The next odd decision

I changed jobs over a year ago and since then have done >…< this much exercise.
Done some stretching, and other bits but bugger all else. So to fix it for the last few weeks I've been getting bike, kit and my brain sorted to cycle to work.
One way trip, 3.6 Km
Hills to work 0.1 Km
Hills to house 3.5Km

I got a slagging from a work colleague that I knew the exact distance. Well when you coast down to work.....you need to know the pain home.

Anyway, 2 days down and all is well. I even get thinking time as opposed to listen to pointless radio rambling.
Have to drive tomorrow, as I need a suit for the far side if the city. I'm disappointed, but my butt is happy.

Next time Linux distro ( so far, Red Hat, Centos and Ubuntu), Windows 2008 and higher and really bad IP communication.

Add a "Tile" to Windows 8 Server

To add a program to the "Start" List

Hit Windows key

Right click on the background and and hit All Apps

Select the program “App” you want, in this case Command Prompt and “Pin to Start”

Now Command Prompt is available in the “Start Menu”

 And I can drag it to the location I want!

Woooooo Hoooo

Batch file open with

I broke this before a few years ago and well it appeared again as one of the lads at the www.minasi.com forum posted about the same issue and how to fix it.


When I broke it, I was doing god knows what and had a backup, but was curious. Its simple to fix and shows us a bit more about windows and file associations.


First off, my best advice, if you did this on a production machine and do not remember how, rebuild it. If its a hurry try this.


From a command prompt type the following;
assoc .bat 
This should give the following output


.bat=batfile 


If not in the command window to restore the default file type association type


assoc .bat=batfile


Easy peasy

Win8 Funny - to be explored or answered

Demo MS Machine

Ram indicates 0GB, yet

Indicates 2GB of RAM.

Hummm, time to install a guest to my own machine.

Windows 8 and bits I've learnt so far.

Stuff I've learnt so far.

Office 2010 Plus install would not install off the ISO with the built in "mount iso" option as it kept looking for the Powerpoint installer, even when I only selected install Outlook 2010.
So I mounted the ISO on another machine and installed from there - odd.

Setting an item from a "tile" to a shortcut, hit the windows key, right click on the tile and select the option you want;

Some shortcut keys and what they do;

Win + D Show Desktop.

Win + E Open Windows Explorer.

Win + I Open Settings Charm (plus Control Panel, Personalization, PC Info, and Desktop Help).

Win + X Open Desktop quick menu (it’s like a mini Start Menu!)

Win + R Open Run Dialog.

Win + T Cycle through Desktop apps on the Taskbar

Alt + Tab   Open next App (rotates through Apps, Desktop apps each have one place in rotation).

(release Tab,repeat)

Alt + 1 to 9 Open the pinned Taskbar application

Some mouse actions and what they do;

So I looked out the window and saw ...

And then today I get sent this!

Only in Ireland!

Security notes

Been looking more and more at security recently and want to put out some nice links I've found.

I love this and tend to use it as a starting point for a discussion with people, especially non 
techie people.


10 Immutable Laws of Security

It was posted back in early 2000's and I think is still relevant.

Law #1: If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it's not your computer any more 

Law #2: If a bad guy can alter the operating system on your computer, it's not your computer any more 

Law #3: If a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your computer any more 

Law #4: If you allow a bad guy to upload programs to your website, it's not your website any more 

Law #5: Weak passwords trump strong security 

Law #6: A computer is only as secure as the administrator is trustworthy 

Law #7: Encrypted data is only as secure as the decryption key 

Law #8: An out of date virus scanner is only marginally better than no virus scanner at all 

Law #9: Absolute anonymity isn't practical, in real life or on the Web 

Law #10: Technology is not a panacea 

Another Microsoft product that I like is this

Microsoft Security Assessment Tool

Expect to spend at least 20 minutes filling it in. Then save the report off for comparison for again. 

Found this book, ISO 27001 in a Windows Environment, nice easy read by an Irish man Brian Honan Link

For passwords, Steve Gibson has a password generator on his site, very cool
Password generation
and a password checker (how long to brute force it)
Password Haystack
A port checker
Shields Up
And so much more, go check it out www.grc.com


Where did this all come from, ISO 27001 requirements.

Lync 2010 and Federation

We recently got Lync 2010 in-house and started looking to see what can be done to federate with some of the people we work and co-operate with.

To check if you can federate with someone, they need to have a DNS record on

While there are other requirements, the easiest to check is the DNS Service record named _sipfederationtls._tcp.domain.

This should point to a valid DNS A record to an Access Edge server formatted

access_edge_servername.domain and point to port 5061.

