In April 2019, I took the Microsoft 365 Fundamentals (MS-900) exam. Microsoft offer free training; they say that this will take 4 hours 11 minutes, although you might find that you need to repeat some of the videos if you didn’t fully understand it the first time through (e.g. if you got distracted). It would …
Tag archives: Microsoft
Active Directory lockouts
A lot of organisations set up security policies so that users will be locked out if they enter the wrong password too many times. The idea is to prevent brute force attacks, where an attacker could sit there all day running through the dictionary until they guess the correct password. The downside is that this …
Definition Update for Windows Defender – infinite loop
I recently came across an odd situation involving Windows Server 2016 and WSUS updates. On the WSUS server, I typically see several new Definition Updates for Windows Defender (KB2267602) every day. E.g. on 2017-11-26, Microsoft released: 1.257.995.0 1.257.996.0 1.257.998.0 1.257.1001.0 1.257.1003.0 1.257.1005.0 The update with the highest number will supersede the others, so I only …
Continue reading “Definition Update for Windows Defender – infinite loop”
Disabling 16 bit applications in Windows
In January, someone at Google discovered a bug in Windows that had been there for 17 years. (This was reported at The Register, among other places.) Microsoft have now released a patch, as described in Security Bulletin MS10-015, so it’s no longer a problem. However, I think that the details are interesting, particularly if you …
BlackBerry vs Exchange 2007
Exchange 2007 has a few options for remote access to email: you can use Outlook Web Access, or ActiveSync with a smartphone. In particular, it only takes a couple of minutes to configure an iPhone. However, yesterday it took me all day to get a BlackBerry working.
Ribbon Hero
Microsoft recently released Ribbon Hero. This is an add-in for Office 2007 and Office 2010, and the idea is to earn points by completing challenges (e.g. formatting a table). In the process, you’ll become familiar with the new user interface. The name is obviously inspired by “Guitar Hero”, but I think it’s unlikely that this …
LUA part 5 (of 5): Related technologies
This post is part 5 of a series about using a limited (standard) account in Windows for everyday activities rather than logging in as a computer administrator all the time. (You may want to read parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 before continuing.)
LUA part 4 (of 5): Changes in Windows Vista/7
This post is part 4 of a series about using a limited (standard) account in Windows for everyday activities rather than logging in as a computer administrator all the time. (You may want to read parts 1, 2, and 3 before continuing.) When Microsoft released Windows Vista, they introduced a new feature: User Account Control …
Continue reading “LUA part 4 (of 5): Changes in Windows Vista/7”
LUA part 3 (of 5): Compatibility problems
This post is part 3 of a series about using a limited (standard) account in Windows for everyday activities rather than logging in as a computer administrator all the time. (You may want to read part 1 and part 2 before continuing.) If you follow my advice and switch to a limited account, you may …
Continue reading “LUA part 3 (of 5): Compatibility problems”
LUA part 2 (of 5): Setting up separate accounts
In part 1 of this series, I explained why it’s a good idea to have separate accounts on your computer: a standard account for day to day stuff (e.g. reading email), and an administrator account for making system changes (e.g. installing new software). In this part, I’m going to provide step by step instructions for …
Continue reading “LUA part 2 (of 5): Setting up separate accounts”