A question that I am often asked after a Microsoft 365 implementation is, “How do I know what people are doing with it ?” Microsoft’s ever evolving cloud platform has recently added an improved reporting feature that is easy to use and very informative. Logon to the Microsoft 365 admin portal with your global administration […]
PowerShell: GUI Active Directory Group Membership Reporting Tool for Auditors and Security Teams
Security and auditing efforts often increase the workload of your network administrators. The frequent requests to look up information can interrupt the admin’s own workflow. The auditor’s and security team member’s requests are legitimately required. However, those groups are often unable to retrieve the data themselves due to a lack of access to, or knowledge […]
PowerShell: Find USB Storage Devices
Most Administrators know that you can use a GPO to disable the ability to use USB storage devices on Windows computers. So you look up the instructions and implement the policy, but how do you know if it’s working? I’m sure you made a test OU while you were working out the best option for […]
How to Extend or Activate a Windows Evaluation Edition
So you have downloaded, installed, and configured an evaluation edition of Windows Server 2019. You’ve installed your software and been cruising along with everything working fine. The decision has been made to keep the machine permanently, so you get procurement to purchase a volume license and figure you’ll activate the server with the new keys […]
PowerShell: Find User Profile Disks on all RDS Session Hosts
User Profile Disks in Remote Desktop Services allow for a consistent user experience in a distributed computing environment. UPDs utilize Hyper-V VHDX technology to ensure a user’s profile and data is available for their use regardless of which session host the connection broker directs the client to. User Profile Disks replace the more well known […]
PowerShell: Worried about Ransomware? Prepare for Application Lock Down by Finding the Software and Services You Use Now
With all of the ransomware attacks that are making the headlines this year, many businesses are looking to improve their security posture. One of the methods security professionals find most effective is to use software that controls what applications any networked computer is able to run. If an employee can’t open the bad actor’s malware […]
View Microsoft Project Files without Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is the king of planning software. I’ve been using it for more than a decade but my current employer uses a different tool for the job which isn’t a problem on it’s own, I’m flexible. The issue arises when a client sends me their plan in an mpp file. There is no Project […]
PowerShell: List Domain Workstations that Synchronize Offline Files
Once upon a time in an IT shop far, far away I thought that Windows offline files was a fantastic feature. Who remembers when it used to be called the briefcase? Now with DFS, SharePoint, Folder Redirection, and other modern file services taking over from standard file shares, the technology is dated and often causes […]
PowerShell Hyper-V Cluster VM Status
As an employee of an MSP, I am often tossed into the ring, so to speak. I’ve found that configuring Microsoft’s tools to see all of the virtual machines in a clustered Hyper-V environment consumes too much time in high-pressure situations. Depending on the version of Windows the hosts are running, you may not see […]
Emulate the Microsoft 365 Single-Sign-On Experience from Personal Systems
To most of us SSO (Single-Sign-On) means that we only need to enter our username and password one time to access our company’s services and applications. It sounds simple enough but is quite complex. As we have migrated to working remotely many of us have switched to using our personal computing systems for various reasons. […]