Microsoft – Page 5 – Paul's Tech Talk

Is it worth upgrading to Windows 11?

PaulOctober 11, 2021

Windows 11 is now Available

Microsoft releases Windows 11 last week and people all around have had their opinions from it’s good to not so much like I have said. It just isn’t worth it right now to upgrade. You have to worry about encryption of the HDD to having a TPM installed on your system. All these requirements doesn’t mean it is any safer than before. I know that Microsoft is preaching how this will help increase security in their OS. I personally think it is just a lot of hot air, any security that they might think will help, will eventually have some hacker or virus get around. It is a good idea for the short term but maybe no in the long term. We’ve seen blogs talk about how it isn’t worth it and others where Microsoft talked about all these things that will come along but have yet not even seen anything on Windows 11.

Upgrade Woes

Even if you wanted to upgrade, you still have to go through a lot of system preparation for you to even upgrade to Windows 11. You’ll need to enable TPM if you have it and also you will then need to make sure you have UEFI enabled. This also makes you to turn your hard drive partition from MBR into a GPT to be able to use Windows 11. This a lot of system just to use Windows 11. I am hopeful that Microsoft will release a good tool to help you with this issue because I am sure most systems don’t even have GPT being used in Windows 10. Microsoft has said in the past that you can avoid some of this if you install Windows 11 on a new system because you don’t have to encrypt your hard drive or use TPM. So downloading Windows 11 might work for some of you but I am little hesitant due to Microsoft saying that may not support them in the future but I don’t see this being the issue because of the security risks involve.

Should you upgrade

This has been the question for most people around the world. I’ve seen people wonder if they should upgrade. I say probably not right now, due it being so new. There are still problems and nothing is that compelling to install Windows 11 unless Microsoft brings on something so compelling that you will want Windows 11. If they supported DDR5 and helped make the system faster, I am sure it would be something that might compel people to upgrade to Windows 11. I am sticking with Windows 10 ]until I have to consider upgrading or installing a Linux Distro. I am going to say just wait and see what happens in the near future. Only you can really know for sure if you should upgrade. Are you going to upgrade or are you going to wait? Why Not leave a comment and tell me what your thoughts are about Windows 11.

What’s been happening lately for me and Why I didn’t blog last week.

PaulOctober 6, 2021

A Long Week

Last week I took off from writing due to taking my Core 2 A+ certification. I still have to retake my Core 1 (Passing is 675) but I did pass core 2 last Friday(Yea me!). I passed Core 2 by 47 points. (Passing is 700 points) Which If they would add those two scores up and used that for a passing or failing of A+ certification, I’d have my A+ but no I still have to take Core 1 again and pass that one. Anyway, the story of this is simple, don’t stop taking those test because you failed the first one. The Next test you might pass with flying colors.

Start of new Week

As you can see, We had a really busy start off my week. I found a pattern in Tickets that customers were submitting last week and started to look for the reason why. The simple reason is that Microsoft screwed up the old printer drivers due to the PrintNightmare Zero-Day. Along with that, I was told my job has ended and I wasn’t needed anymore. I personally think this was due to me not passing both tests and they didn’t want to worry about it down the road. It however isn’t a big deal anyways because it gives me more time to work on getting that Core 1 test done and studying even more to pass it.

Future Plans

This one still in the air and I’m sure I will find a job as a help desk technician or something similar. It’s not that I didn’t try to pass but it is just rotten luck. I am sure I’ll find a company who will want my unique skills and want to see me succeed. I am so ready to start my new career but it can still be difficult to get that first job to get the experience. Let me hear your experiences with getting that first job. Did it work out or did you have a difficult time like me getting your foot in the door to get the experience?

Windows Update in September causes printing issues in IT Support

PaulOctober 4, 2021

Print Nightmare Patch

Microsoft released an update for Windows (KB5005565 , KB5005566, and KB5005652) that is causing quite some problems with Printers and networking. There have been reports that I’ve seen of this affecting business and all around. I’ve seen this in my Job also, Drivers not installing and Windows updates not installing because the drivers isn’t being able to be installed. Paper sizes and even POS printers not printing due to the Printer spooler being patched by Microsoft. Bleeping Computers even says that it broke the point to a network printer and is causing issues with people being able to print on the network.

Significant problems

Even I’ve seen the problems that came along with the new update. The real problem is how to protect the business who need to use their network for business purposes. What are some ways to do it and keep the business safe? These are all the questions that need to be answered but as of yet no one knows what the really way to patch the problem associated with the Print Spooler and Print Network.

IT admins have said as much as uninstalling the update resolves most if not all the printer issues they’ve seen the last week or two but that isn’t really suggested by Microsoft due to the Print Nightmare issues and ransomware issues that might arise from it. All I know is IT admins are left on the side of the road as to how to fix the issue without the patch or if there will be a hotfix now the road to fix the September update. Either way there isn’t much we can do but wait and see.

Possible ways to Mitigate this issue:

Change your Group Policy Object (GPO) in Active Directory on the target computers on the network to “RestrictDriverInstallationToAdministrators = 0” but than again we are just opening up that hole that Microsoft is trying to close.

