tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86843659098890545152024-02-07T14:27:58.942-07:00BulletproofSeanFace it, blogs are just a place to brag.BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-85622343607213357702016-05-06T17:08:00.000-06:002018-10-04T11:42:35.347-06:00Fort McMurray Assistance!One of our long time clients, <a href="http://www.allserviceins.com/">All Service Insurance</a>, has organized a HELP Campaign for victims of the Fort McMurray fire. If anyone has any of the items listed below, you may drop them off at either of the following locations:<br />
<ul>
<li>Bulletproof Red Deer Office – 11, 7711-50th Ave, Red Deer, before 4pm Tuesday May 10th.</li>
<li>All Service Insurance – #270, 5002-55 St, Red Deer, before 5pm Tuesday May 10th</li>
</ul>
Our family lived in Fort McMurray for nearly 10 years, and all three of my children were born there. Many of my friends were impacted by this disaster, and to my knowledge they are ALL safe, but now possibly homeless. Every little bit helps.<br />
<br />
Thank you and read on!<br />
<br />
Sean Tindall, President, Bulletproof InfoTech<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Fort McMurray Evacuees Need Your Help!</u></strong><a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/fm3.png"><img alt="fm3" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1511" height="120" src="https://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/fm3.png" width="214" /></a> <a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/fm2.png"><img alt="fm2" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1514" height="121" src="https://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/fm2.png" width="182" /></a> <img alt="fm1" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1512" height="121" src="https://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/fm1.png" width="182" /><br />
<br />
The following items are desperately needed to help the residents of Fort McMurray that have been evacuated:<br />
<ul>
<li>Dry, non-perishable food items</li>
<li>Canned food items</li>
<li>Powdered baby formula</li>
<li>New Pillows</li>
<li>New Socks and Underwear</li>
<li>Pet Kennels</li>
<li>Toiletries - shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, feminine hygiene products</li>
<li>Diapers</li>
<li>Baby Wipes</li>
<li>Dog/Cat food</li>
<li>Cat Litter</li>
<li>Advil/Tylenol/Allergy Medication</li>
<li>Hair Brushes/Combs</li>
<li>Sunscreen</li>
<li>Band-Aids</li>
<li>Gift Cards</li>
</ul>
Drop Offs:<br />
<br />
Bulletproof Red Deer Office – 11, 7711-50th Ave, Red Deer, before 4pm Tuesday May 10th<br />
All Service Insurance – #270, 5002-55St, Red Deer, before 5pm Tuesday May 10<br />
<br />
All donations are being taken to an Edmonton drop center on Wednesday, May 11th.<br />
<br />
Thank you for your support!<br />
<br />
For more information on how to help, or where to drop off supplies if you are not local to Red Deer, click here:Â <a href="http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/how-yiou-can-help-the-evacuees-from-the-fort-mcmurray-wildfires">http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/how-yiou-can-help-the-evacuees-from-the-fort-mcmurray-wildfires</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/fort-mcmurray-assistance/">Fort McMurray Assistance!</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-37715583628711344522016-04-13T12:25:00.002-06:002016-04-13T12:25:20.283-06:00What You Need to Know About Stagefright<p>If you’re an Android user, learn how to protect yourself from Stagefright:</p><br/><p><a href="http://bit.ly/1MunPvn" target="_blank"><img src="https://d3utlhu53nfcwz.cloudfront.net/137701/cdnImage/article/5982b6cc-8dc5-4504-bbda-bcad1b308ac7/?size=Box320"/></a></p><br/><h4><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="http://bit.ly/1MunPvn" target="_blank">What You Need to Know About Stagefright</a></h4><br/><p>This Stagefright has nothing to do with public speaking and everything to do with a new Android cyber threat.</p><br/><hr/><br/><p>#Intel4Biz<br/><a href="http://4biz.intel.com" target="_blank">Intel Business Social Hub</a></p><br/> <br/><a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/what-you-need-to-know-about-stagefright/">What You Need to Know About Stagefright</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-1686182070739999022016-04-10T02:33:00.002-06:002016-04-10T02:33:04.044-06:00Quarterly Threat Report: What Do the Numbers...<p>Malware attacks double, as well as target Macs and mobile.</p><br/><p><a href="http://bit.ly/1Mn64yh" target="_blank"><img src="https://d3utlhu53nfcwz.cloudfront.net/137701/cdnImage/article/161aaa02-5b58-4324-9858-9c80c858e702/?size=Box320"/></a><br/></p><br/><h4><a href="http://bit.ly/1Mn64yh" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Quarterly Threat Report: What Do the Numbers…</a></h4><br/><p>Every quarter, the team at McAfee Labs releases a threat report detailing information about the latest trends in malware and cybersecurity.<br/></p><br/><hr/><br/><p>#Intel4Biz<br/><a href="http://4biz.intel.com" target="_blank">Intel Business Social Hub</a></p><br/> <br/><a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/quarterly-threat-report-what-do-the-numbers-5/">Quarterly Threat Report: What Do the Numbers...