Did You Know Windows 8 Has a Built-In Time Machine Backup? – MakeUseOf

This excellent post comes from MakeUseOf.

“Did You Know Windows 8 Has a Built-In Time Machine Backup?” 

“We sometimes forget with all the focus on Windows 8′s new “Modern” interface, but Windows 8 has a variety of great desktop improvements. One of them is File History, a built-in backup feature that functions similarly to Apple’s much-loved Time Machine. Enable the Windows 8 “time machine” File History, and Windows will automatically back up your files to an external or network drive.”  Read More

You have to be versatile in Information Technology

Back in 2007 we published an article on ‘The Challenge of Teaching Information Technology‘.  Recently we were also asked to write and article for TricomTS’s blog The Right fIT (Their Corporate Website is here) on Educating Tomorrow’s IT Professional Today.

So why do I write these articles?  Because Information Technology is growing.   Boot camps are only or should be only for seasoned IT Professionals.  It takes time.  With technology growing, to educate a student and to transfer the amount of information from every resource available – it is not only challenging for the instructor, it is a challenge even to the best students.   IT Professionals cannot take four years to start a career, technology will change so much within a year and the curriculum (accredited) has to be dynamic and change as technology changes.  IT personnel wanting to move up the corporate ladder should go to college later in order to advance.   Many IT pros are specialized career field but a majority of them have to be versatile and their skills have to be diversified.

And with a global economy, IT Professionals have to be lean and they have to learn quicker than ever.

We recently were interviewed by ComputerWorld and provided our look at how the economy and how a global economy changes the way IT thinks, works and reacts to this.  So truly we offer all of this advice to those who want to become an IT professional.  Be ready for change…everyday.  In today’s world, employers do expect a lot out of young IT personnel.  Remember it is the best career in the world to those who have a heart and passion for the industry.

The article from ComputerWorld was picked up by several other magazines and webpages.
CIO Magazine
NetworkWorld Magazine(ARRA)
NetworkWorld Magazine(Leaner Lifestyle)
LinuxWorld Magazine

Resolve wireless issues by adjusting advanced power savings

Usually when I resolve a problem, there seems to be an outbreak of the same problem.   Lately I resolved issues with wireless networking on several laptops and a desktop by disabling the power settings.  Apparently when the laptop woke, it would not connect or was extremely slow on connecting.  Disabling the power settings in both areas resolved the issue on all of the laptops and the desktop.

Power under the Device Manager

- Right Click Computer, Manage, Select Device Manager, Double Click on Wireless card, Click the Power Management tab.  Uncheck the All the computer to turn off this device to save power

Use the Advanced Power settings to turn off power settings on wireless adapters

Click on Change plan settings (above)

Click on Change advanced power settings (above)

Scroll down to Wireless Adapter Setting, click the + sign, click the + sign beside Power Saving Mode.  Change the On battery setting to Maximum Performance and Plugged in to Maximum Performance.  Apply the settings.

Microsoft Virtual Academy – Free Microsoft Courses

Frequently Asked Questions about Microsoft’s Virtual Academy

• What is Microsoft Virtual Academy?
  It is an online portal for IT professionals that offers a vast amount of information about Microsoft products and technology.  Designed with whitepapers, videos and reference materials, MVA gives the modern IT professional materials on topics that are found in IT today.  The MVA program gives rewards for completing programs.  There is also a points and rating system.   You can track your point progress and you will see ratings as follows – Bronze (0-99), Silver (100-499), Gold (500-2,999), and Platinum (3,000+).
• Do the course count towards certifications?
  No.   But taking the courses familiarizes and helps the IT Professional understand current and evolving technologies.
• Do you receive a transcript that you can use professionally?
  Yes.   You can download your transcript at anytime.   Course completion does not take place until the assessments are complete.
  
• What is the value of Microsoft’s Virtual Academy?
  Not only do you learn some of Microsoft’s technology for free, you can use these type of courses for career advancement.
• Are the assessments easy?
  No.  Microsoft offers challenging questions and a curriculum designed to be informative and educational.   You can retake the assessments as many times as you want.   Remember, with online courses, taking assessments just until you pass does not add value to your education.   Study the material  take notes and take the assessments when you are ready.
• Are the courses really free?
  Yes.

