Common Fonts

[benthehutt]

I maintain a small Windows XP and 2000 Pro network and people keep installing fonts and then complaining that they're not on all the machines.  Is there someway I could make a common font folder or write a program that copies fonts across all network machines?

[Tazinator]

I could suggest is putting the fonts on a network share on the server, then writing a login script to check if they exist on the machine and copy down if they dont every time the users log in. They will need to be Local Admins or Power Users on the workstations for that plan to work.

Id strongly urge tho as good practice to get a list of all the fonts together and set a standard install of them all (using InstallerVISE or Installshield or something perhaps to run on all the machines) and update the installer as new fonts are used. This way you know the machines are consistent.

On a side note, why are your users Admins on the workstations? Thats just not a good idea. (Gathered that from the fact that they are installing these fonts themselves, that or they are "Power Users"). Fixing that would eliminate the problem of them arbitrarily installing custom fonts on random workstations and allow you to better control the consistency on all the machines.

[benthehutt]

First off, thank you for your reply; however, they are not all administrators.  One of the guys has his own computer, so he can access everything on that one computer, not anything else, so he installs fonts on that one and then complains.
Also, one of the other computers has access only to open and copy files to the Fonts folder(cause she complained about it, and actually needed access to it).  She can't delete, just copy.  Anyway, thanks for the ideas, I'll try 'em out.

[Uneek]

Sounds to me like that company is in dire need of some sort of policy/operating proceedures outlining what is and isn't allowed IT wise and it needs to be enforced... By default, NO ONE except the actual SysAdmins should have Admin privs on ANY box connected to the network... it's just not good policy to allow otherwise...

[Tazinator]

Yea, as a side note Ben, you may want to try to enforce some policies if your the head guy, even if you arent. What Uneek said, also something governing the connection of personal machines on the corporate network. Always a bad thing there. As an admin, you cant really regulate what they install on thier own machine so they could have a ton of "hack tools" and hammer away at your stuff from the inside, or they could have a virus and would cause you all kinds of hell.

Plus, if the guy is complaining about his personal machine and wants you to fix, eh, id stay clear of that as much as I could. I personally witnessed hell arise from that type of situation. I had a tech working for me that did a favor unknown to me at the time by fixing someone personal laptop. The guys laptop crashed a few days later and the drive died. Because the tech worked for the company and touched the laptop last, he got blamed for the death of this antiquated POS laptop and the company had to pay $4K for data recovery on his drive to get his docs back. Just watch your back man.

Just reccomendations, not slaming you. We're just trying to help you out some. We've all been down a similar road and we all know how hard it can be to throw policies into play in a corp environment.

[benthehutt]

Thanks Tazinator, I told the guy to screw it (not in those words) and he can't really do anything about it cause it's not a company machine.  Good advice...

[Tazinator]

Anytime. Feels good to tell em to go pound sand