Ohio University at Zanesville will be installed a LAN for the first time
this summer to include all faculty, administrative and support staff, and
the library.  Only a few, closely supervised student stations will be
available with this phase.
 
In another year or two, we hope to extend the LAN to include one or more
student IBM-PC labs.  We have learned, however, that a great deal of labor
is wasted/expended in cleaning up viruses and erasing programs students have
willing/unwittingly installed onto public access stations.  What are our
better options?
 
I've heard that one good option might be to use diskless workstations.  I
want to be able to allow students to store data onto their diskettes, but I
really do not want to give them access to the hard drive.  On the other
hand, I do want the Windows and DOS to be booted from the local station to
increase speed and decrease overload on the LAN.  Will diskless stations be
a good option for us?  If so, can anyone advise us what models/vendors to
consider?
 
All comments and suggestions will be appreciated.  Thanks!
 
Peter McKown                            [log in to unmask]
Ohio University-Zanesville          or  [log in to unmask]