Category: Security

The Failures of Board manufacturers and Windows 11

Paul

Motherboards Diversity / SML.20120917.164110.IP3

Motherboard BIOS

Don’t try to understand the system but rather see it as a broke system and try to fix it. When Windows 11 came out, you can bet everyone who was wanted the next version of Windows wanted it so they can test it out.  The real problem is Windows 11 made every one get into their BIOS and figure out what needed to be turned on.  Motherboard manufacturers each have their own way of creating the BIOS settings.   They like to call it something you might not know about or even want to try to understand.   Just like enabling TMP can be hard to find since Intel and AMD uses different wording such as PTT (Intel Platform Trusted Technology) for Intel and fTPM (Firmware Trusted Platform Module)  for AMD.  Even this can be frustrating for even the most seasoned IT guy.   There is so many Mother Manufacturers out there, from MSI to ASRock. according to Wikipedia there is at least 7 to 15 different manufacturers of Motherboards.   So each one will make the Bios Menu’s just a little bit different.  It can be quite hard to figure out where you might need to go to enable something or disable something in bios.

The Failure of all parts

It isn’t every time I see Microsoft releases a new OS that I wonder just how much the consumer will suffer from the new systems requirements.    Most of the time the requirements were not that big of a deal but with Windows 11, we now need to enable TPM and Secure boot for systems that may or may not have the requirements to run Windows 11.   This to me just seem an arbitrary requirement because we’ve seen people run Windows 11 on a system that doesn’t  have  a TPM.   Microsoft says this is for security but I can’t see this being for consumers.  I’ve talked about how Windows 11 will fail, and I still think this will happen eventually once people see If Windows is worth upgrading.

The PrintNightmare

With the recent Windows updates the last few weeks has caused more pain for Microsoft.   Since most people who are having problem probably have to buy new printers and those old printers are probably going to the waste side.   Even manufacturers aren’t going to update their drivers for old printers.  Microsoft likes the idea that people will need to buy new printers and maybe even new systems for that Windows 11 OS.   They make their money by people upgrading their systems and getting a new Windows 11 key or even a new system by Dell, or some other OEM.   Every computer technician is having to work harder for people who might want to install Windows 11.  Even then the process of install Windows 11 is not something that can be done very quickly depending on how big the HDD you are going to be converting.

What is to come?

Some people are not going to install Windows and maybe will wait to see what Microsoft does.  We’ve already seen a comparison from Windows 8 to Windows 10 and you know how well Windows 8 didn’t work out well.   Some are probably going to install another OS that won’t require people to have some stringent requirements like Microsoft.   Are you going to Install Windows 11 or are you waiting like I am because you don’t want to worry about all the security requirements to install Windows 11?   I’d like to hear your ideas about Windows 11 and or what your will do in 2025 if they still require all these things.

Is it worth upgrading to Windows 11?

Paul

Windows 11

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.

Windows Update in September causes printing issues in IT Support

Paul

Support Key

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:

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

Paul

Young Man on a Job Interview

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.

How virtual desktop infrastructure will help us in the IT field

Paul

BGinfo Group Policy

 

What’s is VDI and why do we need it in IT?

Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDI) are just that Virtual desktops that anyone can use on any given system around the world.   According to Citrix each VDI “includes an operating system image, typically Microsoft Windows“.  So what does that really mean?  The real question we should be asking ourselves is what does it do or how can we use that in virtualization.   The answer is quite simple, the truth of the matter is that VDI will help servers move a desktop from one server or even allow the user to do what they would normally do in the office and be able to do it anywhere the world.    The company could also give them really cheap or maybe even Chromebooks to do their work from home.   Ever since the start of virtual machines this has been something that was readily deployed because it kept the information in a centralized server and the user wouldn’t need to worry about any sensitive information leaks by someone stealing a laptop or a desktop.

Persistent and non-Persistent

Each VDI can allow a user to make changes to the desktop or not make changes depending on the settings the administrator decides to use.   Although this has not been a major point to people to try to get around the need to make the desktop a more personable environment.   It does help to prevent unwanted programs and people making changes to the OS which could make it even harder to prevent malware and viruses from getting onto the VDI.  Administrator’s have the option to allow users to change the desktop or keep the desktop as it is and you have to use it like it is.   If you have several users that are using the same exact desktop than this would be my option to keep all the users happy.

Considerations of VDI

Even I know the power of Virtualization but some users will not know what they are missing or getting when they are using a VDI.  According to IT Pro Today, We should consider a multitude of things when we deploy a VDI.   Security is always going to be a big issue when it comes to how the user will interact with the virtual desktop, which could bring even more problems but most of time it will help keep the problems away.  They even go as far as to make a point of how important it is to control the BYOD or even know the level of the user who is using the Virtual Desktop.   Each one of these is important to keep the user safe and secure.   It just depends on how well we control what they do and how they do it on it.   We should be able to monitor the VM and know that it is safe in our hands as we can control the group policies of it and keep the user from going to sites or installing software that isn’t approved to be used on the system.   Yet, I am sure we will see more users try to get around those restrictions because of one reason or another.  Time will always be against the administrator because someone is bound to test the limits.

Do you agree or disagree, or do you think it will help us or hinder us to have to be watchful of the users and how they use the VDI?