Microsoft Virtual Academy

Phrases you may hear in IT

Years ago we made a list of phrases we’ve heard in IT.   These are phrases you may hear in the server room or when someone is on the phone with end-users.

“Try it and see…”

“Who knows?”

“Reboot it”      ”It’s working now.”

“Ok, let me get this straight… “

“Is Google dumb today?”

“Why does every forum say check for a virus?”

“Did that hard drive just click?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Are we busy? Nah.”

“It worked yesterday.”

“How did they do that?”

“Try it again.”

“Try it now.”

“I don’t have a clue.”

“What do you think?”

“It should work now.”

“I don’t get it.”

“What the…”

“Really, did that just happen?”

“Is your caps-lock on?”

“Don’t tell me that.”

“I hope that just broke.”

“Did you see that?”

“Watch this.”

“That ain’t good.”

“That’s just great.”

“Did you see that?”

“How did that happen?”

“Don’t touch it until we can send someone.”

“Don’t let them touch anything.”

“They could break a steel block with a feather.”

“Did the lights just blink?”

“I don’t know.”

“You got me.”

“Let me think.” This is the time a manager will walk by when you are just sitting there.

“It’s a mystery.”

“We’re doing what?”

“Have you seen the DVD for _______?”      Fill in the blank, this is the DVD you need…now.

“They need what?” This is always followed by “When?” Which in turn is followed by an answer
with the shortest possible deadline.

“Slow down. Now say that again.”     This is an indicator of not listening even though you are
trying your best to not focus on the other 3000 things you have on your mind.

“Put paper in it.”

“How many times did they push print?”

“Do you hear that?”

“Where does this cable go?”

“Why does stuff always break on Monday?”

“Why does stuff always break on Friday?”

“What is that noise?”

“Hit it on the side.”

“Do you smell smoke?”

“Get your book off of the keyboard.”

“They need a what?”

“Who let them touch it?”

“They have a virus but they never get on the web?”

“You ever seen this?”    This is almost always met with a “Nope.”

“When did you first notice this?”     “Last month?”    ”Why didn’t  you say something?”

“You dropped it behind the rack?”    This is usually met with a matter-of-fact look and the
response – “It will stay there until the end of time.”    or    ”It’ll be just fine.”

“Where did this come from?”

“I’m scared to reboot, it’s running fine now.”

“It was running fine until we rebooted.”

“That software is 10 years old and they want it installed?

“Don’t touch that!”

“Where’s a pen?”

“We’ll get that tomorrow?”

“Where did we put that memo?”

“What did we do with ________?”

“Where’s that adapter?”

“Who wrote these instructions?”

“You figure that out yet?”

“It’s ip was…”

Actions you will see -

IT personnel with eyes closed and their head when rebooting some servers.

Looking away during a reboot.

Looking down during a reboot.

Eyes looking at ceiling when thinking.

Leg shaking when sitting.

Pen tapping.

Pen clicking.

Pen wiggling.

Mouse shaking.

Hitting the spacebar really fast to wake a computer.

Mouse moving in slow circles during software installation.

Grabbing the installation window of software and moving it in slow circles during an install of
software.

Three or more IT personnel crowded around a monitor.

Heard a phrase in IT?  Send us a comment.

Microsoft Windows Server R2 or Windows 7 rebooting while configuring updates

Great tip from Josh -

If Microsoft Server R2 or Windows 7 is stuck rebooting while configuring updates (pic below), follow these steps -

• Boot from the Server 2008 DVD (or Windows 7)
• Select the command prompt
• Type   del c:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml    
• (This can be done in safe MODE in SOME situations see below)
• Once this is done, reboot to the HDD

If you use safe mode, you may get an access is denied when deleting 

• Click the orb – All programs – Accessories, right-click “command prompt” and select “Run as Administrator” (or type CMD in the search box and right-click and Run as Administrator
•  In this case, you may have to take ownership -

Type the following commands

takeown /f C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

cacls C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml /G Username:F

del C:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml

WMIC – Another valuable tool in Windows

What is WMIC?

