Centralized LAN/PC Management

[x_jose_x]

Hello,

I've recently started volunteering to manage a network with 12 PCs. Most of the work I do is updating Windows, AVG, and various other software such as Internet Explorer/Firefox, Spybot, and Acrobat Reader. I do some other work such as defrag the drives, tweak and tune Windows. I also do some LAN/PC troubleshooting and hardware work.

I have found it really inefficient and time consuming to work on each terminal one at a time. The terminals are spread through out the building.

My question is how can I best centralize (and automate) tasks such as:

1. Windows updates
2. AVG updates and scans
3. Spybot updates and scans
4. Disk defrag
5. Some way to push updates to installed software such as Firefox, Acrobat Reader, or other installed software.

I'm not looking for someone to write a tutorial in response to this, but if someone wants to point me to where I can read about how to do this sort of centralized management, I'd be most grateful. Also information about what software/hardware I would need to add to the network to centralize these types of task would be great.

Thanks!
-Jose

 

[00Roush]

Generally when you start to manage more computers you start to look at what things you can do via scripting or tools already available from Microsoft.

I found some good info doing some google searches on "adobe update script" and "spybot command line". That should get you started.

As far as software and hardware... how much do you want to spend!? Most large corporations make use of Windows Active Directory to manage most of Windows updates and some other software. This means setting up a server and then setting up user groups at the very least.

The quick and dirty way to keep the computers up to date is just use some scripts and the built in microsoft task scheduler. But this does depend on if computers are left on 24/7 and also what security the users have. An example would be to make a batch file with "C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG9\avgupd.exe" in it. Then setup a scheduled task to run the batch file during non work hours.

Here are some links and info that might help for each of the software you listed:
1. Windows Update: Here is the way larger corporations do it http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/wsus/default.aspx

2. AVG: http://forums.avg.com/ww-en/avg-free-forum?sec=thread&act=show&id=88761

3. Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/30.html

4. Disk Defrag: create a scheduled task with "C:\WINDOWS\system32\defrag.exe c: -f" as the run command (Win XP)

5. Adobe, Firefox, etc: You will have to search out solutions for each. With Firefox I don't think there is a very good way to do it besides an manual update via a command line or direct access to the machine. (maybe remote desktop?) This is part of the reason IE is the dominate browser in businesses... it is intergrated into Windows and therefore can be updated and managed much easier.

Hope that helps a little.

00Roush