WServerNews: Sharing your IT expertise with others in the profession

In this issue

Mailbag: Anonymous MSP, Old Computer Manuals. Got stories from the trenches? Generate an org chart from Active Directory using PowerShell. WU baseline now part of Security Compliance Toolkit. Maybe Microsoft is listening after all! Eno doog a si siht. Office 2016/2013 updates stuck in WSUS. Where can you find good shareware nowadays? Plus lots more — read it all, read it here on WServerNews!

Got some hard-won IT expertise you want to share? Read on! Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

 

Got questions? Ask our readers!

WServerNews goes out bimonthly to almost 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]

 

Mailbag

In our previous issue we shared some comments we received from an anonymous business owner of a Managed Service Provider (MSP) that specializes in servicing the needs of small businesses. The anonymous MSP owner was reflecting on the problem of how you should handle a situation with your business where one of your clients has grown to the point where you have difficulties meeting their IT needs. Wayne Hanks from Perth in Western Australia had some comments on what the anonymous MSP owner said last issue:

Hi Mitch, as I may have said previously, I have gone over to the Dark Side and am now working for a MSP but previously I have worked for a range of companies from large multi locale companies to small single location companies, and the common factor between them all was the desire to make sure that there was continuity of service. A bonus was if the company doing the support had some previous knowledge of the site, as it saved us having to explain the topology of our network.

Most companies, whilst looking for a good return on investment, are overwhelmingly in favor of prompt and knowledgeable support, and are willing to pay extra if it means that they do not have to re-invent the wheel. At least the sensible companies. I have seen some companies that seem to change support provider on a regular basis (about every 3-5 years, which seems to coincide with the turnover of IT Managers) but most companies are willing to work with you if you can provide fair service and prompt response.

In the case where the client is looking to grow much faster than you as a MSP, then I guess there are a couple of options here for you as a MSP. The first is to make a recommendation to another, larger MSP that has the capacity to provide support, although as a smaller MSP it would be sad to lose the income stream from the client, unless you can negotiate a share of the ongoing revenue.

The second option is to act as the Client’s contracting supervisor, bringing in experts as required when projects are needed and possibly providing a couple of dedicated support staff to handle calls. This way you can continue to grow at your own rate, but also have a share of the increased revenue that comes when your client expands. By using contractors for the high load periods, you get not only increased capacity, but hopefully Best practice knowledge that can be passed onto your in house staff as well.

Knowing what your company can safely achieve without compromising service standards is key here. The moment that the client feels their needs are not being met, then they will start looking around and there are plenty of companies out there that are actively chasing new clients.

If any other readers would like to continue this discussion, send your comments to us at [email protected]

And here’s another email from a reader named John Dearing on the topic of having old computing manuals kicking around:

My first real job after leaving college in 1972 was for the (British) Post Office’s Telecom division (which later became British Telecom, then BT) supporting and enhancing the suite of programs that produced telephone bills for the UK, and ran on the final iteration (the 326) of what was the world’s first business computer in 1951, the LEO (Lyons Electronic Office). You can find out more at: https://www.leo-computers.org.uk/. I learnt much about computers and programming in assembly level and 3rd generation languages in that job.

I left in 1976 to join another historic computer project called Prestel which was arguably the precursor of the world wide web. However, I had retained many friends in the 326 community in Telecom, and when the venerable machines were finally turned off in 1981, I was presented with a complete set of LEO manuals (see below) which still sit on my bookshelf. A small and sadly diminishing group of people who worked on the 326 used to meet 3 times a year in a pub in central London to talk about the old days, but unfortunately the pandemic has put paid to that for the duration.

Wow, thanks! I especially like how some of the Roman Numerals painted with White-Out are turned sideways — that’s archaic!

 

Editor’s Corner

This week’s observations and ruminations from Mitch Tulloch our Senior Editor…

Got stories from the trenches?

