Locked Out of Windows

Just recently, I had a client locked out of Microsoft Windows and they knew they had the right password and username. The user stated that they could log into Windows just a short time before and that they did not receive an error message or any message asking to change their password. So, like always, my first question was: What were you doing before you logged off last?

The user stated that they were on the phone with someone looking at their calendar to set up some appointments. Now this might seem harmless, right? Well, I know that when signing onto a domain in a workplace environment, if you were to accidently changing the date or time it can cause an issue with time and date syncing. If the time and date are too far off, which in most cases is more than 10 minutes, then once you log out of Windows and try to sign back in, you will not be able to. 

So on to the FIX.  If you can find the network cable on the back of your computer, you will need to remove it temporarilly. Now restart your machine and try to sign on as normal. If this does not work you may have to switch to your local computer account name, which you will find in a drop down list in Windows XP or you will have to click switch user and put the computer name before something like Administrator in Windows 7, for example for Windows 7(MyComputerName\Administrator), then type the Administrator password. 

Once your back onto the machine, using either method, you can then go ahead and change back the time and or date to the current date and time. This should complete the fix.

Don’t forget to plug the network cable back into the back of the computer. Next time you sign into your computer make sure you are signing into the domain which will again be in the drop down list in Windows XP or will look something like (DomainName\YourUserName). Now you may have to ask your Domain admin to unlock your account as well because in most cases, you have tried your password more than the allotted amount of times before you used this fix. Most companies have policies that will lock you out after so many wrong attempts. 

Dennis Foote – Systems Engineer

Give Us a Call 617-731-6319 and Ask a Professional IT Support Technician Any Questions You May Have!

Using Netstat Command

Netstat can be used to find out various things about what’s going on with your connections to the internet or your network behind the scenes of your OS. I have used Netstat to find things like malware intrusions accessing a network connection, ports being used by IP address, and dropped packets over the network (which can be a good way of detecting failing or failed hardware). Below I will list some of the common commands that I use and what their purposes are.

Netstat –n     This will list connections and ports that the connections are currently using.

Netstat –s      This will list statistics about your packet transactions info.

Netstat –s –s This can be an easier way of viewing Netstat –s because it will remove anything with the value 0 in the list.

Netstat –f      This will show you a list of all connected domains to which you are currently connected to whether it’s your ISP, internet web page, your VPN connection, or your current office connection.

Netstat –b   This displays the executable involved in creating each connection or listening port. In some cases, well-known executable hosts multiple independent components and, in these cases, the sequence of components involved in creating the connection or listening port is displayed. In this case, the executable name is in [ xxxx  ] at the bottom, on top is the component it called, and so forth until TCP/IP was reached. Note that this option can be time-consuming and will fail unless you have sufficient permissions.

These are the most common Netstat commands for me. I use them as tools to understand what’s going on with a network so I have a good basis to make an effective diagnosis.  I suggest reading up on Netstat to find the different commands that may work for you.

Dennis Foote - Systems Engineer

Give Us a Call 617-731-6319 and Ask a Professional IT Support Technician Any Questions You May Have!

KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) Theory Applied to Technology

When having what seems to be a complex computer or printer problem, sometimes the best method to tackle the issue may be to take a step back and try the simple stuff first.  A cable might simply be disconnected, the paper tray may be empty, or perhaps your internet just needs a reboot.  Complex issues often begin from simple issues not being discovered and this leads to the malfunctioning of equipment.  Remember, your devices are pretty smart for the most part and may fix themselves if it something small like an internet connection is lost (or if your printer needs something like a different type of paper or a cleaning).  As technicians, we look for this type of stuff to start with so we have a solid basis to diagnose a problem efficiently.  This method is also used to rule out the smaller things, saving the customer time and money.  If you are having any computer or printer problems, I'd suggest giving the device a once-over, starting from the wall it’s plugged into, to the modem or router it’s connecting to for internet or network access.

Dennis Foote - Systems Engineer

Give Us a Call 617-731-6319 and Ask a Professional IT Support Technician Any Questions You May Have!

Free Online Space

Today’s personal web space for documents is getting a lot of attention.  For the most part, you can find the services for FREE!  There are a lot of services out there that offer a set amount of free data with low-cost, optional upgrade packages for more space.  Below are some examples of free services and space allowed with free accounts:

Google Documents - free with your free Google account; 1GB of free space

Dropbox - allows 2GB of free space for almost any file you can upload and it’s very easy to setup

Apples iCloud – offers 5GB of space and has a sync feature that most people will find unbelievable. iCloud can be setup for Mac and PC users with Apple devices and will sync all your files, folders, apps, pictures, and iTunes.  

Amazon.com - started a cloud service that also permits 5GB of free space that allows you to start using it right away if you have an Amazon account.

