Arron

BitLocker tips (for older laptops)

Sep 012017

This is usually more relevant when installing Windows 10 on older laptops. Some of these laptops have made the jump from XP to W10!

Most will not have on-board TMP capabilities, so override this requirement by using the local group policy editor:

run gpedit.msc

Computer Configuration >Administrative Templates >Windows Components >BitLocker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives > Require Additional Authentication at Startup

Click Enabled option
Check that ‘Allow BitLocker without a Compatible’ is ticked
Click OK and close gpedit

Enable BitLocker on the laptop, as usual

In order to check on the progress of the encryption, run an elevated PowerShell instance, where you can periodically issue this command:

manage-bde -status C:

SSDs – adjusting Desktop based hibernation and pagefile settings

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Jun 302017

You may be required to adjust hibernation settings and the pagefile values for Desktop based SSDs, in order to prevent valuable storage space from being used by Windows.

Disable hibernation by running an elevated command prompt and issuing:

powercfg -h off

You should be able to confirm this via Power Options (Control Panel)

Have had no need to adjust pagefile values yet. However, the procedure would be:

Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced system settings > Advanced tab > Performance settings > Advanced tab > Virtual memory change

Uncheck “automatically manage paging file for all drives” box and then set desired value. If you wish, you can disable the paging file (this may upset some applications). A smaller paging file can be set by clicking on the “custom size” option and entering starting size and maximum size values.

CentOS links 2017-06

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Jun 012017

Last updated June, 2017:

If Not True Then False
https://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/
Worth putting up with the ads (standard google ads). Full of useful guides, on relevant topics, for fedora/CentOS/RH, updated regularly.

Live Linux distros:

Porteus : http://www.porteus.org/
Netrunner : http://www.netrunner.com/
BunsenLabs : https://www.bunsenlabs.org/
AntiX : http://antix.mepis.org/
Qubes OS : https://www.qubes-os.org/
Whonix : https://www.whonix.org/
Kali Linux : https://www.kali.org/
Grml : https://grml.org/

Enabling TRIM support on SSDs

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May 262017

CentOS 7:

https://bashtheshell.github.io/guide/ssd-trim-on-centos-7/

Windows 7:

Enabled by default but can be confirmed via elevated command prompt and:

fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

DisableDeleteNotify = 1 = TRIM support disabled
DisableDeleteNotify = 0 = TRIM support enabled

To enable trim, issue:

fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0

Mac OS X:

Enabled by default on Apple provided SSDs.
Requires enabling on third-party provided SSDs.

To confirm via the terminal, issue:

system_profiler SPSerialATADataType | grep 'TRIM'

Enable TRIM via terminal, with this command:

sudo trimforce enable

Follow the on-screen advice.

For reference, Third-party solutions include Cindori TrimEnabler, which were
a workaround when Apple temporarily disabled default trim support
for non-Apple SSDs.

Windows 7 – reset Windows Update Service

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May 262017

This minor reset can be used when Windows 7 fails to find updates i.e progress bar never stops.

Open an elevated command prompt and run these commands:

net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptsvc

Delete or rename %windir%\SoftwareDistribution directory
Delete or rename %windir%\System32\catroot2

Restart the services we had previously stopped:

net start wuauserv
net start cryptsvc

Install latest Windows Update Client from:

W7 64bit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53332
W7 32bit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53335

Restart the computer
You should then be able to check for updates manually and get the PC fully patched

If the above fails, Microsoft have documented a ‘hard reset’ at:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/kb/971058

!Quick Microsoft Security Links!

