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How to secure against Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities?

This is one of the big security vulnerabilities that are affecting many systems because it’s the flaw in the processor, so the Operating system could be Windows’s, Linux’s, Mac’s, Android, etc… Devices could be Desktop computer, Laptops, Tablet’s, smartphone’s, TV’s, including your car software needs to be patched.

Dell: has released the patch for their devices, please go to this link and check it out, to make sure you are protected: www.dell.com/support/meltdown-spectre

HP: A vulnerability has been disclosed with modern CPU architecture referred to as side-channel analysis or speculative execution. Researchers have nicknamed the vulnerabilities “Spectre” and “Meltdown”. The result of exploits could potentially lead to the loss of sensitive information
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05869091 

Lenovo:  is aware of vulnerabilities regarding certain processors nicknamed “Spectre” and “Meltdown” by their discoverers. Both are “side channel” exploits, meaning they do not access protected data directly, but rather induce the processor to operate in a specific way and observe execution timing or other externally visible characteristics to infer the protected data.
https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/len-18282

You can read how to protect your Windows devices, Microsoft has released a security patch.  Here is a link to Microsoft where it list who is affected and what you need to do.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4073757/protect-your-windows-devices-against-spectre-meltdown

This is what I did for my computer using Lenovo, note each vendor has their own patch, some are still working on it and some have released.  It’s best to look up your model/bios version and make sure it’s up to date.

To see if your computer is protected, you can run PowerShell script that Microsoft has published

This is what it looks like before I applied the patch:

This is what it looked like after the updates:

You will also need to do Bios update from the manufacturing and may want to check other updates that you may need.

Note: when doing bios updates, some computer takes a little bit time and may look like a black screen doing nothing, but it’s finishing up a firmware update.  Do NOT shut down by force, otherwise, you will have a dead device.


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Exchange 2010 Kerberos authentication failed

Exchange 2010 is about 8 years old, but many organizations still using it.  System admin like us needs to support, as much as we can, while keeping up with today’s technologies.  There will be times when you might get a message like this in Exchange 2010 Kerberos authentication failed.  There are many blogs, who have found a solution, I would just like to have for myself and maybe others will find useful too.   Here is the screenshot of the error, I saw, when trying to access the Exchange 2010 management console:

You may also get something like this too:

You might want to back up your registry just in case, one of the settings called “NodeStructureSettings”

Then run this command it fixed for me: by resetting the IIS via CMD command

Here is how you like it to be always, working without error 24/7

Hope you will never have to do the fix, but you never know


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Are you paying too much for your Internet and want to save?

Hello all users, people ask me many times what kind of internet should I get (Fios, Cable, DSL, etc..)? or how much should I pay for my internet?  I will not say any vendor here because don’t want to sell you one vendor over another, all I can say is shop around and pay attention to details especially on fine prints, not that you will have an option to change, but at least you are aware of it.  The answer to this question is not clear unless you know what your needs for the internet are and how many users going to be connected to the internet.  One thing for sure normal users, who don’t know much about technology, the provider makes big money from them, buy selling bundle packages, and upgrade packages.  When your internet runs slow, the first thing to do is check to make sure it’s not only you having issues or you’re a device.

Here are few ways to do find out if the website you are on or your internet connection:

  • Go to any other website
  • Use a different browser (like Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet, etc..)
  • Do a speed test
    https://fast.com/en/, http://speedof.me, https://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/, many others out there, but the vendor has their own, so they can control, while you test it)
  • If you have option user another device, nowadays most people have a smartphone or tablet, so check on that
  • Also in a different location if you trying to find out speed

If your internet use is normal, meaning browsing, shopping, watching videos, etc… then you fell into general use.  You may be paying too much for your internet connection if it’s normal to use and paying over $100-$200 per month, because Vendor may have you in a bundle package with high speed/download like 150Mbps/75Mbps, in reality, you only be using 3Mbps to 25Mbps for Download and upload maybe about 1Mbps to 10Mbps.  Here are some facts, you can watch High Definition videos with speed of 5Mbps that’s 1080p if you have Ultra High Definition (UHD 4k), then about 25Mbps.  Also if Vendor giving you 150Mbps, but where you getting your content like website or videos limits you from download maximum about 5Mbps or 20Mbps, then you are just throwing your money out the window.  Also, your Vendor might be blocking or throttling, look at up on Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth_throttling, you from downloading or uploading.