</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-59863865530318739162016-04-01T22:01:00.002-06:002016-04-01T22:01:22.804-06:00Macro Malware Is Back<p>Malicious macro incidents are up by a factor of four in the last year alone.</p><br/><p><a href="http://bit.ly/1VhVeuP" target="_blank"><img src="https://d3utlhu53nfcwz.cloudfront.net/137701/cdnImage/article/54abf7b2-52a9-46f4-b9ee-be24866e734f/?size=Box320"/></a><br/></p><br/><h4><a href="http://bit.ly/1VhVeuP" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Macro Malware Is Back</a></h4><br/><p>Macro malware — a threat you probably haven’t thought about since the early days of the Internet — is back. And if you’re a regular Microsoft Office user, you might want to take notice.<br/></p><br/><hr/><br/><p>#Intel4Biz<br/><a href="http://4biz.intel.com" target="_blank">Intel Business Social Hub</a></p><br/> <br/><a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/macro-malware-is-back-3/">Macro Malware Is Back</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-77683595097870976722016-02-25T10:49:00.000-07:002016-02-29T14:27:22.631-07:00"Locky" Ransomware Alert from BulletproofIT<u>New Ransomware Notice from Bulletproof InfoTech</u>:<br />
<br />
We wanted to make you aware of a new Ransomware that has started to raise its ugly head. The IT world is calling it "Locky" and it works in a similar way to other “Ransomwares” such as CryptoLocker and CryptoWall. Please review the following information and share it with your staff members.<br />
<br />
<strong>The main point?</strong><br />
<ul>
<li>Be careful! If activated on your computer, Locky will encrypt your files, change your file names, and you will see a message telling you that you can’t access the data unless you pay the hackers for a password.</li>
</ul>
<strong>How do you avoid it?</strong><br />
<ul>
<li>Locky is sending fake invoices that look like a Microsoft Word document. Once you open one, the text is illegible and you are prompted to enable macros in the document. DON’T DO IT. See a sample photo below of what such a message might look like.</li>
<br />
<li>While Bulletproof works to ensure your systems have multiple levels of security software in place, the main way Ransomware gets into a system is by <u>tricking you into opening something bad â particularly via email attachments</u>. By “you” I mean me too - it can happen to anyone. So we all need to be careful.</li>
</ul>
<strong>Reminders</strong><br />
<ul>
<li>Use great caution when opening attachments in emails you aren’t expecting and/or from people you don’t know.</li>
<li>Never open <u>zipped</u> file attachments unless you are specifically expecting them to be sent to you from known senders.</li>
<li>Never enable macros in an email attachment unless you are very sure about the source of the document.</li>
<li>Never click on a link in a fishy (phishy) looking email.</li>
<li>If you’re unsure - call BulletproofIT for assistance and we will look at the email with you.</li>
<li>If you think you’ve clicked on something bad - call BulletproofIT right away for assistance.</li>
</ul>
We highly recommend you share this information with your staff.<br />
<br />
If you have any questions or concerns, <a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/contact-us/">please contact us!</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bleepingcomuterexample.png" rel="attachment wp-att-1451"><img alt="bleepingcomuterexample" class="alignnone wp-image-1451 size-large" src="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bleepingcomuterexample-1024x715.png" height="715" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bleepingcomuterexample-300x209.png 300w, http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bleepingcomuterexample-768x536.png 768w, http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bleepingcomuterexample-1024x715.png 1024w, http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bleepingcomuterexample.png 1033w" width="1024" /></a><br />
<br />
More detailed information can be found here: <a href="http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/the-locky-ransomware-encrypts-local-files-and-unmapped-network-shares/">http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/the-locky-ransomware-encrypts-local-files-and-unmapped-network-shares/</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/locky-ransomware-alert-from-bulletproofit/">"Locky" Ransomware Alert from BulletproofIT</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-2759695429269370512016-02-25T10:48:00.002-07:002016-02-29T14:30:36.247-07:00BulletproofIT achieves CompTIA Security Trustmark+ Certification<strong><a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/BIT-582x125.png" rel="attachment wp-att-1443"><img alt="BIT-582x125" class="size-medium wp-image-1443 aligncenter" src="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/BIT-582x125-300x64.png" height="64" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" srcset="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/BIT-582x125-300x64.png 300w, http://www.bulletproofit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/BIT-582x125.png 582w" width="300" /></a></strong><br />