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May 232017

Microsoft Security Response Center
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/dn440717.aspx

Security TechCenter
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/default

_________________________________________________________________

2017, October 25th:

Ransom: Bad Rabbit Win32/Tibbar.A
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=Ransom:Win32/Tibbar.A

Windows Defender Offline Scan
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/threat-protection/windows-defender-antivirus/windows-defender-offline#run-a-scan

Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 update history
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4009469

2017, June 28th:

Microsoft Malware Protection Engine flaw (CVE-2017-8558) – now patched at 1.1.13903.0+
https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2017-8558

2017, June 13th:

Microsoft Security Advisory 4025685
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/4025685

4025685: Guidance for older platforms: June 13, 2017
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4025687/microsoft-security-advisory-4025685-guidance-for-older-platforms

Microsoft Security Scanner
https://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx

Manual updates for Microsoft Security products
https://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/definitions/adl.aspx

2017, May 5th:

Microsoft Customer Guidance for Wannacrypt attacks
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/msrc/2017/05/12/customer-guidance-for-wannacrypt-attacks/

Flow Cytometry – mapping FCCF drives on laptops (University and privately owned).

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Dec 012016

These instructions work for on-campus access only. If you require off-campus access, we have additional webfolder instructions and RAS instructions.

• Windows 7

FCCF S: drive / live instrument data

Click on Windows logo (taskbar)
Click “Computer”
Click ‘Map network drive’ option
Change “Drive” option the letter S
Change “Folder” option to:

\\fsarchive.ncl.ac.uk\IHGSCRATCH\FLOWCF

Tick ‘Reconnect at logon’ is ticked
Tick ‘Connect using different credentials”
Click ‘Finish’ button

When prompted for your University details, *ensure* that you precede your username with campus\

E.g If your University username was nabc123 then use campus\nabc123 as your username here
Enter your University password
Tick ‘Remember my crednetials’ box
Click OK

FCCF R: drive / archived data

Click on Windows logo (taskbar)
Click “Computer”
Click ‘Map network drive’ option
Change “Drive” option the letter R
Change “Folder” option to:

\\fs-ncl-smb-db.ncl.ac.uk\igm-flowcf

Tick ‘Reconnect at logon’ is ticked
Tick ‘Connect using different credentials”
Click ‘Finish’ button

When prompted for your University details, *ensure* that you precede your username with campus\

E.g If your University username was nabc123 then use campus\nabc123 as your username here
Enter your University password
Tick ‘Remember my credentials’ box
Click OK

Flow Cytometry – Off-campus access to data using RAS

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Dec 012016

* RAS

Go to http://ras.ncl.ac.uk/
You may need to install some additional software on the computer that you are using to log into RAS with. Use the links provided on the RAS front page to download and install this software.

Log in to RAS as usual
Click on My Drives icon (if this icon is missing, click on the + icon; All Apps; scroll down and click on My Drives icon)
Wait for window to appear showing your drives. Be patient.

RAS labels the S: drive as “FLOWCF (\\campus.ncl.ac.uk\scratch\IHGSCRATCH)”… and it labels the R: drive as “FLOWCF (\\campus.ncl.ac.uk\igm)”

If these are missing, click on Computer icon
Click ‘Map network drive’ option
Change Drive: to S
Change folder to: \\campus.ncl.ac.uk\scratch\IHGSCRATCH\FLOWCF
tick the ‘reconnect at logon’ box
click Finish button

IMPORTANT! Right-click on some white space, within that window, and choose “refresh” from the menu. The S: drive will now appear.

Repeat this for the R: drive by clicking on the “Map network drive’ option

Change Drive: to R
Change folder to: \\campus.ncl.ac.uk\igm\flowcf
tick the ‘reconnect at logon’ box
click Finish button

IMPORTANT! Right-click on some white space, within that window, and choose “refresh” from the menu. The R: drive will now appear.

The drives shown under the “Network Location” section are your University mapped drives, and these include your H: drive (labelled as “Documents”). You may also have an Institute drive (the IGM uses the Z: drive and this provides access to Institute shared folders and our groups research folders).

The section labelled “Other” contains access to the local drives associated with your off campus computer, the one you are logging into RAS with. These drives will vary but they will usually include your computer’s C: drive – often labelled as “Local Disk” – and any portable drives or USB sticks attached to your computer. Explore these local drives by double-clicking on them so that you become familiar with where things are stored on your local computer. You will be asked about giving RAS permission to access these particular drives – it’s just a precaution.

