Basic Setup Guide for Using GitHub With Visual Code and PowerShell
This guide is a complete beginners guide to creating an account on GitHub and setting up somewhere to store your code and then linking that to Visual Code which is a cool free Microsoft tool used to write code. I’ll like to leave out the fluff and filler so ill keep the text brief, so follow along and use the screenshots for reference. By the end of this guide you will know how to: Create GitHub repositories for your code...
Microsoft 365 Upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10
Microsoft 365 licenses include a subscription to Windows 10 Business (Pro) edition but for a PC to be eligible it must have a valid Windows 7 Pro license key. I don’t understand this, they should just give it to you as part of the subscription but there you go. If you have Windows 7 home edition then you must purchase a copy of Windows 7 or 10 pro and install that or upgrade first. Assuming you are upgrading Windows 7 Pro...
Setup A Cyber Essentials Software Restriction Policy
Passing Cyber Essentials and CE Plus is fairly easy but only if you know how to implement each of the technical controls. One of the more difficult aspects of passing a Cyber Essentials Plus audit is being able to block the malware and malicious test files. During a Cyber Essentials Plus audit the auditor will attempt to run a variety of script, compressed and executable files to see if the system is susceptible to malicious code...
Microsoft 365 How to Manually Sync Policy Changes On a PC
You make a change to a Device Configuration poilicy within the Microsoft 365 portal and hit the Sync button but nothing appears to happen. Sometimes you just want to be 100% sure a PC has checked into InTune and grabbed and applied the latest settings. To do this you need to perform a manual sync. 1. Click start then click the settings icon. 2. Click on ‘Accounts’. 3. Click ‘Access work or school’ then click...
Can’t Uninstall HP Drive Encryption Software
Trying to upgrade to Windows 10 or simply want to uninstall HP Drive Encryption but can’t? Getting the error HP Client Security Manager 8.x is required? During a recent Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade I encountered this error and here is how I solved it. Step 1: First install the latest version of HP Client Security Manager https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp98501-99000/sp98508.exe Step 2: Next Install the latest version of HP...
How To Develop PowerShell Scripts For The Raspberry Pi
A.K.A How to Run PowerShell on the Raspberry PI Ok you want to run PowerShell scripts on your Raspberry PI. Well look no further because I have a detailed step by step guide below! This guide assumes you have already connected your Raspberry PI to your network either by a cable or via wireless. This guide also assumes you prefer to develop the code on your Windows PC using a program with similar features to the PowerShell ISE. Basic...
Bypass MFA for Azure Runbooks
If you use Azure runbooks and utilise scripts which connect to Office 365 services you will run into issues if the account you use to authenticate has MFA enabled on it. One option is to bypass MFA on the account for any connections coming from a specific Azure datacenter. This doesn’t open up the account to the internet but please understand that anyone trying to access your account from the same datacenter will also be able to...
How To Enable OneDrive Files On Demand
OneDrive Files On Demand is a feature which sets OneDrive to only download files to a local device when a file is clicked on rather than potentially downloading gigabytes or terabytes of files. From the users perspective they don’t really see any difference, they can still see all of the files and folders except they are not using up space on their PC until they open or edit a file. You can enable this option manually on each...
HP Bloatware Removal Tool
If you don’t maintain a prebuilt Windows image used to deploy new workstation because you simply build them as they come in then this tool may be for you. We prefer HP equipment but they always come with annoying HP bloatware. You could reload the device but that takes time you don’t want to waste. One of my fellow engineers Thomas Lambert put this little script together which will run through and uninstall the most common...
How To Uninstall Programs Using PowerShell
Listing all installed programs, checking to see if a program is installed by its name and uninstalling programs is super easy and efficient using PowerShell and the Get-WmiObject cmdlet. List All Installed Programs Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product Running this cmdlet will produce a list of all installed applications. Note this wont list any Windows Apps which are installed. List Installed Programs By Name Get-WmiObject -Class...
Ubiqiti Unifi How To Print From Guest Wireless To A Printer On The Network
You setup a secure segregated guest network and then bugger a guest needs to print some important documents using your printer! Within your Unifi controller go into the settings of the site by clicking on the cog icon. First for this to work your printer must have a static IP address on the network. Click on Guest Control.Scroll down to the Access Control section and add the IP address of each printer into the ‘Pre-Authorization...
Off Topic: DIY Electric Bike Build
Every once in a while I get all nutty processor and build something in the garage 🙂 This time I built my own Electric bike! Started by getting a free mountain bike which was being thrown out. I had a BMX bike in the bits pile so took off the main sprocket and ground out the center hole. I got it to fit snugly onto the rear wheel. I’ve temporally held it in place with some epoxy and bolts. Here you can see the sprocket mounted on...
