Windows: Enable ‘Previous Versions’
Jan26

Windows: Enable ‘Previous Versions’

KB ID 0001393 Problem Anyone who’s ever trashed a spreadsheet, or saved a file over the top of one that they shouldn’t, will appreciate previous versions. It’s done by a technology we have had since Windows XP (and Server 2003) called ‘shadow copy’. If you are familiar with virtualisation it’s a bit like taking ‘snapshots’ of files. It’s also great for sysadmins, as users can...

Read More
WannaCry – Protect Yourself
May15

WannaCry – Protect Yourself

KB ID 0001311  Problem Last Friday, the IT world was hit by another attack, WannaCry is a Ransomware infection, that exploits a hole in the windows SMB Protocol. This hole was patched back in March, (Security update MS17-010) so if your, (windows update supported systems) have updates enabled, you will probably already be protected. Why were big organisations like the NHS hit? Primarily because they have systems that are no longer...

Read More
ADMT (Active Directory Migration Tool) Domain Migration – Part 4
May13

ADMT (Active Directory Migration Tool) Domain Migration – Part 4

KB ID 0001308  Problem On the homeward stretch now, back in Part Three, we migrated service accounts, groups, and users. Now we turn our attention to our machines. Note ADMT 3.2 Only support the migration of Operating Systems up to Windows 7, (that doesn’t mean Windows 8 and Windows 10 wont work, it just means they are not supported). Migrating Windows 8 and 10 throws a lot of security translation errors, because of the way it...

Read More
Windows – Display Memory Modules From Command Line
Mar28

Windows – Display Memory Modules From Command Line

KB ID 0001294  Problem This is a handy command I came across this week, If you need to know the hardware memory configuration for a machine, and either don’t want to open the case to take a look, or you are at a different location, (i.e. remote connected onto the machine). How do you do it, without installing some audit software? Solution Simply run the following command; wmic MEMORYCHIP get BankLabel,DeviceLocator,Capacity,Tag...

Read More
Migrating Local Profiles to Domain Profiles
Sep13

Migrating Local Profiles to Domain Profiles

KB ID 0001235  Problem Moving a machine onto a Windows domain, is a simple task, I’ve done this for a lot of clients. The main complaint (post migration,) is that something is missing. This is because your-account-name on your PC or laptop, and your-account-name in the domain are TWO DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS, (even if they have the same name).  Microsoft have produced some tools help you, but I challenge you to start reading the USMT...

Read More
Windows Server – Disk Performance Missing From Task Manager?
Jun08

Windows Server – Disk Performance Missing From Task Manager?

KB ID 0001203  Problem If your machine is struggling, a good place to look first is the performance tab on ‘Task Manager’ Here you can see CPU and Memory Stats and how our network cards are performing, but wheres the disk stats? Solution Before you can see them you need to enable them, open a PowerShell, (or an administrative command window). and run the following command; diskperf -y   Now re-open task manager and go to...

Read More