Many of our readers work down in the trenches of the IT profession where everything is dark and muddy and where danger lurks constantly. If that’s you, how would you like to share some of your hard-earned expertise so others in the IT community can benefit? I’m constantly in touch with a broad group of IT pros around the world, and from time to time some of these hard-working professionals have contributed short technical content (how-to’s, tips, gotchas, product reviews, etc) which I’ve incorporated into articles we’ve published on our TechGenix website. Some of these articles have been published as part of our Trench Tales series and these have been very popular with our readers. Here’s a small sampling:

Trench Tales: Remote Office Server Replacement Project

https://techgenix.com/remote-office-server-replacement-project/

Trench Tales: Poor or Missing It Documentation Can Leave You Feeling Lost

https://techgenix.com/missing-it-documentation/

Trench Tales: When You Really Need To Retire That Messaging Platform

https://techgenix.com/retire-that-messaging-platform/

Trench Tales: Wrangling Too Many Breeds of Computers

https://techgenix.com/desktop-management-many-computers/

Trench Tales (Part 1) – Hardware Troubleshooting

https://techgenix.com/trench-tales-part1/

Trench Tales (Part 3) – Apple in the Enterprise

https://techgenix.com/Trench-Tales-Part3/

Trench Tales (Part 4) – More Apple in the Enterprise

https://techgenix.com/Trench-Tales-Part4/

Take a moment to click on and check out any of the above articles that interest you.

In addition to our Trench Tales series we’ve also published standalone articles on TechGenix where I’ve incorporated helpful technical content that was contributed by my colleagues (you!) in the profession. Some examples of these kinds of articles include the following:

Eyes on the Prize: Find and Fix Problems With Azure Network Watcher

https://techgenix.com/microsoft-azure-network-watcher/

Digging into Azure Sentinel, Microsoft’s New Siem Tool

https://techgenix.com/azure-sentinel/

Windows Terminal: Getting Started with Microsoft’s New Utility

https://techgenix.com/windows-terminal-getting-started/

User’s Guide to Customizing and Managing Windows Terminal

https://techgenix.com/customizing-and-managing-windows-terminal/

Do More Cool Stuff with PowerShell and Office 365

https://techgenix.com/powershell-and-office-365/

Easy On the Eyes: Creating Html Reports Using PowerShell

https://techgenix.com/html-reports/

Github Code Scanning: How to Use It to Find And Fix Vulnerabilities

https://techgenix.com/github-code-scanning-vulnerabilities/

Business risk: manage it, ignore it, or outsource it?

https://techgenix.com/business-risk/

How One It Pro Ramped-Up His Clients for Remote Work Due To Coronavirus

https://techgenix.com/remote-work-coronavirus/

Managing mac computers with windows configmgr? Yes, you can

https://techgenix.com/managing-mac-with-configmgr/

Keeping an Eye on the Clock with Time Servers

https://techgenix.com/time-servers/

And so on. Take another moment to click on some of these articles.

Now here’s the point:

We want YOU our reader to consider sharing some of your hard-won IT expertise with the other million or so individuals who regularly visit our TechGenix website looking for content that can help them in their profession. Just email me at [email protected] and describe the topic or platform or product you want to write about, explain, demonstrate how to configure or use or troubleshoot, or any IT-related subject you desperately want to opine concerning. I’ll then respond by providing you with some brief guidelines on how to frame and format your content and how we plan to use it.

Or just go ahead and send us a real-world story of something you did or figured out or struggled with in your work down there in the trenches of IT. If the story is about a company you work with, you can change or obfuscate some of the details if needed, or even ask us to publish it anonymously instead of giving you credit. And if you are willing to be credited for the content you’re sending us, we’ll include your name, position, company, bio, website, LinkedIn, Twitter, whatever you want us to say about you — even the name of your dog if you have one.

Why not get started on giving back to your profession today? Send us a 1-2 sentence idea for something you want to write about, or just jump ahead and write it up and send it to us. As long as it’s helpful and not nugatory, I’ll be happy to find a way to incorporate your content into an article for publication on our TechGenix website. Email me today at [email protected] to get started. And as they say in the marketing world: Thanks in advance! <grin>

Now on to some other stuff…

Generate an org chart from Active Directory using PowerShell

Turkish IT pro and Microsoft Trainer Murat Yildirimoglu send us the following tip which he published as a post on his WordPress blog:

Creating an Organizational Chart Using PowerShell

https://muratyildirimoglu.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/creating-an-organizational-chart-using-powershell/

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing it with us!