How can you find out if your Vendor is throttling you?  It’s very easy, but your vendor will not accept it or give you all kind of excuses, that it’s on your end.  Also, tech person cannot say anything because they were monitored and recorded for quality and training purposes.  You can do a simple test by downloading or uploading a big file from one source and checking in two different locations.  You may have to try few locations or sources, to confirm it’s not the source, vendor or hosting service throwing.  I hope people get the service for what they paid for, not pay a lot and use just a fraction of it.  Feel free to leave a comment on anything, you want, maybe someone can learn more.


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How to fix Snipping Tool error sending email

Snipping tool is great for taking a quick snip of the screen and highlighting.  You can take the sniping of an error or guide someone to look at point and send to someone via email.
Snipping Tool looks like: you can find it by typing Snipping Tool in search of your Windows 10
For some reason when windows 10 got an update from 1607 to 1703 on some computer user started reporting their Sniping Tool not working.  They got an error like this:
The snip could not be sent.  Check that an email program is installed and then try again
I have checked and compare many setting and started digging more and more, still could not reason.  Started to look at system files and registry, everything seems ok, I knew the issues is with msmapi32.ll for outlook.
You can check to make sure your default email app is set:
Also, you can make sure your default apps by file type is set to your default email app
So after reaching a point of deleting it msmapi32.dll manually, but be very careful, it will reset your MS office license because next step is to repair MS office by going to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features then selecting your MS office and choosing to repair (you may see change then choose repair)
You can take a look at the registry to make sure it looks something like this if you are using MS office 2013
Once you have repaired the MS office your snapping tool should be fine

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how to maximize your Samsung s8 battery life

I like to customize my phone so apps don’t run in the background or do any updates without my knowledge.  When you stop apps that are running in the background it will increase your battery life.  I had issues, with one of the Google service, which was draining my battery very fast.  After trying everything to stop it, remove all my google service, still was draining, finally end up doing a wipe of my phone.  So I have learned a lot from the process of how to maximize your Samsung s8 battery life.  If you are using another model, some basic settings you may find helpful too.  Here are settings you should check and make changes to benefits your phone battery life.

Make sure you charge your battery when it’s low, instead of keeping it plugged all time
close your apps after using it
You can change the update settings to only do when you are on WiFi
Keeping your apps up to date will help protect your phone from security issues

Here is a screenshot of the Google Play service draining battery:

Google Services includes Backup Transport, Services Framework, Account Manager, and Play Services.  I had checked all to make sure there was nothing pending or anything stuck in the queue.

 

You can check the Performance by going to:
Settings>Device maintenance

I tested the Max Power saving mode, and it’s a big difference for sure.  If you want to get most out of your battery, every day before going to bed you can switch to Max mode and your battery usage overnight will be very low.  Be careful when using this mode, it does turn off many services, so I would test it to make sure your common apps are working in this mode and also if you are using the alarm, the test that too.  You can see in Max mode it gives 83 hours (this was when my battery was at 72%), in MID mode it gives about 33 hours, and if it’s off by default it gives about 24 hours.

When you are running in Max mode, these are all the settings you get, very limited:

 

This is the home screen in the Max mode:
Default apps are Phone, Messages, Internet, and Settings.  I had added my apps, Email, Gmail, and Camera, you can add whatever you use most often, by clicking on Plus sign.

These are the common apps you will get that supports Max mode, so some apps may not show up in this list, means it does not support Max battery mode.

Here is screenshot I have then in the morning, as you can see it only used 2% of my battery overnight when running in Max battery mode.

So, now you know the options you can make the changes to your phone settings and make your phone battery last much longer.