution: install VNC (www.realvnc.com) on all the computers, set it up as a service so people can''t shut it down, and install the viewer on the librarian''s computer. That way, she can monitor the screens of students, especially those who have violated the library/lab rules in the past. That way, the poor woman can get actual work done without getting up and walking to the lab every few minutes for the 8 hours the lab is open every day(she''s the only employee in the library/lab and the lab''s used constantly). I suggested this after she described a similar program other libraries use but we can''t afford. I don''t want to invade anyone''s privacy but people do bad stuff when she''s not looking and she can''t stop them right now.
So....any suggestions? Comments? I''d really like to help the librarian solve this problem.