How To Manage Multiple Microsoft Office 365 Tenants For MSP’s
MSP’s have to manage multiple Microsoft Office 365 accounts daily. Multiple engineers need admin level access at multiple times throughout the day. How Can We Manage Multiple Accounts More Efficiently and More Securely? Right now I imagine you crate a global administrator on each tenant and use a password management tool such as IT Glue so that engineers can access the credentials. Engineers have to open an incognito window,...
Off Topic: Making A Darth Vader Wood Burner
Welcome to my very first Off-Topic post. I’m an IT guy most of the time but when I get some spare time I love tinkering and building stuff in the garage. WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS YOURSELF. I’M STUPID AND CUTTING INTO AN EMPTY GAS BOTTLE IS DANGEROUS! Since I am very stupid and had a few bits of metal and an empty gas bottle I had a go at making a small wood burner for the garden 🙂 Emptying the gas bottle The first task...
How To Forward Office 365 MFA Notifications To Teams For MSP’s
FYI this method is currently not working. It was until Twilio changed something within their Functions system. I’ll update this guide once they have resolved the issues. For many MSP’s (Managed Service Providers) knowing how to handle MFA (Multi Factor Authentication) for multiple Office 365 tenants can be a real pain. There are a few way to solve this problem but recently we’ve found the easiest option for the whole...
Use Outlook Web App Offline
One of the main advantages of using the full installed version of Outlook has been the ability to sort through and respond to emails while offline. Not so much of an issue these days with so much free WiFi and 4G connectivity from mobile devices but it’s still been an issue. Well no longer because you can use the web version of Outlook in offline mode! If you didn’t know this well it’s a great feature and it may mean...
Convert a Physical Server to Virtual using Hyper-V
If you need to convert an aging physical windows server to a virtual machine running on a Hyper-V host Microsoft offer a couple of tools for the Job. The first application is Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter 3.0 but unfortunately Microsoft have said they are pulling the application and it will be no longer available towards the end of 2019. They are instead leaving the conversion problem to 3rd party vendors. Luckily there is...
How to Migrate from a Server or NAS to Office365 Teams
Finally ditching that old file server or NAS? Wahoo! Moving to Office 365 Teams is actually quite straightforward even if you have terabytes of data to transfer. The more data you have to migrate the more time it will take to manage and sync but this method has worked for me every time so far from small NAS migrations to large file servers with multiple file shares. The breakdown of steps is as follows: Organise your existing share...
How to Reset PowerChute Business Edition Password
If you cant remember what the password to your PowerChute Business Edition control panel no problem it’s easy to reset. 1. You will need to be on version 10 or later for this to work. If you are on an earlier version then first upgrade the version installed. Simply download the latest version from here: https://www.apc.com/us/en/tools/download/software_comp.cfm?sw_sku=SFPCBE100 2. Do an in place upgrade, no restarts will be...
How to Start Selling Cyber Essentials and CE Plus Certifications for MSP’s
What is Cyber Essentials? It’s part of a drive to get the UK protected from cyber threats by the Government. They have developed the scheme called Cyber Essentials. It’s a set of controls which determine if a business is adequately protecting themselves from cyber threats. The controls include some of the following: Is Auto run disabled on all computers. Are all employees using standard user accounts and not...
Office 365 Using Multiple Signatures Which Switch Automatically
It’s common to require multiple signatures in outlook especially is someone has a second mailbox attached. They may be responsible for managing a customerservice@ or accounts@ mailbox along with their own. Setting up Outlook to automatically select the correct signature when replying to an email in your primary mailbox or a secondary mailbox is a great time saver and ensures the correct signatures are always in place when...
Export Office 365 to The Email Laundry
If you use The Email Laundry for advanced email and threat protection and your an MSP you will know how time consuming it is to setup. Adding all the email accounts into The Email Laundry manually, even exporting users from Office 365 to CSV and formatting the import file can be a real pain. Well I had enough of all the manual work and wrote a little PowerShell script to speed up the process. Before attempting to run this script...
How to Setup a Unifi Cloud Controller in Azure
Welcome to my in depth guide to setting up a Unifi cloud controller in Azure. If you love the great value Ubiquity products offer but want centralised cloud management like you get with Meraki products then Unifi wifi points, firewalls and switches combined with a cloud controller hosted in Azure make for a killer solution especially for the MSP’s out there looking to manage a large number of sites and devices. Configuring a...
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