Anyone any idea how to do this?

I want to be able to simultaneously launch a program on all PCs on a network, ideally using a PDA if possible but if not then from another PC on the network. Any thoughts? I'm totally stumped.

What program, and why? There are programs out there to do various things similar to this but most will cost. Depending on what you want to do exactly depends how cumbersome a cheaper alternative will be.

Personally, I use RealVNC on my networks for remote administrating.

there's a small set of tools called pstools that can be downloaded for free.

One of these will allow you to remotely launch a process on another pc assuming you have the access. They are command line tools.

They probably won't run on your pda, but you could write a script that will do most of the work, then use terminal services (or equivalent) from the pda to click on a shortcut to the script.
Or if you're feeling adventerous you could write a simple webapp to call the script and use internet explorer on the pda to browse to the webpage and hit the 'go' button. I've done something similar on my desktop to launch winamp (specific playlist) via a webpage.

We use MSI installers and have specific groups on our network in the active directory. Seems to work ok.

Ok thanks, I'll check those out.
The app is going to be used for a training course. We want the trainer to be able to activate the start page (in IE) on all the training PCs at the start of the day and then bring up the feedback page at the end of it.

You want NetOp School

http://www.netop.com

Originally posted by Cyclone
Or if you're feeling adventerous you could write a simple webapp to call the script and use internet explorer on the pda to browse to the webpage and hit the 'go' button. I've done something similar on my desktop to launch winamp (specific playlist) via a webpage.

Great pstools seems to do the job perfectly thanks. I'm not sure how to go about writing a webapp that launches a program on the server though, can you give me advice how to go about this?

Originally posted by Nazo
Great pstools seems to do the job perfectly thanks. I'm not sure how to go about writing a webapp that launches a program on the server though, can you give me advice how to go about this?

it's probably not something you'd want to do unless you have an interest in programming.
Maybe you can find a comp sci student who'd do it for a bit of beer money.

Thinking about it a webapp would be overkill, the only reason I did it that way was that I wanted to browse my list of albums and choose one.
For something specific like this a simple client server type program could be written. Run it on each users pc and it sits there in the background waiting for a connection.
The client can run on the pda of the organiser and connect to all the servers and trigger a specific program or script.

It's all a lot easier if you don't have the pda requirement though.

How about knocking up a dead simple VB (or whatever) program which launches whatever you need on all the client pcs using a nice big button, have this running on a spare pc and vnc to it from the pda to hit the button...