<br />
<strong>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</strong><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>Bulletproof InfoTech Earns CompTIA Security Trustmark+ - </strong><em>Validation that BulletproofIT uses industry accepted security best practices</em></div>
<br />
<strong>Calgary, AB, Dec 9 2015 </strong>Bulletproof InfoTech, an IT Managed Services Provider for small and medium sized business, announced today it has received the <a href="http://www.comptia.org/trustmarks/security-trustmark-plus">CompTIA Security Trustmark+</a> from <a href="http://www.comptia.org/home.aspx">CompTIA</a>, the non-profit association for world's information technology (IT) industry.<br />
<br />
The CompTIA Security Trustmark+ validates that BulletproofIT uses the security processes identified by the IT industry as generally accepted best practices and has been evaluated by an independent third-party assessor as meeting the criteria established by the CompTIA Security Trustmark+. Based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, the CompTIA Security Trustmark+ is a comprehensive review of the security posture of any IT business, applicable across multiple industries and compliance regulations.<br />
<br />
"The CompTIA Security Trustmark+ signifies that BulletproofIT adheres to our industry's highest standards for security practices and business processes in critical components of identification, protection, detection, response, and recovery as related to data security," said Nancy Hammervik, senior vice president, industry relations, CompTIA. "Earning the Security Trustmark+ demonstrates a true commitment to address the challenges of security compliance facing our industry today."<br />
<br />
<em>Security Trustmark+ really makes you think hard about all of the various processes that simply have to be put in place to handle any situation, security or otherwise. We feel equipped to handle any scenario while following the Trustmark framework - Sean Tindall, P.Eng, President, Bulletproof InfoTech</em><br />
<br />
To earn the CompTIA Security Trustmark+ Bulletproof InfoTech successfully passed an independent assessment of their security policies, capabilities, practices, and processes against industry best practices in areas such as:<br />
<ul>
<li>Security technologies, including firewalls, anti-Virus/ malware/ spyware and intrusion detection</li>
<li>Vulnerability assessment detection</li>
<li>Data encryption</li>
<li>Technical employee knowledge/expertise</li>
<li>Security clearances and background checks</li>
<li>Physical and hardware security</li>
<li>Permissions, passwords and other security requirements</li>
</ul>
For more information on the CompTIA Security Trustmark visit <a href="http://www.comptia.org/trustmarks/security-trustmark-plus">http://www.comptia.org/trustmarks/security-trustmark-plus</a>.<br />
<br />
<strong>About Bulletproof InfoTech</strong><br />
<em>Bulletproof InfoTech is celebrating its 29<sup>th</sup> year supporting small business networks in Alberta and beyond. They specialize in delivering flat fee managed services to IT dependent companies, allowing clients to have greater budget predictability and focus more on their business instead of worrying about leveraging technology.</em><br />
<br />
<strong>Contact:</strong>Sean Tindall, P.Eng., President<br />
Bulletproof InfoTech Inc<br />
403 340 1011<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/bulletproofit-achieves-comptia-security-trustmark-certification/">BulletproofIT achieves CompTIA Security Trustmark+ Certification</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-66543458674529022992015-09-09T10:24:00.001-06:002015-09-09T10:25:44.926-06:00Don't forget about the old schoolI'm downsizing my network at home and I want to get rid of my on-premise domain controller. So I'm converting to using Azure AD and Windows 10 machines. All of my devices have been upgraded to Windows 10, but because I also happen to use Google Apps and Google Drive, I ran into THIS annoying problem:<br />
<br />
Google Drive on Windows 10 with Azure AD Sign in will not start properly: <a href="https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/drive/-Q3no-2OoRw">https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/drive/-Q3no-2OoRw</a><br />
<br />
So, temporarily forced back to using local logins, I was also faced with implementing login restrictions. Windows 10 Parental Controls are TOO restrictive for my tastes (in addition to now FORCING you to use Microsoft Accounts for all family members), so after some digging I discovered this old school way. Basically, you can't do login restrictions for local accounts from the GUI, but you can from the command line, below. You'll probably want to combine this with screen saver timeouts forced with local policy editor:<br />
<br />
net user username /times:m-th,2pm-4pm;f-s,1pm-3pm;su,6pm-8pm<br />
<br />