(Don’t forget Powershell and Netsh – other powerful tools)

Need to find out your system information?

Type WMIC computersystem list full at a command prompt

Find detailed MAC Address information

Type wmic nic get macaddress,description  

Find detailed information on updates including dates (This will take some time)

wmic qfe get description,installedOn /format:csv

Often overlooked,  many home and professional users forget to update their BIOS.  Once they get to a manufacturers site, they usually reboot to find their BIOS version.   You can use the following command to find your BIOS version.

wmic bios get name,serialnumber,version

Windows Update Installer from the command line

Here’s a utility to help you install updates from the command line.  We have had success with this when the GUI failed.

WuInstall

Usage  (First unzip the download to a folder)

At the command line in the folder (use cd\yourfolder when at the command line)

Type wuinstall /search to find updates (See the documentation for filtering updates and downloads)

 

Once you find your updates, use wuinstall /download to download the files

Enterprise computing is tough – Here’s some tips

Here’s a few tips we use when optimizing and troubleshooting computers and mobile devices on our network.   Remember Windows 8 is a different operating system and Windows Surface tablets can be a true productivity tool.

Jumbo Frames – What are they?  How can they help in the Enterprise?

In a gigabit network, you should enable jumbo frames and tweak the jumbo frame settings on your nic so that large files can transfer at greater speeds.  In a packet of data, the header will remain the same but the payload size will increase.  You should do this if you have gigabit switches and gigabit cards in place.  Normally network cards will allow for tweaks of the Jumbo frame by several MTUs.   With gigabit switches in place, the receiving switches may be 10/100 and the computer on the other end will not see a great benefit from this.  However if you have cards in computers that are connected to a switch (1000 mbps/1 Gbps)  and a NAS that supports Jumbo frames, the data transfer from these computers (normally a Server) will benefit from this tweak.

Ideally you would want your entire network on gigabit.   In today’s economy,  many if not most networks are a  hybrid (a mixture of 1000 or 100 mbps) nodes (printers, computers, switches).  There’s only one way to find out about performance.  Transfer a large file (ISO or several megabytes) and time it slowly tweaking the MTU settings under the network card’s property.

Windows 8 in a domain environment
Windows 8 is here.  This article is an older article that we posted months back.  Can mobile computing be controlled by domains?  Part of the security nightmare is the fact that mobile computers cannot be controlled or there is very little control.    We used a domain setup on a computer and here’s how we joined Windows 8 to a domain with a roaming profile.

The steps are the exact same as with any Windows operating system when joining to a domain.  IT personnel use the desktop feature on the Windows 8 tablet to change into the desktop view of Windows 8.   There the user follows the same steps as they would with Windows 7 when joining a domain.

The above picture shows how Windows 8 has been joined to a Windows domain.

The above screen (right half) shows the PTR record of the Windows 8 tablet as it appears in a DNS record.  The picture to the left is of a Windows 8 roaming desktop on Windows 8.  (This picture also shows how the roaming profile ‘pulled’ the programs and desktop to the desktop of the roaming tablet.

The picture to the immediate right shows the folder with the desktop information vs. the information in the left screen.

See our review of Windows 8 (older article) and see how you can run 90% of your programs, virtualize other operating systems, use your network and more.

Slow SQL Connection
If you have a connection to Microsoft’s SQL, there are several things you can try if response times seem slow-

First ~

Disable auto tuning level of the TCP. Please follow below steps:
1) Open command Prompt with admin right (Run as Admin)
2) Type “netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled”
3) After running above command restart the machine.

You can also try this next tip which seems to work best ~

Finally found a small problem with Windows 7.  After upgrading, we have discovered that Windows 7 was responding slow to our SQL Server 2005.  What we discovered is below.

Slow response times in Windows 7 to a SQL Server can be due to the LLMNR protocol.  This may be resolved by turning off the LLMNR protocol.

LLMNR is a protocol that allows both IPv6/4 computers to perform name resolution for the NetBIOS names of other computers without requiring a DNS server.