Registry add:

reg add “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\PointAndPrint” /v RestrictDriverInstallationToAdministrators /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Again this will only bypass what Microsoft is trying to close with the vulnerability in Windows point and print issue on the network. You should be able to start printing after you reboot. This however isn’t suggested by me or anyone who is looking to keep the printer from being used in a ransomware attack.

Installing V4 drivers instead of V3 Drivers will solve this issue also but some vendors don’t even have V4 drivers available to install as of yet. Until they make those drivers available, there isn’t really much we can do about it or even suggest to the business that are having difficulty with the printing issue at hand.

Resources:

So you failed one or both A+ exam Tests and Now what?

PaulSeptember 17, 2021

I failed the CompTIA A+ Core 1 Certification

I am sure you are so surprised that I am saying this with very little hesitancy. I figure those of use who had to hear the bad news should at least know we aren’t alone in the struggle of get the certification. You’re probably thinking Now what do I do? I figure you have a couple of options to consider and we’ll talk about some of the options and what you might be able to do about it. First thing you have to consider is was your score really low or just missed it like I did. I’ve been doing IT on the side for several years. You’d think I would pass it on the first try, I was so hopeful. I missed it only be a several points to get to the 675, If you’re score is really under a 100 or so, you really need to consider what you can do better next time and be more prepared. You may even keep failing CompTIA A+ for several times before you can get to the 675 or higher to pass the core 1 exam.

Now what are you going to do?

This might be the first time or even the second time that you failed the exam. You have to consider why you are doing and consider if maybe you’re not ready to get the certification. It could just be dumb luck that you didn’t get, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least consider these questions for myself and think hard and long about what I wanted and why I wanted it. I’m not sure what goals you might of set for yourself but these are some important to think about. You might even need to cry to get the frustrations and disappointment out to be able to think clearly. In the end, it’s all about how you deal with the situation that makes or breaks your intentions to get the certifications.

What’s next?

Well for me, I’m going to have to take the test again for the Core 1 Test at least. I’ve scheduled the Core 2 for the next few weeks and intend to do that one just because I have already scheduled it and might as well see if I can pass at least one exam. If I can do at least the one exam the other one will be a lot simpler for me I think. You have to consider what you are wanting to do or if you think you can pass the next exam. I’m not going to give up just because I failed the first time. I’ve gotten this far and I won’t stop going farther. I know I can pass this exam if I just work on the questions and try to keep working to my goals. Some ways you can get ready for the next time:

I know I am not going to fail the next time and if I do, at least I have the experience to learn from and getting better. I am sure I am not the only one who has had this happen before. I’ve seen videos about people failing the CompTIA A+ certifications, so I guess it isn’t just me. This is what you need to learn for yourself that you’re not alone in the struggle of getting that exam certification and we all have had to do it at least once or twice. Hopefully this helps you to know you’re not alone.

Getting the interview and how I will be ready for those questions

PaulSeptember 10, 2021

Getting that interview

I talked about the job market and how that will be more difficult to find a job. That seems to be changing for me. If you didn’t read my post about Tuesday’s call, I will go back and say it was quite a surprise to get a call 30 mins after I applied a a technical support specialist job. Fast forward two days, they call me and setup an interview time for Next Day. This would be the Thursday after the call on Tuesday and my Interview is Friday. So that’s been my week this week. I am not sure what to think, but I thought it would be a good idea to at least talk about how to know what questions they might ask me or what even if I should have questions to ask them.

Questions and Answers

Some of the questions I saw and looked over came from Indeed and other hiring sites but I compressed them into a small subset of questions and you can go back and see what they might want to ask you in your interview if you ever have one for a technical support specialist. Although this won’t be exactly what they might ask you but you should at least be somewhat prepared for the questions they ask you and have a few good answers waiting to give back to them. I am sure what you do is going to be a little bit different from company to company but you should at least have a few good answers ready.

What made you get into technical support?
What is your troubleshooting process? (see some of how I troubleshoot motherboards post issues)
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Why are you interested in Technical Support?
Why should we hire you?
What do you feel your strong Points are?
What do you feel your week points are?
What’s your strength
Why do you want to work here?
Why did you apply to our company?

These are just a few of the questions that they might ask you for a technical support job. I’ve went through as many sites as I could just to see what they might ask you but every site including Glassdoor has many different questions that might be relevant or not. No matter how well we prepare, there will be that questions that might be a surprise to you and you should approach it with the best intentions. Always remember that you are there for a reason.

Tell me about yourself?

That’s either where it begins or it ends depending on the interviewers point or if they need to know a lot about you. The one thing I can tell you and know it works is being yourself and always smiling. If they are going to hire you, that because they see potential in you. That’s pretty much how I see it. They are looking for the ideal employee but in life we rarely find that perfect person to fit the job description. This is why you should always apply for jobs that might not seem like your a good fit. You’ll know when they call you, take the ques from how they communicate with you. Are they trying to be helpful? are they trying to learn more about you? are they open to your questions? Sure you’ll have questions and that is a good sign that you want to know more about the company. Also do some research on the company and be prepared to know more about it and that way you could be ready for those types of questions.

As you can see it is a whole new world for people to hire employees but most of the time it’s just takes a little bit of effort to do the job right and nothing we say or do will ever make the greatest impact that knowing we are making a difference each and every day in someone’s life. What’s your experience been with interviews? How’d that go for you? why not leave a comment and talk about it with others who might want to know what to expect.