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How to check computer usage

Dave Farquhar Windows October 24, 2018October 20, 2018

I saw an interesting question the other day. A sysadmin had a department asking for more computers, and he suspected the department wasn’t using the machines they have. His IT department didn’t want to go to the trouble and expense to provide more computers to a department that didn’t need them. So here’s how to check computer usage.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

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Windows 95 vs 98

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, Windows June 19, 2018May 12, 2018

Windows 95 vs 98 didn’t seem like a very big deal to me in 1998-1999. With nearly 20 years of hindsight, I still don’t really think it’s a big deal. Here are the differences between Windows 95 and Windows 98.

Dave Farquhar

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How to zip a folder in Windows 10

Dave Farquhar Windows May 3, 2018April 21, 2018

You probably know how to unzip a file in Windows 10. You double-click on it. But Windows 10 can create zip files too, not just extract them. Here’s how to zip a folder in Windows 10 without buying or installing any additional software.

This option isn’t exclusive to Windows 10. Windows 7 included this functionality too, as did some versions of Windows I wish you wouldn’t use anymore. It’s hiding in a menu that doesn’t get a lot of use these days. But back when floppy disks existed, this menu was the fastest way to copy a file to a floppy. Today it’s the fastest way to create a zip file.

Dave Farquhar

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Reboot Windows from a command line

Dave Farquhar Windows March 7, 2018February 3, 2022

A good trick for the busy system administrator is knowing how to reboot Windows from a command line. For example, I used to push patches on Thursday and Friday, suppress the reboots, then reboot my servers from a batch file starting on Monday. Rebooting from a command line rather than using the Start menu and selecting shutdown or restart saved me countless hours.

As a security professional, I know when systems need to reboot based on seeing Tenable plugin 34543 or Qualys QID 90126 in my scan results.

Dave Farquhar

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VMware Fusion screen resolution too small

Dave Farquhar Windows January 31, 2018January 23, 2018

Is your VMware Fusion screen resolution too small? Mine was. When I pulled up my Windows VM, Windows came up looking like everything was a 4-point font. I know I’m not 25 anymore, but I don’t think I could have read that at 25, even. Fortunately the fix is pretty easy once you know where to look.

I’m not sure how well this works in operating systems other than Windows, but if you run Windows 10 in a VM like I do, this seems to fix it.

Dave Farquhar

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Windows 10 sound not working? Here’s the quick fix.

Dave Farquhar Windows January 4, 2018September 29, 2019

My Windows 10 sound stopped working suddenly. One day it worked, the next day, it quit. Nothing else changed–I hadn’t even rebooted. If, like me, you experience Windows 10 sound not working, here’s a quick fix to try that should take you less than a minute.

My symptoms were simple. My web browser quit playing audio. Muting and unmuting didn’t help. Changing the volume didn’t help. I tried a different browser and it wouldn’t play audio either. Then I fired up Windows Media Player and tried to play a song. I got silence. Then I got a red X next to the song that didn’t play. If this sounds familiar, keep reading. I can probably help you.

Dave Farquhar

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The update is already installed on this system

Dave Farquhar security, Windows September 13, 2017March 17, 2023command prompt, vulnerability, Windows Explorer

I had an update on my work laptop in a partially installed state. Our vulnerability scanner determined one file, MSO.dll, was still out of date. It recommended a patch to apply. Running it gave me an error message. Here’s what to do when Windows says the update is already installed on this system and refuses to let you do anything but click OK.

Because hey, from a security analyst’s point of view, this is anything but OK. I get questions about patches in a partially deployed state all the time, so I figured I’d write about it. Here’s what I do when security updates fail to apply with this error.

Dave Farquhar

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Is Windows Firewall enough protection?

Dave Farquhar security, Windows August 17, 2017August 6, 2018antivirus, firewall, spam, steve gibson

Windows versions from XP onward include a built in firewall. But is Windows Firewall enough protection?

Yes. And no. Security answers are almost always complicated. But I’ll explain.

Dave Farquhar

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Command line for active directory users and computers

Dave Farquhar Windows July 28, 2017September 13, 2023

Sometimes it’s faster just to type a command than to dig around in the start menu. That’s especially true for many sysadmin tasks. Knowing the command line for active directory users and computers can save you a lot of time.

Dave Farquhar

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What went wrong with Windows Vista

Dave Farquhar Windows June 4, 2017December 3, 2018vista, windows 7, windows 98, Windows Vista, Windows XP

What went wrong with Windows Vista? If you were around when it launched, you probably wouldn’t argue with me if I said the things that went right were easier to count than the things that went wrong. Windows XP lived nearly forever because Vista was so bad.

Dave Farquhar

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