IPv4 hosts can use NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) to resolve computer names to IPv4 addresses for neighboring computers by broadcasting a NetBIOS Query.

All IPv4-based LLMNR hosts listen on the IPv4 multicast address 224.0.0.252 instruct their Ethernet network adapters to listen for Ethernet frames with a destination multicast address.

Windows Vista and 7-based LLMNR computers do not send or respond to unicast queries.

To disable LLMNR:

Modify Group Policy – Go to Search – Type GPEdit.msc – Enter – Navigate to the following and make sure Enabled is checked -

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\DNS Client
\Turn off Multicast Name Resolution = Enabled

How does Multicasting Work?  Here’s a good explanation

Update -

LLMNR

Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn” support Link-Local Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR), which allows IPv6 hosts on a single subnet without a DNS server to resolve each other’s names. This capability is useful for single-subnet home networks and ad hoc wireless networks. Rather than unicasting a DNS query to a DNS server, LLMNR nodes send their DNS queries to a multicast address on which all the LLMNR-capable nodes of the subnet are listening. The owner of the queried name sends a unicast response. IPv4 nodes can also use LLMNR to perform local subnet name resolution without having to rely on NetBIOS over TCP/IP broadcasts.

Dawn M. Babian, GSAE
Instructor

Disabling LLMNR (Below)

Professional or Enterprise (Gpedit.msc)

Home Edition

Create a registry key as follows -

You also should go to your network adapter properties and disable all of the settings under the advanced properties such as TCP/Offload and other advanced settings.  Remember, not all adapters have advanced options – disable any settings that allow you to do so….

Odd Network connectivity or no connectivity

• Click Start Menu, type cmd in the search box or run box ( Hold down Ctrl + Shift and hit Enter)Type the following commands, each followed by pressing enter.

• ipconfig /flushdns
• nbtstat -R
• nbtstat -RR
• netsh int reset all
• netsh int ipv4 reset
• netsh winsock reset catalog

This will rebuild the tcp/ip protocol stack (fully)

After rebooting, run a command prompt as an administrator and type:

• netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

Reboot

See also -
Speed up Windows 7 and Vista internet connections

Red X on Network icon
Have you ever experienced a red X   on the network icon in the taskbar on Windows 7?

Symptoms -

• Red X on the network icon (by time on taskbar)
• Still able to go to the internet

Click “Start or orb”
Run or Search box
type “dcomcnfg” and hit enter
Find: Component Services-Computers-My Computer-DCOM Config-netprofm
Right click “netprofm”
Click on “Properties”  select “Security”
Navigate to “Launch and Activation Permissions” section changed to “Customize”
Click “Edit”
Click “Add..”   Type “LOCAL SERVICE” as the object names then click “OK”
In “Permissions for LOCAL SERVICE”, select “Allow” for “Local Launch” and “Local Activition”  Click  ”OK”, Click “OK”
Reboot

All of the Windows Services should restart and you should be able to join domains, have the icon repaired and be able to perform all network tasks.

Other common problems may be-missing Network Adapters under connections

If you have this problem (above) you may need to re-register 3 dlls. Follow these steps. (Error normally found in Windows XP or 7)

Start, Run. cmd.exe

regsvr32 netshell.dll
regsvr32 netcfgx.dll
regsvr32 netman.dll

Also make sure Simple TCP/IP is enabled by following these steps:

a. In Control Panel, double-click Add or Remove Programs.
b. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
c. Click Networking Services, and then click Details. Verify that Simple TCP/IP Services is turned on

Slow Network Response
If you have slow or non responsive program properties; such as a database or other network program…Right Click on My Computer, go to Properties, select Hardware, Device Manager, click the + sign on Network, Right Click on your network card, select properties, select the Advanced Tab, Look for Speed   – adjust the value to 100 Full Duplex, 100 Half or even select the 10 settings.  Try it on each of the settings to see which one is optimal for your network.

When computers handshake (exchange data) autosense does not always work.