There are services that will give you up to 100GB for free, but it will come at a cost.  They will require you to give up 150GB of free space on your local drive.  Most are secure and it’s almost like a Share cloud; the way it works is you will house data that they add to your machine from somewhere in the world.  This is called RAID 96 and is becoming popular with those who prefer an offsite backup of their machine without having to pay the monthly cost of doing so.

Cloud is a computing, mobile technology that will only grow over time. I think with the next push of wireless devices, it’s evident that a copy of your documents online will become more and more useful to complete everyday tasks in a fast and sufficient way.  Having to rely on documents that are attached to one device seems so… well, attached. :)

Dennis Foote - Systems Engineer

Give Us a Call 617-731-6319 and Ask a Professional IT Support Technician Any Questions You May Have!

Setting up Remote Desktop on a Router

The first thing needed to set up Remote Desktop is to find your default gateway to access the routers GUI or interface. To do this, you will need to find the Run tool that is part of Microsoft Windows. For Windows XP, go to your Start menu and look on the bottom right side of the menu.  You should see the Run tool there. For Windows Vista and Windows 7, you can open the Windows menu and type Run in the search and it should come up to click on.

Once you have Run open, type CMD in the blank field and hit enter.

A black box called the command prompt should open with something like C:/Users/(name of your computer) Please type ipconfig  and you should see something like below. You should write down the Default Gateway and IPv4 Address, which is in BOLD below.

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Now that you have your default gateway and IPv4 address, it’s time to close the command prompt and proceed with opening ports on your router to allow remote connections.

To do this, open an internet browser and in the address field type the Default Gateway (in my case, 192.168.1.1). This should prompt you for a user name and password. These can be found through manufactures' websites or with a bit of googling.  Cisco, a common router typically by default, has admin for a user name and admin as a password.

Once in the router you are going to look for port forwarding this is going to allow you to open ports and allow Remote Desktop through your router.  Once you find Port Forwarding, you will need to fill in some information. You should see a couple of boxes that say Port blank to Port blank. You will type 3389 in both boxes.  At the end of this string it will ask you what IP address you would like to open this port up to. Please enter the IP address that you wrote down earlier as the IPv4 address while looking up your ipconfig.  Click save and you’re done with the router part of the setup. 

Now all that’s left to do is to turn on Remote Desktop on your PC.  For this you will need to go to your computer's advanced settings. This can be found in Windows XP by right-clicking on My Computer and going to properties. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users will need to right click on Computer and go to properties and click on the Advanced System Settings.

Once in Properties, open the remote tab. You will have 3 choices to allow remote connections please choose that one that suites you best. Click Apply and OK. That should be it. You are now ready to remote into your computer. If you are away from home, you will need your public IP address.  While at home, this can be found by going to www.whatsmyip.com or www.ipchicken.com.  You will need this to get into your machine from off the network. If you are home, simply type in your IP address or the name of the computer from any other PC on your network. 

Some last few things: You will need to let Remote Desktop through your Windows firewall and or Anti-Virus. You can find these instructions with a little googling.  

Dennis Foote- System Engineer

Give Us a Call 617-731-6319 and Ask a Professional IT Support Technician Any Questions You May Have!

Moving Symantec Endpoint Manager to another server

While trying to move my Symantec manger to a new server in our environment, I found the following instructions on Symantec’s website and they worked like a charm! 

 MACHINE_2 will have both IP and hostname different from MACHINE_1

1. Install Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager on MACHINE_2
   NOTE: The version installed to the new server must be the same version as on the old server. The new management console can be migrated to a newer version once the transition is complete.
2. In the Management Server Configuration Wizard panel, check Install an additional site, and then click Next
3. In the Server Information panel, accept or change the default values for the following boxes, and then click Next
• Server Name
• Server Port
• Server Data Folder
4. In the Site Information panel, accept or change the name in the Site Name box, and then click Next
5. In the Replication Information panel, type values in the following boxes:
• Replication Server Name
  The Name or IP address of MACHINE_1
• Replication Server Port
  The default is 8443.
• Administrator Name
  The Username used to log on to the old console.
• Password
  The password used to log on to the old console.
6. Click Next
7. In the Certificate Warning dialog box, click Yes
8. In the Database Server Choice panel, do one of the following, and then click Next:
   Check Embedded database or Microsoft SQL server (whichever database type you'd prefer to install), then complete the installation.
9. Log in to the new SEPM on MACHINE_2 and ensure that all the clients and policies have Migrated successfully.
10. Click Policies > Policy Components > Management Server Lists > Add Management Server List
11. Click Add> Priority and a new Priority would get added named as "Priority2"
12. Add MACHINE_1 under Priority 2 and add MACHINE_2 under Priority 1, and assign this New Management Server List to all the groups.
13. Wait at least one replication cycle.
14. Stop the "Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager" and "Symantec Embedded Database" service on MACHINE_1 to verify whether all clients now report to the new SEPM on MACHINE_2
15. Once verified that all the clients are reporting into the new SEPM, and have moved away from the old one, proceed to the next step.
16. Delete the Replication Partner from MACHINE_2 SEPM: Click on the Admin button | Under View Servers, Expand Replication Partners and select the partner to delete | Under Tasks, choose Delete Replication Partner | Type Yes when asked to verify deletion of the replication partner.
17. After the successful Migration, uninstall SEPM from MACHINE_1 