So, this will have to suffice until Google Drive fixes their issue with Azure AD logins, and Azure AD lets us perform user logon restrictions like on-prem AD does.BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-57573802029624173542015-04-17T17:52:00.004-06:002015-04-17T17:52:41.618-06:00Now this is hot....replication to AzureThis tab has been sitting open in my browser since the day Aidan announced it:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=17544">http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=17544</a><br />
<br />
So I finally did it today, and now one of our mission critical servers is currently replicating itself to Azure. Can't wait to test it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/hyper-v-recovery-manager-hypervsite/">http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/hyper-v-recovery-manager-hypervsite/</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-2110790332405459042015-04-09T09:18:00.002-06:002015-04-09T09:19:29.050-06:00Windows Nano Server & Hyper-V ContainersOh man, I really need to spend some time to go through all this cool new stuff coming in Windows Server. VM containers, Nano Servers, oh my.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=17888">http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=17888</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-69628257934707139562015-03-09T09:20:00.002-06:002015-03-09T09:20:46.863-06:00Not upgrading from Windows Server 2003?Aidan Finn running into some obvious frustration with people pushing back against moving away from Windows Server 2003...people that should know better.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=17751">http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=17751</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-67214454531767049502015-03-04T14:08:00.001-07:002015-03-04T14:08:55.546-07:00Great Article on Cryptowall 3.0 from blogs.cisco.comWorth a read:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://blogs.cisco.com/security/talos/cryptowall-3-0">http://blogs.cisco.com/security/talos/cryptowall-3-0</a><br />
<br />
My only question is why would the dropper care whether it's running in a virtual environment? A bit more digging reveals that the malware author is assuming that if his code ends up running in a VM, it's probably a sandbox and being studied, so the malicious code refuses to co-operate. Clever.<br />
<br />
Here's the analysis of Cryptowall 2.0, from the same blog:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://blogs.cisco.com/security/talos/cryptowall-2">blogs.cisco.com/security/talos/cryptowall-2</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-4835394917969894552015-02-20T16:50:00.001-07:002015-02-20T16:51:12.828-07:00Is my blog dead?No, my blog is not dead. Well, I guess it is, sorta. I've been extremely busy in both my personal and professional life, and since writing is last on my list of things to do, that's how my blog ends up so dusty and stale. I've been doing some cool stuff though:<br />
<br />
- checking out <a href="http://www.checkpoint.com/smb">Check Point</a>'s new SMB appliances (underwhelmed)<br />
- re-engaging with <a href="http://www.comptia.org/trustmarks/security-trustmark-plus">CompTIA's Security Trustmark</a> process<br />
- learning lots of Hyper-V tips and tricks from <a href="http://www.aidanfinn.com/">Aidan Finn</a><br />
- getting back into lifting heavy and often using <a href="http://www.jimwendler.com/">Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program</a><br />
- continuing to contribute and play for my <a href="http://www.titansrugby.com/">local rugby club</a><br />
- helping run an IT consulting firm, <a href="http://www.bulletproofit.ca/">no big deal</a><br />
- watching my three amazing kids grow into men<br />
<br />
So yeah, got a few things going on. I'll try and add more interesting stuff though.BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-35364413493276763492013-07-12T12:54:00.000-06:002013-07-12T12:54:57.691-06:00Unlock-Code-Express.com<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">If you’re
into unlocking your own phones and don’t mind paying a few bucks, I do _<i>NOT</i>_
recommend these folks: <a href="http://www.unlock-code-express.com/">www.unlock-code-express.com</a>.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I bought a
code from them, it didn't work on my handset. So, that’s lie #1:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9T6YgVlNy8m1KcxS3yx3rf9Qzbjif94RXOF8_MjXFjswBYJYLiNhjPWA7sh6yxFyY3GEsAhGIFJmTy9-1-gdP8-Rw8B3EJgxfXwOAR9-UFAxcFHkVkc-aOnWEfcviplJ-8l9zecrMFhg/s1600/100percent.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9T6YgVlNy8m1KcxS3yx3rf9Qzbjif94RXOF8_MjXFjswBYJYLiNhjPWA7sh6yxFyY3GEsAhGIFJmTy9-1-gdP8-Rw8B3EJgxfXwOAR9-UFAxcFHkVkc-aOnWEfcviplJ-8l9zecrMFhg/s1600/100percent.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Lie #2,
from the instructional email you get when you purchase:</span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4fbo1RT3IvxesFZlHWWW44IzwGgt0uINg1JKOfMnvQ-KwdUn-udTXTpykBSHPwsMKPo6WR_mSKPBYXrPq9Y8iXe1v0VJzIvcNJhNWHwAEHsIZw9wbFsyRVOMKgGSmAf_yJ37cqHM-9x0/s1600/wrong.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4fbo1RT3IvxesFZlHWWW44IzwGgt0uINg1JKOfMnvQ-KwdUn-udTXTpykBSHPwsMKPo6WR_mSKPBYXrPq9Y8iXe1v0VJzIvcNJhNWHwAEHsIZw9wbFsyRVOMKgGSmAf_yJ37cqHM-9x0/s640/wrong.png" width="640" /></a><br />
<div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I raised my
