Desktop patch management?

["Craig W. Drake" <c-drake () NEIU EDU>]

I was just wondering how everyone is handling desktop patch management
in their environments.  We are in a situation where users/departments
manage their own desktop systems.  We do not have any kind of Windows
domain structure and do not have any kind of common administrator
account/password on desktops university-wide.  Some users/departments
have very negative attitudes towards our IT department and do not want
anybody from our department "messing with" their computers. Management
doesn't want to lose favor with those users by forcing them to comply
with any kind of centralized IT policy. We have tried sending out emails
to our users asking them to visit WindowsUpdate, but only about half of
the computers get updated.  Does anybody have any suggestions on how to
force all of the updates to all of the computers on campus in this
situation? 
 
Thanks,
 
Craig W. Drake
Networking and Distributed Services
Northeastern Illinois University
C-Drake () neiu edu
 

**********
Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Discussion Group discussion list can be found at 
http://www.educause.edu/cg/.