I’ve had replaced network cards, ran winsock fix and tried everything when the solution was right in front of me.  Don’t let vendors tell you that you need a new computer.

Device connectivity problems with NAS or SANS

You may have devices on your network that you can no longer connect (Vista/Windows 7) to or you may not be able to network to Windows XP (for whatever reason, this works).  Actually this changes settings to accept NTLMv1 and NTLMv2 so that you can connect to Samba Servers, Snap Servers, Older Windows Computers or whatever….

1. Go to Run, Type Regedit and open this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa

2. If it doesn’t exist, create a DWORD value named
LmCompatibilityLevel

3. Set the value to 1

4. Reboot

Optimizing your computer – Another Opinion
We are often asked how we optimize a netbook, laptop or desktop by many students.   If you have completed some of these steps, simply skip them and go to the next item.  Here’s our tip sheet -

____  Right click on desktop, enable all desktop icons

____  Right click Computer or in home navigate to users under the control panel, enable the administrator account

____  Set administrator password

____  Change Workgroup to whatever you want

____  Go to Device Manager, double click wireless card and LAN card, click advanced tab, disable all services except radio. Click on power management tab, uncheck “Allow computer to turn off this device to save power.  Go to the network and sharing center, click on change adapter settings, hit the ALT key, go to Advanced, go to Advanced Settings, highlight the wireless or LAN network connection and move the one you use the most up.

In the Network and Sharing Center, Go to Change Advanced Sharing Settings, Turn off Media Streaming if you won’t be streaming video or music.

In the Network and Sharing Center, change adapter settings, under the wireless card and LAN card settings, double click TCP/IP 4, click advanced, Click WINS and enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP

____  Go to command prompt as an administrator and enter the following commands to optimize your network:

netsh int tcp set heuristics disabled
netsh int tcp set global rss=disabled
netsh int tcp set global chimney=disabled
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal
netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp
netsh int tcp set global ecncapability=disabled
netsh int tcp set global timestamps=disabled

Modify LLMNR by doing the following:

Modify Group Policy – Go to Search – Type GPEdit.msc – Enter – Navigate to the following and make sure Enabled is checked – Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\DNS Client
\Turn off Multicast Name Resolution = Enabled

Office 2010

____  Office 2010 – double click on setup – during the setup you should select custom – you should select Microsoft Office and install ALL from my Computer. When installation is complete, you must open one of the Office programs and go file – help and Change Product Key.  Paste your key here.  Close program and reopen to verify Office is registered and activated.

_____Install Sumatra PDF or Foxit reader instead of adobe reader (unless you use quickbooks) – these readers (uninstall adobe to increase your performance)

____  Navigate to the device manager, double click the hard drive, choose policies, check turn off windows write cache

____  In the device manager, go down to USB, on all USB Root Hubs, go to Power Management tab and uncheck “Allow computer to turn off this device to save power.
____  Go to Power Management under Control Panel, Click Change Advanced Power Management settings, on Hard Disk, set to 120 minutes, Under the Wireless adapter, set power saving mode to Maximum Performance, Sleep After 120 Minutes, Hybrid Sleep – Off,  USB Settings should be disabled, PCI Express – Change Link State Power Management to Off, Turn Display Off After – 120.

____ Install Auslogics defrag and go to settings – enable start with Windows and enable minimize on close – enable the auto defrag option

____Download and install CCleaner

____Download Diskmax

____Download and install Malwarebytes

____Download Microsoft Safety Scanner (update every ten days)

____Download Microsoft Security Essentials and install

____Install up to 4 GB of RAM for a 32 bit OS or increase your memory based on your budget for a 64bit computer.

____Download MV-Regclean

____Download Runscanner

Of course there are tons of freeware available and programs you can use.  Solid State Drives (SSDs) are an option and multi-processor computers are an option.

Do you have tips on increasing a computers speed and performance?   We’ll publish it here.

IPv6 Optimization

Instead of trying to impress everyone with bits, bytes and binary, we’re trying to put these tips in layman terms for young IT professionals (quick start guides).