Dennis Foote - Systems Engineer

Give Us a Call 617-731-6319 and Ask a Professional IT Support Technician Any Questions You May Have!

Data Classification Toolkit for Windows Server 2008 R2

The new toolkit from Microsoft allows more control for us (IT admins) to manage and maintain the use of data within a company. This can be done in the following forms:

1. Policies to shares and folders
2. Classification of users
3. Easy to use interface for management
4. Categorizing your data so your management time of the file server is minimal

File servers are getting larger and larger these days and come with new regulations for organizations to regulate how their data is stored to prevent leaks. This could be done through permissions and policies. The Data Classification Toolkit just makes sense.  Not only will it help drill down on access to files and folders within the office environment, but it will also keep your files and folders organized.  We all know organization is key when it comes to maintaining a healthy IT environment.

Dennis Foote – Systems Engineer

Give Us a Call 617-731-6319 and Ask a Professional IT Support Technician Any Questions You May Have!

Things you may not know about Office 2010

Now that I have had some time with Microsoft Office 2010, I wondered what sets this edition apart from 2003 or 2007. Here are a few things I found while using a copy of Microsoft office 2010 Pro Plus:

1. The ability to embed a powerpoint presentation into a blog with just a few clicks
2. View as a conversation that places all your strings into book-like format
3. Share powerpoint presentations with others remotely so parties can view the presentation at the same time with you.  All they need is an email nvite link.
4. Connect your social media within Outlook so you can stay connected to your business contacts via LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.
5. Use OneNote to take notes, insert audio clips, videos, conversations and emails into your own digital notebook. You can also share your notebook with others, and view your notes on your desktop, on the web, or from your phone

I would recommend trying out some of these options. If none of these apply to you, I would still have a look at the Microsoft Office website. You can find a lot of useful tools that can help with everyday tasks.

Dennis Foote- Systems Engineer

Give Us a Call 617-731-6319 and Ask a Professional IT Support Technician Any Questions You May Have!

5nine Manager for Hyper-V

A great tool I found for managing Hyper-v servers is called Hyper-v manager from 5nine. They have both a free tool version and a paid version. I will tell you the differences, but first let me tell you about some of the reasons you may want to check this tool out:

• Installs directly on the Hyper-V server.
• GUI interface that allows you to manage your virtual machines.
• Can be run remotely from another Windows installation.
• Check resources of virtual machines.
• Snapshot directory access.
• Hardware administration.
• Administer multiple Hyper-V servers.
• File explorer under the view menu.
• Events and services viewer for Hyper-V services and hardware.

Now the paid version does have some benefits when it comes to the networking and gaining access to the actual server. The binding of the NICs can be a very nice option to have as well as being able to double click and view your servers and workstations. The paid version comes at a cost of just about $100.00 per install.  If you have a cluster or a server farm this would be a great option at a relatively low cost. I give the folks at 5nine a lot of credit for releasing this tool for free. I think this tool runs better and is easier to use then the Hyper-V manager from Windows which makes it a steal at a cost of $0.00 for most of its features.

Dennis Foote-Systems Engineer

Give Us a Call 617-731-6319 and Ask a Professional IT Support Technician Any Questions You May Have!

An Interactive YouTube

You may have noticed that YouTube has gone interactive.  This is an awesome new future and allows posters to customize viewers' options so they can target their direct needs. For example, I just watched a YouTube post where the poster gave me the option to set up a core installation of a Windows 2008 R2 server or a standard version of Windows 2008 R2 server.

I heard this would be coming out someday, but did not think it was going to so soon. If you think about all the possibilities this will have for all live media, it could make your head spin. I started to wonder, could this one day help with something as big as health care? Well, how great would it be to someday have a video chat with a doctor.  S/he could exam your cut without having to travel to his or her office.  S/he could give you options on treatment, prescription location, and maybe a video on how to properly take care of a minor infection.

I think time will only tell when it comes to the options of this technology, but, boy, is it ever so fascinating.   

Dennis Foote- Systems Engineer

Give Us a Call 617-731-6319 and Ask a Professional IT Support Technician Any Questions You May Have!