ticket with them Monday, and still haven’t heard back. I also sent a
direct email to support on Monday, no reply there either. I raised
another ticket to them Tuesday night asking for a refund, still haven’t heard
back on that one either. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So, don’t
use these guys. Instead use <b>gadgetrepair-canada</b>. He’s
good people:</span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHRP82HJonJJQwB8wHmpToLQXb-VTlmTi70uREi4s2SDZuE-godijeRrrwLpjm8HH0gO8YfT4nOx8O4T4TA54roXCY1N5HwrErrYLMo8C7d31CY_jwoimbwJyv6YcntX3qZmO5QE8N99s/s1600/gadgetrepair-canada.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHRP82HJonJJQwB8wHmpToLQXb-VTlmTi70uREi4s2SDZuE-godijeRrrwLpjm8HH0gO8YfT4nOx8O4T4TA54roXCY1N5HwrErrYLMo8C7d31CY_jwoimbwJyv6YcntX3qZmO5QE8N99s/s640/gadgetrepair-canada.png" width="640" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">That is
all.</span></div>
</div>
BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-43662264074238475612013-04-03T08:44:00.001-06:002013-04-03T08:45:02.515-06:00Microsoft Surface RT TryoutI've used several different tablets - Apple iPad 2, Google Nexus 7, and now I'm playing with a Microsoft Surface RT. I'm one of those <i>apparently</i> unfortunate people that use Outlook/Exchange Tasks functionality (and I use it religiously as my primary <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done">GTD</a> tool). I kind of expect to have to buy a supplementary app for this on Android and iOS platforms. It's nice that Blackberry supports tasks out of the box. But I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I am that the Surface RT out of the box will not support syncing your tasks with your Exchange account. Out of all of the upsides and downsides of the RT (<a href="http://lmgtfy.com/?q=microsoft+surface+rt+reviews">which you can read about all over the web</a>), this one may end up becoming a deal breaker for me. I just don't think I should have to pay for _another_ third party for an app do this, on a fucking Microsoft device.<br />
<br />
I guess I get it...Surface RT is not a business device, Surface Pro is (ha, bullshit). It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong for using "edge" features of Outlook and Exchange.<br />
<br />
(For the record, I use <a href="http://tasktaskapp.com/">TaskTask HD</a> on iOS and they also happen to offer an RT version. On Android I use <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.basiliapps.tasks&hl=en">Tasks for Microsoft Exchange</a>. I happily bought these because I expect other platforms to not bother with the "intricacies" of Exchange, or, you know, whatever.)<br />
<br />
So if anyone has a _free_ alternative for Surface RT tasks until the mythical Outlook RT (or 2013 or whatever) hits, let me know in the comments. Otherwise, that is all.BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-8454549971513486462012-07-13T09:21:00.003-06:002012-07-13T09:23:14.656-06:00Plug: PRTGGreat tool, very handy, works exactly as advertised. Know what's happening on your network.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.paessler.com/prtg">http://www.paessler.com/prtg</a>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-1905566119705844462012-01-28T11:19:00.003-07:002012-01-28T11:21:43.274-07:00Debug a running VM when it's crashing without a memory dumpThis is mainly just a link dump. I was getting STOP 0xc0000135 errors with no other clues, and I used these resources to properly troubleshoot it.<div><br /></div><div>Live debugging a VM in Hyper-V: <a href="http://mikemstech.blogspot.com/2012/01/live-debugging-hyper-v-virtual-machine.html">http://mikemstech.blogspot.com/2012/01/live-debugging-hyper-v-virtual-machine.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Troubleshooting 0xc0000135: <a href="http://mikemstech.blogspot.com/2012/01/troubleshooting-0xc0000135.html">http://mikemstech.blogspot.com/2012/01/troubleshooting-0xc0000135.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Make sure you are properly loading symbols in your WinDBG workspace or you won't get enough detailed information to proceed.</div>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-58134266525626750792011-08-05T08:42:00.005-06:002011-08-05T08:45:29.323-06:00SQL Server Browser ServiceDoing an upgrade from SQL Express 2005 to SQL Standard 2005 using the SKUUPGRADE=1 option?<br /><br />Once the process is done and everything <em>appears</em> to be running okay, but <u>isn't</u>, try restarting your SQL Server Browser service. It could save you a day of troubleshooting and planning a server rollback. Or just reboot the box, that would have been helpful.