To see what it looks like here is Microsoft's record, open a command prompt and use the command

nslookup -q=srv _sipfederationtls._tcp.microsoft.com





To federate with Office 365 I tried using the Control Panel but it would not accept the information, so I ended up using a powershell command to add federation will all of Office 365

New-CSHostingProvider –identity LyncOnline –ProxyFqdn sipfed.online.lync.com –Enabled $True

I'm still looking into why this is not displayed in the Lync Control Panel!

WINs..... a large number

A good friend has been saying that WINs is dead, but the number is big and therefore will take some time to die.

Now it appears that it is yet another large number.

The number appears to be at least another 3842 days (10 years for the life of Server 8 and the extra for the RTM to appear)

WINs is dead, long live WINs.

wow

I'd love to have this much time...

Bigger version of the picture here

Nice one.

Andrew Lipsons web site

And his disclaimer...

Because The LEGO Company get paranoid about this sort of thing let me make it clear that I have no affiliation with them, that my views are my own and do not necessarily represent theirs, and so on. So if you think any of this is official you are as deluded as they are.

Minasi forum Meeting 2012

A technical forum I've participated in for years is having another gathering in the near future. Lots of cool people with years of Microsoft knowledge backing up their claims and beliefs. So come along for an educational and fun event.

The dates and speakers for the Minasi 2012 Forum Meeting have been finalised and now published.


You can find the necessary details here

Minasi Conference Website

and here

Minasi Technical Forum

You can book here

Minasi Conference Registration Page

As a preview, here are the speakers

2012 Schedule Sunday – April 29th 2012 12:00 – Conference Registration Begins 1.00 – Opening Session led by Mark Minasi + Don Jones, What has changed in the last 3 years, how to stay on TOP! 2.00 – Session 1: Mark Minasi – 10 (or more) things that you don’t know about Windows Server 8 3:15 – Break 3:30 – Don Jones 4:00 – Ed Wilson – Microsoft Scripting guy on everything but PosH 3 4:30 – Break 4:45 – Mark Minasi 6:00 – Welcome Reception Monday – April 30th 2012 9:00 – Jimi Vigotti – how I do it and how you can to (with the right kit). 10:15 – Dave Bisson - Enterprise App Store 11:30 – Break 11:45 – Stacy Hein - SQL Server at scale. Office 365 style 1:00 – Lunch (Provided) 1:45 – Todd Lammle – The next step. 3:00 – James Summerlin – SQL Server Integration Services – More in-depth than last time! 4:15 – Break 4:30 – James Adgate – Security in The Enterprise in 2012: Managing DLP Programs and Driving Standards for Secure Coding of Home Grown Web-Facing Enterprise Applications. 5:45 – Offsite Dinner Organized with Transportation Tuesday – May 1st 2012 9:00 – James Summerlin – Juniper, Life after TMG/ ISA 10:30 –Scott Calvet – TBC Desktop Virtualization VMware View 5 11:00 – Dennis Olidis - Free Tools to Troubleshoot and Diagnose your Windows System 12:30 – Lunch (Provided) 1:00 – Eric Rux – TBC– Using Windows in your Home! 2:15 – Break 2:30 – A N Other – Microsoft Conferencing, Skype and Lync 3:45 – Break 4:00 – Curt Spanburg – Microsoft Business Application Survival Skills for the IT Admin 5:30 – Dinner (on your own) at a local restaurant. Last chance to rub elbows. Wednesday - May 2nd 2012 9.00 – Ultan Kinahan – Fixing the big stuff! 10:00 – Ton Siemons – Comparing Hypervisors, VMware, HyperV and Xen 11:15 – Break 11:30 – Michael Ferguson – Managing Security 12:45 – Closing and Lunch 2:00 – Unofficial Round Table

Shortcuts

These are all done before all over the net, but they are my ones, both CPL amd MSC shortcuts.

