Remote Desktop (RDP) : Changing Password

I use remote desktops A LOT to connect to other computers and servers. Sometimes it's necessary to connect to a terminal server and then open another connection to another computer. On one such connection I was prompted to change my password and was stumped as to how to do it, everyting I looked at seemed to want me to press CTRL+ALT+DELETE. Here's what I found:

CTRL+ALT+DELETE - Only works on your local machine. If you're connected via a remote desktop and press this key combination it will drop back out to your local machine.

CTRL+ALT+END - Only works on the first remote desktop you are connected to. Any further connections from that will will drop back out to the first remote desktop connection.

So here's how I got around it:

1. Open the On Screen Keyboard (osk.exe)

2. Hold CTRL+ALT then use the mouse to click delete on the on screen keyboard.

Anybody know why Microsoft can't put a change password menu item in, or modify the 'your password is expiring' prompt to take you straight to the location you need to be to change your password?

Internet Explorer is not Responding

Recently I've had an issue on my laptop with Internet Explorer (IE10) regularly stopping responding on a webpage. An error message pops up and the webpage reloads - usually only to crash once more.

The first step in diagnosing these type of issues is to look at what addons are running: The first one in my list was 'NameCtrl Class' and luckily enough this was the culprit. As soon as I disabled it IE was crash free.

Not content with simply disabling the item, I did some research to find out what this addon did. The NameCtrl Class is part of the Office 2013 installation and loads presence indicators onto websites allowing you to message people via Lync or view their contact card in Outlook. With further investigation I discovered that the addon is loaded via the following dll:

c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\name.dll.

Although I'm using 64bit Office this happens to be a 32bit component.

I found if i renamed that dll, office recreates it. Once restored I was free to reable the addin and everything works as expected. It must have been a corrupted dll!

Is the end is nigh for Windows XP and Office 2003?

It’s been a blast but 11 years after their release Microsoft are finally ending IT Support for the ever popular Windows XP and Office 2003.  At 12:00am on 8th April 2014, Microsoft will be ceasing support for any device still running Windows XP and Office 2003, this means any bugs or security holes found in the products after this date will no longer be fixed by Microsoft. Furthermore there will be no more Windows updates, security updates or modifications to these products by Microsoft.

How will this affect you?
Your PC will still continue to work in the same way it did prior to this date.  However, after Microsoft ends support of Windows XP you will no longer be provided software updates, security fixes that protect against malware such as viruses and worms or any new drivers that require writing by Microsoft. Office will continue to function too but with many people now upgrading you will be left behind in terms of functionality and in the months and years after April 2014 you will be open to security bugs which may be found but never be fixed.

What can be done?
Ultimately the best thing to do is to upgrade Windows XP to the reliable Windows 7 or Microsoft’s latest Operating System, Windows 8.  Also, the latest version of the Office suite is now 2013 so to stay current it would be advisable to look at Office 2010 or 2013.  At some point Windows 7 and Office 2010 will cease to be sold and you will only be able to purchase Windows 8 and Office 2013 so if you don’t like the new look products then now is the time to act! Update: We supply mainly Dell kit and we are finding it increasingly difficult to get PC's with Windows 7 and impossible to get Office 2010.

Am I using any of these products?
To determine the version of Windows XP that you are running, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run. Please note if you don't have a start button and you have bought your machine in the last 12 months you are probably running Windows 8
2. In the Open box, type winver.exe, and then click OK. The version number is displayed in the About Windows box.

To find the version of Office you are running please follow this link to the Microsoft Website http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/excel-help/what-version-of-office-am-i-using-HA101873769.aspx

Can Fusion help me with this?
Of course, get in touch on 08451221240 or drop an email to info@fusionmanageit.co.uk We’d be happy to discuss your requirements and help you with protecting yourself.

Securing Microsoft Terminal Services / Remote Desktop Servers & Two factor Authentication

We have recently discovered increased activity from people trying to brute force attack (trying 1000's of different passwords every minute in an attempt to find the right password) servers running remote desktop! Remote desktop is used as a method of remote access for people wanting to get access to their internal network, its great for accessing software installed on the network and it often used for home working.

By the nature of a remote desktop server it needs to be accessible from anywhere on the Internet, where we can we lock down servers so they can be only accessed by certain IP addresses, but if a managing director wants to travel or access their system from Internet cafes manging this is impractical.

During these attacks we often see thousands of password hack attempts, luckily we have complex admin passwords and try to enforce a password change policy on our users, but it is only a matter of time before a system gets hacked.