<br /><br />That is all.BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-39878316178456977942011-04-18T18:28:00.005-06:002011-04-18T18:38:10.099-06:00Connecting Drives via SBS RWW 2008 / RWA 2010<div>This info is _fairly_ easy to find, but I thought I'd post it along anyway to make it a tiny bit easier. If your users need to be able to connect network drives via their Remote Web Workplace or Remote Web Access desktop sessions, check out this document from Microsoft:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=180370">http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=180370</a></div>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-62797490369774399172011-04-18T18:08:00.003-06:002011-04-18T18:22:08.419-06:00Test Disk = Good<a href="http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk">Test Disk</a>, from the guys over at <a href="http://www.cgsecurity.org/">CGSecurity</a>, gets a huge thumbs up from me today. My son had a school project due this week that I helped him with yesterday involving pics from our old digital camera. All the pictures were taken and we get to the part where we need to print them, and the SD card isn't recognized in my laptop. Figuring it was a problem with my laptop, I reboot and try again, still nothing. Placing the card back in the camera results in:<div><br /></div><div>"Hey cool, a new SD card. Want me to format it?"*</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small; ">*Error message paraphrased.</span></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not about to spend money on this, but I'm definitely hoping to save some time. Lifehacker had done a bit on the "<a href="http://ca.lifehacker.com/5239099/hive-five-winner-for-best-free-data-recovery-tool-recuva">best recovery tools</a>" a while back that I checked out. I tried "Recuva" first, but was disappointed. Turns out, even though Recuva won their little showdown, it's not actually good for any sort of failure situation where the card won't mount or the partition is screwed. It's really just an undelete tool. But next in line was Test Disk. It's cousin is called <a href="http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec">PhotoRec</a> and that's what I used to recover everything we needed off the SD card, and then some. It also pulled off some old MP3 tracks and some videos that used to live on that card. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, it worked really well, and I highly recommend it!</div>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-90365869299316248372011-01-12T16:11:00.005-07:002011-01-12T16:20:33.309-07:00Exchange Distribution GroupsWhen creating Distribution Groups on SBS 2008, there’s (of course) a wizard for it. It steps you through the creation, including adding users, and right near the very end of the wizard there’s an option available, shown here.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCb7H18m_sqpkTJ970fO0WLWMDOsI02lbfV3UKxHQS_H2coMsc_eS78_zGY5ZvMlTWHutD44VCJ8cLcfHP7N6Ova0b3eP12x1crCawf4fCUFz1FBNXKfgoHTgYW5nx44fBJyisM3SgFU/s1600/mydg.png"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 145px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561443249776234626" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCb7H18m_sqpkTJ970fO0WLWMDOsI02lbfV3UKxHQS_H2coMsc_eS78_zGY5ZvMlTWHutD44VCJ8cLcfHP7N6Ova0b3eP12x1crCawf4fCUFz1FBNXKfgoHTgYW5nx44fBJyisM3SgFU/s320/mydg.png" /></a> Of course, this is usually a no-brainer – we know right away whether the group should be available externally or not. Job done, no hassle.<br /><br />But…<br /><br />What if you need to create a distribution group manually for some reason? Or worse yet, on vanilla Exchange 2007 or 2010 servers where we don’t have wizards to baby sit us? If you create a distribution group manually, it MIGHT not accept email from the outside world. Where do you go when you have this problem?<br /><br />This link has the answer. The checkbox referred to at the article below is the option controlled by the SBS Wizard shown in the above screenshot. <a href="http://www.ebsfaq.com/Exchange2007/HubCASMailboxUM/Distributiongroupdoesnotreceiveexternalemail/tabid/2105/Default.aspx">http://www.ebsfaq.com/Exchange2007/HubCASMailboxUM/Distributiongroupdoesnotreceiveexternalemail/tabid/2105/Default.aspx</a><br /><br />So, watch out for this!BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-44968404232647994562011-01-02T10:37:00.003-07:002011-01-02T15:25:30.415-07:00Caffeine, BES, and Everything ElseLink dump day, stuff that's caught my eye:<div><br /></div><div>What caffeine actually does to you - I really liked this article (thanks Jesse). Give it a read. I personally long for the days when caffeine actually worked on me, and I've decided I'd like to get there again. I'm going to slowly cut back over the next few weeks and see what happens.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://gizmodo.com/5713564/what-caffeine-actually-does-to-your-brain">http://gizmodo.com/5713564/what-caffeine-actually-does-to-your-brain</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Clifford Stoll on ... everything - this talk is entertaining on just about every level. He's physically engaging (you'll see what I mean), he's super passionate, looks to be a tiny bit crazy (but in a good way), and brilliantly intelligent. I especially loved his comment on science, engineering, and technology (near the beginning). Do yourself a favor and watch it.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/clifford_stoll_on_everything.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/clifford_stoll_on_everything.