Patent ID: 8028077

Claim:
A method of managing at least one client computer on a network, comprising the acts of: managing a client computer, under the control of the client computer, using information retrieved from the network such that the client computer is operable to manage the information when disconnected from the network, the managing including: determining, in the client computer, a unique identifier for the client computer in response to activating a login system of the client computer, the unique identifier being unique to the client computer such that the unique identifier is determinable before user login on the client computer; determining, under the control of the client computer, location information for the client computer; locating, under the control of the client computer, a first record in a directory service of a server via the network, the first record associated with the unique identifier for the client computer, the server separate from the client computer, the client computer operating connected to the network; retrieving the first record into the client computer from the network such that the first record is received from the network into the client computer through a cache of the client computer such that the cache operates as a first source of the first record and other records retrieved from the network for use in and by the client computer; locating, under the control of the client computer, a second record associated with the location information, wherein each of the first and second records comprises preference data; locating, under the control of the client computer, management information associated with the first and second records, wherein the management information includes policy data; combining, in the client computer, the preference data from the first and second records into managed preference data that a user is not allowed to change and unmanaged preference data that a user is allowed to change, based on the policy data; sending, internally in the client computer, current computer records and location records of the client computer to the cache following the combining of the preference data, while connected to the network prior to user login on the client computer, such that the cache, running concurrently a login window of the client computer, operates on the current computer and location records in the cache; and managing, in the client computer, the client computer through use of said managed preference data and said unmanaged preference data.