Chris_Cook

Have you tried the VBA method? https://www.online-tech-tips.com/ms-office-tips/how-to-remove-crack-or-break-a-forgotten-excel-xls-password/

Sorry, missed the question about our setup. As a bit of background, we looked at most of the failures since we went virtualised, and most of them were either caused by the bits that were meant to avoid downtime (like the san), or were made worse/harder to fix because of it. Having tried to add stuff to make it more reliable and it not work, we then decided to go for the keep it simple option. We wanted storage spaces direct, but that had some specific hardware requirements that we couldn't get right. I think from memory we are on standard storage spaces. Now all the storage is local with an ssd tier and 10Gb network between the servers. We backup and replicate using veeam. Backups to a local NAS, replicas to our partner secondary school using the old SAN and servers. Long term we are moving our bulk file storage to google drive. We hope to have just a few small servers that are fast to restore/migrate if necessary. So now we can either live migrate servers if we want to do maintenance on one host, or boot up a replica if the host is completely dead. But these days, server hardware is pretty reliable. Its the software bit and drives that need to be setup right.

We've moved from a finger print system (Vericool) to a RFID system (Liveregister) for our cashless catering. We also use paxton/net2. We had similar problems with long queues in the canteen, and frequent issues with the accuracy of the readers. Not to mention a fortune spent replacing the readers each year when they were damaged. I'd recommend liveregister. They've been very helpful to work with, and we've not had many (i can't actually remember any) technical issues since putting it in. Its all just overdrafts and replacement fobs now.

It does depend what you want it for. Unifi stuff needs the controller to configure it, but it doesn't have to run any other time. Either the US-8 (under £100) or a USW-Flex-mini 5 port (about £26). I have a unifi AP in my garage, and the software is on my laptop. I don't think I've run it for over a year. I should probably fire it up soon and do the firmware updates. If its for a home lab then I'd probably go for that. For home theater or if you don't want a separate management console, the netgear switch I suggested is probably the better option - I'm just not as keen in a production environment. HP is also rock solid, especially at those prices. Fan noise might be an issue. Not sure the HP warranty is valid for a second owner, but at that price I wouldn't really worry. Do you need this switch to route between the VLANs, or is something else on your network doing that?

Unifi is my goto option at the moment. If you want really budget, then maybe a Netgear GS108E?

We've gone from 3 HP servers with a san to a pair of Dell R740s with local storage. I've been very happy with the performance and the offline idrac management. Make sure you have some form of ssd for your storage. It makes a big difference to DB apps like sims - our office staff noticed without us telling them anything had changed. Focus on storage performance and RAM capacity. That should make a bigger difference than processor and network (within reason).

Sounds like you've covered a lot of the basics. I'm assuming you are talking about windows laptops I'd add/consider: * Bit locker or other drive encryption - hopefully these devices have a TPM. * keeping a log of who gets what * Web filtering off network. * windows updates - both getting it up to date, and making sure it can stay up to date off network * Software licencing if there are any network apps on it, like sibelius, solid works, that sort of thing. * Testing it before it goes to the student - can the student login off network, especially if they haven't logged in on the school network. * Permissions to add printers/wifi networks. For many of our student facing laptops we are putting neverware on them, as windows is a load of work we don't need. We only do windows on mobile devices if there is a specific need.

It depends. In the past we've often gone for 3 or 5 year warranties at time of purchase. A lot of it comes down to cost of the warranty, cost of spares, and past experience with the warranty provider. In many ways I'd rather buy quality products and have spares or spare parts available. If we can switch out or repair ourselves its often quicker and less hassle than using the warranty. There is a lot of variation in warranties. HP/3com switches I've found good once you've given the right info. Some other companies are happy to send out parts for us to fit if we prefer. Some companies will lie about fixing things and send it back - I wouldn't mind if they can't reproduce the issue, but I've subtly marked a part before and checked it when it came back after being told it was fixed. I probably wouldn't pay for a warranty beyond 5 years as replacing the item is often preferable, and can often be sourced in a similar time frame.

Unless is very small, I'd go for 500mm minimum, preferably 600mm. The swingout ones are great. One thing to bear in mind is the wall strength. If the cab sticks out further is more load on your fixings. These things tend to grow far beyond expectations with Phones, CCTV, Higher density WiFi, BMS, Doors, digital signage etc all been added to ours in the last 10-15 years. I'm certain more things will be added in future. Replacing a cab is not something you want to do twice. Be glad they put a cab in though. Not just balanced a switch on some shelf brackets on some shoddy wall you can't get to without rearranging a whole room. Grumble...

