Tech Support
Is it Possible to Live by Best Practices?
If there can be Christmas in July then I guess another round of New Years’ resolutions in August isn’t too far off. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to live by best practices in a few key areas: following the principle of least privilege, using strong passwords that aren’t reused across multiple sites, and using No-Script in my web browser to protect against malicious scripts.
Let’s say we’ve already got all the low hanging fruits covered like regularly backing up our important files, running an antivirus program (Avast! recommended), and running our systems off a UPS (battery backup) so let’s try to mature and take our lifestyle to following the next level of best practices.
MultiBoot USB: Simplifies Taking Your IT Toolbox With You
Another guest posting over at Freewaregenius today. I really enjoyed writing this article because the tool I found just seems like it will be pretty helpful in my day-to-day work. The tool is called MultiBoot USB and it makes the creation of a bootable USB drive with multiple Linux distributions on it a breeze. For me, this means I can carry GParted, Clonezilla, DBaN, Offline NT Password Editor, and a linux distribution on a single USB key.
Find out more about MultiBoot USB from the Freewaregenius article: MultiBoot USB: Simplifies Taking Your IT Toolbox With You
getmac – Easily See a MAC Address Locally And On The Network
A MAC address or physical address is frequently needed when troubleshooting network or broadband connections. (MAC should be all caps because it is an acronym, standing for Media Access Control. If I were talking about an Apple computer, or a Macintosh, it would be proper to use ‘Mac’.) Sometimes you might need to provide your MAC address to get onto somebody’s wireless (if they have MAC filtering enabled) or to your system administrator to troubleshoot a network problem.
As a system administrator (or even just trying to troubleshoot my parents’ computer problems) I’ve needed to ask for the MAC address over the phone before. Typically this was accomplished by asking the person on the other end to run ‘ipconfig /all’ . This has proven to not be too successful whether the person misses the space or types the wrong slash, something always seems to go wrong. A much easier way is to use the command ‘getmac’. g-e-t-m-a-c, it’s pretty easy to say over the phone as well.
To effectively use it, go into the command prompt by going to Start, Run and typing ‘cmd’ or finding the Command Prompt on the Start Menu under Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt. Once the small terminal window opens up, type the command ‘getmac’ and you’ll get your physical address as a result.
Simple Tip: Make Ping ‘Ping!’
The Linux ping utility has an audible option (-a) that just seems to make a lot of sense from a system administration point of view. Ping is typically used to see if the machine your own is connected to the network or if another machine on the network is accessible. If you’re working on a system with a network problem, you might be diving under a desk, working behind the monitor checking the cables, or even working on a server rack and you’re unable to see the screen to know whether your Ping has changed status. With the audible tone, you’ll be able to hear that something has changed without having to come around and look at the monitor.
Microsoft Desktop Player
Microsoft has created a one-stop shop for its TechNet resources that are useful to all IT Pros and Developers. This Silverlight-powered portal allows you to create a query from your perspective for Webcasts, Podcasts, White Papers, and Links. You can search for resources related to Microsoft .NET, Exchange Server 2010, Office, Sharepoint, SQL Server 2008, Visual Studio 2010, Windows 7, Windows Azure, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Security. All free and all convenient in a single web location or as a downloadable desktop interface.
How to Hold a Confidential Print Job at a Shared Printer
One of the low hanging fruits of Green IT recommendations is to replace the ‘printer at each desk’ model with the ‘fewer, higher-capacity printers shared amongst an office’ model. In my office, we’ve been trying to follow this recommendation in order to save electricity, reduce maintenance, and provide printers with increased capabilities to my users. Unfortunately, it’s not always smooth sailing and we’re often met with resistance because people don’t want to have to walk 10 feet to pick up a print job for a variety of reasons according to some people. One of the most popular reasons I’m told is because they need to print confidential documents that their office-mates can’t see. Well, here is a walk-through explaining how to have the printer hold your job until you enter a PIN to release the job.
Comments