One of my main responsibilities at my job is managing our Group Policy. It works best with a well thought out structure in Active Directory but you should have that anyways for organization purposes. I'll often hear discussions or see comment threads of new IT Professionals wanting to move to centralized management. They might have just gotten the hang of AD structure but … [Read more...]
Archives for 2013
Adding two-factor authentication to your website
Last week, WordPress.com introduced two-step authentication as an optional feature for WordPress.com blogs. It utilizes the Google Authenticator app for iPhone, Android, or Blackberry smartphones. If you don't have a smartphone the secondary password can be sent to you in a text message, your phone being the "something you have". For self-hosted WordPress sites, it was … [Read more...]
PSA: Windows XP and Office 2003 updates and support ends a year from today
Here's your public service announcement: Microsoft will be dropping extended support to Windows XP and Office 2003 April 8th, 2014. April 8th, 2014 will be the last Patch Tuesday for both of those products. After that date, there will be "no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates." … [Read more...]
Free Kindle novel The Phoenix Project about IT, DevOps, and business
The Phoenix Project takes a novel approach (pun intended) to help convey lessons on changing IT to enable a business to succeed. From the authors of the often recommended The Visible Ops Handbook: Implementing ITIL in 4 Practical and Auditable Steps, this book tells a story of an organization that is under pressure to quickly adapt and become more effective or else the IT … [Read more...]
April Fools 2013 around the web
April Fools is upon us once again. Google has had a pretty good presence at making jokes in previous years but this year it seems visitors are receiving the jokes with a little disdain. I have seen a handful of comment threads today filled with grumbling where people mention that Google has put more work into its April Fools jokes than maintaining or innovating with services … [Read more...]