WU baseline now part of Security Compliance Toolkit

The Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit is a “set of tools allows enterprise security administrators to download, analyze, test, edit and store Microsoft-recommended security configuration baselines for Windows and other Microsoft products, while comparing them against other security configurations.” You can get it from the Microsoft Download Center here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55319

The Microsoft Security and Compliance blog on the Microsoft Tech Community recently announced that the Windows Update Baseline is now a part of the Security Compliance Toolkit:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-security-baselines/windows-update-baseline-joins-the-security-compliance-toolkit/ba-p/2098482

The WU Baseline “provides a clear list of recommended Windows Update policy settings for IT administrators who want the best user experience while also meeting their monthly update compliance goals.” More info about it can be found here on Microsoft Docs:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/update/update-baseline

Maybe Microsoft is listening after all!

Back in our January 25th newsletter we talked about Microsoft recently made changes to their security advisories that have left many IT pros unhappy. Well, here’s some new evidence that indicates Microsoft may be starting to listen to the complaints of their most necessary audience (us) and let’s hope they continue by addressing the other concerns we’ve voiced:

Continuing to Listen: Good News about the Security Update Guide API! (MSRC)

https://msrc-blog.microsoft.com/2021/02/09/continuing-to-listen-good-news-about-the-security-update-guide-api/

Eno doog a si siht

One of my favorite blogs is The World According to Mitch:

https://garvis.ca/

No that’s not me, it’s The Other Mitch (Mitch Garvis) who owns that site.

Anyways, the other day I happened to be wasting time (browsing) when I should have been working (sign of approaching burnout probably) when I saw this post on Mitch’s blog:

If this catches your attention like it did mine, read on — you can find the article here:

https://garvis.ca/2021/02/08/outlook-is-backwards/

Got comments about anything in this issue?

Email us at [email protected]!

Please tell others about WServerNews!

Enjoy this issue of WServerNews and feel free to send us feedback on any of the topics we’ve covered — we love hearing from our readers! And please tell others about WServerNews! It’s free and always will be free — and they can subscribe to it here. Thanks!!!

 

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]

Office 2016/2013 updates stuck in WSUS

If you’re using Office 2016 or Office 2013 in your environment and you’re finding that security updates for these products get stuck in the Downloaded state and won’t install on users’ computers, try doing a Check For Updates to get them to deploy properly. FWIW this seems to be a new issue in Windows 10 version 20H2 that has been noticed by several colleagues starting around January. No word yet on why it’s happening and when Microsoft will fix, but meanwhile this workaround should help.

 

Admin Toolbox

>> Got any admin tools or software you’d like to recommend to our readers? Email us at [email protected]

Is the data volume on your email server too high? Are you struggling with mailbox quotas? If so, you should consider email archiving. We recommend MailStore Server:

https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-server

Atom is a hackable text editor for the 21st Century:

https://atom.io/

Nylas-Mail is an extensible desktop mail app built on the modern web:

https://github.com/nylas/nylas-mail

Nativefier makes any web page a desktop application:

https://github.com/jiahaog/nativefier

 

Factoid – Where can you find good shareware nowadays?

We didn’t get any responses to our previous factoid (guess I’m the only chess nerd around here) so let’s move on to this week’s factoid:

Fact: After 28 years the beloved Tucows Downloads site is being retired

Source: https://tucows.com/retired/

Question: That sucks. Where can Windows users still find good (and safe) shareware nowadays? Email your answers to [email protected]

 

Subscribe to WServerNews!

Subscribe today to our WServerNews newsletter and join 200,000 other IT professionals around the world who receive our newsletter! Just go to this page and select WServerNews to receive our monthly newsletter in your inbox!

 

Conference Calendar 2021

>> Got an IT conference or event happening that you’d like to promote in our newsletter? Email us at [email protected]

NOTE: Conference dates and locations (real/virtual) are subject to change

Microsoft Ignite — March TBD (virtual)

https://myignite.microsoft.com/home

Microsoft MVP Global Summit — March TBD (virtual)

https://mvp.microsoft.com/summit

Black Hat Asia — May 4-7 (location TBD)

https://www.blackhat.com/upcoming.html#asia

RSA Conference — May 17-20 in San Francisco

https://www.rsaconference.com/usa

Black Hat USA — Jul. 31-Aug. 3 in Las Vegas

https://www.blackhat.com/upcoming.html#usa

DEF CON 29 — Aug. 5-8 in Las Vegas

https://www.defcon.org/

VMworld — Aug 30-Sept 1 in San Francisco

https://www.vmworld.com/en/index.html

Black Hat Europe – Dec 7-10 (virtual)

https://www.blackhat.com/upcoming.html#europe

Cisco Live Melbourne — Dec 7-10 in Melbourne, Australia

https://www.ciscolive.com/apjc.html

 