Accessibility Controls	access.cpl
Add Hardware Wizard	hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs	appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools	control admintools
Automatic Updates	wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard	fsquirt
Calculator	calc
Certificate Manager	certmgr.msc
Character Map	charmap
Check Disk Utility	chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer	clipbrd
Command Prompt	cmd
Component Services	dcomcnfg
Computer Management	compmgmt.msc
Date/Time Properties	timedate.cpl
DDE Share	ddeshare
Device Manager	devmgmt.msc
Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)*	directx.cpl
Direct X Troubleshooter	dxdiag
Disk Cleanup Utility	cleanmgr
Disk Defragment	dfrg.msc
Disk Management	diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager	diskpart
Display Properties	control desktop
Display Properties	desk.cpl
Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected)	control color
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility	drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility	verifier
Event Viewer	eventvwr.msc
File Signature Verification Tool	sigverif
Findfast	findfast.cpl
Folders Properties	control folders
Fonts	control fonts
Fonts Folder	fonts
Free Cell Card Game	freecell
Game Controllers	joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)	gpedit.msc
Hearts Card Game	mshearts
Iexpress Wizard	iexpress
Indexing Service	ciadv.msc
Internet Properties	inetcpl.cpl
IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration)	ipconfig /all
IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents)	ipconfig /displaydns
IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents)	ipconfig /flushdns
IP Configuration (Release All Connections)	ipconfig /release
IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)	ipconfig /renew
IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS)	ipconfig /registerdns
IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)	ipconfig /showclassid
IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID)	ipconfig /setclassid
Java Control Panel (If Installed)	jpicpl32.cpl
Java Control Panel (If Installed)	javaws
Keyboard Properties	control keyboard
Local Security Settings	secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups	lusrmgr.msc
Logs You Out Of Windows	logoff
Microsoft Chat	winchat
Minesweeper Game	winmine
Mouse Properties	control mouse
Mouse Properties	main.cpl
Network Connections	control netconnections
Network Connections	ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard	netsetup.cpl
Notepad	notepad
Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed)	nvtuicpl.cpl
Object Packager	packager
ODBC Data Source Administrator	odbccp32.cpl
On Screen Keyboard	osk
Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed)	ac3filter.cpl
Password Properties	password.cpl
Performance Monitor	perfmon
Phone and Modem Options	telephon.cpl
Power Configuration	powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes	control printers
Printers Folder	printers
Private Character Editor	eudcedit
Quicktime (If Installed)	QuickTime.cpl
Regional Settings	intl.cpl
Registry Editor	regedit
Registry Editor	regedit32
Remote Desktop	mstsc
Removable Storage	ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests	ntmsoprq.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof)	rsop.msc
Scanners and Cameras	sticpl.cpl
Scheduled Tasks	control schedtasks
Security Center	wscui.cpl
Services	services.msc
Shared Folders	fsmgmt.msc
Shuts Down Windows	shutdown
Sounds and Audio	mmsys.cpl
Spider Solitare Card Game	spider
SQL Client Configuration	cliconfg
System Configuration Editor	sysedit
System Configuration Utility	msconfig
System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately)	sfc /scannow
System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot)	sfc /scanonce
System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot)	sfc /scanboot
System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting)	sfc /revert
System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache)	sfc /purgecache
System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x)	sfc /cachesize=x
System Properties	sysdm.cpl
Task Manager	taskmgr
Telnet Client	telnet
User Account Management	nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager	utilman
Windows Firewall	firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier	magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure	wmimgmt.msc
Windows System Security Tool	syskey
Windows Update Launches	wupdmgr
Windows XP Tour Wizard	tourstart
Wordpad	wordpad
AD Domains and Trusts	domain.msc
Active Directory Management	admgmt.msc
AD Sites and Services	dssite.msc
AD Users and Computers	dsa.msc
ADSI Edit	adsiedit.msc
Authorization manager	azman.msc
Certification Authority Management	certsrv.msc
Certificate Templates	certtmpl.msc
Cluster Administrator	cluadmin.exe
Computer Management	compmgmt.msc
Component Services	comexp.msc
Configure Your Server	cys.exe
Device Manager	devmgmt.msc
DHCP Management	dhcpmgmt.msc
Disk Defragmenter	dfrg.msc
Disk Manager	diskmgmt.msc
Distributed File System	dfsgui.msc
DNS Management	dnsmgmt.msc
Event Viewer	eventvwr.msc
Indexing Service Management	ciadv.msc
IP Address Manage	ipaddrmgmt.msc
Licensing Manager	llsmgr.exe
Local Certificates Management	certmgr.msc
Local Group Policy Editor	gpedit.msc
Local Security Settings Manager	secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups Manager	lusrmgr.msc
Network Load balancing	nlbmgr.exe
Performance Monitor	perfmon.msc
PKI Viewer	pkiview.msc
Public Key Management	pkmgmt.msc
QoS Control Management	acssnap.msc
Remote Desktops	tsmmc.msc
Remote Storage Administration	rsadmin.msc
Removable Storage	ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests	ntmsoprq.msc
Routing and Remote Access Manager	rrasmgmt.msc
Resultant Set of Policy	rsop.msc
Schema management	schmmgmt.msc
Services Management	services.msc
Shared Folders	fsmgmt.msc
SID Security Migration	sidwalk.msc
Telephony Management	tapimgmt.msc
Terminal Server Configuration	tscc.msc
Terminal Server Licensing	licmgr.exe
Terminal Server Manager	tsadmin.exe
UDDI Services Management	uddi.msc
Windows Management Instrumentation	wmimgmt.msc
WINS Server manager	winsmgmt.msc