Patron Internet Machines

[Loretta Gharst]

We used to use Winselect and WinU on our public Windows 95 machines with Norton Anti-Virus and IE.  Reference staff constantly had to reboot the machines.  We took off Norton and it worked a little better, but the PCs continued to need to be rebooted multiple times daily.  We decided when we switched our library automation system to a web based OPAC that we would change our security on the public PCs.  We took off Winselect, and WinU and instead used Poledit and made some other registry changes to mostly lockdown the PCs.  Staff no longer has to reboot the PC.  Every once in a great while someone will get through our homegrown security, but it's usually because we left a "hole" open when we setup the PC. So we learn and close the hole.  

Most of those PCs are running IE4 in Kiosk mode.  So some patrons complain about not having the toolbar and icons, but it is much better than constantly hanging.  Our public NTs use IE5 complete with icons.

We are looking at the possibility of moving to Windows 2000 next year after we have researched how our legacy software will respond  and cost of upgrading/replacing.  We hope for more security options and remote control options.  Our experience with third party security software over the last eight years has been full of highs and lows, mostly lows the last few years as we have not found a product that doesn't create more work in the long run.

Loretta Gharst
Associate Librarian for Collection & Computing Services
Calcasieu Parish Public Library  




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