In an attempt (its a continual game of cat and mouse) to stop these hackers we now we have an application that we can install on your server that will automatically block IP addresses after a number of failed login attempts, this then stops them in their tracks. This can be installed an configured on your server for £100 + VAT as is recommended by Fusion as the standard of what should be installed on every RDP server. Do you have any intruder protection software running on your RDP server? If not contact us today to discuss your options.

If secure access to your IT systems is even more of an issue we are recommending installing some kind of two factor authentication. What is two factor authentication I hear your ask?

Two-factor authentication is a security process in which the user provides two means of identification, one of which is typically a physical token, such as a card, and the other of which is typically something memorised, such as a security code. In this context, the two factors involved are sometimes spoken of as something you have and something you know. A common example of two-factor authentication is a bank card: the card itself is the physical item and the personal identification number (PIN) is the data that goes with it.

We now have some software that allows you to use your smart phone as secondary authentication, it effectivly provides you with a code to type in as you login or pushes a popup to your phone. Other options are that you have dedicated key fobs that generate the number;

The two factor authentication does take a little bit more setup and increase your running costs, but if data security is paramount to you then this is a must. It would be very hard for a hacker to get into your system even if he has a username and password as they wouldn't have access to the secondary token (ie the users phone or their keyfob)

Please note that your system is only as secure as the weakest link, all it takes is for one user to have a poor password and your system could be compromised... I cannot express how important a strong password policy is.

Is security a concern for you? If so get in contact with Fusion today before its too late!!

Point to Point Wireless Links

Fusion have a client who is a house builder, we continually struggle getting broadband lines into their new building sites, BT seem to take forever to install new PSTN lines in greenfield sites....


We now have a solution to this problem, we are using wireless point to point links In conjuction with their existing electical contractors we installed a link between the showhouse and the site cabin enabling their managers to get excellent connectivity.

This particular link was only about 150 meters but these links can stretch for many miles with good line of sight.

As you can see we mounted it on their existing CCTV pole to give great line of sight to the portacabin.

Do you have connectivity issues between sites? Maybe a site to site link will even save you money in the long run on expensive leased lines / internet connections?

Contact us on 08451221240 we are always happy to give you some free non biased advise.

Are you using the same password for everything?

Do you use the same password for everything? Brits are taking massive security risks by using the same password for multiple websites, communications watchdog Ofcom warned.

Worse still, the regulator - which published a report based on a survey of 1,805 people aged 16 and over - found that a staggering one in four (26%) UK adults used birthdays or names as passwords for access to online services.

We try to force password policies on all our contractual clients, as far as I am concerned this is a must for every customer no matter how big or how small. If the client was to get hacked and have some data leakage, they would be looking to blame someone and I don't want that to be their IT supplier. With a good password policy it significantly reduces the risk of a basic password hack.

When was the last time you changed your password? Do you use the same password for lots of things? Do you even know how to change your password? Not only does this make your network susceptible to hacking, it can leave you open to identity theft.

Many companies have dormant accounts that also pose a massive security hole, when was the last time you had a clean up of your network user accounts? Do you tell your IT supplier when users have left your organisation? Do you have a leaver policy that incorporates your IT systems?

At Fusion we can help implement a none intrusive customer orientated password policy that will assist in making sure that you stay protected.

Always on PC's cost small to medium UK companies £1000's

Most night an estimated 30% of PC's are left on over night, not only does this shorten the life of an expensive piece of kit, it costs 1000's of pounds each year in wasted electricity and important updates may not be applied to the system.

A survey of more than 2,000 UK adults found that 30% of them do not turn their PC's overnight or on weekends, this equates to an extra £23 per year in extra energy bills.

At Fusion we offer a service where we can inform key contacts within a firm if machines are regularly left on, we can also implement power saving policies and replace ageing servers with more efficient hardware that also utilises virtualisation.

Scanning Direct to a SharePoint List

There are plenty of products available to assist with scanning documents directly to sharepoint; from installable modules for your multi-function devices (MFD)/scanners to software solutions. But here's a quick workaround I discovered using Symbolic links and shared folders:

The Problem:
SharePoint doesn't store documents in a standard file system. The documents are actually stored within the SharePoint database. When you navigate to a document list and click 'Open with Windows Explorer' a number of technologies included WEBDAV are used to give you access to the files as if they were stored in a standard file system.

So the bottom line is although your computer is able to interpret this file storage location your scanner/MFD in most cases can't.

The Solution:
If your scanner/MFD is able to scan to a networked location there is a workaround:

1. For this solution to work, scans are going to go via a share on one of your Servers. This can be your SharePoint server or another of your choice. On this server navigate to the SharePoint list you want to scan to and choose the 'Open with Windows Explorer' option. You may need to install the 'Windows Desktop Experience' if prompted.
 