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, if you are upgrading a BES Express installation, and the installer greets you with something like this (after quite some time as well, as long as 20 minutes):</div><blockquote><div><div><i>Database Information</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>An attempt to upgrade the database was unsuccessful. An error occurred while executing an SQL statement.</i></div></div><div></div></blockquote><div>If you dig into the installer logs, you'll see something like:</div><div><br /></div><div><div></div></div><blockquote><div><div><i>[20000] (01/02 10:51:14.961):{0x2C44} [CBESDBInstaller::executeRetryDDL] Timeout expired 0x80040E31</i></div></div><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>I did some research on this and found the link below. Basically, before doing any major BES upgrade work, start the process off with a clean boot of your server.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.blackberryforums.com/bes-admin-corner/233903-cant-upgrade-besx-5-0-1-5-0-2-sql-error.html">http://www.blackberryforums.com/bes-admin-corner/233903-cant-upgrade-besx-5-0-1-5-0-2-sql-error.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div>That's it!</div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-74325239596026788972010-12-27T13:17:00.004-07:002010-12-27T13:31:48.762-07:00Lifedrive MutteringsWhile others have pointed this out, it didn't really occur to me until now that I haven't posted all year. That's a shame, because I ran into some sh*t in the IT realm that could really use some discussing. I'll try and do better with that.<div><br /></div><div>Over the last couple of days, I took advantage of the quiet to spend a little bit of time with my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeDrive">Palm Lifedrive</a>. I bought this thing about 6 or 7 years ago, back when I was using a lot of Palm devices (my favorite was the Palm Tungsten E). The funny thing is, the reason I started toying with it again was all this stuff we're seeing now about these new touchscreen media devices and/or iPad "killers" that are coming out. Especially the ones with the smaller 7" screens made to fit in your jacket pocket. It occurred to me that although dated and a bit clunky looking compared to the new devices coming out, my Lifedrive does nearly everything that these new devices do. It doesn't do any of it particularly well, but it does them.</div><div><br />I can use Wifi, tether with Bluetooth to my phone, and install lots of different apps. If there's a Palm application marketplace though, I definitely don't get it on my Lifedrive. I'm stuck trolling all the old websites that many Palm users are familiar with and I won't really get into here.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, it was good for a little bit of nostalgia. To me, the Lifedrive is basically an Apple iPod Touch, except bigger and uglier. It always seemed to me that the Lifedrive was a solution looking for a problem, and it never really caught any traction. However, now that everyone in the world is hooked on their Kindles, touchscreen phones, iPads, etc., there is a huge market for these gadgety toys now and Palm was simply too early to the party.</div><div><br /></div><div>The end result of this tinkering though is that I very likely will dedicate it to eBook reading using <a href="http://www.mobipocket.com">Mobipocket</a>, and portable movie watching using an old version of <a href="http://picard.exceed.hu/tcpmp/test/">TCPMP</a> (which, at the time, was sorta like VLC for the handheld). As old as my Lifedrive is, it's still VASTLY superior to reading books on my Blackberry Bold 9700 (using Mobipocket, same program).</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u><i>So, does anyone out there have a Lifedrive? If so, what do YOU use it for?</i></u></b></div>BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-88787955249738179902010-01-24T12:34:00.010-07:002010-01-24T13:01:26.767-07:00Windows Anytime UpgradeReally? Anytime? Yup. And from OEM to Retail too.<br /><br />My new PC runs Windows 7 Home Premium and I've already installed all of my apps. But I heard somewhere that it was ridiculously easy to upgrade editions under 7.<br /><br />Problem was, I got a lot of noisy search results trying to bring up some info on how to do this (and lots of hits on cracking and piracy). There's lots of info out there describing the feature and roughly what's involved, but I was missing the critical first step of HOW to do it. Maybe I wasn't reading closely enough...I do that from time to time (my cowboy hat gets in the way so to speak).<br /><br />I did find an article once from TechRepublic (I think) that described the process as being as simple as punching in your code for Pro (or Ultimate), or whatever. But for the life of me I couldn't find it again (and I couldn't even remember which of my computers I found it on to go digging through the IE history).<br /><br />So, after looking at this for a few minutes and giving up (and repeating the process a few time), I gave my thinking a reboot this morning and did the following:<br /><br />1. Clicked the Start button.<br /><br />2. Typed "windows anytime upgrade" into the search field.<br /><br />3. Low and behold, a wizard appeared.<br /><br />4. Typed in my Windows 7 Ultimate key (which was free from a Microsoft Event).