I have about 5000 desktops that need to be configured for an install of Sophos Antivirus, to be managed from a central server. The machines are mostly XP Pro workstations, and they need the following settings, which most of them do not have, or they have wrong:
1) Windows Administrator password set. (Vast majority are null.)
2) Network Setup Wizard set up to enable file and print sharing, with a unique Windows computer name. Existing settings vary, and are often copied from a misconfigured master.
3) Windows Firewall needs to be disabled. (We have a hardware firewall. Too many client-server apps require firewall exceptions to be practical.
4) SIMPLE file and printer sharing needs to be DISabled.
There are eight of us to do this, so I am looking at scripting options, although I am a complete neophyte in that area. I am tinkering with a demo of Automation Anywhere, which I will nag my boss to buy if I can make it work. I am having intermittent success, probably because I am relying too much on the "recorder" function to copy cursor moves and mouse clicks that don't work reliably from one machine to another.
I am also clueless at doing anything serious in the XP OS, beyond what I have had to learn so far in this adventure. I have learned some keyboard shortcuts that are no big deal to anybody with Windows training, but I came into IT "sideways," from health care, without much nuts-and-bolts training. Been here 10 years, but OJT is a somewhat haphazard affair.
Am I on the right track with Automation Anywhere, or is there some freeware script generator I can use without being so versed in script writing that I don't need a generator? Suggestions welcome.
Start Free Trial
