TIPS & TRICKS: OS X FileVault Encryption and Allowed Login Users

Learned something new today. Enabling whole-disk encryption via FileVault on OS X each user needs to be given specific permission to get into the machine when initially starting up a machine. This includes both local users, as well as directory-defined or network users. In the case of the network users, the network users must have a mobile account created when logging into the machine for the first time.

TIPS & TRICKS: Trusting A Computer from iOS 7

Apple introduced concept of Trusted Computers in iOS 7. The idea is that if a iOS device (i.e. iPhone) is plugged into a computer for charging purposes only, the data on the iOS device can be kept safe from the computer while still allowing charging of the device.

I found a situation where I allowed the device to trust a computer and then needed to remove that trust relationship. Apple doesn't have an easy way to remove that trust relationship on the phone because it seems that the trust token is stored only on the computer that the device is connected. However, there is a way to remove that relationship, as outlined by Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5335. I've only tried these steps on Windows 7:

• Choose Start, type %ProgramData% in the search bar, and press Return.
• Double-click the Apple folder.
• Double-click the Lockdown folder 
• Find the appropriate token (I based it on date, if there are multiple tokens) and choose Delete. Admin credentials may need to be provided if the currently logged in user is a non-admin. 

TIPS & TRICKS: Disappearing Gridlines On Some Cells in Excel

There's an Excel file that is shared in my office. I know people cut and paste cells/rows of information to move elsewhere. I often find that this type of modification makes some cells look like they have lost their gridlines. There's several reasons why this might occur:

• The gridlines are turned off. (Fix: View > Recheck box for gridlines).

• The gridlines are colored over, usually with white. (Fix: right-click on cell > Format Cells > Fill tab > Select No Color, or select white and then reselect no color)

• The borders are colored white. (Fix: right-click on cell > Format Cells > Border tab > change color to Automatic)

• The gridlines have been colored white. (Fix: click on File > Options > Advanced > Display options for this worksheet > change Gridline color to black)

Found these reasons from this handy page: 

http://mcstech.net/blog/index.cfm/2011/12/29/Disappearing-Excel-Gridlines

My particular fix came from the second reason. I've tried it on Excel 2010 and Excel 2013. 

TIPS & TRICKS: Adobe Flash Full Offline Download Location

When you go to Adobe's main site and search for the latest Flash installer, you're given a stub in the download, which goes out to grab the rest of the installer when it's launched. Sometimes this doesn't work, especially when the user account currently used does not have administrative rights.

Here's the site to download the full offline version of the installers for IE and all other browsers:

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html

TIPS & TRICKS: Slow Wake for MacBook Pro

Apparently, Apple notebooks have a standby mode that is a deeper sleep than the standard sleep that happens when you first close the lid. This standby mode kicks in after an hour of normal sleep by default to help save battery power. Good feature to really help save battery drain while the computer is sleeping. 

However, there is a draw back. It takes about 10 to 15 seconds after the lid is open before a password can be entered. If I'm a hurry, 10 to 15 seconds seems like an eternity. 

Fortunately, there's a way to adjust this behavior. Here's the command to use in terminal:

sudo pmset -a standbydelay 86400




The 86400 is the number seconds in 24 hours. This can be adjusted to what ever works for you. To check the setting:

pmset -g

See the following blog for additional information:

http://www.ewal.net/2012/09/09/slow-wake-for-macbook-pro-retina/

Hope this helps you. 

TIPS & TRICKS: Make Sure 'Display Name' Is Populated

Learned something new today about Exchange. Apparently, the Display Name field holds much more significance than I originally thought. When searching for users to create a new profile (i.e. hitting Check Name) in Outlook setup, it actually relies on the Display Name field to find the appropriate user in the Global Address List. I used to think that giving it the correct username was enough.

In the future, I will make sure to have Display Name filled out appropriately and not leave it blank.

TIPS & TRICKS: Enterprise-Level Networking

I deal, mostly, with consumer level equipment for helping home and small-office users get connected. Most situations don't call for spending more money than consumer-level hardware costs to get together a suitable networking situation.

However, even home and small-office users, sometimes have very specific situations that require some higher quality equipment that provide specific functionality. Case in point, I once tried to help someone setup a wireless network in a 2500+ square foot home. I had recommended using Apple equipment, since they were mostly a Mac household and the Airport-branded equipment provided most of what they need. My lesson learned from this project was that the Airport Extreme can only accept one additional Airport Express as an extender to the wireless network. Most of the house had coverage after I put in the Airport Extreme and couple of Airport Express Base Stations. The one place that lacked good coverage was the pool house. Without getting into the specifics, I finally figured out a second Airport Express setup as an extender off another Airport Express that was already acting as an extender (i.e. Airport Extreme > Airport Express > Airport Express), really degrades the bandwidth down to even below optimum dial-up speeds.

Moral of the story, the right tools always gets the job done better. To that end, I recently got a recommendation from the This Week in Enterprise Tech podcast about this company that does some good work with equipment that might have helped in my project I just mentioned. It's called MikroTik (http://mikrotik.com/). Next time I need something more than consumer-level gear, I'll take a look at these guys.