If you have installed your Teredo drivers and IPv6, you should receive a 2001: IP address on your Tunnel adapter if you do an ipconfig at a command prompt.   You can assign your self an ipv6 address based on this scheme if you are behind a router (home wireless or other) That is not IPv6 compliant.  How?

Teredo is a protocol that works behind NATed devices – (by the way, NAT is going away…yes going away.  Stateful firewalls and the security of IPv6 won’t require NAT anymore after you are 100% compliant)

It breaks down like this.  Your router gives you an IPv4 address with its DHCP server.  The IPv6 address you want is an  IP address a 128 bit address instead of 32 bits.   To see newer IPv6 websites, you’ll need Teredo to get you there (both IPv4 and IPv6).   So how does an IPv6 address break down?

Prefix     –    Teredo Server IPv4     –    Flags      -    UDP Port        -   Your IP address(Teredo Client)
2001:0:           4136:e378:                       63bf:              8000:                     c0a8:0405   <- is 192.168.4.135 (Example)

So the first part doesn’t change (Prefix/Teredo Server/Flags/UDP Port) but where do you get the Teredo Client address?

You can take your ip address (IPv4) and put it into a conversion utility and  after the conversion, you but the hex number  to where the Teredo Client goes (above).

Is it working after you put it (The ip address)  into your network adapter statically?

Note:You won’t need a gateway or DNS in the IPv6 section – however you will need an IPv6 DNS server address that has an IPv4 numbering scheme to put in your router?

WhatIsMyIPv6.com test your 4, 6 or both

        

test-ipv6.com runs a comprehensive test where you can see results of test

          

ipv6-test.com checks for IPv6 Connection Test
ipv6-test.com Speed Test
ipv6-test.com Ping Test
ipv6-test.com PMUTD  (Determines possible MTU problems)

              

Wireshark IPv6 picture load from IPv4 and IPv6

Test your IPv6 speed to Japan

Global Eye Candy Chart

Arin’s wiki page on IPv6 Troubleshooting

Feel free to use Twitter, Facebook or the links below if this has helped you!   Please leave comments and suggestions that will help home users or businesses.

Pssst…need more help?  http://www.ipv6actnow.org/

Creating a Roaming Profile

Don’t forget, the fastest hard drive without IPv6 ….check your network info here

Attached are guides on creating a roaming profile with Windows 7 and Server 2008 r2.

(Thanks to Mr. Ledlow for creating these)

Guides are in PDF
Step One Create a User on the Domain

Step Two Creating a Folder on the Domain

Step Three Creating the Profile

Step Four Join the Domain

A roaming profile allows the domain user to login and keep their preferences regardless of where they login.

See our review of Windows 8 and see how you can run 90% of your programs, virtualize other operating systems, use your network and more.

Also go and Tweak your wireless!!

RichardKok  Reset a Roaming Profile

Other info

http://www.grouppolicy.biz/2010/08/best-practice-roaming-profiles-and-folder-redirection-a-k-a-user-virtualization/

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2008/06/17/user-profile-policies-in-windows-server-2008-and-windows-vista.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2008/06/30/automatic-creation-of-user-folders-for-home-roaming-profile-and-redirected-folders.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555046

Right Click SendTo SkyDrive

We recently featured Microsoft’s SkyDrive in an article giving Microsoft credit for both giving end-users cloud storage and for their slick application.   The app adds a SkyDrive shortcut in Windows Explorer to your computer.  You can copy the SkyDrive ‘shortcut’ and paste it into your SendTo folder, giving you the option to right click and send ‘whatever’ up to your SkyDrive.

How do you get to the SendTo folder?

Click the Windows Orb and type %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

This will bring up the SendTo folder.

SkyDrive pasted into the SendTo folder

How hackers used vendors to erase someone’s digital life

Wired recently posted and excellent article on how hackers used vendors to erase the digital life of Mat Honan. See how the hackers used pieces of accounts to piece together his online accounts to gain access to his information and how they used synchronized devices to erase almost all of his information.

Find Event and Error Messages with Microsoft’s Error Center

Ever get a cryptic error with a Microsoft product and you don’t know what it is?  Use Microsoft’s Event and Error Message Center.