Browsers on Clerk Computers

Most clerks in our stake prefer Chrome. Some like Firefox. Both seem to work well.

Some clerks detest Chrome and would rather use Edge. But I hear complaints that Edge does not work well when MLS redirects through it to LCR.

Is Edge a viable and compatible option to use on a clerk computer?

lajackson wrote:Is Edge a viable and compatible option to use on a clerk computer?

Keep in mind there's "old Edge" and "new Edge". The old one has a blue and white letter "e". The new one is a blue and green and stylized to the point that it looks more like the letter "c". Which may be fitting since the "new Edge" uses the Chromium engine.

I'd expect the "new Edge" would work just fine.

I install all 3 and let them fight over which browser will be selected as the default.

I agree that several browsers should be installed. Even more, I think it would be best for each user to have his own Windows account, so he can set his user preferences any way he likes. Everyone would have to be an administrator to run MLS, and to be able to reset forgotten Windows passwords for other users. However, with multiple Windows users, care should be taken regarding shared versus private document files. When you eventually drop a Windows user, all his files will be removed as well.

drepouille wrote:I think it would be best for each user to have his own Windows account

I can't find a definitive statement, but the setup instructions have the account name be the unit number. Additional accounts are only created if more than one ward is using the computer.

That would be fine if the GSC back door account existed on our admin computer, but it is gone. So we need our own back door admin account for emergencies, if nothing else.

I installed our admin computer about five years ago, and have not heard about any planned replacement on the way.

drepouille wrote:I installed our admin computer about five years ago, and have not heard about any planned replacement on the way.

FM may need some prodding.

Computer Replacement Cycle

Church computers are replaced on a five-year cycle in accordance with local and area facility management (FM) group budgets. Hardware failures are an exception to this policy. The stake physical facilities representative (PFR) should work with the FM group during the fourth year of the computer’s life so that funds from the annual plan can be requested to replace the computer during the fifth year.

Other things have had the STS do the inventory and tracking, but no where have I seen where it's the FM's responsibility to "alert" on the replacement cycle.

Yes, I remember my conversations with the FM five and ten years ago. I would remind them that we are due for a refresh, and they would respond, "Oh, we forgot to budget for that this year, so we will put it into next year's budget." So yes, the STS needs to ping the FM a year ahead of time.

drepouille wrote:So yes, the STS needs to ping the FM a year ahead of time.

Our FM Group is wonderful. That is why I am getting eight computers ready to swap out this month. I mentioned to the PFR that he needed to remind the FM Group a year in advance, but I have no idea if he did. Our FM Group keeps a log of dates (just the year) and serial numbers and seems to be on top of it.

I count my blessings every day.