General IT
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Free IT Courses
I’ve been looking into spending some of my spare time educating myself and have come across some free IT courses and learning resources. I thought I’d share my list of findings here. Some of the listings have paid for content on the site but there are free resources available as well.
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Find the HP product number for Care Pack registration
As part of my job I have occasionally have to register HP care packs for servers and workstations and need the HP product number for this. I always find it frustrating trying to find the HP product number when doing this remotely. Luckily I have found a powershell script that will get this for you
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Domain Name Front Running
Domain Name Front Running I have just been the victim of Domain Name Front Running. I did not even know it existed, or I had been a victim until it happened again and I was sure it wasn’t a coincidence…. I had a domain name “stolen” from me as I tried to purchase it. What is Domain Name Front Running Domain front running is when you search for a domain name to purchase but do not buy straight away, and a company registers the name and then tries to sell at auction or through a buy now for several thousands of pounds/dollars.
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How to Backup Sticky Notes and Restore in Windows
Microsoft have changed how they store Sticky Notes in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update version 1607 (and later). I thought I do a quick post on how to backup your Sticky Notes and restore them between the same version and between different version. I will cover the older method and the new method, and how to transfer from old to new. To find out your version of Windows, press your Windows key + R to bring up the Run prompt. In the “open” box type “winver” and click OK. Sticky Notes How to backup Sticky Notes pre Windows 10 Anniversary Update This method also covers Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.
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This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with this version of windows
I was trying to repair a Windows Server 2008 R2 server and got an error at the System Recovery Options screen when booting from the Operating System DVD. This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disk that is compatible with this version of Windows The error read “This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disk that is compatible with this version of Windows.”. The problem was that I was using the correct recovery disk, so why was windows reporting this.
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Windows 10 VPN before login for domain users
How to create a VPN connection before logging in to Windows 10 I just thought I’d post a quick help guide for those struggling with remote sites that have no site-to-site VPN. For whatever reason the site has no VPN, you can get new users logged into a domain by connecting to the VPN before log on. The situation I’ve been looking after a site that has remote users and due to the fact the remote office is shared with other companies, it is not possible to set up a site-to-site VPN. In the past, we have set up new computers at the head office, got the user to log-in…
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Exchange 2013 Uninstall Error – generating an offline address book
“This mailbox server is responsible for generating an offline address book” I was trying to uninstall Microsoft Exchange 2013 after moving to Exchange 2016 but kept getting the error “This mailbox server is responsible for generating an offline address book” in the Readiness checks. I ran ‘Get-Mailbox – Arbitration’ to verify all the mailboxes had been moved. Nothing appeared to be pointing at the old server and I could not find any mailboxes on the server. In the end, I ran ADSIEdit and found under Configuration > services> Microsoft Exchange > First Organisation> Address List Container > Offline Address Lists that the Offline Address Book had a reference to the…
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Solved – Dell PowerEdge R430 and installing Windows 2016 from USB
Today I got a delivery of a new Dell PowerEdge R430 and needed to install Windows 2016 Standard on it. I downloaded the ISO from Microsoft and created a bootable USB pen using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool, but Dell’s LifeCycle controller refused to recognise the USB drive. Dell, if you’re listening, please let us install from USB through the Lifecycle Controller ! The ISO was 5.47 Gb so would not burn to a standard DVD and I needed to deliver this server to my client the following day.
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How to Archive emails in Outlook 2010
I’ve had a few request lately asking me how to archive emails so I thought I’d put a post up with the instructions I created. Archive emails in Outlook 2010 Open Outlook 2010 and go to the “File” menu and under “Cleanup Tools” option select Archive.