To copy data from the University to your off campus computer, double-click on the relevant drive under “Network Location” until you find the folder/file you are looking for. Right-click on this file/folder, and from the pop-up menu, select ‘Copy’.

Now double-click on the relevant drive under “Other”. Note that you will be asked about giving RAS permission to access this local drive. Now find somewhere appropriate to store this data and right-click on the location. Choose ‘Paste’ from the pop-up menu.

This copy/paste technique is how you copy data between the University and your off campus computer.

Missing Desktop items and Internet Explorer Favourites

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Jul 202016

NUIT have acknowledged that there is an issue with disappearing Desktop items and Internet Explorer Favourites. The cause is still unknown.

Current advice is to attempt to recover these items using the videos found on the Z: drive, within the Public folder. They show you how to use the Previous Versions option, in order to retrieve your items from the various backups that are taken.

Below is a written form of those instructions:

Right-click on your H: drive

Choose Proprieties from the menu

Click Previous Versions tab

and wait! The amount of time that you have to wait varies, anything from a few seconds to 5 minutes.

You will then see a list of dates and times. Click on a Date/Time

Click on the Open button (this will open up your H: drive at that particular day/time)

Open the folder called Desktop. If it is blank, you will need to repeat this process by going back and choosing another Date/Time

When you eventually find your missing Desktop items, drag them to your Desktop area.

You can use this same method to retrieve your missing Internet Explorer Favourites:

Right-click on your H: drive

Choose Proprieties from the menu

Click Previous Versions tab

and wait! The amount of time that you have to wait varies, anything from a few seconds to 5 minutes.

You will then see a list of dates and times. Click on a Date/Time

Click on the Open button (this will open up your H: drive at that particular day/time)

Open the folder called Favourites and check its contents. It may not be the correct version. If that is the case, you will need to repeat this process by going back and choosing another Date/Time.

When you eventually find the correct version of your Favourites folder, right-click on it and choose “Send to” from the pop-up menu. Select your H: drive and confirm that you want it to replace the current (incorrect) Favourites folder.

Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus offer

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Sep 162015

Staff and Students are entitled to install up to 5 copies of Office 365 (basically Office 2013 for Windows; Office 2016 for Mac; Office for iPad) on home computers/devices.

STUDENTS should click on this link http://www.ncl.ac.uk/itservice/software/softwaredeals/office365proplus/

For STAFF, there are some useful points to be aware of:

* IGM staff have been upgraded to Office365 email accounts. Not everyone physically located at the Institute falls under the category of IGM staff, as we soon found out during the upgrade!

To keep this simple, some colleagues come under the remit of other Institutes/organisations, who have their own time frame, with regards to Office365 upgrades.

!!! Not sure if you have a newer Office365 type email account or the old owa/exchange account? Go to http://owa.ncl.ac.uk

If you see your emails *immediately* then you have the old owa/exchange email account.
Those of you with the newer Office365 email accounts are prompted to follow a specific link.

* Colleagues who have already opted to purchase Office under the £9 work-at-home scheme, do not worry. That copy of Outlook is yours to keep, until Microsoft finally end support for a particular version of Office. Unlike the Office365 offer, it remains active, regardless of your status with the University.

* This Office365 offer is provided on a subscription basis, dependent on you being registered as student/staff, with an active IT account.

* For Offcie365 accounts, remember that your outlook username is based on your_login@newcastle.ac.uk
This is not an email address and it needs to be written out in full. Do not use @ncl.ac.uk

Finally, with all that out of the way, we can get to the actual links!

PC owners with OFFICE365 email accounts

Mac owners with OFFICE365 email accounts

Office for Mobile (iPad) ONLY for OFFICE365 email accounts

Mac and PC owners with OWA/EXCHANGE email accounts

For more information, please click here for the original NUIT web page.

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