Podcast Corner

Microsoft 365 for Small Business with Ian Williamson (RunAsRadio)

http://runasradio.com/

Moving Big Data Sets From Far-Off Locations (Heavy Networking)

https://packetpushers.net/series/weekly-show/

A Chat with Pat (Virtually Speaking)

https://www.vspeakingpodcast.com/

IoT with Troy Martin (Clear To Send)

https://www.cleartosend.net/

So was it Florida Man or an Iranian APT? (Risky Business)

https://risky.biz/netcasts/risky-business/

Talk To The Puck (Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast)

https://www.msclouditpropodcast.com/

Reimagining the Employee Experience With Microsoft Viva (Microsoft Cloud Show)

http://www.microsoftcloudshow.com/podcast

 

New on Techgenix.com

Review: Critical services monitoring solution Martello iQ

Monitoring critical services is essential for keeping applications healthy — and that’s exactly what Martello iQ does. Here’s our review.

https://techgenix.com/review-martello-iq/

Microsoft Viva: The corporate intranet gets a makeover

Microsoft has rolled out Microsoft Viva — a 21st century makeover of the traditional corporate intranet redesigned for the digital era.

https://techgenix.com/microsoft-viva/

Secure by default: Reducing your attack surface in 2021

No one can predict what the next cyberthreat will be, but organizations with a secure by default policy have a better chance of defending themselves.

https://techgenix.com/secure-by-default/

Azure Security Center: New features and enhancements

Need to improve your security posture management and threat protection? If you’re a Microsoft Azure user, Azure Security Center may be right for you.

https://techgenix.com/azure-security-center-new-features/

Mine your own business: Extract valuable database information with AI

Adding a layer of AI to your database system can help you extract useful information you might not find easily otherwise.

https://techgenix.com/database-information-ai-layer/

 

Fun videos from Flixxy

Kitten Zoom Filter Mishap

Lawyer accidentally uses cat filter while talking to the judge on a Zoom call.

https://www.flixxy.com/kitten-zoom-filter-mishap.htm

Stuart MacDonald’s Mirror Illusion Fools Penn and Teller

Magician Stuart MacDonald fools Penn and Teller with his incredible mirror illusion.

https://www.flixxy.com/stuart-macdonalds-mirror-illusion-fools-penn-and-teller.htm

Danny MacAskill – ‘The Slabs’ – Amazing Freestyle Bicycling

Danny Macaskill testing the limits of mountain biking, riding down the infamous Dubh Slabs on the Isle of Skye.

https://www.flixxy.com/danny-macaskill-the-slabs-amazing-freestyle-bicycling.htm

SuperCats

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s SuperCat!

https://www.flixxy.com/super-cats-2.htm

 

More articles of interest

How and why to create an SRE error budget

No IT service is completely immune to disruption. A realistic error budget is a powerful way to set up a service for success.

https://searchitoperations.techtarget.com/tip/How-and-why-to-create-an-SRE-error-budget?Offer=Content_Partner_OTHR-_2020December04_TG_A1

5 reasons printer redirection causes Windows printing problems in RDS

Windows printing problems are a pain. If you have printer redirection issues with the Remote Desktop Protocol in RDS, check user permissions, client requirements and more.

https://searchvirtualdesktop.techtarget.com/tip/Five-reasons-printer-redirection-causes-Windows-printing-problems-in-RDS?Offer=Content_Partner_OTHR-_2020December04_TG_A2

Learn how to start using Docker on Windows Server 2019

Getting started with Windows containers requires an understanding of basic concepts and how to work with Docker Engine. Orin Thomas’ book covers the topics admins need to know.

https://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/feature/Learn-how-to-start-using-Docker-on-Windows-Server-2019?Offer=Content_Partner_OTHR-_2020December04_TG_A3

How to manage virtual disaster recovery setup costs

Creating a virtual disaster recovery setup shouldn’t be pricey, but costs can easily add up if providers don’t take all expenses into account.

https://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/tip/How-to-manage-virtual-disaster-recovery-setup-costs?Offer=Content_Partner_OTHR-_2020December04_TG_A4

 

Send us your feedback!

Got feedback about anything in this issue of WServerNews? Email us at [email protected]

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