2. From the explorer window that appears make a note of the address (probably in the format of http://yourserver/yourlist or \\yourserver\yourlist depending upon your site structure)

3. Open a command prompt and type the following 

mklink /d [link name] [target]

For example if you wanted to create your link to http://myserver/mylist in a test folder on your c:\ called 'mytestlink' the syntax would be as follows

mklink /d c:\test\mytestlink \\myserver\mylist

   
4. Once the symbolic link has been created - test that it works and then set it up as a shared folder on the network

5. Modify your scanner to scan to the new shared folder and test the scans appear as expected.

6. On the server where you created the link ensure that the WebClient service is enabled and set to start automatically - otherwise you may find that after a server restart your links don't work until you browse to the SharePoint list again.

What is the cost of crazy English weather to your business?

With the recent snow days across England I wanted to take the opportunity to discuss what cost the weather brings to businesses. The news mentions figures of up to 500 million pounds a day loss to the UK economy, what can we do to reduce this figure?

Using IT there are ways that you can continue to work even if you are not in the office. Firstly if you have a good telephone system you can have calls diverted through to mobiles or even through to VOIP extensions running from home handsets or even laptops, this can allow staff to work from home. Fusion use an Asterisks based VOIP system and also Microsoft Lync server for our telephony, both these products allow you to have a versatile communications system that can easily cater for acts of god!

Once you have sorted out your telephones the next part of the puzzle is to work out how you are going to provide access to your office systems remotely, this can be done via numerous ways. We could use a VPN, Remote Desktop, Citrix, Direct Access or even a mixture of these technologies. Essentially all these technologies enable you to get access to your office over the internet, this means all you need is access to the internet to work, be it over broadband or 3G data dongle.

Personally as a director of Fusion I have a home office, I can work from there just as effectively as I can from the office. In fact I would probably argue that I get more done working from home as there are not as many distractions, that said I also like to keep myself in the loop in terms of day to day issues that I probably wouldn’t know much about unless I was in the office. With Microsoft Lync and phones with cameras we can now still have face to face conversations when we are not in the same city or even country for that matter!

Would you like to make your company weather proof? Or do you suffer from lack of connectivity to the office? Give us a call we are always happy to discuss your options.

Is it worth scrimping on a server? Could it end up costing you alot more?

At Fusion we pride ourselves in recommending the right tool for the right job, choosing the right server(s) for your business is one of the most important decisions you will ever make!

A basic server can start at around £700 and can go up to thousands, typically most servers we buy for clients range from about £1000 to £4000. We visit many clients that have been sold servers that are essentially PC’s, these type of ‘servers’ are not designed to be left on 24/7 and very rarely have any form of redundancy.

What is redundancy? Let’s step away from computers and look at mechanical engineering, aeroplanes you will be pleased to know usually have around 3 or 4 levels of redundant components, this means if something fails there is at least 2 backup systems. This is pretty reassuring to know when you are 35,000 feet up in the air! In computing servers can have varying levels of redundancy, this usually is in the form of additional hard drives, multiple power supplies, but can also can also mean whole servers that are sat there in a redundant configuration, sometimes in different parts of the world..

I have previously spoken about the benefits of having good UPS batterybackup and also the beauty of having multiple internet connections. Your IT systems are only as resilient as your weakest link. For example you may have the best UPS in the world (or a generator for that matter) and multiple internet connections coming into the building, but if your server only has one power supply and one hard drives these are massive single point of failure.

When we look at putting a new server in for a client we specify the server on how critical it is to the client, we always make sure it comes with good hardware warranty for the life of the machine, this way when a component does fail we know we will have an hardware engineer out fast! As a bare minimum we would put two disks (RAID1) into a server, these means that if any one of the disks goes the server will still continue to operate. For our higher end servers they will have two power supplies (Using two different UPS’s) and probably a mixture of RAID1 disks for holding the operating system (Windows Server) and a RAID5 (three or more disks with hot swappable spares in a fault tolerant configuration) for the data.

Each year we tend to have a couple of client’s servers drives fail, it’s usually around summertime when the server is running at higher temperatures! Because we run all servers in a fault tolerant configuration and we monitor them, it hasn’t caused any downtime for these clients. The engineer attends site, installs the new disk and rebuilds the RAID and all is good again! If they didn’t have redundant disks the whole site would have been down for probably 48 hours whilst we got a new disk and then rebuilt the server from a backup.

We also make sure that clients try and upgrade their servers every 4 - 6 years, this means that they can rely on having good quality kit and also benefit from further advances in the newer versions of software and hardware.

Is your server up to the job you ask of it? Are you prepared to lose your server for a few days because you tried to save a few pounds on the setup?

If you are not sure about this then please give us a ring on 08451221240 or email jamie@fitm.co.uk