WServerNews: Lotsa lists

Editor’s Corner

Welcome to Issue #1250 of WServerNews! Go to wservernews.com to find the latest issues of our newsletter; older issues dating back to 1997 can be found in our archive. Please tell all your colleagues and friends about WServerNews and tell them they can receive it each week in their inbox by subscribing here. Enjoy this week’s newsletter and send us your feedback on any of the topics we’ve covered, thanks!

Cheers,
Mitch Tulloch, Senior Editor

In this week’s newsletter

This week in WServerNews we share some of the lists of tips and resources we’ve come across that may be helpful to our IT pro readers including some Linux-related stuff for Windows admins. We also have a Tip of the Week for those deploying Office ProPlus but don’t want to use Microsoft Teams. Our Factoid has to do with the security (or perhaps insecurity) of keyless entry systems for automobiles. And we have lots of other useful and fun stuff in this issue so be sure to read through all of it. Enjoy!

Awesome Windows Domain Hardening

I found this list of security hardening techniques on GitHub, it was put together about a year ago from a presentation at DerbyCon. If you’re a sysadmin who works in a Windows environment it’s definitely worth taking ten minutes to browse through this list and see what you can learn:

https://github.com/PaulSec/awesome-windows-domain-hardening

Linux programs that work on Windows

I’ve dabbled with Linux from time to time over the years, but until Microsoft released the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) for Windows 10 there hasn’t been much I’ve wanted to do with it in a Windows environment. Recently I’ve started dabbling again, and I found this list of community powered list of programs that work (and those that don’t) on the Windows subsystem for Linux and it’s helpful as it illustrates what WSL can and can’t support in its present incarnation:

https://github.com/ethanhs/WSL-Programs

If you’re not that familiar yet with WSL you can install it on Windows 10 by following these instructions:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10

And speaking of Linux…

Have any of our readers tried out Manjaro yet? Manjaro characterizes itself as “a professionally made Linux based operating system that is a suitable replacement for Windows or MacOS” and “Multiple Desktop Environments are available through our Official and Community editions.” I was told by a colleague last week that Manjaro is the easiest way for getting your feet wet with Linux:

https://manjaro.org/

Let me know if you’ve tried Manjaro and what you think of it: [email protected]

Service Status Pages

Getting back to lists though, here’s another useful list you may want to pin to your cubicle wall if your organization uses cloud services of any kind, it’s a list of status websites for various kinds of cloud services:

https://github.com/NT-Lists/Docs/blob/master/Service-Status-Websites.md#service-status-pages

We’ve been having problems with Cloudflare recently and referencing this list allowed me to quickly locate and open their status page to discover the reason behind the outage we were experiencing. If any readers have any additional status pages to suggest you can recommend them to the creator of this GitHub page.

Windows 10 servicing stack updates

It’s getting harder and harder to keep Windows 10 systems properly updated with the proliferation of Windows 10 versions and the numerous updates for the Windows servicing stack that Microsoft has released. If you try to install a software update on Windows 10 and the update fails to install properly, the likely cause is that you don’t have the latest servicing stack update installed on the machine. This advisory from Microsoft is a list of the latest servicing stack updates for each Windows operating system and the list is updated whenever a new servicing stack update is released:

https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-us/security-guidance/advisory/ADV990001

Got any more lists?

Do you know of any other lists of best practices, tips or resources that would be useful for readers who work in Windows environments? Email me at [email protected] and we’ll share your suggestions in a future issue of our newsletter.

Got questions? Ask our readers!

WServerNews goes out each week to more than 200,000 IT pro subscribers worldwide! That’s a lot of expertise to tap into. Do you need help with some technical problem or are looking for expert advice on something IT-related? Ask Our Readers by emailing your problems and/or questions to us at [email protected]

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Tip of the Week

>> Got any IT pro tips you’d like to share with other readers of our newsletter? Email us at [email protected]

Stopping the Teams App Starting Automatically on Windows (Office365ITpros)

Don’t want to use Microsoft Teams? The click-to-run suite Office ProPlus now automatically installs Teams, but if you’d prefer not to have your users use it you can prevent the Teams app from automatically launching:

https://office365itpros.com/2019/08/27/stopping-teams-starting-automatically-windows/

Admin Toolbox

Join the premier virtual conference where we bring the latest and greatest in data protection, security and management directly to you – VeeamON Virtual

http://www.wservernews.com/go/f1yzq6si/

RUFUS is the Reliable USB Formatting Utility:

https://github.com/pbatard/rufus

KeePassXC is a cross-platform community-driven port of the Windows application “Keepass Password Safe”:

https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc

AutoHotkey is a macro-creation and automation-oriented scripting utility for Windows:

https://github.com/Lexikos/AutoHotkey_L

Factoid – How secure are keyless entry systems for automobiles?

Last week’s factoid and question was this:

Fact: Eating plant-based “meats” is unhealthy (according to the CEO of Whole Foods).

Question: Have you tried a Beyond Meat burger yet?

We’re happy to report that at least one of our newsletter readers has had the guts to try out plant-based Beyond Meat burgers. Jo Klempan says:

I recently tried a burger as a meat alternative in a little restaurant in San Diego, and was pleasantly surprised. The texture was more like meatloaf, but certainly better than the hockey pucks that pass for a burger at most places (excluding In-n-Out, of course). No getting around the fact that Beyond Meat burger is highly processed, but I liked the taste. A good vegan option if you’re ethically against meat, but I’ll stick to the double-double.

Now let’s move on to this week’s factoid:

Fact: Some of the UK’s newest and most popular cars are at risk of being stolen in seconds by exploiting weaknesses in keyless entry systems.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49273028

Question: Have any of our readers ever had their car stolen? How comfortable do you feel about the direction that entry system technologies are heading for cars, homes, and so on?

Email your answer to [email protected]