Looking for an easier way to audit (Track or Report) windows logon / logouts?

This comes up a lot, that internal admins or management wants the ability to track user's logons, only auditing is to complex to navigate.

The traditional way is to enable event log auditing of logons.  In order to accomplish this, your domain will need to be configured to audit logon events.  To do this, you'd create a GPO and set "Audit account logon events" to both success and failure.  This is done under "Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Audit Policy."  Once this is configured, you can utilize the tool ADAudit+ to generate reports based on this information.  http://www.manageengine.com/products/active-directory-audit/user-logon-audit-reports.html#workstation.

Another simple approach can be done via login scripts.
 - Create a shared folder on the network. Everyone should have full access to this share.  In my example, I'll use "access"
 - In that folder, create a folder called User and a folder called Computer (just whichever one you want to use).
 - Create a Login.bat batch file-
          Name- Login.bat
          Option 1 -          
          rem The following line creates a rolling log file of usage by workstation
          echo Log In %Date% %TIME% %USERNAME% >>                        
          \\server\access\computer\%COMPUTERNAME%.log
         
          Option 2 -          
          rem The following line creates a rolling log file of usage by user
          echo Log In %Date% %TIME% %COMPUTERNAME% >> \\server\access\user\%USERNAME%.log
 - Create a Logout.bat batch file-
          Name- Logout.bat
          Option 1 -  
          rem The following line creates a rolling log file of usage by workstation
          echo Log Off %Date% %TIME% %USERNAME% >> \\server\access\computer\%COMPUTERNAME%.log

          Option 2 -
          rem The following line creates a rolling log file of usage by user
          echo Log Off %Date% %TIME% %COMPUTERNAME% >> \\server\logs\user\%USERNAME%.log
 - Put these files in the Access shared folder.
 - Create a GPO, Under "User Configuration\Windows Settings\Scripts", add login.bat to the Logon Scripts box and logout.bat to the Logout Scripts box.

Using cleanmgr.exe (Disk Cleanup) to cleanup old service packs and system files in Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows  7 and Windows 2008 R2 include a cool feature as part of the disk cleanup wizard that allows you to remove old service pack backup files to free up space on your C: drive / partition.  Unfortunately it means installing the Desktop Experience which, besides having a bunch of crap you don't need, requires a reboot.

There is another (and better) way!

Simply copy cleanmgr.exe to C:\Windows\System32. from-
C:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_c9392808773cd7da\cleanmgr.exe

and copy cleanmgr.exe.mui to C:\Windows\System32\en-US.
C:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-cleanmgr.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_en-us_b9cb6194b257cc63\cleanmgr.exe.mui

(You can also just go into C:\windows\winsxs and search for those two files.)

Now you can simply run cleanmgr.exe (you may need to navigate to it and run as administrator if you have UAC turned on) and select "Service Pack Backup Files".

How to upgrade an ASA OS remotely using FTP.

Sometimes I'm required to upgrade a Cisco ASA's OS remotely.  Most Cisco admins are familiar with upgrading the OS using TFTP.  Because TFTP uses UDP, remotely sending the OS via TFTP is not a good idea.  (I'd tell you a joke about UDP, but you might not get it.)

To upgrade via FTP-
I use a FileZilla active mode FTP server.  So first, disable passive mode.

configure terminal
no ftp mode passive

Then, use this copy command-
copy ftp://<Username>:<Password>@<IP Address>/asa825-k8.bin disk0:/asa825-k8.bin

So in my case- (using a fake invalid IP)
copy ftp://cisco:Passw0rd@107.12.631.147/asa825-k8.bin disk0:/asa825-k8.bin

Next you're going to want to check the checksum.  If you go to cisco.com, support, and find your product's software downloads, you can see the checksum by hovering over the file.

Use the command-
verify /md5 disk0:/asa825-k8.bin 97951eea5b35e0544ca9242e6818b39f

Once the checksum is verified, simply change your boot command-
boot system disk0:/asa825-k8.bin
..and remove any old boot system commands.

Use your ipad as a second monitor!

This is great for road warriors who are already carrying a laptop and an iPad.

Need a 2nd monitor that's light and easy? You can leverage your iPad as a 2nd monitor for your computer in Extended Desktop mode!

AirDisplay from Avatron.

http://www.avatron.com/apps/air-display/

Installs a tool on your PC/Mac, and an app on IOS.  Cost is $10. Works over WIFI. Pretty slick.

Why is my NIC labeled "Local Area Connection 2" or why am I getting the message "IP address you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter"?

Say you notice that your network adapter is labeled "Local Area Connection 2" or you get a message that says "The IP address you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter" when attempting to assign a static IP address.

This happens because you have a previous 'removed' network adapter that hasn't been removed in Windows.  This may be a little confusing, especially on virtualized machines.  Each NIC has a unique MAC address, so whenever a new one is installed a new adapter is created in Windows.  Removing the old ones is actually pretty simple.

 - Go to your Command Prompt.  (In 2008 and above, you need to right click on the command prompt icon and run as administrator)

 - From the command prompe, type
SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
and hit Enter.

 - Then (again from the command prmopt) type
START DEVMGMT.MSC
and hit Enter.

 - Device manager will start, in device manager click the View menu and select "Show hidden devices".

 - Now under Network Adapters you will see the old network adapter and can remove it.

Why is Windows 8, 8.1, 2012, 2012 R2 not rebooting during the automatic updates maintenance window???

Have you had a client want to throw their computer out the window because Windows 8 rebooted right in the middle of their important conference call for no apparent reason?  And they wonder, weird, I had my computer sitting idle all night doing nothing, why didn’t it reboot then?

Well, some idiot at Microsoft designed it this way.  The thinking was something like, ‘I guess we don’t want to reboot at 3 AM in case something is open, so we’ll wait until 3 days after updates are installed, then start annoying the user with a restart timer once there is activity on the PC, which will force a reboot if ignored.”  The hilarious thing is, this affects 2012 Server.  So admins who enabled automatic updates suddenly find production servers rebooting in the middle of the day!  Nice job, Microsoft! 

There is a fix.  In 2012 R2 and 8.1 there is a group policy setting to change this behavior-

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update\Always automatically restart at the scheduled time

On windows 8 and 2012, you need to install the update rollup http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2883201

By default this behavior will still exist though unless you change that GPO.

Configuring Telnet or SSH access across a VPN tunnel on a Cisco ASA (8.4+ - 9.1)

Want to enable telnet / ssh management of a Cisco ASA across a VPN tunnel?

In 8.2 and below, you simply use the command:

management-access inside

You may have noticed in post 8.4 that no longer works.   In post 8.4, you need to add the route-lookup command to your VPN nat statement.

management-access inside

nat (inside,outside) source static LocalSubnet LocalSubnet destination static RemtoeSubnet RemoteSubnet route-lookup

Of course, you need to enable telnet or ssh-

ssh 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 inside

telnet 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 inside

(But don't use telnet, it's ghetto and insecure.)