Category Archives: Technology

A couple of IT things *everyone* should know

So, as usual, lurking on Reddit and a topic comes up about things that non-sysadmins (read: normal every day people) should know in relation to being a sysadmin. I thought this was interesting and a bit silly until I thought about it for a while – I’m somewhat amazed by the number of people who are working who have little… Read more »

Regular AD Maintenance & Checks

I was inspired to write this post based on a question posted on Reddit a little bit ago. While I was happy with my response (and that so many people agreed with me!) I figured it would benefit those who read my blog or go searching for this information and aren’t Reddit readers. I’ve also added in a few links,… Read more »

Issue installing .NET 3.5 on Server 2012 R2

So – interesting bug. Built some Windows Server 2012 R2 servers for someone (because I’m just nice like that) and they went on their merry way. They then came back and said they wanted .NET 3.5 installed and would do it themselves, but they didn’t know where the install media was – because (as you know…or now know) a number… Read more »

Scrutiny

      1 Comment on Scrutiny

So, my “social media presence” (I hate that term, it just sounds like a haunting of some kind) has come under scrutiny from my current workplace. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this. I started off feeling a bit wary, because I know that some of the things I post are rants and crankiness. Then it morphed into… Read more »

FIX: Cursor disappears on ASUS Win 8.1laptop/tablet after using touchscreen

So, going away soon and wanted to buy a laptop/tablet that I could use for travel that wouldn’t weigh 2.7kg like my Alienware would. Had a bit of a hunt around and, considering how much I loved my original ASUS Transformer, I decided to go with the ASUS Transformer T100. Beautiful little machine – I really do love it. Full… Read more »

Sexism rears it’s ugly head…again

DISCLAIMER – This is in no way a reflection on my current employer. I am not bad-mouthing where I work or the people I work with, as 99% of them are fabulous. I need to put this up, pretty much to cover my own arse, but I still want this story to be told – because I don’t think we… Read more »

AD Security & Administration – righting the right rights

NOTE: This post is in the process of being updated due to being used in a presentation. Please let me know if there’s anything that you believe requires updating by leaving a comment, sending me an email or poking me on Twitter! (Before I launch in, try saying the title three times fast…sorry, couldn’t help myself :P) So, we recently… Read more »

Passwords and security – why is it so hard to get it *right*?

I don’t understand why passwords and password management are so difficult for people…truly I don’t. Passwords are part of our every day lives. We use passwords for so many things in our day-to-day lives – to access our email, to access social media websites, to log on to our personal and work PC’s, to buy goods using our debit and… Read more »

Building up a logging server – OSS style!

So – I wanted to get Splunk but in my organisation that was never going to happen (you want something that costs MONEY?! Ludicrous!) So we had to come up with a compromise. A colleague of mine went hunting for some open source logging software and found that the combination of Elastic Search, LogStash, Kibana and nxLog worked well. He… Read more »

Sysadmin is a thankless job

      4 Comments on Sysadmin is a thankless job

I recently noted (and replied to) a post in /r/sysadmin regarding the fact that someone received (Holy Didn’tExpectThat Batman!) some thanks for a job well done. It’s something I’ve noticed in the jobs I’ve been in and the bosses I’ve had. Systems administrators generally don’t get thanks. They don’t get the same level of praise as the front line, who… Read more »