<br /><br />5. Verifying.<br /><br />6. Click "I Accept".<br /><br />7. Click "Upgrade". WARNING: Your computer will restart automatically.<br /><br />8. Done.<br /><br />Windows XP Mode, here I come. I wonder how long it will take for my WHS to recognize the change (it's busy shuffling disks right now so I can't check).BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-62663940860490256852010-01-19T20:22:00.006-07:002010-01-19T20:48:09.402-07:00Best Practices Analyzers (BPA)Okay, it's just shocking to me the number of people that haven't heard of these. I could blame Microsoft and say that they aren't doing a good job publicizing, but I can't. Until the day comes that I read every single Microsoft newsletter that hits my inbox, I am simply not allowed to complain about Microsoft not telling me about something.<br /><br />So here we go:<br /><br />SBS 2008 BPA: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=86a1aa32-9814-484e-bd43-3e42aec7f731&displaylang=en">http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=86a1aa32-9814-484e-bd43-3e42aec7f731&displaylang=en</a><br /><br />SBS 2003 BPA: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3874527A-DE19-49BB-800F-352F3B6F2922&displaylang=en">http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3874527A-DE19-49BB-800F-352F3B6F2922&displaylang=en</a><br /><br />The SBS BPA tools are <strong>absolute must haves on all SBS boxes</strong>.<br /><br />Not running SBS?<br /><br />Exchange Analyzer Tools main page: <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb288481.aspx">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb288481.aspx</a><br /><br />Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4BDC1D6B-DE34-4F1C-AEBA-FED1256CAF9A&displaylang=en">http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4BDC1D6B-DE34-4F1C-AEBA-FED1256CAF9A&displaylang=en</a><br /><br />Exchange Remote Connectivity Analyzer (for anything to do with remotely accessing Exchange, also works with SBS): <a href="https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/">https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/</a><br /><br />SQL Server 2005 BPA: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DA0531E4-E94C-4991-82FA-F0E3FBD05E63&displaylang=en">http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DA0531E4-E94C-4991-82FA-F0E3FBD05E63&displaylang=en</a><br /><br />SQL Server 2008 BPA (Not ready yet, but here's a link to something related): <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/andrew/archive/2008/03/30/sql-server-2008-best-practice.aspx">http://blogs.technet.com/andrew/archive/2008/03/30/sql-server-2008-best-practice.aspx</a><br /><br />The Microsoft IT Health Scanner: <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/essentialbusinessserver/archive/2009/06/29/microsoft-it-health-scanner-released.aspx">http://blogs.technet.com/essentialbusinessserver/archive/2009/06/29/microsoft-it-health-scanner-released.aspx</a><br /><br />You could even use the EBS Preparation Wizard to give a network a clean bill of health: <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768594(WS.10).aspx">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768594(WS.10).aspx</a><br /><br />With the release of Server 2008 R2, Microsoft has taken BPAs to the next level and included them for <u>every single server role</u>: <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd759260.aspx">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd759260.aspx</a><br /><br />Now, one thing I feel is missing here is some kind of Terminal Server or Remote Desktop Services (RDS) BPA. I don't think the RDS BPA included with R2 really hones in on best practices that directly affect performance and the user experience, which I think would be valuable. Maybe someday soon.<br /><br />The truth might not be out there, but help sure is.BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684365909889054515.post-12338291291922923262010-01-16T14:19:00.004-07:002010-01-16T18:13:21.654-07:00Problem Communicating with the Outlook Web Access Server in RWWWTF SBS? Re-running the Connect to the Internet wizard (see last post) apparently resets a web.config file, breaking the SSO features between RWW and OWA.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.c7solutions.com/blog/2009/03/owa-login-issues-with-rww-in-sbs-and.aspx">http://www.c7solutions.com/blog/2009/03/owa-login-issues-with-rww-in-sbs-and.aspx</a><br /><br />The link above applies to EBS but is also applicable to SBS as well (instead of hitting the "c:\program files\Windows Essential Business Server\Bin\webapp\Remote" folder use the "c:\program files\Windows Small Business Server\Bin\webapp\Remote" folder instead).<br /><br />Changing "Sites" to "remote.blahblah.com" in the right place inside the web.config file mentioned above will sort out the issue.<br /><br />Note that this may only be a problem when you need a very specific hostname configuration due to certificates, Outlook Anywhere, etc. It's unlikely this will be a problem on a vanilla SBS 2008 without much customization.BulletproofSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09975507531255909719noreply@blogger.com0