I do have a kit for one of my motorbikes. Never used it, not sure I'd trust it if I did. On a car it might be different. From what I've just read, proper repairs done from the inside of the tyre can only be done for 6mm holes or smaller. These kits involve making the hole slightly larger, so may well mean that the tyre isn't repairable as they will have to remove what you did and make the hole even bigger. But then there are lots of other rules about where on a tyre you can plug them, and I'm sure some garages don't repair tyres at all because of the risk. You also need to think about sidewall damage if the tyre has run flat for any length of time. You may not see this unless the tyre is removed from the rim. As a temporary fix they may well help get you out of a situation. As it says on the website "Not to be Used as a Permanent Repair for Road Vehicles". Might be best to talk to your garage about what they recommend.

3cx is also worth a look.

I had a reply back from the BBC this morning about some different bytesize videos. Apparently they are working on it, but it won't be for a good few months.

If you have the readers with the soft silicone cover, you can sometimes make them work again by prying off the cover with a flat blade screwdriver, pealing off the soft layer and glueing it back together. It obviously won't help if the cable is broken, but on a cashloader I'm guessing the surface has gone bad. Although when you see the state of the silicone bit you may want to change to an rfid system. After these last few weeks, I'm glad we changed! Not sure if cunninghams are the same as Vericool, but there was a serial number/guid that needed to be registered with the VC system.

In the past I've always found HP a good compromise on cost and ease of use. I'm now a big fan of Unifi. It makes the configuration stupidly easy. We've had our fair share of issues with netgear so we avoid them now. Mostly this was because of the number of different models we had. The 1910 and 1920 switches do have a hidden command line. Can't remember how much you can do with it though. https://support.nextstepinnovation.com/knowledgebase.php?article=34

Have you tried using the "reset all" option in the menu? There are settings for the colour balance and for the background colour (like if you want to project on to a blackboard or painted wall). I'd also test with an HDMI source if you've not done that. This is a common issue with VGA cables. Also plugging directly into the back of the projector.

I thought it was, but its often hidden under batteries or in feint text on the bottom. It may also be rubbed off if its an older device. I've no idea where i got this idea from, but I'm sure I've read it somewhere.

Definitely keep them charged. I'd follow APCs guidance if unsure. Bear in mind that lead acid batteries have a limited life, so you are only really maximizing this. They won't last for ever whatever you do. They will also self-discharge even if not connected. This may be what APC were thinking. You probably want to re-charge them every so often if you plan to re-use them. Lead acid batteries come in different forms, some are deep discharge, and some arn't. UPS's normally don't use deep discharge batteries, as you don't discharge them fully that frequently.

I think we did this a while ago for one of our primarys. For 64bit systems, there is an xml file (possibly under windows folder, maybe program files, or program data) that needs the links updating. this can then be distributed to any other PCs that need it on. Its been a while, so can't remember the specifics.

They have their place, but if I had a choice, I would get a multi meter first as its more versatile. A PSU is going to fail in a few different ways and a PSU tester won't reveal all of them. They will either output each voltage, not output one or more voltages at all, or give the wrong voltage, or have too much ripple (variation in voltage). Ripple can either be caused by overloading the PSU, or due to age/quality of components. In order to check the actual voltage level or ripple you will need to have the PSU plugged into the system it will be used in. The output voltage is dependent on the load that its plugged into. You would need a multi-meter to actually check each voltage is within 10% of its spec. To check ripple, you will really need an oscilloscope which may be out of the budget for most IT departments. (But your science dept might have one you could borrow). Where they are useful is if you want to quickly check if its working at all.

Ok, thanks for that. Its kind of what I was thinking. I was just hoping for a longer term solution once flash goes EOL.

Apologies if this is the wrong area. Does anyone else have issues playing BBC bitesize videos? We have been asked about this one https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z6wfgk7 It tries to play with the flash player rather than the HTML5 one. Other bitesize videos seem to do the same. Just wondering if this is something with our setup or with the BBC.

We've been using Chromex recently and its been really smooth. I think one of my team checked with the exam boards we use and they were happy with it. Not sure if it does text to speech.

I quite like milestone, but the licencing cost is high. You can have 8 devices on the free one and that can include DVRs if you have the rtsp url. That means you can have 8 x 16 cameras going potentially. I do want to try out luxriot soon. The other option to consider is something like the Hikvision DVRs and NVRs

Casio are good. Most of ours have been problem free. I prefer the epsons - they have better image quality and the pricing on lamps and projectors is pretty decent. Lamps seem to last ages in eco mode. Something like an EB-X39 or X41 would probably work well for you as long as you aren't at the limit on throw distance for your current projectors.

If its internal, it should be fine. If external, I would look at replacing the cable, or move the joint inside. We had lots of problems with corroded joints when an installer put these in an external junction box. Every time the weather changed the cameras would go down. If its solid core cable, I'd use some sort of IDC/krone connection rather than rj45 as you will get a much better connection. Or the Jelly crimps BT use I think can be used on cat5 cable and are sealed.