TIPS & TRICKS: Improve the Security of a New Computer

Often, I field questions about how to protect a computer, especially when it's brand new. I've often given customized advice to people, depending on their current environment. But, I get the questions enough that I considered composing a document that outlines this information.

Fortunately, I have (and, so have you) paid for someone else to compose this document for us:

http://www.us-cert.gov/security-publications/ten-ways-improve-security-new-computer

This federal government site has a wealth of information, including this well-written document, on how to secure your computer from the bad guys. There's lots of ways to protect your new computer from getting compromised, but this document provides a great baseline for everyone to follow.

Besides the steps outlined in this document, I would also add that setting up a new machine is a perfect time to also setup a solid backup solution and consider encrypting the hard drive in your computer, especially if it's a notebook that gets lots of miles.

TIPS & TRICKS: Browser and Other Security Tests

With all the recent 0-day exploits and other vulnerabilities making news, I thought it would be helpful to have some resources to test out your environment.

First, browser security checks:

• http://www.isjavaexploitable.com
• https://browsercheck.qualys.com

Next, router and computer security checks:

•  Use ShieldsUP! and the Instant UPnP Exposure Test at this site: https://www.grc.com/

As always, security is like an onion. A well secured computing environment will have lots of layers. These tools are another layer of protection.

TIPS & TRICKS: Viewing Hidden Files in OS X

Initially, I wanted to find a way to transfer music off an old iPod that hadn't been synced to anything for a long time. I have done this many times with a Windows machine and even told people that it's possible to do it on a Mac (OS X). However, I've never actually done it myself.

The basic process is the same on OS X as it is on Windows. Use the OS explorer window to navigate the iPod after making sure that hidden files are visible. On OS X, this is the secret sauce:

• Launch Terminal, located at /Applications/Utilities.
• Type or copy/paste the following two commands into the Terminal window, next to the Terminal prompt. Press the return or enter key after you enter each line.
• defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
• killall Finder
• If you ever want to make the hidden folders disappear again, just run the code again, but change TRUE to FALSE.

Making hidden files visible in the operating system can be useful for other troubleshooting and modification steps. 

A follow-up tip to this one is how to make a hidden folder into a non-hidden folder once it's made visible and to recursively make all subfolders unhidden:

• Using the same terminal window, drag the folder or file into the terminal window. This will put the correct path to the file/folder that needs to be changed to unhidden. 
• Using the arrows on the keyboard, backspace to the beginning of the path and type in:
• chflags -R nohidden
• This should give a command that looks something like:
• chflags -R nohidden /Users/username/Desktop/FolderName
• Follow-up the successful command with a:
• killall Finder

TIPS & TRICKS: Download Dell OS Media

So the other day, I was helping someone reload their Dell machine. The media to reinstall Windows was not available. I contacted Dell to see if they could send another set. They agreed, but I needed to get this machine back up and running sooner. At some point, I thought to myself how great it would be if I could just download the media and create my own bootable media set. Eventually, I found the original set that came with the computer and got it reloaded. However, I came across this site that does allow downloading of software to create bootable media. Fortunately, it's a Dell site, which redirects to Digital River, also a trustworthy site. http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/w/microsoft_os/1439.02-microsoft-windows-and-microsoft-office-downloads.aspx Hope this helps. Happy Computing.

TIPS & TRICKS: Manually Change Time Machine Backup Schedule

Apple's Time Machine was, by far, the best tool Apple introduced with OS X Leopard (10.5). Backups are always the last thing most users think about. But, it's the first thing people wish they would have had when there's some failure that prevents them from accessing their data. Time Machine's simplicity should have every single person who doesn't already have a backup solution adopt it with fervor.

As great as the tool is for most backup needs, I have discovered a drawback. Time Machine runs a backup once an hour. The constant barrage of data hitting the backup destination can put a toll on the media. In many cases, the media is an external hard drive with physical hard drive. The drives themselves are not nearly as sturdy as they used to be. I've come across users who have had to replace their backup drives inside of 6 months. If you need the once an hour backup interval, then you'll need to put up with this routine maintenance. Think of it as changing the oil filter every time you change your oil in the car.

Fortunately, there is a fix for those people who don't need the backups nearly that frequently. As the saying goes, there's an app for this. However, I am an fan of understanding how the underlying code works. The manual method is this command (all one line):

sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 14400

The 14400 is the number of seconds in 4 hours. The number you choose should be a factor of 3600 seconds (1 hour). For example if you want to do it once every 7 days, you would use 604800. You can also check the change with this command:

sudo defaults read /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval

Hope this helps you out with extending the life of that backup hard drive.

TIPS & TRICKS: iPhone Syncing Error

Syncing my iPhone with iTunes on my workstation yielded an error message that said "The iPhone cannot be synced. An unexpected error occurred (1150)." The only way I could figure out a way around this error was to disable all restrictions on the iPhone itself. I tried disabling individual restrictions, but nothing worked. Only completely disabling all restrictions helped the sync complete.

