The server at work is operating on a xeon processor from early '08. All computers are processing through it, only about 4 computers at a time though but still.

Slow slow slow!!

The processor is worth $40 online now.

Tasks like looking at basic PDF files can be slowed down. Some other tasks can take 2 minutes that should take 15 seconds (more processing intensive things), or real-time things can lag so badly that what should be a quick look takes up 30 seconds (task should take 10 seconds, takes 30 seconds, multiply that by 20 times for one job, and that's 400 wasted seconds).

Question #1 (reasonable hardware for the job): How expensive is a good central on-site server that could handle 4-6 computers at a time, doing relatively low intensity work (biggest computational burden would be complex Excel files that real-time re-calculate a series of values every time any other value is changed; this can take a fair bit of time on the current system & even on a modern system it would be inefficient & take up some computing power). Cost would obviously include setup and transition from current hardware, done by a professional who quotes whatever he quotes.

Question #2 (hardware/software combo problem): Best way for a business to protect itself from the ransomeware issue? I imagine a smart ransomeware virus would infiltrate a system & wait for months or possibly year(s) before presenting itself to the user. Such a system would have infected backups and backups of backups. How does one protect themselves against such a problem?

This post was edited by Canadian_Man on Jul 28 2017 07:35pm

Bog the system down more till it becomes an issue.
Theres no real way of explaining it to him unless he feels theres an issue.

/edit
to address your question a single quad xeon should handle it.

This post was edited by King Atrhur on Jul 28 2017 07:30pm

Scheduled backups and Incremental backups are the problem.

Manual backups, on the other hand are not as readily infected.

can you show him how much it costs the company? if some process is taking 8 hours instead of 1 hour, if it costs labor time, if it causes customers to call in, etc

Excel recalculating will always be an issue.

how many different excel calculations are in each workbook?
keep in mind not all formulas actually take excessive compute time, it's based on the type of formula used.

array formulas like index match will take the longest time to compute.


also which version of excel does your company use? 32 bit or 64 bit?

how large are these workbooks? ram may be the bottleneck here as well.

source: me currently being mad at IT for not providing me a desktop for work-use and a laptop for home use.

also, when using array formulas, absolutely do not use column references.
tell your vba coder to use last row as length for arrays instead of columns.

or just hire me, lmk
nvm canada



it depends on the types and quantities of each calculation in each workbook.

example where dual xeon would benefit = 16 different index matches over 16 different columns spanning 10000 rows

This post was edited by Penguins0690 on Jul 28 2017 08:55pm

sure its a slightly long clip, but its better video and audio quality. this video doesnt have that annoying high pitched ring....

easy breakdown. tell him how much worktime is wasted by the slow hardware. show him that you could work way faster and what it will cost him.

show him he makes plus over time

your gonna tell him a xeon can't serve some PDF files

are you sure thats the problem

Yep. Write it up as well. It's much easier to sell the idea if the presentation is nice.