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Can you boot into Safe Mode and log in as "Administrator" that way and then unlock the accounts?

Thanks but they are pupils reports with full names, photos and comments on (if they're not corrupted) so Data Protection will have a field day if start sending them any further. Appreciate the offer though :-) I will have a play with the wps files later and see if I can get any sense out of them with different bits of software. I might run PhotoRec again and see if it manages to recover any more of the files without corruptions too.

Well I got 9 reports back in full in the end, plus a set of headteachers comments that were needed. Some more files were recovered that looked like they might be more reports, but they came back in *.wps format and Word reported them as corrupt. I tried installing the Microsoft Works converter but to no avail. Still, I have some partial success thanks to the efforts of this forum, and especially @Arthur and @mac_shinobi. *grateful wave*

Only about halfway through the recovery process but some of the reports are coming back!

Fingers crossed for your servers .... I once worked in a building where the AC was to open the window of the server room. Given that the server would freeze up every three days or so on really hot days in the summer, it didn't take long to build a business case for an AC unit.

Thanks for the updates and info - PhotoRec is running now and I am going to see what it brings back. I have it doing a whole scan so it may take a couple of hours. but it's already bringing back Word docs in a readable format (albeit not the ones I want) so fingers crossed ....

I tried PhotoRec but didn't really get my head round the DOS based interface and moved onto EaseUS. I might give PhotoRec another shot tonight. I'm a fool I know, but I am doing all this after work, at home as it's a teacher from a school I only visit once a week. Having said that I hate being "beaten" by an IT problem so there are good odds I'll be having another look at this tonight.

I'll give that a go later and see, thanks. At the moment the teacher has started rewriting the bits of the reports that were lost now, so anything I can do will be a bonus.

That was a neat idea but unfortunately the same thing still happens. I've tried Word's option to Open and Repair and also the File Type option "Recover Text from any file *.*" Not looking good for these docs

Have managed to recover the documents using EaseUS Data Recovery. I have also discovered that most of the teachers seem to be saving their reports as *.doc files, when we've been on Office 2010 for 2 years and they should all be using the *.docx format. Now I have what looks like a list of the documents I need, but when I try and open them in Word, I am asked to file convert them. Even Word 2003 viewer can't open them. Have tried Notepad as well as a long shot! Trying to figure out if they have corrupted during the recovery process or whether I can coax them back. It's so frustrating when I can see them all but not do anything with them.

Yeah I tried Recuva with and without the deep scan. Active Undelete has just spotted the folder containing the files I'm after, but as the teacher deleted the whole folder, it's not showing as recoverable ... I'll keep trying with some of the other suggestions.

Today I have the happy task of trying to recover 42 reports from a memory stick that a headteacher accidentally deleted yesterday. I got her to run Recuva and iCare Data Recovery over the phone yesterday but they came up with none of the files she needs. Any recommendations for other file recovery software to try will be gratefully received!

There's a place on Upper Parliament Street, more or less opposite Alea Casino that might do it. I've not used them for repairs before but I've bought stuff from them when I needed small items on petty cash and they've always seemed very knowledgeable. I can't for the life of me remember the company name though!

I use Primarysite a fair bit as well, they have just swapped onto a new content management ssytem which makes the pages even easier to update. Unfortunately, schools on the old system are not being migrated automatically and would have to pay a charge to move to the new platform. As an alternative you might want to consider School Website Design, Primary School Website Design, Secondary School Website Design, Prospectus Design, School Mobile Apps who also offer a add-on app which parents can download. The events and news on the website can also be synced automatically with the app. I am tending to find in primary schools that the website needs to be all-singing, all-dancing for Ofsted, visitors and prospective parents but that existing parents seldom look at the website unless they get a text from school telling them to, or it's a snow day. So this is why we are looking at a school app as another tool for effective communication with parents.

I'm following this thread with interest as well, as I would like to be able to add our school prospectus in flipbook format to the school website. Flipsnack that @Danp mentions looks like my first port of call, simply because it is free!

Dear @VeryPC_Colin_M I will remember this ..... :-) Seriously though, not a problem, I appreciate your proactive and professional approach.

Hi all One of my schools is the first to dip its toe into looking into Windows 8 tablets. It's for primary school use so a good camera, 4 - 6 hour battery life, the potential to attach a keyboard and the need for it to be fairly robust are key. We've had a look at the Lenovo Yoga which is interesting, but may have more features and flexibility than we really need. I'd like to see what other schools are using and if anyone has any makes / models that they'd particularly recommend? Thanks in advance

Our iPad suppliers have recommended Foldr as a solution, although this isn't free and we haven't tried it ourselves either. Just throwing the idea into the mix at this stage.

Teachers can access Youtube - students can't. I direct teachers in primary schools to Quiet Youtube which blocks out the comments and the suggested videos, as usually there is no local control of filtering.

@witch Just had another look at this. I reckon it will be down to which version of Microsoft Powerpoint you are running alongside SMART Notebook 11. We have Office Pro Plus 2010 installed here and that is loads a SMART-Ink add-in when Powerpoint is launched. That's the intergration that then brings up the ink layers box in the top right-hand corner. Which version of Powerpoint do you have? And which version 11 of SMART notebook? This Edugeek thread. suggests upgrading to verion 11.3 of SMART Notebook . And it also shows how to enable the SMART Ink plugin for Powerpoint here - if your staff user can't get the settings to stay could it be a permissions issue?

Thanks for all the suggestions - that is really helpful! At this stage I am thinking that it needs to be a solution that can be moved around. If it's something that would work outside when the teacher is doing outdoor learning / PE then that would be even better. She has a voice issue and needs to avoid any strain on her voice where possible and I agree that finding a solution which she is comfortable with is key. I will go through these recommendations with her (except maybe the stack of amps lol!) and see what she thinks would be good.

@witch Not sure on the different users issue but I will have a look this afternoon when I'm at my school which had exactly the same issue. As far as I remember, I showed the users how to change this themselves. I'll check and get back to you.

I'm working with a teacher who is having voice problems and wants to look at the possibility of having a voice amplification system in her classroom to save her having to raise her voice. I'm fully in agreement with this as she's got health issues and we need to get the situation sorted for her where possible. I've worked with Soundfield systems before where 4 speakers are placed around the room to amplify sound to a consistent level for children who are hard of hearing. This is a slightly different situation, as there are no known hearing issues amongst any of the children in school. We need something that will amplify the teachers' voice. I'm considering everything from a portable PA system with a wireless mic to something inbuilt into the classroom at this stage. Does anyone have any recommendations that they use for equipemnt to help similar situations? Thanks

Is it Read Write Inc Get Writing by any chance? We've had the same issue even when using SMART boards which are only 2/3 years old. It seems to be the way the ink layers work now. From memory, there is a grey drop-down box towards the top right-hand corner of the screen and this needs to be changed from Microsoft Ink to Smart Ink.

I definitely agree with the testing - we have got one classroom set up with AirServer at the moment, and the first app we chose to test was Sock Puppets which took us a bit by surprise! This gives us time to work out a bit more what we can Airplay and what we can't so that we can manage the teacher's expectations.