Oh, it also helps to unplug the sync cable if you have it plugged in after disabling all restrictions. Unplugging and replugging the iPhone to the computer seems to tell iTunes that changes were actually made.

Hope that helps you.

TIPS & TRICKS: Force Facebook to Clear Page Cache

To be clear, this tool really refreshes Facebook's cache of a particular page. In addition, this tool doesn't clear any caches in Facebook pages. Rather, it checks third party pages for updated content.

https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug

I came across this while posting a status update with a link on a Page I manage. The link's preview showed some outdated information, which I knew had been updated already. Using this developer tool helped to update the cache to show the current information on the link preview.

TIPS & TRICKS: Active Directory Users & Computers Filtering

Handy little LDAP query to filter users who have not changed passwords after a certain date (in this case, September 5th) (all one line):

(&(objectCategory=user)(pwdLastSet>=129913020000000000)(!(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)))

Here are the steps to run the filter:

• In ADUC, click on Set Filtering options icon
• click "Create custom", then Customize button
• click on Advanced tab, then enter (or copy/paste) LDAP query:
• (&(objectCategory=user)(pwdLastSet>=129913020000000000)(!(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)))
• then click OK button, then OK again to close Filter Options
• In OU list at left, navigate to your OU, which will now show only users who have changed password since cutoff time.
• 129913020000000000 = number of 100 nanosecond intervals since Jan 1, 1601 to 9/5/2012 12:00 AM.
• (!(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)) is a bitwise operation to exclude disabled users.
• If you want to return to seeing all users and objects, you need to clear the filter, by clicking on Set Filtering options icon, then click "Show all types of objects"
• You can reverse the query to see users who haven't changed password yet, by changing the query string >= to <=

TIPS & TRICKS: Recalibrate a Sticky iPhone Home Button

Didn't know about this trick until today. Apparently, if the home button on the iPhone is sticking or not responding, recalibrating it could help to get it working again. Here are the steps:

1. Click on a native iOS application (i.e. Stocks, Email, Messages, etc.).
2. Push and hold the power button on top until the "slide to power off" screen appears.
3. Let go of the power button. 
4. Push and hold the home button until the "slide to power off" screen disappears and let go of the home button. 

The home button should be recalibrated now. 

Hope this helps someone. 

TIPS & TRICKS: Adobe Acrobat Licensing Error

Encountered this error message:

The scenario is that this error shows up after deploying a custom Windows 7 image. When a new user logs into the machine and tries to launch a PDF file, this error message appears.

Here is Adobe's knowledge base article on this:

http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/error-213-19-licensing-acrobat.html

Part of the problem is that the user needs to have full access to \ProgramData\Adobe (I found that just giving an administrative account explicit access to that folder temporarily and launching Acrobat once was enough). However, the more specific problem is that Adobe forces a window on first launch of Adobe Acrobat that asks you to register the software. If that process can either get disabled or launched prior to imaging (without getting reset during the Sysprep process), then we can avoid this error message. Thanks a bunch Adobe.

TIPS & TRICKS: Imaging Bootcamp Partition on a Mac

I haven't used this tool yet. But, it definitely came from a good recommendation source. OS X is already easy to clone and restore using various tools. The Bootcamp partition has not been quite as easy. Hopefully, this tool makes cloning as easy as the OS X side.

http://twocanoes.com/winclone.php

Happy Computing.

TIPS & TRICKS: Testing RAM on a Mac

For years, I've used memtest86 to test RAM on PC's. On Macs, I've used TechTools. However, Apple stopped including TechTools Deluxe with AppleCare. Luckily, the open source community comes through again. A tool called memtest, which is a port to Macs from the PC version, does the job.

http://www.command-tab.com/2008/01/11/how-to-test-ram-under-mac-os-x/

This write-up was more thorough and how I came across this tool in the first place:

http://www.littleprojects.org/blog/2011/02/03/testing-ram-on-a-macbook-pro/

TIPS & TRICKS: Managing Permissions on Folders

Scenario: I get a call from a staff member, who I support. She wanted to see if she could obtain permission to some folders in a particular directory on my Windows 2003 file server. Without getting into the non-technical authorization of the situation and tossing the idea back and forth with my boss, I decided that we really needed was to get a listing of permissions of all the sub-folders in the directory in question. 

I poked around the web a bit, until I discovered a Microsoft tool that helps to manage permissions using the command line. GUIs are great for one-off tasks, but command line is necessary handle these types of tasks. Here's the gist of how I ended up with the results I needed:

• Download Xcacls.vbs from the Microsoft link below. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825751
• Open a command prompt window.
• At the command prompt, navigate to the location where Xcacls.vbs is saved.
• Type in Xcacls.vbs \\server\share\folder\* > c:\output.txt

This got me the output I needed. I did need to clean up the the output a bit because there were some extraneous files in the directory that was not necessary to the task. I know this tool can go further than just listing permissions. When I need to modify permissions across multiple files/folders I will try this out.