James Rankin

Can't uninstall app: Delete or change Windows apps that have been flagged as non-removable

AWS Secrets Manager enables you to safely store secrets, such as passwords or access keys. This way, you don’t have to store these secrets as plaintext in your applications. With the help of IAM AssumeRole, you can then access the secrets in Secrets Manager without exposing your AWS keys in cleartext.

FSLogix VHDX compaction: Resize virtual disks

If you to want to upload an on-premises Hyper-V VM to the cloud to create a custom Azure image containing all your business applications in a preconfigured state, this post will help you.

Sysinternals Process Monitor: Real-time file system, registry, and process monitoring

User Account Control helps to implement proper permission levels for users accessing systems. Instead of needing administrator privileges, UAC allows admins to set up standard user permissions for users and escalate privileges in a granular way. In corporate networks, admins can use Group Policy to configure various UAC settings, including disabling UAC. Thanks to Windows Hello, you can now use a PIN for UAC.

Custom error message for access denied

One of the most popular Voice Over IP systems is the Cisco Unified Communication Manager System. Cisco uses several abbreviations for its VOIP system: Cisco Unified (CM), CallManager, and CUCM. This intro will focus on the CUCM architecture; that is, I will explain the most important components and concepts you need to understand if you plan to deploy CallManager in your organization.

Consolidating Group Policy, part 2: GPOZaurr

Creating custom ESXi images is useful when you need to add custom drivers to your installation ESXi ISO. Previously, there were third-party tools that are no longer maintained. However, since vSphere 6.x, VMware has offered its own utility, which is built into vSphere, called ESXi Image Builder.

Consolidating Group Policy, part 1: Get-GpoReport and Advanced Group Policy Management (AGMC)

GPOZaurr from Evotec IT is a PowerShell module that is very useful for consolidating and managing Group Policy. In this post, I will demonstrate how you can use GPOZaurr to create Group Policy reports and deal with broken, disabled, invalid, or inapplicable GPOs. This is the second post in my series about Group Policy consolidation.

Privileged access workstation (PAW) and lateral movement

Since Windows 10 1909, Microsoft has displayed a widget in the taskbar that shows content from MSN, such as weather or stock quotes. These “news and interests” are probably not required or desired in most professional environments. They can be deactivated via Group Policy.

Securing timeouts in Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environments

If you want to issue certificates for internal web servers, RD Web Access, or WSUS via a Windows CA, you can automate this process with the help of Group Policy. This will also prevent services from failing due to expired certificates. Customized templates and a GPO are required for this.

Manage OneDrive caches with Windows Storage Sense

With an increase in remote working, the security of workers and data is becoming even more important. Part of this is making sure only the right people can access your virtual meetings. Microsoft Teams provides both the Teams administrator and the meeting organizer several capabilities for securing meetings. This post will cover both aspects to make sure you can have the best meetings possible.

Known Folder Move: Part 2 – Group Policy settings

One side effect of authentication via username and password is the users forgetting their passwords. To relieve the help desk, we can delegate password resets to the users. Specops uReset allows such a self-service while protecting against identity theft.

Assisting OneDrive migration with Known Folder Move: Part 1 – Preparations

Finding weak and potentially compromised passwords in your Active Directory environment is extremely important since passwords are arguably a weak link in overall security. Let’s look at Enzoic for Active Directory Lite, which is a great free tool for visibility into weak, compromised and reused passwords in Active Directory.

Managing OneDrive cache in Citrix Virtual Apps and RDSH environments using FSLogix Profile Containers

Most Group Policy Objects (GPOs) comprise multiple settings for a Windows feature or an application. If you want to remove a particular setting, it will very often still leave some residue behind. Therefore, in this case, a manual rework is necessary.